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What would I do if I could make the entire 8th eddition of 40K without having to consider things like finance, depts, etc?

1) I would add a mouvement characteristic for all units including vehicule.

2) change charging for the following rule (mouvement + 2d6), run become (mouvement +2d6 and snap shot only)

3) I would change the four phases system for the following 4 phases system: 1 mouvement and assault phase, 2 tactical phase (psychic powers, orders and other special abilitie), 3 shooting phase, 4 combat phase. This way, games are faster for you move your models only once and make assault more interesting because you can avoid being shot and can charge more relliably.

4) glancing hit only cause one HP damage on a 4+

5) open-tank can tank shock, but tank give a malus of -1 to Ld

6) charging unit can snap fire at their target

7) wound allocation is done from the rear unless specified otherwise

8) snap fire is done at ballistic skill -2 and can be used with blast weapon, but not ordonance

9) psychic powers are handled in a similar fashion to fantasy magic.

Calander of release (1 per month):

1) two beginner box: one with Space Marine (Black Templars) vs Losts and Damned and the other one Tyranid vs Astra Millitarum. Complete rule book with fluff and everything
2) Astra Millitarum
3) Losts and Damned
3) Tau Empire
4) Eldar
5) Millitarum Tempestus
5) Space Marine
6) Chaos Space Marine
7) Tyranid
8) Orks
9) Daemons of Chaos
10) Harlequins
11) Dark Eldar
12) Sisters of Battle
13) Necron
14) Grey Knight
15) Adeptus Mechanicus
16) Hrud Legions
17) Blood Angels
18) Space Wolfs
19) Dark Angel
20) Supplement: Kroot Mercenary
21) Supplement: Genestealer cult
22) Supplement: Imperial servant
23)Supplement: Iron Hands
24) Supplement: Fallen Legions
25) Supplement: Red Gobbo Grot Revolutionary Mouvement Commity and Association Free Grotz Only!!!
26) then, I would release about 5 or six campaign books.
27) three to four months of stalling and then new eddition.

I would make assaults resolve all in one turn, so that there's not a weird time warp thing where units are locked in melee for 20 minutes of combat and neither side can be shot at.

Somewhat like how flames of war does assaults. Just keep going back and forth, over and over again down the initiative step ladder until one side breaks and flees or is wiped out.

I like to think about general game changes as well, if I could write 8th I'd keep most everything from 7th the same with the following changes:

- Only 1 independent character can join a unit at any given time.

- Bolters weapons have shred, heavy bolters are 2/4 salvo.

- Remove come the apocalypse allies.

- D weapons have a roll of 6 changed to causing just D6 wounds/hull points. Still ignore everything though.

- A psychic pool cap of 15.

- Non-skimmers can forgo their movement phase to go hull down and receive a 5+ cover on their front and side arcs.

- If a transport vehicle did not move models inside can assault from it.

- Skimmers that move flat-out or jinked and receives an immobilized result become wrecked.

- Models that have jinked cannot assault. (really want this change)

If I were to be the one writing a new edition, it would be an actual new edition and not just another revision of 3rd Edition. No more of this confused mess of mass battle and skirmish game concepts. It would be rebuilt from the ground up, invalidating all current published rules, but the new edition would see most, it not all, of the armies updated immediately upon release with any remainders updated within 6 months. It would focus on the mass battle concept, with only a few allowances for heroic characters (like your actual HQs, not no-name squad sergeants). A skirmish level rules set would also be published separately (for hot squad on squad action).

As an example of what I'm thinking about, take your average squad of 10 Tactical Marines. In shooting and assault, they have one attack die per marine still alive, and they're all rolled together, none of this rolling separately for different weapons within the squad. But those different weapons we're used to would be represented by purchasing a specialization for the squad. When selecting your Tactical squad, you can also pay for a specialization. An assault spec would be represent by modeling the squad with a flamer or two and some close combat weapons, giving the squad bonuses at short ranges and in assault. An anti-infantry spec would be modeled with heavy bolters and plasmaguns, and grant bonuses against other infantry units. An antitank spec would be modeled with the heavy weapons and meltaguns and grant bonuses against armor. This is a very simple and off-the-top-of-my-head example, but it kind of gets the point across, I think.

How about for 8th edition they just re-release Epic 40k? Would that possibly be a thing?

First thing, have Clear and concise written rules. If by chance some rules do get missinterpit have a fast up to date FAQ.

Have balanced units and codices. Make every option usable. Make every unit desirable.

I would add a movement stat. Problem is most Space Marines would be crying that they move to slow. Especially Terminators, would be really slow. Good thing would be is that vehicles would really matter since it would get you where you need to get, fast.

There would be no more, I move, I shoot, I assault, you move, you shoot, you assault. It would be either 1) I go, you go. or 2) I move/shoot then you move/shoot/ then I would shoot/move then you would shoot/move. So this way you either shoot first or move first. Or 3) We all move/shoot at the same time according to Initiative but with a chance with reactionary moves/shooting from your opponent.

Combine Toughness and Armour together. It seems some weapons can't damage a troop but can damage a vehicle, or a weapon made to take out vehicles can't scrath a troop. Have the same thresholds or toughness/armour values for everything. Don't have units in different categories.

Open the 40k rulebook file, select all, delete. Then create a new game in the 40k universe with mechanics that actually make sense for a scifi game, a coherent overall design concept, and extensive playtesting to make sure it all works properly. There is very little about the current game that would be worth keeping in a new edition, so if I've got the freedom to do whatever I want I'm not going to feel any sense of obligation to some obsolete concepts from a bad 1980s fantasy game.

