A Rant (Pt. I)

Those two books helped 40K really turn into a miniatures wargame. And so the whole Warhammer "rules-not-in-one-place" syndrome was born. Not that this was a Games Workshop only problem, far from it. AD&D, Car Wars, Starfleet Battles (worst offender), and Battletech all suffered from this. Game companys are after all, a business. If they don't expand they can't make the sweet cash and will die. Fans of a system want more, and the companies are usually happy to provide. 

 
Second Edition arrived and it was Good. All the rules in one glorious box!

The Codexes came out at a slow rate, but had all the info for your army. Sure the rules were still a tad clunky, and the Psychic phase card game was...a thing, but it worked. The special rules were few and mostly army specific.

Third edition changed a few base ideas (like AP) but was the same basic 40K. As more Editions came out, the special rules kept growing and growing. By 7th it was a teetering mass about to collapse under its own weight. 

8th edition base rules were much cleaner (and better in my opinion), but still the amount of army special rules was a bit much. And only got worse. Unless you were playing the same army a lot, the game crawled along  as both side had to keep looking at their Codex, Strategy Cards, and whatever other supplement that supported their force. It was a bit much for not that great a return on play.

And then 9th...Main rules much cleaner, for the most part.

The Codexes. Special rule modified more special rules. I do like some nice "chrome" for the individual armies, but Emperor's teeth, so many! Is not for me. It seems tailored for the competitive play crowd, and that's fine, but like I said not for me, or my small gaming group. Too many fine detail combos and other shenanigans. Plus more Campaign books with more special rules. Yikes.

So I've played a lot less 40K in the past year or so. But I still love the minis, the universe, and rolling dice to decide the fates of toy soldiers. What to do?

Find out next week.