What if GW AoSified 40k?

[WoollyMammoth]

@hobgoblinclub
The kids thing was just a snippet, a bit out of context. I'm taking about what I actually see as somone trying desperately to get a community going. At GW they tell me "people are coming in all the time and playing AoS". But who are these people? They are not posting on GW Facebook, they are not posting in the Facebook I made to promote AoS, they are not posting in the state community forum, they are not posting on any of the Facebook sites for the 3 major tabletop stores in the area. They are never playing when I go to the stores, and the workers all tell me nobody is playing AoS there. They are not posting in the local city warhammer player group (which has degraded to 40k only). Recently I talked to the guy who was 'the' guy playing AoS at GW, and he said he hasn't picked up a fantasy model in months. 

But somehow there are people playing, buying stuff and trying AoS. Posting on twitter, etc. I'm sure sales are fine. But the type of sales are very different from the type of sales in 8th. There are many more 'casual' sales of people buying something on a whim. But if there are 1000 people buying a box, or two friends playing games in their garage - its not going to build a community unless people are interested in seeking each other out, playing games together and sharing their hobby as a group.

In my areas the nature of AoS is far too casual, nobody is looking to share the hobby. And judging from the complete lack of organized events that can be found nation wide, I really don't see this as an isolated thing. A major part of this is that most people playing AoS are new and don't know about the community aspect. Most 8th players quit. If I'm wrong, please let me know, I'd love to hear about communities that are actually booming in the US. 

[Somnicide]

A lot of rules does not make a game complex. Look at Go. There are like four rules in that game and it is incredibly complex. 

I stopped playing fantasy in 7th and recently came back with AoS after giving it an entire ration of mocking when the rules came out. I was wrong (though in my defense, I feel GW made a huge mistake with all their ridiculous rules like, challenge your opponent to a dance off, or if your moustache is better... Those trolly rules were just flat insulting to many people) anyway, like I was saying before my old grudge flared up, I am man enough to admit I was wrong.

I absolutely think 40k would benefit from an AoS style rules makeover but the community would melt down. The way I would approach it, were I God-emperor of GW is to release a casual league called Warhammer:Age of Armageddon and include warscrolls for the armies involved with a retcon for a Tau expeditionary force on the fringe and release new awesome commander models. The new models would allow my core business of selling models to continue, I could sell awesome looking but overpriced coffee table books for the campaign with some battle plans to introduce that concept, while also introducing the concept of warscrolls in general. The new core rules would take up the last 4 pages as always (might need 6, and have it be like the rpg fold screens for 40k), and either include warscrolls or maybe even just send to the webpage for them.

 

you wouldn't have to over invest in new background but could expand on the existing if you wanted and the new models could slot into existing armies just fine.