Editing List of 40K Cheese (section)

== 5th Edition ==

===General===
* 5th edition was generally known as "Mechhammer" or "Box Hammer" due to how relatively hard it became to kill vehicles. Compared to 4th edition, the vehicle damage became more forgiving, being consolidated into a single damage chart where vehicles were destroyed on a 5+. Glancing hits subtracted 2 from this modifier, AP - weapons subtracted another -1 from this and AP 1 weapons simply added 1. Hull Points did not exist in 5th, and a vehicle that moved more than 6" in a turn was only hit in 6s on melee (stand still). Thus, most lists gradually became "Parking Lot" builds, where sheer quantity of cheap Rhino and Rhino-equivalents could jam up the board, form armored convoys, or otherwise make your enemy hate your life.
* 5th edition was also known for Musical Wounds. The owning player had to allocate wounds to each model that took a hit, with wounds allocated as evenly as possible: For example, a 5-man Tactical Squad with Combi-Melta Sergeant, 3 Bolter Marines, and a Meltagun Marine takes 9 wounds and needs to make 9 armor saves. You would need to allocate at least 1 hit to the Sergeant, 1 to the Meltagun, and 3 to the Bolters. 3 of the remaining 4 hits could be allocated to the Bolter Marines, and the last one would have to be allocated onto either the Sergeant or the Meltagunner. The problem with this system was that certain "multiwound" units (Most notably: Nob Bikers and Grey Knight Paladins) could be equipped so that each model had a unique loadout. One Grey Knight Paladin would have a Halberd, one would have a Hammer, one would have a Sword, one would have a Psycannon, one would have a Psycannon and Hammer, one would have the Standard, etc. The end result was that versus attacks that couldn't inflict Instant Death on this unit, the unit effectively got its model count's worth of ablative wounds.
* On a tamer yet more comedic note, 5th edition also had the "50% cover rule." If at least half of a unit was considered to be in cover, the entire unit was treated as being in cover. What was viewed as an amusing abstraction could quickly be gamed, either with vehicle squadrons (2 Piranhas, one Disruption Pod) or large units of light infantry. Imagine the rage a Thousand Sons player must have faced versus Guard: A Guard player could get 30 Guardsmen for the cost of 4 Rubric Marines and an Aspiring Sorcerer...and this was before the Sorcerer spent points for a mandatory Psychic Power! By combining squads into a single unit of 30, you could keep 15 models in cover and the other 15 proudly advancing in the open with 4+ saves (or 2+ saves if they use Incoming)...

===Imperial Guard===
Arguably the only army in 5th that got a stratospheric Cruddex buff, the rest getting nerfed into uselessness as [[Robin Cruddace]] hates you:

* This was the first time Guard could field vehicle squads, particularly for Basilisks and Leman Russes allowing players to cover the field in pie plates.
* Master of the Fleet, which subtracted 1 from your opponent's deep strike rolls. Particularly nasty against the above two lists which relied on deep-strike spam to get close enough to shred armies.
* Master of Ordnance, which came with its own pie plate attack.
* [[Creed|CREEEEEEEED!!!!1]]
* Hellhound squads and variants get introduced, especially the bane(wolf) of all MEQs, the banewolf.
* Veterans - particularly melta-vets. They are legend when it comes to vehicle busting.
* Valkyries and Vendettas - fucking hell, where do I even begin? Super fast chimera, identical armour and a shitload of guns; Vendettas take it to the next level with 3 TL Lascannons.
* Hydra flak tank debuts in this list outside of FW and is amazing at taking out bikers and fast skimmers with its super-long range autocannons that bypass Jink saves. Eldar tears flow unstoppably.
* Orders are introduced here as well; they weren't OP per se, but combined well with other buffs to the list for horrifying efficacy.
* Up until the release of the GK codex in 5th, Guard could still take allies with Daemon or Witch Hunters leading to the construction of the infamous Guard leaf-blower list, so named for how fast it removed your opponents models from the board. Mind, when GK came out with their Wardex, this didn't really put too much of a damper on the blower but now they had competition at least.

