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Fixing Sixth. What d'you think??

4K views 27 replies 9 participants last post by  MidnightSun 
#1 ·
Hey folks, so me and my friends really do like playing 6th ed quite a lot but we have decided to make a few changes to add a little fun, colour, balance and well... sense. These are our (well, mostly mine really) humble attempts at fixing 6th edition and I request that you put forth an opinion, these did take a while to put together and I think there are some good ideas in there if I do say so myself. So without uhhhh.. further ado:

[Before getting started one clarification: due to GW's confusing terminology I'm going to use a new term here. Since units are basically all types of infantry or creatures, vehicles are...well, vehicles and Independent characters are... you know what I mean, the collective term for all these will not be the ever-so-perplexing “units” but uvid(s)]



Movement

Jump pack units can either move 12” in the movement phase or 2D6+3” in the assault phase (gaining Hammer of Wrath if they do). Models with the special rule Master of the Skies may do both and, if they don't run, this counts as one continuous move. [Bit of a buff to jump units and an opportunity to give some jump units (vanguard come to mind) a much needed edge]

Bikes (including Jetbikes) may only move at a 90 degree angle form their starting position (model-by-model basis) unless moving 6” or less in total that turn [it really didn't make much sense that they were so manoeuvrable anyway and there's a precedent with flyers now too].



Shooting

Snap shots make unit re-roll hits.[A more elegant solution, I believe, to the less sensical BS1]

A unit can't double up on snap shots (move heavy weapons and then fire them at a flier).

Throwing grenades is D6+3-BS” scatter. [Bothering too much?]

Template weapons accompanied by a distance (usually 3”, 6” or 12”) may place the template so that the small circle is anywhere within the specified distance from the firing model but with no other point of the template being closer. No friendly models may be in between the firing model and any point of the template.
[Lets be honest here templates needed a boost and the end goal here is to make it so a unit with the flamer, melta and plasma gun options will pay the same price for all three and there will still be a reason to take any of them]

Twin-linked weapons fire twice as many shots as a normal weapon of its type would and re-rolls as many misses as it scored hits (a hurricane bolter fires 6 shots at 18” but only scores 2 hits, therefore re-rolling 2 of its misses.
[more realistic and fluffy we feel, eventually costs within the codecies will be altered to reflect this significant buff]

Blasts and large blasts can target flyers but only hit if the middle of the blast ends up over the hull (not the wings, weapons, or tail) and counts as completely missing if it scatter off the hull [again, just seems to make sense].


Assault

Assault distance is D6+3”. [Less maximum distance, more minimum distance, overall a buff to assault we feel]

Defensive grenades make assaulting units attacks count as snap shots. [I know, snap shots and melee? Makes sense in my mind, we'll see about implementing this one]

Units embarked on a transport may assault on the turn they disembark if the transport didn't move that turn, however, they assault D6”. [I mean really, why did this ever leave?]

If you defeat an enemy unit in assault on your own turn, after consolidating normally you may attempt to assault another unit within 6”. Roll a D6 to determine the assault distance and, if successful, engage the new target. This assault is resolved during the next player turn, the assaulting unit gains no benefits from special rules or equipment (Furious Charge, Hammer of Wrath, grenades etc.) and the assaulted unit both benefits from any defensive special rules or equipment and may fire Overwatch even if that unit has already done so this turn.
[We think it's balanced enough and means that a gunline can be disrupted, but not necessarily broken, by a single fast moving melee unit]

Units arriving from reserves by outflanking may assault on the turn they do so and units with the Deep Strike Assault special rule may arrive from reserves by deep striking and assault on the turn they do so. Neither of these apply for ongoing reserves. [Some guys just need this one, we're thinking terminators as standard]



Vehicles

All vehicles get 1 more hull point than specified on their profile. [Maybe, vehicles do need some kind of buff since the stats against MC's is a bit off but we'll see]

Walkers make any grenades thrown at them count as snap shots (Whirlwind of Destruction). [It's either this or making all dreads AV 13 front and change costs in codex]

Vehicles have 4 types of weapons:

Main weapons must be fired first.

Turrets can always fire at full BS (Auto Stabilising Mechanisms) and are always Main weapons.

