Finally read through 6th...

...and still want to see a game before I decide to play.

Sure there is a ton of stuff here, but only like 100 pages of rules. The rest is pretty, but useless if you have played any edition of 40K in the past. A thinned down book with just core rules would be nice and might come with a starter set in the future, but until then we are stuck with a giant book and barley a quarter of it is rules.

Now I know everyone else has chimed in and there have been an uncountable number of posts about the new rules. Here goes my hat into that ring. I have not played, but having played from 3rd-5th the main game hasn't changed, only the minor stuff is different.

I’m not going to get too deep into the rules, since it has been done by so many others. This is more of my read through impression on some of the new stuff.

ALL HAIL THE 6!

There is a whole lot of emphasis and positivity on rolling a 6. I myself think that is madness. Rolling a 6 is like airline crashes; you only remember it when it happens and forget the rest. There is Overwatch, Snap Shot and Deny the Witch; all are done on with a 6+. Who is excited about this? Sure, it gives players something to do when it is not their turn, but it really is useless. If you have that one game when you roll lights out on an Overwatch or get lucky on that Deny the Witch roll, then kudos to you good sir. I’ll put zero stock in it and probably forget to ever do it anyway.

“Now, get this! We ain't partners. We ain't brothers. And we ain't friends.”

….or are we? Allies were a giant bug-a-boo prior to release. Now they are not such a big deal and I think pretty pointless too. Sure there are some great modeling opportunities out there for allies, but the majority will only take them to get a leg up on the completion or for that soooper combo. I foresee a plethora of Eldar and Space Wolf allies in the first few months of this game. Why? Well they have the biggest anti-psyker abilities so far. The rest of the allies chart (which is the worst thing to decipher ever) is pretty meh. If you aren’t battle brothers then there really is no point. Still I look for this option to bring some cool models out of the woodwork.

PSYKERS ARE ALL THE RAGE

Well I guess since they can get fancy new abilities and are almost impossible to neutralize these guys are awesome now. This is another meh for me. Sure they get the chance to roll for new powers and only 6’s can stop their offensive capability, but I still don’t care. If I want guys throwing magical spells around I’ll go play Warhammer Fantasy. I’ve gone this long without using psykers; this edition will be no different.

THE TWIN F’s

Flyers and Fortifications are the other big things that are in the game now. I don’t have a real problem with either of these things. If you want airplanes then take them. If you want a portable building then go nuts! I think the biggest problem is the lack of anti-flyer stuff out there right now and thus people are nutz for flying stuff. The same for fortifications, there are three choices in the book and only one that is popular, the defense line (since it can be used to shoot fliers). In time these two things will change to having more of each and then it might not be such a big deal.

AP3



I can't stop 2+ armor now.

The majority of power weapons are this now and so what? This is what you’ll need to cut through the majority of the armies in the game, power armored schmoes. Yes, I know 2+ armor now gets a save vs. power weapons, but who cares? Since weight of fire/attacks took this armor type out before, it will again. If your opponent is bringing that many Terminators to the field shoot them, bog them down or ignore them until they deserve attention. The fact they can get a save now isn’t that terrible. Didn’t they get a save from power weapons before, since pretty much everyone took Storm Shields? See, most terminators were getting saves against power weapons before. So the big deal now is what?

HULL POINTS & VEHCLES

My fully mech army is useless.

This is another dislike of many people as it makes vehicles more fragile. I say poo to that. If an opponent fields 5+ Rhino chaises I know not one of my armies can stop them all of them in one or even two turns. Yes there is anecdotal evidence of it happening, but stripping 3 hull points off a vehicle isn’t that difficult, but off multiples and quickly? I don’t see it. I like the idea of no armor chart rolls until you penetrate the armor. Until the Hull Points are gone or you roll on the chart, vehicles are not hindered. Light armor will still go down to high strength weapons as they usually do. 6th is not the end of vehicles and mech, it is…gasp….a change to it. Adapt to this new rule somehow or just run a full foot list. These are your options people.

CHALLENGES

Not so cinematic now is it?

I haven’t seen these yet, but I dislike them already. I have only ever taken one world beater HQ, a Bloodthrister. I don’t like to drop a lot of points on a HQ, since I would rather load up on scoring units and other toys. I try and take a guy to help cut-up nameless schmoes or just a cheap-o nameless throw away. I doubt I’ll change this to start taking some face beater just to deal with the challenge aspect of combat. This is a Fantasy cross-over I can do without. An attempt to make a tabletop game a cinematic movie is cool, but challenges aren't the way to get it done.

I do find it strange that to refuse a challenge in this game is cowardly and your HQ is a puss for doing it. However, having some red shirt take a bullet or jump in front of a weapon is noble and fine. It just seems a bit stupid.

THE NEW GOLDEN RULES?

Great Odin’s ravens! There are a boatload of Special Rules, or last edition Universal Special Rules. These things cover simple stuff like Blasts and Feel No Pain, to new rules like Salvo and It Will Not Die. There are a lot of rules here that are not in existence yet. The only thing I wonder about is how the strange fancy new rules will come into play.  That and will the last few 5^th edition miss out on units having some of these cool new rules? Who knows?

TRAITS or I’M SPECIAL TOO!

Is this an attempt to make HQ’s something more special than they already are? I’m not a huge fan of this little gem. It seems your HQ must roll on a list to gain some ability to help him, the army or potentially hamper the enemy. It seems most of these are situational at best. They are also random so I don’t really care for that either. Sadly it is a must and not a may rule. I can see rolling up an Reserve re-roll ability for an army I don’t reserve, get to roll an extra run dice, or maybe Feel No Pain with my Necron Overlord and his unit. I don’t care for this and even more so that is random and forced upon me.

Now maybe after seeing this stuff in action I'll have my mind changed. These are just the early thoughts on the big stuff people were going crazy over. There is a lot of stuff I do like in this ruleset and some dislikes too. I'll get to that after a bit more reading.