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Ive read a ton of blogs and posts on forums, but I still dont feel up to date on whats changed from 5th to 6th. I stopped played roughly 1 year ago (right around when necrons came out).

What armies got better with 6th? what armies got worse?

What buils are better and worse?


Please no replies of "read the forum"....I have, a quick post update of what became better and worse would sufice.

The game is fairly well balanced compared to previous editions.

Flyers are quite powerful so armies without them can have a disadvantage but its not game breaking.


Simply using your old 5th edition lists and tactics will not work however, so if you are doing that you will be in for a serious trashing. Casualities getting removed from the front seems to be the most common thing that screws people. They put their sergeants and special weapons out front like they did in 5th when they were safe and end up losing them to carelessness.

Possiblity to shoot against a unit charging you : this is something to integrate whem you play CC armies, like tyranids. Psykers are back too and this is a good news

Unless they have the psychic power that lets you Overwatch at full BS its something you don't really have to be afraid of. Only Burnas and Flamers of Tzeentch are truly nasty with Overwatch.

Also, allies, fortifications and hull points.

The short version of the changes are:

Vehicle damage is changed (glancing hits remove a hull point, penetrating hits remove a hull point and roll on the damage table. A vehicle with 0hp is automatically wrecked,
Casualties are now removed closest to furthest (within line of sight)
Assault is now worse
Challenges now exist, sergeants and other characters should now be equipped to either win them, or be sacrificed during them.
When building a list you now have to be prepared to address fliers (either by taking your own or by taking AA)
AP2 melee weapons are harder to get.
Transports suffered various nerfs
Unless you have a special rule stating otherwise, you a unit can NEVER assault on the turn it entered the board.
Allies are in. They are nowhere near broken.
Psykers can now trade out their codex powers for random rulebook powers. Which powers are available to them depend on the codex. There are two good tables to roll on, 1 decent table, and the rest are mediocre.

RegalPhantom wrote:
The short version of the changes are:

Vehicle damage is changed (glancing hits remove a hull point, penetrating hits remove a hull point and roll on the damage table. A vehicle with 0hp is automatically wrecked,
Casualties are now removed closest to furthest (within line of sight)
Assault is now worse
Challenges now exist, sergeants and other characters should now be equipped to either win them, or be sacrificed during them.
When building a list you now have to be prepared to address fliers (either by taking your own or by taking AA)
AP2 melee weapons are harder to get.
Transports suffered various nerfs
Unless you have a special rule stating otherwise, you a unit can NEVER assault on the turn it entered the board.
Allies are in. They are nowhere near broken.
Psykers can now trade out their codex powers for random rulebook powers. Which powers are available to them depend on the codex. There are two good tables to roll on, 1 decent table, and the rest are mediocre.

-Can't run and assault
-Snipers and characters (sergeants and ICs) may be able to pick out units in a unit when shooting
-random charge range
-jump packs may be used to either move or re-roll 1d6 for assault distance
-fleet allows you to re-roll any movement dice
-heavy weapons may move and shoot, needing a 6 to hitt

nice! thanks for all the great replies.

What armies are consider "top tier" now?

Any armies become better? any armies become worse?

Tau sniper drones are A LOT better because they have stealth and shroud, so they get a 2+ cover save in a ruin.

We'll be back (necrons) is now a 5+ against anything as long as it isn't double toughness.

NEVER charge into a full unit of Ork burna boyz (D3x14 automatic hits). So, in my opinion, that got better for Orks.

Space Marines, if they break from failing morale, automatically rally during your turn (know no fear) and then consolidate 3".

Waiting to see what changes with Dark Angels (next codex)

 Mafty wrote:
nice! thanks for all the great replies.

What armies are consider "top tier" now?

Any armies become better? any armies become worse?

Necrons, Space Wolves, Imperial Guard, White Dwarf Chaos Daemons. They are the current top tier armies.

