The Samurai Gunslinger

As we all know by now this September will see the release of the 5th edition of Warhammer 40k. And if you are anything like me you have been scouring the interwebs looking for every scrap of information you can find.

In the interests of my own sanity I have compiled something of a compendium of the various rumors from a number of sources. Some of the best tidbits I have transcribed for you here and at the end of the post you will find a signifigant list of links with a description of what information each link contains.

So until we all hold the new book in our hands, happy rumor hunting!

UPDATE 6-11-08: I have included .pdf files for the 5th edition reference sheets and change notices here.

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First we have what appears to an unofficial press release from GW. This has been reported by numerous forums and blogs and as GW has made no effort to discount the validity of this claim I feel safe in considering it confirmed.

5TH EDITION STARTER CONTENTS AND RELEASE DATE:

According to Games Workshop USA Sales Representative Mark Koscielniak, the new Warhammer 40k 5th Edition Starter Boxed Set will include a “Crap-Ton of miniatures”.

The new boxed starter, due out in September of this year, will include the popular “mini-rulebook”, dice, measuring sticks and the proverbial French “Crap-Ton” of miniatures including:
1– Space Marine Commander (full sprue)
1– Space Marine Tactical Squad
1– Space Marine Terminator Squad
1– Space Marine Dreadnought

AND THAT’S NOT ALL!
The set will ALSO include:

1– Ork Warboss
2– Ork Boyz Mobs
1– Ork Nob Mob
3– Death Koptas

The retail price on this tremendous deal will be a ridiculously low $59.99! A quick analysis of the retail value of this set is valued at a cool $262 bucks, and that’s not even counting the retail value of the 3 Death Koptas, the “mini-rulebook”, or the dice!
The new 5th Edition starter will be called “Battle for Black Reach”.
The regular hard cover 5th Edition rulebook is due out in July, with a retail price of $49.99.
Even with this great value, Games Workshop Inc. has instructed their retailers to warn consumers that in order to off-set this incredible value,GW is forced to break the promise of not raising any prices for 5 full years. As a result, all of the GW starters (40k, Fantasy and Lord of the Rings) will now be sold at $59.99, rather than the former $49.99.
Even so, the values of these starters are astounding, as entire armies can be built for the cost of a couple of starters.

5TH EDITION BETA PREVIEW COPY AVAILABLE:

Although it remains to be seen how much of this preview copy will make it into the actual release it does give an excellent starting point for determining how your army will be affected by the proposed changes. The link below will take you to the torrent for downloading the .pdf file. If that does not make sense to you then this might be a little beyond the strength of your geek-fu.

40K 5TH EDITION BETA PREVIEW .PDF TORRENT FILE

BELL OF LOST SOULS, RUMOR COMPILATIONS:

In a simillar effort to mine Bell of Lost Souls has been putting together several compilations, I have been waiting until now to collect as many as possible to put a complete listing together at once. Links to all of the BOLS posts are listed below as well.

Charge Response Move: The response move is exactly the same as the countercharge rule. Every unit gets it, but models that already have Countercharge (like Space Wolves) gain +1 Attack as if they had charged themselves.

Relentless USR: This applies mainly to bikes and terminators. You may move and fire heavy weapons and fire to full effect with rapid fire weapons and still charge.

Hit and Run USR: This is similar to the current rule but now you have to pass an initiative test to perform it.

Vehicles: Vehicle rules are apparantly identical to the leaked codex

“No-Argument” cover saves: Your opponent says what they think it is; if you disagree they still gets the cover save but with a –1 ~That’s and interesting new concept for GW to throw into a ruleset.

Wound Allocation: This is performed per model (similar to Flames of War) exactly as listed in the leaked PDF. This can lead to the loss of key models within a unit.

No Retreat: Saves are limited to the amount of wounds caused (if you outnumber a fearless opponent 4:1 and you won the combat but only caused 1 wound you cause only an additional 1 wound; if you win and cause 5 wounds you only cause 4 wounds as your limited by how much you outnumber your opponent.)

Missions: Troops are the only scoring units but they count as scoring till the last man. They must be destroyed entirely to remove their scoring status.

There are 3 different deployment zones (Quarters, Deep and Shallow Long table Edges) and 3 different objectives (VPs, Take and Hold, Loot) means that there are 9 types of missions

Cover:
All cover is 4+
If you shooting through more than 2″ of cover, then your target gets a cover save.
If there is a dispute about the majority being in or out of cover, thats when the cover save with the -1 comes in.

Line of Sight:
There are no height levels, all terrain is true LoS (even jungles and woods). They will need to be modeled appropriately if they are to block LoS.

Blast Weapons:
Blast weapons don’t roll to hit, but always scatter D6” minus the BS of the firer. ~Yikes, watch out for Dark Reaper Exarchs!
All models under a blast template (including partials) are automatically hit.

Skimmers:
Skimmers only get cover saves if they move over 12″.

Missions:
Scoring units must be BOTH Troops and Infantry (it is unknown if jump infantry count towards this). In any case it would appear that a pure Ravenwing army might have a hard time unless they draw a VP mission.
Killpoints are apparently out, being replaced by the standard VPs in certain missions.

