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Tuesday 29 June 2010

Review: Warhammer Fantasy 8th Edition

Wow. How time has passed since the previous Games Workshop 'core rules' release... and how policy has shifted.

Back in 2008 when the 5th Edition of Warhammer 40,000 was released, we had rumours stretching way back into November 2007. People were sighting the rulebook everywhere in early 2008 and everyone knew the main changes to the rules which were going to occur. Various Games Workshop stores were previewing the book to their customers around April 2008 - well, at the very least here in Britain, which allowed for an air of legitimacy with every rumour... and confirmation.

But what about this release? Well, it's certainly been different - it was around May/June 2010 that most stores were recieving (And letting people open) copies of the book and a tight grip was held on any rumours coming out of Games Workshop's design studio. Many people were denying up until about January 2010 that the rulebook was even going to be released in July - like the 5th Ed of Warhammer 40,000 was - and this led to just... complacency. Well, the rumourmill didn't rest but neither did it seem believeable. Sightings of '10 man ranks' led people to the belief that the (now confirmed) 'horde' system was to become the norm in fantasy.

People were, you could say, pissed.

But, are the changes so bad? I found a summary of the changes here at an awesome blog that I follow: http://quietlimit.blogspot.com/2010/06/eighth-edition-compiled-notes-and.html. From the list here, I think I quite LIKE the changes to the system! It's not too over the top, really - cutting down on Mage spam to make Magic Phases more enjoyable, and giving a horde army a real advantage when it comes to grinding opponents down with attrition.

I think this edition of Fantasy may dumb things down a bit, as some might say, but it will also breathe new life into the hobby with the new scenarios and the sheer amount of content in the Big Rulebook. Pretty much every single page in the 528 page Rulebook is jam packed with useful content for hobbyists - gamers may be annoyed with 2/3 of the book being such content, but does it matter? As some have said, the big rulebook is supposed to be the ground and the basis for the hobby while every other book fills out the real 'niche' stuff.

~ So, what are your comments? Post them below and lets see where they go :)

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