Allies of Inconvenience: Episode 32- Balance Dataslate and Upcoming Releases

Delayed in publishing again, but this time only by 1 month. Once more, sorry, but still join us as Evan, Chris, Ian and Jason go over their recent hobby progress and then discuss their thoughts on the recent balance dataslate and what that does for 40k, as well as what they hope to see for upcoming releases such as Custodes, GSC and Tau

Listen/Subscribe on any of the following platforms

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Google Podcasts, Player FM, Libsyn

00:00 Intro
03:47 Hobby Progress
27:46 Balance Dataslate Discussion
59:03 Upcoming Releases Discussion

Songs and Soundclips
Blue Mark- Atlan Urtag
Kaap mere- Bugotak
All Clips: Centaurworld

Custodes Ka'Tahs, Mathematics, and the complicating of a supposedly "streamlined" edition

 So Games Workshop gave us a preview of Custodes Ka'Tahs yesterday. You can go read more on it by clicking that hyperlink (takes you to Warhammer Community, I swear its not a Rick Roll... but for what's to come you might as well save time and go Rick Roll yourself anyway).

I am not going to dive into the the Ka'tahs they previewed. That is not the point of why I am writing this article. What I wanted to dive into is how Ka'tahs work, why everyone seems to feel like it is unnecessarily complicated, and ultimately why I think it is a bad game design move.

So the part in focus is this

Basically it works like this (I am copying and pasting this from an earlier discussion I had on this topic. For the purposes of this, a Ka'tah is a "Discipline", A is a primary choice, B a secondary and C the tertiary. 1 and 2 are the stances within each of those.

• When the game starts you pick Discipline A, B, C from a list of disciplines (current # unknown, at least 3)
• Turn 1 you have to pick stance 1 or 2 from discipline A. Lets say you pick stance 1.
• Turn 2, you can now pick stance 2 from discipline A OR you can pick stance 1 or 2 from discipline B, but not discipline C. Lets say you pick stance 1 from discipline B.
• Turn 3, you can now pick stance 2 from discipline B OR you can pick stance 1 or 2 from discipline C. You cannot go back and pick stance 2 from discipline A. Lets say you pick stance 2 from discipline B.
• Turn 4, you can now only pick from Discipline C. Can't go back to A and you used up B. Lets say you pick Stance 1, discipline C.
• Turn 5, you are now stuck with Stance 2, Discipline C.
• If you did 1 from A Turn 1, 1 from B turn 2, and 1 from C turn 3, turn 4 you'd be stuck with 2 from C and then turn 5 have nothing.

Because of the way this is going to be what separates wheat from chaff and really will put a skilled/practiced custodes player above the rest, because thinking through the order and timing when you want to land your key Kat'ah is going to be crucial. Lets show you some decision trees to demonstrate the point.

Complicated yet?

Okay so that one was a joke first attempt one of my team mates made, but it illustrates the point (as a side note, the guy who drew that has a Master's degree in Math, the only reason he doesn't have a doctorate is he was tired of school, and he currently teaches Math at a collegiate level... so yeah, color him not a fan of this system). I made a cleaned up version in power point.

So that decision tree has 72 nodes in it. That is 72 different decisions you can make with Ka'tahs once you have chosen them. It would be more if we had 6 turns, but the game currently ends Turn 5. This leaves you with some routes that end before using the 6th stance available to you, while some routes you have no stance in turn 5 because you burned through your Ka'tahs fast.

There is fortunately an easier way to look at it. Back to my Math friend

So in this simplified trace path, you start on A1 or A2 on Turn 1 and each arrow represents a new Turn of the game. And you have to remember, you can never go back wards. 

But it really isn't that simple now is it. This represents once you have picked your Ka'tahs. What we need to talk about is permutations. We are in an N choose r situation, where we know r to be 3 (Primary, Secondary, Tertiary), but we don't know what N is. Now based on the preview we know there are 3 Ka'tahs minimum, but also based on the preview I am going to assume there are more. Now I'd venture that there are no more than 6 Ka'tahs for a total of 12 stances. This fits the potential for randomly rolling for a Ka'tah and stance as part of some crusade mechanic or something. There could be less, but likely no fewer than 4, and there could be more, but I am willing to bet no more than 6 Ka'tahs to choose from. We always get 6 powers in a discipline. We always get 6 Warlord Traits. 6 fits the design prerogative of Warhammer 40,000. 

