desocupado said:
What exactly sucks about 40k? Is it imbalanced or something?
Well, essentially this:
It's the popamole of tabletop wargames.
It's hopelessly limited in tactical scope, most of the strategic element is number-crunching the best points-to-power ratios, most units are just filler without any tactical personality, commanders are extremely bland and colourless types without unique touches (they're pretty much all melee machines of varying ability), special characters are just empowered versions of regular commanders, and it just plays in an extremely uneventful and boring fashion. Here's an example simplified turn:
You move units, or you don't, since if a shooting unit can shoot you most of the time have an advantage staying still. The melee units try to reach shooting units and skip their own shots to move extra D6 inches. Leaders are placed in the most expensive melee unit, almost no exceptions. Que point and shoot. Yes, no moving, fighting, casting or shooting outside their very own phase. Que possible assault moves and a close combat rock em sock robots (one side hits first, the other hits back, order based on iniative). Close combat is static, with the units facing each other and no shooting into it either, the only moves being if the losing side flees. You cannot voluntarily retreat from close combat. Also, both sides attack on both players turns, making close combat overtly deadly. There is no flanking either.
By contrast, here's a turn of WARMACHINE:
First, you allocate your commander's "mana pool" (Focus points) between his battlegroup's (his "unit" of individual units, not all Warjacks have to be a part of it) Warjacks (steam golem mecha) which the 'jacks use to boost their own rolls and allow them to use special moves and movement, and what you leave behind to power his own combat capabilities and spellcasting (each commander character has their own spell list) and decide whether or not to use the commander's once per game Feat. Then you activate each unit individually where they move, shoot, cast spells (yes, many units have spell lists) or fight, while your opponent waits for their turn.
And by that, I mean that is the categories your options go into. For one thing, ALL Warjacks can do the following Power Attacks they can use: Trample (moves forward and deals damage to small models, ie infantry, in its wake, only Heavy Warjacks can do this), Slam (charge attack where the 'jack hits the opponent with its body and can knock it down and back, requires a certain distance of movement), Push (opponent is pushed away, no damage) or Headbutt (knocks down automatically).
Now, if the 'jack has Open Hands, it can also throw its opponent into different directions (if it has two Open Hands, it can throw further), do a Headlock or a Weapon lock (effects are obvious). Also, all models moved over when the Warjack is moved due to a Power Attack or similar effect take Collateral Damage, and same-sized Warjacks can crash.
Close combat is free-flowing, with free movement in and out (though moving out of an enemy's melee range results in a Free Strike), and if a member of a unit is engaged, the unit itself is not. In fact, all members of a unit are activated and used individually, with the Command range of the unit leader dictating if they can activate as normally or need to move directly towards the unit leader and do nothing else. There are also different melee ranges, with normal range being 0.5 inch and the Reach range certain weapons have being 2 inches.
Models can shoot into close combat and units can shoot at multiple targets (since everyone shoots as individuals, unless they can execute a Combined Attack which is a special ability some units have), and they can shoot into close combat (with a chance of hitting an unintended target) if they can see the model. Hitting a target is also not a matter of a single stat (as in 40k) but of the Defense stat of the target as well, which is modified by cover (in 40k, cover gives you an additional saving throw against damage).
Also, unlike 40k, in WARMACHINE models have fronts, flanks and rears, with the standard LoS being 180 degrees (some models have a special rule that gives them 360 degree LoS) and the front of the model, with flank and rear attacks possible both in melee and shooting.
There are also next to no goon units in WARMACHINE, as almost every single unit and Warjack comes with special rules and specialities. Even standard riflemen infantry units.
In WARMACHINE, the commanders (Warcasters) also have a great degree of variation due to all being special characters, with each possessing a Theme Force list that grants the army bonuses if it takes only certain units and Warjacks. They also have variety of specialities, with there being buff characters, Warjack commanding characters, spellcasters, infantry commanders, stealth types, fighting machines and so forth. The commander is also not purely restricted to CC like in 40k, with some Warcasters like Kara Sloan being specialists in shooting. Add to that that each Warcaster has at least one unique spell in their spell lists...
Oh yea, and there are non-Warcaster special characters as well, even character units.
This was a barebones example why 40k is popamole.