Actually, this week we wanted to talk about something else, but the complete profile of the new little knight - Armiger Warglaive has leaked into the web. So, let's talk about the balance of super-heavy elite units in Warhammer 40 000 in the 8th edition.
Actually, you can see the profile of the new Knight below. It might seem that everything is fine. Quite a powerful weapon on a very solid platform for a good price. But, you know what is embarrassing? Here is this block at the top - the table of degradation. Our new friend is degrading in the most important parameters for such machine - BS and WS. And it happens as soon as he loses half (6) of his wound. And it's ... catastrophic.
It would seem - just 4+ for a successful hit roll. However, in these conditions, especially with modest 4 attacks in close combat and random D3 shots, it turns into a laughingstock rather than a full-fledged combat vehicle. And what weapon can remove 6 wounds in T7 and 5 ++ in this edition? Yes, any lascannon, or rocket. Two - to be guaranteed. It turns out, an impressive fighting machine for 200 points turns into useless junk after one volley over it. It’s even unnecessary to finish it. And the enemy naturally wants to make this volley, seeing such an undoubtedly dangerous goal. Isn’t it more reasonable, to take a dreadnaught?
Why are we talking about the unready unit with such confidence? Because absolutely the same thing happens with a big Imperial Knight. Twice as many wounds, of course, but also, as practice shows, it's not a problem at all. 5 ++ is not enough to provide at least some kind of stability. Do not forget that the enemy always aims at such target in the first place. This also applies to many other equally powerful and expensive units. The table of "degradation" in essence, reduces their effectiveness twice. And if, for example, the primarchs can protect themselves with magic, then the Knights are completely defenseless against enemy fire. In the seventh edition, for example, they did not receive any fines for damage at all.
The conclusion seems to be logical - to change the table to lower other stats, for example, the number of attacks - so we leave the Knight a chance to prove himself useful at least in shooting, and remain useful until the end. However, judging by his younger partner, in the upcoming codex this just will not happen. What then? Obviously, we are waiting for strategems to use the maximum profile, or simply to restore health - this has already been in other codices. However, this is not enough - everyone knows how quickly command points end up. Therefore, we have to desire only an increase in survivability - the possibility of invuln increasing, or some kind of FNP. Or, better, both.
And how do you see this problem? Do you enjoy the game for superheavy units in the new edition? Offer your ideas! The main goal of this blog is to raise this issue in the wargame community because logical and obvious solutions are still bypassing us.
