(Evil and Chaos @ Oct. 30 2007,09:08)
QUOTE
The fact that the lists are relatively balanced does not mean that some units within the list are not underpowered rubbish, or that other units are not overpowered monsters.
It means that the lists as a whole are balanced.
That's the big fallacy of relying only on win figures to tell if the army lists are balanced or not; Looking at win figures tells you if (For example) the Chaos list is relatively balanced, but it doesn't answer the question as to why everyone feels the need to take 2/3 Feral Titans to make their lists compete, or why nobody takes Greater Daemons...
Lists can be balanced, even with a multitude of units contained within them that are totally broken (In both directions).
Cheers.
Cant say I agree with this - Epic armies are pretty open in structure so if lists have seriously overpowered formations or units, tournament players will tend to find them and exploit them to the limit.
A list would easily show up as overpowered. Probable reasons this hasnt happened are manyfold.
First most things that people think are seriously overpowered arn't - they are just a little bit overpowered.
The objective nature of the game has a calming effect on possible overpowering, doesnt matter how deadly a war engine of doom is if my lone remaining bike has the last activation and grabs or disputes an objective.
Their tend to be slightly overpowered or efficient combinations in all the lists so these balance out.
More specifically with regards ferals and warhounds
Ferals are used in chaos lists and warhounds in marines etc because they are efficient for their points warhounds more so at 250pts with ferals being about right at 300pts (admitedly that changes under the new MW barrage rules), but they are obvious inclusions more for the fact they are cheap fairly tough formations that can keep your activation count relatively high late into a game - they also provide both lists with a good shooting MW attack something the lists generally are weak at.
In my opinion balancing army lists is always more important than balancing every little unit or formation at the very least because such a thing is almost certainly impossible and will probably lead unintentionally to less balanced lists (mostly because as people try to micro focus and balance everything more and more oportunities for human error creeps in).
