Hey everyone! Adam, from TFG Radio, here to add some much needed action* into your lives.
The background is what first drew me into the game. When I first read the fluff of the Horus Heresy, in the Adeptus Mechanicus rulebook, it really sparked my imagination and interest into the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Once I delved deeper into the lore of the universe as a whole, I became more enamored by it. Although the original fluff “borrowed” a lot of story arcs, characters, and tropes from older and previously released Science Fiction and Fantasy background, over the 30 plus years that the IP has been around Games Workshop has been able to to make it their own so that it is able to stand on it’s own with a unique setting and tone, so you really can’t compare with anything that’s been created today. That being said, how the fluff is represented on the table top this is much different than what we read, see, and play in the video game. As much as people want it, it’s just a fact of life that the fluff we read is not equal in the rules.
The simple reason is that it can easily make certain armies really overpowered. In some cases, more overpowered than they are now, depending on who you talk to. Since most of the fluff is centered around Space Marines or forces of the Imperium, it’s safe to say that these forces would easily be overpowered because most people’s expectations would be that they, basically Space Marines, should easily overpower whoever they come up against. A good example of this is a Space Marine “army” that was presented in White Dwarf, many years ago, called “Movie Marines”. The basic marine had a stat line of the following(note these are old 4th edition rules):
Space Marine
| Type | Points | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld | Sv | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Space Marine | 1 Infantry | 100 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 3+/4++ |
So they basically hit on 2+ and have a 4++ invulnerable save on the basic guy. This is in addition to the weapons that were available to them:
Weapons
| Range | S | AP | Type | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chainsword | — | User | 5 | Melee, Rending |
| Combat Knife | — | User | — | Melee, Shred |
| Lightning Claw | — | +1 | 3 | Melee, Specialist Weapon, Shred |
| Power Fist | — | x2 | 2 | Melee, Specialist Weapon, Unwieldy |
| Power Axe | — | +2 | 2 | Melee, Rending, Unwieldy |
| Power Sword | — | +1 | 3 | Melee, Rending |
| Power Maul | — | +3 | 4 | Melee, Concussive |
| Assault Cannon | 36″ | 7 | 3 | Heavy 4, Rending |
| Autocannon | 60″ | 8 | 3 | Heavy 8 |
| Bolt Pistol | 24″ | 6 | 4 | Pistol, Rending |
| Bolter | 36″ | 6 | 4 | Assault 2, Rending |
| Combi-Weapon (Primary) | 36″ | 6 | 4 | Assault 2, Rending |
| Combi-Flamer (Secondary) | Template | * | * | Assault 1, Flamer, One Use |
| Combi-Grav (Secondary) | 24″ | – | 2 | Salvo 3/4, Concussive, Graviton, One Use |
| Combi-Melta (Secondary) | 24″ | 9 | 1 | Assault 1, Melta, One Use |
| Combi-Plasma (Secondary) | 36″ | 7 | 2 | Assault 4, Gets Hot!, One Use |
| Flamer | Template | * | * | Assault 1, Flamer |
| Grav-Pistol | 24″ | – | 2 | Pistol, Concussive, Graviton |
| Grav-Gun | 32″ | – | 2 | Salvo 3/4, Concussive, Graviton |
| Heavy Bolter | 48″ | 7 | 3 | Heavy 6, Rending |
| Lascannon | 60″ | 8 | 2 | Heavy 1, Instant Death, Puncture |
| Meltagun | 24″ | 9 | 1 | Assault 2, Melta |
| Missile Launcher (Super-Flakk) | 60″ | 8 | 3 | Heavy 2, Skyfire, Interceptor |
| Missile Launcher (Super-Frag) | 60″ | 6 | 5 | Heavy 2, Large Blast |
| Missile Launcher (Super-Krak) | 60″ | 10 | 2 | Heavy 2 |
| Plasma Pistol | 24″ | 7 | 2 | Pistol, Gets Hot! |
| Plasma Gun | 36″ | 7 | 2 | Assault 4, Gets Hot! |
| Storm Bolter | 36″ | 6 | 4 | Assault 4, Rending |
- Puncture: Draw a straight line from the weapon. Any targets hit or penetrated by this weapon will have the weapon go past them, subtracting 1 from the strength until it either goes out of range, misses, fails to penetrate a vehicle, or fails to wound a non-vehicle unit. When rolling for penetration, the user can roll 2d6 and take the best result for the initial roll, but not for any re-rolls.
For those that have only played 8th edition, the AP value is the armor save that the weapon ignores. So if a weapon is AP 3, it means that they ignore any armor of 3+ and up. Just look at that puncture rule. Why wouldn’t you take a lascannon? I took the movie marines to Games Day Los Angeles(in Ontario Convention Center) and ran a 1500 point Chaos Space Marine army against 1500 points of Movie Marine (which was 10 marines and a razorback with twin lascannons). Out of all the games that were played, the Movie Marines won them all.
If you really want, try to come up with your own set of rules for your Orks, Aeldari, or whoever, and see how that goes. It may be fun for you but I’m not sure if it will be fun for everyone else. And if we do it for all the armies, then we are basically just playing regular 40K.
That’s all for this week, I hope you enjoyed the read. Let me know your thoughts, and if you would want to try and go against Movie Marines, in the comments section. Don’t forget to visit our Facebook, Twitch, and Patreon pages to stay up to date on what we’re up to and when episodes drop!
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*By action, I just mean words