Where do i leave my money (the games workshop philosophy)
Leopold said:
anyone know about Warhammer 40k ruleset?
If you mean Warhammer 40k 'the rpg', then there are only rumours, and very vague ones at that. Your best bet for starting a 40k rpg campaign would be using the Inquisitor rules (not to mention background), part can be even found online (pdf)
http://www.specialist-games.com/inquisitor/tlr.asp
If you mean the 4th edition battle rules, look no further, i just bought it a few hours ago and was thinking of posting a little rant here, so instead of starting a new thread, i'll continue in this one...
The new warhammer 40k, 4th edition hardcover, retails at €50. Compared to most comparable RPG books this is very expensive, especially when it's 270 pages and only 180 of those pages are in color.Now for the good news, the paper quality is very good, the binding looks sturdy as well, this book is meant to be used a lot.
The interior looks really awesome, with only some illustrations being reused from previous sources, and those that are reused are reused for a reason: the imagery they represent is, for lack of a better term, unique (the imperial palace for example). The new illustrations are top quality, i wish every games company could hire artist such as John Blanche, Alex Boyd, Jes Goodwin, Adrian Smith, etc.
The layout is clean where it's supposed to be clean (rules and the longer texts of background info) and cluttered where it's most effective (i'm talking about galaxy maps with notes inserted at multiple points), some pages layouts can almost be considered art!
There's also a lot color photos in this book, they GW miniatures look great (most of them atleast), especially painted by their highly capable staff. With the 3rd edition the look of the paintinged miniatures was moving more and more away from the comic look of 2nd edition, now with the 4th edition the miniatures (especially the space marines and impirial guard) look more like military models.
The first 90 pages set the new rules, more cleanly then ever before, there's only a small list of changes from the third edition rules, but they are significant enough to change the game a lot.
There's 80 pages of background information, most of it is known to us, but it's updated to the new timeline and some details from lines such Inquisitor and Battlefleet Ghothiq is integrated more into the setting.
Then theres about a 100 pages of info about modeling, collecting armies, running campaign, etc. After seventeen years of gaming (40k) i know how to paint and to collect n army, but the section i well photographed and well written. Even the campaign material is intersting for once (i found it a bit lacking in 2nd and 3rd edition).
Overal, this is an expensive book, with not as much content as some similary priced RPG books (SG-1 for example), and there's a lot of rehashed material. But i was more than willing to fork over my 50 euros, i can't stop gawking over it ;-) I normally get my gaming books from the distributor at a significant discount, today i went into the city (how i have come to loath to do that) and forked over the full price, this is not how i normally buy my books (but i love it).
For those that don't know, here's a little history of the different editions:
1987 - 1st, Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader
1993 - 2nd, Warhammer 40,000 (also known as the comic book edition)
1998 - 3rd, Warhammer 40,000
2004 - 4th, Warhammer 40,000
Some people complain that there's to little time between the different editions, but i would like to point out that the time between the D&D editions of 3e and 3.5 is a lot shorther then 5-6 years.
I also bought 8 codexes i didn't already have at €135, these might become redundant in a few months (the Tyranid codex is getting replaced in march), but they are a good read for the money i pay. 64 pages (half of them in color) for €17,50, compared to most rpg books this is a bargain, especially when you consider the quality of the work.
Did i happen to mention that i actually don't play the game anymore (the last time i fielded my harlequins has been years ago), but i still have a subsciption on white dwarf magazine, and i love gawking over the pretty pictures and miniatures. With this new edition i might actually be tempted to play a battle or two (still have boxes of unpainted stuff laying around)...
My appologies if this isn't appropriate in this forum, if so, feel free to move it...
