Of House Rules and Grey Knights

Psychic Hoods, Assault Cannons, Teleport Homers, Storm Shields, Smoke Launchers. These are some of the things the Daemon (and Witch!) Hunters have still sticking back in 3rd Edition rules.

Of particular interest is the Teleport Homer. The way it is described in the codex refers to an old Deep Strike rule involving templates. One argument is that they can do nothing at all now because templates aren't used. For some reason this draws out a deep-seated anger in me. I have a very hard time arguing against it because I become irrational. Grey Knights are now one of the oldest codices (if not the oldest codex)  in 40k right now and is widely regarded as over-costed. I ask what harm it causes in a friendly game to allow an old codex to use updated rules from a similar army--in this case Grey Knights to use the new Space Marine Teleport Homers.

Now the first follow-up argument is, of course, "What about the Psychic Hood? You're just going to cherry-pick the updates you want and keep the old stuff like unlimited range hoods and cheap Extra Armor." I would much rather sacrifice those few things that do get a benefit from the age of the rules in order to get the rest of them updated that broke or were improved with new editions. Some of the changes are really obvious too. The Imperial Armour books from Forge World give some good ones: Sisters Rhinos are identical to the newest Space Marine Rhinos, IA Land Raiders pay the new standard price for Extra Armor, Hector Rex (IA 7) gets a 3+ invulnerable save Storm Shield. Teleport Homers are almost identical in the latest codices to the old Daemonhunters one it just no longer references a template and gives the 6" bubble.

I've decided what causes me so much rage in these arguments. Fairness. When confronted with a situation like the Teleport Homer, my instinct is to say, "Well, obviously the game has evolved and here's a clear example of how the designers have fixed the old rules to work with the system now." I do not expect the response to be, "I know, right? It sucks to be using the old codex now since it means you can't use a tactic that was intended for your army. One day they'll update the rules so you aren't shafted anymore."

A tournament is one thing. Telling someone they're playing an overpriced army then gleefully telling them you won't apply some common decency with an obvious house-rule fix for a friendly game is a bit on the rude side.

Yes, the rant is over now. Thank you for your time.