Forgeworld Denied!

Recently we have seen a lot of new changes: random charge lengths, explosions of psychic powers, and flyer extravaganza. During my tournament years in the hobby, one fact has remained the same and that is that people are not happy playing against forgeworld.  There has always been a stigma against imperial armor and forgeworld units as if they belonged to another game.  I think it is interesting to see these rules and models step out of the fog and into the tournament arena.  One thing is for sure: they change the meta of the game once introduced and make armies that may have once seemed defenseless quite superior. 

With the emergence of 6^th edition a whole new bucket of rules has landed on our doorstep and I deem these new rules to be the catalyst for the forgeworld changes we see happening today. While the Adepticon Championships remains forgeworld free major events such as the Bay Area Open and WargamesCon are welcoming 40k Approved models and rules to be played in their individual GT events. The addition of these units and models drastically impacts my decision making process as a tournament player in making an army list for attending these events.  I know barring the Gladiator event @ Adepticon in 2009 with the Reaver Titans most of the time big forgeworld models do not end up winning it all but now with a number of these models impacting the game with Skyfire rules or flyer support to armies that lack it we could see some big changes. I think to ignore these changes and overlook the potential units you could face at these events would be a drastic mistake and looking into what potentially could help your army should be a must this year. 

At the latest T-Shift open event over in Seattle they allowed the use of 40k approved models and units and the second place finisher was sure taking full advantage of the format; bringing a few contemptor dreads to the battle.  Above is a picture of the Forgeworld Caestus Ram I won in the Raffle at the event. I contemplated building an entire Vulcan army so I could use it at one of the upcoming GT’s allowing 40k approved models and rules.  I think we will continue to see a push for forgeworld since the use of these rules opens the door for so many more armies and lists.  I foresee every event in the near future allowing 40k approved models since they will inevitably become part of the normal game and become accepted. I look forward to the changes to come and I have already begun my research into all the potential units out there that I never considered a part of the game.