Codex: Marines got better. Codex: BA got worse. Ork bikers got better. Tyranids got better (Flying MCs). Eldar / Dark Eldar got worse (well, DE did, definitely).

Crazyterran wrote:

 Mafty wrote:
nice! thanks for all the great replies.

What armies are consider "top tier" now?

Any armies become better? any armies become worse?

Necrons, Space Wolves, Imperial Guard, White Dwarf Chaos Daemons. They are the current top tier armies.

Codex: Marines got better. Codex: BA got worse. Ork bikers got better. Tyranids got better (Flying MCs). Eldar / Dark Eldar got worse (well, DE did, definitely).

Nice, thanks for that reply. Is chaos daemons getting a new codex, or is the white dwarf update all they are getting. Was reading some rumour mill stuff that they are getting a new book.

Nice to see tyranids get better. What exactly about flyers is it that makes the new rules better?

you can only hit fliers on 6s

 Somedude593 wrote:
you can only hit fliers on 6s

Woah, that would be good. So why wouldnt eldar skimmer spam work? Or are the rules different for skimmers.

 Mafty wrote:

 Somedude593 wrote:
you can only hit fliers on 6s

Woah, that would be good. So why wouldnt eldar skimmer spam work? Or are the rules different for skimmers.

Flyer is a vehicle type.

the only Flyers that are in the game currently are,

BA + GK: Stormraven

Space Marine: Stormtalon

IG: Valkierie and Vendetta

Orks: Dakkajet, Blitz-bomber, and Burna Bomber

Necrons: Night Scythe and Doom Scythe

Dark Eldar: Razorwing and Voidraven

Chaos: Helldrake

Nobody else has Flyers yet.

Don't forget Morale changes - no more herding SM off the board as there's no restrictions on regrouping (except it's harder when you're severely decimated).

And Rapid Fire weapons have changed too - movement doesn't hurt them and the range for two shots is now half max.

Flyer is a vehicle type.

the only Flyers that are in the game currently are,

BA + GK: Stormraven

Space Marine: Stormtalon

IG: Valkierie and Vendetta

Orks: Dakkajet, Blitz-bomber, and Burna Bomber

Necrons: Night Scythe and Doom Scythe

Dark Eldar: Razorwing and Voidraven

Chaos: Helldrake

Nobody else has Flyers yet.

Don't forget the tyranids awesome flying Hive Tyrant !

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Mafty wrote:

 Somedude593 wrote:
you can only hit fliers on 6s

Woah, that would be good. So why wouldnt eldar skimmer spam work? Or are the rules different for skimmers.

Flyer is a vehicle type.

the only Flyers that are in the game currently are,

BA + GK: Stormraven

Space Marine: Stormtalon

IG: Valkierie and Vendetta

Orks: Dakkajet, Blitz-bomber, and Burna Bomber

Necrons: Night Scythe and Doom Scythe

Dark Eldar: Razorwing and Voidraven

Chaos: Helldrake

Nobody else has Flyers yet.

Winged Princes and Flyrants? Gargoyles? Harpy? >.>

Crazyterran wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Mafty wrote:

 Somedude593 wrote:
you can only hit fliers on 6s

Woah, that would be good. So why wouldnt eldar skimmer spam work? Or are the rules different for skimmers.

Flyer is a vehicle type.

the only Flyers that are in the game currently are,

BA + GK: Stormraven

Space Marine: Stormtalon

IG: Valkierie and Vendetta

Orks: Dakkajet, Blitz-bomber, and Burna Bomber

Necrons: Night Scythe and Doom Scythe

Dark Eldar: Razorwing and Voidraven

Chaos: Helldrake

Nobody else has Flyers yet.

Winged Princes and Flyrants? Gargoyles? Harpy? >.>

Swooping MCs are not the same as Flyers.

They share many if the same rules - mainly Hard to Hit.

So nids got better with the new book? Thats a nice change seeing as they werent very good before.

 Mafty wrote:
So nids got better with the new book? Thats a nice change seeing as they werent very good before.

