Warhammer 40k Episode VI - The New Rules~

Heya all, and welcome back!

Well, the 6th edition rumours of it coming around this year is now proven with GW taking out the 5th edition rulebook from their website. This is very similar as the coming of 5th edition where the 4th edition rulebook is no longer available online before 5th hits us back in 2008. I am still in a state of ' wow, it's already 6th?' as I am still thinking that 5th came out like last year or so, and 4th around 3-4 years ago. But hey, that's what I get for being in this hobby for at least 6 years. 

With that, I can now view the rumors about 6th with less salt than before as any rumors that will be coming out around now would be more or less similar to the real rules that will be out in another month or so. I tend to call this part the 'sweet spot' for rumors as most of the rumors are in essence quite real as compared to those from a few months back. 

Nonetheless, salt in the dish is the order of the day as we are not truly sure of everything. But of course being a player and also a collector there are some things that I would like to be rectified in 6th;

1) Cover save reduction for vehicles: When I first read 5th and cover saves for vehicles, I already knew that the vehicle spam age is coming. For infantry, I say that the 4+ fits them just fine as infantry are supposed to be smaller and are able to take advantage of cover much easier. Of course based upon my experience with GW, the infantry guys may not get their 4+.

No vehicle should have a great cover save unless the building is big and/or solid enough for a vehicle to hide behind. Smoke and stuff are supposed to be around a 5+ cover save, and thus would not confer a save comparable to something solid like those of a brick wall or something. In this sense, the cover system of 4th is actually quite reasonable and I would like to see it come back.

2)A need for a revamp of wound allocation and allowing 'sniping' opportunities: Wound allocation in itself is fine, but when any additional wound is put onto a sacrificial model (Normal Nobs in a Ork Nob squad, barebone Paladin in a Paladin squad) it is somewhat difficult for some armies as their shots are getting wasted. I would like for any additional dice above the squad number to be allocated by the attacker on any model s/he chooses to be used to circumvent this problem. 

In this sense, 'sniping' would be quite reasonable and would prevent the 'hidden powerfist syndrome (for those who are not familiar with the idea of a hidden powerfist, it basically is a technique where in order to get to a particular model to be taken out, they must eliminate everyone else in the squad. This trope came from 4th edition where a powerfist sergeant will be the last model to be taken out. 5th mitigate this to an extent, but it is still present due to the multi-wound shenanigans).

3) A more complex game that at the same time is much more streamlined: I do not want the rules to be dumbed down, and would like a more engaging game. But at the same time, I do not want to be bogged down by page-flipping and ambiguous rules that people could abuse (I am guilty of this too, but at least I know that I am guilty of it). 

If the rules are tight and are easily accessible, it would allow for a much more fairer and more streamlined game that allow for greater playability. 

There are also other nonsense that I would like to be rectified, but they are less important in the face of these big three rules that I have a gripe with 5th. I will admit that I benefit from these rules as well, but as a responsible gamer I would have to say that I do not truly want to win because of a fluke.

A guy can only wish so hard, and I hope that 6th at least do something about these few things to a certain extent that would be beneficial to everyone.