40K Deep Thought: It’s Safer in the Tank?!
So today I have a bone to pick. I want to talk about what the deal is with every squad these days staying inside transports, and almost wanting to get shot out of them for the extra turns of protection. What gives?
Lets all go back to the dark days of 4th edition when every player rushed up transports on turn one and jumped out as soon as possible to avoid the flaming deathtraps they became when they blew up. For those who forgot the blood-soaked rules here is what happened in 4th when a transport was struck:
Moved less than 6″:
Vehicle suffers any penetrating hit: passengers take a pinning test and disembark
Vehicle is wrecked: passengers wounded on a 4+ and entangled (pinned)
Moved more than 6″:
Vehicle suffers any penetrating hit: passengers wounded on a 4+, take a pinning test and disembark
Vehicle is wrecked: passengers wounded on a 4+(with rerolls for successful saves) and entangled (pinned)
Finally, the big scary Vehicle Annihilated result, destroyed any passengers with no saves allowed.
So the shift from that to 5th edition was pretty drastic. In fact now that we are years into it with many new codices under our belts I wonder if the design studio overcorrected. What I’ve seen lately is the clear decision by many players to just stay in the vehicles the entire game, with no plans to ever get out, unless shot out. The humble Rhino with its 2 firing ports is still an ideal mobile bunker allowing the squad’s heavy and special weapon to blaze awy in relative safety. The bolter jockeys only get out in extreme cases to lend fire or dog pile an unfortunate enemy remnant squad who wandered too close.
When you move onto the new low costed Chimera, with 5 fireports you have an embarked squad’s dream. It seems that while draconian, 4th edition made players make difficult choices. Transports gave your army mobility, but with a heavy dose of balancing danger involved for the occupants. In 5th, that difficult decision is gone. And people wonder why we’ve seen the rise of so many mechanized armies…
~I want your thoughts on the current level of danger for transports, and where you think it should be. What would you change rules wise, and what do you think the current rules have done to contribute to 40k’s current metagame. The floor is your Generals.
