Warhammer 40K has come a long, long way since its early competitive days. Here’s a look back at some of the Grimdark’s Old School teething problems.
Goatboy here with a walk down memory lane right into the heart of the good ole days nonsense. I want to take you back to the past where so many old players think there is a pile of strategy that is missing from today’s current 40k smash fest. I think the game has evolved to be better through the recent Editions. We did have some issues with todays current 10th Edition game but as a whole it is in a whole lot better place then it was during some of the past game versions.
QUICK! Everyone run to the left wall!
Digital Pairings and Event Setup Mad Dash
I was talking about this old-school memory during the LSO last week with the head judge Adam Solis. I don’t know if most of the players remember the old tourney days of having to run to one of the walls in the old event hall, finding your name on a huge printed list, and figure out if you can find the table you’re battling on. You would rush towards whatever corner was closer, feel the press of antsy gamers searching for their name, and hoping that tall Shiner boy isn’t in your way cuz you’ve got a case of the baby legs. We might wax poetic about the past and how we were an amazing 40k player but now having your match ups right there in your hand as well as the easy of seeing where you currently stand is amazing.
It turns out that rolls of felt are really heavy… Also SPACE SHARKS!
Felt Table Mats / Book Hills
Look I know it took a bit to get on the neoprene band wagon with some events but does anyone else remember how much of a pain the felt was back in the day? How about rolling it all out, taping down the “deployment zones”, and hoping it still looks ok after being stored for a long time? Or what if some water spilled on it and now it is “damp” like some kind of plague riddled swamp? Do you remember your dice rolling hitting the table top and rolling away to freedom? Or how about the “hills” made by putting books or other nonsense under the matts in order to create some kind of truly rolling battle of desperation? I was so happy to see these go away after years of setting up long lines of table tops with rolls and rolls of forest green felt.
Technically legal (subject to verification)
Physical Printed / Handwritten Army Lists
Oh the good ole days of creating witty lists that hopefully had the right points on the side. Or how about all those games where someone magically has a plasma pistol that wasn’t paid for? Or the idea that you had to pay for everything? A buddy was so good at finding list issues when he would poor over the badly typed out list. Did they use Excel to add everything up or just hope someone wouldn’t notice? I remember printing out 8 lists for a 5 round event just due to the fact I would lose one or two in the mad dash to the next game.
T’au/Astra Militarum Paradise!
Planet Bowling Ball
The old school term for any table with no real line of sight blocking terrain. There was a time that tables were pre set up with whatever terrain the TO had available. Some of the events were pretty awesome with themed tables and heavily invested in terrain. Others were a few walls, some badly damaged trees, and a prayer that you didn’t get paired into a gunline on that table. I know sometimes this locked in terrain type can be boring but there was a time where you had no where to hide even on your side of the table as you faced a pile of Dark Eldar vehicles ready to Dark Lance you into space.
Mysterious Ranking Systems and Sports Scores
This is the last one and something I did alright with. It is the old mysterious favorite opponent nonsense you sometimes had to deal with back in the day. The idea that some events could game a system to help other people win. It wasn’t always the case and now events with Favorite player systems are more transparent but back in the day it could be a whole weird dance – especially if you were an out of towner coming to an event. It was always a weird one to me as normally my opinion of playing the game – even back in the day when I might have been considered good – was to at least try to have fun. Win or lose as long as something cool, dumb, or ridiculous happened in the game I was pretty happy. Do I fail all my charges? Does my Thunder Wolf Super Goatman squad not kill a single model? Does my lone character wreck an entire unit, break them, and then chase them off the board?
Is there anything groan-worthy you miss from the good ole days? Is there something that still rings true and amazing that we just don’t have anymore in 10th Edition? Are you tired of too many dang digital stuff and want to go completely back to pen and paper?
Thomas Reidy, aka Goatboy, the ever-evil member of BoLS. I do arts, play 40k, and even paint a lot of stuff. I have been playing Warhammer 40K since the 1990s, and have won multiple national events including Adepticon and GW GTs. I’ve been writing for BoLS for 15 years. Look at my Instagram to see what I am working on – or working on for someone. I am always doing something hobby related.