Grots! And The Future Of Warhammer 40.000

After missing a week where I didn't get to do much hobby stuff, I got back on the horse and finished up a unit Grots for my Ork army. I need to expand the unit because 10 grots isn't a functional unit, so I've got another box on the way. In the meantime, I really loved this kit - the sculpts drip with character and most are generally 2 pieces. 

"'Ere we go! 'Ere we go! 'Ere we go!"

"Ey yoose gitz! Stay outta mah yard!"

Grots are always some of the most characterful sculpts in the Ork line.

I also might use these guys as a Gretchin Revolution squad in skirmish games.

In addition to painting these guys up, like many online, I watched with great interest Game Workshop's presentation at Adepticon detailing some of the ideas surrounding the new edition Warhammer 40,000. I adore 40k in terms of storytelling and models, but the game has become overly complex for my tastes and some of the armies have serious balance issues. I eagerly look forward to the new edition embracing the learnings from Age of Sigmar, and I hope they carry a lot of the design philosophy over to the new edition.

One of the things I hope they port over from Age of Sigmar to Warhammer 40,000 is the idea that every unit is capable of hurting every other unit in the game. By ditching the traditional "to wound" chart and eliminating fixed saves, AoS has made almost every unit viable in the game (this isn't to say equal, but there is very little in the game that is unusable), so players have a greater amount of freedom in designing armies based on what they enjoy painting and building rather than what is competitive in a local meta or what is game-breaking. This allows players to engage in match ups where they are both having fun and one player isn't dominating the game based on purchasing power. It'll be possible for you bring super heavies and not be considered a jerk, and for me to bring an army of grots and not be considered an idiot. The ability for everything to hurt everything else allows both players to bring what they like without ruining their opponent's good time.

I'm also hoping for generally a more unified game - over many years of playing 40k I've always felt like each type of model was its own separate rule system all jammed together into one game. It was fun for the rules to go radical places in the older editions, but now it just feels like too much to keep up with. The AoS core rules are simple enough to "fall away" into the background during a game, which I feel lets me focus on tactics and having fun. I really want that for Warhammer 40,000 because I feel more justified buying the absolutely outstanding models GW keeps releasing.

Cheers!