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ccs wrote:

 CynosureEldar wrote:


F) Female space marines would be a thing on the spot, I dont care the in-universe reason, but I would be sure to have a nice and clear public announcement that anyone that has a problem with that is no longer welcome anywhere in the GW ecosystem.

G) if I have time, I would mandate a freeze on SM model range additions, and put all that effort into reworking the factions ~~

So how exactly do your F & G combine???

Seems like anyone who'd have a problem with F wouldn't really have anything to worry about....

Also, why bother with F if G kicks in? I thought the unbalance between SMs and SOBs as far as gendered factions went was that one is the flagship faction and the other isn't. If the SMs take a backseat and *really* become one faction amongst them, there's little reasons to want to remove the bit about them being male only.

 insaniak wrote:
I mean, yes, female Space Wolves would be great... but that only 'solves' the problem for the Wolves, not other Chapters, and, frankly, Russ should never return. The whole 'The hero strides off into the sunset, vowing to return in his followers' hour of greatest need!' trope works best when the hero never returns. That keeps them as a symbol of hope, while also being a secret tragedy (because, in reality, they just didn't come back because they're dead...)

I'll admit, I cheered a bit when Sigmar returned during the End Times. Before, y'know, GW confirmed they were nuking the game/setting...

That said, I'd rather not see Russ return, but that's mostly because I'm a Thousand Sons fangirl.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
First off do several regiments, aim for a 1 sprue per regiment ala the Necromunda Gangs. Each regiment would have two builds, a standard squad - 10 rifles, sarge, special and heavy weapon (did I mention we're going back to points for wargear? we're going back to points for wargear!). And the box will have one of each special and heavy.
Then a second, regiment specific, build. Catachans get Catachan Devils (flamers, poison knives, infiltrate), Tallarn get Desert Raiders/Sappers (demo charges, melta guns, infiltrate), Mordians get Honor Guard (pistols and power weapons) you get the idea. Enough extra heads to kit out the various tank and command squad bodies.

Once you go and broaden Guard to more than a few regiments it's probably a good idea to move the special and heavy weapons to an upgrade kit because they'll just be the same across regiments anyway. This way you can use the saved sprue space to put extra arms in regimental style on regiment sprues to get the look right. That should work well enough for most regiments that have bare hands or wear thin gloves. Might get the look wrong on Valhallans if you want thick mittens, though. Provide several special weapons per upgrade kit in different poses and include aligning arms in regimental kits so that every squad's plasma gun won't have the same arm pose. And of course make shoulder joints so arms are freely swappable among models again.

Which ties in with my suggestion for what I'd do if I was afforded only limited means of changing GW's various policies. I'd make it so each faction gets at least two upgrade sprues with alternative bits and decorations that can be applied to other kits to customize models. Not limit it to Marines or the small upgrade sprues most chapters get, but more along the lines of recent Marine upgrades or the Cadian upgrade sprue. My preferred change would be for GW to go back to making models as cross-compatible as possible across each range, but if I only get to change so much, that would be on the top of my list of things that can be done that won't really be intrusive or disruptive but provide notable improvement in variety.

 insaniak wrote:

The pseudoscience wasn't intended to placate anyone, as it was from a time before there was multiple halves of the community. It was an in-universe explanation for the models all being male, which was driven by sales in a market where the vast majority of their customers were adolescent males and the few existing female models were terrible.

It's hard to understate how much hair being difficult to do in HIPS has to do with it

Have a meeting, schedule another meeting after a month when the team has had time to think on the subjects of the meeting and the new or old lead has found their footing. I would hope to learn a tonne while in charge.

Change charge, pile-in rules and consolidation rules to no further from the nearest enemy model and no going through enemies unless you fly. Fly works on terrain. Make aircraft pivot before moving instead of after, subtract 12" from ranged attacks targeting aircraft, units with FLY are excempt.

 vict0988 wrote:
Have a meeting, schedule another meeting after a month when the team has had time to think on the subjects of the meeting and the new or old lead has found their footing. I would hope to learn a tonne while in charge.

Very ambitious for only getting to be in charge for 1 day....

Remove all the Primaris stuff in favour of really flavourful true scale Marines.

