Rules nostalgia

[apologist]

Adeptus Titanicus and Warhammer: The Old World got me thinking. Both are games that are essentially a pick-and-mix of the best bits of previous editions of the game, blended with some new elements.

 

I wondered what your take on something similar for Warhammer 40,000 would be. After all, however much we love a particular edition, there's often something that another one does better.

 

Assuming any necessary gaps are neatly blended over to make things work functionally, which edition had the best rules for:

• Army building
• Missions
• Vehicles
• Close combat
• Line of sight
• Terrain
• Characters
• Large games
• Small games
• [Insert facet of the game here]?

 

And on a related note, do you prefer rules per individual unit, or universal special rules? 

 

Entirely subjective of course, so feel free to be as discursive as possible.

Edited August 5, 2024 by apologist

[Harrowmaster]

Here's my take on this: 

• The Heresy Force Org Chart allows for more scope than the old 40k one (1-3 HQ and 0-4 Elites, everything else is the same). 
• There have been a good spread of missions from 4th-7th, I don't have a particular favourite. 
• 4th/5th ed vehicle rules (HPs make them too fragile compared to monsters). 
• 6th ed combat (no musical wounds, overwatch is a thing, no backdoor assaults). 
• I've always been a fan of the 5th ed true line of sight rules, as long as you have a reasonable gaming group and no WAAC players modelling for advantage. 
• 4th/5th ed terrain rules for the various types. 
• 6th/7th ed for characters (challenges are really cool). 
• 6th edition onwards for large games. 
• 4th edition/5th edition for small games (everything costs more, missions are designed for smaller armies). 
• I miss blast templates, I get not everyone likes them as they were really awkward at times but I enjoyed them and they made the game feel so much better than the current blast rule.

I much prefer universal special rules because it's easier to reference and having multiple bespoke versions of stubborn or rage seems unnecessary. 

[Evil Eye]

I'm definitely a fan of the 3rd-to-7th basic rules structure; my personal favourite incarnation of the game as a whole is 4th*, as it's essentially 3rd with the trial rules from Chapter Approved added to the core ruleset and some other slight refinements made and the Codex and supplement selection available was superb. Also on the whole backporting the better parts of later editions is not too difficult at all.

 

That said, there are some elements of later editions that I'd steal if as and when I eventually get round to making more progress on that homebrew ruleset I've been dreaming up (being a dad gets in the way of that a bit). Notably:

>5th edition Rending rules as 3rd and 4th's Rending was absolutely bonkers.

>5th edition blast/scatter rules- that is, blast markers never miss altogether, and the firer's BS is deducted from the scatter roll. I'm torn on this as it does make blast weapons pretty powerful but it also seems more simulationist/immersive IMO, given half the point of area-of-effect weapons is not worrying about precise aim.

>6th edition styled access to universal psychic powers that any faction can use. It'd definitely need to be done better than 6th did it, as some powers became auto-includes, especially for otherwise crippled factions like Tyranids, but the idea of basic powers that would presumably manifest differently from faction to faction is cool. I'd say to make it fair they should be on the whole slightly weaker than Codex-specific powers so that they still have utility and a reason to exist but don't render Codex powers irrelevant.

>TLOS in general (I forget if 4th used it or not, will have to consult my 4E rulebook), both for the improved immersion factor and also to avoid the dreaded L-shaped ruins on conspicuous rectangular bases that have taken over tables everywhere. I know modelling for advantage is a concern, but I also feel the solution to the dreaded Munchkin is just to tell him to get lost, possibly punctuated with the almighty Dreadsock of Justice (or if he's being REALLY dickish, the 4E-metal-Hive-Tyrant-in-a-sock of Castigation. OUCH!)

 

As a slight tangent I've been collecting supplementary materials compatible with 4E, notably Chapter Approved 2004 and Codex: Eye of Terror. Really fantastic books and well worth a read whether you actually intend to play 4E or if you wanna take inspiration from them for your own games.

 

 

 

 

*With the caveat that certain codices, notably the Chaos book, should be ignored entirely in favour of their predecessors, though that isn't too much of an issue as the not so good ones came out very late in the edition, and the preceding books worked absolutely fine in 4th- the legendary 3.5E Chaos book is basically made for 4th anyway.