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Hi all.

This is my first post here, and I've not played 40k for around 20 years, and I'm still not that old! I have been looking at getting into the game and spent the last couple of weeks stripping paint off old space marines and repainting them, started reading the rules and heard that a new edition was coming, so I have hit the breaks and paused until I know for sure what is going on.

Now, what I have been playing for the last 7 or so years, is rank and file Fantasy gaming systems. When WHFB died, I started looking for other systems and found Kings of War. It's rank and file fantasy with a very simple to learn set of rules, and the complexity stems from tactics on the table, more than it does being able to win soley based on the strength of your list and I could not go back to playing the complex system that WHFB was. I played and ran a tournament this weekend, the rulebook came out once and I had two rules queries all day!

Therefore, I am excited by the simplification of 40k. Reading the current rules as a newbie was really frustrating given that I have seen what can be accomplished by simple rules systems.

Today, the new statlines were published and I am inspired, yet I have seen a number of posts wondering how this will affect you guys, understandably so!

Mainly this seems to be frustration at the BS and weapon skill mechanic, whereby now the unit hits on a fixed value. Kings of War does the same, but all is not as it seems, here is how that game handles it, and hopefully GW do something similar.

In KoW, there are two special rules, one is called stealthy, the other is called ensnare.

Stealthy makes your opponent -1 to hit with shooting, and ensnare does the same for HTH - so maybe skilled or evasive units could have a similar type of rule meaning that your Eldar can dodge the butt of a Space Marines bolter for example.

Furthermore, shooting at units in cover, or charging through difficult terrain also confers a -1 to hit penalty. This is cumulative with the aforementioned rules, so significant effort is required to shift a unit with one of these rules that decides to sit in terrain!

I was actually disappointed that strength and toughness is staying in 40k. In KoW you have a defence value which your opponent needs to beat with their rolls to cause damage, with high strength weapons, monsters and such having special rules that modify the required roll appropriately, but I suppose having one "to wound" chart handy for newcomers isnt the end of the world either.

I am also very glad that initiative has gone and that the charger gets to go first. This used to bug me in WHFB. I'd play Skaven or Orcs, manage to manoeuvre my forces to outflank my friends Elves and watch the Elves go first and murder all my models before they got to strike, despite my opponent not doing anything to gain that advantage other than to bring Elves.

However, the question remains over what happens in subsequent rounds of combat. I've seen lots of posts suggesting quite complicated methods of working this out, such as using the movement value. My guess would be that it will be the person whose turn it is who goes first - it's nice and simple and doesnt require any looking up stats!

Vehicle rules I am glad to see gone - it's going to be so much easier for me to learn the game without having to know the intricate differences between the different types of vehicle. I look at the dreadnought profile published earlier and I immediately feel like I know what is going on.

Seeing that the big toys will have "dozens" of wounds doesnt surprise me either, as you can have weapons that do variable amounts of damage. In KoW there is a rule called "Blast (n)" with the (n) being the amount of damage one hit can do, and this is often variable so the (n) value could be as little as d3 or as much as d6+4. So anti vehicle weapons might employ a similar mechanic which will help to whittle down the dozens of wounds on such vehicles, but they're releasing weapon profiles tomorrow so I guess we will find out soon. It is going to be hilariously funny when a Titan has been shelled with everything and has one wound left, and a las pistol proves to be the straw that breaks the camels back!

I guess what I really came here to say was that as an outsider looking in, I see plenty of positives. When WHFB died I was full of despair, but all is not lost here. I wish they wouldn't tease us with profiles without explaining them in their full context as that leads to lots of speculation, worry and "what if". Now, almost 2 years later i'm glad GW killed WHFB and allowed me to find a cleaner system that allows me to play the game, not the rules.

Sorry for the rambling first post, I hope some of you guys who don't play other systems can take heart from my experience of streamlined rules and start feeling positive about your hobby again!

We simply don't know enough about this edition to draw a conclusion about first charger.

it ALL hinges on the move speed and movement of units they haven't announced. It doesn't matter if your terminators can go first on the charge, because they'll still never catch Tau / Eldar - unless of course, movement disparity is balanced.

From what I have seen, this is a move in the right direction. I am very excited about 8th. Though only after a few games will we know