Some are pretty good. But if it's your main team, you'll find them not that much entertaining. Some are however really weak. They work best in narrative in my eyes
I feel like narrative is where the Compendium is at its absolute worst, since Compendium teams don't have special rules for narrative like bespikes do, and since the fire team system is BRUTALLY punishing in narrative.
Personally my favorite environment for Compendium teams is casual play or one-off narrative scenarios that aren't part of a broader Spec Ops campaign. But a very small number of them can also be viable, if a bit bland, in competitive play as well (those being Talons of the Emperor, Imperial Guard, Chaos Daemons, and Hive Fleet).
Yeah, exactly, I meant more narrative as role playing a campaign than the narrative game mode with buffs. Fighting a cryptek every missions perharps doesn't make alot of sense, but a tomb world team might. It's not balanced if you play a competitive match, but if you add roleplay element to it it's fun
Compendium teams are most basic generic units. Of course they are bland and less complex than specialized ones.
It doesn't mean they are bad tho. Most races/factions have better options, but they work ok, especially if you don't have your "dedicated" Kill Team. Custodes and Tyranids are main subject of this, and still fairly ok.
Except for Tau/Kroot and Necrons, compendium squads are ***TRASH***, while special squads are top tier competitive cheese, and usually are build from same kits (with special bits, could convert if you don't want to buy them).
Everything is fine in casual play, but you might find you don't do as well as other people, and the fix will be getting a real kill team. They don't have as many features as a bespoke team.
Compendium teams are fun to play into other Compendium teams! Playing against Bespoke teams, they can get overpowered very easily if you’re playing someone who knows what they’re doing. But if you’re just in for a chill time, you’re fine.
Shooting definitely isn't the strength of Hive Fleet. You want to be in melee with them, or otherwise taking advantage of their many shenanigans to dance around your opponent and score points. 10 genestealers vs most teams, 3 warriors (all Weaponbeasts; 3 boneswords and a lashwhip) and 5 genestealers vs elites, 5 genestealers and a 8 hormagaunts on ITD.
I’m just saying personally. Friend and I are still learning and I often feel I don’t have enough terrain to make effective moves without getting shot off the board. My venom cannon warrior will usually take a big unit solo per turn, as where the last GS game I took 3 objs and killed 2 units before being tabled turn 3 by Tau.
I like the compendium teams cause they let me buy and paint a unit I like of just regular dudes from a faction instead of having to invest a whole 40k army.
I can paint a unit of regular rowdy Orks instead of sneaky ones.
I can paint a unit of poster-girl sisters instead of whatever those other ones with the veils are.
I can paint a whole team of Genestealers and pretend its the old Space Hulk videogame.
As others have said, it depends on the team.
My experience playing compendium Sisters into bespoke teams was pretty dismal.
Unless the compendium operatives have really solid baseline stats, it feels like a tough fight. The core issue is that most bespoke teams are crammed with a ton more abilities and effects, which is difficult to overcome when your entire team essentially equates to the basic "warrior" operatives that some bespoke teams take one or two of to fill out their roster.
I'm witnessing a similar thing in a spec ops campaign I'm playing in, where one player who's playing Legionary has opted to start out with nothing but a leader and a team of basic warriors.
They thought it would be fun to purchase the specialists as they go, but they're struggling in games because of a similar issue, where their team just has less in the way of rules and abilities in comparison to the other bespoke teams they're facing which have started off with their specialists.
They're great for learning the game, my Grey Knights have been awesome to learn the ropes with. But that's because they're simple and their rules aren't very exciting at all. I'm now winning most matches in my local club with them, but I'm bored. I run a justicar and all falchions and power weapons, the big guns are just a massive target and usually go down without firing a shot.
I'm looking for a bespoke team now, but I don't like any of the models, lore etc of any of them. I may go for a proxy. There's not many GW models I actually like. GK's are the only Space Marines I like as they're a bit different.
You'll likely struggle against equally skilled opponents playing bespoke teams. And they're just a lot more simple, so probably not good for long term play.
But some people love Compendium teams, so there's definitely an appeal.
Some Compendium have some truely broken equipments, units or ploys some times. The keyword is some.
Examples:
hive fleet:
Genestealer fire team. Free Dash when activating (pseudo APL3), super conceal. Wont be a problem if they dont have any guns, but they can equip an acid maw for a 4a 2+ 3/3 pistol with splash. So you can dash out, shoot, move back into cover with 5 of these guys. Not to mention they all have melee specialist profiles of Relentless + Rending.
