Building character(s) into an army

   To me, one of the best parts of the new 40k 9th edition is the army-building rules.  While I have some complaints and worries (check out my last post), the new detachment system is not one of them.  You see, 8th edition is easily my favorite edition but the army-building format was broken.  It encouraged people to take tons of troops, in MSU format, in order to stockpile Command Points for the 'good stuff' like elites and heavies.  In other words, it encouraged 'min-maxing' over army design.  That's not a good system. 

  The new system for 9th edition puts everyone on a more level field and encourages more unique army lists.  I mentioned in that last post that I want to build a daemonic Chaos Space Marine army without paying the troop and Huron tax and now I can- without losing access to the important Command Points to make it work!  Finally!!!  This also means that my son can play a pure Deathwing army, my wife can play an angelic Sisters army focused on Celestine and her flying friends, and even my Eldar may see a pure Biel-tan style for the first time in over a decade.  I really think that this new format of army-building is going to be so much more casual-gamer-friendly.

  All that being said, I do see a HUGE disadvantage to this newer system.  The problem is the opposite of 8th edition's issue- troops.  Where 8th basically requires troops to be included in armies (which totally makes sense), 9th can basically ignore them altogether in armies.  Elite armies will become the new norm.  Armies of Shining Spears or DG Terminators (arguably one of the hardest units in the game) will be present while the co-called 'Loyal 32' will be retired and never see the battlefield again.  It will be amazing to see just how unnecessary regular troops will become.

  There is hope, however.  Getting characters into an army under 9th will be a little more difficult.  The specialist detachments (Vanguard, Outrider, Spearhead) are all limited in how many HQs they can take (one required, up to two).  A Battalion, which requires at least three troops, 'unlocks' more HQ slots and becomes more attractive.  Otherwise, players will be forced to pay for multiple detachments and defeat the whole purpose of the new system (remember that the detachment including the HQ is basically free while others have to spend Command Points just to use).  This means that the equation for army-building in this new edition requires more troops to use more characters.  And that's the way it should be. 

  I'm very, very excited about the new army-building format of 9th edition.  I enjoy 8th edition so much that I'm actually willing to simply port over the new system and just keep playing with 8th's mechanics.  In fact, this almost makes me think that we didn't need a new edition at all and could have released a Chapter Approved update for adopting this new system into the current game.  But that's back to that old post I've already mentioned.  Moral of the story- you no longer need troops to build an army... unless you want characters!  That's awesome.

  Let me know what you think of the new army-building format in 9th below.  I'd be curious to see if I'm the only one that notices this or if I'm just diving too deep with this.  Otherwise, Happy Gaming!