Here is how I would rank the various codices in terms of how powerful they are. This assumes equal scenarios, player skill and luck (something that is obviously impossible). This also assumes that each codex is using an optimized list.
Imperial Guard
Space Wolves
Blood Angels
Eldar
Orks
Space Marines
Chaos Space Marines
Witch HuntersDark Eldar
Tyranids
Chaos Daemons
Black Templars
Daemonhunters
Necrons
Tau Empire
Dark Angels
One thing to keep in mind is that these codices are all capable of winning. As I said in "The Importance of the Army List", I firmly believe that skill, luck, scenario and matchup have a greater impact on the game. I am not really a fan of the tier system because no two armies are exactly equal in power. I like the best-to-worst list better.
Care to share how you reached your decisions? It's always interesting to see somebody's thought process.
ReplyDeleteI try not and rate entire army books or put them in tier systems because, like you said, everyone is capable of fielding a competitive list and player skill, luck, mission, and matchup will often be a more important factor of determining the winner.
I'd pretty much split things up into 3 bands: Competitive, semi-competitive, uncompetitive.
Competitive = any non-DA SM variant, IG, Tyranids, Witch Hunters (with allies or pure Sisters), Dark Eldar, Tau
Everybody here has at least 1 solid build that can take anything on and are often capable of fielding multiple viable builds.
Semi-competitive = Orks, CSM, DA, DH (with allies), Daemons
They have a lot less options and lack something critical that the competitive armies have (Orks lack melta, CSM lack fire support outside of Heavy Support), DA are overcosted everywhere, and so on), but can still make a winning list, though it will require more input from the player to make the most of it.
Uncompetitive = Necrons, DH (no allies)
Sorely lacking in multiple elements, almost making them useless. With very specific builds as well as excellent play they can be successful, but they have it much worse.
I would also like to see explantations for your rankings, would be interesting.
ReplyDeleteHowever, out of the armies I own I certainly wouldn't rank Eldar higher than Space Marines. You wreck those Wave Serpents and the Elves are toast.
Here's my rankings for the armies I (have) own:
1. Space Marines
2. Imperial Guard
3. Tyranids
4. Orks & Chaos Space Marines
5. Eldar - ver close 4th!
6. Necrons
These of course is ranking on the codexes and my armies too. All armies are mech, except Tyranids, obivously ;)
I tend to agree with Chumbalaya -- not just his 'tiers', but also the codices he puts in each tier.
ReplyDelete...which is broadly similar to the rankings you've created, but for a few odd exceptions. Tau are very low on your list, for example, when I've plenty of personal experience at just how nasty they are at the alpha-strike game. Orks are very high on your list, when they struggle mightily against heavy mech.
IG are definitely at the top. I would put BA above SW. While SW are very strong what I have noticed is they are not really an extremely mobile army. I've played against TWC enough now to beat them consistently with my BA. Basically TWC is a delivery unit for the Thunderwolf with a power fist/thunderhammer and the decked out Wolf Lord. While Loganwing is a solid performer it's extremely slow and will have problems with faster armies. Blood Angels in my mind are the one army that can consistently beat guard and I have designed my list specifically for that role... They are very good at beating the other top tiered armies as well.
ReplyDeleteDaemons should be up at the top. They can beat IG, SW & BA consistently. Just because the daemon codex is very much misunderstood does not mean it's a low performer. I will put my KDA up against any army out there and I feel very confident with them. Daemons can be built to be highly resilient and absolutely destroy other armies, including guard. KDA has an inherent advantage versus both SW & BA.
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I certainly don't think SM are worse off than Eldar, lol. As for Orks being better than SM, really?
ReplyDeleteI think DA are clearly better than Necrons, but there's not a huge gap, tbh.
Hrmm. I'd very much like to see the thoughts behind this. :)
I will make another post to explain my choices and discuss the comments. I'm just so lazy. I look at the computer and then I look at my PS3 and the computer seems so boring. lol
ReplyDeleteMW2 is fun.
And to think, I thought I might be able to post once a day! Now I'm struggling for once a week.
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you mean...
ReplyDelete*Looks at half-built Tac Squad, then at power button on 360...*