Sponsons can fire at a different target than the main gun but fire snap shots if they do.

And Defensive weapons must fire last and at a target one of the other weapons is firing at but at full BS and may fire regardless of restrictions on how many guns may be fired that turn (all vehicle mounted guns with a strength of 4 or less, unless otherwise specified).

The facing of a vehicle (and therefore the possible targets for each of its weapons) and all the targets of its weapons must be determined before any shots are made.

[Just making vehicles more versatile and reflecting the gun boat nature of many of them]


Continued...
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Cover Saves

There are 3 types of cover:

1. Light (forests, craters, shrubs, fences and other sparse or pliable hidey holes)
2. Medium (ruins, aegis defence lines etc.)
3. Heavy (fortifications, yada yada)

Each type of cover gives a penalty to the BS of any enemy unit targeting the unit in cover equal to the number in front of it (light is 1 cover, medium is 2 cover and heavy is 3 cover). So, for example, if a unit of Space Marine Scouts is shooting a unit of Guardsmen in a ruin (medium cover) the Scouts will have an effective BS of 1 (3-2), while the Scout sargeant will have an effective BS of 2 (4-2).
Any unit with at least one model in cover is considered to be “in cover” and the whole unit benefits from the highest save. However, if there are models in the unit with differing saves the firing unit may choose one of those groups and target only them (this is called focus fire), in which case the BS penalty incurred upon the firing unit is that of the target group (note that there is no obligation on the firers part to focus fire the group with the lowest cover save and that this also, obviously, cannot be done with models completely out of sight). Subsequently only models from that group may take wounds from that units shooting and any excess wounds are wasted.
For example, a unit of Ork Boyz has just moved into two different pieces of cover (while staying within unit coherency of course). Not all of them have made it though and while 10 Boyz have made it into a ruin and another 9 and the Nob are taking cover in a nearby forest unfortunately the other 10 Boyz are left stranded in the open. Next player turn comes and a nearby unit of Dire Avengers choose to shoot at the Squad of Boyz. From their point of view they cannot see the Boyz in the ruins so they have 3 options, they can either shoot the whole unit (excluding those out of LOS) incurring a -1 penalty to their BS, focus fire the Boyz in the open at full BS or focus fire the 9 Boyz and Nob in the forest at -1 BS again. Note again that whatever the Eldar player chooses to do the models out of LOS cannot be harmed by them.
On a model-by-model basis a model will always get the highest save from any given unit. If a model gets a medium, a light and no cover save from different models in the same firing unit, its save will be medium (2).

[I know this is a long one but I feel it will help tone down shooting slightly, while also giving benefits to any unit seeking cover (not just light infantry), being more realistic (bullets hit cover first) and hopefully more intuitive. It definitely gives it a bit more of an Infinity feel but I don't see that as a bad thing.]



Weapons

Melee:

Power Sword - +1 WS, +1 A (+1 more if paired with another ccw), AP3, 1h
Power Axe - +1 S, -2 I, AP2, 1h
Power Spear - +2 I, AP3, 2h
Power Maul - +2 S, AP4, concussive, 1h
Thunder Hammer – x2 S, AP2, +1 S when charging (before? doubling), concussive, 2h
Chainsword – AP5, 1h
Chainaxe – +1S, -2 I, AP4, 1h

[The 1h, 2h thing is shorthand for 1 or 2 handed weapons, which basically means 1h is your normal melee weapon which can benefit from +1 attack by having another 1h or pistol and 2h means that not only can this weapon not be used in tangent with any other but the model may not fire any shots on a turn it wishes to charge or fire overwatch][eventually we're gonna change the codicies to reflect this but the idea behind the power weapons is 10 points for a basic sargeant +5 points for every additional wound the characters who's taking it has on his profile]



Range:

Heavy Bolter – 36”, S 5, AP4, Salvo 4/2
Storm Bolter – 24”, S 4, AP5, Assault 3
Hand Flamer (or any other races equivalent) – template, S 4, AP 6
Flamer (or any other races equivalent) – 3” template
Heavy Flamer – 6” template

Continued further
 
#3 ·
Special Rules

Soul Blaze: place a counter for every saved wound, at the start of owning players turn resolve as many S 4, AP5 hits as there are counters on the unit. [just making this guy useful in some way, also no need to use a separate counter per hit, just use a dice or paper etc.]

