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Just idle curiosity. What was the time gap between 4th and 5th editioon--five years? So when can we expect 6th edition--2012/13?

About a year before the Dark Eldar codex....

When GW gets their gak together, and stop only supporting fing smurfs

Yes, because supporting the product that brings in more than all others combined is such a stupid idea.

To be honest, I dunno. 3rd-4th was something like 8 years, 4th-5th felt around 4 (might have been longer). And we have a new guy helming the company.

Not really heard much bad stuff about 5th Edition to be honest, so perhaps it will have a longer shelf life, with the time and resources normally assigned to new editions piled into Codex redos.

5th edition has been the first one that I've felt really comfortable with across the board, so I'd hope they stick with it long enough to say, bring every codex up to speed, rather than stick to the 5 year-ish cycle they've been following.

It would be great if they brought everytihng up to 5th and then left it for a few years, then released everything for 6th in one go, so there would be no codex lag and you would not buy, for example, the "latest" IG codex only to have it replaced a few months later, or buy a DE codex only to have hand it down through the generations until the year 3,000 and the next one is released...

Never going to happen Silver.

It sounds a nice idea, but how do you drive sales for every 5 year period if you release everything all at once.

Can't get to 6th edition fast enough...

Seeing as how there are few glaring issues with 5e (unlike, say, 4e with its deathtrap transports), I suspect it will stick around. "Lumbering Behemoth" in the IG codex tells me that individual codices will handle what is my biggest complaint with 5e rules -- the neutering of defensive weapons on vehicles.

Beyond that, Kill Points get the most grief, and if my gaming group is any indication, a mid-edition mission-heavy supplement would sell pretty universally and take care of the big issues with 5e.

Of course, the above is assuming that the release is driven by actual issues with the edition as opposed to sales. I suspect one way or the other we'll see a new Space Marines codex in 4-5 years, whether or not it immediately follows a new edition of 40k.

They managed to do OK with planet stike and Apoc. The fundamental rules and codexes did not need to be changed to introduce a raft of new models and some new books etc.

Even the introduction of new units etc should not cause the entire ruleset to need rewriting.

Apoc datasheets tell us everything we need to know about the new units and formations that have been released, so why not just release new models etc in the same way?

Sales flagging? Release a new campaign with some special unit or other. It has worked before, and I am sure it will work again.

I just really hate the fact that as soon as you have one army or other up to date, you find that it is no longer viable because x army just got a new codex (or your own army has just had its codex changed). A stable rule set means that armies are on more stable footings, making any contests more about skill than exploiting a seeming loophole in your armies new rules that no one has figured out how to counter yet.

skyth wrote:Can't get to 6th edition fast enough...

I completely agree, when the day comes when KP, DOW, WHFB assault rules and the 3 (KP and OBJ) mission system are gone I will be a happy man.

40k3 lasted 6 years, but they had TVR/TAR. If you count the unofficially official Chapter Approved as 40k3.5, then it's like 4 years of 40k3 then 2 years of trial rules.

40k4 came out to clean up the TVR / TAR mess, and lasted 4 years.

40k5 came out as a further cleanup, and should go 4 years or so.

40k6 will be nice, because one imagines that KP will finally go away, with GW add minor objectives to replace KP / VP. Then 40k can be a pure objectives game like it should be.

The only things in 5th that I truley despise is the KP system, only troops as scoring, and TLOS (as it actaulyl slows the game anstead of speeds it up).

I wish they would go back to the old VP system, where objectives are worth VPs, in addtion to the VPs for killing units. This let armies that were good at killig things to make objectives a secondary goal, while letting mobile armies still focus on objective grabs.

Though there's a lot I don't like about 5th I have no faith that 6th would be a better game as It's unlikely to be a hard enough reboot.

Rogue Trader (1987-93)
Second Edition (1993-98)
Third Edition (1998-04)
Fourth Edition (2004-08)
Fifth Edition (2008- ???)

Bookwrack wrote:5th edition has been the first one that I've felt really comfortable with across the board, so I'd hope they stick with it long enough to say, bring every codex up to speed, rather than stick to the 5 year-ish cycle they've been following.

I hope they update every codex in those five years. Who cares about sixth edition; give me a codex update!!

Looks like a 4-5 year product cycle. Expect 6th edition Codex Space Marines sometime in 2012

Personally I find that I'm enjoying 5th ed, and my enjoyment will probably double once all the armies have come up to par and have been updated properly. So I'm hoping 6th ed is 8-10 years at the least. I'm finding 5th ed is simple enough that it doesn't really need much done. In fact, unless 6th Ed creates some absolutely insanely cool new changes to the game, I'll probably continue using 5th. The only reason 6th has any appeal to me at the moment is just to see where the Fluff goes as the Golden Throne creeps ever closer to failing and the Tyranids and the 13th Crusade push further into the Imperium.

5th edition only needs a few things changed specifically Killpoints and a few changes to complex units etc..


The rules are fine; what they need to do is update all races then produce sixth with a back page of rules that invalidates all codexes er waiiiit a second....

