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2nd created the most fun and varied play experience for me. All of my best gaming stories come from 2nd and for all its faults it was still the most fun of the bunch. Later editions just lost that spark for me and ended up feeling more like a chore to play.

All editions have ended up with a laundry list of problems, so I prefer the one that at least made for a good story afterwards.

I have the most nostalgia for 4th since it's when I started and I'm still obsessed with that era of GW, particularly their content (such as white dwarf) around that time, but I think 5th is probably the best.

But then again, I never played 6th or 7th.

Just because you have a good story to tell doesn't make it the best. For example, if your wife came at you with a 12" strap-on, I'm sure there'd be some amazing stories to tell afterward.

OTOH, going from 2E to 3E? It's quick and efficient, and everybody had a good time.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
Just because you have a good story to tell doesn't make it the best. For example, if your wife came at you with a 12" strap-on, I'm sure there'd be some amazing stories to tell

wait...why, is that unusual?

I thought that was just what people did on thursdays...

 Vaktathi wrote:

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
Just because you have a good story to tell doesn't make it the best. For example, if your wife came at you with a 12" strap-on, I'm sure there'd be some amazing stories to tell

wait...why, is that unusual?

I thought that was just what people did on thursdays...

Only people with a open mind.

Can I say 8th? I know it's not out yet, but they've really got me under their spell right now.

I'd say late 3rd after Chapter Approved came out. While the Index Astartes series was running in White Dwarf. And the Armageddon Codex came out. Add in some 40k in 40 minutes and you've got one of the best 40ks ever.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
Just because you have a good story to tell doesn't make it the best. For example, if your wife came at you with a 12" strap-on, I'm sure there'd be some amazing stories to tell afterward.

OTOH, going from 2E to 3E? It's quick and efficient, and everybody had a good time.

Beat's another day of vanilla don't it?

Bottom line, if I wanted a good wargame then I went elsewhere. 40k never has scratched that it (and maybe it never will). If I want to roll dice, shoot the with friends, and laugh while we work out how a unit of Ork bikers scatter randomly after an assault cannon lays in to the unit then I grab 2nd (or sometimes RT if I feel like having a bit of RPG in my minis game). Later editions managed the dual sin of being boring and not very good games as well (at least not for me and my group).

I like a clean, well balanced game with good rules. 40k isn't that game, never was. But I also like games that create lasting stories, and earlier versions of 40k are all about that due to emergent rules interactions. That's why it's my best edition.

For me, for all its flaws (it was written by geeks before tournaments ruled the roost...so balance was entirely up to your gamer group, etc.) 2nd delivered the goods. It set the standard for what I expected from a 40K universe wargame.

3rd+ were all better model sellers, more streamlined, etc...and that's what turned me off. I played a year or two between 3rd-4th and never got the story/fun/excitement or fluff feelings I got from 2nd ed.

More basic rules, but less special rules. This flip-flopped with 3rd+, where the rules became very simple...and sadly then necessitated hundreds of special rules. That ruined it for me pretty quick.

Things in 2nd ed. made a lot more sense and delivered the feel of the fluff in the game far more effectively. Obvious personal opinions will differ, but I haven't felt the 40K buzz since then. I may, for the first time in 15 years try 40K again when 8th shows up --- but if not, I'm happy to run our modified version of 2nd ed.

I vote 5e, albeit somewhat grudgingly. I never played RT, 2e or 3e, and my experience in 4e was very limited. I wasn't crazy about 5e's Rhino parking lots, Guard leafblower lists and GK shenanigans, but those were small potatoes in comparison to the gunk that's taken over 7e.

6e overcompensated for 5e's failings. Early 7e wasn't too bad, before the insanity switched into high gear, but even then, it shared most of the weaknesses of 6e.

So, although 5e was actually fairly bad times for most xenos players (except Necrons and Tyranids, as I recall, and at the end, Dark Eldar with their shiny new book that even held up well in early 7e), it probably had the fewest major fun-sucking bugs.

However, I think 3e and every edition since has had the two problems of not being able to balance assault very well and having vehicles be either OP or garbage (or both at once, like in 5e!). I'm seriously hoping those have been addressed effectively in 8e. Right now I'm cautiously optimistic. I'm liking what I've seen so far, to include the few elements I was originally skeptical of, after math-hammering them enough.

