40K Deep Thought: In 7th They Never Died – In 8th They Never Miss
Everything in 40K is cyclical. Years after the dreaded 2++ save scourge was wiped from the game – we find our selves looking at it’s mirrored twin.
Remember back then these guys were everyone’s nightmare?
I’m sure you remember back in 7th how massed Horrors throwing tons of shooting and protected by a 2++ rerollable invul save drove everyone insane. I sure do. GW had to step in with a FAQ that got rid of the rerollable 2++ and the game moved on.
Meet the Limitations of the D6
But the important part was that recognition that with the simple granularity of D6 statistics, allowing anything that occurs on a 2+ to get a reroll is probably bad for the game. Whether you are talking about shooting or saving,
Now rerolls in and of themselves are great and fun. If you have crappy chance to do something, getting a 2nd chance to do it again is both entertaining and dramatic. We’ve all been there with your dude rerolling his 6+ save to not die. These are the moments we cherish for decades. But when you hit or save on a 2+ and get to try again, we have an issue. Getting a reroll in these situations, makes you 6 times as effective at the task. You change of failure drops from 16.67% to 2.78%. To make that more clear. A rerollable 2+ gives the owner a 98.22% chance of success. A good question at that point is why even bother rolling dice? It is certainly frustrating for your opponent.
And that is where we find ourselves back in 8th. There are many examples out there, but the combination of strategems, command points, relics and some potent units has seen the return of lists with effective 2++ rerolls. It’s more on the shooting side of things these days, but the issue takes us right back to where we were in 7th.
I’m not saying this isn’t fair – maybe it is. But it sure isn’t fun. And, when loopholes and unforeseen combos in the rules allow fun to be drained right out of any game – the players soon follow. That’s where the manufacturer needs to step in.
~ Do you think 2+ rerolls should be neutered across the game, and how would you do it?
