Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So quick question to settle a debate:

Is Warhammer 40k generally about finding a good strategy and spamming it?

Is spamming not a good strategy in itself? Anyone who says you win because you 'Spam' is a sore loser. If something is good, why not take more of it? Why on gods green earth would you take something less efficient just because, what, you don't think people will like you? If you want to, sure, take something less efficient for a change, but do it because you want to, not because some sore loser told you not to because he can't be bothered changing his strategy.

1 Demolisher? A big target. 2 Demolishers? Great strategy, target saturation. 3 Demolishers? Sure, but if he has something that can easily destroy one he will destroy them all. Spamming should be a bad strategy because it opens you up to rock paper scissors games, but most people compensate for that in other parts of the army. There is no such thing as spamming competitively, because one match you could win, another you will lose. Its far better to make a take all comers list that can handle anything then it is to spam, so tell your friend to suck it up and if he thinks about it, if you are spamming, he has an easy win.

As a rule of thumb, yes, because 40K doesn't have enough useful synergy units.

If the game designers would include more units where fielding A + B is significantly better* than fielding either 2x A or 2x B, you'd see less spam.

But 40k rarely is that game, unfortunately.

If someone asked you what Warhammer 40k is, would you respond "it's about spam" or would you tell them it's a tabletop wargame set in the future and there space marines and chainswords and tanks and laser guns and chainswords and bullets that explode in people's bodies ripping them to shreds and a Alien monsters and chainswords and demons that want to devour your soul and psykers that shoot lightning out of their fingertips and space orks and space elves in space battles with space chainswords. Did I mention there are chainswords? Chainswords are pretty cool.

I really hate the idea of "spam". If you were doing anything else and said that taking 3 of something was "spamming" it, you'd be laughed out of the room. Redundancy is good. There's not a single aspect of life where adding redundancy doesn't make a task safer. In a wargame, where safety is a good way to reduce the inherent randomness, I don't see why people denigrate it so much. If I like the look of a model, why wouldn't I take more than 1? If you have some form of "synergy" between units, then one of them dies, you lose that. That means that if any part fails, the whole plan does. That's a terrible way to do anything, let alone trying to win a wargame. Even in lists where things are a bit more varied, you'll find that the units themselves have similar roles. We're now at the point where someone fielding a mechanised company is chastised for "spamming" chimeras and Leman Russes. It's just ridiculous and sounds like sour grapes. Essentially, by telling someone they're a bad player for taking multiple of a single unit, you're saying they're having fun wrong. How is that reasonable?

While a good chunk of the player base spams a unit because it is powerful, I'd like to believe that many players use multiples because they actually like the models themselves.

There is a common factor in much of 40k's fluff that specific armies or sub-factions are differentiated by their tactics or deployment of certain unit types. A farsight army will see many battlesuits take to the table (regardless of their strength) simply because it is how they are described in the fluff.

 gossipmeng wrote:
While a good chunk of the player base spams a unit because it is powerful, I'd like to believe that many players use multiples because they actually like the models themselves.

There is a common factor in much of 40k's fluff that specific armies or sub-factions are differentiated by their tactics or deployment of certain unit types. A farsight army will see many battlesuits take to the table (regardless of their strength) simply because it is how they are described in the fluff.

Or they can't really get them anywhere else. Like an EC army needs lots of noise marines because it's not getting sonic weapons anywhere else along with many units that do poorly with MoS.

There are instances of "good spam" and "bad spam" in my opinion. Good spam is spamming units that are kind of supposed to be heavily represented in the army, such as Assault Marine or Death Company spam by BA, Grey Hunter and Wolf Guard spam by SW, Berzerker spam by World Eaters, Jetbike spam for Sam Hainn, Farsight Crisis Suit spam, so on and so forth. This sort of build isn't really even called spam, because its considered "fluffy", so nobody gives it a second thought.

Bad Spam is the form of spam that is far more common and gets people riled up. Its when a unit is just very powerful, but nothing in the army suggests it should be heavily present (or the fluff even states they are kind of rare). CSM Heldrake spam, Tau Riptide or missile-side spam, Eldar Wraith-spam in a non-Iyanden army, SW Long Fang spam, C:SM Sternguard/drop pod spam, that sort of thing.

 ClassicCarraway wrote:
There are instances of "good spam" and "bad spam" in my opinion. Good spam is spamming units that are kind of supposed to be heavily represented in the army, such as Assault Marine or Death Company spam by BA, Grey Hunter and Wolf Guard spam by SW, Berzerker spam by World Eaters, Jetbike spam for Sam Hainn, Farsight Crisis Suit spam, so on and so forth. This sort of build isn't really even called spam, because its considered "fluffy", so nobody gives it a second thought.

Bad Spam is the form of spam that is far more common and gets people riled up. Its when a unit is just very powerful, but nothing in the army suggests it should be heavily present (or the fluff even states they are kind of rare). CSM Heldrake spam, Tau Riptide or missile-side spam, Eldar Wraith-spam in a non-Iyanden army, SW Long Fang spam, C:SM Sternguard/drop pod spam, that sort of thing.

Actually, drop pod spam is something the Marines do and frequently at that. One such maneuver is called Steel Rain and it perfectly fits their fluff. Unlike say, the Imperial Guard, Space Marines are meant to get in quick where they can do the most damage and get the job done with brutal efficiency. Drop Pods are perfect for this since they allow them to get their troops more or less exactly where they need to be.

In the Imperial Guard, we have a saying: "If it's worth taking it's worth taking multiples of". A single Leman Russ demolisher will miss it's first shot and die next turn. If you add a second that Demolisher will get several shots off but probably whiff most or all of them before dying horribly as well. Now, if you add a third, that Demolisher has a pretty good chance of making that one game changing shot.

In other words, for some armies spam is a necessity. IG stuff is only durable if taken en masse which fits them pretty well. A single Vendetta is just a write off in terms of the damage it can do but the more you add the better it gets.

Spamming units looks nicer to me both on paper and on the table. It creates unity. It's the same reason you paint your army all in the same color scheme instead of playing a coalition force.

Spamming is a lot easier to do because the goals of your army are much easier to accomplish. Your enemy can't prioritize key units to win if you spam, and your goals are much more straightforward. Bringing 9 missilesides assures the destruction of light transports and infantry. Bringing many different units will cause your opponent to target the ones that will be the biggest threat, which will make your remaining units less efficient.

40k is a game of bringing a decent list, playing the odds, and hoping you roll well.

Spamming is taking what works in a list, and using more of it so that you have a list that works better. It doesn't have anything to do with the odds you play or the results of random die rolls.