It absolutely is avoidable if you don't arrogantly throw important models into the line of fire.
And excuse me, it's a 1/48, dearest apologies.
Or perhaps 1/47, if you have an Arcane resevoir.
(And I think Lilith can get a hand of 8.)
Semantics make you correct, congratulations!
The precise wording of my statement immediately invalidates my entire point, though vastly supported by a majority of gamers and with subsequent spine betwixt its shoulders, it does fall brutally flat upon its chiseled face for I stated that the card actually does exist within a game, woe be I.
By "Is Really Only" I mean that "The only possible way to Counter Hard to Wound 2 is by, in a 1/47 chance, flipping the Red Joker.
I see no interpretation of that statement as somehow even remotely implying that the overall power level of Hard to Wound is hard countered by the existence of the Red Joker.
But alas.
Except that he's (+1)Fast and can blast models in Melee with a Ca 7 (1)Live For Pain 3 times in a row to heal for a minimum of 6 Wd in a single activation, or, more spiffy, get Lured away but a cutesy-pie Belle.
A total of 5 confirmed.
It's flattering that each time you attempt to debunk my statements all you ever do is resort to semantics and nitpicking.
I believe this is, over the course of my existence on these forums, your fifth time using the same hairsplitting as always to attempt to drive home a point that is unfortunately very, very dull.
But to specifically reply to your final statement.
If I, for only a moment in my brief capacity for intelligence, am able to remember that you fielded a model with the express purpose to maim any of my beloved ladies, or more importantly, Seamus, I will be more than able to ensure, due strictly to foresight, your ability to maim any high priority targets.
Almost all (I'm sure there's one or two non-ressers with Hard to Wound) crews that are afflicted by the disease that is spouted out to the forums, have powerful deniability, via disables (Lure, Paralyze), Regeneration (Self Healing, Decay) or replenishment (Summoning).
This means that ALL models affected by Hard To Wound are replaceable, (Except against crews with (0)Last Rites, but again, abilities like that are a focal point of my complaints.) or have enough tools available to them to negate the ultra-power of the Red Joker.
If you are unable to pick up and move on from a single flip of the Red Joker, you shouldn't be complaining about that mechanic, you should be working on your tactical thought-process because you are currently severely limited in your ability for foresight.
For models without Hard to Wound, and specifically in the sense of Competetive play, the Red Joker acts as a great balancer of sorts.
While I do believe that a player who is able to grasp hold of, and maintain a clear lead throughout most of the game will win regardless, I think that the random popping of a Joker (Red or Black) can sometimes steer the game in a direction besides a stalemate, which actually makes tournaments between equally skilled players a lot more dynamic than it would be if we simply withdrew the mechanic altogether from the game.
Although on the flip side of that, WH40k has the random factor of dice rolls and a LOT of people switched to Malifaux to get away from the randomness of it all, so I can see where their argument comes from.
---------- Post added at 12:17 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:07 AM ----------
The balance to Hard to Wound, for Ressers at least, is that all ressurrectionist models are specific niche, or high enough cost that they're allowed to be multi-purpose (Shikome).
You will NEVER take a Rotten Belle for anything other than a Lure-tank.
You will NEVER pick up a Punk Zombie for their ranged support.
But I'm sincerely doubtful that anyone has ever looked at Hard to Wound and said "Oh, minus flips? I guess the ONLY way to counter that is the Red Joker."
You're right, that's why some 90% of the forum population believe the Red Joker is perfectly fine.
Hence the reason Wyrd doesn't balance models around the Jokers.
They're isolated events, and are treated as such.
Your statement contradicts itself.
You're saying that because its so rare, you don't account for it.
But because you don't account for it, you lose games.
Every decision I make in a game is made with the possibility of a joker in mind, and I have 0 issues with it.
And ask anyone, I play a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot of Resurrectionists.
This is not the mechanics fault, it's your own.