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I started Warhammer 40,000 in 3rd edition. Anyone have nostalgia? I remember iron halos were better than terminator armor. HQ's could join squads. Missile launchers were more cost efficient than lascannons. Space Marines would have a hidden power fist in the sergeant with initiative 1. Force commanders had higher initiatives so went with power swords instead of power fists. And plasma guns were used because of AP 2 which ignored the saves. Used even when they would overheat without rerolls. Drop pods, infiltration, or rhinos were taken. No advancing. Iron warriors could have 4 basilisks and 9 obliterators, who had 4 weapons choices of heavy bolter, lascannon, missile launcher, and plasma gun. Inquisition daemonhunters had to use imperial guard to be good. And vehicles had armor values front and back. Anyone have previous editions remembering cool rules? Thankee.

You'll find a lot of nostalgia for older editions here. 4th was my favorite era, though I started in 2nd and remember it quite fondly as well.

I don't recall Iron Warriors being able to get 4 Basilisks though. I think they could take 4 Heavy Support choices, of which one could be a Basilisk.

My favorite? Elite Devastator squads with Tank Hunters and Lascannons for a virtual S10 AT squad. Personally I always kept my Captain with a Powerfist or equivalent. He wasn't there to duel other characters, but to bring the pain to units after tanking a few hits. I preferred just shooting enemy characters

I agree. Bringing a power sword to fight other marines will force you to roll 4+ to wound, if you don´t have any special rules such as Furious Charge. So the potential to fail is high. Better bring a jump pack & power fist. With high mobility you can then choose your fights more easily and perform wound rolls on 2+ in almost all cases.

I liked in 3rd-4th Ed when Dark Eldar actually had options and an Archon was legit scary in close combat. I remember rolling up in a Raider and dropping of an Archon, Drazar, and 8 incubi (with leader). They'd simply wreck faces.

I'll echo that dark eldar nostalgia. Being able thoroughly customize your HQs (and even your sybarites/wych squad leaders) back in the day was really satisfying. Plus, being able to hop out of a raider after it moved made your units *feel* really fast (Compared to now where you have your opponent's entire turn to forget about how far your raider moved before hopping out and moving at infantry speed.)

I absolutely loved the combat drug rules from the old dark eldar codex. You could give them to all your HQs and sergeants, and you could pick how many drugs you wanted that model to benefit from that turn. The more drugs you used at once, the more likely you were to overdose and hurt yourself.

I'll also give a shoutout to the 5th edition Pain Tokens. They were slightly messy when handing them out and redistributing them, but they were really viscerally satisfying. The Power From Pain rules haven't felt quite right ever since the token went away.

Also, this is from relatively recent editions, but I remember the jink rule fondly. Being able to trade next turn's offense for this turn's defense was an interesting choice and did a surprisingly good job of making our flying vehicles feel maneuverable.

Akshuly...
Las-plas was generally preferred over missile launchers in 3rd. Power fists made you strike last, not at I1, Drop Pods were only usable as a special deployment rule in the Planetstrike (Marine specific) scenario, Iron Warriors could take 4 Heavy Support choices, but Basilisks were still 0-1, Obliterators had six ranged weapons (plus power fists). Daemonhunters were never good unless you were doing some tailored Sanctuary shenanigans.

 Lord Damocles wrote:
Akshuly...
Las-plas was generally preferred over missile launchers in 3rd. Power fists made you strike last, not at I1, Drop Pods were only usable as a special deployment rule in the Planetstrike (Marine specific) scenario, Iron Warriors could take 4 Heavy Support choices, but Basilisks were still 0-1, Obliterators had six ranged weapons (plus power fists). Daemonhunters were never good unless you were doing some tailored Sanctuary shenanigans.

Ackshually, ackshually . . .

Drop Pods were in the 4th ed codex as a unit. Drop Pods were useable in the 3rd ed book through a special rule where you could put your entire army in Deep Strike, but you were limited in the unit choices you could take. Only Infantry, Dreadnoughts and Land Speeders could be in your army.

