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I was wondering, does anyone play the old edition of 40k. I bought the 4th edition rulebook online as it was a cheap way to start playing 40k and I am now currently playing 4th edition so do any of you play old School 40k.

I don't bother since it would be such a hassle to remember all the little rules that have changes slightly over the years. Then if you went back to playing the current edition, you'd probably make plenty of mistakes.

My gaming group is going to give third edition, BBB only rules a try. We figure its easier to relearn 3rd than try to learn 6th, and since we only play for casual fun, its not a big loss.

I don't.

There's a lot of nostalgia going around online about "the good old days" but all the former editions had some serious issues.

Thud wrote:
I don't.

There's a lot of nostalgia going around online about "the good old days" but all the former editions had some serious issues.

well, the nice thing about earlier editions, 3rd and 4th especially, is that the basic core rules were very simple. 4th editions biggest flaws were in mission design and making vehicles far too fragile. A couple of tweaks, and the game can be a blast.

and that's the joy of gaming within a club: you can make the rules play the way you want. GW couldn't figure out the sweet spot for mechanized in four editions of 40k. A club can pick their sweet spot by modifying any given edition a little bit

[quoI e=Polonius 566660 6314312 752.gif]

Thud wrote:
I don't.

There's a lot of nostalgia going around online about "the good old days" but all the former editions had some serious issues.

well, the nice thing about earlier editions, 3rd and 4th especially, is that the basic core rules were very simple. 4th editions biggest flaws were in mission design and making vehicles far too fragile. A couple of tweaks, and the game can be a blast.

and that's the joy of gaming within a club: you can make the rules play the way you want. GW couldn't figure out the sweet spot for mechanized in four editions of 40k. A club can pick their sweet spot by modifying any given edition a little bit

Its not misplaced nostalgia for me... in 3rd a 26" range turn 1 charge on my death company followed by sweeping from one combat to the next was awsome! Totally broken. But awsome! Yes it needed to be nerfed. But disallowing a charge after disembarkation, only allowing you to disembark after a 6" move, GETTING RID OF THE ABILITY TO SWEEP FROM COMBAT TO COMBAT, overwatch, increased ignores cover weapons, fnp being a 5+, initiative not being increased on the charge, and a general overhaul to benefit shooting whilst being detrimental to assault... well that was more than just a bloody nerf!!!!!


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Oh - and DC were free (in a sense)!

 gossipmeng wrote:
I don't bother since it would be such a hassle to remember all the little rules that have changes slightly over the years. Then if you went back to playing the current edition, you'd probably make plenty of mistakes.

I played a few games of 3rd ed yesterday. The number of missions and combinations were just mindblowing compared to the 2 1/2 missions of 6th ed.
And getting confused with current versions is irrelevant - I don't play current 40k because it bores me.

I've been playing the game since almost the day it came out, and the people I play with wouldn't even consider playing anything but 6th. It's the best edition to play.

I've played since the very beginning of Rogue trader. over time and new editions, it gets harder and harder to find people who even knows what the old school stuff was much less actually play it. Of them all, the current 6th edition is the best balanced version ever but That does not mean I dot remember rogue trader, nostalgia is great but better through memory sometimes than actual practice.
Besides, over years and financial difficultie, I no longer have the old books even if I had people to play.

I still play with the same group I started with back in second edition, we don't do tournaments and very few pick up games.
We made it all the way to fifth, before we decided that we have more important things to spend our money on than constantly updating to the newest edition.
We have played a few 6th edition games, but don't care to much for it, and with the increase in price, especially of the codices, we figured it's just not worth it.
We decided to go back to 4th, we like it better than 5th and it has a lot more codices and supplements available.

I plan on playing friendly games with friends and the wife in the just slightly post-4th edition era, using the 4th edition rules with all the 3rd edition codexes I have. Vehicles needed tweaking in 4th edition, but the assault rules were a giant step up from 3rd edition.

