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Proposed rule: All faction-specific stratagems may be used once per game. Universal Stratagems found in the BRB may still be used once per phase.

Reasoning:
I believe stratagems have widened the gap between good and great armies. There is a significant amount of time between codex updates for some factions. Being able to use each stratagem once per game should reduce codex creep’s effects, allowing older armies to compete while recently updated armies can still use the shiny new strats each game.

My Background:
I am not a competitive gamer. I like to play different lists and rotate in a bunch of unit types. I like the idea of stratagems, but I do not find it fun to get obliterated by Havoks for three turns of Veterans of the long war (1cp): +1 to wound for a unit, combined with Endless cacophony(2cp): (Unit can shoot a second time). These guys were the run-away all-stars of our group’s campaign and this stratagem combo has been responsible for plenty of tabling.

3cp every turn buys you: 64x Str 5 ap-1 shots, wounding up to toughness 9 on a 4+.
Usually accompanied by a buffing character for re-roll 1s to-hit. No minus to hit for moving on from reserves because havok’s special rule. Extremely good value for CP use, and I don't fault my opponent for using it.

Finding another group isn’t a solution for me. I like the guys I play with and don’t have any hard feelings. Its just not fun to continuously get obliterated due to a very good combo every turn. We use plenty of LoS blocking terrain. We've had tons of fun since 3rd edition where most games have been toss-ups.

Current stratagems would need to be reworked for some armies I’m sure, but that is already the case.

What do you think? Would using stratagems once per game make the game more enjoyable for you?

As an intermediate step to removing these whombo combo gimmicks from the game completely, sure. Or just get rid of these gimmicks completely.

brackenstall wrote:
I believe stratagems have widened the gap between good and great armies.

True, but there are other factors, like free rules for Chapter Tactics, Relics and WL traits that also help decide what armies are great and most importantly there is points.

There is a significant amount of time between codex updates for some factions. Being able to use each stratagem once per game should reduce codex creep’s effects, allowing older armies to compete while recently updated armies can still use the shiny new strats each game.

Quite the opposite actually, the newer codexes generally have watered-down Stratagems but they have a lot of them, you will only make newer codexes better with this rule.

My Background:
I am not a competitive gamer. I like to play different lists and rotate in a bunch of unit types. I like the idea of stratagems, but I do not find it fun to get obliterated by Havoks for three turns of Veterans of the long war (1cp): +1 to wound for a unit, combined with Endless cacophony(2cp): (Unit can shoot a second time). These guys were the run-away all-stars of our group’s campaign and this stratagem combo has been responsible for plenty of tabling.

3cp every turn buys you: 64x Str 5 ap-1 shots, wounding up to toughness 9 on a 4+.
Usually accompanied by a buffing character for re-roll 1s to-hit. No minus to hit for moving on from reserves because havok’s special rule. Extremely good value for CP use, and I don't fault my opponent for using it.

Chaos Space Marines do not have their 9th codex, so what you are looking for isn't actually to bring up old codexes to new standards but to hurt two combo stratagems of an older codex.

I do think Stratagem combos are a problem, if shooting with Havocs is worth 2CP then shooting with Havocs with +1 to wound is worth more than 2CP, therefore you should not be able to apply Veterans of the Long War an extra time for free, these abilities should only last until your next attack this phase is done, not until the end of the phase. But it was not implemented with the new 9th edition codexes, so without redoing the whole Stratagem system it's too late for GW now.

I think there are way too many rules for armies and Stratagems, I would like to see all faction Stratagems, Chapter Tactics and Combat Doctrine-esque abilities removed from the game in favour more universal Stratagems. To replace the flavour of Chapter Tactics each army list gets to pick 5 of those universal Stratagems, the rest become unavailable. An Imperial Fists 1st Company list should not necessarily have the same Stratagems as an Imperial Fists parking lot list.

Then re-implement Specialist Detachments with flavourful Stratagems, relics and WL traits like combat doctrines and Specialist Detachments resembling the new flavour armies from War Zone Charadon The Book of Rust as needed. There needs to be a reason for a specialist detachment to exist, it needs to let you play with your models in a different way, it should not be a way to make underperforming units perform, just lower the cost of those units. Specialist Detachments come with the in-built balancing mechanism of costing 1CP, implementing rules this way also makes them optional, making it easier to learn the game because you don't have to learn about what 7 plagues you can spread or which turn your super doctrine activates.

If for example, Drukhari Wych Cult units are amazing, but only in combination with Drukhari Haemonculus Covens units, then it could make sense to make a Wych Cult specialist detachment that makes mono-Wych Cult work without making the Wych+Haemonculus list overpowered. But if Wych Cults are just bad then a Specialist Detachment should not be the answer.

I think I'd just do a blanket removal of "shoot/fight twice" strats.

I wouldn't however do a blanket restriction of "all strats are one-use only". Some of the strats are downright decent in combo (VotLW + EC), whereas some are just goddamn awful (Sentinel Storm*). I think it's probably just best approached on a case-by-case basis, bring some down a notch so they're not autotake strategies.

I'd personally like to see the reimplementation of some sort of formations concept, but GW being GW, it'll likely just become a pay-to-win system that we saw with the Decurion.


*Sentinel Storm lets a unit of Custodes with Sentinel Blades shoot them at an enemy within 1" in your opponent's shooting phase. Sounds decent, but it's 2CP(!) The only enemy I can imagine where it's useful would be Harlequins, as they're scary enough to threaten your Custodes, but weak enough to go down to a couple of lucky Bolt Pistol shots.

I think more stratagems just need a "this can only be used once per game" clause on them. Such stratagems are far and away better than others, and limiting the really good ones to once per game would narrow the gap.

Also a rule where a unit can only have one stratagem used on it at any given time (excluding pre-game strats). So in the above example, using endless cacophony on the havoks would let them shoot again, but it turns off the +1 to wound on that second salvo.

Honestly the only actual issue is how most of the offensive and defensive ones have no thought behind them. You just use them, simple as that.

For example, for VotLW, one could include the prerequisite for the Warlord of the army causing a wound, and then the whole army (not including Cultists or Daemon Engines for example) gains a bonus to wound as they're following the lead of their boss, who is of course the best. That's just one example.

Partly agree with Vict on this one. If you're specifically calling out a chaos marine wombo combo, then you're talking about nerfing a faction that isn't considered especially powerful at the moment. Which makes me think you're more opposed to the "feeling" of being on the receiving end of a stratagem than the actual power of the army when it uses that stratagem.

There is probably some merit to getting rid of all of the shoot/fight twice stratagems in the game based on how wildly their utility varies based on what unit is using them. EC on a squad of normal CSM isn't that big a deal. On a squad of obliterators, it's pretty scary. You could still let units shoot/fight twice by baking the ability into their datasheet (see: berzerkers.)

Alternatively, making some of those strats only apply to "core" units would at least give designers more control over which units are benefitting from them.

But a blanket, "you can only use strats once per game," would just punish those armies that have a lower proportion of competitive strats. Plus, there are strats that I'd actually like to see used more often. Fire and Fade (move after shooting) is one of the last vestiges of aeldari mobility.

If I were in charge of redesigning every faction in the game, I'd be tempted to convert most stratagems into orders issued by characters and wargear purchasable for points. And then the remaining strats would be things that work on more of a macro-level. Things like putting units in reserves, calling down orbital strikes, etc.