Although this is a never-ending argument, I think one thing that can go some way to dealing with this is to ask "Why?"
Look at your opponent's army. Look at their units, and if you think they're being cheesy, ask them "Why is that unit in there?"
There could, of course, be any number of answers, but if they start telling you about how they love the look of the models, or their army is following a certain theme and they have to include that unit, just because it fits the theme so well, I don't think it's cheesy.
If their answer is something along the lines of 'this unit is the best our army has in terms of points efficiency,' or they start talking about the profile or rules for the unit... It would seem that their focus is more on winning than simply on the enjoyment of the game or hobby.
But is this really wrong? Who can honestly say they would enjoy this hobby if they lost every single game that they played? Some (probably most) people
enjoy winning, and so if they're constructing their army to win, and they are winning, then clearly they will be enjoying themselves. It may not be all that fun for their opponents, but if they are playing fairly, if they are being sporting, encouraging their opponents if needed and generally not being a massive pain in the backside while they're winning, then really, I can't see that they're doing anything wrong.
Some people are in this hobby for the modelling, some for the painting, some for the gaming, and some are here to win. It's unavoidable, not cheese.
Your example with the magic-heavy Vampire Counts is a good one. Yes, some armies are going to find this very difficult to be competitive against. But then there are others that will cope better, and may even be the very antithesis to this army.
I don't think the Warhammer world is entirely balanced. There will be armies that, when set up in a particular way, can't effectively deal with a particular opponent, set up in a particular way. There is so much variety that I think it's impossible to completely balance everything.
I think I've gone on long enough. But all this reminds me of someone's signature I saw on this forum;
Quote:
Dear Games Designer,
Rock is Cheese. Paper is just fine.
Signed, Scissors.
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