To Forgeworld or Not To Forgeworld...

In my frequent lurkings around various interwebs forums like Warseer, one subject that repeatedly comes up and spurs a fair bit of shall we say "passionate" debate is that of Forgeworld units and using them in a regular game of 40k.

Forgeworld seems to have garnered a reputation for being unbalanced and overpowered amongst some members of the internet community, though having browsed their various lists and units i fail to see what makes them so "uber-cheese", and when anecdotal evidence is presented it's usually said units being overpowered only when the player takes half a dozen of them in his list.

Most recently for example is this thread on Warseer about the Land Raider Achilles. The initial reaction was to decry the user and declare all Forgeworld materials junk, unfair and detrimental to your social life. It was only until later in the thread other opinions appeared pointing out that a Necron army is going to have a bit of a rough time against three Land Raiders of any variety, Forgeworld or otherwise.

And i'm sure we all have examples of lists that dominated us solely because they spammed a particular unit type. Those who have been playing a fair while will no doubt have faced an Iron Warriors artillery army of doom, back in the days when they got an extra Heavy Support choice and could take Basilisks in their army, where you were lucky to survive the first round of shooting let alone win the game. Or for the fantasy players amongst you, the Beastman Minotaur army that has emerged with the most recent Army Book. Having faced that with my own Ogres i can assure you its unpleasant and pretty hard to deal with.

Now i think part of the problem with Forgeworld is the apparent "exclusivity" of their kits. Not all of us can afford to throw £300 at a new model for our armies, or heck £50 on a new book, so a lot of us are priced out of these new options. There's also the mistaken view that only things sold inside a GW store can possibly be legal to take, an opinion that was once levelled at my Grey Knights no less as they were no longer on the shelves.

This difficulty in acquiring the miniatures and rules prompts a feeling of unfairness i suspect in some people. Why should Joe Fancypants get a brand new kit just because he has several hundred quid burning a hole in his pocket. This coupled with half the people decrying Forgeworld never actually reading any of the rules and relying on internet hyperbole to inform them results in the idea that all Forgeworld is evil and people using it should be shunned. A situation that is far from productive for the hobby.

Now as far as i am concerned, i will play anyone using Forgeworld anytime, because i delight in facing new models and seeing fancy units on the tabletop. That's where i get the bulk of my enjoyment from the hobby. I will admit sometimes i am rather envious of the player, i would love to be able to afford a warhound or chaos mammoth of my own, but that thankfully doesn't prevent me from enjoying the game. Afterall if i can't afford one of my own, at least i get to experience one on the tabletop even if it is stamping all over my army.

This is a topic i'm sure will return again and again on the internet, and its one i've taken a particular interest in with the future release of Chaos Dwarf units by Forgeworlds Warhammer division. It would be a damn shame if such debates resulted in the amazing sculpts being produced by Forgeworld never seeing a tabletop.