"Warhammer: should newbie choose 6th or 8th edition?" Topic

I am part collector, part gamer, and Warhammer may end up as a solo project, so gaming at the local GW store is not a big concern.

Would using 6th edition, with all of the add-ons like Siege, General's Compendium, Dogs of War, Chronicles, Annual, etc., be a more enjoyable system, or would going with straight 8th edition?

I have acquired most 6th edition books and also have 8th edition rules with the newer army codexes. I have skimmed through the 8th edition rules and like them, and like the emphasis on infantry units and de-emphasis on characters. People seem really high on 6th edition (memories?) and the various supplements could add great flavor.

I'm prefering to do 6th. My army is pretty much 5th Ed Brets, but I don't want to use that system as I don't like the card system for magic. I also think that while 6th had some problems, I find the bret book pretty balanced, I just need to figure out an opposing army to collect. I'm thinking Vampire Counts, but I will have to see.

sixth edition was a good editon. Id go with that. Im not fond of the changes in 8th edition. The focus seems to be on horde units and big monsters.

I'm biased! 6th's the first Edition I played & still my favorite & the edition I have the most books for… so, that's what I'd play! I wish I'd never parted with my copy of Dogs of War… In-any-case, Rwphillipsstl, it sounds like you've a more interesting selection of books for 6th & if you're not worried about playing 8th at the Local with others… why not just play it? By-the-by, I love over-the-top heroes; It makes things more heroic!

There were voices in the night, "Don't do it"
Voices out of sight, "Don't do it"
Too many men have failed before

You've been warned…

YouTube link

Many people here seem to like 3rd edition. Call me crazy, but I'm partial to 5th. However, nothing compares to Warmaster, which is my edition of choice.

I like 5th because of the cards and my undead army was HARD as nails, but 6th was ok. Since 8th came out my army has not been out for over 2 years and I have about 10,000pts of Chaos and Empire

Warmaster is good but not enough people play it over here.

Jules
link

6th all the way IF you do WFB

I have only played a few games ever. I think the last one was 6th or 5th. So, my uninformed observation is that more people speak fondly of 3rd and 5th than other editions. 5th is also the version that Warhammer Ancients branched off of, if that is of any interest. I did enjoy that game.

I like the 8th edition.

You could play 6th with some added 8th edition rules you like since you're playing at home, perhaps solo. We do that. You can always convert troop lists to 8th if you get involved with other players.

8th edition in my opinion

The rules are better (no more silly one rank fires), the magic is more interesting and the army books that have come out until know are well balanced.

A crucial thing that makes 8th better than 6th IMHO is also the path GW took when it came to magic items. Lots of common items and few army specific items. This helps with balance.

You are stepping into a hobby debate of our time when you ask this. There are several people who like the rules of the 8th edition, and there are a great many who cant stand the 8th edition. Usually there is more than meets the eye with these differences however.

I do not like the 8th edition at all, and I would recommend the 6th edition over the 8th or most other editions put out by GW personally. With that in mind, my honest advice is to play both editions and see which edition that you really like. Ask questions on places like here(recommended for the 6th) about the rules and other forums. I would honestly pick a veteran of the edition to teach you the game if at all possible.

I would hold out for 10th edition…

A more salient question would be "Which edition are the people you plan on playing with using?"

My group are DBx gamers so they won't play Warhammer if I paid them to, so solo in all likelihood or with my kids.

I thought that 7th edition took a very sound 6th edition rulebook, and made a few small tweaks (mostly just wording) that made it a rock-solid, early perfect set.

I took that rulebook, created my own rules summary, with all the rules organized they way you would encounter them (all setup under setup, all movement under movement, etc), with page references back to the main rules.

In the scores and scores of games we played, not one rules question ever came up that did not have a definitive answer, and usually within a few moments of looking it up.

8th was such a jumble, I couldn't take my 7th summary and make subtle tweaks to appropriate sections, Far too much changed, and things that were once very clear became so vague (by their new wording) as to be unclear.