I'm a total 2nd ed. zealot, but everyone knows that.

What I liked for 3rd was the way my Imperial Guard army list was built entirely around manipulation and exploitation. "A word in your ear" to expose a unit to shooting, free moves from the sentinels and other skullduggery.

Oh, and they were metal Praetorians painted in Boer War colors. Looked really sharp. I sold/traded them for WW II Germans and while it was a very advantageous trade, those guys looked great.

In fact, while I was doing my final Army fitness test in Basic Training, I distracted myself from the discomfort by mentally reviewing my army and contemplating what new units I would buy when I got home.

Wargear.

Seriously, I miss being able to pile a ton of random gubbins onto my HQs. I liked having a ton of choices and being able to give different HQs all manner of different equipment. I liked having the option of being able to skip defensive gear that is now standard (e.g. Shadowfields), or of giving my HQ everything but the kitchen sink. I miss weapons that were actually different and that fulfilled different roles, rather than having four interchangeable power-swords and bugger-all else.

This applies most of all to Dark Eldar but also to my Necrons. Boy do I miss some of the 5th edition builds.

Speaking of 5th edition Necrons, I miss Royal Courts. I loved being able to field a pile of different infantry squads and have each one led by one or two Crypteks or Lords. It wasn't the most effective list but boy was it fun.


For a more recent sadness, I miss 7th edition Corsairs. They were by far my favourite army in 7th and I adored them. Given that by this point Dark Eldar had already started haemorrhaging options, it felt great to have an army that felt like everything I wanted Dark Eldar to be. Suddenly I had a HQ with a ton of options. Suddenly I had oodles of mobility options - including being able to take Jet Packs on every single infantry unit if I felt so inclined. They even had a version of Scourges that actually functioned properly with Heavy weapons. I loved the flavour. I loved the units. I loved the lists I could build without even needing to take the more Craftworld-y vehicles.

And then 8th dropped and GW/FW just couldn't be arsed giving them a new codex, even though the 7th edition one was already so close to 8th's mechanics that it barely needed updating.

I remember playing 3rd edition Orks against Imperial Guard in a absurd game on 4X8 and managing to some how walk way up the table to victory. Table quarter deployments made for a fantastic game.

Playing dark Eldar only a few times and I managed to rout and table a chaos space marine army using some kind of grenades that forced LD checks and failing units had to fall back, save or suck. That stacked with raiders to exploit the cross ire rule and the game was over before I realized I had won!

I remember Dark Angels tac Squad shooting at Necron warriors who were fairly close to a table edge and forced a LD test but they rolled above a 10 and fell back right off the table! My opponent just hung his head and said, It figures.
and lastly I remember chasing some kind of Space marine commander off the table, must have been 4th edition by this point. The kid was being snotty so I "showed him a magic trick". I guess that character had been with a unit and forced to fall back but I stayed in range and it was a days chain of fall backs and off the table he went. I can't recall specifically how that worked now.

Oh, and the famous tractor accident. This kid playing IG against my orks threw his command into my killa Kan wall and after words we said it was a tractor accident in the report back to high command. Cool kid we became good friends and laughed about that game for years.

I remember many good moments for those old editions that were a lot of fun.

I remember nostalgia.

I also remember there was a better quality of nostalgia back in my day ...

I struggle to imagine a setting of w40k, where I am still playing the game, which is worse then the expiriance of GK in 8th ed. It was borderline unfun for years, and when GW did fix it, they first had problems with sending out the PA books, and then covid came, so when GK were fun I didn't even get to play them. Or rather I got to play them for 2 weeks, which was like 3 games.

 vipoid wrote:
Wargear.

Seriously, I miss being able to pile a ton of random gubbins onto my HQs. I liked having a ton of choices and being able to give different HQs all manner of different equipment. I liked having the option of being able to skip defensive gear that is now standard (e.g. Shadowfields), or of giving my HQ everything but the kitchen sink. I miss weapons that were actually different and that fulfilled different roles, rather than having four interchangeable power-swords and bugger-all else.

