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I just managed to make space in my game room to pull back my 6E/7E rulebooks (for the lore, not playing - yet); I always wanted a hardcover set of codexes, and since I'm only using the Indexes for 8E (for now...may change with the Tau codex), they look like they are it.

As far as playing, I only play 8E, but I have rulebooks and codexes all the way back to 2E (my RT rulebook literally fell apart, that's the only reason I don't have that one :( ).

How about everyone else - what versions are you currently playing (at least since 8E dropped) - do you have copies of older versions and do you use them? What edition did YOU start with?

As some of the players at my club were salty about 8th, I still get in the occasional game of 7th. (Plus HH, not sure if that counts for you?) When I get the choice, I mostly play 8th though (not because I think it's markedly "better" or "worse", just because it's best for pickup games and staying current).

I started back in 2nd edition, and still have all the main rulebooks for each edition in between. Codexes and suppliments are more sporadic depending on what I was playing at the time and how much disposable income I had

Where's the option for not playing any edition?

I play 8th edition because for my taste, it is the best edition thus far and I've played since the days of RT.

I still have all my old rule books from past editions for the collection. I see no reason to ditch them.

2nd ed plus 30k which is not listed in options alas

The only old 40K rulebook I hang onto is RT but I wouldn't play it.

I do keep IA books that are outdated until a replacement book comes out but that's it.

I’ve got rulebooks on the shelf all the way back, missing only the 5th edition one. I occasionally dust them off for historical research or fluff.

But I play 8th.

I voted 8th, as that's what is played for pick up games round here and I do get the occasional game in. The truth is at home we play a home brewed version that doesnt really resemble any GW ruleset at all. Love most of the fluff and miniatures, but I've really just about given up on GW as a writer of rules that I find fun to play. For super casual games it's fine, but once it starts getting competitive these days it's just WAAAAY too gamey of a ruleset for my tastes.

I detested the almost unplayable nature of the rules in 7th, but the reality is I had more fun at tournaments and such as compared to my limited experience with 8th.

hobojebus wrote:
Where's the option for not playing any edition?

Then you aren't eligable to do the poll

I'm playing 7th with my friend but we changed wounding so the owning player picks which model takes the wound to make things easier.

I play a modified version of 2nd edition, and 8th...which we'll soon be modifying.

My wife and I tend to play 6/7th and 2nd at home. Game stores are 8th

Scott-S6 wrote:The only old 40K rulebook I hang onto is RT but I wouldn't play it.

Nevelon wrote:I’ve got rulebooks on the shelf all the way back, missing only the 5th edition one.

I wish I had my old 1st edition rulebooks (I had the Compendium and Compilation, as well as RT).

If playing with 40k rules, I like to either play with 4th edition rules as I own tons of rules material from back then (anyone remember the Vehicle Design Rules?), or occasionally 2nd edition because I like the way those rules work as long as you keep the points level low and have a good buddy to game with. 2nd edition games run perfectly fine that way, despite all the naysayers.

But frankly, because I don't have any local group to play with, only a couple of close buddies, I can dictate which edition gets any kind of play. So I have actually been saying screw the 40k rules and their mess altogether, and have been playing games with Grimdark Future from One Page Games (formerly One Page 40k). The rules may not be the same as 40k, but there is an army list for every single 40k faction, and the games play fast and smoothly, with all the feel of pushing 40k forces around with none of the rules slog.

hobojebus wrote:
Where's the option for not playing any edition?

Right over here!

Play 7th with line of sight from 5th ed..no formations/no unbound
no terminators/land raiders/ flyers .we have excellent games because of this

I play 6th, with which I started because I never go in GW stores or clubs that don't exist in remote village, just with a couple of friends and my bruv.
We've never jumped because we'd rather use money to buy new models since we're just a friendly casual group.

1st ed Horus heresy

There have been many times I have thought about dragging out my old Rogue Trader copy (signed by Rick Priestly!) and play a small game using only the original book rules. Probably no vehicles, as I have no intention of using the old crazy movement rules, lol.

It would be fun just for nostalgia's sake, especially as a skirmish game (ignore squad cohesion, buy troops as single models instead of units, etc).

I recently picked up a copy of Rogue Trader at Warhammer World, so reading it at the moment in advance of getting some games in using that rule set.

Other than that - 8th.

 AegisGrimm wrote:
I have actually been saying screw the 40k rules and their mess altogether, and have been playing games with Grimdark Future from One Page Games (formerly One Page 40k). The rules may not be the same as 40k, but there is an army list for every single 40k faction, and the games play fast and smoothly, with all the feel of pushing 40k forces around with none of the rules slog.

I'd not seen the Grimdark Future rules before.

Is 8th edition really a "mess" and a "slog"? I remember that back in 1st edition RT had a 2-page 'playsheet' in the back, and I imagine that the 8th edition core rules could be summarised similarly.

As for the Grimdark Future armies, the WH40K codexes are where most of the interest is for me.

