Some 6th ED Rumors (Kind of)

So the fallout of Open War is settling and I had my first taste of a 40K event under 5th edition, and I enjoyed it. My Necrons lost all three games (two to phase out) but I think I was being very optimistic in my last entry. Either way I have a nice trophy for coming last (40K for Dummies) and won a Daemon Battlebox in the raffle! Speaking of Daemons, I managed to get a game the other night against Dave from the club. It was the classic match up with me using Daemons and Dave using Grey Knights (a very optimized and tournament spam style list whilst mine was the opposite!). The game ended up being a Dawn of War and Kill Points and in the end Dave won but it wasn't easy for him. I was quite pleased with the result as I nearly won and it's got me thinking about Daemons again.

Anyway, you are most likely reading this due to me mentioning rumors about 6th edition of Warhammer 40,000. Over the last few days, rumors have been popping up over on Dakka Dakka about some of the things changing or not changing in the next edition.

"What did your source say about 6th edition?"

"He/She wouldn't go into specifics, but said that a lot of what had been said online was true, some of it wasn't entirely correct, and some of it was correct but just worded extremely poorly to a point where it made the rule seem more complex than it actually was or made the rule seem somehow different. He/She said he/she had played games using the new rulebook and said that the games didn't take much longer to complete than they already are, if anything they were making a point that some of the more convoluted rules have been streamlined and some of the rules that were "too basic" got changed as well. He/She said that, if anything, the game feels much more strategic with the new rulebook, though he/she did say that some of the rules take "a bit of getting used to."

EDIT: Codex books won't be invalidated by the new rules apparently, but the new rulebook will come with an FAQ section for each already existing army to clarify any confusion or mix-ups in concern to the new rules.

Also, to those worried about the lack of Imperial releases, my source did say that new models and finecast were coming out over the next year for a few Imperial loyalist armies, including Imperial Guard, and that after Eldar we'd be, and I quote, "sick of Imperial releases."

As for why they chose certain armies over armies that needed it more (Dark Angels, Black Templars, etc), it was apparently due to lore/fluff reasons. Chaos is going to be a major threat come 6th Edition to everyone, not just the Imperium, and apparently they (Chaos) will have a front against the Tau Empire, hence why Tau are getting a release before-hand. The perspective/narrative is also changing apparently and it won't be only or heavily Imperial, he/she said that GW wanted to make some of the other "good" races (Tau Empire, Eldar) feel just as important as the Imperium when it comes to lore/fluff and the fate of the galaxy. This was apparently some of the reasoning behind why Tau Empire and Eldar are getting books before armies like Dark Angels and Black Templars.

As for the actual Tau Empire rules, all my source was willing to say was that a good deal of the rumours currently on the internet about Tau are true, but that some were false or just poorly worded, and that he/she couldn't give out or confirm/deny specifics as he/she "might get in trouble." Apparently, some GW staff are allowed to leak certain details to the public via the internet, but are very specific as to what is allowed to be said by who.

Again, take with a grain of salt. "

Now this is quite an interesting post in my eyes as it tantalizes players with the prospect of cool things happening background wise (shift with Chaos attacking everybody and not just the Imperium as a majority target) and that the game has some changes rule wise. However all this rumor seems to do is regurgitate speculation and best guesses rather than give folks something set in stone. In a way I quite like this as it helps keep things interesting for when the game comes out rather than us knowing everything now. Either way, I'm enjoying 5th edition at the moment and I'm not in a rush for the next one just yet.