October updates

[Rogue]

Lots of points drops, then - battleline, jackals, aberrants (in fives), some characters and a single enhancement.

 

And, perhaps more interestingly, Cult Ambush will change before the end of the year. 

 

The pessimist already thinks that we'll see the points drops compounded by the new Ambush mechanic, swiftly followed by back-pedalling nerfs, but we'll have to see.

 

 

[brother_b]

I’ve lost a bit of interest in GSC and 40K 10th in general. I’ve still got some stuff to paint up which I’ll do but the grind of rules and updates and expensive books just goes ever on.

 

I’ve actually painted up a bunch of non-40K stuff like historical, samurai for Test of Honour, etc.

 

I hope to get back to the fun of 40K and want to finish my army. I may do a bunch of 5 aberrant blobs with a 10-beast group with a character.

[Ulfast]

I actually don´t know how I feel. all the changes (and in some way to little change) make it feel like GSC is hanging in the air for me. I believe they can be good but in some ways it´s just to hard to play and in some way to singularity ( I meen you use same units all the time). So in the end, it´s like 50% I like the army and models, in another 50%, hard to play and not always fun.

[Rogue]

Brother-b - that's a shame. I hope you find your GSC mojo again soon.

 

Ulfast - I know what you mean. I kind of appreciate the whole "Cult Ambush rework coming in December" thing, but it also puts us in that strange waiting place: Points cuts are great, but how will they work with a new faction rule? Do I want to paint this unit or that unit next? Why bother playing around with new lists when everything will change again in just two months?

[Dr. Clock]

My Neo/Primus spam list when down 125 points , so I'm definitely looking forward to running them in current state before next Cult Ambush change. This means I can afford to take a second Jackals unit way more often which is nice because they're the last thing I painted but I've been struggling to fit them in alongside the bread and butter Neo or Acolyte bombs.

 

I appreciate the attempt to make the army spend points more like an elite army but still have them feel truly beyond number, but it's likewise really difficult to point balance this level of recursion when it's so random.

 

For me, instead of a random 'do they come back?' thing, it would be easier to plan around something like destroyed units going in a 'reserve pool' that you draw a limited number of units from per turn based on the size of the game. So probably 1 unit at 1000 points and 3 at 2000?. This would create more incentive to build big units because you know you can get them back at least once and you want to bring back the biggest units you can. It also incentivizes enemies to think twice before completely nuking a 20-brick since they'll be back next turn, although I also appreciate that that's a bit 'gamey' for some. Making it much more predictable but also limited would hopefully reduce some of the NPE that occurs when the averages skew toward either nothing dying or everything dying too quickly. You want something that lets the army remain within the realm of $ affordability (so big enough to warrant globally substantial

 

While I certainly appreciate the easier use of Ambush, the pendulum has just swung too far toward the marker being pointless. I'd prefer it if the Ambush markers were the 'optional part' where you get to set one up on a 4+ twice per turn when a unit is destroyed, and then those points allow basically 3" deep-strike around them if the unit forgoes its charge when Ambushing. Like the markers should be used more aggressively to take up space at the pointy end of your advance rather than just weirdly unnecessary as an option alongside 'regular' Deep-Strike Ambush.

 

20 hours ago, Rogue said:

Do I want to paint this unit or that unit next? Why bother playing around with new lists when everything will change again in just two months?

 

I mean... this is a perennial issue for anyone 'keeping up with' a game, it feels like... I don't let rules influence my collecting too much, and have long limited myself to 'no more than 2 of anything' that's not battleline. I am almost allergic to painting more than 2 identical units, though that usually means I just can't quite run 'true meta' builds. I'm only just at the point now where an additional 2 ridgerunners and 1-2 Goliaths are a likely potentiality, but even there I'm going to be buying third party (Ramshackle Games most likely) or converting (Necromunda Tauros) because I want the 'vehicle themed build' to be more diverse / less uniform.

 

Cheers,

 

The Good Doctor.

 

[Rogue]

Fair point, that does sound quite gamey. But it's coming more from a "I've got all the codex units painted up, and now have the luxury of adding odd bits here and there so that my tabletop force remains pretty wysiwyg whilst trying out new detachments or ideas". Except, I'm a slow painter, so it's nice to know that when I commit to something (like my current ridgerunner, finally painted grey three weeks after starting to build), I kinda want it to still be relevant and fun to play when I finish it.

[Zoatibix]

I also don’t tend to paint more than two of the same unit anymore.

 

I wonder if GW are trying to think of a mechanic that manages not to give bad feels to the opponent but is actually thematic and useful to us.

 

I actually like the hidden setup mechanic.
 

It would need a second rule to give the army something during the actual game.
 

I like Dr Clock’s suggestion of a limited but automatic amount of points. It’s predictable for both players and games designers.

 

But…then we’re get to GSC having more points for the battle than the opponent. Just not all at once.

 

What if we could bring strategic reserves in from turn one, and second turn any board edge? Would that be too much?

 

I was going to take my GSC out last week, but trying to get my head around the core rules changes plus the complexity of GSC felt a bit much. Played my Nids instead.

[Ulfast]

One problem with GSC (and it´s the same for ad mech) is that we are a horde army (and I like that) but our models are very expensive to buy. You need to buy so many troops that it´s pretty hard,specially for new players, to start collecting a 2000p army. With lower points cost and several changes it make it even harder for newer players to start a GSC army. Much easier to just collect chaos, space marine or something similiar.