Negates Cover: this'll be a new one to add onto various weapon profiles within the codecies but will have a number in brackets next to it (1 to 3) that shows by how much a units cover save should be decreased for shots coming from this weapon. [a way to tone down some of the current ignores cover weapons out there and adding a bit of depth to the mechanic e.g. Serpent shield becoming NC (1)]

Slow and Purposeful: changing the overwatch part to read “may fire overwatch without making snap shots. [this makes a bit more sense, the whole “purposeful” part 'n all, and makes it not as bad a rule to have]

Stealth & Shrouded: these rules make it so that a unit gains an additional point (or two) of cover even if in the open. While they are not cumulative with each other [maybe, maybe not, remains to be seen if this would be too OP], they can add to the cover save the unit has from terrain or other effects. This can take a firing units BS below 1, in which case add another BS value next to the first starting from BS5 and decreasing accordingly. This means simply, that if a second value is present the unit must re roll successful hits with this new value. For example, a unit of Ork Boyz fires at a unit of IG veterans with camo cloaks behind a fortification wall. This means the Orks suffer a -4 penaly to their BS (3 for heavy cover, 1 for stealth). This takes their first BS value down to 1, adds a secong BS value of 5 and then takes that down by 2 more for a BS of 1/3, meaning that the Boyz will need 6+'s to hit and then must re roll those hits with a 4+ to hit. Brutal!

[If, say, that unit of Boyz had shootaz and were 30 strong, therefore making 60 shots, only 5 would hit. While it may just be a bit too much, a cap could be set at BS 1 after all, this would help further tone down shooting and put an emphasis on other tools in a players arsenal than shooting]

Specialist Weapon: a model does not gain the +1 attack bonus for having 2 one handed melee weapons unless they are both the same specialist weapon. [I know “nerfing the fisticlaws combo” but we're gonna balance these in codex anyway]

I wanna do something cool with swarms like make it so they can detach from the parent squad and attach to any friendly squad, kinda like independent characters that can't just detach and be on their own but I'm not too sure... what do you guys think?


Psykers & Psychic Powers

Thinking of maybe adding a little control to the tables, maybe something along the lines of “roll to choose psychic powers as per normal but can choose one of the adjacent powers instead”. Will probably look at balancing all the powers eventually or maybe just shuffle them around to make the worst and best powers per discipline 1 & 6 respectively, which would mean that each can only go to 1 adjacent power (can't go from 1 to 6 or vice versa). Additionally for every other power chosen from the same discipline (this is done before rolling for powers) you may alter the roll by one more, devied up as you see fit (so a psyker with 3 Telepathy powers can alter any of the rolls, in any combination, by 2 more) [is this confusing? I like it cause it shows that a psyker with a certain mastery of a discipline will have more control over what powers he gets, might limit the initial choose adjacent thing and make it only after choosing more than 1 power from a discipline]

Other than that just gonna add a trait for each discipline:

Divination (the big one) – on a roll of double 6 for psychic test, psyker suffers two perils of the warp wounds.

Telekineses – the psyker automatically has a free psychic power of warp charge 1 that lets him move an enemy unit, within 12”, 6” in any single direction in his own (the psykers) movement phase.

Telepathy – the closest friendly or enemy unit within 18” (excluding the psyker and his unit) suffer -1 to their leadership. If at any point, for any reason, this changes this effect goes to the new closest unit immediately.

Biomancy – the psyker has a permanent -1 to his initiative but gains the It Will Not Die USR.

Pyromancy – the psyker does not suffer perils of the warp from powers cast from the pyromancy table.



Deployment

Place terrain normally then roll off to choose sides. Once this is done both players start deploying their armies at the same time. At least 50% of each players army (each uvid counts as 1) must be deployed on the field (uvids who can either deploy in deep strike reserve, outflank, infiltrate or who must start in reserve do not count towards this limit). Once this limit has been reached, a player can declare their deployment done. Whichever player finishes deploying first also gets first turn. Units must be deployed in full, even if they have a special rule that lets them deploy separately (combat tactics etc.).
After this is done the player who has taken first turn makes his scout moves, followed by second player doing the same, with the same sequence applying then to deploying outflanking uvids (if not kept in reserves) and last infiltrating uvids as per the normal infiltrating rules. Uvids with the special rule “Master Deployer” may make their special deployment move after this order, although must still be in sequence with opposing uvids that have the same special rule and are deploying in the same manner.

