Goatboy’s Thoughts: State of 40k – Post Eldar FAQ
Goatboy here again with another look into the current state of competitive 40k post that new pair of Eldar FAQs.
A few events have passed, more list issues have popped up, and a new FAQ has reared its head. It just another week in the current flux that is competitive 40k. I feel the FAQ – while a bit harsh was most likely warranted. I heard some rough new Ynarri list was getting hammered out by the grand Harliquen Nayden in the Eastern fringe of the great U.S. of A. star system so this nerf was most likely needed. I don’t expect nearly as a rough update for the Nid book as well as the upcoming Blood Angels and Dark Angels. Here is hoping anyway.
King of the Hill – but for how long?
The current “best” army out there award seems to still be placed on the beating heart of the green army man legion. The Astra Militarum did win the Warzone Atlanta and I expect more wins for the army as people learn to not rest on the old crutches of Commissars and return to the sheer power of massed firepower. I think will see them win a lot more events as they are a favorite of some of the better players right now. Expect legions of Infantry, lots of regrowing Command Points, and constant groans as a unit shoots, rerolls and murders your units.
Don’t let the door hit you on your way out…
I do think the new Craftworld book will still propel some people into the winners bracket. They have some issues with Hordes – but Reapers, cheaper bodies, and a plethora of good stratagems will pull them ahead. They again are more a finesse army and have come back to the old “good general” style that was gone from the last editions that just let you abuse Wave Serpents, Wraith Knights, and cheap bikes. The Ynarri nerf was most likely needed as the rule just didn’t fit well in the current state of 8th edition. There were too many breaks in game play as they activated, cascaded, and murdered things way beyond their points/army build should allow. The change now makes them more like the Sisters of Battle and I wonder if they will see the same sort of thing – limit of 1 Faith choice per turn instead of allowing a few extra rounds of shooting. It has me feeling that they don’t mind a unit getting an extra shooting phase – but you can’t have multiple of your units going off and taking all the kids candy. The big hurt right now is if you take any Ynarri you have to take one of the 3 HQ choices as your warlord – which leaves you missing some sweet stuff like the Character sniping Auratach will start to see hitting the table top.
And when you kill me – I still get to shoot back!
I still think Chaos – with the abilities to do some crazy Soup builds, good Forge World Choices (for now depending on Chapter Approved), and some of the strongest Psychic powers in the game. They have access to 2 big Primarchs as well so they are an interesting choice that benefits hot dice to cause problems. I think they have one of the more abusable Stratagems with Tide of Traitors as well. My buddy Chris says it best – they are one of the few armies that can win any game. They might not be crushing people but they always seem to have a chance with high damage output, movement powers, and ability to have decent hordes. They are also one of the best Smite armies in the game. I don’t think the Smite game is going to stay with the upcoming Chapter Approved but will see.
I really feel like Orks are one of those sleeper armies that can cause so many weird issues for lists. They have an amazing spell in Da Jump that really shifts them into high gear. Huge blobs of cheap boyz that hit hard, get where they need to be, and tie up so much of an army it is just insane. They also have the sleeper Forge World unit in the Big Trakk and the Supa Skorcha that just does a number to any of those shifty multiple minus to hit armies. I can just imagine them with some good Stratagems, clan rules, and maybe some tweaks in their point costs. I wonder how bad the FW changes will be for them as a few choices are just key to allowing them to wreck specific army builds.
Can we get a discount – please?
Rumored changes to Roboute means a big fear for future Marine players right now. It is an issue with the army where the only good build relies on one specific Character to activate the entire army. It isn’t that he is broken its just he makes a stagnant army with only one “good” build. This is where the issue is and hopefully Chapter Approved fixes some of this. I really think the Primarus Marines need a big point drop as they are not as good as the 2 Marines they think they should cost. A 10 man unit of Marines still kills more then a 5 man unit of Primarus guys and that is the issue. I know an extra wound makes them “tougher” but in todays super shooty environment the extra wounds don’t matter as you blast a unit with more firepower then is needed to kill them most of the time. The extra wounds just become taxes you have to pay for and an army that is just too small to be worth wile in the game right now.
I don’t know enough about Nids to see where they are going to go right now. I think they will be good but again it has become more of a finesses army that is different from the older iterations. This is good as it will be a lot more rewarding to play them and win with them. There is a twinge of desire to throw as many fexes on the table as I can as I found a ton of Termagaunts randomly in a box. But I don’t think I want to paint much more for myself right now as Daemons are coming, client works is building, and I don’t think I can do another horde once I finish this last batch of 10 Pox Walkers.
Chapter Approved got a release date and some hints to what we might expect. From a Match play perspective I think will see some major shifts in the game play. They have gotten a good deal of data from the tournament organizers/playtesters so the things we have seen way to much of will most likely have a change. This leads me to think Smite might see a big shift, maybe some look into Soup detachments, and maybe a shift in their mission set up. It also feels like we might see some “army band aids” in Stratagems, Warlord Traits, and other goodies. I don’t know how good that will be as the whole idea of taking multiple books with you is frustrating but heck I played 7th edition where I had 4-5 books for my own army to work.
Speaking of books – this index book thing is frustrating and I hope when all the books finally come out we just say no more to the index thing. Having a ton of choices in those books that don’t show up in the codex is going to be a frustrating thing to keep track of especially with so many lists issues showing up at events. This could all get fixed with a strong Army builder rumored to be coming from GW soon. Will see but most of my armies won’t use Index stuff once the Codex finally comes out.
I can’t wait for the Daemon book to finally come out as I can expect some crazy looking stratagems coming from there. They could use them as a way to do some “warp storm” nonsense by having your burn points to have some crazy effects thrown out into the battle field. Let’s just hope it isn’t a ton of roll a d6 for each enemy as that could get very frustrating from both sides of the table top. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to look at the new books soon so I can have some fun pre write ups. I am not the biggest fan of either Angels but I am excited to see them as it gives me thoughts on how some of the other Marine books will look like when they come out.
~Oh and happy Thanksgiving this week. We are doing it at my house this year so it will be a crazy week of food, fun, and bonkers kids. Woohoo!
