Have Stratagems Improved the Game?

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.

**jeff white**

Worse.
They are part of the card gamification of 40K, and are thus to be despised.

**aphyon**

Most definitively NO

Other posters have already pointed out the main issues.

The core 2 1/2 pages of (24) USRs in the main 5th ed rulebook that applied to all factions equally was the best clearest and simplest approach, without overburdensome bloating. additionally units had specific built in special rules/abilities that made them unique for their role on the battlefield.

I should not loose that when i run out of CP. as if my genestealers suddenly forgot how to outflank or scout.

If i wanted to play magic the gathering i would be, which is why i went back to playing 40K when it was still 40K via 5th edition + house rules.

To me 8th edition and 9th edition are no longer normal scale 40K games even if i do use index 8th for epic scale where it still works well.

**redboi**

Good concept that was OKish in the beginning and quickly spiraled out of control and significantly degraded the game. It's not right when stratagems make or break entire codexes.

Being able to instantly double your units firepower for free, or make a unit invulnerable, is simply not fun or engaging to play with or against, and it's an absolute nightmare for unit balance.

**NinthMusketeer**

I like them, they are fun to use. I think the execution could be worked on though, and hope they use 9th codex as a chance to reign them in.

**vict0988**

Tycho wrote:
Some interesting points made in this thread. One of the more interesting ones for me is the point that they can provide an opportunity for counter-play within the IGOUGO system, so I think that's a solid point in their favor.

How would you all feel if we did this:

1. Everyone has access to the same core strats in the BRB
2. Strats that currently should just be unit abilities get removed so that the relevant units can just have the ability again
3. You have x number of strategem slots and the strats you want to use in the game must be selected pre-game

IDK - maybe step 3 doesn't work, but I do feel like most competitive players kind of already do that, and for the more casual games it would cut down on the players of certain books endlessly paging through their codexes to "see if they have something for that" ...

Already exists https://1d4chan.org/wiki/The_Angrier_Initiative.

**A.T.**

redboi wrote:
Being able to instantly double your units firepower for free, or make a unit invulnerable, is simply not fun or engaging to play with or against, and it's an absolute nightmare for unit balance.

It would be interesting to see which model/unit can be multiplied up the most through stratagems, traits, and other unpointed bonuses (relics, warlord, personal psychic powers, etc - but not other units) as compared to its basic performance against the same target - vs T4 3+ or some other common value.