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What do you believe is the most important characteristic is the characteristic that you can't get enough of?,
And why do you like that characteristic more than the others?, or do you not have a favorite and believe that it is best to have balance?
Maybe you like multiple characteristics put them in, why those?

Good question. I put Save, as after many years of Tyranid play I've been trying out CSM, and actually getting any saves let alone a 3+ is a novelty which for me has not yet worn off.

Toughness, Ballistic Skill, and Save are the best.

Leadership's not bad either, nor are Wounds if you already have a high Toughness.

Ever since I made this I've been seriously considering plague marines I put down Toughness and Ballistic Skill.

Toughness. take any model in the game, reduce any one stat down to 1, the model will still be marginally usefull at something, unless its toughness, then they just get killed so fast by anything there is no point.

BS1, still usefull in CC, WS1 still usefull to shoot, S1 still usefull to shoot, W1 most models are W1 so its a moot point there, I1 still usefull, just not so good in CC, A1 still usefull, just not soo good in CC, SV - sux, but not the end of the world.

LD1 LOLSUX, I would rank this as the #2 most important. but hey, it doesnt matter untill you have to take a leadership test, so win your combats, and dont get shot to hell and you will be fine.

T1 everything in the game instantkills you, just about everything wounds on a 2+ Frag missile? oh noes! Even T2 is terribad. if you do the opposite as above and raise every stat to 10, T is the only one that makes you damn near impossible to kill.

I put down ballistic skill, because I dont like the close combat rules, and if you hit hard enough your enemy never gets the chance to hit back.

Demogerg wrote:Toughness. take any model in the game, reduce any one stat down to 1, the model will still be marginally usefull at something, unless its toughness, then they just get killed so fast by anything there is no point.

BS1, still usefull in CC, WS1 still usefull to shoot, S1 still usefull to shoot, W1 most models are W1 so its a moot point there, I1 still usefull, just not so good in CC, A1 still usefull, just not soo good in CC, SV - sux, but not the end of the world.

LD1 LOLSUX, I would rank this as the #2 most important. but hey, it doesnt matter untill you have to take a leadership test, so win your combats, and dont get shot to hell and you will be fine.

T1 everything in the game instantkills you, just about everything wounds on a 2+ Frag missile? oh noes! Even T2 is terribad. if you do the opposite as above and raise every stat to 10, T is the only one that makes you damn near impossible to kill.

I agree and you don't have to take leadership tests if you don't loose men

I think it depends really on what kind of army your playing. That and I cant think of which one is more important to me lol

T3 Sv3+ is very nearly as good as T4 Sv3+, but T3 Sv4+ is not nearly as good as T3 Sv3+. Each point of Sv is worth a lot, due to the AP system.

Definitely Attacks. My MoK chaos lord with a bloodfeeder gets up to 17 WS6 Power Weapon attacks on the charge. He annihilates whole tac squads for breakfast

Strength.....its a wargame, if you can't hit and "kill" whats the point in everything else?

Multiple attacks that scratch the enemies arse is pretty pointless! Being lighting quick but with the battle efficiency of Tinkerbell is amusing at best. Toughness and saves are great, if you intend to bore your enemy, but remember you really only win if you can actually kill some of the other troops.

Strength! It was good enough for He-Man, its good enough for me!

Other- since armament wasn't a choice. Few things are taken based on their statline, most are taken because of the kind of weapons and wargear they come with.

Toughness. There's a huge difference between T3 and T4. As in playing with a mostly T3 army is depressing, since you just watch all your guys get blown away.

My vote was for toughness. Saves (unless they're invulnerable) are so easily negated (almost the entire Daemon army can wash away your saves like rain on sidewalk chalk).

Toughness on the otherhand...I can't live without at least a 4 toughness. I bought a 500 point eldar force and just loathed it. Even their multi-wound models get chewed up by strength 6 weapons! Ick.

Toughness. Just ask the Plaguemarines.

Saves can always be negated and the ability to do so is relatively common. Toughness can't be negated in but a very, very few select cases.

Toughness, you gotta take a lascannon to the head and get sat on by a carnifex, and claw you'r way out of it...... with you'r bare hand's.

12thRonin wrote:Saves can always be negated and the ability to do so is relatively common. Toughness can't be negated in but a very, very few select cases.

I'm not sure I agree with you there.

If a model has it's toughness increased from 4 to 5, a S7 autocannon negates that bonus. While it doesn't negate the Toughness stat entirely, in a practical application there are a lot of instances where having a (somewhat) higher toughness would do nothing, and a higher save would do a lot (4+ to 3+, in this instance).

Toughness...

If you run a T3 army you understand. (How many Wraithlords can I take again?)

Strength.

It's great to be more survivable, but without high strength weapons, you can't do anything to vehicles (or high toughness creatures)

In most cases, 40K isn't about outlasting your opponents, it's about killing them. Your army of t9 troops with s2 weaponry aren't going to be getting rid of that unit that's contesting your objective very well.

Clearly, a balance of things is good, but t2 s9 is more valuable than t9 s2. You know what I mean? Some things just can't be dealt with without a high strength, and that's that.

put me down for another toughness. I have considered putting together a nurgle marine army. Either that for a nidzilla army for fun.

Orkeosaurus wrote:

12thRonin wrote:Saves can always be negated and the ability to do so is relatively common. Toughness can't be negated in but a very, very few select cases.

I'm not sure I agree with you there.

If a model has it's toughness increased from 4 to 5, a S7 autocannon negates that bonus. While it doesn't negate the Toughness stat entirely, in a practical application there are a lot of instances where having a (somewhat) higher toughness would do nothing, and a higher save would do a lot (4+ to 3+, in this instance).

I don't disagree with you in this case but the autocannon is about the only instance where this falls into place. In most other heavy/special weapons that are that strong, you're still wounding on 2's and blowing through armor.

Overall going from T4 to 5 makes you far more survivable against the majority of your attacks. You'll get hit by lasguns or bolters far more often in a game than you will by an autocannon.

My top three overall would be Toughness, Invulnerable Saves specifically, and wounds.

T & A.

No... wait... bad HBMC.

BS, T and I.

Topughness, Initative and save. All defensive, and the best offense is a good defense.

WS, BS, S, A.

Offense FTW!

Lot's of toughness and save which I agree are very important

After seeing nids i voted save, even though they're expendable, you still want them to live.

I'm in the toughness boat. In many cases one point in toughness will save you more wounds than any stat.
Just look at the Chaos codex, Plague Marines are amazing and you are always paying more for MoN than any othe mark.
High saves are cool but negated so easily and you are usually not far from cover.

Toughness and save are nice stats to have but they don't help you get the enemy off an objective. In 40k, assault is the most decisive way to defeat an enemy. If you have higher initiative you can soften them up before they attack back, which helps you win the combat. With an assault unit, higher initiative can let you destroy the entire unit without them getting to do anything if you are killy enough. S and A are important too but if you have S6 and A6 but don't get to fight back then you realize the importance of initiative.

I love all the guys who love high toughness....my Lootas have a message for you Good armor, on the other hand make my Lootas cry.

Honestly, the most important stat in your army depends on it's composition, as well as the composition of your opponent's army.

T3 doesn't hurt my Eldar if they stay in their WS/Falcon all game, nor does it hurt my IG if they hide in Chimeras.

2+ Armor doesn't help my termies if my opponent has lot's of plasma and melta.

T8 does nothing for my Wraithlords when facing snipers, and it does very little against Loota fire.

The list goes on and on, but I hope you understand my point.