Is Forgeworld the new Meta?

[DrBored]

I just took a look at the Adepticon pics. It seems like most of the armies have some aspect of Forgeworld in their lists, either entirely (as in some of the Adeptus Mechanicus lists) or with bits thrown in, like certain Land Raider variants, the Sicaran, or the Fire Raptor.

That's a lot of money. A lot of Forgeworld. Not only at this tournament, but at the previous LVO as well. My local hobby shops allow Forgeworld stuff, and as far as I'm understanding, lots of people are becoming more and more open to the idea of using Forgeworld models and rules.

But here's the thing. Competitive players wouldn't use it if it wasn't good. Considering how much Forgeworld stuff we're seeing, could it be that Forgeworld stuff is.. a little TOO good? Certainly not all of it, and I'm not going to claim it's broken or anything like that, but this is something that's cropping up more and more. The competitive meta is shifting more and more to Forgeworld.

Here's the question I want you all to consider: How do you counter the Forgeworld stuff without using Forgeworld models/rules?

[DarkLink]

Pretty easily, nothing forgeworld is crazier than plenty of things in regular 40k.

[Andrew Thomas]

Necrons...

I kid. Depends on what it is and what you run. Most of the Imperial/chaos stuff falls to SOPs, i.e. haywire and lance from Eldar, armourbane and Melta from other Imps/Chaos, Gauss/Entropic Strike from Crons, etc. It's not unstoppable, you just have to know where you're weak and where you're strong and play toward those ends.

[Vaktathi]

Pretty easily, nothing forgeworld is crazier than plenty of things in regular 40k.

This. There's really nothing in the FW lineup that's any more ridiculous than what's available from the normal codex lineup, and *very* few FW things match the top end codex stuff.

A lot of what you're seeing is simply functional alternatives to codex units that otherwise simply wouldn't be taken. For example, the Spartan over the very lackluster CSM Land Raider. Others plug major gaps in functionality that otherwise keep many armies/builds from seeing top tables, the Sicaran being a big one. Most of these die just as easily as most of their codex counterparts, the Spartan being the exception (though being significantly more expensive as well).

I think another aspect of it is that you're noticing it precisely because it's relatively new and unique.

Of far more prevalence, to me at least, is how prevalent Knights are

[ShadowcatX]

One important thing to note, armies profit far differently from the inclusion of Forgeworld. Tau or dark eldar, for example, don't gain much, but the Imperium gains the Sicarian and the Eldar gain hornets. So yes, it can be pretty swingy.

[Vaktathi]

One important thing to note, armies profit far differently from the inclusion of Forgeworld. Tau or dark eldar, for example, don't gain much, but the Imperium gains the Sicarian and the Eldar gain hornets. So yes, it can be pretty swingy.

While true, same can be said of codex books. The current Eldar codex took the army from near the bottom straight to the top and its stayed there for two years. The AM codex replacing the 2009 IG codex just jiggled a couple things around, dropped a few units and tossed in some new useless stuff and the army didn't end up any better than it was before, in some ways worse.

These things change as times and editions change.

[Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer]

One important thing to note, armies profit far differently from the inclusion of Forgeworld. Tau or dark eldar, for example, don't gain much, but the Imperium gains the Sicarian and the Eldar gain hornets. So yes, it can be pretty swingy.

Aren't some of the Forgeworld Tau options pretty effective ways of working more Marker Lights in the army? And those Riptide variants are fairly swanky. Or did those get hosed in an update? Hard to keep track with Forgeworld.

True that the Dark Eldar don't get much out of it, tough.

[ShadowcatX]

Aren't some of the Forgeworld Tau options pretty effective ways of working more Marker Lights in the army? And those Riptide variants are fairly swanky. Or did those get hosed in an update? Hard to keep track with Forgeworld.

True that the Dark Eldar don't get much out of it, tough.

Pretty sure the riptides haven't been approved yet.

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While true, same can be said of codex books. The current Eldar codex took the army from near the bottom straight to the top and its stayed there for two years. The AM codex replacing the 2009 IG codex just jiggled a couple things around, dropped a few units and tossed in some new useless stuff and the army didn't end up any better than it was before, in some ways worse.

These things change as times and editions change.

And if the question was "Do codexes help shape the meta" that would be relevant.

[Venomlust]

Other than the Tau FW riptide variants I think everything is more or less pretty reasonable. Will not be convinced otherwise about said units.

[40kGamer]

FW is pretty 'meh' by current standards... There just are not that many stand out units. I believe there's a custom stompa that can be a real beast if kitted out just so and revenants are still pretty good. Nothing that is really game changing though.