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So when doctrines were introduced (in 8th), I was onboard. They were an optional bonus to your army that helped the (at the time) struggling marines be just a bit more lethal. The super doctrines were fluffy and gave you a reason to go monofaction. You were basically trading the added efficiency (and command points) of fielding a loyal 32 and/or something like an imperial knight for a boost to your marine units.

But now, doctrines feel a bit superfluous. The way CP is generated in 9th already encourages you to go monofaction, so super doctrines are just a free reward for doing the optimal thing. Firstborn marines just got a huge durability boost in the form of an extra wound, most primaris units tend to be really efficient (read: powerful for their points) without doctrines, and the primary objective scoring of 9th is pretty marine friendly (because you don't mind wandering forward en masse unlike, say, a guard gunline.)

So uh. Do we really need doctrines any more? Can we lower the game's lethality a notch by dropping this mechanic and giving marines a small points discount in compensation? Maybe turn the fluffier chapter-specific super doctrines into stratagems?

This isn't a "NERF MARINES!" thread. It's just that I saw good reasons for adding doctrines in the first place, and those reasons don't hold up so well in the context of the new edition.

Remember when they said "All the rules for your unit would be on the datasheet?"

I've already made it clear to all my opponents that if I'm ever in a situation where I get to have Doctrines (or whatever faction's equivalent) and I'm playing against a faction that didn't have it, I wouldn't use it.

I did the same thing with chapter traits and strats and relics etc in 8th.it's just a blatant thing you get and your opponent doesn't get and you don't pay for in any way.

I just ignore them anyway. I'm totally on board with them being stripped out.

Doctrines are fine. It's the Super Doctrines that are the problem.

It is a gimmicky way to represent variations in factions that have been lost in the oversimplification of the game system and stat lines, for instance the loss of chits to mark broken and overwatch and so on as stAndard orders and their replacement with a resource allocation point spending CCG element, and in the loss of the rpg element which expected that marines played like marines and orcs like orcs. This attitude in the designers and community has been replaced by win and so called competition oriented min maxing whereby players care about probabilities rather than character, basically a reflection of degradation of the larger society itself