The Point of Power and the Power of Points

Hello again.

One more some rambles with the first inkling of actual hobby. Hopefully come this weekend I'll have a bit of time to sit down and put licks of paint onto things proper. And that should be all good, right?

8th Edition 40k introduced the same familiar formula for army building - detachments and points, though this time the detachments are much more varied and flexible - allowing you to field your all Elite, all Heavy Support and all Fast Attack army if you so wish. But at the same time formations and Decurion style detachments disappeared - though if you look you will notice the alternative detachments actually match up with the formation layouts for the most part.

But it also introduced something new - Power. A quick, easy way to build a list and to play 40k. No working out individual weapons and models costs, just build units like modular blocks (Power X, Power Y, Power Z) for a total amount. Currently it's roughly 20 points per 1 Power....but it varies.

Now how does this affect you?

If you're a veteran 40k player who's taken part in semi-competitive tournaments and events you will naturally have built your army with some restrictions - not taking every single upgrade to save some points and maximise efficiency. This is fine...there's nothing wrong with it. However, in this case your army really won't benefit from using the Power system for games or army selection - if anything you will be at a disadvantage compared to little Timmy who built his squad with every upgrade possible.

Points serve the same purpose as before. They're designed for a mathematical level of efficiency. You have to make choices as to what you want your units to have and as such you don't take every upgrade possible. Sometimes you take one weapon over the other because as well as performing better it performs better on a point per point basis. Your squad leaders are probably very barebones, with a combat upgrade at most. Your squads likely don't take every upgrade possible and may not have all the weapon options - you might be able to take 4 heavy or special weapons but perhaps you only have two to keep costs down. This is a normal army for most. And this is normal gameplay for most.

What 8th did do with points was to have them apply to everything - at first it seems confusing - you're having to record everything. Pistols, grenades, guns. Everything has a points cost, everything is noted down. There is no more free standard equipment....or is there?

Before you go off to scream in rage - realise that the weapon costs are almost universally the same in your army list. A boltgun has the same points cost for everyone. A twin bolter does as well - whether it's for a Terminator, character or basic squad upgrade. This is different from previous editions (well, 5th onward) where as well as units having different costs their upgrades also had different costs too. A heavy weapon cost more for one squad than it did for another. It cost more on a vehicle than a normal model. If anything, personally I'd say this era was the more complicated era - you didn't have any sort of consistency.

But with the weapons being universally the same for the most part (some exceptions exist like Storm Shields having different costs for characters in the SM codex than for sergeants or Terminators) it will become easier over time. Several of the basic 'free' items are still free. 0 points. And this means 0 points for everyone. With the rules also changing for assault and pistols no longer really being mandatory for an extra attack perhaps we'll see more characters with more varied wargear.

The strongest units in terms of the Point system tend to be those that are very vanilla in their nature - without a lot of upgrades to tempt you or to force you to make difficult choices. Core troops like SM Tacticals, Ork Boyz or CSM squads are good examples of this. Bland, simple, straightforward.

Now...Power is a different animal. With the Power system, for the most part you don't have to pay anything for unit upgrades. Power 'level' only changes with the addition of more models into a squad. This means that your basic 10 SM Tacticals with only bolters have the same Power as 10 SM tacticals touting a lascannon, meltagun and sergeant kitted to the nines with every possible upgrade you could want.

This system works fine for pick up games in new gaming clubs or stores. You can show up, quickly plan out a Power X list based on what you have and have a game. No need to work out individual model costs or individual weapon costs. Just look at your collection or in your case, see that you have X Tacticals and go 'Power Y.' Simples!

However, it's foggy on a competitive level. It strong penalises those who had refined their armies over time into smooth competitive lists where squads may have had odd sizes or where wargear was carefully picked and not shoved in freely.

Naturally Power benefits units that have a LOT of upgrade options. If your unit can pick multiple special or heavy weapons or every squad member has multiple options then that unit will do exceptionally well in a Power system.

Good examples of this are Vanguard Veterans, Chaos Chosen and Deathwatch Kill Teams.

As a side note, Power also favours larger squads as well, rather than odd squads. If your Power goes up by X if you add more members to a squad then it will go up if you add all the additional ones to that point or just some of them. If you go from Power 5 to Power 10 when going from 5 to 10 men in a squad then you will be Power 10 if 6 strong, 8 strong or 10 strong.

Naturally it favours the 'store kids'. You know the ones. The ones who the staff let build like nuts. Who had the laughable ridiculously expensive plasma pistol, power fist, meltabomb, combat shield squad sergeants that cost half the squad's points on its own. The ones who gave their Vanguard squads all Thunder Hammers and Power Fists because they could.

And with that segway....

As you can see, Hobby is underway. The first batch is undercoated black - not pictured is the first Corvus Blackstar. However, it comes at a cost. I have run out of black undercoat. Sadly this means no more undercoating til the end of the month when I get paid (unless someone really wants to give me some). Which is a bit of a bugger.

Because, you see...I have not one...not two...but three tournament type events coming up. Relevant to this post in fact.

1,000 point Heat at GW Hull on the 17th of September.
2,000 point Tournament at Hulls Angels for their annual Charity event on the 23rd.

And finally a 75 Power Tournament at Archeron on the 30th of September!

And I have decided my Deathwatch shall be present for each. I even worked out lists.

But those are for another post.

Next time, some hobby progress (I hope) and list posting.