[We're thinking that this'll make deployment a bit more interesting and tactical]

This is all we've done so far and would likely change the game dramatically enough as it is but, more likely than not, it will be added on to when we come up with cool ideas. So please, let me know what you all think about these any criticism or praise is welcome and who knows, maybe one day this could evolve to be a standard for people who want a more balanced game (I can dream can't I?)
 
#5 ·
too many additional rules that take up space and are "rules for simply being rules" so therefore a lot can by nixed.

----

Honestly 6th I feel is rather balanced itself (assault needs to get a few bonuses) and some rules need to be omited or changed.

Most of my grief with 6th actually stems from the codexs and how poorly built they are internally.
 
#8 ·
Most of the problems that come from 6th edition derive from awful codex balance. Tau and Eldar are a whole metric above everyone else and GW assured they're not going to make any other codex on that level, which means they've just been officially crowned kings of 6th edition and there's shit you can do about it. Better shelf your inferior armies and wait for 7th to come around.

Less dramatically, though, I already listed my own gripes about sixth edition and your rules... Don't really address any of them, and just add more rules for the sake of having more rules.

If you want to make sure assault gets a buff, don't make defensive grenades even stronger than they are currently and make sure that difficult terrain is a lot less of a "you lose" button you can hide behind: a daemon prince assaulting fifty billion conscripts hiding behind a single toe-tall pebble gets to roll 3d6 drop highest for its charge distance and attack at Initiative 1 because it doesn't have assault grenades. Yes, Move through cover is completely and utterly useless for all of this. Want to know the fun part? Beasts and bikes are actually not slowed by difficult terrain, even during a charge (so no 3d6 drop highest) but they better have grenades or they're OH NO INITIATIVE 1 too.

Start by fixing that. Then move on to fixing the way Eldar just spam jetbikes and win all objective-grabbing based missions and you can't do anything at all about it. Then we'll talk.
 
#6 ·
I like the idea of some of these (although not read them all yet) but others aren't great; a bike would be able to spin in any direction, you've seen them in the movies right? And I don't even use bikes so would like my DA mate to suffer this but I don't agree with it.

May I ask, how many armies/races have these been tested on? Would they hurt some more than others?
 
#7 ·
Shooting

Snap shots make unit re-roll hits.[A more elegant solution, I believe, to the less sensical BS1]
I have not read all the rules, but after going through the first post I think this would basically destroy any army based on assault. If you charged a unit of say 10 marines, maths hammer would say you get 20 shots, of which maybe 12 hit. You reroll those and still get 8 hits. Against the shorter charge range you propose and the general lower armour of most horde armies you will need to get very close to ensure a charge is going to work.
 
#9 ·
It amazes me how many people complain about Tau and Eldar. They're not *that* good. Strong, sure, but not game-breakingly unbeatable by a long shot. I've fought Eldar five times with Deathwing and/or Drop Wolves, and performed five wins, two of which were tablings. Tau, I've only fought twice but I got a tabling and then a loss on First Blood. Tau and Eldar both have insane issues with fragility that are very easy to take advantage of.
 
#10 ·
It's not the 6th book breaking the game... It's the codex's...
Tau negate all foot armies.... Heldrakes do too... Tau also negate any jump pack deep strike... Oh your whole squad just lined up for the PERFECT shot? Ok, take all back off thanks you...
Eldar just hide behind a wall... Then sprint grab all objectives and laugh as you plink of off their serpents or whatever...
You have to sink 200+ points for some armies to not just be tabled by a single flier! an assault army is not gonna get much from an aegis are they?
And again, far too many needless, and contradictory changes. You think assault is underpowered? Let's buff snap shots to hell and back! Then piss in their faces with defensive grenades and not buff them at all! Huzar!
I think your onto something with limiting bike movement though, but the no more than 90* thing is a bit much...
I thought about doing something along the lines of for every 90* it turns... Take 3" of off it's movement this applies to vehicles as well, this is simple and saves the more complicated but realistic thing system of BFG or dreadfleet IE it has to move x" before it can turn x*
Because since when can a truck turn 180* in an instant? The movies... That's where!
 