It lets me use the absolutely huge selection of fun stuff for that era of 40K, like:

-Vehicle Design Rules (especially to use new vehicles with the old edition!)
-Kroot Mercs
-Space Wolves 13th Company
-Deathwatch marines
-Armored Companies
-Cityfight Supplement
-13th Black Crusade and Armageddon codexes
-Chapter Approves annuals

Nearly all of this stuff is material I already have, and harkens back to the era I had the most fun during. Seeing as in my area there is no chance I will ever have to play in the current edition of 40K, why the hell would I ever throw out all my great stuff to buy all the hideously overpriced new stuff?

I also have found the greatness of using the 2nd edition ruleset with small model count games (like just a Tactical Squad) to get a great skirmish experience like Necromunda and Gorkamorka. I had so much fun with those games when they came out!!


Simplified: "Fun and nostalgia" beats the "current hotness" every day of the week.

Here I thought it was Rouge Trader the OP was talking about, and using paper cut outs from the book lol.

Thud wrote:
I don't.

There's a lot of nostalgia going around online about "the good old days" but all the former editions had some serious issues.

And the new ones don't?

The only hard part of going backwards is the inclusion of units that didn't exist back then. Otherwise, the game hasn't really "gotten better". It's just gotten different.

 Veteran Sergeant wrote:
And the new ones don't?

The only hard part of going backwards is the inclusion of units that didn't exist back then. Otherwise, the game hasn't really "gotten better". It's just gotten different.

I have to disagree with that. It is all a matter of opinion of course, but overall the game has improved even though it is still far from perfect.
I still very rarely play a 3th, 4th or 5th edition game. I see no reason to play anything but 6th edition unless you want to use an army that does not exist anymore in the 6th.

I pulled out the old Lost and the Damned books a while ago and played Black Legion versus World Eaters last 4th of July. That was a trip.

Spent about half the game trying to remember the rules from 2nd edition and looking things up. We never even got close to finishing the game. It was mostly fun putting together the lists.

My 40k group fell apart after 6th came out. It was a mixture of issues, but most of them stemmed from most people not liking all of the randomness and having to flip through a rulebook bigger than Websters dictionary.

I have a friend that wants to start playing for fun. So we may play either 4th or 5th.

Right now I am having a huge conundrum about playing skirmish games in 2nd edition, regular games with 4th edition, or going the different route and playing Epic: Armageddon.

Play 2nd edition still for skirmish battles whenever there's a feel to have a small model count game. other than that just 6th edition. I find 3rd till 6th not different enough to go through the hassle of getting people to switch to older systems at the flgs. At home there's only a small-ish table available so skirmish games with 2nd it is.

 Polonius wrote:
My gaming group is going to give third edition, BBB only rules a try. We figure its easier to relearn 3rd than try to learn 6th, and since we only play for casual fun, its not a big loss.

Thats whats happening here too. Pity the Ork BRB codex is so gak though - no choppas or lootas or looted wagons...

 Mr. S Baldrick wrote:
My 40k group fell apart after 6th came out. It was a mixture of issues, but most of them stemmed from most people not liking all of the randomness and having to flip through a rulebook bigger than Websters dictionary.

I have a friend that wants to start playing for fun. So we may play either 4th or 5th.

Did your group fall apart during previous edition changes? My current group handled the transition from 5th to 6th pretty much exactly how the groups I was in handled 3rd to 4th and 4th to 5th, no problems to speak of

 tuebor wrote:

 Mr. S Baldrick wrote:
My 40k group fell apart after 6th came out. It was a mixture of issues, but most of them stemmed from most people not liking all of the randomness and having to flip through a rulebook bigger than Websters dictionary.

I have a friend that wants to start playing for fun. So we may play either 4th or 5th.

Did your group fall apart during previous edition changes? My current group handled the transition from 5th to 6th pretty much exactly how the groups I was in handled 3rd to 4th and 4th to 5th, no problems to speak of

No we stayed steady from 3rd-5th. However once 6th hit some did not like the chsnges and moved to other games, some were upset over the cost of the rule books, some had other life issues, and other just got sick of the GW marketing style.

My roommate and I still periodically dig out our old 2nd Ed books and go to town, but for the most part I play 6th these days.