Goatboy’s Warhammer 40K – What I Want From 10th Edition
Warhammer 40K 9th Edition isn’t perfect, but 10th edition can take a lot of good from it. Here’s what I want to see.
Goatboy here with my little soap box pulled up. We all know how I like 40k but I really think there is a lot of room to clean things up. The current game is very complicated with multiple avenues for victory, armies that doesn’t seem to interact, and rules that feel a bit too bloated. I know we came from 8th edition that had its issues too. But right now 9th is feeling like a bit of a mess.
9th Has a Lot of Good In it
Before we dive in there is a lot of 9th I like. I think overall the game as a whole isn’t too bad. It works well enough and the majority of the issues seem to stem from trying to balance all the armies when they don’t appear to be worked on at the same time by the Design Studio . This is hard to do as writing an army book takes a while. Balancing it takes a long time too as well as keeping the initial game design philosophy the same can be a bear of a task. I don’t think I can do it better. These are just thoughts on how we could look at 40K 10th Edition being a nice edition that pulls pieces from other versions and games to make something unique.
First Let’s Do Some Cutting
The first thing I think 40k should do is take a hard look at removing Stratagems and reworking Command Points. There are too many dang little rules that are split apart from the Dataslates. These cause a lot of confusion as you try to find it. I don’t mind the idea of Command Points as it is another set of points that can ebb and flow during the game. This represents little things like tides turning or new strategic options that appear. What I don’t like is having so many pages to try and go thru, cheat sheets created, and a “card deck” that is as big as a Magic Commander deck to carry around.
This has me thinking we instead remove Stratagems and place Command abilities that cost CP on the actual Dataslates. This way you have the ability to balance the Dataslates with stratagems or abilities that make sense. Give a unit a Double Attack option for 1CP as that is the only unit that can use it. Or have a rule like Hunker down for a unit to get a better cover save. Putting all the rules on the page you are looking at because you are playing the Unit is a powerful tool to keep rules synced up during a game.
Moving From CP to Points
Speaking about Command points remove any command point spending for things like Relics and Warlord traits. We should just go back to paying X amount of points for an option. We all know how specific relics and traits are more powerful than others. You can’t tell me a Pistol that shoots 4 times is as powerful as a weapon that auto wounds if you hit and causes mortals on hits of a 6. Or how about a Warlord trait that gives you Feel No Pain versus another that gives you a leadership bump. Giving things a point cost can mean a lot of other options could get used. Instead of just always seeing the best thing picked as we are limited to less Warlord Traits and Relics based on CP usage.
Detachments
Next up I really want an updated Detachment. There just needs to be one detachment where you have options you can pick off of the side of it. You want some Lords of War? They can be added as long as they don’t take X percentage of your army. This way we can build some unique style lists with some semblance of balance. You have your Aeldari army here is this little section of Harlies that don’t break your main faction but still work. It just feels like there is a better way to build these things to let you build some unique forces and still keep the balance somehow. They have done a good job where very little overlaps to give rerolls (Damn you Abaddon). But it feels like something that could be fun especially with the 10th edition rumors of a full reset of books and return to some kind of index build out.
Missions & Objectives
On the idea of how to win a game – the secondaries need a real overhaul. There are some armies that have it too easy while others struggle to get anything to gain them points. This needs to be looked at as the lack of interaction is a sheer sign of no fun in my book. I think creating missions where some of the secondary options have to be played for by both armies is a start. But dont forget about figuring out a better scoring. I know the idea is to let armies that are not just about smashing face do cool things. It is also supposed to mimic battlefield interactions where getting the objective can win you the fight instead of just dragon punching your way to freedom. I just feel like – it needs more work to make sure everyone can have options to win the game.
What do you want in the upcoming new edition? Are you hoping everything gets blown up? Do you want the piecemeal approach of waiting on your book to update and hoping to utilize old rules that interact poorly?
Do you want Chaos to always win? If not, why not?
