Goatboy’s 40k: Marines Get FAQed Up!
Goatboy here and I was thinking we’d have quiet weeks before Adepticon and Saga of the Beast. Woo boy did we get an interesting Marine FAQ update!
If you are living under a rock, don’t read the internet, and wondering why you are even reading this well a big GW update came out to knock some of the power off of the current go-to “good” marine build. BroHammer lists wrecked through LVO and thankfully GW took notice and put a stop to it. I don’t know if I agree with all the choices but it all points things in the right direction and shakes up the Meta a bit to allow for a Spring of newer Marine builds to worry about.
The Losers
Let’s look at the losers. Anyone who built up the BroHammer style list is probably the biggest loser and than any other army that wanted to sit in the Devastator doctrine all game. This forced move and removal of being able to shift a Doctrine back Strat is a big kick in the butt for any of this armies. Imperial Fists lost some power as well as Dark Angels losing some of their new rules. Weirdly I think Dark Angels didn’t care as much as they are usually liking being Tactical doctrine as it effects their Rapid Fire and assault weapons. It’s a weird thought process as I felt the Doctrine thing was a neat idea that felt like a true full testing wasn’t thought out. I like the idea that moving through them but losing the ability to change does remove some of the tactical thought process while playing the game. I feel for Imperial Fists as they were set up to be a weird Meta game choice that is now not nearly as interesting as they were before.
I feel bad for anyone that just ordered a Leviathan from GW – but at least those rules will most likely stay in the game when the new FW book comes out. Anyone fielding Chaplain dreads will eat it as those are for sure on the chopping block when the new book comes out. I like the model but their rules just don’t really sync up with current GW right now as they have way too many abilities for too few points. I don’t think they will be wrecking the Meta but they are sure annoying with those Lascannon hits coming from downtown.
Winners
Winners from this “nerf” is definitely those other Marine armies that love to live in the Assault or Tactical doctrine phase. Tactical armies will have 2 full turns of doom which could be very good as most armies were currently preparing to survive at least the first turn of Devastator so they will be ready to hide and move to engage once the long range rules go back to being normal. This lets the Ultramarines and Ravenguard work in new ways as they do enjoy the Tactical side of things. The Assault Doctrine armies look to be in heaven as they will be one of the few armies that get to go to the Doctrine they want and stay in it till they get the job done. I expect Space Wolves to live in this Doctrine too whenever they come out. Heck they could have a whole new thing that uses Sagas and other nonsense to create similar effects – but we’ll see.
Grey Knights definitely got a nice boost from this as they can easily hide turn 1 and come out Smiting turn 2+ as needed. I think the Paladin bombs will most likely stay at 1 with a plethora of Characters and strikes to clean things up. Just not worrying about a Iron Hands player coming so hard at you turn one will be a blessing. If Grey Knights get stronger and Possessed bombs will have to change up and go towards something newer, faster, and less susceptible to massed Smites. I will throw up a list for Friday for Possessed player ideas based on another players list I saw at LVO (Aiden).
Eldar Flyers got much better again and big monster armies are less scared from Imperial Fists multiplying damage. Tau will show back up again as BroHammer has taken a fall and the Tau Machine can get to work. I guess until they do something about their Drones. I expect Marine armies to shift to Intercessors with Assault weapons, interacting Auras, and protection. Iron Hands are not going to go away and will just shift to Marine horde builds. In fact this leads me to my next thoughts.
Where Are We Headed?
I don’t think the Nerfs went in all the right directions. The release of the Faith and Fury upgrades with the super Apocathery is still an issue. Having your units with overlapping 5+ saves and powerful shooting + assault is just a hard thing to swallow. It is the same with the whole Master Artisan ability that is basically like 5+ CP a turn with all the Reroll options. If Eldar come back strong expect that one to show up as having a ton of flyers with Rerolling some dice while Major Lasering your face a bit will still be an issue. Chaos will still be around as they can still stack, have some new rules coming, and still have some amazing spells.
Heck we don’t even know what comes next with Space Wolves and Orks rearing their mean heads. We could see a resurgence of Orks soon as their big issues were Marines and having some of their power knocked down a bit means they could show up again. They are extremely powerful with good spells, good troops, and crazy good shooting. All this talk about how other armies got better means in general the FAQ did a good thing as it breathed some life into the Meta that was extremely stagnant these past few weeks.
I still think Marines are the best army in the game as they do a ton of things well – they are just beatable now with a decent plan. This is good as it lets games and outlier armies become good again as we all try to figure out the new Nemesis coming down the pipeline. All those pesky gifts of the Emperor are sure an issue. Now if only my Custodes got some more of those gifts. I sure hope the rumors are true and we see a new book come out. I love the golden bikers and would sure love them to get some Angels of Death treatment with more bullets, more attacks, and other interesting options.
~ Are you breathing easier post FAQ?
