Changes to Warhammer 40K points and scoring are set to be revealed by Games Workshop in the next few days in an effort to better balance the overall gameplay and the composition of armies.
Warhammer 40K is one of the longest-running tabletop games in the world. It features a complex system of interactions to help players determine the outcomes of battles featuring dozens or even hundreds of individual models on the board. Understandably, balancing a game like this can be a challenge, and Games Workshop has just announced some interesting changes are on the way.
How Warhammer 40K Points Are Changing
Warhammer 40K points are the backbone of creating an army and this system will see some balance changes reflected in the app in the next few days along with a bit of tuning for the scoring system.
If you're not entirely familiar with Warhammer 40K, the "points" system is used to balance battles. As an example, you might agree to fight an opponent with a 600-point cap on your respective armies. A tank might cost 100 points and a soldier might cost 10 points, so your army could be composed of 2 tanks (200 points) and 40 soldiers (400 points).
Points are supposed to reflect the power of a unit — vehicles and particularly-powerful infantry units tend to have higher point costs and weaker units have lower point costs. Unfortunately, it appears that some of these weren't quite up to snuff and Games Workshop will be making adjustments for pretty much every army in the next few days.
Thus far, the following changes have been noted in a recent announcement, although it should be noted that this is not a comprehensive list of the upcoming changes:
Warhammer 40K Units Receiving a Points Increase
- Space Marine Outriders
- Space Marine Eradicators
- C'Tan Shard of the Nightbringer
Warhammer 40K Units Receiving a Points Decrease
- Canoptek Reanimator
Other Changes Will Punish Player 2 Less, Encourage More Vehicles & Monsters
Aside from Warhammer 40K points changes, the game's scoring and turn system is changing, too. The first big change is that the first turn will always go to the player who wins the roll-off at the start of a match; Games Workshop felt that the previous ability to decide who goes first was just too powerful.
Adding to the balance, the player who goes second will now score at the end of their turn. This should somewhat mitigate the advantage of winning the roll-off and going first. Critically, it can also give the second player one last chance to turn the tide of battle at the very end of a game.
Finally, Games Worksop has mentioned two changes to secondary objectives. "Bring It Down" can give players a couple of Victory Points for taking down a Monster or Vehicle within a set number of Wounds. This will now be worth fewer Victory Points to encourage players to use more Vehicles and Monsters.
The second of the two changes is to the "Abhor the Witch" secondary objective. This secondary objective allowed players to score Victory Points for every enemy Psyker that was destroyed, but specialized anti-Psyker armies like the Grey Knights and the Thousand Sons made it much too easy to rack up a sizable score. As a result, the Victory Points for this objective are being lowered.
These changes to Warhammer 40K points, turns, and scoring will hopefully address some balance issues that have arrived with the 9th edition of the game over the last few months. If you'd like to get into Warhammer 40K, you can get started by buying the Indomitus starter set to enjoy some beginner 2-player games in one convenient box. Be warned, however — Warhammer 40K can be a pretty pricey hobby!
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What do you think of the changes to Warhammer 40K points and scoring? Which units do you think need a buff or nerf? Let us know in the comments below!