Brent: The Myth of Points Parity
It’s not hard to spot trends in thinking – at least, not in the fishbowl of the hobby community. Normally just reading through the comments of a BoLS’s editorial is enough to pick up the gist of opinion on a subject.
And (let me display my bias here), but in general the commenting audience on this site is pretty perceptive. Except for the odd Troll, you guys out there tend to do your homework. Sometimes even the Troll, for that matter.
But what happens when enough of you out there all seem to be caught up in the same fallacy in thinking? Then it’s time to have it out on the main page and try to change a mind or two.
Let’s take the following question to illustrate the premise.
E1) Say I purchase two Daemon Princes and they both swoop on the table, moving up to engage the enemy. The Tzeentchian is immediately brought down and shot to ribbons.
Was it a waste of points? Does it mean the Slaanesh Prince is responsible for earning back twice his points?
It’s not hard for you guys to jump ahead, but let’s look at another.
E2) Wargear options aside, Rhinos and Drop Pods cost 35 points. Does that mean they’re worth the same? Does the Storm Bolter have to kill two or three Chaos Space Marines to make taking the Rhino worthwhile?
Lastly, let’s look at a few comments I picked up from Goatboy’s flyer rant.
A) “There’s one guy who has a Vendetta. Now, for the rest of us, if we decide to add some Flakk missiles or other Skyfire units, most of the time we’ve wasted those points completely unless we happen to end up playing Vendetta Guy.”
B) “Every method you suggest for dealing with flyers that isn’t either another flyer or an upgrade that is wasted if no flyers turn up is (missing) something.”
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C) “And your opponent fielding a unit should not dictate how you build your list so dramatically. If you know someones bringing a landraider you may have a couple of units to deal with it but in general your normal units should have 1 way or other, ie melta gun or bombs but unless you take mass anti air there is no army wide way to deal with a flyer short or hoping to roll a 6 to hit with the odd plasma or missile shot.”
D) “Honestly, I think Interceptor is one of the worse rules they’ve produced with this new edition. Having the ability to reliably kill some units before they even get to do anything, and in your opponent’s turn, is just not a good way to go about it.”
Note, I’m not including names; my intention isn’t to pick on anyone for sharing their opinion. The comments are a conversation, and sometimes it’s the place we can work something out. Obviously, my take is different, but thoughts like these have been floated for awhile now. Let’s see if we can’t reframe the thinking…
Okay already! On with the Point!
The point is the concept of points parity is only one way to analyze a list, and it isn’t even the best one.
Example 1: The designers assign a value to units and players create armies by making selections in the framework of the Force Org Chart. It’s an easy system, but completely arbitrary. Sure, the points cost of a unit is a good way to make rule of thumb comparisons, but the game itself will almost immediately have you rethinking the individual worth of a unit.
In the example, models are destroyed without having engaged all the time. It’s important to remember that almost any unit, given the right circumstances, can account for many times its own cost. A humble Troop unit becomes priceless if it’s the last model standing on an objective.
Example 2: Both the Rhino and Drop Pod are transports, but the battlefield role can be very different. The Rhino can offer protection and transport throughout a game, while the Drop Pod is guaranteed to get a squad whole to its destination. Assuming they aren’t blown apart, either model is capable of plinking away with weapons, maybe even “earning its points back.”
But quite obviously, that’s nowhere close to the unit’s primary job. It’s important to keep in mind some units are designed to reap value from an enemy’s line, say for example a Terminator Assault Squad. But that kind of investment is more than just a tally of kills. If the Terminators don’t exert board control, allowing you to achieve your mission objectives, than they weren’t worth taking.
Again, that’s a consideration outside of “getting back 250 points.”
Example A: The idea of “wasted points” cuts to the core of the issue. People are, of course, free to play the game their own way, but from what I’ve seen most people bring an ‘All-Comers’ style army list to the store, ready to take on anyone. Being prepared for what your opponent may bring isn’t a waste; if you’re shooting for a balanced list, the idea is to take ‘just enough and not much more.’
It’s important to say, sometimes the best method of dealing with Flyers is ignoring them, which I call ‘paying the flyer tax.’ That becomes less easy when you start dealing with three or more flyer, but the hope is such lopsided armies have other weaknesses that can be exploited.
Example B: The concept of wasted points has been addressed, but what’s wrong with adding a Flyer of your own? It doesn’t make you a bad person! The game will move on whether we like it or not, but for what it’s worth I really enjoy the dogfighting aspect of Flyers duking it out with each other.
Example C: Okay, this is more an example of Flyers influencing lists than a strict discussion of points and unit values, but I’d like to point out the writer has a simple yet effective plan for dealing with a Land Raider – the use of which can give some armies more fits than Flyers – but kind of gives away the farm toward the end.
Flyers will influence the game, but many of them must enter Hover Mode to drop off units or exert board control; at that point, they’re vulnerable. Otherwise ‘pay the tax’ or play to the mission. One thing a Flyer can’t do is claim or disrupt an objective.
Example D: Interceptor is great! It’s keeps Flyers honest, but more importantly…
…you have no expectation that any of your units will get to do squat in a game! C’mon, haven’t you had a Land Raider get blown away from the first Lascannon shot of the game? Hasn’t an Alpha Strike blown away a quarter or more of your army on the first turn?
That’s happened to me and I’m sure to most of you as well. You fight through it. You marshal your units and play toward your army’s strengths. Those kind of bad rounds will happen for your opponent, assuming you stay in the fight!
Closing This Thing Out
I’m not blind to the problem caused by mass flyers, but I’d suggest that’s a tournament player’s problem. If a guy at your local store insists on breaking out his Necron Wing for every friendly game you play on a Friday night – stop playing him!
Or at the least explain your problem; “Look, stupid, not every game is practice for a tournament. If you and your ego want to see your army on the board tonight, I’m playing them. What else did you bring?”
Regarding the main thread of this article, I just don’t think points parity exists. In most cases, units are capable of spectacular success and equally spectacular failure. A 15 point Melta Gun can take out a 250 point Land Raider in one shot; not only can, will. That doesn’t mean you’re 250 points down…
…it means you lost a unit.
That’s it again for another Terrible Tuesday article. Hope you enjoyed it, hope you didn’t hate it, but either way please feel free to comment and share an idea or three.
And if you want to pity-click on Strictly Average from time to time, that’s okay, too! So, thoughts? Comments? Hugs and gropings?