#16 ·
In order for say a tank to do a 180* turn it has to stop! reverse one track and turn the other, so it losses all it's momentum, and once it's done crawling round starts up again the 3" off represents this, without crippling the tanks speed for each turn... It also means that they can't camp and pivot without counting as moving...
Same as bikes, they don't just suddenly start moving backwards, they have to stop as they do a movie style turn, then start up again...
And it's not just new books beating new... It means you can't do it, it doesn't counter it, just laughs at you for trying it... And what's your other option? Walk the buggers up and have an extra turn being shot at...
And it's not the aegis line that assault armies can't use, it's the quad gun, sorry, I should've been more specific, your saying I have to stop advancing, take another round of fire in the face in order to take some potshots at a flier which most likely won't kill it? Why should my ENTIRE codex be made redundant by a single unit in a codex, it's not fair. Sure I could just run rhino camping, but then I'm not blood angles am I? I'm spurfs painted red.
Make so that the heldrake is hull mounted... Duh... But that still means he only get 1 turn burning every other turn or more... I can take 1 round of heat and not lose the game for it, every turn is a no no.
Remove the ions overcharge, or make it so you have to super charge to get it, that way the thing can't nuke me without risking himself, or can't nuke me then hop 4D6 away...
Small things can easily fix the game...
And just saying 'fuck it, we can't be arsed, you guys do it' is not a good way to fix it, not everyone is blessed with the groups you may have in order to be able to chop and change the rules as they like... I'm sure adding a sentence in a units entry, or deleting one in an FAQ can't cost them that much... Hell I'll do it if they let me! For free!
And maybe your one army is good at countering eldar, that doesn't make them bad, it's like me saying my all plasma army laughs at a death wing army, it doesn't make it a bad army, it's just me bringing a hard counter... Does that make heldrakes suck? Cos I'm sure my friends paladin army will laugh at a tridrake list...
I think area terrain need some reworking as well, as well as you being able to choose the path your assaulters take, they wouldn't just run blindly towards to foe through a dense forest, they would skirt around it, or try to flank round so they are face-face with the enemy lord perhaps... As well as let pile ins for characters maybe be away from the enemy... My preist won't just sit there and take everyone's fire... He'll move, even if it means forsaking my attacks, fine, I want him out of harms way...
 
#17 ·
And it's not just new books beating new... It means you can't do it, it doesn't counter it, just laughs at you for trying it... And what's your other option? Walk the buggers up and have an extra turn being shot at...
Or drop them out of Line of Sight of the Riptide, or in good cover, or bring them on in Stormravens.

And it's not the aegis line that assault armies can't use, it's the quad gun, sorry, I should've been more specific, your saying I have to stop advancing, take another round of fire in the face in order to take some potshots at a flier which most likely won't kill it?
Why can't an assault army use a Quad-Gun? Your Devastators and such aren't running forwards.

Why should my ENTIRE codex be made redundant by a single unit in a codex, it's not fair. Sure I could just run rhino camping, but then I'm not blood angles am I? I'm spurfs painted red.
Yeah, man, the entire Codex sucks ass. It's not like you can run an AV13 wall that Outflanks, armed with the kind of firepower that brutalises the basic Tau infantry statline. And that really good Flyer you have, which is really good at killing the Riptide.

Make so that the heldrake is hull mounted... Duh... But that still means he only get 1 turn burning every other turn or more... I can take 1 round of heat and not lose the game for it, every turn is a no no.
Agreed with this change, but why is a Heldrake shooting every turn? Three, I can understand lasting, but why are you leaving one to run around?

Remove the ions overcharge, or make it so you have to super charge to get it, that way the thing can't nuke me without risking himself, or can't nuke me then hop 4D6 away...
That sounds pretty good.

And just saying 'fuck it, we can't be arsed, you guys do it' is not a good way to fix it, not everyone is blessed with the groups you may have in order to be able to chop and change the rules as they like...
Why is it not a good fix? It's what GW means, they just refuse to flatly put it in the rulebook. If it's in the rulebook, then everyone should chop and change the rules, because that's a rule.

