Playing 30K Will Be An 'Appalling Stalemate' - Straight From The Horus' Mouth

So I managed to spend a few hours reading Horus Heresy: Betrayal the other day. As I suspected, it's an incredibly dull read that covers much of the ground from the original trilogy of novels, but with all narrative and character from those 'pulp classics' stripped away. As far as 30k gaming is concerned, the total lack of alien diversity makes it an extremely unattractive prospect. Given that GW have worked hard over the years to populate a galaxy full of toy armies that play with tactical heterogeneity, it seems odd that there's so much fuss over a version of the game that has the heart of that contrast and mix erased. And don't take my word for this; here's a quote from Alan Bligh from the book:

"...matched in power and weapons, armour and skill, and above all in the unshakable resolve to fight, the result was an appalling stalemate" Horus Heresy: Betrayal, p.50

I kid you not. This made me laugh out loud while I was reading it on the train home from work. As always, I operate a philosophy of live and let live, so if this sounds like the game of your dreams then I wish you well!

All of this stalemate could be yours!

More From The 'Say No To 30k' Campaign

Last week I outlined some of my less than positive thoughts about all this Horus Heresy business. A rather more 'hard line' editorial over at Blood Of Kittens makes similar points, but... you know... 'harder'. Here's a snippet:

The new models don't represent Rogue Trader era of my youth, but the Black Library error of the present. It seems like Forge World is relying on the Black Library vision of the Heresy and not the canon of the past... The Horus Heresy will only divide the community that is already pretty small. The Horus Heresy will become the premium game for a game that is already a luxury to begin with... It also divides the pocket-book: many players won't invest in their current armies and instead throw money away on this sub-game. It takes everything that was bad about Apocalypse and multiplies it by ten.

The Boring Horus Heresy, OR, Just Say No To 30K

Am I totally out of touch, or is all this hype about the Horus Heresy getting incredibly tiresome already? I just recently read the 'original trilogy' of novels - Horus Rising, False Gods, and Galaxy in Flames - and they were ok as far as pulpy science fantasy goes. Good, well paced reads, and more-or-less instantly forgettable. Cheese, albeit good cheese.

Angron - seriously? Anger-on!? A slice of cheese too far

I just can't work out what all the fuss is about. Obviously Forge World are happily cashing-in on people's interest with a whopping load of 30k models arriving and in the pipeline. Maybe others are just more turned on by clanky looking power armour than I am? Fancy a bit of marine-on-marine action, sir? Step right this way!

Then there's he-of-the-very-silly-name: Angron ("grrrr"). On a baseline level, paying £50 for a Primarch model seems ridiculous when there are so many other great models for the collection and gaming table from the excellent Forge World. Or is it just me?

For those who are really wetting themselves over all this Horus business, I simply say: enjoy! If this is really your thing then have a great time with it all. I'm just being a bit of a naysayer - some of the models look pretty cool. For GW I wonder whether it's really a good idea business wise to introduce what is essentially a different game at a time when they've just brought out a widely celebrated version of 40K. Surely gamers and collectors alike will have limited disposable incomes and this could risk splitting the market? Time will tell I suppose. At least they've made a massive improvement with White Dwarf, so they obviously have some kind of idea what they're doing...