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A little background, I picked up Leviathan when it came out and played a 10E intro event back then and had a great time. By the time I started getting new models ready to play the edition for real, the first wave of Codexes had started to drop along with the first big Core Rules update and I never caught up.

I picked up the new Boarding Actions book as I just finished a set of ZM terrain and would really love to get some of my 40k models back on the table. I was hoping to be able to play basically out of the BA book along with the online Core Rules PDF. I checked WarCom and saw that the Core Rules doc was last updated in early 2023 and there's a 34-page Updates and Errata document from more recent that redlines, adds, and fundamentally changes parts of the Core Rules. I'm curious to hear from folks who play 40k regularly, how the hell do you actually play this game now? I own multiple rulebooks that are not correct. Do you play at the table with a whole stack of printed out extra documents leafed into your rulebook? Why isn't there a single up to date rulebook I can look at for the 'most accessible edition ever' or whatever nonsense GW is pushing? I haven't even gotten to looking at the state of the Codexes yet...

Most wargames are a matter of the oral tradition to be honest. Some people know the rules and read them carefully but most people play a vague understanding of the rules and learn about changes as they faceplant into them. Also, half the errata fixes competitive things that only matter if you know the rules well enough to exploit them, so for the most part if you're not playing in a highly competitive environment, you don't really need it.

There's bits I'll give GW flak for on this, but to be honest, most miniatures games are like this to one degree or another.

I don't really agree on that... I play Battletech and that has a consistently updated rulebook in print, with clear changelogs and usually just clarity/consistency edits. From a brief skim, 40k has a side PDF you're supposed to know about that appears to make a fundamental change to the way models are moved on the table? I'm only trying to play some home games of Boarding Actions, do I just say screw it and play out of my Leviathan core rules booklet?

 Prometheum5 wrote:
I'm only trying to play some home games of Boarding Actions, do I just say screw it and play out of my Leviathan core rules booklet?

That's what I'd do, yes.

First up? There's a number of erratta that you really don't need to care much about. Corrected spelling, adding the obviously missing word in places, punctuation, etc.

2nd: Some of the changes are just the quarterly (?) Pts changes GW insists on doing. You don't need to bother "knowing"these, you just look them up as needed. You'll remember some of them as time passes.

Next: Youre obviously a casual player. At least atm..... So for now concentrate on the changes that affect YOU. Core rules & for whatever army you play. If you don't play, say, Tau? Then ignore Tau specific stuff & (gasp!) Trust that the nex Tau player is doing it right. After you've got a good handle on your own stuff? (Of course if they tell you something too outlandish sounding you might want to look it up....)
Then worry about rules for whatever you most often play against.
And page count can be deceiving. GW likes to A) use large pictures, B) use overlong explanations at times (I mean, does it really require two pages to tell us how to turn a model?) for things most of us could express in about 6 lines of text (with no pics!)

Current 40k is [u]not[i] that hard of a game.
Read the rules + changes through a few times, get together with your fellow players, and play some games.
In a short time you won't even have to think about the changes - except to complain about them.

Ill second the above post, take it slow and play with the rules you've got (if you have a regular gaming group I'm sure this wont be a problem).

When you do decide to look at the changes, concentrate on the ones for your army and don't worry about the others ..especially if you are planning on playing boarding actions, as many of the core rules changes were to do with movement of vehicles, which fortunately you don't have to worry about in Boarding actions.

Gw have been doing a lot better recently in regards to fixing obviously broken/not working rules, but the downside is the situation for new players you find yourself in, but trust me, while it can seem daunting, unless you are planning on playing at tournament level you really don't need to know every little change (unless you play drukhari, in which case the new detachment they added in is pretty bmuch a must use..)

The big change I can think of that can come up is the change to Devastating Wounds.

They are Mortal Wounds, but they do NOT spill over. Which is, in my opinion, better for the health of the game.

A couple key things to help you out:

A.) Use an app for list building. These generally let you view the details of your units and are generally up-to-date with any changes to those units. So that can help a lot.

B.) Unless your opponent is as out of practice as you are, they probably know the rules better. Just do a basic reading of the core rules, and be open to your opponent pointing out rules that have changed as you go. Maybe let them know you're rusty and ask them to keep an eye out for opportunities to point out changed rules.

Basically, just give your permission to not know the rules perfectly for a while. You'll get up to speed once you have a few games under your belt.

Yeah, it is literally baffling there's not just a new core rules PDF with everything corrected and THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOULD USE TO PLAY printed on the front.

Having said that, if you just want to play boarding actions, I would probably just stick to the rulebook as it was printed unless you find something that you and your opponent can't figure out, in which case the FAQ/commentary might be useful to take a look at.

But it is confusing how it ever got this way - it's 10th's disease, a "simpler" ruleset that just... isn't.

 The Phazer wrote:

But it is confusing how it ever got this way - it's 10th's disease, a "simpler" ruleset that just... isn't.

Basically the reason everything is more complicated than it needs to be:

"Do not walk past this point"

"Can I run past it? Saunter? Can I mosey?"

Simple rules create room for exploits that get patched with more complicated wording to close up loopholes.

 LunarSol wrote:

 The Phazer wrote:

But it is confusing how it ever got this way - it's 10th's disease, a "simpler" ruleset that just... isn't.

Basically the reason everything is more complicated than it needs to be:

"Do not walk past this point"

"Can I run past it? Saunter? Can I mosey?"

Simple rules create room for exploits that get patched with more complicated wording to close up loopholes.