And maybe your one army is good at countering eldar, that doesn't make them bad, it's like me saying my all plasma army laughs at a death wing army, it doesn't make it a bad army, it's just me bringing a hard counter... Does that make heldrakes suck? Cos I'm sure my friends paladin army will laugh at a tridrake list...
In news today; armies building around one factor are bad. Tri-Drake is not appreciable better than running a pair of Heldrakes, and Paladins have a whole host of reasons to be sad fighting Chaos Space Marines (Str8 blast spam and Telepathy are very efficient anti-Paladin, even with their armour saves, and that's without resorting to how people have dealt with Paladins for years - Tank Shock). Tri-Drake, Quad-Tide, Serpent Spam; all of them are kind of bad, because you can't build a list around one unit and one unit alone.

Deathwing are bad because they're stupidly fragile and can't engage many targets at all, not because Plasma and Grav are a thing :)

Hordes of Marines on foot were never good, and Jumpers as an entire army wasn't exactly the crowning glory of 5th either. Yeah, they were better than they are now. Yes, 6th hit Blood Angels quite hard. But it didn't completely ruin them.
 
#18 ·
The only thing hat really bugs me about 6th is how much it buffed shooting armies, and how much it crippled may diffrent types of assault armies. Random charge lengths, over watch, and the heavy restrictions on multi-charging means that a win for a CC army is more heavily based on blind luck then movement and strategy, after all you don't have to randomly roll weapon ranges so shooting someone is a lot less likely to fail. This trend was just made worse when some of the older weaker shooting armies updated.

The only other thing that seems off about this edition is the over abundance of needless special rules.
 
#19 ·
Maybe I was exaggerating, but really, is it acually fair that there's only 2 real options to dealing with fliers? Your own, or an aegis line?
My local gw narrows it down to... Build you army around killing them, or build your army around hiding from them...
There's no real middle ground, a single guad gun is not very good at bringing down a flier... At least not before it's done siginaifant damage.
Perhaps limiting a fliers range, make it so they can't shoot within a 6" bubble of them? Unless hovering, So they can't shoot directly down onto stuff? Make it easier to hide from them, unless they make them selves vulnerable...
And sure... An Out flanking AV13 wall is good... But it can't deal with riptides very well, an assault cannon will take a while to bring one down... Or a lascannon for that matter...
I'm just saying that simple fixes really Arnt that hard, why have an FAQ set up if you just say we don't give a rats arse about the rules? If they don't care, why even have different editions? They could make money out of a balanced game... Release a codex, see that say the heldrake is OP, FAQ a nerf on it, and buff the spawn perhaps as their lacking, mess it up, spawn are now the new chuck Norris, everyone buys spawn, you've now sold a heldrake and a spawn to every player... Nerf the spawn, buff the chosen, now chosen are uber, everyone buys chosen, nerf said chosen, the codex is now balanced, people buy a bit of everything in the CSM range, and sing your praise for a codex well done. Release next CSM codex, rinse repeat across all lines... That was a simplified process, but the points there, in balancing a codex, you make errors, they could be accidental or deliberate, I don't care as long as they get there in the end, so people shift towards this new 'power unit' and you make sales... Repeat this over and over... I believe this is how LoL makes money on champions...
You have pleased the player base, bring in more people as they don't get their arse wiped every game and so enjoy it...
And the updates could be months apart... Have a monthly FAQ where they 'rebalance' each codex in turn, everyone will get there turn eventually (sorry sisters :laugh: )
It's not that hard, it's a damn site better than going, piss off, let us bathe in more cash!
 
#22 · (Edited)
Maybe I was exaggerating, but really, is it acually fair that there's only 2 real options to dealing with fliers? Your own, or an aegis line?
Hyperios Missile Launchers are pretty good since Fast Attack's a fairly empty slot, and Sabre Weapons Platforms in allied Guard are second to none.


