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I started out playin RT and dropped out when 2nd ed came out, mostly for reasons that had nothing to do with GW or the game itself.

What I want to know is, how was the change from 2nd ed to 3rd ed handled? Did all the codices come out at the same time with a few more added later?

That was like back in 1998 or so... Each codex came out on a different date. I believe the first ones was Space Marine and Orks.

Chaos and Eldar were eventually released within a year or 2.

there was all the army lists in the back of the rule book which you used until the codex came out

The 3rd Edition book invalidated all the previous codex books, and included a basic codex for each then-current army as part of the rule book. The codex books came afterwards.

The early 3rd ed. codicies were also released at a much faster rate than they are now...about every other month, I think?

The downside was that the early ones were too rushed. Either they were over the top like BA, or underpowered like DE and Orks. At least DE got an update...now they're a distinct mix of good units and really bad ones. The miniature ranges also weren't all they should have been, with DE a prime example.

Posted by inquisitor_bob on 07/27/2006 3:53 PM
I believe the first ones was Space Marine and Orks.

It was Space Marines and Dark Eldar, the two armies present in the boxed set.

Don't forget the best thing about the 3rd edition rulebook. S6 Genestealers with powerweapons

Don't forget the best thing about the 3rd edition rulebook. S6 Genestealers with powerweapons

Almost right. The best thing was S6 Genestealers with power weapons that couldn't be targeted if they were behind a row of Gaunts.

I would have to say the best thing about the v2 to v3 transition was the shift from focus on detail to focus on making it a fun game to play in not a ridiculous amount of time. It worked fairly well and I was rather happy with it until the codexes started coming out and ruining everything. The v3 to v4 transition was a bit smoother since it was not such a major overhaul and was more of just fine tuning things that needed work. The only problem there was that instead of making adjustments to army lists to reflect new rules (like sweeping changes in the effectiveness of rapid fire weapons) they just left the old codexes in place. This problem was compounded by the now glacial pace of codex release and by the ludicrous practice of making every other codex a marine codex.

I couldn't really say. When 3rd came out, I quit for awhile. I was pretty disgusted with the change. It took me nearly 3 years to play a game of 3rd.

Every codex was invalidated. A lot of armies had to be really tweaked. The 3rd ed codexes were paled in comparison to how much the 2nd edition codexes seem to give.

Assault seemed even more important than ever. Why shoot? The (insert fast moving army) came in and began a massive assault in turn 2. In the far future, the best weapon you could have is a club. Three Space Marine Chapters, and a couple Eldar were about all I ever saw played until they rewrote the shoddy Chaos Codex.

There was no real transition, at least not in the sense like 3rd to 4th. 3rd Edition was vastly different, you really had to rebuild your army.