 Vaktathi wrote:

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
Just because you have a good story to tell doesn't make it the best. For example, if your wife came at you with a 12" strap-on, I'm sure there'd be some amazing stories to tell

wait...why, is that unusual?

I thought that was just what people did on thursdays...

See? Stories!

 Galas wrote:
Only people with a open mind.

Spoiler:

Like me

If so, that's not the only thing that's open... Sounds like you went from this (.) to this (o) to this (O)
____

 Ronin_eX wrote:

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
Just because you have a good story to tell doesn't make it the best. For example, if your wife came at you with a 12" strap-on, I'm sure there'd be some amazing stories to tell afterward.

OTOH, going from 2E to 3E? It's quick and efficient, and everybody had a good time.

Beat's another day of vanilla don't it?

Bottom line, if I wanted a good wargame then I went elsewhere. 40k never has scratched that it (and maybe it never will). If I want to roll dice, shoot the with friends, and laugh while we work out how a unit of Ork bikers scatter randomly after an assault cannon lays in to the unit then I grab 2nd (or sometimes RT if I feel like having a bit of RPG in my minis game). Later editions managed the dual sin of being boring and not very good games as well (at least not for me and my group).

I like a clean, well balanced game with good rules. 40k isn't that game, never was. But I also like games that create lasting stories, and earlier versions of 40k are all about that due to emergent rules interactions. That's why it's my best edition.

I happen to enjoy a bit of vanilla most days, gives you a nice baseline for adding sprinkles and other whatnots. If you're always doing things, esp. German things, you'll burn yourself out. Gotta plan for the long haul.

40k was a "good" game in 3E, given the state of gaming at the time. Like you, I'm in it to shoot the breeze while moving dudes around and chucking dice; it's much less fun when the game gets in the way of that. By the books, 7E is kind of a chore to play, where the rules of the game gets in the way of playing the game. But it's not like you can't have stories to tell in 3E - I still remember my first golden BB into a Land Raider for a first shot, one shot kill. It's just that now, instead of jabbering about what's happening with your dudes on the tabletop, you're too busy pre-measuring, checking rules, positioning dudes 'just so'.

7th is a complete pile of garbage that can't go away fast enough, it is, at least in my experience, by far the single worst edition of Warhammer 40,000 ever. It took all the mistakes of 6E, doubled down on them, and then got really bad from there

This statement isn't exactly accurate now is it? Shame on you!



I've played all the editions. RT was really more of a RPG and barely playable at that.

2nd provided the most "flavor" in terms of having wacky stories to tell and a more "fun" background -

Like the time my Armourcast Reaver titan got hit with a SHokk Attack gun and the result was that the grots were terrified after their run through the warp and were now clinging onto the driver's head, defecating, panicking and generally making a mess which caused the titan to start stomping around out of control. I responded by tossing a vortex grenade which immediately began ping ponging around the flank opposite the titan. My opponent and I then spent the rest of the game trying to avoid the stompy titan and the bouncing vortex which provided all manor of hillarity ... in a game that took HOURS to complete... which is where 2nd often fell down.

3rd -

Hated it. Too simple (so simple in fact that Gav Thorpe - while still employed by GW - admitted they had made a mistake) and I hated the pamphlets they tried to pass off as codexes. Praise Doomrider ...

4th
Only had a few games in right at the tail end - it was ok

5th
Probably the best (imo) for core rules and playability.

6th
I enjoyed for the slight return to 2nd ed but started to have the same issues as 2nd ed (bloat, uneeded complextity, etc)

7th

....... no thanks!

I joined 40k at 5e so I can't speak about anything before that.

5e was fun. There were some things that were annoying (Nids begun to suck here and really haven't NOT sucked since, please fix 8e!) like the Ward codexs and vehicles being far too durable at times, but for the most part games were simple and fun.

I had a lot of hope for 6e. Flyers changed the game plan for a lot armies yet at the same time helped a few more. Overall the early part of 6e was still pretty enjoyable.

Then the Tau and Eldar codexes came out.

The game became all but unplayable with Riptide spam and the utter lunacy that was Eldar/DE deathstar wombocombos.

7e, oh boy. GW just took everything wrong with 6e and somehow managed to make it worse, while at the same time making you buy 5+ books and supplements just to keep track of everything.

