Space Din-O-Pinions | The Path to 40K

After physically moving my home, I am now ready to also make a metaphorical move in my hobby space. Since it’s inception, this blog has focused on all things fantasy. I just really like it, I think it makes a nice canvas for creativity, and the gaming is more fun to me and logical, because if you have a tank driving around, it can shoot much farther and more destructively than the table would allow. So usually I leave the sci-fi or historical to the video game world. But (and to the disappointment of TLLW, sorry, no historicals....yet) I will say, Warhammer 40K 10th Edition was looking real juicy with those new space bug/dinosaurs, the Tyranids. 

Credit: Games Workshop

I’ve always found space bug species really interesting in sci-fi. From the buggers in Ender’s Game to the Zerg from Starcraft, there’s just something totally alien about it that I find appealing. GW has also started to emphasize the eldritch horror aspect of these kinds of species, which I’m here for. I’ve actually had a box of Tryanid models just sitting around. I never got to building them because the one time I played 40K, my little models got shot off the board the instant they popped out of cover. I know, I know, I shouldn’t judge a game off of one experience, but in fantasy games usually models are able to get to each other. 

So what’s changed for me? Well for one, the Tyranids actually getting some updated models. Every time I look at 40K it’s always Space Marines. Which, don’t get me wrong, are plenty cool in their own right. There’s just a lot of them. So it never seemed like the faction I was interested in was getting any support. And there are some really old, really derpy models in the Tyranid range. So it looks like they’re finally cleaning that up. And rule number uno for me when it comes to collecting an army is the rule of cool. Rules change but models are forever, so I better damn well like the models. 

Credit: Games Workshop

Now that I just lambasted rules, the second reason I’m interested in this new edition of 40K are the rules. I like simple. Not necessarily easy, but simple. I don’t want to have to browse through 3 different books and 2 White Dwarf magazines to figure out how my army works, let alone my opponents. It seems that they’re going to back to more simplified rules organization where it’s all in one place. Which makes it easier for me, a newb, to be able to get into the game. There’s little things too, like heroes being able to join units that I just find really flavorful. And the big seller was the Combat Patrol style game, where you can just play with the models straight out of the box. No super messy list building to sort through. This makes pick up games much easier, and I don’t have to invest as much into a full army before I feel like I can play a decent game. 

I also don’t have to make as much terrain or gaming support for this. Let’s face it, 40K has been the bigger game for a long time now. For AoS, I’ve had to create so much terrain so that friends and I could play with cool boards. Whereas it seems every FLGS has tons of sci-fi terrain and tables set up ready to go. Plus it’s easier to find opponents. 

Credit: Games Workshop

So we’ll see how this foray goes into the world of Warhammer 40K. I’ve always enjoyed the lore that I’ve encountered, and I did play some Dawn of War back in the day. Expect to see some more sci-fi posts to pop up, but the blog is still going to be focused on fantasy. It is, after all, my first love, and this new fangled sci-fi game is the sordid affair I’m having with that one side-chick I said was just a friend. 

Anyways, thanks for reading.

-The Space Dinosaur