Hi all.
As you guys and gals might know from an earlier post, I got my dirty little paws on the 3rd Ed rulebook. So I'll like to share with you guys what I think of 3rd Ed. Please take what comes out as it is, not some mortal insult to whatever army you choose to play.
In short, I don't like it.
(No offense to people like Baby Cindi, who is a dedicated 3rd Edder.)
Before you pick up that Bolter/ Shoota/ Shuriken Catapult/ Splinter Rifle/ Lasgun/ whatever and shoot me, let me say that I approve of 3rd Ed's:
All these areas were poorly covered in 2nd Ed and deserves to be remedied.
What I didn't like:
Now, Warhammer 40,000 lives up to the ideal that the Space Marines are the Champions of Humanity. Which is as it is, and I applaud it, except that they are now _too_ powerful.
They now:
In short, they can shoot further than most armies, hit what they shoot at, wound at better odds, and can generally outgun the opponent from 12" to 24" (quite crucial, since most games you start at 24" apart). And their armour is pretty much proof against anything smaller than a Plasma Pistol (wierd example... =). Not to mention that if and when they break, they rally right away. Which means that, well, short of blasting them into the air with a multi-melta, you aren't going to see the last of them. =)
(As an aside, just how many matches of 40K3 have you seen a Marine Army REALLY gotten whipped up? Of course, this is not including veterans creaming over novices.)
I feel that Marine superiority could have been achieved in 2nd Ed by simply giving Power Armour a 2+ on D6 save, with Terminators still 3+ on 2D6. Keep the armour modifiers, tweak the modifiers for plasma weapons, and that's about it.
Now, for the Psychic Phase. There are many arguments for and against taking out the Psychic Phase (which was never a part of the boxed set anyway). But I'll like to say that I appreciate the Psychic Phase for my 1) Imperial Guards 2) Chaos because I use Adeptus Powers to shift troops around, deny objectives, etc. (I love Adeptus, BTW). Without Displacement and Gate, my Guardsmen are suddenly less mobile, etc.
Psychic Powers, when used as the designers intended, can and has helped armies to achieve victory. It's only when really cheesy people come around and made the Psyker win the battle that problems arise. Iron Arm-Quickening-Aura of Fire Librarians are the bane of Psychics. =)
I like the idea to make psychics LOS though.
(My friend was saying that by taking out the interesting stuff for the aliens, Games Workshop is basically neutering the game. I hope they rectify this with the codexes.)
Part II.
As promised, I'll talk about the fluff here. This should be a (relatively) short post.
After reading the fluff in 3rd Ed (the centre portion of it), I dug out my copy of 2nd Ed.
First off, I have to admit that there is more fluff in 3rd Ed. More material on the Imperium of Mankind, etc, etc. But I feel the crucial things are missing.
Warhammer 40,000 is about the struggle between the Imperium and the various forces arrayed against it. When you really get down to it, it is the struggle of the Emperor vs the Forces of Chaos. In 2nd Ed, you feel the atmosphere of the galaxy; practically every fluff in 2nd Ed will have a character swearing by the Emperor. (Of course, every fluff from the Imperium's perspective) You get a hint of what _really_ happened in the Final Battle upon Horus' battle barge. You get to hear what it is to be a Space Marine (Wargear Book). By the same token, you get to see what drives a Chaos Space Marine (same). These stories tell you what it is like to be in the 41st millenium.
In 3rd Ed? No stories. =) Quotes that seemed to have been taken straight from 2nd Ed and its various codexes. Technical Specs on weapons and armour, in case you want to build your own Leman Russ. =) A dry, dispassionate discussion on the Imperium of Mankind, which sounds as if it has been copied by a bored clerk in an army depot. =) No description on what a Marine is. Nada.
The best short story I could find was the following, found on page 74:
"The screams of the wounded were everywhere. Sergeant Wulf prayed feverently to the Emperor as he crouched behind the blasted stump of a Guara tree. .....
A voice rang out "GET UP! STAND AND FIGHT!" Wulf half-rose almost by instinct and glanced to his left. There stood Commissar Borg.....
"COME ON MEN! WITH ME!".."
"Come on men! With me!"??? What happened to a Commissar's dedication to the Emperor? Where's the (almost) mandatory "FOR THE EMPEROR!"?
(BTW, Commissar Borg and Sergeant Wulf are 'ported from a story in the Wargear Book, 2nd Ed. But it seems that Wulf got himself promoted... =)
What I _DO_ like about the fluff is the datestamp stuff at the back (which was on the net, I think), and Hive Fleet Leviathan, also at the back. But they don't give you the impression that the galaxy is a vast place, with only the Emperor as mankind's guiding light. You don't feel the burning fevour of the loyalist Marines, nor the glowing hatred of the Chaos Marines.
For those of you who think I'm making a big fuss out of bad fluff, just think about it: without the background, all we are doing is rolling dice and playing with little metal men. or women. or bugs. or whatever. =)
My 2 cents.
Lim Jyue
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