So assuming 6, that is 120 permutations of Ka'tahs. To do the math, that is 

• 6!/(6-3)! = 120
• (6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1)/(3 x 2 x 1) = 120
• 6 x 5 x 4 = 120
• 720/6 =120

Now lets go look at that visually.

That is 8,640 nodes. Or 3,840 pathways to play the game.

8,640 potential decisions you as the player should understand the consequences of before the game starts. That is 3,840 courses of action that will play out on the table. Even if we used the simplified table, that would be 1,680 nodes for 6 Ka'tahs.

Or as I like to think about it, one node for each name Constantine Valdor has. Which is now canon.

Yes it is.

Now, yes, you don't actually need to know the whole diagram, and you can be flexible and reactive on the decision tree to a degree. And for sure, there will be some Ka'tahs that are OBVIOUSLY better than others, and that's also not to mention that people will have their own personal favorites, leading them to ignore other Ka'tahs all together 99% of the time.

But what you need to understand is that from all that potentiality, each decision you make locks out more and more of the totality of potential, and from the beginning of the game you may choose 3 Ka'tahs that result in this table...

When you really needed a subset down here to achieve victory.

See as you pick yohr Ka'Tahs, you rapidly winnow options available. Without consodering order if you pick one Ka'Tah, you instantly eliminate 30 tables here. Down to 90. Another Ka'Tah and you are down to 24, or 1 row above. You're third and you are down to 6. Start ordering them, the moment you set a primary you are at 2 tables left, and then your secondary selection drives which table you are on.

And there in lies the rub. For a "streamlined" game, this is an INCREDIBLY HIGH amount of decision making and comprehension of potential choices and their impact that is required by the player, and it really does set up for those with the natural ability to understand this, or those who are more experienced in its use, to be better than everyone else. And that is not a system that is friendly to new players, nor is it really friendly to casual players. And IMO to be a good mechanic is a game claiming to be streamlined, it should do both those things.

I can also almost guarantee this will slow game play as people go back and forth agonizing over which Ka'tahs they should select, what order to place them in, and then which stance they should use each turn.

And to complicate it all even further, I am willing to bet there will be

• A stratagem allowing you to use both Stances from a Ka'tah in a turn
• A stratagem allowing you to reuse a previously used Ka'tah and/or stance

And I am sure that won't complicate the matter...

And oddly enough your Primary Ka'Tah isn't even your most important. You can only acces it T1 and T2, and you can leave it as early as T2. Your secondary is where it is at since you can time it to be T2, 3 or 4. So whatever stance you want to hit the hardest, make it B1 or B2. Your second most important Ka'Tah is actually your Tertiary for the same reason prett much. You can access it T3, 4 and 5 if timed properly. THIS is what I am talking about when I talk about more some players really using Ka'Tahs to a degree that others can't. Understanding when and where to land their Ka'Tahs.

Now this also means, it may be a little easier to choose though. If a Ka'Tah is obviously a Defensive/Movement buff, it may always be just clear to use it as a Primary for Turn 1 and 2 access. Where as your shooting ones may be best as Secondary and your Assault or Scoring ones as Tertiary. Really narrows you down on the table faster.

I also want to take a moment here to point out though that while this is supposed to represent a Martial prowess and flexibility as unparralled by any others, it is really actually super rigid mechanically. Those potential stratagems aside, lets say I pick a stance from a Ka'tah that would shut down a rerolling hit/wound deathstar character. Lets say its the second stance in that Ka'tah I have used, so I have to move onto a new Ka'tah next turn. Now I selected this in my command phase, so in my opponents turn he knows I have that selected... so he just chooses not to charge this turn. Next turn, I have to choose a new Ka'tah and uh-oh... it is one for dealing with hordes. Now my opponent in his turn charges that character into me and destroys the squad by rerolling everything.

Some bunch of ultimate badasses I was, not able to adapt to the situation when faced with a combat monster instead of the chaff infantry I was planning for.

And to me, this really underscores the complicated nature of the system and what I was saying earlier. You make one bad mistake about what order to put your Ka'tahs in at the start of the game, you are now locked into that mistake for the entire game and may potentially not be able to recover from it. And that is a hallmark of a bad game mechanic IMO.

