Deeper Thought - Escalation

Arm all the Cultists; the Super Heavies are coming!

In my last gaming article I discussed my deeper-seated concerns with the proposed bans at Feast of Blades, and why I think they are merely treating a symptom of the overall gaming community. I received a significant amount of disagreement with this article, and I think some of it may have been in regards to Escalation. I don’t think I stated my point very well in regards to its relation with the Escalation supplement. I don’t want to jump the gun too much, but I think it is important to state immediately and unequivocally: I think Escalation is a terrible idea. My point regarding restrictions had everything to do with Allies, in-book rules, and unit composition as allowed by each Codex.

As a general introduction, Escalation allows Warhammer 40,000 players to field a Super Heavy unit within their force. Each army has their own units they are allowed to field; most of these are simply recycled rules sets from the Apocalypse rulebook, but some are units that had not yet received updates in 6th edition. There are a handful of very straightforward advantages given to one side if it does not have a Super Heavy.

Rather than further focus on the specific content, I wanted to jump in at the deep end and discuss the wider implications of allowing Super Heavy vehicles in Warhammer 40,000. It is my firm opinion that most of the units presented in Escalation have absolutely no place in a “normal” game of Warhammer 40,000. I’ll spend the next few paragraphs explaining why.

First off, Apocalypse was created for a reason. Many of us who have gamed for a decade or more (and lots of gamers with less experience than that) have decided to buy the super units for our armies from Forge World. While we all approach this purchase for different reasons, most of us want a way to play these units that we’ve shelled so much money out to purchase. Apocalypse provided the perfect venue. With the increased points per player and the crazy-powerful weapons and datasheets, we could play our monstrous units without concern for game imbalance.

Or could we? In the end, most Apocalypse games turn out more fair when the number of Super Heavies and the number of Destroyer weapons are balanced between sides. I personally think they’ve made Destroyer weapons too powerful in their current format, after having watched a Transcendent C’Tan disappear twice over two turns, and seeing people’s meticulously painted Baneblades go up in smoke the first time a Titan was directed at them.

At the end of a game, however, I can accept these incredibly powerful weapons as long as both sides had a roughly equal number of them. If you don’t believe how quickly a Destroyer weapon imbalance can swing the course of a game, watch the following battle report of the campaign finale in Dicehead Games’s most recent campaign.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyOoL3BzfyY

In this battle, the game started with a largely equal total of Destroyer weapons. The Imperial faction had a Shadowsword, a Warhound Titan, and an Eldar Lynx. The forces of disorder had a Reaver Titan, a Warhound Titan, a Stompa, and a Lord of Skulls. However, on turn two the Imperials were fortunate and were able to destroy all of Chaos’s Destroyer producers. From that point on, the game took a drastic turn.

One could argue, and I believe correctly so, that this is one of the main focal points of an Apocalypse battle; destroy your opponent’s capacity to throw highly damaging shots, and gain a firepower advantage. In Apocalypse I don’t see any problem when this happens, since you must make it a high priority to destroy your opponent’s Super Heavies. In Escalation, I believe this becomes significantly more problematic.

This first issue segues well into my second issue, which is a disproportionate access to Destroyer weapons. As I’ve stated before, Destroyer weapons are incredibly devastating, especially when only one side has access to them. I understand that most of the units have them in Escalation, but here me out through a tabletop example.

Orks are squaring off against Eldar in the ruins of a city. The Orks have brought a Stompa along for the battle, and the Eldar are fielding a Revenant Titan with two Pulsars. The Orks are going first, but our Eldar player has decided to deploy his Revenant anyways, at the back corner of the board where Ork Lootas, Tankbustas, etc. cannot reach him. The Orks proceed with the first turn, rushing the center of the table at full speed with the Stompa. While he is likely to inflict some damage on the Eldar, their maneuverability should allow a very conservative deployment and help them emerge from most of his weapons relatively unscathed, as none are Destroyer weapons.

In the Eldar turn, the Revenant twitches in the corner and then fires his Pulsars. Anyone who has seen an Apocalypse game in action knows exactly what happens next. Almost without exception, the Stompa goes up in flames. You will have incredible difficulty hiding a Super Heavy, as even one hole in a wall allowing line of sight will spell death.

The problem here is an inability to adequately address something with that many Destroyer shots. It is further exacerbated against the Revanant Titan in particular because of his holo-fields. Since one member of my gaming group owns a Revenant, I’ve had plenty of opportunity to see the thing in action. It is absolutely brutal in Apocalypse games, but in the end it seems fair considering the large amount of points arrayed against it. Despite its impressive firepower, I have yet to see it swing the outcome of a game on its own merit.

I’ve heard the arguments about its price tag in a small game of Warhammer 40,000 being an inhibiting factor, but I’m not sure I agree. The overwhelming destructive power of Strength D weapons seems to wash out any concern over a smaller army. Having seen one video battle report online with a Revenant single-handedly destroying a Chaos army, it seems that at least initially this is the case.

On the surface this book really doesn’t appear to be my cup of tea. Perhaps I am too cynical, but it seems that Games Workshop’s primary concern with this book was breaching a new market for the sell of Super Heavies. I don’t imagine that my group will be using these rules for any of the Titans, although we might occasionally throw in a Baneblade or a Stompa. As far as tournaments go, I’d be hesitant to attend a no-holds-barred event where these units were being played. From a logical standpoint, it just doesn’t seem that Escalation brings anything to the hobby that cannot already be enjoyed to a great extent in a game of Apocalypse.