Tuesday, December 10, 2013

So, it is looking like there will be Tournament Ban Lists, etc...

?Looking over what the Feast of Blades folks are going to be the first to enact some of the bans and limits to the new Warhammer 40K environment.  The following is a quote from the 3++ site:
"
1.) The Grimoire of True Names from Codex: Daemons is banned
As of right now, this is the only true banning. We feel there is too much potential for abuse, and disagree with the effect it has on the army and the game.
2.) A few units will receive 0-1 status
For those of you who weren't around when 0-1 was a thing in codecies, means that a maximum of 1 of that unit may be taken per army. These are all units whose mass inclusion limits the potential lists in the game, and will thus be restricted. (As none of them are a problem on their own.) Rest assured that this will be a very short list, we are not interested in creating very restricted armies.
3.) Supplemental Codecies will no longer be able to ally to their base codex
There will be no more self-allying, no more cherry picking the best parts of a supplement while paying none of the costs, and no more force-org bloat from doing so.
4.) Dataslates will take an ally slot
Taking units from many, many different books and ignoring the force organization chart is too much. This change will make dataslates an interesting addition to the game, without allowing for truly bizzare armies.
5.) The number of psychic mastery levels in an army will be limited
This change will eliminate a great many power combos from the game, and will stop a player from making a lot of lucky rolls on the psychic power tables to effectively win the game before it begins.
6.) Strength D is out, Lords of Battle are in
We feel the the Lords of Battle are not overpowered on their own, the fact that they give the opponent some advantages (bonus to seize, and especially victory points) balances out their fearsome firepower and powerful endurance. Strength D, however, is too powerful. This is well-known by every apoc player (and I am one of them), and has been the case for the past two editions. (Yes, it was even overpowered back in 5th, and it was much worse then.) There is some debate still going on, but it looks like S:D will becomeS:10, ordinance, ignores cover. That still makes it very powerful, but more in line with the price paid for the superheavy as well as it's other weapon options. In addition, superheavies will have to start on the table.
7.) Super-forts are gone, or at least downsized
No AV15, it will be AV14 instead. Every individual fortification from Stronghold Assault is allowed, but the “network” choices are simply too big and unwieldy to allow for tournament play. (As a consolation, they're pretty terrible, so I think it's OK.)
8.) Dedicated transport flyers will be limited
Flyers are not the be-all end-all of this edition, but all-flyer and mostly-flyer armies change the meta in uncomfortable ways and are notoriously unfun to play against."


So a fair amount in there...  The big things being the Str D weapons being modified for play...  Probably a good thing overall, especially in concert with the other limits.  D Str was an answer to some of the silliness that abounds in the current unrestricted environment.  Bring the 4 Riptides if you'd like, but know that the first time you face a Revenant class Titan you just lose.   Of course the other limits remove the 4 Riptide list in any case...

Outright ban on one thing.  Not bad really overall...  We have only a single Demons player locally, and she hasn't used this so I have no real familiarity with it.  But given its use in one of the problematic combinations it is likely broken enough to need banning.

So...  That brings me to what I am seeing as a complete lack of play testing by GW.  I always wondered if they were playing the same game that we were over here.  There seems to be a split between complete crap units or even whole books like the Dark Angles or the recent fliers.  Mind, I think that overall the fliers that have been balanced against each other, or at least the ones actually created IN sixth edition.  The ones magically elevated to fliers, specifically the Necron fliers are probably the most difficult ones to justify.  But the ones in sixth like the Eldar ones or Marine Storm Talon have 2 hull points and are generally weaker than a lot of other things.  The recent Codices like Tau that have wholesale rule "exceptions" and the ability to customize your units to the point of list tailoring is pretty over the top. And of course the Eldar and all they can do legally...

I dunno, thinking whatever list comes from the FoB event will get VERY serious consideration locally...  Still digesting the new books...  Some interesting stuff there...  And my Legion stuff is coming along very nicely...  Pipeline from Stronghold book with a Tactical Support Squad w/ Flamers?  So, 9Torrenting Flamer Templates?  Yes please...

2 comments:

  1. Does no strength D make Nids insane, then?

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  2. Insane? Not for that reason... I think their flying Gargantuan Creature is going to be the single hardest thing to take down in the game... Most D class weapons are blast, so cannot be fired at Fliers... Making the T8, 8 Wound Flier "difficult" to bring down... And it has 2 * Assault 6 Str 10, AP 3 guns... Oh, and their Codex comes out next Month, or so it is rumored :-)...

    For the record, I think the D class stuff is a bit overpowered, but then it is also overpowered to have re-rollable 2++ saves, etc... So, balance by imbalance? Probably not the way I would have chosen to do it, but I'm just an Engineer, what would I know...

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