Goatboy’s Warhammer 40K: We All May Need GW to Nerf “Lone Operative”
Sneaks, badasses, and misanthropes. Lone Operatives are popping up all over Warhammer 40K. Maybe too much!
Just imagine your 40K hero sneaking up thru the industrial wasteland that seems to dominate all the battlefields they play on. They are slowly making their way across no mans land, jumping from one ruined wall, and doing sweat somersaults on an important spot on the battlefield. Or maybe they are hiding behind a wall and calling down a teleport homer. Or maybe they are just sitting out in the open hanging out on a neoprene circle of importance?
All of these things seem to be dominated by those armies that can take a decent Lone Operative option. Something small enough to easily hide behind terrain and utilize their rule that allows them to be in the open but not being in the open. An interesting rule that still doesn’t feel right with the current 10th Edition vibe.
Lone Operative Origins
There was a big push towards leaders in the new version of 40K. Models that join up with heir friends, rush ahead to do battle, and provide some sweet benefits. This entire emphasis in the 10th Edition rules to make characters feel cool, unique, and not just some weird little model giving out a cool aura surrounded by friends like the last edition.
Of course not every character fit in that whole – lead a unit style set up. Either they were too bad ass to join their friends like a Primarch. Or their set up didn’t fit with any current unit. They could also just be a total loner who no one trusts. These guys had to have a different set of rules to allow them to work as characters and still be unique.
Say Hello to Lone Operatives
Thus GW created the Lone Operative rule which allows these models to live in a world where their rules work. It’s good GW got their rule to work, but the question comes in do they work too well? It all comes down to how Lone OPerative help you manage your 40K mission objectives. Take a look at some of the lists right now taking fixed objectives versus the heavily pushed tactical options.
If you can take two fixed objectives, get them all the time, and ensure you are generating 15 or so points why wouldn’t you? It creates an overall lack of interaction and a game plan that doesn’t really rely on your dice rolls. This is where the Lone Operative option comes in and things like Deploy Teleport homers and other “action” options that love a single model who can do it all. Especially ones that can’t be shot.
Or take a Lone Operative that’s only sole job is to keep your back objective occupied as the rest of your army gets to work. It is one thing to have to take some Cultists to make the objective sticky but a whole other thing when a cheap model holds it for you as long as you want it too. Units can’t dodge no LOS shooting but the Changling can shake whatever business it has at you and there isn’t a whole lot you can do.
Lone Operatives May Need Rules Tweaking
This brings me to the thought that these units should still be around but maybe they should be tweaked to allow for less “game balance” abuses. Things like removing their OC value so while they can still do actions they cannot “score” that backfield base for you. Why would a lone operative chill out on your home base right? Shouldn’t they be doing sweet flips as they go and cause havoc in your lines?
Removing OC from them would probably be the easiest way to balance them out and let them be what they should be. These are effective little units, but I dont think they were designed to control the battlefield. We could also see them getting cheaper too as nice little options to either block off some deployment or just be a simple action jerk ready to do the action you need them to do.
Uneven Lone Operative Availability
I think the bigger issue in all of this really is that not all armies have access to Lone Operatives. I creates a very big divide between have and have-not armies, makes it harder to really create a true sense of balance between the factions.
What do you think? Are things that force no interaction an issue? Are models you can’t deal with until you get close too bad for the game? How many times has the Changling forced you to not shoot? Did the Blue Scribes write a bad review of your One Act play?