Perils of the Warp:
Perils now causes an automatic wound, but invulnerable saves are allowed.

Monstrous Creatures:
Monstrous creatures now have the Move Through Cover USR instead of re-rolling the difficult terrain dice.
Monstrous creatures may only fire one weapon per turn.

UPDATE 5-24-08 FROM BOLS
So we are getting close, and there are numerous reports of hardcover rulebook sightings at various spots over the globe. Here is what the birds are singing into our ears:

Firstly, the rule-set has hundreds of minor changes all over the place. It is a different game so we will all need to really take the time to re-read every sentence carefully as many, many subtle changes have been made all over the place. It isn’t a case of the same game with just a handful of major changes.

Secondly, the leaked PDF must have been quite early as there are many, many changes from it.

Here is a set of some of the larger individual items we’ve been hearing:

• BS of 6 and higher made it in.
• Wound allocation by model is in (meaning special models may be lost early)
• Torrent of Fire is gone
• Intervening models (friend or foe) grant a 4+ cover save to the target unit
• There is no longer any consolidating into new squads in assault (only charging can do this)
• Only engaged models may fight (like now), but casualties can be pulled from anywhere
• Powerfists only get the +1 attack if you have a pair (like lightingclaws)
• Monstrous creatures do fire 2 weapons per turn
• Vehicle LoS for sponsons and various weapons are now defined through a ton of charts
• Obscured and skimmers moving fast now grants a cover save vs damage (and it is a cover save so chew on that for the full implications)
• Assault Attacks versus vehicles with no WS are resolved against rear armor
• Vehicle Squadron rules are very different
• Vehicle Ramming is in (and skimmers get a dodge save to avoid it against non-skimmers)

WARSEER 5TH EDITION SUMMARY

This set of rumors is the collection of rumors from the highly respected Warseer forum. Most of the points are in agreement but there are a few differences that highlight the fact that everything is still really just speculation at this point.

First Update: Link

Okay, I’ll give some update and a little clarification.

The rumors I gave were based off of an early version of the rulebook. I gave it a quick read-through, so I can clarify as far as how some of these rules work (i.e., I didn’t just talk to a guy who told me how it would work in bullet-point fashion). I haven’t had a chance to re-read it yet, as I’ve been too busy with work and other things to devote any time to 40K in the last few days, so certain things I’m not really sure about until I get a chance to look at the thing again.

It was an early draft, this much was obvious by sections that had old versions of charts in them (with things like “we need to update this graph” written in on top of them). Not all the rules were complete. There were a few sentence fragments and blank places where certain rules had obviously not been finished. There was also no artwork, just large blank spaces saying “put artwork here” (basically).

So, basically going off of memory, this is what I remember (not saying that other questions can’t be answered, just that I didn’t see or don’t remember what that answer is).

Vehicles: Fire everything if you stay still (except Ordnance, it’s got special rules, and I don’t use Ordnance, so I didn’t look closely). Fast vehicles can fire everything if they move up to 6″. If you move, you can fire 1 plus defensive weapons. Fast vehicles can move up to 12″ and fire 1 plus defensive. If you move more than 6″, you only fire defensive (I think you can still fire defensive weapons here, but I’m not 100% on that). Fast vehicles can move up to 18″ (their max speed now) and only fire defensive. Vehicles can only fire at one target. I did not see any special rules for sponsons firing at multiple targets. Not saying they won’t be in the final version, or even that they aren’t in the one I saw, just that I didn’t see them.

Wound allocation before armor saves: Didn’t see it. It may or may not be. I was looking at other sections and really didn’t expect to see any changes here, so I glanced over that part and didn’t look too closely. I’ll try and update later on in the week, once I see it again.

Vehicle damage chart: It’s about halfway between the glancing and penetrating charts of today (1-2 is the can’t shoot/move thing, 3 is weapon, 4 is immobilized, 5-6 destroyed/annihilated). Glance is a -2. If you are glanced, your vehicle can at most be immobilized. Vehicles are a bit more survivable because of the way damage stacks. If you get two immobilized results, it becomes weapon destroyed. You aren’t destroyed by “cumulative results” until you’ve been immobilized and all your weapons are gone (and then you get one more).

Transports: If your transport is destroyed, passengers now take a Str 4 hit, saves allowed (instead of a 4+). If an open-topped transport is destroyed, it’s a Str 3 hit because its easier to disembark.

Plasma/frag: I don’t know about their armor penetration against vehicles. I think they’re the same now, but don’t quote me on that.

Assaulting in cover: If you assault someone in cover, and you don’t have grenades, you now become initiative 1 (instead of them becoming init 10). This works a lot better when more than two units are in combat.

LOS: I’m pretty sure that it’s units that block LOS, so you shouldn’t worry about spending 45 minutes drawing LOS from each individual trooper to each individual target. You draw LOS from the eyes of the model. Area terrain gives cover saves. There’s an entire chapter on ruined buildings and how they affect line of sight (like a mini Cities of Death). I honestly don’t remember if 6″ of terrain blocks sight or not.

