Today is the big day. Full release of the new 5th ed. Warhammer 40k from Games Workshop. I had a preorder for the limited edition Gamers Edition set. I finally picked it up last night at Midnight at our local GW store. They had a big 5th ed. rules, Apocalypse game at the shop and it was a good time. I was just happy being able to field my Big Mek Stompa for the first time this year. As with most GW store Apocalypse games and Mega Battles I’ve played in you can never be to sure who won or lost but I know I had a good time blasting everyone with my Deth Kannon and launching unlimited range Supa Rokkits across about 6′ of table into Jenkins’ Reaver Titan.
The rules changes seem minimal to me, mostly just streamlining of bulkier and more confusing rules from 4th ed. that slowed down play and keep your head buried in the rules book an entire game. It is a nice looking book, but it’s hard to get to excited about a book I already own basically three other copies of. There is some new art but not much, most of the images are reused from other publications. I really miss the big two page black and white plates in the front of the 4th Edition. If you are a first time buyer of a 40k rule book you should be very satisfied. There is a large section explaining the dark galaxy and it’s ever warring inhabitants and lots of campaign and battle ideas.
From a glance this new book looks like a mildly shiny new rehash of all the decades old Warhammer 40k fare, but only time and a few good games will tell me how it works out as a viable and fun to play rules system. Hopefully I’ll have one or two battle reports to put up here by the end of the month. If anyone wants to get in on that action, and catch a face fulla choppa, you know where to find me.