40K: GW’s FAQ Smashes Spam
Games Workshop latest FAQ yet another swipe at spam-lists on the tabletop. Will it be enough?
Warhammer 40,000 has had a tumultuous history with unit-spam in the game. The “net-list” concept of copy/paste the best unit you can has been around for a very long time. In previous editions, the Force Organization chart helped to curb those issues (to a point). However, with the current edition and the way detachments are designed to work, players found ways to tailor their lists to bring whatever those power are units in droves.
GW caught on and created a rule specifically to help combat that with the Rule of Three:
For the vast majority of the armies in the game, this rule works pretty well. But even this solution left a Daemon Prince sized hole. Because Chaos armies had multiple books with Daemon Princes, they could use those datasheets and technically not break the rule. They ARE different datasheets after-all. GW even ruled in favor of that…until Monday.
And it’s not just Daemon Princes, either – Astra Militarum and even the Genestealer Cult armies got caught in the change:
The Daemon Prince change is pretty clear – all those datasheets are considered to be the same, and therefore the limit applies to them. The Astra Militarum Heavy Weapon Squad change also makes sense in this context as all of those units are mostly the same but are from different sources (just like the Daemon Princes). And even the Genestealer Cult Brood Brothers change lines-up with their new stance. And that stance is pretty clear: Tone down the spam!
The impact on the game is sure to be felt as Chaos players are finding their footing again now that the new Codex and Vigilus Ablaze have been out in the wild for a few weeks. With the rest of the changes to the meta thanks to the FAQ it’s going to be an interesting time to watch the field and see what shakes out. These types of changes are good for the game as this type of churn forces players to try new things – that make the game seem fresh again.
Will these changes help stop spam-list completely? Not entirely, but these are direct and targeted changes. Plus you can still bring all the Troops and Dedicated Transports you like. Plus there are still a few units out there that this rule doesn’t impact – one, in particular, is the Space Marine Captain. You could see even a bunch of Captains in different armors if you wanted to run them all from the Space Marine book (all of them are different Datasheets after-all). Now, I’d personally much rather see 9 Space Marine Captains across the tabletop than 9 Daemon Prince, but that’s another topic.
This latest FAQ change proves that GW is serious about dealing with spam-lists. The Rule of Three was and still is a solid addition. Now they are making targeted adjustments for the good of the game. The question in my mind is no longer “did they go far enough?” The question is now “Who’s Next?!”
How do you view these targeted changes to combat spam? Are you glad GW is taking a more ‘hard-line’ stance against spam-lists? Let us know what you think in the comments!
