Did we ever have 40K balance issues back in the day?

[Psychosplodge]

There may be an element of that.

But for me I can't think of a time were I had a really bad game.
I can for both 3rd and 4th

[This Dave]

Having played all the editions there have always been horrible balance issues. I remember in Rogue Trader a friend of mine's Ork Warboss rolled a following fire blast Lascannon. Who thought that was a good idea?

[SaveModifier]

I played 2nd Edition last month, its still a very silly game, but its smaller and the close combat system is much more exciting (if utterly unsuiited to a mass combat game) and its a lot of fun, we knew going in that it was all just for laughs so no one minded when things went crazy, I did manage to draw the Virus Outbreak though, 2 squads of Guardians gone before the game began, it'd have killed his Farseer too but I was feeling generous

[YorkNecromancer]

40K has never EVER been balanced. Anyone who claims otherwise has clearly glued their nostalgia goggles on. There have been times when it was better balanced (early 5th edition up until GK's springs to mind) but even then, it was never perfect. It never will be; too many moving parts, too many different combinations, and too many bad players prepared to blame their failings on a 'broken' game mean it's impossible.

2nd edition however, was crazy. Much better than 1st (which was about as balanced as a drunk on a see-saw), but still crazy.

I scratch-built a Baneblade out of cardboard (it looked terrible, but I was proud because I was twelve and lacked better judgement) and fought precisely one battle with it.

After 45 mins of setting up, my Ork opponent (who was a WAAC munchkin who hated me personally - we were 'friends' through geographical proximity and a shared hobby as opposed to anything else) fired a single plasma cannon shot at the thing. Which penetrated the armour, hit the cannon's magazine, and detonated the tank.

The resulting explosion covered my half of the table in a ball of burning death which killed my ENTIRE ARMY.

Total battle time: 3 minutes.

Total time for my opponent to gloat about his 'brilliant win': two years.

Yeah, love the fluff, love the old models, nostalgia's in full effect there, but the early 40K rules set can go **** itself.

[DarkLink]

4th was when I started. I could be wrong but it felt the most balanced of what's come after. Not just the various armies but internally in the rules too.

4th ed was when Nidzilla and the Eldar flying circus were OP. You either had a ton of massively underpriced Hive Tyrants and Carnifexes that put out a ton of Str 6 shooting, in a time when no one had the firepower to kill that, or triple Falcons that couldn't be penetrated and forced you to reroll all damage results so they were virtually unkillable in a time when heavy anti-tank was much more expensive, filled with Harlequins that were, at the time, almost unbeatable in assault because they'd rend everything in their killzone to death and consolidate from combat to combat.

[bfmusashi]

40K has never EVER been balanced. Anyone who claims otherwise has clearly glued their nostalgia goggles on. There have been times when it was better balanced (early 5th edition up until GK's springs to mind) but even then, it was never perfect. It never will be; too many moving parts, too many different combinations, and too many bad players prepared to blame their failings on a 'broken' game mean it's impossible.

2nd edition however, was crazy. Much better than 1st (which was about as balanced as a drunk on a see-saw), but still crazy.

I scratch-built a Baneblade out of cardboard (it looked terrible, but I was proud because I was twelve and lacked better judgement) and fought precisely one battle with it.

After 45 mins of setting up, my Ork opponent (who was a WAAC munchkin who hated me personally - we were 'friends' through geographical proximity and a shared hobby as opposed to anything else) fired a single plasma cannon shot at the thing. Which penetrated the armour, hit the cannon's magazine, and detonated the tank.

The resulting explosion covered my half of the table in a ball of burning death which killed my ENTIRE ARMY.

Total battle time: 3 minutes.

Total time for my opponent to gloat about his 'brilliant win': two years.

Yeah, love the fluff, love the old models, nostalgia's in full effect there, but the early 40K rules set can go **** itself.

I'm sending waves of hate at that kid through space and time.

[Captain Bubonicus]

3rd Ed was terribad for balance.

Codex Blood Angels and the 42" charge of RAGE, on the first turn anyone? Not to mention then just piling into combat after combat, because you're such a tactical genius?

Word. I still get twitchy at the thought of seeing black and red Rhinos lined up at the front edge of their deployment zone.

[Eberk]

We didn't care about the lack of balance back in second because we were having more fun...

This...

this is soooooo true. There were no internet forums to moan about balance issues and whatever. You only had your (small) group of friends and had some serious fun.

(That group of friends had at least 1 WAAC player who always moaned about imbalance when it not concerned his own army - which was always overcosted and not good enough )

[confoo22]

this is soooooo true. There were no internet forums to moan about balance issues and whatever. You only had your (small) group of friends and had some serious fun.

This is probably how it would still be for most groups if it wasn't for the rise of internet forums and the need by some people to prove how terrible the game is for no other reason than to prove it. It just kills the mood when someone in your group talks about how horribly unbalanced the game is now because some joker you've never met and never will lost in three turns to some other joker you've never met and never will from halfway across the country.

Nobody is going to enjoy every game they play but when they can come and find others complaining they feel justified and hold on to that dissatisfaction for longer then they would and begin to blame every loss on whatever it is the internet is complaining about at the time.

[newtjedi]

I played 2nd Edition last month, its still a very silly game, but its smaller and the close combat system is much more exciting (if utterly unsuiited to a mass combat game) and its a lot of fun, we knew going in that it was all just for laughs so no one minded when things went crazy, I did manage to draw the Virus Outbreak though, 2 squads of Guardians gone before the game began, it'd have killed his Farseer too but I was feeling generous

Why hello!