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Is there any thread here on dakka that does a reasonably quick comparison between 8th and 7th? I am returning from a long hiatus and wanted to know what the main differences are. So far what I have been able to piece together is that the bloat/fat has been trimmed, the rules are less complex, meaning games progress faster, and close combat armies do much better now than they used to in 6th and 7th, but I have also heard worrying stuff like AoS creep, vehicles losing their armor value, cover saves being retconned for mere improvements to armor save, every psyker being able to cast smite rather than settle for a psychic discipline with its primaris power and dice roll for other powers like psykers used to, and so on.

You don't have to like give me the exhaustive list of all changes but some kind of quick "oh this is now totally different" rundown would be helpful, just point me out in the right direction thanks.

Here is a condensed version of how the game works.



http://www.warhammerdigital.com/Downloads/Product/PDF/rules/Warhammer-40k-Battle-Primer-English.pdf

 Sir Arun wrote:
Is there any thread here on dakka that does a reasonably quick comparison between 8th and 7th? I am returning from a long hiatus and wanted to know what the main differences are. So far what I have been able to piece together is that the bloat/fat has been trimmed, the rules are less complex, meaning games progress faster, and close combat armies do much better now than they used to in 6th and 7th, but I have also heard worrying stuff like AoS creep, vehicles losing their armor value, cover saves being retconned for mere improvements to armor save, every psyker being able to cast smite rather than settle for a psychic discipline with its primaris power and dice roll for other powers like psykers used to, and so on.

You don't have to like give me the exhaustive list of all changes but some kind of quick "oh this is now totally different" rundown would be helpful, just point me out in the right direction thanks.

Well, the thing is that everything changed more or less, it's probably easier to list things that didn't change.

I'll still try to give you a rundown of things that had the biggest impact:
Stats
- BS and WS tables have been replaced with fixed numbers
- Toughness table has been changed so you only wound on 2+ when you have at least twice as much strength and you always wound on 6+
- Initiative has gone away, charger always strike first, then opponents alternate in picking which units fight
- Models now have a movement stat, defining how far they move
- Weapons now have a damage stat which defines how many wounds a failed save costs the target model
- AP is now a modifier to the armor value, for example AP -3 takes a marine from 3+ to 6+ armor

Movement
- All models can advance d6 inches in addition to their movement, but cannot charge or shoot this turn
- No more turbo-boosting, flat-out or whatever, everybody advances.

Shooting
- Cover now is +1 to armor
- All models need to be in or touch a terrain piece to benefit from cover
- No cover from models or terrain you are not touchning
- Models in a unit are no longer restricted to shoot the same unit
- Combi-Weapons are no longer one use and can shoot both profiles at once
- Templates have gone away. Most template weapons are now d6 automatic hits with 8" range
- Blasts have also gone away. Large blasts are d6 shots, small blasts are d3
- Heavy weapons can shoot after moving with -1 to hit

Assault
- Models can leave combat if they forfeit shooting and charging for that turn
- Flying models (all 7th ed jetbikes, jump infantry, skimmers, flyers) can disengage without penalty
- You can consolidate into unit you have not charged and drag them into combat, but you cannot attack them on the turn you charged
- No more bonus attacks for charging, pistols or two close combat weapons
- You can charge no matter who you shot or what weapons you used to shoot

Characters
- Characters now have a lot more wounds than their rank and file counterparts
- Characters can never join a unit
- Characters can only be shot at if they are the closest unit unless you are a sniper

Vehicles
- Vehicles have regular stat lines now, usually with a 3+ save, high toughness and lots of wounds
- Damage table has gone away
- Armor facings have gone away
- Instead of tank shocking or ramming vehicles simply assault
- You must disembark before moving a transport
- You can disembark and charge from all transports

Psykers
- No more disciplines, every psykers gets to pick 0-3 powers from a table of three army-specific powers
- You may roll your powers if you want, but you can also pick them
- Every psyker knows smite
- Some psykers have rules that change how their smite works
- Outside of smite, every power can be used only once per army
- Powers have a minimum roll you have to beat with 2d6
- Deny the witch with your psykers within 24" of an enemy psyker if you beat your opponent's 2d6 roll with your own 2d6 roll
- Only one deny per power, even if you have 20 psykers around your opponent's librarian
- Perils on or deal one mortal wound to the caster, spectacular explosion if it kills him.

Morale
- Only once at the end of the turn
- If your number of casualties from the entire turn +d6 is more than your LD value, you lose that many models
- No more falling back, pinning or other effects. Models simply instantly run off the board to be never seen again
- Most armies have some way to mitigate this

That should be enough to give you a rough impression. In general stuff now lives a lot longer and you spend a lot less time on rolling for rules that do nearly nothing or arguing about 16th of inches for fire arcs, blasts, templates or facings.