My local gw narrows it down to... Build you army around killing them, or build your army around hiding from them...
There's no real middle ground, a single guad gun is not very good at bringing down a flier... At least not before it's done siginaifant damage.
That's true in most cases (while the Quad-Gun can kill most Flyers in the rules in one volley, in reality the only Flyers ever seen are the Stormraven, Heldrake, Night Scythe and Vendetta; Night Scythes are very vulnerable but there's usually a bunch of them, leaving just the Stormraven, Drake and Vendetta, which are AV12 and therefore the Quad-Gun struggles), but that's like saying one Lascannon isn't very good at bringing down a Land Raider. Well, of course it isn't, but if you only bring one Lascannon then you should expect to have trouble with AV14.

Perhaps limiting a fliers range, make it so they can't shoot within a 6" bubble of them? Unless hovering, So they can't shoot directly down onto stuff? Make it easier to hide from them, unless they make them selves vulnerable...
On top of the existing Flyer movement restrictions? You trying to invalidate all the Flyers that aren't the Big Three, son?

On a side note, you might not be playing with the rules 100% correctly - Flyer guns have a 22.5 degree arc downwards, so there essentially is a zone underneath them where they cannot shoot. The exceptions are the Doom Scythe and Heldrake, but Stormravens and Vendettas and whatever actually have a fairly large swathe in front of them which they cannot shoot. Particularly the Stormraven's turret, as it's already so high up.

And sure... An Out flanking AV13 wall is good... But it can't deal with riptides very well, an assault cannon will take a while to bring one down... Or a lascannon for that matter...
Son, you need yourself some Devastators. Or combat. Riptides hate combat. Tau in general hate combat. Stormravens too.

I'm just saying that simple fixes really Arnt that hard, why have an FAQ set up if you just say we don't give a rats arse about the rules? If they don't care, why even have different editions?
Honestly, I don't know why they FAQ some stuff (Invasion Beams, Heldrake weapon mount, Kill Zones). Other things, it's to clarify problems and reduce time arguing/increase time playing and having fun, which is great.

They could make money out of a balanced game...
They make money out of an imbalanced game. It's reasonably balanced, to an extent, but to make it as balanced as chess would require a lot of effort.

The number of people who complain about imbalance in 40k is far, far smaller than the number of people who are ok with it. If you do a survey on the internet and a survey of actual, tangible 40k players at your FLGS, you'll get two totally different sets of results.

Release a codex, see that say the heldrake is OP, FAQ a nerf on it, and buff the spawn perhaps as their lacking, mess it up, spawn are now the new chuck Norris, everyone buys spawn, you've now sold a heldrake and a spawn to every player... Nerf the spawn, buff the chosen, now chosen are uber, everyone buys chosen, nerf said chosen, the codex is now balanced, people buy a bit of everything in the CSM range, and sing your praise for a codex well done. Release next CSM codex, rinse repeat across all lines... That was a simplified process, but the points there, in balancing a codex, you make errors, they could be accidental or deliberate, I don't care as long as they get there in the end, so people shift towards this new 'power unit' and you make sales... Repeat this over and over... I believe this is how LoL makes money on champions...
Do they need to? Every Chaos player buys the Codex as it is. Competitive players buy lots of Heldrakes and Noise Marines, and the other 80% of the customer base buys the models they want to buy.

You have pleased the player base, bring in more people as they don't get their arse wiped every game and so enjoy it...
I play in a community with a bunch of armies between four people, but the main armies are EldarTau (Jetbikes, Wave Serpents and some Wraith units - a Knight and some Guard, usually, but the odd Wraithlord as well; the Tau are a O'mmortal Commander, Fireblade, Crisis, Broadsides with Missiles, Riptide, Fire Warriors, Hammerheads), Necrons (kinda-Iron Curtain, two Annihilation Barges and a Ghost Ark, Night Scythe with dudes, mix-n-match army of Warriors, Immortals, Deathmarks, Scarabs - ask @falcoso for more information), Chaos (Cultists, Noise Marines, CSM in Rhinos, Heldrake, Nurgle Obliterators), and my Dark Angels and Orks (DA are Deathwing Knights/Hammernators with Tactical/Devastator support and a Mortis Dreadnougth; Orks are two 30-man blobs of Sluggas with allied Painbosses, 2 Battlewagons, 40 Shoota Boyz, Void Shield Generators, and a Nobstar).

