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Put down you more favorable aspects of each edition of 40k, like:

Rogue Trader: (positive) Its the beginning, has some great reading, especially the Ork and Chaos books, but (negative) the rules were all over the place (codexes if you can call them that, White Dwarf articles, etc) and kind of slow going. It didn't start getting good until shortly before 2nd came out.

2ed: Great game box for its time, lots of color and character, its kind of hard finding a negative for me, except for all the cards. But it was pure fun. I still have it.

3rd: Loved the new tactical squad and land speeder, loved how many codexes, sourcebooks, etc they released at this time. Remember that Cadia/Eye of Terror summer campaign (can't remember the name)? Fun. Happy with the army lists in the rulebook, and hate this was the last time this was done. Wasn't crazy about the abstract rules, but it did quicken the game. Kind of makes me think 2ed as Chess, and 3rd as Checkers. I believe this is where the rule forcing models in the units to only fire at the same enemy (even if they either can't see the target the rest are fire at, or don't have other weapons that could be used against it), which I have detested since. The Dark Eldar minis were terrible.

4th: Loved the shuttle terrain, and the Tyranid infestation markers, AND THE FACT THE PUT OUT EXPANDED SCENARIOS in the Battle Rages On supplement (which they would do that for all the game boxes), but wasn't crazy about the units included in the set. I took a break from 40k when this came out.

5th: Never got anything during this time.

6th: Loved the Limited Edition Dark Vengeance set. Loved the Novella. The models GW is producing now are just amazing, even if I have no interest in playing with/against some of them (like a Wraithlord). Also liked the presentation of the rulebook. It feels kind of gothic. Hate rolling for charge distance and then just standing there if you fail.

7th: Haven't gotten it, and probably never will. I love introductory box sets, especially ones that come with scenarios. But all they did here was re-release 6th with a new rulebook and Aspiring Champion. Total fail to me. I guess I can look for a pocket sized rulebook on eBay...

Looks like I focused a lot on the sets lol. Well, to be honest I don't collect much beyond the armies included, so that's why I love when they release those sets. Like, for my second edition collection, its based on the marines and orks that came in the set, plus a Captain, Librarian, Chaplin, Warlord, Warboss, and a metal ork dreadnought and buggy. Around 800 Points each I think? I have just about the same in points for the Squats , Genestealer Cult, Tyrands, Eldar, and Chaos. But with the later editions, I really only went with the forces in the box set with some add-ons.

So what are your pros and cons each?

Random vehicle damage made the game funny in 5th ed as your vehicle could get lucky of die. Non random charge distance in 5th was also nice


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And no overwach

I've started playing in 5-th.

5-th: Player took out casualties himself which quickened the game. But at the same time it made the game much less tactical cause positioning didn't mean that much. Vehicles were sturdy but had a tendency of either getting one-shot or sticking along for eternity. There were too many parking lot armies. And every damn list was maxing anti-tank which made it a bit one-dimensional. For example, i knew that no matter who i'm gona face, there would be a bunch of metal bawxes and a ton of anti-tank.

However, i found it somewhat entertaining to glance parking lots to death with my footslogging ork boyz - they basically countered the meta.

The early codexes were great and than Blood angels, Space wolves and Grey knights came out ruining all the fun being space marines +1 with no drawbacks.

On the whole, i liked the 5-th edition though cause the overall ballance was "eadible".

6-th: The rules changed drastically clearly favoring shooting and fast deathstars. The 5-th ed codexes (and early 6-th ones - CSM, Dark Angels) with a mellee emphasis were clearly not prepared for that. Allies were a great idea but battle brothers were outstandingly broken. Taking casualties from the front was what i liked a lot even though it ruined my footslogging horde. But focused fire and challenges were just plain awful. The Hullpoint system was a good idea but the vehicle damage table still allowed vehicles to get 1-shot in addition to being glanced to death. And FMC with their smash rules were way over the top. That made av12 or less obsolete unless you have some special rules to buff durability.

However, the old ork codex presented a surprise in face of competitive nob bikers and battlewagon rush that once again countered the meta of s7 spam.

The codex ballance was absolutely awful. 3 broken codexes in a row. Daemons, Tau and Eldar. These guyz completely shifted the meta and gameplay ignoring a ton of core rules and being pretty much better than anything else. That even required a quick addition of gravgunz and ott inquisitors and Imperial Knights to counter all the gak these guyz brought to the table. Sisters of Battle got a sidegrade and Tyranids lost their flavor and were reduced to a monobuild flyrant spam - effective nonetheless. However while preparing for 7-th ed, GW published an IG - Astra Militarum codex. That was a bright sign cause the book was clearly designed for the upcoming edition and was very well designed. GW started testing a formation system.

On the whole, i didn't like 6-th edition due to the 3 extremely poorly written (from the ballance perspective) codexes and a strong emphasis on shooting + deathstars with the feel of everyone ignoring everything. Half the guyz in our LGS stopped playing in 6-th. Another half - which was competitive with min/max lists bought a hell lot of models and continued inhabiting tournaments.

7-th: The rules remained within the same mindset of 6-th ed but with some general improvements in face of removing focused fire, inabiity to get 2+ cover with anything in ruins (3+ max unless you have stealth or something like this) and some 'hotfixes' to allies matrix and MC + buffmanders. Vehicle damage table allowed the av 10-12 to be seen on tabletop once again. The nerf to FMC and smash on the whole allowed the return of walkers! Challenge system toned down. The new psy phase, having been a mixed bag, still feels like an improvement cause no longer can you reliably spam endless buffs manifesting at ld10. But the most important part was the addition of Maelstorm missions and that everything could score. Now that not only opened the door to previously unseen units and tactical combinations but also inspired board controle which is very important since most 6-th ed games were: sit back and shoot for 5 turns and than turbo-boost on a point. There are still issues with allies, psy phase core rules and complete lack of multi-level building rules, however.

7-th ed codexes are great so far. Formation system tested in 6-th was brought to full strength allowing somewhat underwhelming units find their place in lists and introducing whole new tactical approaches.

With the new 7-th codex and maelstorm my orkses are really shining with lots of close games. The great part is that they still manage to counter min/max tournament lists most of the guyz with a 6-th ed tournament mindset still present.

On the whole, i really like what's going on with WH40K right now and i think it's the right direction. Our LGS has seen new blood in 7-th.