40K Deep Thoughts – Are Elite Armies Viable?
Hi folks. I’ve been mulling over all the rumors for the Grey Knights and beyond the specifics of that codex, I’ve been pondering – Can 5th Edition really support “super elite” armies at all?
Now first off, lets throw down my own personal definition: Lets consider a “Super Elite” army to be something with a mixed infantry/vehicle modelcount of under 30 models at say 1850pts. We’re not talking about a Mech-heavy Leafblower-y set of 4 Land Raiders here with min-maxed scoring squads, but rather the inverse, with only a handful of vehicles and mostly super expensive infantry.
So ok, the first place to start is how would such an army even perform on the tabletop. Obviously it will need to have ways to move quickly, to deal with objectives. This could be anything from special movement rules, to reposition (veil of darkness), to arrive where they wish (descent of angels), to just sheer speed (star engines).
The army will need to have extremely high lethality per model to even have a chance to clear enemy units in a timely manner, either in assault, or shooting. Models in a super elite army slinging bolters isn’t going to cut it vs any opposing army with 150 dudes running around and a six turn clock ticking.
More important than offense is the issue of durability. The smaller the modelcount, the more the force can’t recover from even a single turn of heavy casualties. So how to you balance that in a way that is fun for both sides, and not an exercise in endless rerolling frustration for your opponent (such as Necrons, or Fateweaver builds).
When you get down to such small modelcounts the basic mechanics of the turn sequence and rules themselves start to become the real enemies. Who cares if you have 3 wounds, eternal warrior, and 2+ invulnerables if your Three Amigos of the Apocalypse can just get wrapped up in tarpit assaults or just physically cordoned off by large numbers of enemy models (remember the old Rhino trains of 4th edition) by a traditional army and prevented from effectively playing the game at all.
So as it stands, I’m uncertain and don’t know exactly how “Super Elite” builds would function at all in 5th edition while remaining fun (remember it supposed to a game – hence fun) for both players. I await the Grey Knight book with great curiosity to see if the Design Studio has cracked the code.
~So do you think these types of armies can be designed to work in 5th as it stands right now. If you have examples of these types of super-elite builds that are working for you in existing codices, lets hear about them.
