Warhammer 40K’s Most Amazing Models… Rules, Not so Much
Sometimes great works of miniature art seed a little help in the rules department. Here’s our top candidates.
It happens to the best of them. As the wheel of the meta goes round and round at some point even the best of models finds itself on the bottom.
Here is a list of some fantastic miniatures GW has kicked out over the years, that are just begging to strut their stuff on the tabletop… if only they had better rules.
Knight Porphyrion
If there was ever a mean looking model that doesn’t cut the mustard it is the Porphyrion. This thing looks AMAZEBALLS! It’s giant, and looks like grumpy over-gunned bowling ball. It’s a pricy model, but got hit a little too hard by the nerfbat during the last Forge World Knight FAQ. This thing rocks in Titanicus and is basically a slow “pocket titan”. There a lot of ways to fix it, but to me it’s points are right for it’s size. It just needs better stats to match.
Eldar Wraithknight
My gosh – what happened here? Remember when the Wraithknight first came out and everyone lost their minds. It’s stunning, tall, slim and perfectly fits the Eldar Aesthetic. Then when 8th came along it became an unexplained clone of the Imperial Knight and stayed there. While the Imperial Knight kit grew into a full codex with multiple datasheets based on simple weapon swaps – the Wraithknight has been stuck in mediocre amber. It has a lot of weapon options and is only a single upgrade sprue away from being the basis of a future Codex Knight Clans. But for now it sits overcosted, underperforming and with a sad, darkened waystone at its heart.
Maulerfiend
Oh, how the giant metal hunting dog of Chaos looks awesome. You can imagine it snarling, hissing and clanking just looking at it. It’s got a great pose, and attitude in spades. These things ran roughshod over tabletops in past editions, but just don’t cut it in 8th. They used to be super fast in 7th, but aren’t anymore. They hit unreliably and just can’t put out the damage for their cost. Now they howl in despair as Helldrakes have taken their chaos jobs.
T’au Stormsurge
Again a model that was once an army centerpiece, and feared has fallen to the wayside. It’s kind of an mid-priced underperformer for a Lord of War, and it’s weapons just don’t cut it. It’s all Riptides these days, and the Stormsurge needs a weapons refit (especially the Pulse Blastcannon) from the Earth Caste to have a place. Many of its weapons are not optimized for long range standoff operations, and the Stabilizing Anchors should provide a better boost (like shoot twice). But is is cool looking!
Myphetic Blight Hauler
They are cheap minis, and easy to build. They sit right on the intersection of Adorable, Nurgley and Nausicaä Ohmu. But alas – their rules let them down. They rapidly fall apart once they lose members of their unit. They also just don’t have the damage output they need and an oddball mismatch of weapons for their points price. I want to take 9, but my 3 just sit on the shelf looking sad (and cute).
Honorable Mention – Ordinatus!
Can we PLEASE get 40K rules for this guys. Just LOOK AT THEM!
~What did we miss? How’s on your list?
