Goatboy’s 40K: Will THIS Balance the Game?!
One big event is paving the way forward for balanced 40K. Here’s who, and what they are doing!
The Who
Goatboy here again and today I want to go over the new Adepticon Army Construction Rules. I know that two major tournament Organizers have done something different but I feel that what Adepticon is trying to do might be what we see in future events.
The What
The gist of it for those that don’t want to read the link is:
– 1850 pts
– 1 CAD
– 1 Ally (Can be a duplicate of the Main army Faction from the CAD – i.e. CSM + Ally Crimson Slaughter)
– 1 LoW from the non banned list (C’Tan, Revenant, Good/Evil Reaver)
– Any number of unique Detachments/Formations (Unique means only One per list – i.e. One Bel’akor or Bully Boyz)
– FW is allowed and based on the army choice – i.e. if you army can take it, it is part of that CAD
1 Fortification
I find this interesting as it kicks out the whole 2 source limit, still allows a version of Double CAD for those army with supplements, lets you take all the silver bullets you want, and still has some limits on LoW options. It also lets you build just about anything you want with a bigger push on trying to keep things unique enough that you can’t just copy and paste to your hearts content.
The Why
Don’t get me wrong – I think limits are what is needed if we want Competitive 40k to survive. Those TO’s have a lot invested in terrain, matts, and equipment to run events. I think without allowing more freedom to build our armies we start to see some stagnation as we see certain builds just becoming too good in a 2 source limited environment. I do have some issues with the lack of other armies having Formations/Detachments etc – but at the rate we see armies coming out I think that will be null by the time Adepticon rolls around.
I like the idea that anyone can take an assassin. This is great as it will help limit some of the annoyance players have with some of the lists. Sure he is really good at knocking out specific builds but that is the game we are playing now. Lists are geared towards events missions, areas play styles, and the overall metagame of current rules. I just like having all my toys available to figure out what I think works.
Limiting the CAD will hopefully keep some spamageddon out of the top lists. Sure there will be those that abuse the Self Ally ability – but limiting things to an ally means that most of the time you will only have 4 of a non troop choice. The FW inclusion could be worrying due to some units (Marine Special Characters are pretty spicy and the overall hated Thudd Gun) but I think the missions might force players to utilize a different army style.
It’s Not Just Armylists…
That is always the hope – missions will fix everything. They need to be complicated enough to force new game play but not complicated enough to make players get outsmarted on the score sheet. Its a difficult dance and I feel we are all getting closer as the events continue to churn on. I think mixing Maelstrom with main rule book missions will be key to finding the perfect mix. I also think we should really push missions that do not have the same bits in each – or at least making the Maelstrom part different each time. I miss those days of coming to the table and figuring out a well crafted mission.
So what do I expect in this army list build? Most likely a lot of the same thing with the added benefit of more silver bullets for certain armies. I talked about it last week with my army lists without any kind of limiting mechanism and I expect more of the same. I have been playing the Admantine Crutch with Thunder Wolf Armageddon lately due to finally getting all my Knights painted. I think the Pacific Rim/Rock’em Sock’em Robots list is also looking pretty decent (3 Knights, Riptides X 3, Troops) for a Knight Combo. I even thought a CSM + Crutch might be good as a way to get decent summoning mixed in to allow for ground control.
Winners and Losers
I think FMC is still strong with utilizing one of the few Pskyer based armies not utterly kicked in the dingus by the Culexus due the movement ability mixed with gift combos Daemons can get. They can summon as well so investing so much into big MC’s is not nearly as big of a deal as they can quickly throw out some ground troops in Drones/Screamers. I expect Bel’akor to show up in most lists with his ability to Give out Shrouding/Invisibility.
There is an Ork idea I have thanks to Alan PajamaPants. I used to play that in 6th but with a simple change in 7th with Artillery it might merit a strong choice. For those wondering – reread slow and purposeful and how Artillery can move. Pretty spicy and I used to play that with Lootas all the time. Heck there is a funny combo as well with an Ork Formation granting outflank. Mix that with some of these heavy choices and you might have a game where your opponent is surrounded pretty quickly by the tide of green.
I expect a ton of Culexuses to show up as well – which will mean some of those feared stars might not make it too far to the table tops. Cent star is still good as it shoots a ton. I just don’t expect it to be so psychic based anymore. Look for Cents to come down in a pod or out an escape hatch instead of relying on teleporting Draigo. It is hard to see what stars are going to make it as Dark Eldar are coming out and losing the Baron is going to hurt the Eldar lists. I think will see Tony’s Wave Serpent A Go Go to be a default Eldar list as well. They fit into the Adepticon scheme as it really just follows a 5th edition build out. I expect the Legion of the Damned Supplement to be used a lot as a method to handle those pesky Eldar tanks. Heck I think most players should go look at these guys as they can do a number on those Wave Serpents after they teleport out of Hell.
Heck the coolest star out there is the Pask star brought to my attention from ETC and Chip from Torrent of Fire. Pask plus 2 other Bullet Leman Russes and you have a very hard to remove unit. They shoot a lot, can kill flyers, and become a threat to Knights with their massed Lascannons/Multi-Meltas and Rending Punishing cannons. Plus they can give a big middle finger to Battle Cannons.
The Way Forward?
I think the Adepticon army building rules is the closest to fully open 40k we have right now in an competitive event. Is it the best? I am not sure yet as I haven’t played an event with these types of rules. Locally we have opened it up to building whatever you want mixed with a comp system for more hobby related events. I don’t know if this is the best as so much of the time we based the comp off of our experiences. Everyone has armies that just seem to always kick the crap out of them no matter what the peanut gallery thinks of them. Still I applaud the effort by Adepticon to play 7th edition without limiting our imagination.
Post some lists using this army build rules. See if you can find the perfect murder machine that will let you win all the games.
