Ok so i now have a copy of the 40k rulebook (thankyou ebay seller for not knowing the value of your item ;-P) its a mini rulebook with most of the errata in it. Ok the fluff is missing, who care i know the fluff , unless they have decided they are going to rewrite history again but i think the Horus Heresy books will see this stupidity off.
I have read rules, page by page making notes. then read again looking at my notes and making adjustments, I then would like to say i asked Ash to go through them, he is very anti 40k atm.to gain his thoughts on bits i was wanting to confirm understanding. it went as follows ...................................................
Me - "I doing a blog about new rule book"
Ash - "so u have new rule book"
Me - "yes"
Ash - frowns / screws face up
Also I have got quite a few games under my belt. So here is my take on 40k and the changes to its rules, how it will effect MY gaming in reference to how i play etc. This will be in 3 parts, this being the first, to follow will be a look at my Chaos Space Marines of the sonic weapon variety, then my Imperial Guard tank list.
THE RULEBOOK AS AN ENTITY
As i said in my first look at the rules etc, its a tidy book as in its laid out very well, no really, honest. if you are looking at a rules & references a 2nd rule, it says (2nd rule, page 32) for ease of finding, OMG finally GW is organised.
MOVEMENT
* Models with HVY WPNS can move & shoot at reduced effectiveness, makes sense, more about that later.
SHOOTING
* Overwatch is back, YEY, at a reduced rate see below.
* Snapshots - in certain senarios you fire less effectively, you hit on 6s
* Wound allocation - on paper it looks broken but i will explain this below.
in old 40k if i hit you 10 times u shared the hits out equally amongst your squad, and then rolled each group of saves, obviously u got rid of "clappers" first (spare models in units that are there just to soak up fire). In new 40k, the nearest model is hit, Now this creates 2 casualty senarios,
i) a sqd with all the armour save the same, if i hit you 10 times , u roll yr saves first, so u save 4 models, leaving 6 dead, new way is the 6 nearest models are removed, or if multi-wounds you remove models taking as many wounds needed on one model till its dead, then move to next model,easy and brilliant.
ii) a sqd with multiple save or characters, this is the worrying thing for me, time will tell, you roll one wound at a time the front model tries to save it, u keep doing this till the front model has failed enough saves to lose all its wounds, sounds simple, but look at this, a character at front of unit, has a 2+ inv save mayb "eternal warrior" or "feel no pain", i hit you 10 times, said character with 4 wounds will suck up all of those hits and leave entire unit unharmed ??!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?, ok your character may lose 1 or 2 wounds, but hello!! SPACE MARINES DONT FIGHT WARS IN CONGA LINES, it just dont happen, i feel it should be case as soon as character / front model. take its first wound it moves on to the 2nd nearest model. now maybe this rule on paper this looks bad, maybe on tabletop its ok. i guess u just flank these conga lines?
*** This will only be a problem if you are low on units towards end of game, or yr opponent takes multiple HQ choices because of 2 forces organisation lists, but I guess more conga lines means smaller army, means, easier to kill, for now I haven't had a problem with this like I thought I would. But as yet played no full on CHEESE OR BEARDY players yet.
COMBAT
I am unsure still of random charge distance, atm, but combat works well, including over watch, hitting on 6s as per snapshots. I like new initiative order, and moving in. The new way combat wpns, well power wpns are classified, as in different types of perks for sword, axe etc.
So all in I am liking my venture into 40k again, Ash has also made rumours about Tau, soooooo, let's see what happens I guess.
