Ze Poodle,
This post was much better than your last. The tone is much more appropriate and it truly invites open dialogue about the matter at hand. I, for one, appreciate the change, and will try to match it.
Right. I'll spell out my problems with the Combat Squads rule for you and you can hopefully lower yourself to consider my opinion.
I will consider anyone and everyone's opinion when it is presented in a mature fashion.
The rule is unnecessary, troublesome, and designed to force players into creating certain types of list over others. I can see no reason why all Space Marine players must have two squads of Tactical Marines. I can also see no reason why they must all be either five or ten men squads, other than it limits their ability to take eight man squads, or six-man squads if they'd rather not take morale tests after two casualties, or nine-man squads if they need to save fifteen points somewhere.
Okay, well, I understand that you don't see the need for the change and it troubles you. However, apparently the designers have noted a trend in what has been happening with SM lists and how they're being constructed in this edition of the game. A lot of those trends aren't in keeping with what the designers had in mind, so they're moving toward making adjustments to 'fix' the issue. Sure some folks won't be happy with it, but the designers certainly have the freedom to mold the game as they see fit to make the armies work the way they envisioned them to.
Or, indeed, why they must take Tactical Marines at all, considering that all Chapters - and this is in the Codex Astartes as well - must have a 10th Company formed entirely out of Scouts, Scout Bikes, and Land Speeders.
True, this is part of the background, which I certainly feel should inform the construction of the rules. However, as I understand the background, the Reserve and Scout companies were not made to fight independently, but rather to reinforce the Battle Companies, as needed. I'm sure we could all dream up and justify an opportunity for them to be on their own, but when it comes down to it, we have to look at what the designers expect when they picture a Space Marine army (of any kind) in their mind's eye; at its core should be a healthy number of trusty Tactical Marines. Just as the core of an IG detachment should be infantry platoons, and Fire Warrior for a Tau force.
They have, of course, made a few unique exceptions to this. Most notably, the Deathwing and Ravenwing are unique Space Marine formations that do not have Tactical Marines at their core. However, the norm is a small detachment of Tactical Marines with other various assets of the Chapter supporting them.
Therefore, the Dark Angels codex and the changes you are supporting present not a progression, but a regression to an older standard of the rules, and rather than open new options to players, serve only to restrict old ones. We now must take five-man Marine squads. Our Chaplain must have a Chapter Standard. Our Land Speeder squads now must contain a Typhoon.
The designers are just taking the game back to its roots, and that's okay by me. Almost all of these changes are meant to make these armies truer to the background material. Hell, the background material is the only reason I still am in this hobby; if the designers have decided to start to put more emphasis on that they you will get no complaints from me. Sure, players have lost some options in the Dark Angels Codex, but they've also gained a lot as well (a discussion for another topic, please).
The player no longer has the choice of powergaming; the choice has been taken from him.
I'm sorry, but I just can't agree with you that this is a bad thing.
I like having an indeterminate number of Death Company
I enjoy this as well, and it does fit the "fluff"; although the size of the Death Company for a given army list probably does not fit the background very well. I can't imagine that the Chapter would last very long if their were a greater than 50% chance of a Marine going to the DC for every squad, prior to every battle.
However, although the random method for DC generation might be more "fluffy", it becomes less "fair". Since the whole basis for army construction is one of 'purchasing' units based on their 'value' to the army, a system that works otherwise within an army list is going to cause problems. This is why, for Blood Angels, Scouts = Good whereas Bikes and Terminators = Bad.
Blood Angels have as many Bikes and Terminators as pretty much any other Chapter, but you almost never see one on the table, because our DC generation system discourages their inclusion. Wouldn't you like to have an Codex that didn't? I know I would.
I like the threat that I might lose a turn's Devastator shooting to a 1, I like the fifty-fifty chance my Furioso has of actually getting into combat.
As do I, and I don't expect this will change.
and damn it, I like being able to take eight-man fire support squads, which are my favourite number.
My Devastator Squads and Assault Squads are also have eight Marines in each. However, I don't mind a bit having to add another two to each. In fact, if I get to split my Devastator Squad with the Combat Squad rule, then that will make it much more useful, when combined with my Baal Predator and Dreadnought.
You seem to be motivated out of a desire to play 2nd edition rules rather than 4th. So I say this: go back and play 2nd edition. We moved on for a reason.
This is an odd statement. I suppose it was motivated by my approval of the move in their latest Codex to align the Dark Angels army list with their background material. Perhaps this does hearken back to how army lists were formed under 2nd edition. In this case you are correct, I do support this change of emphasis. I do not, however, wish to go back to the unweildy Core Ruleset of 2nd edition (although there are aspects of it that I did like).
I cannot, and still cannot, foresee a universe in which restricting me from having fun is possibly preferable to letting me have fun. It's a game. Can I just play it already?
Oh I am sure that you would still have fun. Even if the designers force you to play with Tactical Marines. If that kind of change really ruins the game for you that would be most unfortunate.
Regards,
Valerian