Welcome to Metawatch from the Warhammer studio. In our previous article, we outlined our methodology and our goals, and explained some of the tools we use to keep the game fair and balanced. This time, we’re going to take a closer look at another key tool, the quarterly Balance Dataslate – the new edition of which is out today and can be downloaded below.
And for more insight, watch the Metawatch interview with gaming presenter Nick Bayton and Warhammer 40,000 supremo Stu Black.
The Balance Dataslate has been a feature of the Design Studio’s ongoing support for Warhammer 40,000 for almost a year. It has allowed us to influence balance with new abilities for units and factions, amended characteristic profiles, and new or removed keywords. Our changes are informed by data – so here is the latest round of win rate information from Matched Play that has helped shape the latest Balance Dataslate.
As it’s only been two weeks since the last article, the data presents a similar picture. It probably won’t come as any surprise to see which armies are seeing changes – Tyranids, Aeldari Harlequins, Adeptus Astartes, Adeptus Mechanicus, and Necrons. The first two of these have been overperforming, while the second two receive a boost. The Necrons, however, see a simple change to remove an unwanted interaction.
Tyranids
The forces of the Hive Mind have a higher win rate than we’d like, but they’re not a million miles from where we want them to be. This is reflected in the very targeted nature of the changes, one to Hive Fleet Leviathan and one to the Reaper of Obliterax Relic.
Amend the first bullet point of Leviathan Hive Fleet Adaption: Synaptic Control to “Each time an attack is made against a SYNAPSE MONSTER unit with this adaptation, an unmodified wound roll of 1-3 always fails, irrespective of any abilities that the weapon or the attacker may have.”
Amend the first bullet point on Reaper of Obliterax to: “Each time an attack is made with this weapon, if that attack successfully wounds the target, the target suffers 1 mortal wound in addition to any other damage, to a maximum of 3 mortal wounds.”
Leviathan’s popularity on the competitive scene has been enough to drive up the whole faction’s reported results. The amended Synaptic Control adaptation now means the very largest creatures (including Hive Tyrants, Tervigons, Trygon Primes and Maleceptors) can only be wounded on an unmodified wound roll of 4 or more, while swarms of lesser creatures and non-Synapse Monsters within Synaptic Control range will shrug off unmodified wound rolls of 1 or 2. Medium-sized Synapse Creatures such as Tyranid Warriors and Zoanthropes exist to provide Synaptic Control and protection to the lesser beasts, but don’t benefit from any additional protection themselves.
The Reaper of Obliterax Bio-artefact Relic has been capped at a not-unreasonable three mortal wounds of additional damage per Fight phase – in the clawed hands of a Hive Tyrant with 5 Attacks (hitting on 2+ and re-rolling hit rolls of 1 due to its lash whip), and a base Strength of 10 likely wounding on 2+ with an AP of -4, each causing 3 Damage, the Reaper can still generate an awful lot of damage in combat – but not a near-automatic five additional mortal wounds.
Harlequins
Harlequins receive a small change, which should – alongside the existing modifications to their rules in past Dataslates – prove very effective.
Change the second bullet point of the Blaze of Light (Light Saedath) Characterisation to the following: ”Each time a unit with this characterisation makes a Normal Move or Advances in your Movement phase, in your following Shooting phase, that unit counts as having Remained Stationary. This does not apply if the unit is Embarked in a Transport.”
This change adds to the existing amendments to Harlequins rules from previous Balance Dataslates, including an earlier change to the Light Saedath’s Blaze of Light characterisation. The protection afforded by the Mirage Launchers on Starweavers (enemies are -1 to hit and hit rolls cannot be re-rolled) combined with that of the Blaze of Light Saedath (unmodified hit rolls of 1-3 made by enemies more than 18” away always fail) already makes Light Saedath Harlequins especially hard to take down. Allowing them to also ignore the to-hit penalties for Assault weapons while embarked was too potent a combination.
They’re still hard to land a telling blow on, but at least they can’t then scream in on their Starweavers and open up with shrieker cannons or hallucinogen grenade launchers.
Adeptus Astartes
As we noted last month, Space Marine armies underperform for unexpected reasons – not least because they’re often a player’s first army. This tweak should help them earn a few more Victory Points.
Change the Shock Tactics secondary mission objective in War Zone Nephilim Grand Tournament Mission Pack to read: ‘At the end of your turn, score 4VP if you control one or more objective markers that were controlled by your opponent at the start of that turn, and an ADEPTUS ASTARTES unit from your army is within range of that objective marker.’
