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With 8th ed just around the corner, and it seems to be really changing things up, it seemed to me like a good time to start talking about what we've liked about past editions.



Personally, I have the most nostalgia for 2nd ed. However, I really don't think it was the best game back then (vehicle combat and psychic combat used a separate system from the main game, Virus Outbreak would kill off your force before the game starts, and Eldar only lost to other Eldar players).

I think my favorite incarnation of the game was early 4th ed. The game was streamlined well, but they also had a good number of options. You could make an army from any chaos chapter, or build your own imperial guard or space marine force- complete with unique abilities and limitations.

Sometime between 3rd and 4th with the Trial Assault Rules and vehicle rules. Those were some good times.

This is from someone who played 1st-6th edition of the game.

The one I began to play with, now tinted with a nice shade of pink.

I voted Rogue Trader because it went downhill from there

2nd. was too heavy with rules but had a lot of charm..

I honestly think 3rd had a lot of potential but the missions were bad and balance not perfect...

I liked 5th quite a lot, when I could have massive blobs of Guardsmen charge across the field and club things to death. The only downside I remember was all of the wound allocation nonsense, one of the most annoying and gamey aspects that 40k has had. I only really had a problem with it when those "all different equipment paladin squads" came around, but it really hurt the fun when you came across one.

6ed was good until the bonker codexes showed up (Daemons and Eldar)

Every edition has had issues.

5E would probably be the best overall. I still cringe to myself every time I state that, with the introduction of the exceedingly stupid KP rules (yeah that empty Drop Pod is worth just as much as a Land Raider!), vehicle's being either immobile static pillboxes or transports that ignored everything but kill/immobilized results, 4+ cover for *everything*, and the awful wound allocation rules, amongst some other things. That said, it was probably the best overall at the core level. The codex balance wasn't great, but that's been bad in every edition and has been even worse in 6E and 7E.

4E would probably be the best after that, just don't play IG/Witch Hunters/Daemon Hunters, or anything reliant on vehicles that aren't skimmers, because you won't have much fun.

3E is probably behind both of these but ahead of 6th and 7th.

6E had some really poor core mechanics introduced (HP's, challenges, random rolls for days, "mysterious" terrain/objectives, really poor mission design, more wound allocation silliness, reintroduction of the Skimmer vs Non-Skimmer gap, etc) and even worse codex balance than 5E.

7th is a complete pile of garbage that can't go away fast enough, it is, at least in my experience, by far the single worst edition of Warhammer 40,000 ever. It took all the mistakes of 6E, doubled down on them, and then got really bad from there

RT and 2E are so different from each other and these other editions that they're really hard to compare, they're effectively different games altogether.

I started in 2nd, and still remember it fondly.

But 5th, for all its flaws, is easily the best of them.

 Vaktathi wrote:


RT and 2E are so different from each other and these other editions that they're really hard to compare, they're effectively different games altogether.

I agree, but that seems to be what we're getting next.

I voted for 3rd, but truly it should be 3.5 after the Chapter Approved books and articles came out that introduced Fire Points and Access Points on vehicles. Aside from that, I loved 5th edition and my only gripe was the wound allocation rule. In fact, for years I've said that I'd be happy to abandon 7th edition and go back to playing 5th.

6th and 7th edition got way over-bloated with rules that were intended to give the game more flavor and resulted in a giant mess that was damn near unplayable in tournaments had it not been for the ITC rules. (Which had to be updated constantly to keep up with the rapid change the game's meta constantly went through.)

I'm very hopeful that 8th edition is a 40k renaissance that brings back the number of players and enthusiasm that 5th edition had. I remember going to 40k night at my FLGS and seeing no less than 20 players all with their armies ready with dice to roll. Now when I go to my FLGS for 40k, there's about 3-5 guys there that don't want to play and instead spend their time painting and talking about the old days of 5th edition.

Most people will say the edition they started in. I say 4e since that was back before rules bloat and size bloat had gotten out of control, and before the death of customization in 5e (seriously, guys, Chapter Tactics as rules attached to specific Special Characters, what sort of colossal moron could have thought that was a good idea?), but after the insanity of RT/2e had gotten cleaned up and after 3e had gotten polished into a more streamlined/functional system, but that may be because that's when I started playing, so...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Wolflord Patrick wrote:
...Aside from that, I loved 5th edition and my only gripe was the wound allocation rule. In fact, for years I've said that I'd be happy to abandon 7th edition and go back to playing 5th...

...Might want to do something about the 35pt Rhino, too...

 AnomanderRake wrote:


...Might want to do something about the 35pt Rhino, too...

LOL... If you've ever seen me roll dice, you'll know that my rhinos always cost 40 points since I couldn't move around the battlefield without a dozer blade.

 Wolflord Patrick wrote:

 AnomanderRake wrote:


...Might want to do something about the 35pt Rhino, too...

LOL... If you've ever seen me roll dice, you'll know that my rhinos always cost 40 points since I couldn't move around the battlefield without a dozer blade.

True that.

(Could be worse. Mine (Legion Rhinos) cost 50pts 'cause FW gave me the option for a pintle heavy bolter. Or they cost 50pts because my homemade Grey Knight book got Psychic Pilot back.)