Will Ka'tahs be useful? I'm sure. But useful doesn't mean good mechanically. Back when space marines got 500 free points in Rhinos and Razorbacks, that was useful, but terrible for the game. When you could have untargetable assasins, useful but bad mechanically. Ka'tahs don't seem to that level, especially since they aren't unfair to your opponent it seems, but they still seem off and rough on their own player.

Will they be fun? IDK. This is where I think you'd need to look more specifically at the Ka'tahs themselves. However, no matter what they are, I am sure there could have been a more fun way to implement them, because this...

This give me a migraine. 

Allies of Inconvenience: Episode 31- Drukhari, Grey Knight, Thousand Sons and Ramblings

Super delayed in publishing, recorded 2 months ago at time of publishing. Sorry, but still join us as Evan, Chris, Ian and Jason go over their recent hobby progress and then discuss their thoughts on Drukhari, what they wish to see in Grey Knight and Thousand Sons, a bit of a rant on Kruel Boyz, and other mad ramblings. 

Listen/Subscribe on any of the following platforms

iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher

Google Podcasts, Player FM, Libsyn

00:00 Intro
04:00 Hobby Progress
35:57 Drukhari Discussion
57:55 GK and 1k Sons Discussion
 
Songs and Soundclips
Blue Mark- Atlan Urtag
Kaap mere- Bugotak
All Clips: Men In Black

BFG: Additional Ship's Compendium 2.0 Update- Orks done and over 109 vessels total

I am trying to get back on track in the wake of the pandemic. But since it started life in general has changed for me with work and everything, so getting back into the swing of things has been tough.

That being said, a new update to the Additional Ship's Compendium 2.0 (ASC 2.0) just dropped!

Ork vessels done, several heresy vessels added, and you can see place holders for the current WIPs to come (heresy vessels, indomitus vessels, and a few fleet lists) and a preview of what comes next. If my count was correct it is currently at 109 vessels + 9 fleet lists + Navis Mecantilis DIY rules.

DOWNLOAD HERE

If you bookmark that link, you will always be able to find the latest revision of the ASC

Pictured is a preview of one of the long awaited ship classes now added to the ASC 

Work is ongoing, there are place holders for 25 ships and 5 fleet lists, all still WIP, and I hope to get another update later this month, and again in late August and late September to finish all that out, then onto Aeldari.

For those wondering what this is, the ASC 2.0 is my effort to capture the totality of BFG and bring it into the game. It is made to be compatible with BFG:XR / BFG 2020 and is by no means an effort to balance (quite the opposite actually) the game. It is made to fully explore the scope of space ship battles in the Warhammer 40000 universe, providing ample opportunity for both narrative gaming and great conversions. I attempt to meticulously research and get as close as I can to the actual fluff, and sometimes when there is nothing for a ship class, at least meticulously research a warhammer event to place that ship within. So even if the rules are not for you, I hope the 59400 words (exact count in this draft) of lore are to your liking.

Lastly, this is all the work of one man, me! But I am always open to feedback, especially on points. I feel I have a good grasp on what a ships should cost after designing over 100 of them, but that doesn't mean I get it exactly right. 

And note, just because you feel a ship in here may break the game or spirit of the fleet it is assigned to, please see all the above. Nothing says you have to use this in its entirety or at all. It exists purely for fun and a love of BFG. 

Now go forth and conquer the stars.

Imperial Armour Compendium Critical Review: Part 6- Chaos Space Marines, Death Guard, and Chaos Daemons

 A Continuation of our 11 part review of the Imperial Armour Compendium. This time we are diving into Chaos.

Sorry for the long delay. Just more and more life has gotten in the way and I find myself without time lately.

I am really trying to not be salty in this, and I am going to be as factual as possible but maintain a critical eye, the intent of which is to inform you and maybe, just maybe, let GW know we notice and care about this stuff. The details matter in an expensive hobby like this, and if it takes a small time blog to hold them accountable then so be it.

This review will be an in depth 11 part series, and I will update and link each successive article below, so keep checking back for updates.

