Another digital supplement was just launched - Be'lakor

[andalucien]

It costs $4 and consists of rules for one and only one model, Bel'Akor.   I already bought it, because, hey $4.

He's available as an HQ choice for Chaos Space Marines or Chaos Daemons. 
He's 350 points and is basically an alternative choice to the totally-maxed-out daemon princes you see people running around with.

He actually seems pretty different, powerful, yet fair, for his points... very cool character.   Daemon prince stats, but,
- he has Eternal Warrior
- he's a mastery level 3 psyker that only knows Telepathy, but he automatically knows ALL of telepathy.
- Wings, no armour, but a 4++ and shrouded.
- A few other more minor abilities

Effort level relative to # of pages on this release seems decent.

It seems that GW will be coming out with these sorts of digital releases quite frequently.   Interesting.   

[Benjamin]

Unit itself looks pretty good. Trend of digital releases, nickel and diming the customer, not so good.

My concern is for making fair events. We'll have to make the increasingly difficult to decision whether to include all supplements or no supplements.

[andalucien]

Yes, that is mainly why I posted.

You kind of either need to
a. Put a lot of time into understanding each supplement and stay on top of it (and decide which ones are OK).
b. Just disallow all content other than certain "core" content (like, codexes).
c. Just allow all official supplements and know that you're probably going to be suprised with stuff you've never heard of.

[Erich]

You kind of either need to
a. Put a lot of time into understanding each supplement and stay on top of it (and decide which ones are OK).
b. Just disallow all content other than certain "core" content (like, codexes).
c. Just allow all official supplements and know that you're probably going to be suprised with stuff you've never heard of.

All of the above are viable. I would expect games to take a bit longer with "A" and "C" as players discuss the stat lines, special abilities and wargear of units that are "digital exclusive". Perhpas we'll need longer matches or smaller games.

[Benjamin]

Yes, that is mainly why I posted.

You kind of either need to
a. Put a lot of time into understanding each supplement and stay on top of it (and decide which ones are OK).
b. Just disallow all content other than certain "core" content (like, codexes).
c. Just allow all official supplements and know that you're probably going to be suprised with stuff you've never heard of.

Hmm, I thought I posted....

I see A at this point being more than a full time job. B or C, depending on the flavor of the tournament. And we'll see what the big boys do with their events, and how those go.

[andalucien]

Makes sense.

Yes, perhaps some sort of "standard" about how to treat this new content will emerge...

[the_trooper]

It costs $4 and consists of rules for one and only one model, Bel'Akor.   I already bought it, because, hey $4.

He's available as an HQ choice for Chaos Space Marines or Chaos Daemons. 
He's 350 points and is basically an alternative choice to the totally-maxed-out daemon princes you see people running around with.

He actually seems pretty different, powerful, yet fair, for his points... very cool character.   Daemon prince stats, but,
- he has Eternal Warrior
- he's a mastery level 3 psyker that only knows Telepathy, but he automatically knows ALL of telepathy.
- Wings, no armour, but a 4++ and shrouded.
- A few other more minor abilities

Effort level relative to # of pages on this release seems decent.

It seems that GW will be coming out with these sorts of digital releases quite frequently.   Interesting.

So, whose god is he a pawn of?

[Benjamin]

So, whose god is he a pawn of?

Oh, that information will be another $4.

[Chase]

I am strongly leaning towards not allowing "digital only" supplements.

[MM3791]

Unit itself looks pretty good. Trend of digital releases, nickel and diming the customer, not so good.

I see it as a "Patch" or quickfix, would you prefer they wait another few years until the Chaos dex is fully updated again?

Yes, that is mainly why I posted.

You kind of either need to
a. Put a lot of time into understanding each supplement and stay on top of it (and decide which ones are OK).
b. Just disallow all content other than certain "core" content (like, codexes).
c. Just allow all official supplements and know that you're probably going to be suprised with stuff you've never heard of.

Maybe I'm the minority here, but I am strongly against banning or comping anything.. I don't understand how Space Marines work (I really don't), should we ban them too? I don't see how limiting players options from intentionally designed, legal rules adds to the overall fun, creativity, and freedom of the game.

I am strongly leaning towards not allowing "digital only" supplements.

Even though independent stores don't directly benefit from digital supplments sales, they can benefit from sales of existing models that a new supplement promotes. For example, a box that sits on the shelf and collects dust, may all of a sudden get a rules update in a digital supplment and make it very popular.

[andalucien]

So, whose god is he a pawn of?

He is the very first daemon prince, a product of all 4 gods.  He has no mark.

[andalucien]

... and to reinforce the situation, it appears that a new "micro-rules for sale" thingie will be launching for Tau TOMORROW.

[andalucien]

Even though independent stores don't directly benefit from digital supplments sales, they can benefit from sales of existing models that a new supplement promotes. For example, a box that sits on the shelf and collects dust, may all of a sudden get a rules update in a digital supplment and make it very popular.

Yep, could be true.

This PARTICULAR update was very obviously meant to boost sales of this here:
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod1710166a

Is that resellable by Chase/BG? 

[andalucien]

I am strongly leaning towards not allowing "digital only" supplements.

I would totally understand that.

I would ask for ONE exception:  the new Sisters of Battle codex.  Because, if you ban it, doesn't that mean that you have to allow the OLD SoB codex (unless you just want to say, sisters aren't welcome at BG)?

Reasons why not to revert to old one:
1) It's just weird.  It would be like letting people play with the old 4th edition Tyranid codex.
2) The old codex also was no longer for sale at BG, right?  (it was spread across 2 old white dwarf issues).

[Chase]

I am strongly leaning towards not allowing "digital only" supplements.

Even though independent stores don't directly benefit from digital supplments sales, they can benefit from sales of existing models that a new supplement promotes. For example, a box that sits on the shelf and collects dust, may all of a sudden get a rules update in a digital supplment and make it very popular.

I feel like this is easily countered by the bad blood "new" "micro rules" might create between players at events and between players and referees at events.

Part of me likes where all of this is headed.  It certainly promotes a much more casual feel and play environment where players can expect they won't know everything (anything?) about their opponents army and how it works.  They can just take what they want, roll dice, and have fun with some cool models.

The other part of me things that it's ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE for the longevity of the game.  It is my experience that healthy "organized play" is paramount to the success of hobby games, specifically at game stores.  GW releasing small, poorly worded, sometimes inconsistent "rules updates" that are not always available to everyone at the same time, through the same channels and then expecting the events in your area to immediately include all of them is a really, really bad thing for everyone.