Knights seem to be dominating the tabletops as of late, but are they really that overpowered? Here are some thoughts on what may actually get FAQed.
Since 8th edition has been released, there’s always been a handful of scary units. Units like Robbie G, Baneblades, and the latest, Castellan Knight. They are dominating the meta as of right now. But it’s not that these units are insanely overpowered. It’s the fact that players can’t interact with them.
After seeing multiple meta shifts in 8th edition, one archetype doesn’t seem to go away. Blob squads and screening. Check out our idea on what may really need to be fixed
Does The Knight Really Need a FAQ? Deep Thoughts
With all the stratagems that the Knights get, they are almost unkillable in the shooting phase. It’s actually completely possible to kill a Castellan with a Slam Captain or two. The problem is getting your Captains there. There’s usually so much bubble wrap in the way that it’s impossible to touch the problem and the Knight is left to blast anything it wants all game.
Bubble wrapping is incredibly effective in this edition as it acts as a two-part combo piece. It protects your game winner (Castellan Knight) and loads you up on CPs for you to spend on it.
You could argue that all you need to do is blow away the chaff with dakka and then move in on the Knight. There are two problems with that. 1, you need A LOT of guns to deal with that many bodies and 2, you probably don’t have enough time to kill 100+ models. Keep in mind that while you’re dealing with T3 Guardsmen blinking flashlights in your face, there’s a horrifying metal walker blowing up your anti-tank weaponry.
Also, you can’t forget that those 100+ models also gave your opponent a hefty 20 CPs for them to splurge on stratagems and farm back.
How to Fix the Issue
Bring back wound allocation. Simple as that. Don’t leave it up to the opposing player to cherry-pick models out of the squad. Bring the old rule back from 7th edition that you makes you pull the closest model from enemy fire away. It makes sense really.
Now we realize that by saying this, there will be people saying “You begged for 8th edition and now want 7th edition back”. We agree that 8th edition is much more simple and easier to get into, but 7th edition was much more in-depth and well thought out. The main problem 7th edition had was the formation shenanigans.
Regardless, if we bring back wound allocation, players will be able to peel back some of the chaff and create a gap for a Smash Captain or two to do some work.
40k Farmville
On top of this, we think that you should only be able to farm CPs back when you use a stratagem on a unit that can farm it. For example, Blood Angel Stratagems can only be farmed from a Veritas Vitae. Guard Stratagems can only be farmed back from Kurov’s Aquila. And Knight stratagems can’t be farmed because they don’t have a relic that allows them to.
As we’ve said before, the issue is not the scary units. The real problem is the fact that we can’t interact with them. When you put your models on the table and see almost 200 Cultists swarm around a Knight, you’ll quickly realize that nothing can be done about it.
Wound Allocation & Other Factions
Of course, wound allocation would help deal with the bubble wrapping shenanigans, but how would that affect assault armies that don’t bubble wrap anything? Orks may feel burn on this one.
Going off of 7th edition, assaulting was a little sketchy. You had to pull units off the front which meant that it took longer for you to come into charge-range and you could ultimately fail it if you lost models in overwatch. However, with all of the Stratagems and rerolls out there, Orks might not be affected too bad after all.
These are Ork RUMORS that have been spotted. They’re going to remain rumors until proven otherwise. But assuming Orks get anything close to these Stratagems, they will hardly be phased.
- Tellyport: A Player can put 20PL worth of Orks and deepstrike them 9″ away from an enemy unit.
- Green Tide: Select an Ork Boyz unit with at half-strength. Pick them up and redeploy them full-strength within 6″ of a table edge and 9″ from an enemy.
Don’t forget about Da Jump. It’s a Psychic power that lets the Ork player fling a squad of Boyz more than 9″ away on the first turn. Orks won’t really care about having to pull a model from the front. That’s three different outlets of replenishing Squads or at least getting them into the fight in half the time.
What do you think the problem is with the meta? Will bringing back wound allocation fix some issues?
Let us know what you think in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group.
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About the Author: Wesley Floyd