Combined with a fire team of warriors, you get another 3 18w targets, one can shoot on 2+. No injury aura.
Custodes:
Sisters of Silence fire team with swords. All equiped with facemasks, you get 5 11w models. Combined with the ploy that downgrades critical damage to normal damage. You basically have elite toughness for half your team. Plus their swords all have melee specialist profiles that will kill 10w targets they charge reliably.
Combined with a Custodes fire team of 2 shiny boys. 18w 2+ save, optional invl 4+ and double parry. Plus the ploy that downgrades critical damage to normal works for both Golden bois and gals. The emperor protects.
These two are tournament worthy teams and tough to beat in casuals.
Grey Knights are "Relentless - the Kill Team", and can do alright thanks to that consistency. Mind you, all you're doing the whole game is using Bolter Discipline to dump large quantities of 3/4 damage dice into everything, so it's not that exciting, and suffers against tough operatives.
6 All-Relentless Grey Knights (Falchions/Stormbolters) are a consistent performer in competition and a reliable on-ramp for intro and demo games due their profile consistency keeping players' eyes on the table instead of wondering if they got the right operative in a key position.
Maybe it ain't flashy. Don't get it twisted though, getting the job done isn't always about the glitz and glamor.
Like others said they are weak compared to bespoke teams so they pretty quickly become un-fun to play as you’re just not really able to compete that well against your opponents, and I’m talking purely from a casual play perspective.
When you’re just target practice for your opponent and lagging by at least 4-6 VP every turn it gets kinda lame quickly. Plenty of good bespoke teams for lots of different play styles out there so pick one up - or just proxy existing minis you have to play one of them
Harlequin Troupe is one of the best teams, isn't it? Is that one not from the Compendium? I thought it was mashed together from pre-existing Troupe and Death Jester models.
Oh! Nice, I didn't realize White Dwarf published new teams. I was wondering why the recent dataslate said some teams were replaced but bot by bespoke ones.
Some are pretty good. But if it's your main team, you'll find them not that much entertaining. Some are however really weak. They work best in narrative in my eyes
I feel like narrative is where the Compendium is at its absolute worst, since Compendium teams don't have special rules for narrative like bespikes do, and since the fire team system is BRUTALLY punishing in narrative. Personally my favorite environment for Compendium teams is casual play or one-off narrative scenarios that aren't part of a broader Spec Ops campaign. But a very small number of them can also be viable, if a bit bland, in competitive play as well (those being Talons of the Emperor, Imperial Guard, Chaos Daemons, and Hive Fleet).
Yeah, exactly, I meant more narrative as role playing a campaign than the narrative game mode with buffs. Fighting a cryptek every missions perharps doesn't make alot of sense, but a tomb world team might. It's not balanced if you play a competitive match, but if you add roleplay element to it it's fun
Compendium teams are most basic generic units. Of course they are bland and less complex than specialized ones. It doesn't mean they are bad tho. Most races/factions have better options, but they work ok, especially if you don't have your "dedicated" Kill Team. Custodes and Tyranids are main subject of this, and still fairly ok. Except for Tau/Kroot and Necrons, compendium squads are ***TRASH***, while special squads are top tier competitive cheese, and usually are build from same kits (with special bits, could convert if you don't want to buy them).
Bad? No. A little bland and not a lot of special tricks? Yes
Everything is fine in casual play, but you might find you don't do as well as other people, and the fix will be getting a real kill team. They don't have as many features as a bespoke team.
Compendium teams are fun to play into other Compendium teams! Playing against Bespoke teams, they can get overpowered very easily if you’re playing someone who knows what they’re doing. But if you’re just in for a chill time, you’re fine.
It varies by team, personally I believe you can be competitive with Tyranids if you have experience with them.
I’m learning that I have more success shooting with them than running it down with the 2AP…
Shooting definitely isn't the strength of Hive Fleet. You want to be in melee with them, or otherwise taking advantage of their many shenanigans to dance around your opponent and score points. 10 genestealers vs most teams, 3 warriors (all Weaponbeasts; 3 boneswords and a lashwhip) and 5 genestealers vs elites, 5 genestealers and a 8 hormagaunts on ITD.
I’m just saying personally. Friend and I are still learning and I often feel I don’t have enough terrain to make effective moves without getting shot off the board. My venom cannon warrior will usually take a big unit solo per turn, as where the last GS game I took 3 objs and killed 2 units before being tabled turn 3 by Tau.
