Pre-6th Edition Thoughts

I have been thinking.  A very dangerous endeavor for me.  There are so many ways the rumored 6th edition rules could impact my Imperial Guard armies.  I will use the 91st Steel Legion as an example of good things to come.

Vehicles
Vehicles can possibly shoot at 2+ targets.  My immediate impression is that my Chimeras just got better.  I can hose a unit that got too close with my hull mounted heavy flamer while popping off shots at a light vehicle or a monstrous creature with my multi-laser turret.  After all of that I get to have the unit inside shoot.  While this isn't game breaking it does help with my chimera build's diverse capabilities albeit only if it doesn't move.  Then again if I get heavy stubbers mounted we are back in business.  My Vendettas, Leman Russ' Battle Tanks, Manitcores, and Basilisks are going to have a field day with multi-targeting rules.  Although I think I am still hitting only one target with a Manticore barrage.  Rolling BS to hit with a 5" template and the rest of the following templates from the Manticore will be very nice.



The vehicle damage chart and the way vehicles are impacted by glancing, penetrating, and melta hits will make vehicles much more robust.  If I recall correctly a weapon destroyed result only takes away multi-targeting.  I like this.  The possibility of a vehicle losing a weapon system is rare at best.  It happens but it's rare.  I think this would better translate the chaos of the crew reacting in the vehicle.  I do like that vehicles seem like they have to roll for morale checks after so many hits.  This makes total sense.  If things are getting too hot the driver would be like, I'm getting out of here.  It just adds another level of complexity that is both new and familiar.  In other words it will likely be easily learned by veteran players and easily picked up by new ones too.

Bottom line: Vehicles (and tanks in general) become much more capable 40K combatants with a variety of new options and concerns on the 40K battlefield.

Game Phases
Movement, Assault, Shooting, Consolidation.  While the realism of combat can never quite be captured into a turn sequence that matches the chaos of the battlefield the assaulting before shooting doesn't bother me.  I think it could go either way but it does offer challenges for timing assaults correctly before trying to lay 5" templates around the table.  I can definitely see some epic assaults ending with a healthy rapid fire spray combat combat win (consolidating only 3" now which seems fine).  The different movement distances would be interesting.  I think it will correctly reflect the uniqueness of the beast models while allowing for a more intuitive movement rate for each unit type.  Now consolidating at the end of your turn is nice.  I like this a lot.  It gives a closure feeling to the turn.  A moment to reflect as your opponent starts up his movement phase.  Only experience will tell if this new phase sequence will work out well.  I think it will.

That's all for today.  If you had trouble following I would reference the posted 6th edition rules rumors and read through them first.  It's worth the read.

Until next time!