Secondary objectives are key to winning games in Matched Play, so by rewarding a number of popular subfactions with this boost to Shock Tactics, we expect to see the needle move on the number of reported Space Marine wins.
Adeptus Mechanicus
It’s a simple change for the disciples of the Machine God – all changes to the Adeptus Mechanicus from previous Balance Dataslates have been removed.
As they are still struggling to reach their optimised position in the wider metagame, we have removed all existing restrictions and modifications from the Adeptus Mechanicus army. There was a point in the not-too-distant past where the armies of the Omnissiah were overperforming, and a number of restrictions were applied in earlier Balance Dataslates to rein them in. These have proven too impactful in the current environment, so we will see how they perform using the rules from their codex and the latest points values in the Munitorum Field Manual.
Necrons
This change is designed to prevent unwanted rules interactions, so Technomancers can’t resurrect Catacomb Command Barges or the Silent King’s Menhirs, for example, and to prevent Overlords from issuing orders to the Silent King himself.
The CORE keyword is not added to NECRONS VEHICLE datasheets with the CHARACTER keyword.
These changes illustrate the variety of ways we can influence the metagame, ranging from tweaks to single subfactions to boosting the Victory Points available to all the armies making use of the Codex: Space Marines rules. The changes we have made to the Adeptus Mechanicus army in the last year illustrate an ongoing process – when new armies are released and amendments are made to existing armies, it has a cascade effect on the other factions in ways that aren’t always apparent without data from tens of thousands of games. This is not the end of balancing these factions – we look forward to seeing the results of these changes and hearing about your experiences.
While our goal is for every faction to be balanced across the game, subfaction balance is a secondary concern. Some subfactions are by necessity more restrictive than others – they’re not just alternative colour schemes, but thematic and characterful expressions of the Warhammer 40,000 background. Our priority at this stage is making sure that every codex offers a fair chance of victory from its datasheets and army-wide rules.
We’ve deliberately not made any further changes to the Astra Militarum, as their new codex will soon supersede them. Guard generals will no doubt be pleased to see a number of the Dataslate amendments incorporated into their upcoming book. As new Astra Militarum armies make themselves known to their local competitive scenes, we will monitor their results.
The recent Chicago Open Grand Tournament was live-streamed on the Warhammer Twitch channel, and it was great to see a variety of armies competing for the top places. In addition to Harlequins and Tyranids, the top 10 featured Necrons, T’au Empire, and Chaos Space Marines. We’re all looking forward to seeing which armies perform best at the upcoming Kansas City Open at the end of October, and at the US Open Finale in New Mexico next month!
The latest Balance Dataslate can be downloaded right here.
As always, enormous thanks to everyone who’s shared their experiences on the gaming table with us, whether that's by organising matched play events, by logging the results of their games, or by contacting us at 40KFAQ@gwplc.cm with questions about the rules.
PS: If you live and breathe Warhammer 40,000 rules, know your way round a D6, and are looking for a new challenge in life – the Warhammer Studio is currently recruiting for a position in the Warhammer 40,000 rules team. Find out more on the Games Workshop careers site.
October balance update summary
All of the latest changes in one place:
Tyranids
Amend the first bullet point of Leviathan Hive Fleet Adaption: Synaptic Control to “Each time an attack is made against a SYNAPSE MONSTER unit with this adaptation, an unmodified wound roll of 1-3 always fails, irrespective of any abilities that the weapon or the attacker may have.”
Amend the first bullet point on Reaper of Obliterax to: “Each time an attack is made with this weapon, if that attack successfully wounds the target, the target suffers 1 mortal wound in addition to any other damage, to a maximum of 3 mortal wounds.”
Harlequins
Change the second bullet point of the Blaze of Light (Light Saedath) Characterisation to the following: ”Each time a unit with this characterisation makes a Normal Move or Advances in your Movement phase, in your following Shooting phase, that unit counts as having Remained Stationary. This does not apply if the unit is Embarked in a Transport.”
Adeptus Astartes
Change the Shock Tactics secondary mission objective in War Zone Nephilim Grand Tournament Mission Pack to read: ‘At the end of your turn, score 4VP if you control one or more objective markers that were controlled by your opponent at the start of that turn, and an ADEPTUS ASTARTES unit from your army is within range of that objective marker.’
Adeptus Mechanicus
All changes to the Adeptus Mechanicus from previous Balance Dataslates have been removed
Necrons
The CORE keyword is not added to NECRONS VEHICLE datasheets with the CHARACTER keyword.