‘Warhammer: The Old World’- Games Workshop Is Losing The Comp Wars
Take a look at how homemade comp rules are dividing the Warhammer: The Old World community.
We are now a little more than two years into the Old World. It’s a really great game with a growing player base and a ton of events. It’s also not a perfect game. The game has one or two uncertainties in the rules, and here and there, you can find a problem with the balance. Now, GW does try to address these things with FAQs, Errata, and the Matched Play Guide. But for a lot of people, this isn’t enough to “fix” the game. This has led to a lot of home-made fixes for the game, fan-made FAQs, army composition rules, and even rewrites of rules. We took a look at this topic last year, and since then, things have only gotten worse. So today, let’s take a look at where things stand and how it’s affecting the game.
The Three Fronts of the Comp War
I think there are really three areas in which you can see this “war” being fought and where fan-made supplements are having a big effect.
Army Comp Rules
The first of these is in Comp, or Army Composition, rules. GW provides some pretty basic ones in the Matched Play Guide, but a lot of events and formats have their own additions. These are generally aimed at addressing some sort of game balance issue. It might be a limit on flyers or monsters. They often include limits on max unit strength and things like that. Done well, they are fairly small changes targeted to provide a certain kind of experience (more casual, super hardcore, etc.). These aren’t always bad, as they can tailor an event and make it feel more unique, but they do change the game.
Community FAQ/Errata
Next up, you have fan/community/event FAQs/Errata. These, at their core, seek to answer some grey area questions. At their most restrained, they are pretty small and deal with a few outliers. However, they can also be used to rewrite parts of the game. Sometimes they go directly against the official GW rules, changing things as the writer sees fit. They can be very large and provide for a significantly different game.
Community Full Faction Rewrites
Lastly, you have broad rules/army rewrites. These efforts outright rewrite some of the rules of the game, and/or present alternative army lists you can play. Again, these can range from very small changes to attempt to correct a few perceived mistakes, to much larger attempts to balance the rules. These have mostly focused on the Legacy Armies, with the most famous being the Renegade Legacy Pack. However, they are not limited only to Legacy Armies, and some rewrite core armies as well. Combined, these three things are generally all referred to as comp, so when you hear someone talking about an event’s “comp,” they will mean a combination of all three.
The Battlelines Have Been Drawn
Last year, when we talked about this a lot, the comp discussion was being driven by events. Several of the major events were using their own set of comp rules. However, since then, things have only escalated. There are a number of large comp systems/FAQs/rewrites that have some widespread popularity both in certain regions and internationally. The largest of these remains the current Squarebased Renegade Legacy pack. A significant % of events have adopted it. You also have the Squarebased Comp system, which fewer events use. Then you have others such as Aussie Comp, Italian Rules, WTC Rules, German Comp, and more. German Comp is one of the more extreme examples here, making changes to both Legacy and Core armies, as well as the game rules and army comp rules. It’s effectively a different game.
You also have a number of attempts at large community FAQs. In the US, you have things like the Mid Atlantic FAQ. Internationally, you have the COMFAQ (Community FAQ). Some events will use these FAQs, and some won’t. For instance, in the US, two of the largest events, NOVA and Adepticon, do not use any of the above packs or FAQs, but do have their own comp systems and FAQs.
How This Affects You
Now, for a lot of players, this might not affect you at all. If you play with a relatively small group of players, you likely have a set way of playing the game, possibly with your own “comp,” and just stick to that. But for players who are trying to play at events or with strangers, it has a huge impact. Each event or even game can mean figuring out the rules they are using and then learning a new version of the game to play. This isn’t just “I can only take 3 Lanterns instead of 4.” The number of attacks a unit has, or if Frenzy works when being charged, can change event to event. All of that creates a lot of player confusion, a lot to learn, and a large barrier to entry. The effect is that we are losing a predictable rules baseline for the game that players, especially new players, can rely on.
Why All Of This Is An Issue
Now I understand the impetus behind making these comp rules. And I don’t want to attack anyone doing them; most of the people are coming from a genuine place of trying to improve the game. I myself am involved with some of these efforts and events. To be honest, it’s a hard call, because the state of the game likely does require some amount of comp, at least for a more casual/balanced event. You also need to answer questions that aren’t clear.
At the same time, it’s a slippery slope. While I personally think you should keep fixes restrained, or targeted for the specific vibe of an event, once you start fixing things, it’s tempting to fix everything you think is an issue. And this is leading to where we are. With a massive divide in comp systems that is becoming hard to manage and understand, it can be a huge turn-off to players. I don’t want to have to learn a ton of different versions of the game. I also don’t want to be the bad guy when I say I don’t want to play the version you like to. The removal of a real Old World rules baseline makes it hard for new players to play or for people to even talk about the game.
This Is GW’s Thing To Fix
The biggest issue with all these comp fixes is that they lack legitimacy. Various packs are accepted by some people and not by others. Other than a personal preference (and mine might be different from yours), nothing makes one better than the other. Because of this, none of them is widely accepted. It’s really only GW that has the power to put out a widely accepted fix that brings the game to a level baseline. The Matched Play Guide proved they could do this (kind of). While it didn’t fix all the issues, the majority of people and events used it, and a number of events dropped a lot of their comp for a while after it came out.
What this tells me is that more regular and common updates are needed. All these community fixes are stepping in to fill the gap GW has left. If GW would just fill that gap, we would have fewer issues. In doing this, GW will also have to find an answer to the issue of Legacy Armies. I’m not sure if this is something we will get in this edition, but it’s what is needed to end the divides we are seeing. Until then, I don’t really know if there is a workable answer.
Let us know what you think about the comp issues, down in the comments!