Tyranid MC need to be wearing Sunglasses or something like that. A flashlight can make them crash. I am just coming back again, I think Tau Marker lights (or what ever they are, please correct me) can make a Tyranid HT or flying creature (does anyone use the Harpy?) crash, and take damage that way.

TechMarine1 wrote:

RegalPhantom wrote:
The short version of the changes are:

Vehicle damage is changed (glancing hits remove a hull point, penetrating hits remove a hull point and roll on the damage table. A vehicle with 0hp is automatically wrecked,
Casualties are now removed closest to furthest (within line of sight)
Assault is now worse
Challenges now exist, sergeants and other characters should now be equipped to either win them, or be sacrificed during them.
When building a list you now have to be prepared to address fliers (either by taking your own or by taking AA)
AP2 melee weapons are harder to get.
Transports suffered various nerfs
Unless you have a special rule stating otherwise, you a unit can NEVER assault on the turn it entered the board.
Allies are in. They are nowhere near broken.
Psykers can now trade out their codex powers for random rulebook powers. Which powers are available to them depend on the codex. There are two good tables to roll on, 1 decent table, and the rest are mediocre.

-Can't run and assault
-Snipers and characters (sergeants and ICs) may be able to pick out units in a unit when shooting
-random charge range
-jump packs may be used to either move or re-roll 1d6 for assault distance
-fleet allows you to re-roll any movement dice
-heavy weapons may move and shoot, needing a 6 to hitt

Great posts.

I've not yet played 6th and grow less and less inclined to. In many ways it reminds me of 2nd edition with a lot of granularity and additional tables (psy powers, warlord powers, terrain effects) which might be fine for a game of 20 models on a side but cannot be much fun with 100+ models on the side.

Plus the new rules for melee weapons means that thing which were once aesthetic choices (should I give my colonel a sword or an axe) now have in-game effects which again, makes modeling less fun.

But that's my rant,

Kid_Kyoto wrote: In many ways it reminds me of 2nd edition with a lot of granularity and additional tables (psy powers, warlord powers, terrain effects) which might be fine for a game of 20 models on a side but cannot be much fun with 100+ models on the side.

This is not altogether inaccurate. The game has become more confused as to what it wants to be with many mechanics pushing larger armies more appropriate to battallion level wargames but other mechanics focusing on detail you might not even get out of most skirmish based games, and more in-game record keeping is required than ever.

Its really not that bad. Setup takes about a minute longer than before. The individual phases don't take much longer than 5th once you get the rules down.

It's a lot of changes. The biggest change I've been a part of (I missed 2nd, started 3rd, and have played a LOT of every edition from 3rd on).

Really it takes playing a bunch of it to get a feel for it. While a few armies are certainly good, there's no clear defined metagame yet, with "standard" army builds for each codex you expect to regularly see at events. Just a few elements/units.

It definitely plays a little slower and is more fiddly in places, and is a bit shootier/less assaulty than 5th, but overall is pretty balanced and fun.

are there any armies dominating the tourny scene at the moment? are some armies clearly better than others right out the gate?

Necron Flyer Spam looks strong, but I think most big tournaments are in the summer so... Not yet.

I think the transition will make games longer than they used to be, but once you have adjusted the games are actually faster.

 Grey Templar wrote:
I think the transition will make games longer than they used to be, but once you have adjusted the games are actually faster.

I just did my first glance over the rulebook and the new wound allocation seems incredibly confusing. I know the old allocation was abused, but it was for the most part simple. This seems like it could cause a lot of disagreements as to who is closest.

Flyers and Flying MC seem to be very difficult to destroy as per the rulebook.

It seems confusing, but it really boils down to you take saves and allocate to the closest model first.

If you have mixed saves(or FnP) you roll one at a time, but if they are all the same you take them all at once and remove casualities from the front.

The old system could get incredibly dumb. This one is fairly straightforward once you read through it.