40K "Not 7th" Boxed Set Details

[phoenix01]

2nd edition set: Marines vs Orks
3rd edition set: Marines vs Dark Eldar
4th edition set: Marines vs Tyranids
5th edition set: Marines vs Orks
6th edition set: Marines vs Marines + Squishy humans
6th edition set II: Marines vs Orks

I mean I get the need for Marines as the poster Mary Sues for 40k and everything, but there are four 'antagonist' armies that have never seen the inside of a boxed set (Tau, Eldar, Daemons, Necrons) but apparently he prevailing logic, at least in the community, is that the people starter sets are aimed at are too bloody stupid to figure out how to play with something that isn't T4.

Some of the armies out there are unlikely to ever see in the starter box. Let's look at twelveyear old Little Timmy and his dad. They've never heard of Games Workshop before today. They come into their local GW store and Little Timmy, who is a big Science Fiction fan, wants to know "Who are the 'Good Guys' and who are the 'Bad Guys'?" Now, with Space Marines the simple answer for the newbie like Little Timmy is, "The Space Marines are the 'Good Guys'; kind of like intergalactic knights." But what about the Tau and the Eldar? If they were the opponents in the starter box to the "Good Guy" Space Marines, that would make them the "Bad Guys" in Little Timmy's mind. Little Timmy won't understand that there are no real "Good Guys". Many would argue that the Tau and Eldar aren't evil (they don't look evil), so Little Timmy gets confused. He bigins to lose interest. So, while the Dark Eldar are always an option for a starter box, their "Good Guy" cousins are too good for their own good so to speak. Same as for the Tau.

What about Daemons? Well remember, Little Timmy's dad is going to be footing the bill for this game. He's ok with Orks ("Goofy green fantasy-like monsters that sound like something out of the Lord of the Rings") or Chaos Marines ("Those Space Marines are green and these are red, sure, whatever") or Tyranids ("Monster bugs, kind of cool, like in the movie Aliens"), but Daemons are just too evil ("Demons? Like from Hell? Let's go Little Timmy. I'll buy you a new X-Box One game"). As far as Necrons, they are a difficult choice for a first army. I mean they are cool and all, but cold and impersonal for a new player with which to identify.

[FireHazard]

This rumour pleases me.

[DrLove42]

Once again i'll be buying this...mostly for the rule book. Sell the marines and maybe keep the Orks....just to paint cos i like Orks

[ElectricPaladin]

I am totally buying this. Let's see...

• I have one tactical squad. Do I want a second one? YES.
• I have one jump assault squad and one foot assault squad. Do I want a second of either? YES.
• Have many sanguinary priests, but would I enjoy a neat, specially sculpted fourth? YES.
• My captain has a highly idiosyncratic loadout. Would it be good to get a more "generic" one to insulate me against some radical change in the codex? YES.
• I have ten Death Company with jump packs. Could I use a second squad to assemble on foot? YES.

I have already arranged with a local Ork player to split the box if/when it comes out.

[spagunk]

I'd be interested to know how much is changed in the rulebook on whether or not to keep it or sell it along with the Orks. I paid my 75 for the friggin tome, I'm not going to replace it that quickly.

[Cpt Codpiece]

oh right on time for me to pick up my blood angels again hopefully by then FW wont be onto dark angels.... then i dont know what to do.... hitting mid 30s, i think A) id not get much for my spare kidney B) things are slowing down.... i may need that damn kidney C) just when i should be starting to think about the fat guy in red for the little one too

[LibertineIX]

Escalation league started at my local GW so I decided to use my BAs again and now that I am on this wave, I am quite happy.

However, I do wish there was something other than Space Marines featured in this, maybe IG? It might force people to use IG in a fluffy manner, with thousands of troops not tanks, and maybe have the opposite end appear to be elite underdogs.

[Power Klawz]

Orks vs Marines, boring.

You mean AMAZING I think.

[Baneblade]

As phoenix said regarding demons is true. Poor little Timmy cannot be corrupted by those devil worshipers, so mommy and daddy will not buy. The same is true with Dark Eldar. An entire army built around taking slaves torture so save their own souls. Way too dark and evil for little Timmy. 3rd edition got away with Dark Eldar because it was a new race, and overall a more mature setting. It was before 40k entered the mainstream, thanks to the well received Dawn of War series. It was also the era with the Juan Deiz demon sculpts.

Although with the recent Dark Elf release and the Medusa monster with a bare breast I was actually surprised. I had thought GW would not release such an "adult" with nudity again. Maybe GW will reign in on the over the top Mary Sue fluff and take a more mature look at their material again. After all the subject material is not exactly kid friendly. It is a game where genocide, xenophobia and other dark themes are the norm. A little less Monty Python Spanish Inquisition and Draigo, and more of 3rd edition themes may return to the game in the near future.

[Power Klawz]

Not really understanding the "Little Timmy" diatribe in this thread. I don't think there's ever been such a target consumer. My friends and I started playing around the age of 12 to 13, but we were all very intelligent and imaginative children who could understand the more "adult" themes of the 40k universe, in fact the complexity of the narrative was what really drew me into the hobby in the first place.

I think you're failing to give children and young adults due credit. Not every parent is a bible thumping zealot and not every child is obsessed with simplistic hero tropes. Sure flashy paint jobs and "cool" minis are going to attract younger children more than boring or staid sculpts, but lets be honest here: they're going to attract more adults as well so there's really no functional distinction.

I've always understood that 40k stopped short of describing the true atrocity of war in its fiction but I've always felt that this was an aesthetic choice as opposed to a marketing decision. You cannot truly exalt in the glory of planetary war when you have to keep in mind the real implications of genocide, cultural destruction, rape and desperation. You emphasize the heroic or villainous nature of the main players, the valiant last stands amid a hail of bullets and screaming, bestial monsters. You might even touch on the effects all out war have on society on a macro level, but very seldom has GW ever truly delved into the interpersonal effects of war or taken the perspective of anything less than a heroic personae.

I guess snake-boob monsters are a bit avant guard and I'm sure I can find grounds to object to them on principal, but I really don't see them as an indicator of a higher "maturity" level for the game at large. I mean putting boobs on a snake woman isn't what immediately springs to mind when I think of maturity.