This applies most of all to Dark Eldar but also to my Necrons. Boy do I miss some of the 5th edition builds.

Speaking of 5th edition Necrons, I miss Royal Courts. I loved being able to field a pile of different infantry squads and have each one led by one or two Crypteks or Lords. It wasn't the most effective list but boy was it fun.


For a more recent sadness, I miss 7th edition Corsairs. They were by far my favourite army in 7th and I adored them. Given that by this point Dark Eldar had already started haemorrhaging options, it felt great to have an army that felt like everything I wanted Dark Eldar to be. Suddenly I had a HQ with a ton of options. Suddenly I had oodles of mobility options - including being able to take Jet Packs on every single infantry unit if I felt so inclined. They even had a version of Scourges that actually functioned properly with Heavy weapons. I loved the flavour. I loved the units. I loved the lists I could build without even needing to take the more Craftworld-y vehicles.

And then 8th dropped and GW/FW just couldn't be arsed giving them a new codex, even though the 7th edition one was already so close to 8th's mechanics that it barely needed updating.

As usual, I will join you in pouring one out for the 7th edition Corsairs. May jetpack troops rest in the infinity circuit along with windrider troops that let their respective armies feel mobile and distinct. Let us remember fondly the vehicle saves that got better based on how quickly your vehicles moved thus creating interesting trade-offs in defense/offense. Let us remember fondly the juicy, flavorful subfaction rules that were large both more interesting and less game breaking than modern chapter tactics (but maybe that's the rose-tinted goggles talking). May GW remember the cleverness of an alternative set of Perils of the Warp rules that made ancient space elves less likely to blow themselves up while also feeling more spooky/nasty than just randomly taking some damage.

The 7th edition corsair rules felt like they were written by someone who liked the faction and was given permission to do something fun with them.

Assault ramps on Landraiders allowing charges from it even after it moved.

I miss 3.5 edition Guard and CA/WD armoured company. Dropping a demolisher pie plate on a unit of terminators was always satisfying. Especially if you could pay 20 points for a scatter dice reroll.

I know this is going to stir some controversy, but I kinda miss aspects of the model/terrain "size" categories and magic cylinder.

Yes, it's a little more abstract, but it allowed people to model figures in cool poses without worrying about "modeling for advantage". Standard infantry size 1, Terminators/Ogryn/Tyranid warriors size 2. They can hide behind terrain at least their size category. Easy to understand, quicker to play.

I started circa '94 shortly after 2nd edition launched. I have fond memories of that era, but I find that I most often reminisce of 5th edition.

I miss when we didn't have 600+ stratagems or 7,000+ bespoke rules. When each unit had a stat line, its wargear, and maybe one or two rules/abilities... and that was it. The game wasn't perfect, but it also wasn't bogged down with rules bloat and just seemed to flow organically. We didn't have to remember 100+ arbitrary limits, or constantly hit pause to explain how 6 or more rules/abilities/stratagems stack to let me do something or hard stop to count & bookkeep mission scoring.

I miss progressive campaigns and the best supplement never played... Planetstrike.

My hope for the future is to see the pendulum swing away from the doldrums of competition and back towards the fascination that drew so many of us into W40K. A simpler game where the models and terrain we lovingly assemble, and paint once again have meaning beyond just what it can do in-game to win.

I do miss my roaming vortex grenades and equipment cards from second.

 Daedalus81 wrote:
I do miss my roaming vortex grenades and equipment cards from second.

Jones is acting awfully strange, don't you think?

 Daedalus81 wrote:
I do miss my roaming vortex grenades and equipment cards from second.

Vortex grenades are a personal fav

 Insectum7 wrote:
You'll find a lot of nostalgia for older editions here. 4th was my favorite era, though I started in 2nd and remember it quite fondly as well.

