6th Edition: Reign of the Fluffy Bunnies

Shhhhh!
Hello, everyone. Hamster here. SinSynn is sleeping.
He's very tired. Prior to this weekend, he's had exactly one day off in the past three weeks. For the last twelve days, he's been doing double shifts, more or less. He's really beat, so I figured I'd write the intro this week, and we'd let him catch a few more minutes of shuteye.

So, ummm...Hai!
I'm the Hamster That Lives In SinSynn's Head. I spin the wheel that makes his thoughts. Without me and my wheel, this space would be empty and vacant. SinSynn doesn't have a lot in the way of brains, as you may have surmised already, so my job is by no means an easy one. My wheel is old, and rusty...and it squeaks something awful. It's drafty in here, too...
But, hey- it ain't all bad. I've got my nest, which is made from the leftover pages of various 'Men's Magazines' that featured Megan Fox. All the Megan Fox pictures have been removed, naturally. Some end up getting laminated (so they clean easier...*shiver*), and others end up as part of the Shrine...
...Oh, whoops...I'm not supposed to talk about the Shrine...After all, we're trying to convince that Federally-Appointed Psychiatrist that we're 'getting better.' 
Y'now...Court Ordered Mandates to meet, and alla dat.

Right- what say I show you around a bit?

*Watch yer step. It can get kinda freaky in here*

To yer immediate left and right you can see the emergency exits, which he refers to as his 'primitive Terran audio receptors,' and I call his earballs.
If you look to the front, you can see the housings for his stalked, multi-lensed, occular appendages. Naturally, he hasta keep these hidden most of the time, and we make do with a reasonable facsimile of what the Terrans use. Normally, that gets projected through his Terran-Eye-Thingies to that big screen between the housings, but since our boy is passed out, well...

Over here we have his Dream Monitoring Station, but as usual it's only showing about 500 channels of 'Megan Fox plays strip Infinity with Alexis Krauss,' and one channel that just keeps showing 'Legends of the Fall,' over and over again.

*Iz really gud movie, dat's all -_-*

Oh, look, channel 69. Alexis won. Here come the tentacles...Oh, great, now there's gonna be all kindsa...secretions, and I'll be stuck mopping this place down again...
Y'know what? Can you hit that red button in front of you there? The one marked 'wake the hell up'?
Thanks.

HAMSTER?

Yes? I'm here. Wassup? How ya feeling?

I'M BEAT. DID YOU INTERRUPT MY DREAM, RIGHT AS IT WAS ABOUT TO GET GOOD, AGAIN?

I have no idea what yer talkin' about, buddeh. I was writing the intro fer yer post, that's all.

UH-HUH. RIGHT. WELL...WHATEVS. BACK IN MY HEAD, WE'VE GOT A POST TO WRITE.

Roger that.

*This was 40k 5th Edition...*

Hey, folks. SinSynn here.

Thanks for letting me get a couple o' extra Z's. I really needed 'em. I'm gonna need some extra energy for this post, cuz I've got a buncha stuff to say this week.
Let's begin, shall we?
...Since, clearly, I'm not gonna get to the grand finale of that dream...
Sigh.
...Hamsters.
Waddayagonnado?

So, hey...40k Fluffy Bunnies.
Gloat much?
I mean, really now. You guys are way too...chuffed. Yeah, I said it.
Some of the comments I've seen around the web are making me think youse guys are entirely too happy. And not only that- some of you are really getting a sadistic lil' thrill at rubbing the Competitive Types noses in it.
Wow.

One of the strangest things about the whole 'WAAC vs FAAC' drama is that the majority of the time, Fluffy Types are portrayed as the poor, unfortunate, downtrodden martyrs that they totally aren't.
Competitive Types didn't come storming into the FLG's like a horde of blood-crazed Mongols, overturn the game tables and stomp on everybody's lovingly-painted minis. They're not out to 'ruin the hobby.'
I mean, really now. 5th Edition saw the inception of events as varied as NOVA and the BoLS Con, and Adepticon grew accordingly. 'Ard Boyz became a yearly fiasco, as well. Sure, it was horrible, but every year  until the Space Wolf Codex came out I had a hell of a good time complaining about what a disaster it was.
...and then, of course, Games Workshop cancelled it...

