Escalation: You got some Apocalypse in my 40k!

[CoffeeGrunt]

As always, most of the hysteria is coming from the tournament end, where people do play pay-to-win, and do field whatever it takes to effortlessly annihilate the opponent's forces.

Locally, our shop is having an Escalation mini-tournie every month or so. Should be fun, as our games are relatively balanced and low-key. Facing a Baneblade or something along those lines would be a fun stress test for my army list.

[Charistoph]

I already have a person saying that he won't play a game without his hierdoles (sp?) since he doesn't have to "ask permission" any more.  Never mind that it might make him "That Guy" if he doesn't consider what's available in a person's stable might not want to play against it.

[CoffeeGrunt]

he doesn't have to "ask permission" any more.  Never mind that it might make him "That Guy"

Guessing that, were it not for Nids being so weak atm, he would already be That Guy.

He's also a fool, people have the right to refuse a game on whatever grounds they want. Army, army list, opponent's personal hygiene, etc, etc.

I'd personally say it's his sportsmanship you don't like.

[Charistoph]

No doubt.

To add to the pot, he is worried about 'Those Tau-dar' players because he thinks they are 'That Guy', and thinks Puppet Master can override all the rules of Shooting.  A lot of which makes me want to .

But I can understand his point, he spent a lot of time and energy making his custom Hierdules (sp?) and he wants to play with them against everyone who didn't want to play against a Forgeworld model before.  I get the idea of wanting a little revenge, but one should be considerate of other players who haven't been a prick first.

[CoffeeGrunt]

We don't have TauDar here. I'm the resident Tau bogeyman, but I only average 3rd place in any local mini-tournies, mainly because I don't play WAAC.

I can understand his frustration at having Forge World models he can't play. I myself have a quartet of Tetras I'd love to put on the field, but sadly everyone is against Forge World in tournaments. I'm hoping Escalation slowly wins them over.

[The Man They Call Jayne]

I like being able to use my Remoras and Barracuda. They aren't exactly game breaking and are just good fun. I would like some Tetra models, but since they made them H2 TL rather than H4 im not sure they are so worth it.

[Waaaghpower]

As a friend of mine said, competitive Warhammer is a bit of a joke right now. So many things can be taken that are simply ridiculous, so many armies are just laughable, power gaming just means spamming the most ridiculous things you can. (For example, the nigh-unstoppable 2+ rerollable invulns, courtesy of Eldar.) Escalation just adds a layer to it. Playing WAAC is just boring and a bit silly.

[Irisado]

You could power game with every edition though.  That's nothing new.  As you go on to say, Escalation just adds another layer to a phenomenon that already exists, and goes right the way back to the game's inception during the Rogue Trader era.  The way to avoid it is to have a group of friends who don't want to go down the route of playing Escalation.

[CoffeeGrunt]

I'd say it's less about the game and more about the players.

I have players I really enjoy playing, because we have a good laugh. I have players I hate playing, because win or lose, they're bitter and catty.

[Waaaghpower]

You could power game with every edition though.  That's nothing new.  As you go on to say, Escalation just adds another layer to a phenomenon that already exists, and goes right the way back to the game's inception during the Rogue Trader era.  The way to avoid it is to have a group of friends who don't want to go down the route of playing Escalation.

In my opinion, a lot of layers have been added to the phenomenon since 6th ed, as compared to 5th. Flyers were a big one, allies, Escalation, the new Fortifications are pretty ridiculous. It feels like each new layer was a bandaid to try and fix the previous layer, but is just making things slowly but surely worse.

[Irisado]

I too initially had a bit of fright when I saw Escalation, but there's no reason why you or your friends have to play it.  How many players who you meet on a regular basis can afford to buy all those superheavies in any case?

The layers being added to the game are very similar to how things operated in Rogue Trader and Second Edition to be honest, so it's nothing new.  It's just a different manifestation of a similar concept.  GW does like to reinvent the wheel .