I started in 2nd and from what I remember about it, it was very enjoyable. Even the starter box had a nice little campaign where casualties from the first two battles affected your forces in the third and final one - this campaign helped newbies learn the very complex rules in a rather enjoyable way. Terrain was a huge deal in that edition (I know it always has been, but even more so in 2nd). It was also the edition which was the last time I feared Terminators and Genestealers. Unfortunately however, I have to veto it from being the best due to the tormented memories of standing on those damn spikey headed gretchin in bare feet multiple times.

Played and loved 3rd - back when White Dwarf was a decent publication and added many things quite regularly. Dark Eldar armies ALWAYS consisted of 6 10man warrior squads with 2 Dark Lances in each for 100pts, to the extent that it was a running joke (I remember seeing a top 10 armies at a tourney in a WD once and 3 of them were DE all with this configuration - back then 12 Dark Lances supplied decent firepower for the core of the list, whereas now it's a laughable amount). The Rhino rush of 3rd made BA insanely broken - the only army that would annihilate Nids in assault. Nids were scary, Orks had officially become WS4/BS2 thanks to the Rorkes Drift battle in WD at the end of 2nd (or was it start of 3rd? :-s... not so sure now) and had much more of their own weaponry so weren't just T4 humans. It was an edition that was over simplified, but it worked nicely and was probably the quickest version I've played.

Didn't play 4th, only had a few battles at the end of 5th and got back into it properly in 6th. 6th and 7th are nowhere near as good as 3rd was.

Fifth but only because its the only edition where I could really play myself. Since early 6th I've been reduced to battle reports and such, which are a better way to pass the time than a lot of prime time TV, but it just isn't the same.

Each addition had its own enjoyment. I have very fond memories of 2nd edition; it wasn't perfect, but outside of the all Assault Cannon Space Wolf Terminator unit, a lot of fun was had playing against so many different armies.

I started to enjoy the games less in 6th edition and by 7th edition, I did not really enjoy the games at all. Too much bloat and rules design that created armies that really did not look like 40K that I've come to recognize over the past 28 years.

Having played since rogue trader, i would say 5th was the best. I wouldn't exactly say it was good, but definitely the best of all the editions they came out with.

 Galas wrote:

 Vaktathi wrote:

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
Just because you have a good story to tell doesn't make it the best. For example, if your wife came at you with a 12" strap-on, I'm sure there'd be some amazing stories to tell

wait...why, is that unusual?

I thought that was just what people did on thursdays...

Only people with a open mind.

Spoiler:

Like me

You've got more than an open mind.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Sarigar wrote:
Each addition had its own enjoyment. I have very fond memories of 2nd edition; it wasn't perfect, but outside of the all Assault Cannon Space Wolf Terminator unit, a lot of fun was had playing against so many different armies.

I started to enjoy the games less in 6th edition and by 7th edition, I did not really enjoy the games at all. Too much bloat and rules design that created armies that really did not look like 40K that I've come to recognize over the past 28 years.

That is the feeling that I had been getting, too.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Poly Ranger wrote:
I started in 2nd and from what I remember about it, it was very enjoyable. Even the starter box had a nice little campaign where casualties from the first two battles affected your forces in the third and final one - this campaign helped newbies learn the very complex rules in a rather enjoyable way. Terrain was a huge deal in that edition (I know it always has been, but even more so in 2nd). It was also the edition which was the last time I feared Terminators and Genestealers. Unfortunately however, I have to veto it from being the best due to the tormented memories of standing on those damn spikey headed gretchin in bare feet multiple times.

Played and loved 3rd - back when White Dwarf was a decent publication and added many things quite regularly. Dark Eldar armies ALWAYS consisted of 6 10man warrior squads with 2 Dark Lances in each for 100pts, to the extent that it was a running joke (I remember seeing a top 10 armies at a tourney in a WD once and 3 of them were DE all with this configuration - back then 12 Dark Lances supplied decent firepower for the core of the list, whereas now it's a laughable amount). The Rhino rush of 3rd made BA insanely broken - the only army that would annihilate Nids in assault. Nids were scary, Orks had officially become WS4/BS2 thanks to the Rorkes Drift battle in WD at the end of 2nd (or was it start of 3rd? :-s... not so sure now) and had much more of their own weaponry so weren't just T4 humans. It was an edition that was over simplified, but it worked nicely and was probably the quickest version I've played.

Didn't play 4th, only had a few battles at the end of 5th and got back into it properly in 6th. 6th and 7th are nowhere near as good as 3rd was.