Ditto - started at the beginning of 2nd, which was a chaotic but fun mess. 4th is still my favorite edition; less chaotic than 2nd and more refined than 3rd (I really like the grimdark codexes from this era including 3.5 codexes, the targeting rules utilizing leadership, abstract terrain rules vs. true LOS, and variety of missions with different "levels" introducing more optional rules). Thanks Andy Chambers. 5th wasn't bad but 40k has been on a downward trajectory ever since late 5th IMO.

I miss... everything? The metal dark eldars, the bike archon, the catachan codex, the doom rider; i miss the necron codex of 4th, i miss the real c'tan, i miss the dwarf avatar. I have already mentioned the bike archon? I love the bike archon

 Daedalus81 wrote:
I do miss my roaming vortex grenades and equipment cards from second.

"Hah! Penetrating hit!" [Rolls dice] "Yes! turret blown off and lands... [rolls scatter] ON MY WARLORD?!"

20 cadians for £20

Il sentiero arato wrote:
I miss... everything? The metal dark eldars, the bike archon, the catachan codex, the doom rider; i miss the necron codex of 4th, i miss the real c'tan, i miss the dwarf avatar. I have already mentioned the bike archon? I love the bike archon

I too love the bike Archon, especially when the rest of the army is in reserve awaiting the Webway Portal placement and said Archon flies right in front of a Demolisher Cannon T1 and fails that Shadow Field save.

My first game of Rogue Trader in 1990 was my Order of the Phoenix Marines (like Deathwatch, every member had belonged to a different chapter; admission into the order of the phoenix requires that members "Die" only to be reborn into their new chapter) vs a handful of orks with pompadour hairsquigs and rhinestone jumpsuits.

The Elvis orks also had a pick-up truck.

Nothing was better than the days of the 3.5 Chaos and Guard Codices. Yes, my precious Tyranids sucked back then (2nd Ed was far more fun), but Chaos and Guard were just the coolest armies, and I put tons into them.

Racerguy180 wrote:

 Daedalus81 wrote:
I do miss my roaming vortex grenades and equipment cards from second.

Vortex grenades are a personal fav

I remember the first time I encountered the "Vortex Detonator" vehicle card. It was at a Thursday Night game at Games Workshop. Guy tried to Vortex a Demolisher. Got a rude shock.

This got me thinking about the virus outbreak card having been "banned" via the WD. I got thinking that the game was 5 turns so did it really need to be banned? Sadly I never pulled it but we may have removed it from the deck. I can't recall. But in a 5 turn game just how much hurt would that even bring. I remember SM's were sealed troops so they were far less likely to be bothered than most anything else. In a mission like take and hold I think that card would make for a very dynamic game, especially if the table was chocked full of terrain. Thoughts on that or any experience with that card?

Deadnight wrote:
20 cadians for £20

When I started a box of 20 guardsmen was $50 AUD. That was from GW directly. They were much less from a discount retailer, from memory, I was paying about $37.50 AUD.

The old Cadian Battleforce box was $150 AUD. Which had 20 guardsmen, 3 heavy weapon teams, a leman russ, and terrain. I was paying about $112.50 AUD from the shop I went to.

Now-a-days they're $77 AUD for 10 guardsmen. So if I wanted to buy 100 guardsmen now, that's $770 AUD from GW or about $616 from a discount retailer. Back then it was $250 AUD from GW and $187.50 from the shop I went to. Which is pretty ridiculous and I would have never started this hobby at todays prices.

Still remember clear as day walking into this 'Games Workshop' store in Sheffield in 1987....

My friend at school had told me they sold 'metal Romans' and stuff (had loads of plastic little soldiers). Back then GW sold all sorts of lines....proper funky fantasy miniatures and all sorts...

Walked in and there was a group playing this space combat battle.

These Green ork things were in this huge/city fortress thing and there were these Blue 'Space Marines' with a red stripe on their helmet advancing.

Watched in awe as a player made his Rocket Launcher guy fire at about 70 inch range at some orks....I was amazed, measuring out the distance and everything!!!

13 YO me was very enthralled.