Early in the year - post the GW apocalypse - I was looking for a massed rank Fantasy ruleset. There was Kings of War and a couple of community driven initiatives, Furionhammer and Ninth Age.
I was very interested in Ninth Age as it was being developed largely by an ETC based player base. However I quickly came to the conclusion that, for me, the layers of complexity being added might be counterproductive.
As time goes on I remain optimistic as to the final product and so check back spasmodically to check on progress. IMO it still has some unnecessary layers of detail and the project would benefit from the addition of technical writers with English as functional language.
Recently though the published an update of their organisational/governance/workflow model:
This provides an insight into just how much effort is being directed to the project.
I intend to continue to monitor the project though I must admit the simplicity in mechanisms and rules writing is one of the key attractions of Kings of War.
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I salute their hard work and huge amount of effort, but like you, I want to focus on one game at a time. 9th Age might be a possibility in the future, but KoW is the game for now.
ReplyDeleteI admire their dedication and work, but I still refuse to believe it has any long term future. It has no gaming company/miniature company support, so as the old Warhammer figures become obsolete and unattainable it will be down to fully proxied armies with all the issues that will create, and more importantly no new recruitment. 9th Age is Garagehammer for the old guard, period.
ReplyDeleteFor me because I'm rebasing for KoW my days of even games of 8th are pretty much over which lessens the attraction to dip a toe into 9th Age, plus their abandonment of just 'fixing' 8th and instead completely rewriting the game and every army book means having to literally learn the game anew. No thanks.
I think you are correct in that they face an uphill battle. It appears those playing it are enjoying it but like you I worry that each year will see a net drop in players.
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying KoW - but have fond memories of 8th . Part of the attraction is the newness and the 20+ armies I can investigate. In that respect I think it is a safer path to travel where you have commercial support.
One thing I know, I'm unlikely to invest new time and dollars in GW game systems given what happened to 8th. Yes they look at their bottom line but then so do I in terms of time and emotional resource