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The Times They Are A-Changin'

Friday, June 29, 2012


Well, I'm almost finished with my first read through the 6th edition 40k rulebook! It's a lot to process and too early to say anything definitively, but I can at least offer some initial thoughts. First and foremost (not having played with the new ruleset) I do think the game will be fun. This of course depends on your definition of "fun" within the context of 40k -- what you enjoyed about 5th will most likely not be what you enjoy about 6th (or may not even exist in the new edition). Personally, I'm ok with random situations to an extent, this is a game played with dice after all. But there are some new restrictions I'm not quite following...

Updated FAQ's could fix some of these, but until then here's a few things that are giving me the most heart burn:

1) No charges allowed on the same turn you arrive from reserve. We're all used to not being able to assault after Deep Striking, that's not what I'm talking about. Disallowing assault after arriving via regular reserve or Outflank, that's what I mean. So no more outflanking biker command squad coming in to smash face... No wyches, beasts, etc. coming in from a Webway Portal and assaulting...
That just doesn't seem right, now does it?!

2) Also affecting both my outflanking bike army and mostly reserved WWP dark eldar, now only 50% of your army can be held in reserve. WTF!? Sure, I can make some changes to these lists and adapt, but I guess the big question is why? I must be missing something because I just can't find a reason or understand the rationale behind this change.

3) I'm all for close combat weapons having an AP value, I think it makes sense. But I think they dropped the ball with Pistol weapons; Pistols can be used as weapons in close combat, but for some strange reason you don't use the AP and S of the pistol, you use some generic (terri-bad) stat line. Missed opportunity here to keep with the 'realism' that is apparent in other rules updates.

4) Infiltrate. Closely tied with #1, what's the point? Start the game close enough to get shot up, even during Night Fight, but aren't allowed to do anything about it? No thanks. Scout bikes, I may not ever finish you now. Sorry Mandrakes, I really wanted to use you :(

While I was shocked at some (or all) of the above, it's not all doom and gloom. Monstrous Creatures are looking to be awesome in 6th, so my 2 Talos are definitely happy. Some other improvements are Jump models as well as DE Reavers... better cover save than marine bikes, insane mobility (4ft), and impact hits at I10 when they assualt, very nice! Beasts are still pretty solid even if they can't assault out of portals for now.

I think there are some key changes that will make the game more tactical with more emphasis put on making solid decisions and coordinating attacks while still injecting pleanty of randomness throughout in a way that removes the 5th edition auto-win training wheels builds. The change isn't all bad, there are definitely some good & not-so-good updates that may end up changing again once we get army specific FAQ's. I also can't really say much till I've had more time absorbing the rules and taking them for a spin on the table. Despite the negatives listed above, I still remain optimistic that the game will be fun overall for most players and that armies will be more balanced in general over what we saw in 5th. That's all I have for now. Enjoy going through it. If you don't have it yet, it releases everywhere in 5 minutes ;)

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