Those gretchin always land on their feet like tank traps or those ropes of spikes that cops lay out during TV car chases.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 JohnHwangDD wrote:


If so, that's not the only thing that's open... Sounds like you went from this (.) to this (o) to this (O)

Why is O better than o or . ?
Helps you faster?

5th was far away the best and the best balanced (for codecies developed within 5th) of the editions we've had so far. It definitely had considerably more than its fair share of problems, but it was still better than anything else on a core level.

I only played 5th. Guess I was spoiled...

I started at the very tail end of 3rd with Daemon Hunters and loved it, but 4th I loved it the most and I particularly loved my Space Marines and their traits.

5th was OK, I was a little disapointed by somethings, but the games I played were still fun.

6th was eh but I managed to have fun

and 7th remained eh but the two games I played were fun (even if I got turn 2 tabled by Tau in one of them. (My fault I brought what essentially was a 4th Ed Army, what I had for Deathwatch)

So 4th would have to be my favorite, but I am looking forward to 8th.

 Ronin_eX wrote:
2nd created the most fun and varied play experience for me.

I concur.

At a Baltimore Gamesday there was a table event. 6 players. Everyone brought a vehicle from 2nd edition.(no wargear) It was king of the hill. When your vehicle died you were out and a new player joined so it went on for hours.
The prize a free GW blister for each turn you held the "hill"

So there were Land Raiders, Lemon Russ's, Predators, Earthshaker Cannons, etc.

I took a Squat Rhino. It was a legal choice and was armed with twin linked bolt guns.

The guys laughed at me. Guess what I was the only player to hold the hill for more than 1 turn...I got 3 turns of prizes!!!

Everyone tried to kill that rhino but somehow I escaped the most powerfull barrage of firepower!

Now that is a story you cannot find in any later edition!

I said Rogue Trader. It's a surprisingly complete game, and is less complex than 2e and probably less complex overall than later editions. It works with smaller armies but has detailed guidelines for designing your own vehicles, etc.

It also has a crazy mission table to generate ideas for games or scenarios.

It doesn't make any pretense of being a balanced tournament game, but honestly, no edition of 40k should ever be seen that way.

I always felt 2nd was the best basis for a game, I don't necessarily think it was the best 40k edition, but I think it was the one that had the best core elements.

So I'm always torn in these polls, I think one of the later editions was a more solid game overall, but I think 2nd at its core was the best.

2nd ed was easy to break even accidentally.

We have had a couple of these polls in the past, here's one...

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/606652.page

So far the current poll is favouring earlier editions more than the previous poll. 6th/7th never seem to go well in these polls.

4th edition - Because I was one of the only dark eldar players on the planet, and I loved consolidating my Wyches into units after combat, thus creating never ending combats

Afetr 4th, close combat was thrown out the window, and hasn't been seen since then.

Close second would be 3rd edition. I loved having a unit of 9 venom cannon Warriors and making my own vehicles

And yes, I played 2nd edition, and even rose tinted glasses can't get rid of Hero Hammer in my mind. It just wasn't any fun, especially since, as a nid player, your hormagaunts were metal.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
We have had a couple of these polls in the past, here's one...

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/606652.page

So far the current poll is favouring earlier editions more than the previous poll. 6th/7th never seem to go well in these polls.

I'm glad you posted a link to that poll. It definitely shows (when compared to this) that early 7th, pre Necrons, Eldar, grav, formations galore etc, was actually a resonably liked edition. It shows how easy it is for a few broken dexes and a glut of formations granting crazy bonuses to completely decimate a game.

Poly Ranger wrote:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
We have had a couple of these polls in the past, here's one...

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/606652.page

So far the current poll is favouring earlier editions more than the previous poll. 6th/7th never seem to go well in these polls.

I'm glad you posted a link to that poll. It definitely shows (when compared to this) that early 7th, pre Necrons, Eldar, grav, formations galore etc, was actually a resonably liked edition. It shows how easy it is for a few broken dexes and a glut of formations granting crazy bonuses to completely decimate a game.

Aye, the market also reinforced this, with 40k becoming dethroned as the top selling miniatures game for the first time in over 20 years by FFG's X-Wing in early 2016.

It's definitely clear that 6E and 7E were not healthy for Warhammer 40k.

It shows how easy it is for a few broken dexes and a glut of formations granting crazy bonuses to completely decimate a game.

QFT brother.