I agree they need to update all the codices THEN AND ONLY THEN can they start to consider 6 ed. rules. I just started last year and see that KP need to be gotten rid of. When i think of a battle seizing and holding objectives seem to be the most important focus on a battlefield. One last thing what the feth is up with elite choices not able to seize objectives?

After waiting for 5th Ed to rescue us from 4th Ed, and instead ending up with True LOS that isn't, vehicles that act as bunkers, a legion of 1 Power Build Codices and mother-fething Kill Points, I have to say that 6th ed can go jump for all I care.

They won't fix anything important.
They'll change rules that don't need changing (IC's joining units at will vs IC's auto-join units)
They'll simplify things that don't need simplification.
They'll over-complicate things that already worked (eg. 4th Ed Blast Markers vs 5th Ed Blast Markers).
Vehicles will still be unable to move and fire at the same time with any sort of effectiveness.
They'll add more nonsensical abstractions (and then call them something they're not eg. True LOS).
They'll over-balance things that don't need balancing (Rending).

And they may just create new horribly imbalanced and badly thought out process that alters the way the game is played completely (Kill Points).

With the rate of their declining market share, I'd expect 6th edition sooner rather than later as an attempt to turn a quick buck without consideration for the long-term success of the franchise. Call it a hunch.

The sooner the better.

I agree with that vastly; honestly out of everything and what the British economy is doing as well as the fall of the currency I highly suspect a general buy out of Gamesworkshop by Hasbro within the next 5 years.

WH40K 5.5

That way they'll also release all new Codex's and models too and not screw up the current rules too much.

Danny Internets wrote:With the rate of their declining market share, I'd expect 6th edition sooner rather than later as an attempt to turn a quick buck without consideration for the long-term success of the franchise. Call it a hunch.

You honestly think GW would choose a quick turnover product to boost immediate sales and cashflow over a strategy for long-term stabili... yeah even I can't finish that sentence with a straight face.

I could totally see a "5th" advance IE .5 and then moving to sixth.

I think we can expect to see more universal special rules like Fleet integrated into the main rules, after the fashion of Running as a basic rule for everyone and then a universal special rule of Fleet as an extension of that. Likewise we've already seen that in Counter-Attack, where in 5th edition everyone gets the 6" defending move, but only units with Counter-Attack get a bonus attack.

Similarly, we will see more universal special rules depend on the existing characteristics of the bearing model, like the changes in Hit and Run and Preferred Enemy from 4th to 5th, where previously it was automatic or a flat number, now it depends on the unit's Initiative or relative WS.

I expect we'll see rules like Eternal Warrior, Fearless, Feel No Pain, Skilled Rider, Move Through Cover, and so on switch to some relational operation, although Fearless already depends to some extent on the armour saving throw of its bearer models. Skilled Rider and Move Through Cover would depend on Initiative, while Feel No Pain would be a saving throw re-roll while Eternal Warrior would allow a save for every wound the model has left. Fearless, I expect, will confer a re-roll against pinning: the unit may be crazy, but they're not necessarily well-organized either and while pinning weapons may not encourage them to keep their heads down, they may momentarily confuse them. It will match the effects of No Retreat! with a similar effect on shooting.

Less likely, but still possible, I expect they'll integrate the experimental Thunderfire Tremor rules with the rules for Pinning and Going to Ground, difficult terrain, and add rules for variable movement. Every Infantry unit will roll 3D6 for movement/running and takes the highest. Difficult terrain, pinning, going to ground, and whatnot will reduce the number of dice rolled by one, so a Slow and Purposeful unit, for example, would roll 1D6 to move through difficult terrain. They're already trying this out in WOTR.

On the very unlikely end of things, I think there will be an Instant Death rule that will be S > T+2 rather than S >= Tx2, Power Weapons that require successful armour saves to be re-rolled rather than canceled entirely, and blasts will be rolled to hit with BS, and will scatter according to the miss result with results of 1 being misfires or somesuch.

Finally, I expect we'll also see, following the trend from 4th to 5th edition, some more explanation of terms and conventions like what counts as 'normal' and so on. Which will be nice.

As a bit of a wishlist, I wish they'd break the Turn Sequence down into three phases in which units can make a number of actions, which one of the actions being a combined shoot/assault action, rather like Epic: Armageddon, so that players have the option of shooting as normal, or engaging in close combat and close ranged firefights. So a unit could move twice, for example, with Fleet units being able to make a third movement-based action. Or a unit could engage, fighting models in base to base contact and shooting models not in base to base contact.

Vindicator#9 wrote:I agree they need to update all the codices THEN AND ONLY THEN can they start to consider 6 ed. rules.

Hahaha! As if this kind of thing has ever mattered to GW when actual money is on the line...

"hmm... It's been 4 years, so we could milk the entire 40k player base for $50+ with a new Rulebook"

"No! We still need to create a Codex for both remaining Dark Eldar players before we do that"

Well, there is a cycle of about 4 or 5 years for each edition.
I'd expect the next edition by 2012.

In the meantime, we can hope that most armies get a new codex. But I wouldn't expect this. DE and Orks may not get a new codex in the meantime.