Disagree, it's just because GW refuses to write solid rules. What they did with AoS is such a breath of fresh air because it is all codified. Abilities looking for keywords and ability usage timings being clear was a great move. (It still not perfect, see manifestations, but it is miles ahead of what they previously released)

Honestly, each new edition has been an improvement since they started trying in 8th. I'm sure some of that will show up in a couple years with 11th. They tend to play it safe with 40k, but its come a long way from the absolutely outdated mess that was 7th.

 LunarSol wrote:
Honestly, each new edition has been an improvement since they started trying in 8th. I'm sure some of that will show up in a couple years with 11th. They tend to play it safe with 40k, but its come a long way from the absolutely outdated mess that was 7th.

Yeah. Credit where it's due, I've found the rules increasingly less confusing from 8th onward. Their wording is sometimes clunky legalese, but the intention is usually pretty clear. Usually.

Like, sure, Eldrad isn't able to generate CP if you start him in a deepstriking falcon, but also nobody is debating whether you can use a grenade in the fight phase because the grenade rules used the undefined word "throw" ala 7th edition.

Helpful advice for sure. My regular opponent would be my brother who's played just as little 10E, so I'm just overall frustrated by the lack of a single 'correct' rules document for us to both read up and then reference during play. If they can provide the Core Rules errata document, why can't they just update the actual Rules doc as well? I haven't played 40k in years for this reason, every time I go to try and start, I immediately get annoyed by the multiple documents required to play, especially when I bought the initial rulebook that was pretty much immediately modified.

If you are just playing with your brother, you can just use the core rules and the codex books rules and points. There is nothing stopping you from doing that. In fact that is probably the better way to do it if you don't have someone with more experience helping you. Learn the game basics, then if you want to play with others who are using the more up to date rules, you can then look at them and see how they apply. It is not really all that much of a change from the core rules in the commentary, other than that stupid move/pivot thing (which I am suspecting will probably get dropped at some point cause it is dumb) and the mortal wounds from Devastating Wounds/Hazardous not spilling over. Everything else is really specific case stuff related to specific instances or issues. The balance pass thing is a bigger deal, but it is pretty straight forward, mostly affects stratagem use, and as someone said earlier you can just focus on your own factions rules.

You mentioned Codexes earlier, Promethuem5 - just so you're aware, the Blood Angels Codex Supplement isn't out on its own yet for 10th.

There's a Blood Angels (well, Death Company) army set up for pre-order that includes it, but it'll probably be another month or so before it goes up on its own.

As it is a Codex Supplement, you'll need a copy of Codex: Space Marines to make full use of it (which will also have its own errata document, though I'm not sure what's in there at present).

I don't think you've mentioned what your brother plays, so I can't comment on that.

Haha, good looking out. I haven't played BA in a while but I am thinking about picking that box up. I keep up with the release schedule, but it's all the digital errata/updates after the books ship that throw me off.

 Prometheum5 wrote:
Haha, good looking out. I haven't played BA in a while but I am thinking about picking that box up. I keep up with the release schedule, but it's all the digital errata/updates after the books ship that throw me off.

That is one benefit of the app. They update/replace the rules there so the old ones aren't even there - one of the things I do is look at what was updated in the PDF, and pull up the rules in the app so its all inline rather than reading the passage in the book, then reading the PDF for the changes.

We use the app to clarify current wordings of keywords, but the rest just comes out of the printed rulebooks.
The Chapter Approved books will have recently updated core rules in them. But the online Core Rules is a massive missed-opportunity by GW to keep them all in one place.

GW's printed books are outdated as soon as they hit the shelves, and they know it. Which is why AoS has softback 'gamers editions' coming out.

Basically, if you see a major change to the rules mentioned, have a read up. When the new erratas drop, skim though for anything relevant to your army. Otherwise, casual play is whatever you have handy, and can remember how it works. For tournament play, you've got to be on the new rules, all of them.

Wahapedia has regularly updated rules for KT in one place, with references and links to changes.

It also has a 40k rules section. I don't know for sure, as I don't play 40k, but I would assume it is also updated with similar transparency to the KT section.

I am sorry to say this, but in this age of "living rulesets" relying on printed sources is just not doing oneself any favours :( Other companies seem to know this and they just have updated rules online or in their apps. For example GW games are a weird minority on BGG where almost every game has its rules in the files section, very often put there by the company making the game.

 Prometheum5 wrote:
I don't really agree on that... I play Battletech and that has a consistently updated rulebook in print, with clear changelogs and usually just clarity/consistency edits. From a brief skim, 40k has a side PDF you're supposed to know about that appears to make a fundamental change to the way models are moved on the table? I'm only trying to play some home games of Boarding Actions, do I just say screw it and play out of my Leviathan core rules booklet?

Battle tech is a really bad comparison. the core rules effectively have not changed in nearly 40 years with only a few minor tweaks like changing how AMS works to make it useful. 40K core mechanics go through huge swings 3rd-7th were very similar and are cross compatible. but prior to that 2nd ed was a very different rule set and now since 8th GW is swinging the core mechanics all over the place with each new edition (and sometimes within the edition). additionally with battle tech you have entire books of optional rules that are all official that you can use or not use as your group likes(hell our group still uses some great optional rules from max tech by FASA). there is no "current edition" or tournament standard rule set you must play like GW currently promotes and is expected by the general player base. you can play any era, any optional rules with the same minis.

 VladimirHerzog wrote:
What they did with AoS is such a breath of fresh air because it is all codified. Abilities looking for keywords and ability usage timings being clear was a great move. (It still not perfect, see manifestations, but it is miles ahead of what they previously released)

I love that Jervis wrote a multi-page article in White Dwarf about how models in AoS were clearly supposed to be able to hover in mid air partway up terrain pieces, but the players were just too dumb to understand what wasn't actually written in the rules...