Goatboy’s Warhammer 40K: Is it Time for GW to Hit Reboot on the Rules?
Goatboy here and wow is the Meta in a weird place. So weird it begs the question… should GW just – start over?
I only ask this because we are looking at Horus Heresy release coming that seems to consolidate the two different “factions” of the game into two solid books. Unlike the old 8th edition ways where the books felt very flat these new books seem full of interesting ideas. This has me wondering can we just do this with 40k?
The Codexes Are Out of Whack
I know I am a bit tired of some new codexes seemingly released busted right out of the gate. There is a theory that a batch of books might have been playtested at the same time but not released at the same time. These books all seem to be a lot more powerful than the initial ones. These codexes contain rules that interact in ways that are just bit to rough for the weaker armies to handle. Or they get released with a tool that another book had but got nerfed. So we start to ask the question why did it get released this way?
memories…
Is It Time For a Reboot?
Thus we start to ponder should we just start over? Should we go back to a locked in set of rules where everyone is balanced at the same time. Back in 8th GW put out the indexes to get every faction back in balance before kicking out codexes. Would this help prevent some wacky codexes coming out, getting knocked down, and then another version just replacing it? Would it help keep this meta from being game after game of badly painted competitive armies reaching the top streams and highlighting broken rules interactions?
How Digital Should the Rules Be?
Thankfully GW is going to something that might help this a bit with digital release of point adjustments. This means you won’t have printed “mistakes” nearly as much and if they show up initially they can quickly be fixed. It makes me think we should see digitally altered rules too in the same vein just to help keep things clean. I know it is frustrating to have your book, have some FAQs, and then maybe a campaign book to carry around. I have been so used to it with earlier editions of the game so while it is frustrating it is a bit better than it was in 7th edition.
It also makes me think the campaign or missions should also be digitally released with a printed bit to just make playing easier. Instead of say a book it is instead just the mission cards, supplement cards, and maybe some other fun pieces. This could be a cheaper release and look more like a play easier option than a must need option. This way they can also quickly change things on the fly if the rules for a mission seem overpowered.
I Still Like 9th
I still like 9th edition as a whole. The rule are pretty good and with some tweaks they could be a lot better. I am excited to see how the lower CP costs might change things with a better push into turn 2-3 for big moves instead of the turn 1 smash we see sometimes now. It is weird that some armies seem to not care about CP while others leave and breathe on it so I would like to see that somehow adjusted.
Is it time to break it all down? Is it time to throw in the current codex towel and go for a full realign and reset? We have a GW that is infinitely more receptive to balance and fixes so while I know some books are too strong I do feel they will be tampered down fairly quickly. Events are starting to churn which means data is easier to grab and thankfully these balances are mostly done via a Digital release schedule so they are not beholden to the 6+ month print time we are probably seeing with these new monster books.
All I know is Chaos Space Marines better be decent enough to make me play them. So please don’t nerf them too much. Or at least don’t nerf the World Eaters.
Do you think 9th can be salvaged, or needs an end of edition reboot?