Still, the pump to vehicle durability in 5th that came with a 30% discount on Rhinos did sort of turn the game into a parking lot. Full of Rhinos.

Didn't play 4th, but I'd have to rank 5th/3rd ahead of 6th/7th ahead of the ghastly 2nd.

2nd Ed best Ed

Playing a 2nd ed game these days gets to be a bit OOT, as the 'rarer' models from back then are just so easy to get now...

Whats that I have 3 Carnifex and 50 hormagaunts prepare you ****

One of the cool things about 2nd ed was that it was based on lower model count forces.

It was really fun to play a crazy infantry heavy force that filled the table and see your opponent starring despairingly as none of his attacks make a significant impact.

Also, it was really fun to pair with Necromunda. When your gang got super powered enough, you could send an Eversor Assassin after them.

2nd edition were the most fun games. Going against cheesed out uber chaos marines made more of a challenge than anything Ive faced.
They said that the games biggest following was during 3rd edition. Sadly that is when I saw 80% of my pals quit due to the 'dumbing' down of the game. Most of my new opponents were not in the same class of quality of players or played an army that was very heavy on uber units which made playing "themey" armies not very fun.


2nd Edition also had supplemental rules that were in whitedwarf, the citadel journal and 3rd party companies sanctioned by GW. It seemed there was a lot of creativity and options. Who has seen ORK ROKKERZ in a game since ???

If 8th edition is indeed a return to a cleaned up 2.5 then I may have found my new fave edition

wes

I personally really liked 3rd edition. A very simplified ruleset with not all that many special rules to deal with. It's a lot easier to explain stuff to people.

Specifically 3rd, not 3.5, because that's when a lot of things got....murky.

I only started right at the start of 6th, so I won't vote

3rd Edition - rulebook lists only, prior to any Codices being printed. The only time the game was actually smooth, fast and balanced.

Also right after the Eldar got their WKs. Good times, well-balanced, totally fair gameplay.

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:
I personally really liked 3rd edition. A very simplified ruleset with not all that many special rules to deal with. It's a lot easier to explain stuff to people.

Specifically 3rd, not 3.5, because that's when a lot of things got....murky.

I can see where you're coming from.

I played in 2nd, and 3rd hit me with quite a shock. It just felt overly simple coming from the days of psychic decks and wargear cards.

It wasn't until 3.5 (ish) where I started feeling comfortable with it again (about when the 2nd Chaos Space Marine 'dex came out).


3 pure was definitely more streamlined, but I felt like a lot of the flavor was missing in the initial release.

Played them all. 2nd, 5th, 4th would be my top three. But you have to catch all three at the right time and before or after certain codices.

If I look back and try to rate it objectively... none.
I played 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th.

They all had their issues and were always a clunky, unbalanced mess.

I only stuck to it and started it again because of the models.
I'm much happier with AoS and therefore very excited for 8th.

All had their issues. 5th was sort of allright pre GK but it was no fun post GK. Just as pre necron 7th codexes (ignoring 6th codexes) where not that bad when they fought against each other.
The internet killed 40k balancing mechanism -> local ignorance of loopholes and hyper effective units.

Not sure, but I liked the CSM codex edition 3.5.
The best codex so far.

I have played 7th and seen 8th. So 8th hahah.

 wuestenfux wrote:
Not sure, but I liked the CSM codex edition 3.5.
The best codex so far.

Yeah- I think I'd have to put my favorite time in the era where that 'dex was valid (late 3, early 4). I'd officially go with early 4th because the Imperial Guard and Space Marine codecies of that time were almost as good.

I really loved the Lost and the Damned from the Eye of Terror supplement. You had ten broadly different ways to play Chaos (and we didn't even have daemons). They became one of the most popular armies, but you weren't really playing against the same thing all the time because there was a world of difference between fighting Iron Warriors or Thousand Sons.

Then they released the 4th ed codex and all of the chaos players everywhere dropped the faction overnight.

I've played every edition except 6th (I was on a hiatus).

My overall favorite is 4th for it's simplicity, casualty removal and glorious terrain/LoS rules. The vehicle rules were gak though.

There are things I remember fondly about every edition except 7th, which is a steaming pile of garbage.

I loved the future-punk tone of Rogue Trader, with psycho space marines and the most oppressive version of the Imperium to date.

I loved 2nd edition for the better "matched" play, fun vehicle cards and classic Orks.

3rd was a nice streamline, despite all of it's problems.

And 5th was not as good as 4th. Vehicle rules were better. Shooting rules were better, everything else was a downgrade, imo.

Happiest memories are of 5th although did enjoy 2nd too. As for best though I'd probably go with 4th.

I got my start in 5th edition, and, in hindsight, it is my favorite version of 40K to date. It's a combination of the rules, my memories of my earliest games with my brother, as we entered into this new and exciting hobby that we had not heard of before.

Decent rules? Sure. Nostalgia? Absolutely. Having a chance to enjoy pick up games or tournaments without getting blasted off the board in turn two or three? By the Emperor, yes!