Again, you've said you enjoy 6th edition but then you play a shooting list that doesn't want to assault.
No, I said I
primarily play a shooting force. As in the list I take out most often is my Ravenwing. I also play my Deathwing, which due to being vastly outnumbered, often find sanctuary in assault. What's a more effective way to kill the enemy? 10 shots from storm bolters or 15 power fist attacks?
The primary reason why I play my Ravenwing over my Deathwing is not because my Ravenwing are excellent at shooting, but because they have the speed to be where ever I want them to be on the battlefield at a moments notice. Hence why I am building up a Saim-Hann list. Nothing is faster.
And there are other aspects of 6th that needs to be changed, not least game set up and mysterious objectives. It's such a chore setting up a game, stopping and rolling in tables, rolling on more tables, putting some models down, rolling on another table, recording the results...
Thinking constructively, another way to promote fair and balanced lists building is tweaking the rulesfor oobjectives. Domination based, getting a VP for every turn you spend on an objective. Though I'm sure Eldar and Tau players will reject the idea...
I'll be honest, more often than not we don't use Mysterious Objectives because we just forget. The only time I will make a point in remembering is in a tournament when that roll can drastically change a game.
As for your idea of a Domination scenario, that is all well and good for an army like Guard that can afford to sit on an objective for 5 turns, but what about elite armies? What about armies that have 28 models at 1850 and rely on those end of the game grabs with 2 models left alive for victory? They come across that scenario and there is no point in playing. Reach across the table, shake their hand, and say GG because they already know they have lost.
I don't play just any old combination of units, but by the same token I shouldn't be forced to take specific lists and combinations just to stand a chance of competing.
No one is forcing you to take specific lists to compete. Is it easier to win if you do so? Absolutely. But if you don't enjoy those lists then don't play them. Some of the best games I have had are ones were I get absolutely slaughtered, but I enjoy it because of the heroic last stand my guys put up. Often when running my Deathwing, we get into the third turn and I am telling my opponent I will not concede, they have to kill me to the last man. And that last man puts up one hell of a fight!
But as Killing Time has said, it has always been the case of there being some lists that are just easier to win with and a lot of WAAC players will take. If you only go to tournaments, you will see those a lot more than if you played with a regular gaming group due to the fact that people going to tournaments want to win at all costs. Hence the acronym.
Looking at previous editions it is really easy to see.
3rd edition the biggest and baddest lists were Blood Angels for being able to pull off a first turn charge, as well as Chaos Space Marines for having disgustingly good Daemon Princes.
4th edition was the era of Assault Cannon spam in marines and Tyranid Godzilla lists.
5th edition belonged to Grey Knights Purifier spam and Orks Green Tide.
6th edition currently belongs to Tau and Eldar.
Does that mean in any of those editions, those lists were unbeatable? No, just you have to work harder for it.
Nothing has changed in 6th ed. Tau and Eldar are currently at the top of the field, but they still can be beaten, you just have to find a way for it to work. For me, it is trying to spice things up by including a pair of Imperial Knights in my list. Do I think they are super effective? beslubber no. Do I think they will give me a better chance against the local Eldar and Tau players? Probably, but taking them seriously hinders the rest of my army.
I think a game that is inherently imbalanced is broken. I don't just accept it as "oh well that's 40K".
Perfection is hard/impossible to achieve but an attempt can be made.
A perfectly balanced game is impossible, but the game isn't so unbalanced right now that it is broken. Yes, it leans towards shooting, but when I say leans, I mean the scale is at 55/45. That isn't broken.
I've always been the "wrong side of the meta" but no edition have I been steam rollered so comphrensively as this edition. I still come in high in tournaments but just don't stand a chance against some opponents.
Having said that I've added 3 Drop Pod units and ditched my transports which is more competitive. Sadly Rhinos haven't a place in the game anymore if you want to be competitive in the slightest. That's broken. It's a fundamental flaw in the rules that Chaos, Loyalist and the like can't play with one of their iconic methods of play and can't assault anymore.
So it is a fundamental flaw in the rules that Loyalists can't play with one of their iconic methods, and instead have to rely on their other iconic method of play? Rhinos do have a place in the game on a competitive scale, but how they are used has changed and you have to adapt with that. They cannot be used any more to race forward, jump out and assault. Very few transports are still able to do that.
Frankly, unless you were playing Assault Marines or Terminators, Marines were never that great in Assault anyways. It isn't the game rules that are "flawed" in the way you view them, it is the codex the army is bought from. It is true that Chaos used to be heavily geared towards assault, and they still have some great assault units. But with the recent codex, if I am not mistaken their basic marine lost the Bolter/Pistol/CCW combination. So what made them really good at combat has been tossed aside.
If you want to play in assault, play an army that is geared for assault. Don't try and fit an army that is moderate at assault but good at shooting into the assault role.
Unless you really think Wave Serpent spam and Tau etc are genuinely fair?
I actually do believe that the changes with the Tau codex have made their army more fair. Fair for them. Unless Tau players ran nothing but suits before, they would get rolled. Even the best players around my area, guys I have mentioned in the past are some of the best in North America, put their Tau on the shelf in the previous edition because they weren't able to compete with the list and only took them out for a fun game to have with a rare force.
The changes to the Tau, primarily the defensive fire they get, actually gives them a chance. In the previous codex, they got maybe two turns of shooting before every single enemy force would charge their lines and they would be done within two turns because Tau are terrible in combat. Now, they can get three or four turns of shooting because having that supporting fire is actually making people reconsider charging. It is forcing people to adapt their well worn tactics into something that gives the Tau a fighting chance.
The only issue I have with Wave Serpent Spam is that damned shield. They made that a bit too powerful. Taking everything else into consideration though, the Wave Serpent is no less difficult to kill than it was before their updated codex. Actually they are easier to kill now because high strength weapons aren't brought down to St8 like they used to be.
As for the change in the objectives I suggested; it's a perfect way of balancing 40K. People will amend their lists to take objectives and try and hold them, rather than hide at the back of the table and shoot your opponent to death until last turn. Yawn.
It isn't going to force people to change their tactics and hold objectives, it is going to encourage more gun line lists. Say you run the scenario with 3 5 objectives. The person that wins the roll off to place first will put three objectives in his deployment zone and camp his gunline on them, racking up points while the other person has to run into his guns to dislodge him while holding his two.
If you put in a rule that they can't be within the deployment zone, then the three are placed just outside of it and first turn they are probably being held anyways.
But do me a favour and play one game with that idea for objectives. But don't play your regular force, play a Deathwing list against Imperial Guard. Tell me if that is perfectly balanced. I dare you.