40K Deep Thought: Can We Tone Down the Auras
Remember when auras were rare and not overpowering? That was only two years ago!
When 40K 8th Edition was new, aura powers were somewhat rare. You mainly saw them on HQs, and they didn’t do anything too crazy. You had things like Space Marine Captains and LTs throwing out limited rerolls in a limited area. You had things like Dark Apostles handing their Ld to nearby units.
Then slowly but surely the auras increased. An early offender was Guilliman who single handedly made Ultra armies shoot way above their pay grade. But the codex machine was rapid-firing releases into gamer’s hands those first 18 months and the auras just kept on coming.
Taking It Up to 11
They also got more powerful. You had auras with meaningful effects like armor rerolls, or modifiers to hit, and then some. Then the side books got involved. Things like Vigilus handed out auras like candy. You have everything from the ability to charge and assault from the Eldar, to removing cover saves for the Guard, and many, many more.
Things like the Marine Supplementals with multiple overlapping doctrines, warlords and relics just added more. Just when we thought we had that under control here comes Psychic Awakening with even more auras such as the Masters of the Chapter who never saw an aura they didn’t like.
Where This Is Headed
Every Edition has a “secret knowledge” area that really sets the best players apart from the masses. Exactly what it is changes from edition from edition. In some editions it was movement tricks, in others it was assault shenanigans. The funny thing is that about a year back I was thinking that the game had a stratagem problem.
In 8th it looks to be a combination of stratagems and aura management.
And to me that seems a really, really strange spot for 40K to be. I want our company-level game to be about maneuver and firepower, and risktaking and mission/objective management.
I don’t want 40K to be a game about aura/and crazy combo management, as well as the perfect timings to pop off key stratagems. That’s a totally different type of game, and one that doesn’t have a long tradition from GW.
~ Also, that game already exists, and when I want to play Warmachine, I play Warmachine.
