Ok guys, I have been holding off on posting this until I got
some practical experience with the “leaked rules.” I am of the opinion that
they are an unpolished set of playtest rules for the actual 6th edition
of 40k. They have obviously been playtested but are still lacking polish and
clarification of many rules. With that said I do imagine a lot will have
changed or been smoothed out by the time we actually see the release in July.
I will not be doing a breakdown of the rules here, since it
has been done many places such as on the
Frontline Gaming and
Sons of Taurus blogs. I am going to share my experiences in the 5 games we have played; including
the few weak places in the rules that I am sure will be fixed in the actual
book.
The first thing I want to point out is that the game plays
much faster we were easily shaving 45 minutes off of a 2000 point game. So far
I have used Chaos marines and IG against Orks and IG. Of all the armies I think
the Orks get hit the hardest with the changes especially now the close combat
attacks are AP 6.
The new Assault before Shooting turn sequence is pretty ace
too. It really makes you think about where you want your units to be ahead of
time. Speaking of assault, it sure did get much more deadly to lose an assault
even if you happen to escape your opponent, since just being broken within 12
inches of an enemy removes the unit from the table. Wowzers that really does
speed things up!
The new Evasion chart and modifiers make shooting more
effective, what a concept in a sci-fi wargame. Couple this with the new cover
save, Rapid Fire and Multi-targeting rules, then bam shooting becomes more
deadly.
We are elated with the fact that cover saves drop to a much
more balanced 5+ for most things; even my buddy Kev who plays Orks agrees with
the change.
The new missions rock with the multi-layered victory
conditions. Loving the overhaul to Kill Points, with the point value of the
unit issuing multiple KP’s is an excellent mechanic; plus it is something we
have been doing for a while here already in my little group. Objectives now
make sense and mirror closely to what we have been doing for two years. They
are now scored every turn, and anything except vehicles can claim them, but
scoring units gain more points for holding an objective.
Now here is the bad part about Objectives that we are sure
is missing from the doc, but will be in the final version. According to the PDF
there is no way to contest an objective and people are interpreting that you
and your opponent can claim the same objective at the same time. Come on guys
use your heads that is what they are for after all; that makes zero sense and
why would GW do that.
My prediction will be that any unit including vehicles will
be able to contest an objective when the final rules are released.
Stratagems are pretty kool too, but can be a bit powerful. I
imagine that these will be much more refined in the final rules. That said the
bidding mechanic is a weak point in the PDF, don’t get me wrong I love the
concept, but something just does not feel right. First turn does not seem to be
as important as it once was, so really it seems that bidding is more for
stratagem denial more than anything else, so definitely feel like a weak point.
Overall these games have been fantastically fun, more fun
than standard 5th has ever been in my eyes. They also feel much more
Cinematic really leading to the game feeling like the 40k Lore that you read in
the novels! The early rumors were that GW was going to make 6th ed
much more narrative in their feel and these surely do just that.
Well that is it for part one, in part two I will explain
why I think that Defensive Fire is a “Keystone” mechanic to these rules, which
the vast majority of the internet does not seem to be able to wrap their minds
around.
