40K Deep Thought: Fixing Character Spam
I think there’s a very simple solution to the character spamming that is rearing its head. What do you think?
We’ve all seen what is possible in 8th edition. It’s a whole new world out there and while superfriends is long gone, a new version of DeathStars is beginning to rise in the competitive scene. But their power hinges on one little sentence – the Character Rules:
The key sentence character spamming armies abuse is this one:
“A Character can only be chosen as a target in the Shooting phase if they are the closest visible enemy unit to the model that is shooting.”
And this is where the nastiness of character spamming comes in. A rule that was initially designed to prevent characters to be sniped out from within their armies has been turned on it’s head and is now being used to prevent the opposing player from shooting what he wants, and instead takes target priority out of his hands.
We’ve all seen examples of multiple Imperial Assassins being used to tie the hands of opposing players, and in armies composed 90% of characters – probably not what the Design Studio had in mind.
Solutions?
An ideal solutions should be elegant, simple, and not require modifying things at the codex or unit level. You want to protect individual characters within an army from unfair attention, while neutralizing the abuse possible when knots of character models gather in a close position.
How about this:
“A Character can only be chosen as a target in the Shooting phase if there is not a closer visible non-Character enemy unit to the model that is shooting.”
A Simple Scenario
Now think about what this does. Imagine the following scenario with these models in a row:
X (Enemy model)
A (Character 1)
B (Character 2)
C (Character 3)
D (Non-character 1)
E (Character 4)
Current Rules
Under the current rules, the enemy model can shoot at A (Character 1), and D (Non-character 1). Characters B,C and E are all illegal targets as they aren’t the closest visible enemy unit. This is allowing Characters B,C to move up with some level of protection simple because Character A is closer. This is the crux of what character spam armies are manipulating.
Proposed Rules
Under the proposed rules, the enemy model can shoot at A, B, C (Character 1,2,3), and D (Non-character 1). Character E is an illegal target as D is closer to the enemy model. I feel that this rule change achieves the goal of preventing characters within their armies from being sniped, while neutering Character spam.
~Think this gets the job done? Design Studio – are you reading this? Maybe – please…
