Feast of Blades '13

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The Monster We've Made: 5th Editions Evolution from Salamanders to Razorspam


The following article is in my oppinion how 40k has evolved from the just the 5th edition Space Marine book till todays five 5th edition dex's game. I am not saying all of these lists have not been around or aren't around anymore I am just saying how the tournament and alpha dog list for the game has changed....


Anyone notice the path GW made the game go down?





The path that has lead to the top table on any given saturday tournament and GT in the final round being RazorWolf vs RazorAngel? Anyone notice how the game basicly became my version of Razorspam vs yours from your codex? It has evolved from the way people play thier armies, with some online influence. Just like Antibiotics are making a super bacteria we can not kill we are creating a World of Transport warfare by the way the game has went.





Lets go back in time to the begining of 5th and the New Marines Codex. It was the Top codex back then. Remember all those Vulken lists dominating tournaments? Let me ask you this, when was the last time you saw a bunch of Vulken lists winning tournaments....or even in a tournament? And now the lightbulb clicks...





You don't see them anymore. Remember how Pedro was popula back then? The whole thought of Outflanking rhino lists packed full of 10 man marines getting into assault was huge. BAck then Chaos was up there with Orks. Assault, Rhinos and melta were all the rage. The Space Marine Dex went from having the Vulken List being the top list in the book and the top tournament list to Razorspam being the top used list from the book and the best tournament one. How could one list be best change to a completely other list from the same book be best? The path from Vulken to Razorspam can be seen in the evolution of the game...to the Razorback





So how did we become a Razorback state? Ladies and Gents, I give you IG....





IG changed the game, taking 2nd turn and reserving everything become obsolete, The Alpha strike became a death sentence for your army. Mech IG became todays leafblower Guard List and they ruled the world, Vulken andPedro didn't stand a chance here on out.





Dawn on us Space Wolves, dawn on us Razorspam...Oh yes it was already in development, was always around but not to todays degree. The Nilla Marines varient was 2nd only to leafblower. Now we have Runepriests and Thunderwolf....not to mention loganwing. Yet one list now stands out....Razorwolf





It was genius! The way to defeat Mech IG was to Alphastrike them. Give Marines the edge back. 10 man tacticals just don't work here, so lets put them down to 5 and put them in....ding* Razorbacks, give them (at the time) TL Las so we know we can take out there vehicles. Stack on the Longfangs and runepriests.....It was the coming of the end.





Nids came out, strong and hard. The all deepstriking/outflanking/reserve list beat us up but not bad. Yet this had no effect on Mech IG or Razorwolf, then they recieved the nerf bat to the nuts and were put back into thier 2nd tiered state....





Then BA came out, pontential for much but now we see Tanks in Fast attack and HS?!?!? Razorspam would have its ultimate backfield of shooting now. RazorAngel took a step forward.





Now we are at today with a Dark Eldar codex coming...fromwhat Iv'e read itll be the evil cousin of Razorspam(Raider/DL spam) and Mech IG (Valk/vendetta like bombers/fighters). So will the Dark Eldar take out Razorspam and essentially make the game a transport war more so than it is now?





Look how far 5th has come. It went from Rhino Rush to Razorspam, from Tactics to Alpha strike....





Now do you want to sieze the initiative or just let me begin my turn?

3 comments:

  1. Razorback lists are only one way to build Marines (vanilla, SW, or BA); there are plenty of other strong choices.

    IG and Tyranids are far from dead. Ask Razorspam how it likes tons of S7 and S8 shots.

    The only reason you see Razor vs Razor matches is because people have climbed aboard the latest bandwagon and are riding it like a $10 hooker. When the next fad comes along, we'll see something else replace Razorbacks in the public's eye and BoLS and other sites will be filled with cries of "IS _____ THE NEW LEAFBLOWER/RAZORSPAM????" and talk of how overpowered it is, how it was designed just to beat Razorspam, etc.

    And protip: Leafblower was never the best army available. It's not even the best IG build available.

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  2. I play JP swarm, and not only is it such a fun way to play, because it involves actual tactics.

    JP swarm is also often an amazingly powerful list. I took on A Razorwolf army at 1750 points, he had your typical list, and I used my typical list. He got first turn, and you'd be surprised how hard it is to alpha-strike someone when they have no tanks. I tabled this Razorwolf player by turn 4

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  3. Vulkan lists can still be strong 3x drop pod dreads with Heavy Flamer Multi Melta in HS (MoF as an HQ) Tac Squads with Melta in Drop Pod, Sternguad with Combi Meltas In Drop Pod

    Flood the Mystics that The IG have Three Dreads and Some Sternguard Turn 1 open the door for the Tac Marines later in game.

    I'll have a list posted on my blog http://skimmerspam.blogspot.com soon

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