Most games are pretty balanced - the Eldar/Tau player loses a lot more than everyone else, and the rest of us are fairly equal in W:D:L (in order, it'd probably go falcoso's Necrons at the top, then my Orks or DA, then the Chaos, but it'd be so close as to be essentially indistinguishable).

The Eldar player is the one getting wiped (usually tabled) in every game. The internet tells falcoso to bring Wraiths and Annihilation Barges and Night Scythes with MSU Warriors/Stormteks. He beats Taudar all the time with Deathmarks and Scarabs and foot Warrior squads. The internet tell the Chaos player to bring loads of Cultists/Noise Marines, Havocs with Autocannons, and 2/3 Heldrakes to compete. He regularly wails on the Tau in melee. The internet tells me to bring Ravenwing Bikers with the Standard of Devastation and that Deathwing Knights are shitty Hammernators. I proceed to tear through all and sundry with Terminators and Tacticals in Rhinos.

If you play how the internet tells you to play, then Tau and Eldar dominate. If you play how you're good at playing, then you'll do really well.

And the updates could be months apart... Have a monthly FAQ where they 'rebalance' each codex in turn, everyone will get there turn eventually (sorry sisters :laugh: )
It's not that hard, it's a damn site better than going, piss off, let us bathe in more cash!
That'd be a really good way of pleasing the 20% of the community who play competitively and think that OMG 40K SO IMBA. It'd really piss off the 80% who are fine with 40k as it is.
 
#21 ·
How else were they going to get rid of all those sisters of battle models they had left over? If they just out and out told people that they hated the army and would never even try to put effort into it then they would be stuck with thousands of unsellable models.
 
#25 ·
@MidnightSun how often do you attend competitive tournaments? Because what you seem to describe as your local play area is non-optimal lists playing against other non-optimal lists. In which case the game is perfectly fine because no-one is actively trying to break it. It's also a great way to have fun with friends and is something I enjoy doing myself - I don't have any illusions about there being a "best" way to play.

At the sharp end, like the ETC team Scotland tournament event I just went to (which itself probably wasn't "hardcore" since there were non-competitive lists there) then you have serious, serious problems with 6th Edition. To the tune of ~50% Daemon players, ~20% Tau players and ~20% Eldar/Dark Eldar players with the last ~10% being made up of random Space Marine stuff. Hell, I was playing a relatively competitive Serpent Spam list and still got hammered twice, tabled three people, and had a close-fought loss against Tau that was entirely down to simply hiding my Jetbikes until the final turn while he wiped the rest of my army off the table almost entirely unopposed.
 
#26 ·
And you enjoy that kind of scenario, and far be it from me to tell you how you should enjoy your hobby. Many people like going to tournaments to fight Screamerstar and Taudar and whatever else is good on the tournament scene this month. Many others write pages upon pages of fluff and play because 40k is a pretty good way to socialise with like-minded people and do some funny shit.

However, most people don't go to tournaments, and GW will cater to the paying majority over the bitchy minority.
 
#27 ·
Once again this is a baseless assumption. Going by the numbers in my local gaming center a fair percentage of sales come from that bitchy minority of tournament gamers. GW however has always stated that they envision themselves as a table top miniature company first. So their primary investment isn't in fluff or balancing the game, but making new and interesting models.

Ultimately the hobby has always had and most likly always will have a fairly equal divide between competitive, artistic, and natively inspired gamers, and in all honesty your elites attitude of late makes you no better then those you have been riling against. Personally I think everyone has a right to talk about the hobby in the way they see fit.
 
#28 ·
I'm just trying to get the message across that 40k is not a suitable game for tournaments in it's current iteration. I probably have been a little overzealous, and I apologize for that, but the sooner people realise that the rules are a tool, not gospel, the better, in my opinion.

Yes, tournament players buy models, because they need to buy the new flavour of the month. But they do not make up the majority, and they don't buy the whole range. Tournament players don't shift all those boxes of Thousand Sons and Dark Talons and Tankbustas. They're most definitely a minority, and they're negligible in some areas (never seen anyone buy The Hobbit, let alone any tournament-goers).

Interesting to note that it's different in your area. The big spenders in my area are the ones with 80,000 points of Eldar or full Heresy-era Companies, and they're most certainly not competitive players (one dude bought a Harridan, for god's sake).
 
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