So long, farewell 5th Edition!

Or not until after Brocon in just less than 3 weeks time.  I have increasing apathy about playing 5th edition now, so thinking about taking something wacky but as lists only have to be in next week Friday, I might still go back to the Loganwing that served me well at Moofool in March.

Anyways this post is like so many others on the internet a farewell to 5th from me - what I liked and disliked, highs and lows.  As I only came into 5th edition in May 2009, after starting again in March that year with a 3rd ed rulebook we had rediscovered, it was a revelation in terms of detail and speed of play.  So here I go:

Liked:

- The lack of consolidation into combats:  My brother in law always managed to roll well and consolidate  into combat and soundly stomp my guardians/tactical marines

- Speed of play:  The rules played quickly with only really wound allocation being a little difficult to understand initially.  

- Cover saves:  Having my guardians/termangants/dire avengers able to grab a 3+ save when going to ground in area terrain was great. 

- Codex updates:  Although this slowed down in the last year (only 1 in the 12 months preceding 6th ed.) it seemed that dexes were coming every 3+ months initially.

- Model support:  From the Dark Eldar codex onwards it appeared that GW understood that if they produced models timeously, then people wouldn't be so prone to buy from other companies.  Indeed the Necron range has been produced completely in less than 9 months! 

- FAQs:  Still not often enough, still not consistent enough but they came out and answered most of the questions that seemed to generate discussion on the internet.  

- Forgeworld:  Over the course of 5th they released a number of excellent books and some amazing models.  Now almost as cheap as GW .... crazy

Disliked:

- Mech spam:  It only got worse with guard, then wolves, then BA, then DE and then finally reaching its pinnacle with Fortitude Psybacks of the GK.  I would have loved to be privvy to GW sales figures on Razorbacks in 2010 at the the height of Razorspam.

- Robin Cruddace:  Tyranids RIP 2010, courtesy Space Wolves, Dark Eldar.

- Dark Eldar:  Awful awful awful - they were worse than Space wolves at making sure I never unpacked my Tyranids.  

- Lack of Terrain:  I cried a little everytime I went to a tournament and saw the barren boards.  I think I was spoiled by Warpcon 2010 and expected that every tournament would be as good, many were not.  It is something that is going to become even more difficult to do in 6th as pointed out by the guys over at the War Altar (http://waraltar.onthestep.net/2012/07/getting-grip-on-6th-edition-terrain.html).  I would go so far to as say that we don't use enough LOS blocking terrain and this affects the ETC team as in general a lot more is used in Europe. 

- Covers saves:  Disliked the lack of diversification in cover saves and the 4+ standard for vehicles really became more irritating as the number of vehicles rose of the tabletop

Highs:

- Space Wolf Codex:  I was in the process of reading the Ragnar novels when I became aware of the release of a new codex in September 2009, not knowing that they would soon become a hated force on the tabletop with missile spam.  I now have more wolf models than anything else and they are my favourite force to use.  For Fenris!

- Tournaments:  Some great tournaments have sprung up over the last few years.  I have had the privilege of attending a few of them and want to give a big thanks to the TO's for organizing them.  Now if only more tournaments would be forgeworld friendly!

- People:  While I don't get to play often, I have had few bad experiences on the tabletop, with the crowd that attend tournaments here in Ireland being a great group.  I have had the privilege of playing some great players over the course of the last 2 1/2 years and learnt a lot from playing them.  Not going to mention names but thanks to all those who have put up with my indecision and forgetfulness when playing and being so gracious with allowing things that you had perfect right not to!  

- Necron Codex:  some 8 months later and few folks can be heard to say that the Necrons are a bad codex, yet the initial release was surrounded by noise over how terrible it was.  Probably my second favourite army to play and so full of tricks and shenanigans.  

- Rise of the Internet:  So much anger and rage, so much terrible advice but ultimately a good thing, the internet has brought players together, shared opinions and allowed forums (like http://w-ired.org/forum/) to thrive. 

Lows:

- Rankings HQ/ETC tensions:  bleah this was very disappointing as rifts evolved over what constitutes ranking tournaments, what time frames allowed, etc etc etc  This is a game with toy soldiers, to have fun, lets just all do that instead of arguing! 

- Tyranid Codex:  So much potential wasted, all to sell a few Trygon kits.  Oh and Pyrovores - yeah those sold well. 

- Price rises:  Yeah nothing more to be said here - I think that trading/ebay etc is now the only viable way of having multiple forces as prices are now too steep to purchase new, even from online retail stores. 

- Finecast:  Awful - have spent 6 months trying to get a proper Immotekh model that isn't bubbly/miscast.  

- Perceived Codex Creep:  No doubt that it existed to some extent but not to the extent that the internet ranted about.  

So goodbye 5th edition.  We had a lot of great times and some bad ones.  Overall it has been fun but now it is time to say so long and farewell.