With the 8th edition of Warhammer 40,000 on the horizon and people turning into beings comprised purely of salt at the rumours, I can't help but look about now and wonder...
Is the salt just those of a dying breed?
You see, I love war games - I've been into them for almost 20 years. I was first inspired to get into gaming when I walked into a Games Worksahop store and saw someone painting a unit of Dwarves. I remember the vibrant orange in their hair. It's stuck with me.
Back then, war games were something you decided to spend a day or evening doing - you set aside a large amount of time to play the game - Fantasy has one thing that Age of Sigmar doesn't and that is that it is highly tactical - ranked, regimental movements meant having to think a turn or two ahead, as to what your opponent would do, and what you wanted to do in retaliation, setting up ambushes and counterpoints to what you expected someone to do. Weapons had guessable ranges.
As a result, the game required a length of time to think about and learn to play, it required skills and abilities that demanded you learn as you go.
People spent hours painting their armies, converting models made of hard metal to make their characters unique. The hobby was their 'lifestyle', to some extent - You were a war gamer, you spent a lot of time in that game.
Age of Sigmar replaced it with a game that has less rules, moves faster and uses less models. It requires less thought and less practice to be 'good' at it.
It's pick-up-and-play.
Recently, a new war game store opened in my town. This is huge, as our town is small and there hasn't been a store with gaming space included inside for ages.
And it's a lovely store - the guy who owns it is friendly and engaging.
But... I looked around, while thinking of the above, and I realised something.
The majority of the store is pre-assembled, pre-painted games - D&D miniatures, X-wing, Star Trek Attack Wing.
It has a Blood Bowl league, but other than that, the majority of its inventory is all pre-made, pre-painted things.
And you know... When Fantasy died, and people were looking for new games, there was a large increase in people playing X-wing in my town.
It's one of the largest games played, in fact.
And it made me realise... There's a new breed of gamer. And they're dominant now.
Myself and a bunch of other older folks, we like putting time and love into whole armies of miniatures - painting, converting, customising, writing our own backstory... wether we do an accurate force, a parody, something original... wether we paint it bright,l or grim dark, weathering, battle damage... we put time and love and HOURS of time into the army, away from the table.
We spent hours looking through books, playing games, finding what works for us, honing our understanding of rules interactions to make something that feels comfortable that is also fun for the opponent to play against.
But... that's not what's typical now.
Why is X-wing popular? Why do people buy these D&D miniatures?
It's quick and easy. With X-wing, you can learn the basics in about 5 minutes. You can be good at the game after a few games. You don't need to assemble or paint anything. You could go to this store, decide you want a new toy to play with, buy it, open it and use it immediately.
It's got a lot less of a time investment. You only need to learn the rules and GO.
It takes a lot less time to play. You can casually play it over a pint, be done by the time your drink is finished, and be on to the next thing you have to do in your life.
And I think this is what's causing the salt.
Age of Sigmar was designed to simplify the game. I and many other people disliked it and went elsewhere, for the most part shutting up about it because no one gave a shit about how we felt alienated.
The same is going to happen on this next 40k release.
Reason being war gamers now don't really want to invest as much time in the game as they once did.
Most people just want a game they can play for an hour or two every week or so.
They don't want a lifetime of hobby that can be disrupted and discarded by an update.
They don't want something they have to invest time in to master.
The arguments and hatred are nothing more than the death-rattle of us old breed gamers trying to reject the change, keep things how it was for us... when that may not fit into modern lives anymore.
It will change. Some of us will stop playing that game, find alternatives, make our own editions, or go back to the last one our friends mostly agree sort of worked... But eventually, we'll shut up again.
And progress continues forward - with pre-made, pre-painted miniatures and games with short play times and shallow learning curves dominating the field.
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