“Does a game like Warhammer 40k need a scaled down (40K-Light) version of itself in order to bring in new players by promising fun-fast-cheap gameplay?”
So sad, it dropped my “special” formatting… here it is again (I hope)
Todd: “It’s called Kill Team, and nobody cares!”
Todd: extends arm holding microphone towards the studio audience
Todd: Pauses, showing no emotion
Todd: Hand opens, microphone falls to the stage
Todd: Exits stage, left or right
(Silence)
(Laugh track)
I think it’s too late for 40k, I wouldn’t even play that game in league format which is essentially what this is. However for getting into any game, I love the idea. It gives you a place to start by drawing you in with a lower price point and you don’t feel so overwhelmed PLUS if you don’t like it, you’re not out hundreds – thousands of dollars.
Going balls in on games is getting harder as gaming circles hop from game to game trying to fill the void that games like Warhammer Fantasy and even 40k have left. On a personal note, Spartan is quickly becoming my go to for games and I’m really excited to see them expand like this and am looking forward to cursing them for my lack of money in the coming months.
I reckon smaller scale, faster paced games are good for getting new blood or inactive players into any game.
At the end of the day, a lot of people simply lack the time, money or inclination to get into a full-scale wargame, let alone the painting side of the hobby!
I voted no, and here’s why: Simplyfied or scaled down games will do nothing to get new players into the hobby, particularly not into the established “complex” games like 40k, Warmahordes, FSA, etc.. It has always been the other way: 40k players branching out into Necromunda, Fantasy guys picking up Mortheim, etc. Apparently, very few X-Wing players are looking into SW: Armada. And why should they? They have come for fast paced dog-fight-action. Why should they be interested in cerebral and strategic capital-ship battles? Games nowadays are destinations, you don’t stumble across them in the toy-section of Walmart anymore (with the exception of X-Wing). People have specific reasons for playing them: You go to 40k for the universe and the modelling aspect, you go to WMH for the competitive scene and to FSA because you like spaceship battles. Instead of releasing simplified dead-end-games, I find the strategy of PP and GW with their two-army starterboxes far more convincing: The full ruleset is included, but the models in the kit use only basic rules, therefore allowing new players to learn the basic mechanics of the game without throwing the whole complexity(40k) or competitive cruelty(WMH) into their faces.
I don’t think complexity is the issue. Games like Infinity and Malifaux are growing a lot in my area, and Infinity in particular is certainly in 40k’s league in terms of rules complexity. I think the real barriers are: high model count and rules atomized across dozens of books. Centralized online (and probably free) rules like they did for AoS and making the game more compelling on a smaller scale as opposed to pushing these huge formations would put them in line with other modern gaming companies. I’m done with 40k until they do something like that. The lore of the game–which is still my favorite–is just not enough of a reason for me to put up with the bloat.
Jaded Gamercast 
Todd: “It’s called Kill Team, and nobody cares!”
So sad, it dropped my “special” formatting… here it is again (I hope)
Todd: “It’s called Kill Team, and nobody cares!”
Todd: extends arm holding microphone towards the studio audience
Todd: Pauses, showing no emotion
Todd: Hand opens, microphone falls to the stage
Todd: Exits stage, left or right
(Silence)
(Laugh track)
I think it’s too late for 40k, I wouldn’t even play that game in league format which is essentially what this is. However for getting into any game, I love the idea. It gives you a place to start by drawing you in with a lower price point and you don’t feel so overwhelmed PLUS if you don’t like it, you’re not out hundreds – thousands of dollars.
Going balls in on games is getting harder as gaming circles hop from game to game trying to fill the void that games like Warhammer Fantasy and even 40k have left. On a personal note, Spartan is quickly becoming my go to for games and I’m really excited to see them expand like this and am looking forward to cursing them for my lack of money in the coming months.
I reckon smaller scale, faster paced games are good for getting new blood or inactive players into any game.
At the end of the day, a lot of people simply lack the time, money or inclination to get into a full-scale wargame, let alone the painting side of the hobby!
I voted no, and here’s why: Simplyfied or scaled down games will do nothing to get new players into the hobby, particularly not into the established “complex” games like 40k, Warmahordes, FSA, etc.. It has always been the other way: 40k players branching out into Necromunda, Fantasy guys picking up Mortheim, etc. Apparently, very few X-Wing players are looking into SW: Armada. And why should they? They have come for fast paced dog-fight-action. Why should they be interested in cerebral and strategic capital-ship battles? Games nowadays are destinations, you don’t stumble across them in the toy-section of Walmart anymore (with the exception of X-Wing). People have specific reasons for playing them: You go to 40k for the universe and the modelling aspect, you go to WMH for the competitive scene and to FSA because you like spaceship battles. Instead of releasing simplified dead-end-games, I find the strategy of PP and GW with their two-army starterboxes far more convincing: The full ruleset is included, but the models in the kit use only basic rules, therefore allowing new players to learn the basic mechanics of the game without throwing the whole complexity(40k) or competitive cruelty(WMH) into their faces.
I don’t think complexity is the issue. Games like Infinity and Malifaux are growing a lot in my area, and Infinity in particular is certainly in 40k’s league in terms of rules complexity. I think the real barriers are: high model count and rules atomized across dozens of books. Centralized online (and probably free) rules like they did for AoS and making the game more compelling on a smaller scale as opposed to pushing these huge formations would put them in line with other modern gaming companies. I’m done with 40k until they do something like that. The lore of the game–which is still my favorite–is just not enough of a reason for me to put up with the bloat.