*Oddly, it wasn't cancelled due to the awkward title and innuendo. Am I 'Ard Enuff?  Uhhh...*

I never understood how Competitive Types could possibly 'ruin the hobby,' but I guess 6th Edition has granted the hobby a reprieve, huh?
6th Edition 40k was definitely a gift from Games Workshop to Fluffy Bunnies everywhere, and an arrow to the knee of every Competitive 40k player anywhere. And while the Competitive Types are lamenting what was, the Fluffy Bunnies can look forward to...
...
What, exactly?

Don't get it twisted, folks- I am one of the many who doesn't really fall into either camp. I never attended an event with any anticipation of winning anything, but I did go to Tournaments...
I always thought 'Tournament' wasn't the right word to use for Hobby Events. Look at the stigma surrounding that word, and it's application, in our twisted lil' community now. There's so much more to spending a glorious day in the company of a big ol' group of your fellow gamers than can be properly implied by the word 'Tournament.'
'Event' is just so much better, in my mind...which DOES happen to have a Hamster living in it, so...yeah...

I can tell you, however, that walking down the rows of tables, admiring the armies, chatting with folks as you walk by, greeting friends, talking smack with rivals, and rocking the kind of hard-core gaming that sees you barely survive the day on junk food and soda (and be thankful for it) is simply a beautiful thing.

I guess Tournaments are kinda like that tree that Yoda takes Luke to in 'The Empire Strikes Back,' in a way. I'm certainly not gonna BS you, and say that no one brings a lightsaber to the tree. I've been to enough of them now that I have no problems walking away from a game here and there simply because I go to these things to have fun, and occasionally I bump into one of 'those' gamers.
The last dozen or so events I attended were Flames of War Tournaments- I can't begin to express how miserable a Tournament game of FoW can be when you get matched up against mister 'Serious Bizness,' but trust me when I tell you that I really do find it better to just concede the game immediately, and spare myself the frustration.

The Ultimate Rival has gotten mad at me a couple of times, actually, claiming that I could possibly skew the Tournament results by handing someone a victory and blah, blah, blah...
Yeah, whatevs.
This guy bought a lightsaber to the tree, and I didn't. Waddayagonnado?

*WAAC jerks they are*

But what kind of kingdom are the Fluffy Bunnies inheriting now?

The coming of 6th Edition definitely tore the final threads that bound the Fluffy Bunnies and the Competitive Types together. The Allies Matrix is directly responsible for that.
Previously, everyone that played Codex A suffered together, as one. If Codex A got an update, it's players either rejoiced together (Imperial Guard, Space Wolves), or wailed in misery together (Tyranids). No matter which side of the fence you fell on, there was at least that tenuous connection between the Fluffy Bunnies and Competitive Types.
Yes- even the Competitive Types have love for their army of choice, and yes- even the Fluffy Bunnies want a 'good' Codex, with multiple builds and units that don't suck.
...And then came the Allies Matrix...

Fluffy Bunnies saw it as a boon- now they can finally build that dream army...
Competitive Types saw it as a boon- now they can finally build their dream army...
Unfortunately, the difference between those two armies pretty much exemplifies the rift between the two groups.
Sigh.

Games Workshop has pulled all their Tournament Support, because clearly Tournaments are only for big ol' meanies, but...where are we supposed to like, gather, and do our thing?
Seriously, though- comic book people have their conventions, people that like the old TV show Xeena (and really, who doesn't?) have a convention, fer cryin' out loud...
Pretty much anybody that's into anything gets together, and does their thing. Often times, they even receive support and promotion from the creators/owners/manufacturers/publishers of the thing. Go figure.
Going one step further- their thing, including their gatherings or what have you, is often aided in many aspects by the creators/owners/manufacturers/publishers of the thing. An online presence is a given, for example. The vast majority of creators/owners/manufacturers/publishers of any given thing happily engage in open discourse with their fanbase, seeking to promote it. To grow it. To ensure that next year's gathering is bigger and better than this one, and their thing continues to be successful, and (wait for it) makes money.

Since I've already used 'chuffed' in this post, I might as well use 'arsed' as well...