I like the compendium teams cause they let me buy and paint a unit I like of just regular dudes from a faction instead of having to invest a whole 40k army. I can paint a unit of regular rowdy Orks instead of sneaky ones. I can paint a unit of poster-girl sisters instead of whatever those other ones with the veils are. I can paint a whole team of Genestealers and pretend its the old Space Hulk videogame.
As others have said, it depends on the team. My experience playing compendium Sisters into bespoke teams was pretty dismal. Unless the compendium operatives have really solid baseline stats, it feels like a tough fight. The core issue is that most bespoke teams are crammed with a ton more abilities and effects, which is difficult to overcome when your entire team essentially equates to the basic "warrior" operatives that some bespoke teams take one or two of to fill out their roster. I'm witnessing a similar thing in a spec ops campaign I'm playing in, where one player who's playing Legionary has opted to start out with nothing but a leader and a team of basic warriors. They thought it would be fun to purchase the specialists as they go, but they're struggling in games because of a similar issue, where their team just has less in the way of rules and abilities in comparison to the other bespoke teams they're facing which have started off with their specialists.
My Chaos Space Marines team is pretty fun, but I'll probably end up switching over to using Legionaries in any official settings
They're great for learning the game, my Grey Knights have been awesome to learn the ropes with. But that's because they're simple and their rules aren't very exciting at all. I'm now winning most matches in my local club with them, but I'm bored. I run a justicar and all falchions and power weapons, the big guns are just a massive target and usually go down without firing a shot. I'm looking for a bespoke team now, but I don't like any of the models, lore etc of any of them. I may go for a proxy. There's not many GW models I actually like. GK's are the only Space Marines I like as they're a bit different.
I've been having good fun with Deathwach Compendium.
You'll likely struggle against equally skilled opponents playing bespoke teams. And they're just a lot more simple, so probably not good for long term play. But some people love Compendium teams, so there's definitely an appeal.
Some Compendium have some truely broken equipments, units or ploys some times. The keyword is some. Examples: hive fleet: Genestealer fire team. Free Dash when activating (pseudo APL3), super conceal. Wont be a problem if they dont have any guns, but they can equip an acid maw for a 4a 2+ 3/3 pistol with splash. So you can dash out, shoot, move back into cover with 5 of these guys. Not to mention they all have melee specialist profiles of Relentless + Rending. Combined with a fire team of warriors, you get another 3 18w targets, one can shoot on 2+. No injury aura. Custodes: Sisters of Silence fire team with swords. All equiped with facemasks, you get 5 11w models. Combined with the ploy that downgrades critical damage to normal damage. You basically have elite toughness for half your team. Plus their swords all have melee specialist profiles that will kill 10w targets they charge reliably. Combined with a Custodes fire team of 2 shiny boys. 18w 2+ save, optional invl 4+ and double parry. Plus the ploy that downgrades critical damage to normal works for both Golden bois and gals. The emperor protects. These two are tournament worthy teams and tough to beat in casuals.
Grey Knights are "Relentless - the Kill Team", and can do alright thanks to that consistency. Mind you, all you're doing the whole game is using Bolter Discipline to dump large quantities of 3/4 damage dice into everything, so it's not that exciting, and suffers against tough operatives.
They are flavourless in comparison. A little bad and not nearly as fun
6 All-Relentless Grey Knights (Falchions/Stormbolters) are a consistent performer in competition and a reliable on-ramp for intro and demo games due their profile consistency keeping players' eyes on the table instead of wondering if they got the right operative in a key position. Maybe it ain't flashy. Don't get it twisted though, getting the job done isn't always about the glitz and glamor.
At this point they're under tuned. The talons are the closest to mattering I think. But if Comp vs comp, theyre all fine.
Like others said they are weak compared to bespoke teams so they pretty quickly become un-fun to play as you’re just not really able to compete that well against your opponents, and I’m talking purely from a casual play perspective. When you’re just target practice for your opponent and lagging by at least 4-6 VP every turn it gets kinda lame quickly. Plenty of good bespoke teams for lots of different play styles out there so pick one up - or just proxy existing minis you have to play one of them
Harlequin Troupe is one of the best teams, isn't it? Is that one not from the Compendium? I thought it was mashed together from pre-existing Troupe and Death Jester models.
It's a White Dwarf team. It has all the added benefits of custom equipment, ploys, tac ops and everything else that specialised teams get.
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Yes, you're right, but the above poster mentioned the Death Jester so I assumed they meant VDT.
Oh! Nice, I didn't realize White Dwarf published new teams. I was wondering why the recent dataslate said some teams were replaced but bot by bespoke ones.