Proof Games Workshop Playtesting Warhammer 40k is a Myth

By Travis Pasch | October 7th, 2022 | Categories: 40k News & Articles, Editorials, Games Workshop, Tabletop Gaming News & Rumors

Here is why Warhammer 40k playtesting is more of a myth for Games Workshop than an actual requirement to release a new codex.

We’re going to break down the math for how long it would actually take Games Workshop to test a new codex.

So it turns out all the time that it would take GW to produce a balanced codex or battletome book is insane. They just don’t have that big of a team of playtesters, and honestly, this just gives more credence to the fact that GW needs to crowdsource this for it ever to be truly balanced when books release on day one.

Proof Games Workshop Playtesting Warhammer is 40k a Myth

Let’s break down some math first just to see how much time it would take to test an army. Just to note, we’re going off three hours per game which is pretty average, especially when you have to factor in the playtesters, who wouldn’t know the book very well and would be trying out a bunch of stratagems and special rules.

We’re also doing the math for there being 25 factions to play test against in Warhammer 40k, which varies depending on how many Space Marine codexes etc., are out there at the time.

One game vs. all factions with 1st turn: 75 hours (3 hours x 25 factions)
2nd game against all factions with 2nd turn: 75 hours
Playing with different types of terrain (i.e., light and dense cover): 150 hours
Playing with different types of terrain but going second (i.e., light and dense cover): 150 hours

Total (so far): 450 Hours

This is 450 hours already, but remember, this is against a single army list for each opposing faction, as you can’t change their list while changing other variables about the game (like first turn or terrain density, etc.).

So, this is in no way done, as the vast majority of Warhammer 40k factions have 2-3 viable lists. Now when you extrapolate that out to include a max of three viable lists for each faction, you end up with this:

Total hours for multiple lists: 1,350 hours

(These numbers also do not take into account supplements…)

Then again, this isn’t enough, as dice rolls can vary over a game, mistakes made by players, etc… Honestly, it could be closer to 2,000 hours of playtesting to get a good gauge of how an army works.

However, even this is still missing something. Changes!

What happens if the playtesters find out something is either too strong or too weak? You then have to go back and make the changes. Then guess what? You have to retest everything once again! So the total number of hours just becomes staggering.

Realistic number of hours: Well over 2,000

Crowdsourcing the Codexes

Games Workshop may have what a dozen internal playtesters for Warhammer, plus a few more that they can “trust” outside of the studio?

If each person played two games daily (6 hours of just playing), they would be broken into six teams. Meaning 12 games a day and 36 hours of playtesting a day.

So, if those people did nothing but just playtested Warhammer 40k, it would take about two and a half months of testing (considering 40-hour work weeks and weekends off). Now, this doesn’t seem too insane, but remember, this is if they didn’t make a single change to the codex (and not counting combining factions or supplements) and didn’t rework anything.

At two months a book, this seems pretty impossible with the current codex release schedule at this point.

This leads to a solution, though, since GW just isn’t putting that amount of time into playtesting. We think they should crowdsource this either through the GT circuit, which could put us back with months of research and FAQ attempts to fix armies, or just do 3-months of open-beta testing where the community could give their feedback, and they would have thousands of games to go on instead of hundreds or dozens.

Instead of the small playtesting pool they have now, this would give GW tons of data to make a final informed decision about the codex. Plus, they usually mention new book releases about 4-5 months out anyway (well… sometimes).

This has a ton of benefits, such as balance, people would get more hyped for the release, and give longer lead times for people to save their hobby dollars for the book. Plus, it would help GW from having to do these early and somewhat scrambled FAQs that have been so offputting as of late.

Check out our full series on the Games Workshop Product Strategy and how they may be changing right now.

GW Current Woes With Pricing and Rules Development:

Would this be a good way for Games Workshop to do Codex Releases and playtesting for armies going forward?

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