===[[Space Wolves]]===
The Space Wolf codex became an infamously powerful tournament army due to having ruthless point-efficiency all around. While the Blood Angels got speed and flashy toys, and the Grey Knights would get mass Force Weapons and Psybolt weapons, the Space Wolves were able to look at those armies and shut them down by pure attrition. Notable reasons for the Space Wolf hate include:

*'''Space Wolf Psykers:''' Compared to the other Marine codexes, the Space Wolf Rune Priests caused rage for several reasons. 
**'''Good Blastiness:''' Rune Priests got Living Lightning instead of Smite, a Strength 7, D6+1 shot, infinite range gun. Rune Priests could also buy a Chooser of the Slain, a "counter" placed that served as a +1 BS marker when targeting enemies near it. However, the real fondue was Jaws of the World Wolf. Jaws was a 24" beam, and all non-Jump/Jetbike/vehicle models underneath had to take an Initiative Check or be removed outright. No Invuln, no Feel no Pain, no Eternal Warrior, just death. Monstrous Creatures got +1 to the test, but since many Tyranid Monstrous Creatures were only Initiative 1 anyway, Jaws meant that you had a 66% chance of losing a Carnifex, Tervigon or Tyrannofex in one go! 
**'''Good Denial/Defense:''' Rune Priests also had access to good defense auras, with Storm Caller acting like a psychic Kustom Forcefield and Tempest's Wrath shutting down Bikes and Jumpers in its 24" radius bubble. Compared to regular Marines, they were arguably more reliable at shutting down Psykers; while a standard Psychic Hood required beating your opponent's Psyker's Leadership on an opposed roll, the Rune Staff would simply stop any incoming power within 24" on a 4+. You could include an allied Inquisitor if you so desired, allowing for a chance to double-deny. And remember that Chooser of the Slain? When it was placed down during deployment, no enemy units could Infiltrate near it.
**'''Njal Stormcaller:''' Njal took the strengths of the Rune Priest and amplified them. Although he didn't get the anti-Infiltration effect of the Chooser, he automatically knew every Space Wolf power, could cast two per turn, and his staff could deny any incoming powers on a 3+. However, his real claim to fame was that as the Stormcaller, you would roll a D6 at the start of each turn, add the turn number, and consult a chart to see the effects. Some were innocent yet annoying enough (the enemy suffers -1 BS for a turn), but the real fondue was rolling Chain Lightning. EVERY enemy unit within 18" of Njal would take D6 S8 AP - hits. At Nova 2011, this Chain Lighting went off against a Dark Eldar Venom Spam list with predictably destructive results.
*'''Wolfwolfwolf:''' This is the edition that saw the introduction of [[Canis Wolfborn]], Thunderwolves and Fenrisian Wolves being their own units. The Thunderwolf in particular garnered a lot of hate at the time since it increased its rider's base Strength and Toughness (in 5th, Bikes and Marks of Nurgle were not counted for purposes of checking Instant Death), meaning you now needed S10 to inflict Instant Death, while you could Instant Death T5 models in turn. Combined with super-cheap wolves to act as rapid-moving bullet catchers and you could get into melee.
*'''Long Fangs:''' Long Fangs were the Space Wolf equivalent of Devasatators. However, while Devastators were considered inefficient and fragile, Long Fangs were the peak of efficiency. Sure, they didn't get regular Bolter bullet-catchers, but when deployed well into your deployment zone while the rest of the Space Wolf army midfielded, they weren't a reliable target anyway. Instead, Long Fangs had a single throwaway sergeant and 1-5 heavy weapon guys as needed; Missile Launchers only cost 10 points, making them the default Heavy of choice. But the real kicker was that Long Fangs had Fire Control; this was the ancestor to Split Fire and superior overall. As opposed to 6th and 7th where Split Fire meant "one model in the unit can shoot at a different target unit," you could divide the Wolves to shoot at two targets however you wanted.
*'''Loganwing:''' Loganwing was and arguably the only viable foot marine list in 5th. See, taking Logan Grimnar let you take Wolf Guard as troops. Back in the day, Wolf Guard were a single customizable unit of 3-10 models, individual models being able to switch for Terminator Armor, Jump Pack or Bike; you could intentionally make your squads smaller by having Wolf Guard detach from their squad at deployment in order to lead another non-Wolf Guard unit. However, the real advantage of Wolf Guard in Loganwing lists is it let you take units each of a Cyclone Missile Launcher Terminator and 4 power-armor bulletcatchers. You would run Lone Wolf Terminators as anti-heavy support, Thunderwolves as chasers, and Long Fangs as support; Logan himself usually joined a unit of Lascannon Long Fangs to either grant them Tank Hunters or Relentless for the turn.
*'''Razorwolf:''' Space Wolves could spam Razorbacks more cost-effectively than other Marines. Compared to Tactical Marines, 5 Grey Hunters were only 75 points instead of 90. Space Wolves didn't get Sergeants, but they instead got Wolf Guard. The kicker of course was that there was no restriction that stated that a Wolf Guard squad actually needed any models. Thus, you could buy 6 squads of 5 Grey Hunters, each with Razorback, buy two units each of 3 Wolf Guard and Razorback, attach them all among the six squads, and have two "spare" Razorbacks. Since Long Fangs didn't need to stay in a transport for the most part, you could also buy even more Razorbacks, points permitting.
*'''Wolf Scouts:''' Wolf Scouts by themselves were unassuming. They could Outflank from their opponent's deployment zone and bring a Wolf Guard alongside. Their real danger came from their usage alongside mechanized Wolves and Long Fang support, as they could be used to eliminate or tie up backfield threats. It was common to equip them with a Meltagun and Combi-Melta Wolf Guard for neutralizing backfield Guard artillery.
* An honorable mention goes to the Saga of the Warrior Born, an upgrade only available to Wolf Lords. If you think this bonus gives an extra attack like the Mark of Khorne, oh you're sadly mistaken for the Wolves outbless the God of War. Rather than +1 attack, the way the Saga of the Warrior Born worked was you kept track of how many models the Wolf Lord killed in an Assault Phase, and the Wolf Lord would gain that many bonus attacks in the *next* Assault Phase. There was no theoretical cap to how many extra attacks you get if you were able to keep your Lord in assaults. In practice, the number of bonus attacks would reset if your Wolf Lord missed an Assault Phase.