• Part 1- Book Overview
• Part 2- Space Marines
• Part 3- Astra Militarum
• Part 4- Grey Knights, Inqusition, Adeptus Mechanicus, Adeptus Custodes
• Part 5- Imperial Knights, Titan Legions, Chaos Knights and Chaos Titan Legions
• Part 6- Chaos Space Marines, Death Guard, and Chaos Daemons
• Part 7- Craftworlds and Drukhari
• Part 8- Necrons and Orks
• Part 9- T'au Empire and Tyranids
• Part 10- Death Korps of Krieg Focused Discussion
• Part 11- Forgeworld Warhammer Legends

So first off all, follow the link above to Part 2 and read that, because most of it is identical. Anything that used to be a Hellforged Varian of an SM vehicle is now the same as its SM variant, just with Chaos Keywords. The only difference really to note is that now Chaos follows their space marine equivalents almost directly, where as in the previous edition Imperial Armour index, some weapons were uniquely made "Chaosy" like Ectoplasma cannons instead of plasma cannons and Butcher Cannons instead of Autocannons, and now they all share instead.

This covers the Contemptor, Leviathan, Land Raider Variants, Predator, Scorpius, Sicaran Variants, Deredeo, Rapiers, and Super heavy tanks and any Space Marine Flyer. This also goes for the Terrax Termite drill, even though it is not Hellforged. Of note, the Chaos Vindicator Laser Destroyer was forgotten in the FW compendium and is only in the FAQ on warhammer community.

Many of these vehicles have marital legacy as well, covered extensively in the SM Article linked above. But for this one, lets just same I am not a fan.

Additionally, at the time the books came out, they had removed the ability for 1k Sons and Death Guard to take any of the Heretic Astartes vehicles. Fortunately this has been fixed in the FAQ, and they now operate as Bubonic or Arcana Astartes.

And before I go to the Data Sheets, its sad to see all the Dark Mechanicum, Vraks Characters, Spine beasts, plague toads and Plaguehulk all go to legends

Chaos Space Marines

Decimator- Improved. Went up in W (but now has a degrading profile).  Butcher cannons were nerfed and lost a point of S and no longer modify target LD. The C-Beam Cannon was made into a conversion beamer, which up close doesn't have a good of AP, overall this is a improvement because of the more consistent damage, more shots and blast.  The Hellflamer was boosted with range like all flamers. Slight nerf to the soulburner as it now has to roll to wound to do a mortal wound, but its on a 2+. The storm laser gained range by 12" and gained a shot.  And the decimator claw went from +2S to x2S. And all of this with really no change in points

Greater Blight Drone- Nerfed IMO. Now a single profile instead of a degrading one.  Lost a point of LD but gained a point of WS. Lost 3W and infernal regenaration but gained disgustingly resilient. Gained shots on their bile maw, going from a D3 pistol to a d6 assault, but lost a point of S, AP and went from D3 damage to 1. Blightreaper cannons went from 2D to 1D and Plague Probes went from D3 damage to 1D. The biggest thing IMO is their 4+ explosion went from 7" D3 mortals to 6" 1 Mortal. They also separated this out for a datasheet for Death Guard specifically, 

Dreadclaw Drop Pod- Major Nerfs. Slower,  Lost a wound, lost Toughness, but no longer degrades on S and A... but really how much charging are you doing with a Dreadclaw? Thermal Jets are now an ability instead of a weapon that does mortal wounds to 1 unit instead of automatic hits on all units it passes over. It lost the Mchina Malifica and/or Hateful Assault abilities, meaning it no longer eats its people to heal or add attacks for charging. When it explodes it does only 1 mortal instead of D3 (and D6 against psykers!). Its blade struts did get stronger, and it didn't change points. I don't know why they hit it so hard with nerf bats. BUT it did gain drop pod assault, so its got that going for it. 

Blood Slaughterer- First of all it went to a single profile from a degrading one, so that is a nice boon. But instead of starting at S8 and 6A it now stay at S7 and 5A the whole time and is 9W instead of 10W, but it is BS 3+ and the Impaler Harpoon did gain 6" in range. It no longer has blind fury, but that's probably a good thing. Points went down by 15 points (per the last munitorum field manual). Overall probably a neutral change, but these aren't that common to begin with because they ultimately are just meh. Probably some cool tech in a Daemon Engine list, but nothing to write home about. 

Hell Blade- Minimum speed went barely up and it gained a wound. Helstorms turned into Auto cannons, which is a major improvement, gaining 12", doubling the number of shots and increasing S. They are 1 less AP and 1 less D and no change to do mortals (on a wound of a 6+ on the old profile). But the damage output is going to average higher and be more consistent. In unfotunately lost is Skyborn Predator rule though, which made it deadlier against other fliers. It did go up 5 points for base profile, but if you swap out for Lascannons, its 5 points cheaper.

