Warhammer 40K: The Game Has Too Many Detachments
Goatboy here to talk about 40K 10th Edition – I think we have too many detachments and it’s bad for the game.
While it was nice to have a new set of rules this last week with Grotmas it does have me wonder – are there too many detachments right now in 10th? This is especially true with new ones seemingly set out to update an old detachment with a refresh. My question this week is should we have too many?
Certain Factions’ Detachments Are Out of Control!
As the game continues to move forward with updated rules, tweaks, and balances, I have to wonder if we just have too many options for certain armies. Have you opened up your Warhammer app, pulled up your Space Marine section, and seen how many ways there are to play the so-called 40k heroes? There are 14 Detachments in this section of the 40K App! That is almost as many Detachments as all of the Chaos Legions books combined. This is a wild thing to look at, especially when you think about it; only a few are actually played heavily. Those few are even the ones that mostly show up in other supplement book options as well.
Which leads to the question of what the heck should GW do? I am all for having more rules, but now we have seen reworks, and it has become a bit of a mess. There is just too much, and I think we need to make some changes.
How To Clean Up Detachments
Step 1 – Legends Some Detachments
There are a few that are just never used, so why not move them over to the Legend sections of the app? There is still a place where people can play it, but leave the competitive stuff in a tighter set of options and leave the wide-open stuff back in Legends. GW has already set up a way to “save” rules and let people still play them non non-competitively and still ensure they have some kind of balance in the game. So why not use it?
Step 2 – Remove Detachments That Have Been “Improved/Duplicated”
If you are not going to Legend’s stuff, then at the very least, if you “replace” the detachment with something better, remove the old one. Do you know how much a balance it would be to lose Gladius and keep the new Blade of Ultramar as the Gladius variant? Aren’t we tired of all the Marine armies using a Gladius variant without using the fun stuff in their supplement? Would this be a great balance to the army and help alleviate some unforeseen interactions that aren’t needed? Would it let the Supplements work with the rules GW wants them to play with and make them unique?
Step 3 – Create an ITC Season List of Usable Detachments, and Rotate Them
I have always thought GW should do more with their new push to 2-page army rules and clean things up. If you have simple lists for each army and what they can use this season, it would just be easier for new players to come in. Could you imagine a new player trying to figure out which Space Marine detachment they should use? Or ask why Chaos Space Marines have so many options that are only CSM but can’t be World Eaters or the other books?
I wonder if the new 11th Edition of 40k that will come out in the future will clean up some of these options? Will we see things stay somewhat the same until they get a codex refresh? Or will we see something like a pile of new detachments in the refresh, and then all those old ones that are left digitally hanging on? Will this just be a race to whatever new elite close combat monster unit comes out for whichever Marine-style book will rule the battlefield next? Will Gladius 2.0 be better than Gladius 1.0? When will we get a good Black Templar detachment that isn’t just a bunch of tanks pretending to follow the Codex in a Gladius?
What’s your answer to keeping 40K’s Detachments under control?
