40K Friday - Forgeworld

One thing that I hear from time to time on 40K podcasts or see discussed in forums is Forgeworld. In particular I see and hear griping that Forgeworld isn't allowed in some tournaments.I don't get the complaining. The dress-up pieces like icons and symbols, alternate bolter patterns, and alternate figures for existing units (from old marks of marine armor to things like the ork biker boss) are always allowed and generally make things look better with no rules impact - those are great. It's only really a problem when we get into new units, new tanks, and new types of things that need special rules.

We don't really use any FW stuff here and we rarely play in tournaments so I don't care much whether it's allowed in tournaments or not. It used to be expensive and unbalanced, now it's expensive and ... less unbalanced. I've seen some pieces I have liked but helping the Apprentices get their armies up and running eats up most of my extra 40k budget. Of course, some people have a bunch of it and I'm sure they'd like it to be included in everything. So why shouldn't it be?

• I open up the marine codex and I don't see contemptor dreadnoughts. The codex is the complete list of allowed units for that army in 40K. If it's not in the codex it should be optional. The only area of weirdness we're dealing with right now is flyers and that's mainly because we're still in an edition changeover that went and made flyers official, and even then the  flyers are listed in the back of the rulebook under the unit classifications. Other than this unusual case, if it's not in the book it's not part of the army. I'm totally comfortable with this especially in a tournament context. A competitive environment is the last place to introduce experimental/optional units. As much complaining as there has been over the years about everything from scenario balance to comp scoring in tournaments this seems like a no-brainer.

• I can't walk into a store and buy a forgeworld model, even a GW store. The only way to acquire a FW model is to order it online. Until anyone can walk into a store and pick up an Ork mega-dread then it should be optional.  

• Many tournaments or campaigns are promotional vehicles for a local store. What incentive do they have to allow in models and units that they can't carry, even if they wanted to? I'm betting they would like to see people mainly playing with models that could be purchased in that same store. Yes this could be extended to limit the use of conversions and alternative models as well as FW stuff, but it's not like that's new - in the past quite a few tournaments have been "GW models only". I don't think rewording that to exclude FW is a big deal.

So there are rules, access, and business reasons to not allow Forgeworld models into every event. This lack of universal acceptance should not be a surprise - FW stuff has never been an automatic "in". If someone orders a nice big expensive FW model with plans on using it in a tournament prior to asking if FW is allowed, well, I'd say that's a bad idea. If someone buys it because it's a cool model that works well and fits in with their army then excellent - that's what they're for! Enjoy them! Play with your friends and have a blast! Not every model you build is going to be allowed in every tournament. I've had one guy complain about my old minis - he didn't know they were old GW mini's, probably because they were older than he was -sigh. Heck my Ork Bomma was built for some optional scenario thing years ago and it's never been tournament legal - but we're using it now at home. My Battlewagons aren't GW either. My Kans are built out of spare parts so they might be - technically they are 90% GW parts - but I don't really count on them being allowed. My drop pods are old, built for a time before GW made drop pod models - allowable? Probably not! 

As mentioned above we play almost exclusively at home with friends and family so that's what I build for and where I expect to use stuff. Given that, I never have to worry about what's legal or not. Tournaments are always going to be more picky and restrictive about these kinds of things. As long as you understand that and stay on top of the latest rules for that event, then it should be less disappointing when it happens.

So, enjoy your cool models! Enough with the complaining! The tournaments aren't everything - don't let them define the game for you!

Next Friday: More Dark Angels!