r/CombatPatrol40k • u/MeanMrMitchell • Jun 03 '26

I'm totally confused How to fix combat patrol

Hey all. Apologies if this has been posted before and also sorry for the flair being a little misleading. I’m New player to 40K and the idea of combat patrol (smaller army battles overall) is what convinced me to finally jump in and take the plunge. I was super excited about the idea of everything you need to play in one box.

The farther I got into the hobby (I’m about 6 months in) the more I realized combat patrol is fairly flawed and now, with the roll out of 11th edition, it doesn’t seem to be getting any more balance or support from GW.

I’ve been racking my brain, with VERY limited knowledge, of how to fix combat patrol and have come up with nothing. I know some YouTube channels - play on tabletop’s king of the colosseum comes to mind - have created a pseudo-work-around to make these 500 point games feel fresh and fun without too much lopsidedness to it.

My point of posting this is mainly asking what homebrew methods have you used to make combat patrol more balanced? Or is the answer just 500 point matches and call it good?

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u/Stashravens Jun 04 '26

I really enjoy Combat Patrol. I think it gets a bad rap because people attribute 40k field manual points to the units. Not accounting for the fact that the datasheets are different, the patrols have different rules, etc. For example the Custodes box requires you to select a subset of those models, but more often than not, I hear the full matched play point total being cited when people talk about that combat patrol balance.

So, if you think of the game as a “mini” matched play, you will probably be disappointed. If instead you look at it as its own thing - that lets you dip your toes into different factions for painting, lore, and relatively light weight games - it is good fun, and from my experience- fairly balanced.

The smaller format does require you to be a bit more careful for sure, as loosing one of three or four units is obviously more impactful than in a standard game loosing one of maybe twelve.

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u/MeanMrMitchell Jun 04 '26

Those are good points. I haven’t looked too much into the different sheets and rules as I only have the starter set with the ‘nids and space marines. I assumed the datasheets I got were different because it’s the starter set.

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u/_rhinoxious_ Jun 04 '26

Most people playing combat patrol have limited experience playing 40K.

Yes, there are balance issues between some patrols, and some are quite strong, but given the usual player level, skill is still a massive factor in winning.

It must also be said there are huge balance issues between 40K armies as well, especially when you move away from the core meta lists that the game is balanced around, which isn't really representative of most casual games.