ScarVet101 wrote:
Rather then following the
SM model and having (for example) a Cadian, Catachan etc supplement, what if the main codex was stripped down a little, just to the Guard themselves.
After that we could then have 4 supplements - Imperium (add back things like Priests and Crusader etc)
- Chaos (add in Geller Pox etc)
- Genestealer Brotherhood (maybe few cross over characters and a new unit or two?)
- Tau Empire
Each gets there own additional traits/powers/relic etc but also help to fill gaps in the roster that already exist in the law.
That's a neat way of giving "guard but not guard" to non-imperial factions. However, I feel compelled to point out that this would be serving a different mechanical niche than the marine supplements. The idea behind the marine supplements seems to be, "don't take soup, and we'll reward you with even better doctrines and strats." It seems like, in theory, marine style supplements exist to be a sidegrade to soup armies that let you boost your army's powerful and flavorfulness without using soup.
What you're proposing would kind of be the opposite; creating and encouraging soup where none exists rather than diving deeper into a non-souped army's lore/boosting its power.
... *squint* I think that made sense. Basically, I feel like what you've pitched with the guard thing is kind of in a different category than what has been done with marine supplements. Just something to keep in mind.
So regarding your guard suggestion, I think a lot could be done by simply creating some "regiments" that grant a faction keyword and maybe an intentionally minor bonus besides. Sort of like how
GSC handle
IG allies right now. The "chapter tactic" of the guard when added to a tau army, for instance, is that you're expanding your tau army's unit selection. In many cases, you wouldn't really even need new or crossover units. Guavessa (human auxiliaries for the tau) would basically function like fire warriors. You could maybe toss a couple wargear options into the
IG armory for flavor, but simply allowing people to take a normal
IG detachment in their tau army is already shaking up an army's playstyle and capabilities quite a bit.
Now that said, I suspect many die-hard fans would feel that a relatively simple approach like that would be missing a lot of opportunities. Maybe normal
IG aren't good enough in a chaos army; maybe they want beast men or mark of slaanesh rough riders, or an extensive chaosy armory complete with mutations. Which would be very cool, but would also probably warrant its own codex rather than a small supplement.
As for what I'd like to see from supplements in general, I really hope they
don't take the marine approach to other armies. I have very little interest in buying an Iyanden and Biel-Tan and Ulthwe book just for 2 pages of rules. What I
would like to see is a Codex 2.0 for each faction that hasn't already had one that brings in any Psychic Awakening content, takes a second pass at any of the lacklustre units in each faction, and provides an incentive to play monofaction similar to doctrines where applicable.
If I commit to playing only craftworlds without allies, for instance, I'm giving up on some cheap troops (read:
CP generators), ravagers, and skyweaver jetbikes. It might not be unreasonable to get some sort of bonus mechanic in exchange for giving up those benefits. And if I opt to play exclusively Biel-Tan instead of making my long-ranged shooty elements Alaitoc, it might not be unreasonable for that doctrine equivalent to have a Biel-Tan-only sidegrade to reward me for limiting my options even further and to bring out even more of the faction's fluff.
Of course, that could be a hefty order for the designers. Ideally, you'd want everything to feel like a sidegrade to soup rather than an upgrade. This is something the new marine content has probably failed to pull off, at least in a few specific cases.
