Warhammer 40K: Who Will Rid 40K of Its Meta-king?
Will no one rid us of these meddlesome Drukhari?
Another week and another weekend of tournaments. Here we mainly focus on the grand tournaments as that will usually give us a picture of how things are shaping in the wider meta. This past weekend we did have a number of tournaments with some interesting results. Everyone still seems to be interested in how Drukhari are doing in the tournament scene looking for some ray of hope. Many are saying that the newly announced Adeptus Mechanicus book will reign in the Drukhari menace but we will wait until the book is actually out before seeing that. In the meantime let’s see what the two different takes from this weekend tells us about Drukhari.
Nothing to Worry About
Drukhari was not in the top spot in any of the grand tournaments in the United States. Yes, they may have still shown up in the top 5 but there isn’t a tournament where they dominated the top 5 as it was a few weeks ago. It seems that players are finding ways to deal with the army in their own way without having to hurriedly build a Drukhari army. As time moves on we will see more players adapting and then we will see the win percentage for Drukhari drop and see less and less of them on the top tables.
Also, if we are still getting new people starting Drukhari then the win percentage will go down as they learn the new army. By the time these new players get a hang of the army more people will have figured them out. This doesn’t even take into account the new books that will be out soon. I’m sure the new books will bring the balance back to the competitive scene and bring the Drukhari codex back down from it’s lofty perch.
Not so Fast…
Yes, Drukhari did not place as highly as in the past but that does not mean that the army is not an issue. In every grand tournament at least one Drukhari player has placed in the top 5. In a grand tournament in Australia three players placed in the top 5. We are also seeing some of the top players switching to other armies because there is no challenge in playing Drukhari and thus bringing down the percentages. In fact, the win percentage of the army is still much higher than all other armies, even if they aren’t winning events. The fact that they are still terrorizing the mid and lower tables. These are players that are there to just have fun and makes friends. These players have no compulsion to try to win, or place, in the event.
Playing against armies that are too strong or that leave you with a bad taste can make you not want to play the game anymore. We had this issue with Iron Hands. It got to the point where players were deciding to not go to events and tournaments organizers were seriously thinking about banning the book from events. Early in the release, after the first couple of tournament weekends, we were getting calls to ban, or limit, the book. Those cries have died down but there are still a few people that still think that. So, as much as you may want it to happen, the Drukhari menace is still alive and well.
A usurper waiting in the wings?
The Real Question
All this discussion about the threat of the Drukhari and the health of the competitive scene may be a moot point. The real question that has been nagging at me is whether the strength of the codex was intentional. Did Games Workshop intentionally create an over powered, to some, codex? If they did, is this indicative of what to expect with future codexes? Now we know that there were books out before the Drukhari book and they weren’t too bad when released. They all can compete but are usually in a tough matchup when paired against Drukhari.
The Adeptus Mechanicus is the first book we will be seeing post Drukhari so we will see if it is strong like Drukhari or if the Drukhari book is an anomaly and really does need to be toned down. If a majority of the books coming out are as good as Drukhari, then the other question is that if all the books are over powered, are they really overpowered? I also hope the Chaos Space Marine codex is last, if that is the case.
~That’s all for this week. Let me know what you think, and how you see the Drukhari book at this point, in the comments section below.
