Warhammer 40K: These 5 Units Show How Insane The Power Creep Has Become
Let’s take a look at how crazy 40K 9th Edition’ power creep is getting.
It’s not a secret that 40K is growing to be a more lethal game. Things have jumped up in damage output, a lot in some cases. Today let’s take a look at five units and how their damage output has changed over the years.
Unit 1: The Basic Space Marine
Lets start off with the simple basic Space Marine infantry unit. Back in 3rd Edition in 1998 this was the Tactical Marine. With a rapid fire bolter a Marine could at most due two wounds from shooting. Given an extra attack from charging they could get 2 more wounds. That brings a basic Marine to a max damage output of 4. For our purposes we are going to look at what a unit can do with just its native rules, not adding in non-army wide buffs.
Next let’s jump ahead to 8th, that being the next big rule change with the introduction of damage. The basic Marine is now an Intercessor. With their rapid file bolt rifle they are still looking at 2 wounds from shooting. At this point an intercessor still can only natively get 2 attacks, so it’s again doing 4 damage a turn max. No real change here in nearly 2 decades.
Now let’s move forward to the 9th Edition book. A Basic Intercessor can now do three wounds at range with an Auto Bolt Rifle. By getting an extra attack on the charge they also can do three wounds in combat. Or a max of 6 a turn. Depending on what Chapter they come from (an army rule that is always in effect) they could get another attack or get extra hits on 6s in combat or shooting. This brings a basic Space Marine infantry model up to a max wounds output of 9 a turn. More than twice what it was in 3rd or at the start of 8th.
Unit 2: Space Marine Captain With A Power Sword
Looking back at 3rd we had a few options from a “Captain” but lets look at the Force Commander. Assuming they have a weapon like a bolter the Force Commander can do 2 wounds in shooting. In combat, assuming on the charge and with 2 weapons in hand, he is getting 5 attacks for 5 more wounds. Totally out at 7 wounds in a turn.
Thanks to a Master-crafted boltgun the Index captain is now doing 4 damage from shooting. With 4 attacks with a power sword they are also getting 4 damage in combat, for 8 damage, a slight bump. 
At base a 9th Edition Captain with a power sword only gets one more attack for a total of 9 damage. But that is pretty deceptive. If we added in exploding 6s for shooting that takes them up to 13 wounds a turn, or 14 for combat. Of course These days you are more likely to see a Primaris Captain with a Master-crafted power sword. 3 shots from a Master Crafted Auto Bolt Rifle give him up to 6 wounds. On the charge we are looking at 6 attacks for 12 damage with the sword. This gives him up to 18 wounds. Exploding 6s to shooting up that to 24, or for combat to 30 damage. Without any other buffs.
Thus even the basic captain has roughly doubled their max damage output, while the most common Captain can get a damage output nearly 4 times was it was in 8th. This of course does not take into account the question of powerfists, which in prior editions could do “extra” wounds by auto killing models or taking out tanks.
Unit 3: Striking Scorpions
In 3rd Edition the Striking Scorpion has 1 whole attack. With an extra attack from 2 weapons and another from the charge we are looking at 3 wounds in combat. Adding in a shot from their pistol and one more attack from their mandiblaster you get a max damage of 5.
Somewhat shockingly 8th actually saw Scorpions go down in damage. A single wound from shooting, two attacks in combat and Mandiblaster allow for a max wounds of 4 a turn. Not great.
Lastly we have the current codex. Here a single Scorpion can do up to 32 wounds a turn on their own in combat. 33 if you add in their pistol. That’s 8 times the max per turn damage as in 8th, and more than 6 times what it was in 3rd.
Unit 4: Wyches
Let’s take a look at a unit that was new in 3rd, Wyches. They’ve got one attack base, but are going to get another from two close combat weapons. Adding in a lucky extra attack from combat drugs and the charge takes us up to 4 wounds in combat. A pistol gives them an extra attack for 5 wounds a turn.
8th Wyches also got a single attack. With their basic weapons giving them an extra attack, and one more from Combat drugs they can do 3 damage in combat. 4 a turn with their pistol. Again we see the unit going down slightly in damage output thanks to losing the extra attack on the charge.
In 9th Wyches have gone up to 3 attacks. Combined with an extra weapon attack and an extra combat drug attack you are now looking at 5 wounds in combat and one from shooting. A total of 6 damage. It’s a jump-up, but not a massive one. Of course, taking the right Cult can get you exploding 6s in combat, for a max of 11 wounds a turn. We are again looking at a basic model that has its max damage output go up by x2.
Unit 5: Guardsman
With a rapid fire lasgun your basic Guardsman can do two wounds from shooting. On the charge with 2 attacks they can max out at 4 wounds. Oh for the simplicity of 3rd.
Once again the loss of the extra attack on the charge strikes. At the start of 8th a Guardsman on their own maxes out at 3 damage a turn. With the right combos and supporting characters you can get this up to 7 a turn, but we are looking at just the model with army rules, and not anything else here.
Lastly, we have the current 9th Edition Guardsman. This is a bit of a cheat as it is an 8th Edition book and not a 9th Edition one. The Guardsman remains unchanged, from the Index, with a damage output of 3 a turn. If you happen to use a Regimental doctrine that no one does, you can get exploding 6s in combat. Taking you up to a whopping 4 damage a turn. This is a unit that has effectively not seen its output change in 2 decades. No wonder the army struggles.
Final Thoughts
3rd Edition was the first “modern” edition of 40K. It’s clear looking at these examples that we have seen a massive increase of damage output almost across the board in 9th edition. In many cases units have double or tripled the potential max output. This was done without even looking at factors like auras, powers or stratagems that could affect it even more. Now obviously this is a simplified look at things. 3rd had weapons with blast templates, many of which have a much higher theoretical max damage than their modern versions. 3rd also had rules for auto-killing models with half the toughness of the attacker, a powerfist today might do only 2 wounds per hit, while in 3rd it could vs the right target do many more.
Vehicles also complicate the matter, as in 3rd a single hit from the right weapon could kill a tank outright. A powerfist killing a tank with one hit in 3rd, could be the equivalent of doing 10-13 damage in 9th, far more than is possible. The introduction of variable damage weapons in 8th also makes it a hard comparison. Still, there is a clear trend that the number of attacks units get is going up. Damage output is increasing. Sometimes in leaps and bounds, and others by a noticeable, but smaller amount. What is really striking is the jump from the 8th Index armies to today’s books. Of course armies, like Guard, that don’t get these buffs are left in the dust. Hopfully, their time will come.
Let us know what you think about the power creep, down in the comments!