===[[Blood Angels]]=== 
Cheesy for the [[Matt Ward|exact same reason]] as Grey Knights. Here are just a few things they received:

* Furioso Dreadnoughts in general. Their FA13 made them immune to Krak grenades prevalent on most infantry; coupled with Blood Talons which generated more attacks every time you caused a wound. With S6 and WS6. Fuuuuuuuuck!
* In addition to regular Furiosos, you could also take a [[Librarian Dreadnought|FLYING. LIBRARIAN. DREADNOUGHT.]] Jesus Christ...
* Death Company Dreadnoughts were also outrageous - taking up a fucking ''Troops'' slot, they were Furiosos with a more offensive focus, their WS and FA lowered by a point in exchange for fleet, more attacks and furious charge and rage.
* Blood Angels Dreadnoughts could also take a Magna Grapple on top of their arm weapons, an S8 AP2 assault 1 weapon with a 24" range that, should it pen a vehicle or wound a monstrous creature, could then drag it closer to the dreadnought.
* Mephiston - basically a captain with the stats of a monstrous creature and with psychic powers. He could also fly, and reduce his opponent's WS/I to 1.
* The Stormraven gunship debuted in this list - a flying landraider with weaker armour but immune to melta weapons that could transport a squad AND a dreadnought. Oh, and it's an assault vehicle ffs. Given how powerful in CC Blood Angels infantry is as well as just how deadly their dreadnoughts are, getting them where they needed to be in a fast skimmer that was immune to melta weapons AND was heavily armed was the cherry on top of this particular cheesecake.
* In case that wasn't enough, Blood Angels also had the unique ability to deep strike Land Raiders. This was situational but when pulled off, it was a hard thing to get around.

