20 mp soldiers means nothing if they still can't trade at all with more expensive units, which would still be the case if their dps was only made more consistent as opposed to buffed. Basically, what I'm saying is that if they lose 3 guys and kill 1-2 volks models (which happens in the best of scenarios) they still lose out on the mp battle, and same goes for if they kill 1-2 grenadiers but lose 4-5 men (also usually an occurrence).
On topic: penals are op but there's no alternative and there's probably no more patches anyway.
"Any cons buff.."