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I have been playing Warhammer 40k since 2008 and I have seen 4th, 5th and 6th editions come and go and many codexes between. I have seen the meta go back and forth with some armies rising to the top while other constantly get stomped on by both other players and GW. In recent times I have seen the most disturbing trend yet appear. I suppose it was always this way, but only recently has it become blatantly apparent. That GW doesn't create rules for balance, they create rules to drive sales. Buffing units who have models but haven't been selling while nerfing those that have been selling so competitive players will have to buy all new ranges. A great example of this Ulrik the Slayer and Bloodclaws, both where practically never taken before but are now both very good units while Grey Hunters aren't as good as they used to be. There are plenty of other examples, but you get my point.

So how can we end this up and down of rules, codexes and individual units? How can we make our ridiculously expensive models last longer in usefulness?

What I am proposing would make every army both fun and competitive....forever.

It's simply really, we mix and match, for both the rulebook and every codex.

The online communities of 40k get together and custom build a rulebook using all existing 40k rulebooks. What I mean by this is we could use the Movement rules from 7th edition, the cover system from 5th edition, the Assault rules from 5th edition, the Psychic rules from 6th edition. We can get very specific for this as well. This USR from 6th, this USR from 5th etc.

It's the same for codexes. Since I feel that Tyranids have been routinely spit on, I will use them as an example. How would you Tyranid players enjoy using 5th edition Carnifex, Genestealer and Lictors rules while still having 6th edition Hive Tyrants? Tyranids would finally be the force to be reckoned with that they always should have been. And this would be done for every army.

Some ground rules would have to be establish of course.

Some rules I think would work well would be:

1. Whole unit entries have to be taken. For example, if us Necron players wanted to use the 4th edtion Immortals rules, they couldn't take a Nightscythe transport as its not listed there as a dedicated transport option.
2. No custom rules. Period. If it's not in a codex or rulebook somewhere, it can't go in.
3. No going back to older codex for a unit who hasn't changed but is cheaper. A great example of this is the Vendetta. Unchanged but much cheaper in 5th Edition IG.
4. Obviously, this transition will not be 100% seemless, so some understanding would need to exist here. What I mean is if Necron player wanted to use "We'll be Back" instead of Re-An-Protocols that would replace it in all unit entries.
5. An armies current codex would be their default.

Something else that would help with balance is the communities would reserve the right to Veto one or two things from each codex and one or two from the custom rulebook.

For example, no one wants to fight the 4th Edition Necron Monolith, so that could be veto'd and Necron players would have to stick with the new Monolith.

I'm sure the exact details of this would need to be hashed out, but I really think that this would bring 40k back to its glory days.

Everyone has seen just how many posts there are on Dakka alone with people switching to Warmachine or Dust because GW is sinking 40k.

Let's not let this ship sink guys. Lets bring it back.

A) I think you need to let go of the doom and gloom.

B) This has been tried before, and is very difficult to do. You need a huge number of people to do it, and universal acceptance is unlikely.

C) Realize that to truly balance you'd need to have each unit use a specific version of each USR, as different units were designed with different versions of the USR in mind.

I like this as a concept. The tricky part is getting people to be intellectually honest when the play testing begins. The whole argument of "that unit is stacked" can be thrown out there by someone who was simply outplayed. And playtesting WOULD be necessary where army-wide special rules, warlord traits, psychic powers and the like are concerned. Rules that bind an entire codex.

Allies and unbound lists present another problem.

Not to sound like a complete downer, even though I know I'm particularly good at it, but this is an idea that has been brought up several times both as a means to fix [insert name of army] codex and the game as a whole. It's a good concept but you've got a looong way to go with it before it can really even get on the ground, let alone getting off the ground. I will say since it's your idea you're going to need to put up the lions share of the effort to even get it started. Look at my New Reign of Chaos Thread and you can see the amount of work I put into it only to ultimately have it rendered worthless because I can't play test it any more. It can be something very little like that can will derail the entire effort.

Maverike_prime wrote:
Not to sound like a complete downer, even though I know I'm particularly good at it, but this is an idea that has been brought up several times both as a means to fix [insert name of army] codex and the game as a whole. It's a good concept but you've got a looong way to go with it before it can really even get on the ground, let alone getting off the ground. I will say since it's your idea you're going to need to put up the lions share of the effort to even get it started. Look at my New Reign of Chaos Thread and you can see the amount of work I put into it only to ultimately have it rendered worthless because I can't play test it any more. It can be something very little like that can will derail the entire effort.

That's very disappointing. I really like the idea of rebuilding 40k. Something people need to understand. GW is doing the End Times thing and rushing 40k codexes because their business is in trouble. If GW goes under and no one buys the IP, the players will have to come up with something...

 TheCrazyCryptek wrote:
Something people need to understand. GW is doing the End Times thing and rushing 40k codexes because their business is in trouble. If GW goes under and no one buys the IP, the players will have to come up with something...

The odds of this happening is extremely low. GW is still making a profit (just less) so it will be years until GW goes under. And not only that the idea that no one will buy an incredible successful IP that spans multiple markets and platforms when the chance arises is absurd.

It's easier to do with just a few home-fixes. No need for extreme rebuild and stuff.

Don't like how unit X plays? Change it. Bring it to a mediocre-ok level and it's all good.

Don't like how unit Y is overpowered? Bring it to a good level and everyone's happy.

And btw, my experience shows that 7-th ed is much more tactical than 6-th and 5-th. With maelstorm missions and everything scoring, there are a lot of situations where your basica troops happen to be better than uber-killers. You don't just win games by crumping.

There's really no point in trying to do this online, you'll never reach a consensus. If you can come to an agreement with your local play group to modify the rules, great. I have my own version that I play. But too many cooks spoil the soup.

I also don't understand the arbitrary restrictions you put in, like every rule needing to be an official GW thing from one edition or another.