 Peregrine wrote:
Open the 40k rulebook file, select all, delete. Then create a new game in the 40k universe with mechanics that actually make sense for a scifi game, a coherent overall design concept, and extensive playtesting to make sure it all works properly. There is very little about the current game that would be worth keeping in a new edition, so if I've got the freedom to do whatever I want I'm not going to feel any sense of obligation to some obsolete concepts from a bad 1980s fantasy game.

Yep. Can it. All of it. Trying to acheive balance and playabilty with a new edition by tweaking or otherwise making changes to existing 40k structure is an impossible task.

Go for a scalable game that at its core is really for smaller point levels. Scrap IGoUGo.

Simplify and delete special rules and equipment options in extreme.

Simple mechanics can still make for innovative and deep games.

New Rules from scratch.
- set points total for armies
- build army
- set up terrain
- set up armies
- flip coin
- who ever wins the toss won the game
- go home

Combined move phase: init roll off to see who moves first. Units running or assaulting make their extra distance here.

Combined shooting phase: guy who moved first shoots first. ALL casualties and damage are resolved at the end of the phase, so everything gets a chance to shoot at least once.
Anything assaulted or assaulting can still shoot/be shot at this round. If this removes all models from being able of making b2b after a pile in, then they didn't make it to combat. (They still keep the distance they charged though.)

Combat phase: resolve any combats by going through the init order TWICE. If a unit wins (by wipeout) in the first initiative round, they can consolidate and snag another enemy unit for the second initiative round, if close enough. If they win in the second, they just consolidate to fix coherency. Morale tests are at the end of the second round of combat. If both units stay, they're locked in combat.

Repeat.

Minor details:
De-randomize like everything ever. Psychic powers, warlord trait, charge ranges. ESPECIALLY pre-game stuff. That stuff should be already chosen and done, not spent time rolling for when you could be playing.

Muck around with ap becoming an armor modifier, and cover being a BS modifier.

Those would be the most major of changes.

I want to see the 30k point system on LoW introduced so it makes the Special Characters a viable choice. I think this was always the intention but it was kinda overlooked.

ATSKNF needs to stop being the anti fear/morale test behemoth that it is. Negative modifiers should apply but they auto rally next turn.

Most of the weapons in 40k need redesigning too, at the moment even power armour is pretty useless giants most armies.

Move cover to a to-hit modifier, turn AP into an armour save modifier, and condense the turn structure so the game doesn't take all day. Completely unrealistic to expect this from GW, I know, so I did it myself (Aegis Project linked to in my signature, currently undergoing revision because I went too far the other way and it's now too hard to kill anything)

wish all you want, you are never going to get GW off their greedy asses to change unless you boycott them.

i am in favor of exterminitus by GW going bank rupt and possibly having the license bought by a competent games developer.

That is the only reset button.

I do not care if GW goes bankrupt and takes wh40k to the grave with them.

What Peregrine said.

If I had to keep Codexes compatible, then... link is in my sig.

I have a small list of things:

Replace Random Warlord Traits with a list of purchasable skills; your Warlord gets a 10-point break and can take up to 3 such traits. Other regular characters can take *one*.

Replace Random Psyker Power rolling, with each discipline having some basic and some advanced powers, advanced powers requiring taking basic powers from the same discipline.

Make Difficult Terrain simply halve movement. Move Through Cover means you move through terrain normally.

Eliminate "Allies Matrix." Classify certain codex units as "Ally Units", create rules for mercenary units. Desperadoes, Kroot Mercs, Freebootaz, etc.

More "Kustom" options, larger list of meaningful wargear choices. Add rules for your heroes to get minor point discounts for loading up on wargear, to enable herohammer over extreme MSU.

Replace Maelstrom with a system for setting primary/secondary objectives, akin to NoVa missions in 5e.

The main thing I would want is three "tiers" of rules for skirmish-level, company-level, and epic-level. The company-level game would be what we recognize as "standard" 40k, albeit using a totally new rule system with ideas shamelessly stolen from better, more modern wargames. The Skirmish-level game would add rules to give you more control over your models, the epic-level game would significantly streamline the rules to make it play faster.

@DanielBeaver.
I totally agree!
If they used the same resolution methods and game mechanics, but just changed the focus of the interaction , from 'model elements' to 'unit elements' to 'units group elements'.

The same basic rules set could cover detailed skirmish, detailed battle , and massed battle games.

But a complete re-write is the only option worth considering for 8th ed 40k, from a game play point of view.

There isn't enough room on the internet for an 8th edition rulebook which doesnt have any mistakes in it. :]

This game is just too convoluted. I am astonished it has lasted for as long as it has.

 Filch wrote:
This game is just too convoluted. I am astonished it has lasted for as long as it has.

But at the same time, not convoluted enough.

40K rules are too complicated .
Rather than one simple resolution method to cover a single interaction, 40k uses 3 resolution methods and half a dozen special rules.

But the game play is too simple ,and lacks meaningful player decisions.

The rules should be clear and concise instructions on how to play the game.
The force organisation and point values should be used to allow fun random pick up games.

Anyone can make up cool stuff with their gaming group/like minded friends.
We do not need 'permission' from GW to take cool stuff we like , make up some cool rules , throw some dice to see what would happen ...Do we?

If the rules are clearly defined it makes adapting them for our own cool scenarios easier.(If you want to.)
If the F.O.C and PV are balanced to allow fun pick up games , it makes it easier to load scenarios with imbalance for narrative reasons.(If you want to.)

Current 40k rules fail in terms of;-
Technically correct publication.(Poor editing and proof reading.)
Most suitable game mechanics and resolution methods.
Lack of internal and external balance.So some units become 'auto select' if you want to win, and other are a 'handicap' even when trying to play a fun game.

The only things that are worth keeping are 3 stage damage resolution , and players taking turns,(Alternating game phases, rather than complete game turns.)