===[[Grey Knights]]=== 
Seriously, there's a shitload to explain here for the noobs:

* First and foremost, Psycannons - S7 AP4 rending on models that could otherwise always shoot them.
* Psybolt ammunition, leading to the creation of the much feared Psyfleman Dreadnought, pumping out 4 S8 AP4 twin-linked shots a turn.
* Kaldor Draigo outcreeding Creed and just generally being a monster (unless and until he fought Abaddon).
* EVERYTHING ARMED WITH A FUCKING FORCE WEAPON SERIOUSLY WTF - in particular, Force Halberds. Auto-take, granting all the bonuses of a nemesis force weapon and +2 Initiative, meaning your silver armoured Mary Sues struck before most Eldar units.
* Librarians with a flamer template that removed models from play - not just instant death, they took an initiative test or were removed from play doling out auto-pens to vehicles.
* The only list that could take Assassins or Inquisitors, which both got buffed into the fucking sky.
* The goddamn Nemesis Dreadknight debuted here - absolutely broken if not expensive (MC w/ 2+ save, psychic powers).
* Oh hey, they ''also'' got stormravens - on top of being immune to melta weapons and transporting an OP squad plus an OP dreadnought, the GK stormraven could also take psybolt ammo for its heavy bolters, assault cannons, etc.
* They were more point efficient then normal marines. A tactical squad cost 90 points, giving you 4 bolters boys and a sergeant. A GK strike squad cost 100 points, for 5 guys with force weapons, storm bolters, and a psychic power. For 10 points, they could move, unload 10 bolter rounds at full range, then assault with weapons that ignored armour and could inflict instant death or strike at S5. 

People hated the Grey Knights - even longtime GK players hated them. A list that was built to destroy daemon armies got buffed into a list with units that were just flat-out better than anyone else could field. And this was during a time when you didn't even need a special list to destroy daemon armies because they were so bad - seriously, it wasn't uncommon for GK players to fight demons without suffering so much as a wound! In protest, some GK players took to making lists that used none of the staples mentioned above in order to give themselves a challenge.

===Honourable Mention: Chaos Daemons===
Daemons were not a very broken army in 5th Edition, but they had one strategy that really was agony to play against; FateCrusher. FateCrusher revolved building an army around Kairos Fateweaver. Fateweaver was a Lord of Change whose main draw was that ''any Daemon Unit'' within 6 inches of him could '''re-roll all failed saves - including cover.''' 

Chaos Daemons at the time did not encourage mono-god armies as it did in 6th, 7th and 8th. Daemons could freely ally with each other (but couldn't join units). So Fateweaver's abilities affected tough, non-Tzeentch units like Plaguebearers (who at the time of 5th ed, still had a 4+++ FNP) and Bloodcrushers (which had a 3+ armour save). 

The tactic was simple; surround Fateweaver with Bloodcrushers and Plaguebearers, and your enemy would weep. Not only were your Plague Bearers now getting ''3 saves'' (since all Daemons were Immune to Instant Death, Plaguebearers almost always got their FNP), but your Bloodcrushers could re-roll their 3+ armour save. The weakness of the strategy came from the fact that Fateweaver himself had to take a leadership check every time he suffered a wound; if he failed, he would be removed from play. Considering he had a re-rollable 3++, though, this wasn't too likely to happen.

With the arrival of Codex: Daemons 6th edition, this strategy ceased to exist.

===Honourable Mention: Chaos Space Marines===
Only one thing was truly busted in the otherwise unremarkable 5th Edition CSM codex (that was really released in very late 4th edition): The Daemon Prince of Slaanesh with Wings and Lash of Submission.  See, Lash of Submission was a psychic power that let you move an enemy unit.  It didn't have a long range, which is one of the reasons you took wings, and it didn't move them very far, but this power could pull scout units out of cover or pull critical HQ into a chargeable position.  This combination would reliably get your Daemon Prince into close combat on your first turn and, with the ability to consolidate into combat, could keep you in combat and safe from shooting the entire game. Another popular stategy was taking 9 obliterators and 2 lash princes; this allowed players to lash 2 units into close quarters with a 3rd and then fire 9 plasma cannons (small blast template) into the massed bunched models.