The confusion your analogy has caused reflects as much on its inappropriateness as any reading deficiencies on the part of other posters. Really, I don't see how the comparison helps at all.

JohnHwangDD wrote: - they just don't sound as good (i.e. win as much).

And therein lies the problem. No army list should win more than any other. That is why balance is so critical. And "sound as good" is a reflection of taste, much as the background and how the army works should be a reflection of what the owner's playing style is and what image the owner wanted for his/her army.

If a player wanted a shooty, gritty army, s/he might choose guard. If a player wanted a technological, anime feel with mobility, s/he might choose Tau. Or if a player wanted an alien hivemind, s/he might choose Tyranid. But these choices should have no impact on how likely the army will win/lose. It should be based on background and feel. Winning and losing should be solely determined by skill.

Exactly. 'Sound as Good' is also very subjective. It borders on saying that 'my way of playing is better than your way'.

pombe wrote:And therein lies the problem. No army list should win more than any other.

That is why balance is so critical.

Winning and losing should be solely determined by skill.

That is a gross fallacy. GW has never sought absolute balance between armies or list builds.

GW has decided on a mix between competitive and Fluffy units, and the power balance is deliberately different. We're proabably talking about a 5-10% difference in power, and GW really doesn't care to spend the huge effort to seek absolute balance. GW just wants to be "close enough".

When skill are equal, winning and losing are often determined as much by the Dice Gods as anything else.

I think JohnHwangDD's analogy is almost perfect - he simply forgot to mention that the new music consists entirely of farting noises.

Abalubedabatron, how much win do you have for breakfast?


Sorry for OT, but it had to be done, it HAD to!

General Mills originally made Wheaties to trick Abby by luring him into less wholesome breakfasts.

Abby wasn't having any of that nonsense. h

He still breeds and keeps Smurfs in his basement, cultivating them and their shroom habitats so that he can boil them and suck out their brains like so many tiny blue crawdads.

He tried the smurf berry juice once, but he started to think that thousand sons were competitive and Jervis Johnson was 'cool' and 'hip'... He has since ceased that, so now he fancies himself a latter day Countess Bathory and bathes in smurf blood whenever he becomes angered and thinks about GW.