Somehow make the game accessible to the pocket money of kids and teens again. Wargaming in general seems to be mainly the preserve of 30 year olds with disposable money. Without newbloods, playing the game (any wargame) the future is uncertain.

Lorewise:

Move the clock back to 1 minute to midnight before Cadia exploded and freeze it there.

Primaris never happened, we are just making more detailed, upscaled versions of existing Marines.

Loyal Primarchs never returned, but they can stay as "What if?" collector models.

Make Tzeentch mindfoolery the canon reason for female Custodes.

Modelwise:

Get rid of monopose and introduce proper kits again.

Kitbashing is _required_ again with NMNR kicking the bucket.

Introduce "basic squad" + "appropiate upgrade kit" where fitting (f.e. Guard regiments or Devastators).

Ruleswise:

Upgrades cost points again.

Diversify weapons where it makes sense. (Thunder hammers should not hit like a power sword)

Remove stratagems and command points.

Introduce alternate unit activation.

Oh, simple achievable thing!

Made to Order publishes a yearly calendar so we have some clue what's coming. Even if it's just game/faction give us something.

I can't believe I forgot upgrade costs, I don't play much 40k.

ccs wrote:

 vict0988 wrote:
Have a meeting, schedule another meeting after a month when the team has had time to think on the subjects of the meeting and the new or old lead has found their footing. I would hope to learn a tonne while in charge.

Very ambitious for only getting to be in charge for 1 day....

Not learn a tonne of useful stuff, just things I'd be curious about that they don't shout from the rooftops. What is their release plan and how is it decided. How are codexes tested and balanced now and in the past. How random is it that 40k winrates are in such a good place right now, is this something we can expect going forward in future editions. Obviously I'm not going to learn how to run a company and I wouldn't be part of that meeting a month into the future, on the other hand I doubt I'd be able to fix how pre-release testing is done or anything on that scale in a day.

Geifer wrote:

Once you go and broaden Guard to more than a few regiments it's probably a good idea to move the special and heavy weapons to an upgrade kit because they'll just be the same across regiments anyway. This way you can use the saved sprue space to put extra arms in regimental style on regiment sprues to get the look right. That should work well enough for most regiments that have bare hands or wear thin gloves. Might get the look wrong on Valhallans if you want thick mittens, though. Provide several special weapons per upgrade kit in different poses and include aligning arms in regimental kits so that every squad's plasma gun won't have the same arm pose. And of course make shoulder joints so arms are freely swappable among models again.

Which ties in with my suggestion for what I'd do if I was afforded only limited means of changing GW's various policies. I'd make it so each faction gets at least two upgrade sprues with alternative bits and decorations that can be applied to other kits to customize models. Not limit it to Marines or the small upgrade sprues most chapters get, but more along the lines of recent Marine upgrades or the Cadian upgrade sprue. My preferred change would be for GW to go back to making models as cross-compatible as possible across each range, but if I only get to change so much, that would be on the top of my list of things that can be done that won't really be intrusive or disruptive but provide notable improvement in variety.

Oh yes, there'd be an all-purpose sprue with 5 heavy weapons, 5 specials and some Sarge bits. Models would be like the Catachans where the hands are molded to the arms, not the guns, so any model can take any gun. And it would be in every infantry squad for free of course.

Oh and textured bases too!

vict0988 wrote:I can't believe I forgot upgrade costs, I don't play much 40k.

This is why we're here, to back each other up!

Introduce "Warhammer 40,000 The Old World", a game which has rules based on an amalgation of the first three 40K editions, emphasis on 2nd edition and its game size. Then I could finally ignore current 40K forever and just stay stuck on the 90s flavour of 40K.

Ah yes, also bring all the rules of past editions of all GW games available again (digitally). Included in the WH+ subscription of course. Old models would not be reintroduced, but their trading and collecting would be encouraged and featured in White Dwarf. Nostalghia and second hand trading is in vogue, is it not?

