40k – Warhammer 40,000 Isn’t balanced?
I read on several forums that 40k isn’t a balanced game and that GW doesn’t test their rules or codexes. People counter that a company investing millions of pounds into printing of books and models would make sure their game play is tested. So what’s going on?
Why would they make models which are utter rubbish in-game (Chaos Spawn..) that no one will buy? Games Workshop definitely tests rules; but perhaps it is how the internet perceives those rules that is different.
Onto balance. You have to ask yourself is 40k truly balanced or not. If you look at the codexes over the last three years things have changed, this is clearly due to the core rule set of 5th edition. The 4th edition rule book was a lot about blazing away like Napoleonics, but now it’s changed and added several different key factors.
All the codexes that have come out over the last few years are about several things; increased speed (mobility), synergistic benefits and FOC changes. Looking at the codexes from 2008 we’ve got Orks, Daemons, Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Space Wolves, Tyranids, Blood Angels and Dark Eldar. If I remember correctly 5th edition arrived summer 2008. All those codexes have been designed for 5th edition and emphasize those key traits.
The “5th edition” Codices
Looking at Orks you have got the kustom force field which gives units a buff and you have Warbosses which make Nobz troops. Though the Ork codex was just the start, Games Workshop has gotten more familiar with this type of game play,and turned 5th edition into a deeper, more tactical game.
Space Marines were the first official 5th edition codex. They brought FOC changes, massive benefits for armies via ICs (Vulkan and friends), and speed by making transports a lot cheaper – Rhinos dropped down to 35 points.
Imperial Guard followed the trend though instead of having units which give synergistic benefits they had the innovative orders system (which is oddly close to the system used in Warlord’s Black Powder) They took advantage of speed by making the IG more mobile than ever before with cheap and easy access to a myriad of transport vehicles and deployment options.
Space Wolves pushed the whole Space Marine concept further by having some very cool army benefits in the Saga system along with some unheard of psychic powers and more than adequate shooting ability.
Tyranids took the synergistic benefits concept to a whole new level. Tyranids on there own are a bit meh but when you combine abilities carefully they rock, with such boosting units as: Hive Tyrant, Swarmlord, Tyranid Prime, Tervigon, Lictor, Deathleaper, Venomthrope and Broodlords. That’s a lot of units making things work better which also fits the Tyranid theme.
I really think Blood Angels is where Games Workshop nailed it down. The Angels had everything Space Marines did but had better units giving better benefits i.e Dante, Astorath, Sanguinary Priest etc. Blood Angels became the benchmark codex and is where Games Workshop got the play style of 5th edition sorted.
Dark Eldar blazed into laps the most recently and is another cracking codex following in the footsteps of the Blood Angels with force organisation chart movement and unique unit abilities – not to mention the entire Pain Token mechanic.
Where Are We
So to answer the question is Warhammer 40,000 balanced? My answer is unfortunately a bit grey because yes it is and no it isn’t. We have 14 unique armies out there. Of those 8 have updated codexes (yes I am included Daemons!) which is a little over half.
The reason why people have issues with balance right now are the older codices. Some of these have been in the outer dark for a very long time, but even here we have seen an amazing change out of the design studio with the latest set of FAQs. With this last set, a handful of the most needy older codices such as the Dark Angels, Templars and others have been dragged ever closer to parity with their newer brethren.
So my overall answer is yes it is balanced, though not as much as it should due to the sheer length of updating the entire codex set and how that just doesn’t sync up will with the Core-edition timelines. Still though, with all the codexes roughly going in the same direction and GW finally seeming to embrace shoring up the older books via FAQs, it only looks like brighter and more balanced days ahead.
So do you think 40k is balanced and grower ever tighter, or is game balance fraying by the day?