Blast weapons: I didn’t see anything in the rules about rolling to hit at all, just scatter. But honestly, I was on the phone with a guy relating all the stuff to him, and I can’t always do two things at once. So it might be there — I didn’t get to give this stuff my complete and full attention.

Running can be done w/in 12″ of an enemy. You just can’t charge if you run.

More rumors:

After shooting and wounding, you can choose to become pinned. You get a +1 to cover save (or a 6+ if you’re in the open). It’s the “get down!” rule.

If you are charged while broken, you make another fall back move immediately. If you don’t get away (i.e., they can still reach you), you’re destroyed. If you do get away, umm, you get away.

Gets Hot! is back to the 3rd ed version. So that Ork character doesn’t have to worry about rolling 3s on his plasma gun.

There is not a new HTH chart. Sadly, the Avatar still only hits Fire Warriors on a 3+.

Preferred Enemy now allows you to reroll all misses, instead of hitting on a 3+.

Ground vehicles that move at full speed and cross dangerous terrain roll 2D6 for their test. If one “one” is rolled, they’re immobilized. If two “ones” are rolled, the vehicle flips over and is considered destroyed. Kinda cool, I think, because it represents what you see in action movies.

Flamers: You now determine wounds for all template weapons firing from a squad before you take saves or remove casualties!!!

Bikes all now get a 3+ cover save for their turbo-boost. So the psy-cannon thing is out the window.

A unit with Scouts that is inside a vehicle confers that ability to the vehicle!!! Let the Pathfinders and Possessed Marines rule!

–

Honestly, one thing I noticed is that the new rules should make Dark Reapers turn back into their tank-murdering selves (at least the Exarch). An Exarch with Crack Shot and an Eldar Missile Launcher could deny a skimmer any real protection. No cover save, ka-blam!

Overall, if something remained the same, I didn’t mention it. So while I understand the desire for defensive weapons to be something different than they were in 4th…

Second Update: Link

Okay, I looked at it again. A few updates.

1) Blast weapons don’t roll to hit, they just scatter. However, they now operate like template weapons in that any model touched by the blast is hit. None of this “roll 4+ for partial” stuff. A unit firing multiple blast weapons (a SM Dev squad being the example) fires like a multiple barrage unit would in 4th edition. Scatter once, then lay the blasts off of the original template. These two things might make up for the lack of a to-hit roll. Oh, and you don’t need to center the hole over someone when you place it before determining scatter.

2) No shooting of defensive weapons if you move full speed.

3) Yes, vehicles can now get up to a 3+ cover save, depending on what they’re hiding behind.

4) Still saw nothing on 6″ plus of area terrain blocking line of sight. You CAN declare certain types of terrain as LOS blocking — it just has to be done before the game. You also decide what is difficult, what is dangerous, and what is impassable. Certain things can be difficult for one type of model and not difficult for another. So tank traps might be dangerous terrain for vehicles, but count as clear terrain for infantry. A river might be impassable for infantry, but dangerous for vehicles. You just have to decide before you play. I like this, as it gives more power to the players.

5) No re-roll of wounding against transported infantry no matter how far you moved.

6) Force weapons now just inflict instant death instead of that weird pseudo-instant death.

7) Smoke launchers are a 5+ cover save.

You can still only take one save per guy.

9) Yes, allocate wounds before making saves. This will probably encourage larger squads (goodbye, 6 man las-plas).

10) You can shoot over other squads if you can see over them because of elevation, etc. You can always shoot at vehicles or monstrous creatures over other squads.

Overall, it looks like a lot of streamlining went into the rules. That’s good. It also looks like they wanted to move away from certain types of armies. Certain vehicles have become “viable” (to some degree) again. A Dark Eldar Ravager with 3 Dark Lances is now something you can take. You couldn’t really before, because you “had” to move 6+ inches to get SMF, and that meant you could only fire one weapon. Now, with SMF just a 5+ cover save, and the Ravager able to fire all weapons if it moves 6″ or less, we may actually see it shoot more often.

The problem that I see with 4th is that certain builds were simply too good to not take. As a result, a lot of different units were never used. A Falcon can have a pulse laser, a scatter laser, and a shuriken cannon, move 12″, and fire them all. Well, that’s a hell of a lot of firepower. Likewise, the Land Speeder w/ AC and HB was just too good to ignore. Now, with these changes, vehicles that were too good in 4th will become… not so good now.

With fast vehicles only able to move 18″, it likewise eliminated the Dark Eldar rush. It again looks like they’re moving away from one-turn assaults and other too-good combos.

This is overall, in my opinion, a good thing for 40K. The fewer no-brainer builds that are available, the better. Builds that were never competitive before now have a chance to be good. Vehicles as a whole are now less mobile, but more survivable. It will lead to different tactics, to be sure. Some vehicles may become more common (like the Land Raider), simply because Eldar skimmers got worse. It’s hard to justify 250 for a Land Raider when a Falcon is so much faster, more survivable, and has more mobile firepower than you. Of course, the Land Raider Crusader remains 10 gallons of kick-ass in a 5 gallon jug.

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