I stopped playing once 8th came out. They fixed too much that wasn't broken, and made the rules worse because of it.

Get a copy of Hordes of the Things and try that on your kids, mine love the game and your DBA friends can join right in.

Bad time to start Warhammer as 8th edition is something of an all time low.

Wait for 9th – its bound to be better….

TomT

Or 11th, it will be the best ever. Preorder now.

They should pick another set of rules because with Warhammer the rules will change every 4 years and not for the best.

"Wait for 9th – its bound to be better…."

That is what we have said for the last 8 editions.

So they won't be.

"Wait for 9th – its bound to be better…."

That is what we have said for the last 8 editions.

So they won't be.

So go back to 2nd – tweek as required …

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Imo the reason to play warhammer is because it's what almost everyone else plays.

My advice would be go with 8th or put a better set together.
I don't think any version of wfb has been that great.

Another option is to tweak the rules and race books. That's kind of an up hill struggle tho. People who know the rules will have different opinions on what's broke.

All the cool kids will be playing 12th edition by the time you have your army ready. Luckily most of them will not have painted their miniatures, saving everybody some time to research the new killer combos in the upcoming 13th edition. Operators are standing by to take yor order…

All the cool kids will be playing 12th edition by the time you have your army ready. Luckily most of them will not have painted their miniatures, saving everybody some time to research the new killer combos in the upcoming 13th edition. Operators are standing by to take your order…

All the cool kids will be playing 12th edition by the time you have your army ready. Luckily most of them will not have painted their miniatures, saving everybody some time to research the new killer combos in the upcoming 13th edition. So, yeah, wait for 14th.

7th Ed was guilty of being Mathhammer, where you could pretty much just look at two lists and figure out the winner without having to bother playing the game; 8th is a vast improvement over it imho.

But I also enjoyed 1st Ed and 3rd Ed too, and really got into the game in the 4th/5th Eds. 6th did have some awesome supplements though for sure :)

Go with whatever the people around are playing. I actually think 8th Edition is fine. I just wish they would break the rules into a 3-volume set: 1) Rules, 2) Armies and Scenarios. 3) Fluff and Modeling. Just lifting the current rules to read them is a strain on your arms and hands!

I agree that GW is missing the boat on how they organize and publish their rules and fluff. Here in a bit, I think they ought to issue their inevitable 8.5/9.0 rules, but they should do so as a slender hardbound volume ala the Warlord series of rules (Black Powder, Hail Caesar, etc.) at a lower cost. Then they could publish a second volume which is modelling and background fluff, then a third volume ("Warhammer Options" or whatever) that contains all of those siege, underground, naval, campaign, etc., rules that many people want and add such depth to the system.

6th and 7th are my choice and that is what we are playing our group currently. We are talking about adopting some of the 8th ideas.

2nd Edition

8th is the only edition I've found fun.

Leigh

Head…hurting…can't…choose…

8th is the most fun and 'fair' edition I've played. Ordinary rank and file troops have a decent chance to hit back against uber-units that charge them. There are lots of options for holding together your army and you rarely see a whole flank flee from the board – but dumb tactical mistakes are still punished appropriately by the rules. Skirmishes and 'chaff'units have their place, but don't break the game – it is difficult to lead the enemy army around by the nose, anymore.

The modelling options are great fun – with new hordes and giant monsters galore, some of the most fun I've had modelling Warhammer armies.

The only real downside, as I see it, is peoples' "play it safe" tendency to only take high-level casters (low level mages have more risk of a humorous miscast result if they attempt a powerful spell), and the few item combos or rare monsters that seem almost unkillable due to high rerollable saves – this is only a real problem when there is no 'rock' to their 'scissors'.

A couple of the recent books have units that are a bit too good because they have no real weakness – I'm thinking of the Skull Cannon and Frost Phoenix particularly – but you can easily fix that by not picking those units for your matched opposing armies.

Other than that, 8th is the only reason I have played dozens of games of Warhammer in the last 18 months. Highly recommended.