Hell Talon- Faster as it degrades and gained 2 wounds and basically doubled attacks. Same weapon changes as the hellblade. The bomb was greatly simplified from 3 different affects to choose from to one you can use twice. Less useful against large units, but better against a cluster of small units, potentially decent for sniping characters with. 30 points cheaper too.

Greater Brass Scorpion- Gained 8W, went from 8/6/4 Attacks to flat 6 and 10/8/5 S to flat 8. Degrades with WS/BS now. The Soulshatter bombard is now just a Demolisher Cannon, and lost 2 points of S and no longer does more damage against Vehicles, Buildings and Monsters. The Hell Crusher Claws did gain a profile for mauling through hordes, making 3 attacks for each 1.  Scorpion cannon got weaker and less damage but gained 5 shots. And the hellmaws gained a range boost like other flamers. Explodes now on a 5+ instead a 4+ which is dissapointing. No longer forces perils onto psykers targeting it, but instead can ignore psychic powers on a 4+. Ultimately though, its a model with 28 wounds, and that makes it a 9th ed vulnerability with targeting rules. 

Kytan Ravager- No longer degrades in Attacks, instead in WS and BS. Gained 4W and now stays S8 instead of 10/8/5. Its slash melee attacks went from D3 damage to 2 flat, so it should average out to be the same, bit can no longer whiff. 30 point increase. But this is still a unit at 26W, which is a huge liability in 9th edition. 

Kharybdis Assault Claw- 75 point increase for the same nerfs really as the Dreadclaw above. It did gain 4 wounds and flattens out on S at 8, but it degrades worse with WS and BS now, has fewer attacks, and slows down. The Storm luncher is improved with a krak and frag version instead of 1 middile version. Blade struts are improved as they were on the Deadclaw. but the melta array is unfortunately half the S, down from 16 to 8. It does and the standard 9th ed damage bonus for melta though.

Chaos Daemons-

Uraka the Warfiend- Stat line improvements in M, S, W and A. Big Nerf to his shooting attack, going from D3 to 1 shot and D6 damage to 3. Range did double though and it is stronger. Melee damage improved to 3, but lost its ability to do d6 damage on a wound of a 6, so while more consistent, the big exciting gamble is gone. His tally mechanic was greatly simplified, but isn't as good overall IMO. And instead of a +S and A aura he now has a reroll aura. 5 point reduction. 

Mamon Transfigured- Much like Uraka, he had some stat line boosts, shooting profile impovements and more consistent damage out put for melee, all with a significant 70 point drop.

Cor'Bax Utterblight- some stat line tweeks as well for better more consitent output. Gaping Maw as nerfed extensively though, but it did gain the ability to swallow a model whole instead. Its putrid demise (explode) got smaller as well.  IMO this daemon was nerfed when all the others were boosted.

Scabeiathrax the Bloated- Massive points drop with some minor decreases in stats to bring him into the realm of playable. Horrific Vomit was made both more consistent and gained blast. Blade or decay has a higher average damage output now and rerolls built in.  He does do 1 less psychic power a turn than previously, but IMO he still has "it" and isn't a bad thing to consider, but Im not aware of current GUO stats either.

An'ggrath the Unbound- Much like Scabbie, massive points drop with some minor decreases in stats to bring him into the realm of playable. The axe of khorne picked up a second profile for dealing with hordes, and its higher damage profile wend fromd6 to d3+3. 

Aetaos'rau'keres- Points more than cut in half from 1500 to 700 with only minor stat reductions and a few improvements event (such as max S). It did go from 2d6 to d6 shots on its staff however, with 1 less S, and its warpfire talons are less for doing extra damage to large things through mortals to know being used to fight hordes. The mantle of twisted fate was made more effective and it gained the master of magics rule, making it a buff aura for S. 

Zarakynel- Decent point drop, about 150. but not as significant as above. some minor stat line tweeks, both good and bad. Its slicing claws went from being a strong melee weapon to being a dedicated anti-horde weapon, generating up to 24 A with them. The Soul eater blade also improved in its killing potential with higher S. 

Overall, much like SM, the Chaos SM stuff was nerfed pretty badly IMO. However, daemon players should rejoice. 9th edition is an infantry heavy edition, so with all the weapon profile changes to aid with hordes and the massive points drops. the have some good potential. Time shall tell if they get the love they deserve by players. Really their biggest impediment to use in play is model ownership and cost dollar wise.