"the first three editions" feels like a difficult thing to make work, considering Rogue Trader, 2nd edition, and 3rd edition each had completely different sets of rules

 StudentOfEtherium wrote:
"the first three editions" feels like a difficult thing to make work, considering Rogue Trader, 2nd edition, and 3rd edition each had completely different sets of rules

1st and 2nd edition really werent that different from each other. Third edition is the one that takes off a lot from the first two, which would be the most difficult one to take inspiration from, I was thinking 3rd ed rules could try to be used to fill the pain points of 2nd edition (like HtH combat taking ages)

I bring up all 3 editions because somehow, a lot of peoples nostalgic feelings towards early 40K editions almost always end up naming one of these three editions.

I dont really see such a task as an impossibility. It would take heaps of experience from playing all three editions, and an ample amount of good judgement/taste. Get Rick Priestley to spar with the development and to bless the result if it turns out to his satisfaction.

Id also fully expand on this tit-bit of Lore



I want a full Birmingham "The Black Planet" campaign......

Where did that come from? The Ordo Redactors are not doing their job.

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
Where did that come from? The Ordo Redactors are not doing their job.

40K Rogue Trader

 Nevelon wrote:
Rules/codexes are free and updated online. Print copies still exist for collectors. This will lower cost of entry for new players, and remove a barrier for older players wanting to branch out to something new.

NMNR goes out the window. Go back to an armory wargear upgrade system (and more modular points). Let people kitbash Their Dudes. Promote the modeling side of the hobby.

Work on making more options in kits, and make it so kits within a range can swap parts.

Focus on updateing old kit instead of new ones. Finish the purge of finecast.

My first thoughts exactly. Goes along with "put all legends including Forgeworld into the codizes/ online rules".

In charge of 40k for a day? I'd take all the units from every codex/army list from RT, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th edition. Combine all units where needed, and having an ultimate army list for each faction, bring back stat differences for leaders/veterans and whatnot, so you'd have like.. ws5 bs5 space marine veterans again, t5 space marine heroes again, etc.
Then I'd release a "Codex army lists" book that has the army list for each faction again, but only having generic space marine, generic chaos marine, etc, instead of basically douplicate army lists for different chapters or chaos gods.
I'd especially make sure to bring back 2nd edition weapon options for orks, so they could have shootas OR bolt guns for their units, that sort of thing.
I would make sure to start from the RT point formula for units, but properly weight the points for different stats based on statistical analysis of results, like toughness would be weighted more than strength, bs would be weighted more than ws, that sort of thing.

Then I'd release a rulebook for this custom edition of 40k, I'd try to streamline the rules and special rules to get rid of as many re-rolls as possible, and include d12's to exist for leadership rolls instead of 2d6, and replace invulnerable saves and cover saves with special modifiers to armor saves and special armor that lets you roll d12 for armor saves instead of d6. This edition would have 2nd edition style AP for modifying armor, and cover would help ignore some AP to preserve a unit's armor save, etc.

I would be tempted to allow units that exist in 6th edition and beyond to be included in these army lists, but they'd be properly scaled/pointed for their stats, and wouldn't automatically be better than older units because point for point they'd be balanced against older units.

I'd also streamline unit entries, like... instead of tactical squad and veteran squad for marines, it would just be tactical squad, with option to upgrade the squad to veterans. Then like.. assault squad with option to get upgraded to veterans, etc.

BanjoJohn wrote:
In charge of 40k for a day? I'd take all the units from every codex/army list from RT, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th edition. Combine all units where needed, and having an ultimate army list for each faction, bring back stat differences for leaders/veterans and whatnot, so you'd have like.. ws5 bs5 space marine veterans again, t5 space marine heroes again, etc.
Then I'd release a "Codex army lists" book that has the army list for each faction again, but only having generic space marine, generic chaos marine, etc, instead of basically douplicate army lists for different chapters or chaos gods.
I'd especially make sure to bring back 2nd edition weapon options for orks, so they could have shootas OR bolt guns for their units, that sort of thing.
I would make sure to start from the RT point formula for units, but properly weight the points for different stats based on statistical analysis of results, like toughness would be weighted more than strength, bs would be weighted more than ws, that sort of thing.

Then I'd release a rulebook for this custom edition of 40k, I'd try to streamline the rules and special rules to get rid of as many re-rolls as possible, and include d12's to exist for leadership rolls instead of 2d6, and replace invulnerable saves and cover saves with special modifiers to armor saves and special armor that lets you roll d12 for armor saves instead of d6. This edition would have 2nd edition style AP for modifying armor, and cover would help ignore some AP to preserve a unit's armor save, etc.