Games Workshop can't be arsed to engage in any sort of discourse with their fanbase. Period. We know this. I mean, unless it's to send you a Cease & Desist Order for daring to string the words 'Space' and 'Marine' together in a sentence.
-_-

*Yeah, here...take my money, Games Workshop. Dammit I hate myself*

It's kinda hard to keep a straight face and attempt to accuse a company like Games Workshop of some nebulous fanboy charge like 'violating the spirit of the hobby,' or somesuch, I know but...what else can I do?

Their latest little dick move saw them send letters everywhere announcing their newest sales policy- retailers are no longer allowed to break open GW boxes and sell bitz or parts of any kind. Whole boxes, only.
Which isn't that bad, right? Cuz GW totally sells bitz on their website...
-_-

Why would they do this? Why do they keep doing things like this?
Somebody, please help me understand WHY?

Some of the things they've done in the past 5 years have been subtle- the move to bigger armies, more expensive kits...
The way they slowly made the 'Specialist Games' line disappear...
Imperial favoritism...(shush, you. It's a thing)

And then other things they do are just so blatantly distasteful to me that I just shake my head in wonder- Lawsuits...
Their lousy terrain kits suddenly becoming 'must-haves' (cuz nobody would ever buy a Sky Shield otherwise)...
And they way they've trained us to not only anticipate yearly price increases, but to accept them...What the? How'dat happen?

Games Workshop is now doing everything they can to attempt to ensure that the only place I can buy their product is from them, and that there is no chance that I could possibly receive any sort of discount should I do so.
But... why? How does this benefit them? Cuz I'll be honest- I will not be paying 15 dollars for a single Chaos Biker. I won't. Honestly, Games Workshop figures are ridiculously overpriced, and at this point the only way I was willing to buy them was with at least a 10% price cut...preferably 15 to 20%, to tell you the truth.

You know what I can do? I can walk away from this the same way I walk away from any other game I don't wanna play. What, does GW really think they're the only game around now? In the last two years I've given way more money to Battlefront, the Plastic Soldier Company and now Corvus Belli.
My pre-order Ko-Dali is on her way! Woot!

*I mail ordered about 150 bucks worth of Infinity stuffs this week. It could've been GW's money, if things were different*

At this point, I wonder if 40k is worth getting back into. I honestly don't feel like spending the money it's gonna take to build a proper Chaos Army, even though I am interested in taking on the project. Also, I am really, really deep into Infinity right now. Infinity is amazing.
Corvus Belli is working hard to attract my dollars, and look- there they go. Games Workshop seems to be doing the exact opposite, and despite myself I find myself harboring a tiny spark of curiosity about the upcoming Tau Codex.
Blah.

Hating on Games Workshop is SO last year, however. Now it's more 'point and laff,' and go spend yer money elsewhere. I no longer feel obligated to play 40k- I'm well past that stage. In today's market, shouldn't GW be pursuing my business? Shouldn't they be trying to convince me to come back to 40k?
Other companies are telling me they love me every day on FaceBook. Where you at, GW?

Pfft! The next time I hear from GW, it will likely be to announce this year's price increase, amirite?
:P

Amazingly, one of Games Workshop's biggest resources remains untapped and virtually ignored altogether. Worse yet, a large part of it has seemingly been discarded completely- the community that has developed around the game. Thousands of talented people with a a cornucopia of skill sets that would happily assist in the promotion of Games Workshop products.
But, y'know- it's hard not to laugh at the camera when yer reading, 'Finecast is an amazing material' off the cue cards, prolly....

Sigh, GW...c'mon, give me something to get amped about!

 I used to get amped at new releases, but the prices are so prohibitive now. Worse yet, the other games I play now will pretty much win out every time, since not only am I more enthused about them than I am about 40k, but overall they're less expensive and I get far more bang for my buck.

Over the next couple of weeks, the Hamster That Lives In My Head and I will be doing some spinning over whether or not we can be arsed to bother with 40k, and the huge investment in money, time and labor it represents, for a questionable return which includes continued frustration with Games Workshop and their ever-questionable corporate decisions...or could I possibly be chuffed to see what the Fluffy Bunnies will do, now that it's their turn.


Until next time, folks- Exit with catchphrase!

- SinSynn
(and The Hamster That Lives In His Head)