Helbrute Point-Costs Drop! A 40K First?

There goes a sacred cow of Warhammer 40K I didn’t expect to go. Games Workshop released a first version of rules errata for the latest Chaos Space Marines Codex. A scant few changes, mainly to Plaque Zombies. More astounding however, a straight 5 point discount on the Helbrute! That is something I cannot remember ever seeing in a Warhammer 40K errata. Games Workshop should do this more often.

The Latest Chaos Space Marines Update

For a start, here’s the errata Games Workshop just put out to the public. It’s relatively scarce, just 5 little changes. A lot of talk seems to revolve around the plaque zombies. I don’t feel I can really comment on this, as I haven’t looked into it much. Nurgle isn’t really my cup of tea. The 5 point drop of the Helbrute, however, is something I haven’t seen in Warhammer 40K rules errata before.

The utility of shaving points of underused units

Whatever errata Games Workshop put out so far, changing rules, answering questions, etc., I don’t remember seeing them ever change the point costs of a unit.

Whatever the motivation behind this is, I hope Games Workshop is having a look at this and will consider shaving points of other units through errata in the future.

The spontaneous reaction might be to clamour for point-increases of units that are often perceived as “too cheap”, such as Space Wolves Long Fangs for example. That, I must say, is probably more difficult. It could have the effect that a player who is unaware of the changes would bring a list above the agreed point level, which would be awkward for friendly games and a logistic nightmare for more organized play.

On the other hand, dropping point costs seems a risk-free change. At worst, people would simply not use all the points available. It is what would happen now if a player calculates the Helbrute at its earlier point cost as it is printed in the Codex. It would certainly not risk.. say.. exclusion from a tournament, only because one didn’t read a pdf.

The possibilities to breathe a bit of life back into neglected units is endless or show some token consideration to aging Codexes: A 5 points drop for Tau Sniper Teams? Eldar Swooping Hawks? 5 points less for Black Templar Rhinos?

Admittedly, this would not solve all balance-issues. Nor should it. But as a gesture of goodwill and as a demonstration of the game designers’ awareness of how the game of Warhammer 40K evolves (especially over different editions), it could certainly be a powerful tool for Games Workshop to make the long tail of old books and under-utilized Codex entries a bit livelier.

It might not impact the most hard-nosed tournament lists, but it just might make the broader game a bit more colourful and diverse.

What do you think? Leave a comment below!

Z.