I would be tempted to allow units that exist in 6th edition and beyond to be included in these army lists, but they'd be properly scaled/pointed for their stats, and wouldn't automatically be better than older units because point for point they'd be balanced against older units.

I'd also streamline unit entries, like... instead of tactical squad and veteran squad for marines, it would just be tactical squad, with option to upgrade the squad to veterans. Then like.. assault squad with option to get upgraded to veterans, etc.

That is one hell of a single day.

Oh. Another thing?

Resurrect The Citadel Journal.

What was the Citadel Journal I hear the youngsters ask? A bimonthly sort of companion mag to White Dwarf, but catering to the creative side of things.

Each issue you could expect conversion guides and rules for said conversions, scenarios, commentary etc.

It essentially expanded the games, but in a very hobby oriented way.

Get rid of the employee handbooks.

Why?

They’re really, genuinely effective guides on how to run the store and do your job.

Find the file that contains the info for the competitive game and delete it. Not recycle bin, Melt the hard drive it's stored on... with a blow torch.

 Gibblets wrote:
Find the file that contains the info for the competitive game and delete it. Not recycle bin, Melt the hard drive it's stored on... with a blow torch.

Because they’re having fun WRONG, don’t you see? /s

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Oh. Another thing?

Resurrect The Citadel Journal.

Hell ya!

The original Ash Waste Nomads for Necromunda (Tallarn Models), Tim Huckleberry's 3rd ed. GSC list and the Covert X campaign... Some of the best work to ever come out of the studio. I used to have 10 or so issues, but now only one (Covert X) remains.

 JNAProductions wrote:
Because they’re having fun WRONG, don’t you see? /s

Also silly as the competitive community produces so much information GW already has no idea what to do with it. And it is all over the internet, good luck trying to melt that.

I'm curious what constitutes competitive info as opposed to just... the game.

 Tyran wrote:

 JNAProductions wrote:
Because they’re having fun WRONG, don’t you see? /s

Also silly as the competitive community produces so much information GW already has no idea what to do with it. And it is all over the internet, good luck trying to melt that.

And, used wisely, that info is objectively good for the game.

A particular list showing up with alarming frequency on the top tables? Something clearly isn’t quite right there. And the other data gathered can help understand that (wonky, ambiguous rule wording? Unforeseen interaction with objective scoring? Just way too hard and way too cheap? Other? All?) and so address it via FAQ, Errata etc.

I’ll leave others to comment on whether GW has used it wisely of course.

So this would be impossible to do in a day, but were I in charge of GW, at this point I would just soft reboot 40K.

All the accumulated lore has become more of an hindrance than an asset. Broad strokes will remain the same, but we will just blatantly change stuff that needs changing and do not care if it contradicts what has come before. This is a new version.

In many ways I would return 40K lore to what it was in Rogue Trader and and in the early editions. This is mostly about depiction, but we can makes some concrete lore changes to support this as well.

Imperium is not a good thing, and it will be depicted that way. Primarchs are gone, and space marines are de-emphasised. They also return to be gritty penal legionaries that are feared and hated, instead of venerated shiny semi-divine knights. And this actually allows them to be heroic on occasion, without seeming too much like fascist propaganda, as they too are just one lowly cog in a terrible machine. And female space marines have always existed of course.

Same logic with the rest of the Imperium. Top tiers that are more in charge are just outright evil stupid and corrupt. Little or no redeeming features, we want the satire to be so clear that even Americans understand it. There can be some heroism and other redeeming qualities on lower tiers.

And while we are at it, let's introduce a human (though they can have xenos allies) mercenary/rebel faction. They're a massive underdog, but this allows them to actually be "good guys" without it becoming problematic.

As for other factions, make chaos more relatable. Like not good by any means, but more like it was in Fantasy. Like if you don't look at Imperium and think that chaos actually has a point, then we're doing this wrong. Others are probably mostly fine, though the Eldar situation could probably use a rewrite, it has become unnecessarily convoluted with the Ynnari and all.