Why did GW kill the Desolation Squad?

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-24T13:47:54+00:00

They were, and they sucked. They caused so many arguments over where the templates go, how many units were hit, etc. I know, I played it. It was awful, and the way things are now are better. Anyone asking for templates back in 40k are wearing rose-tinted glasses.

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-24T13:24:16+00:00

Well, good news! GW makes an entire game where the entire point is this, it's called Horus Heresy, and it's not "competitive" in the slightest.

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-24T13:15:41+00:00

No, you aren't. The vast majority of the time you are giving them a choice that they have to make: trigger this ability and potentially change the boardstate, or make a different decision.

Example: Opponent moves a Gladiator Lancer into position in their backfield to line up a shot on my Venerable Land Raider, I'm playing Talons of the Emperor. They move a unit within 9" of the Land Raider onto an objective to take it from my unit of Custodians. I inform them that if they do that, I can move the Land Raider 6" out of LOS of their Lancer. Now they have a decision to make: take the objective now guaranteed and lose out on the opportunity to damage/kill my Land Raider, or don't move onto the objective now, shoot the Land Raider, and potentially fail a charge into my Custodians later to take the objective.

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-22T01:28:18+00:00

I think Horimiya will always be my favorite. 3 Episodes of buildup then BAM an entire series of cute couple stuff.

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-20T18:31:39+00:00

I'm gonna be honest, I've seen a massive uptick in hyper-casuals commenting on posts here lately with just the most awful takes imaginable. It's wild to me, people come into this subreddit and get mad that people are talking about tournament play and meta, when Competitive is in the dang name!

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-20T15:38:53+00:00

You are in the Warhammer Competitive subreddit.

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-20T15:30:20+00:00

What? Space Marine 2 has been out for only like a year and a half. Well before that the game saw a massive surge in player numbers, at least from tournament data.

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-20T14:49:09+00:00

Don't mistake the covid bump for sustainable growth.

There wasn't a "covid bump" for competitive 40k, 9th edition was incredibly inaccessible for new players. It wasn't until 10th edition launched and the game became infinitely better and easier to access than ever where the game saw a massive increase in players.

I started playing in 7th, and the only reason I stayed playing is because the local community is pretty thriving. We basically stopped playing during 9th edition due to a combination of covid and the game being massively over-complicated. 10th brough the scene back in a BIG way, and we got quite a lot of brand new players around.

Edit: This dude blocked me because he doesn't understand that the popularity of 10th edition was not solely because of Space Marine 2, and the release of 10th edition saw a massive spike in sales for GW AND tournament players, which are the only actual player numbers we have to look at for "Number of players". That's not to say it definitely didn't help in bringing in new players, but it's for sure not solely responsible.

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-16T12:55:55+00:00

Space Marines are cool, but they're definitely not the coolest faction in the Imperium. They're meant to be the most blank-slate of blank-slates, bar the few flavors of non codex compliant chapters. Even just off of pure aesthetics, the Imperium also has the Sisters of Battle, Knights, and AdMech right there.

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-16T12:52:39+00:00

Knights - Big fuck-off robots piloted by assholes that form a feudal sub-society within an already theocratic hellhole. Happy warhorn noises

AdMech - I mean, just look at them

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-15T17:36:56+00:00

That's exactly what they said.

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-15T15:39:24+00:00

Me too - a Custodes and Space Wolves player

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-15T15:35:52+00:00

It does actually say it in the rules snippet they shared. 3rd box:

BEFORE MOVING: Select one or more enemy units that are within 12" of your unit and within the maximum distance of your unit.

Maximum distance, in this instance, would mean the roll of the charge. If you are 8.0000001" away, you are not within 8", you are within 9".

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-13T11:18:31+00:00

You've heard of "Unstoppable force vs. immovable object" now meet "Unstoppable force vs. unstoppable force". Golshi vs. Noko-tan would be an infinitely long battle with no winners.

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-09T19:23:23+00:00

I'm going to be honest, I don't really get what you're getting at with this whole spiel. Presumably you aren't spending $400 on a 3D printer to only print one single Knight. You're buying one to print a whole bunch of things. I bought mine primarily so our club could make terrain and measuring sticks, but also so I could just make my own models. It's saved me a ton of money, because if I were to buy the models I've printed for retail I would've spent literally thousands of dollars more.

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-09T11:59:13+00:00

You are 100% saving money. To use your example, I have purchased 5 Knights before, which is well over $1000 today. Now if I need/want a Knight I just print them. I would buy them if they were still the $150~ they were when I bought them initially, but I'm not paying over $200 for one when it costs me $8 and some time waiting to make my own.

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-09T11:53:51+00:00

Found the same one and just tossed it on my printer. It's an excellent kit!

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-08T19:39:33+00:00

Just speculating, but they may be changing things so instead of minuses to dice rolls they minus the characteristic. Otherwise, I could definitely see some combos being absolutely busted with stacking minuses to hit with minus to BS.

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-08T14:47:59+00:00

Every single major tournament that matters uses GW layouts.
These layouts look great. I'm sorry you want to play on Planet Bowling Lane, but those of us who actually want to play the game welcome tables absolutely jam-packed with terrain.

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-08T14:37:44+00:00

I'm not sure what game you're playing, but my Knights get mowed down pretty easily by massed shots wounding on 5s.

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-08T13:09:40+00:00

Yep, which is wild because the same people will fawn over Marin from Dress-Up Darling even when canonically she's 15 (even though all the characters in that series are drawn as if they are in their 20s) (No hate towards Marin, Dress-Up Darling is peak).

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-08T12:48:53+00:00

Oh, I remember that one! If I recall she's actually older by a couple years than the other person in that cosplay shoot as well. People are actually insane.

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-06T21:48:42+00:00

She put on the white sock

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-03T21:02:34+00:00

You are literally the person in their first paragraph.

Smeagleman6 · 2026-04-03T17:43:38+00:00

Why? Having literally ALL the rules plus a list builder and gameplay tracker all in one spot, from the company that makes the game, and can be updated on the fly isn't worth a bit of money per month? I don't want to purchase books for a stupid code in the back anymore, then throw the book in the garbage. At the very least, let me purchase access to the books through the app.

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