5th weirdly, as my bf already had the rulebook and we'd both rather focus on getting models rather than shelling out for new books. (We've recently got back into it.)

Also, it allows us to live in a nostalgia bubble for a bit.

Definitely going to be updating to 8th in future though, I like the fact they changed AP to modifiers rather than being all or nothing. I'll probably wait for the DE codex to drop first though.

 deathwinguk wrote:

 AegisGrimm wrote:
I have actually been saying screw the 40k rules and their mess altogether, and have been playing games with Grimdark Future from One Page Games (formerly One Page 40k). The rules may not be the same as 40k, but there is an army list for every single 40k faction, and the games play fast and smoothly, with all the feel of pushing 40k forces around with none of the rules slog.

I'd not seen the Grimdark Future rules before.

Is 8th edition really a "mess" and a "slog"? I remember that back in 1st edition RT had a 2-page 'playsheet' in the back, and I imagine that the 8th edition core rules could be summarised similarly.

As for the Grimdark Future armies, the WH40K codexes are where most of the interest is for me.

To be honest I wasn't really calling out 8th edition specifically, it was more of a gripe born of being around for the growing pains of every edition of 40k since Rogue Trader, lol. 40k is well known for having/needing some pretty comprehensive eratta and FAQ's over the years. I can't really imagine any edition of 40k where it would be pleasant only playing a few times a year, because of all the referencing needed throughout multiple books.

I fully admit I do not have much experience with 8th edition, but I know full well that during 6th and 7th editions that there was absolutely no way I could have got my close friends to learn the encyclopedia of rules references and Universal Special Rules those editions became, if anyone gets what I mean, though I am sure there will be plenty of people disagreeing with me.

40k sure as hell isn't Battletech, but that doesn't mean it doesn't constantly teeter on the edge of what a casual gamer should have to deal with to have fun with their toy soldiers in a cool setting, though that definitely goes up and down with different editions.

 AegisGrimm wrote:
To be honest I wasn't really calling out 8th edition specifically, it was more of a gripe born of being around for the growing pains of every edition of 40k since Rogue Trader, lol. 40k is well known for having/needing some pretty comprehensive eratta and FAQ's over the years. I can't really imagine any edition of 40k where it would be pleasant only playing a few times a year, because of all the referencing needed throughout multiple books.

Fair enough - I don't have much experience of the editions between 1st and 8th!

 AegisGrimm wrote:
I fully admit I do not have much experience with 8th edition, but I know full well that during 6th and 7th editions that there was absolutely no way I could have got my close friends to learn the encyclopedia of rules references and Universal Special Rules those editions became, if anyone gets what I mean, though I am sure there will be plenty of people disagreeing with me.

Even with 8th edition you would still need the core rules and two Codexes (unless you just play one of the boxed starter sets), so it's not for casual players, but then WH40K never has been.

My game group still plays 7th. We are a small group that doesn't go hard or out of our way to break the game. While I was initially excited for 8th from what I've seen it's hardly better than 7th just different in how people break the game.

HoundsofDemos wrote:
My game group still plays 7th. We are a small group that doesn't go hard or out of our way to break the game. While I was initially excited for 8th from what I've seen it's hardly better than 7th just different in how people break the game.

7ths issues are not people trying to break the game. It's real issues are in it's actual rules. 80+ usrs. A psychic phase that promotes a single psyker casting and every other model being a battery for it. 10+ unit types to memorize. Random roll for pwers. Random roll for warlord traits. Random roll for entering terrain. Random roll again if it's dangerous. Random roll to come in from reserves. 4+ resolution methods. Random roll on vehicle damage table. book keeping to keep track of the results of all these rolls on random tables.

Before you ever start looking at a single army 7th is a mountain of book keeping and a slog of rules.

We only played 7th with massive amount of House Rules. adn still had issues with the massive difference in the power of different codexes.

8th is better so we play that.

Play 7th because after giving 8th a decent shake it just felt so boring to play. Everything is so homogenized, units lost a lot of their identity, and just general game play just resolves around shuffle boarding units into the middle of the table and firing the correct weapons at the mathematically optimal targets. 7th at least have some depth to it and things like special rules, and unit types gave different units characteristics other than just "this unit goes pew pew, this other unit goes chop chop, and this unit is mathematically inferior because it pew pews worse than the first unit". Also 8th's terrain rules are so garbage that it rarely plays a factor in how a typical game plays out.

Ranting aside I started with 6th edition and i still have those rules in digital form (almost all of my rules are digital so easy to keep around).

 deathwinguk wrote:
I don't have much experience of the editions between 1st and 8th.

Actually I do remember playing 1st edition Vehicle Manual expansion rules after they first appeared in White Dwarf. I'm not sure they were much of an improvement either.

That's one of the best things about 8th edition in my opinion - vehicles being considered normal units apart from a few special rules.

8th only. And I hope HH moves to 8th soon as well.