"40k third edition rule book." Topic

A charity shop near where I work as the 3rd edition book for £15.00 GBP Would it be worth buying or is this when the rules changed to much for some people.
I know buying it would help the charity, but as a set of rules is it any good.

They are not worth buying, except for the pictures. You get a compressed rule book if you buy one of the boxed battle sets. The last one I had was "Assault on Black Reach", which has since been superseded.

Someone at a club might give you the rule book from one of these boxed sets. People end up with spares when they buy multiple boxes.

3rd through 6th (the current) editions are basically the same game, although with a series of changes which add up to significant differences. One thing about the 3rd edition book that is useful is that it contains cut-down army lists for all the factions available at the time of publishing (since they'd changed the rules sufficiently to make the 2nd edition Codex books unusable). If you're not bothered about joining an existing group, it does have the advantage of providing all the rules necessary for play in a single volume, with a minimum of the special rules which plague the Codex army lists.

If you're interested in helping the charity, just give 'em a £15.00 GBP donation. :)

Even the artwork wasn't that great in 3rd edition, IMO; Too many of Wayne England's odd, angular, black and white ink drawings for my taste

Try Ebay :)

I have to agree £15.00 GBP is a lot for that book.

Thanks all for the advice, will leave it alone.

I'll take a slightly different tack. 15gbp is too much (though if you want to do a good deed you might want to by it anyway.) but I think it is a book worth having.

What 3rd edition rulebook has, that future editions don't is the included basic codex for all factions. All factions have changed a bit over the last few years, but if you want to proxy up some armies for a home game, you might find it useful.

That said, it's probably worth closer to 5gbp. IIRC, last year I picked one up at a FLGS auction for about 4 USD.

…but as a set of rules is it any good.

I played it once, and threw it away.

If you're going to go retro, go RT or 2nd. If you want lots and lots of willing players, go current.

So, pretty much worthless. 15 pounds is a joke.

We had more fun with the more streamlined 3rd edition then we did with the more clunky 2nd edition. But for smaller battles RT/1st is the best.
Since then they have just kept tacking rules onto the 3rd edition that it is back to being rather clunky again (but I haven't read 6th edition).
So while that price is pretty high, it is a fun version of the game and a good cause. I would offer the shop clerk about 10 for their cause if its a decent shaped copy.

If you want to donate £15.00 GBP for a good cause, take the book for it.

For the book itself… look what the images and background info are worth to you – the set of rules is practically without any (if you really care for the rules, you will get the small rulebook much cheaper on eBay).

On the topic of usefulness of outdated editions, 4th edition is probably worth getting as it has the rules for the full version of the Kill Team rules.

(if you really care for the rules, you will get the small rulebook much cheaper on eBay).

Not for third edition, you won't. :)

Was there ever army builder files for the lists in the back of the book? I would be very interested in getting hold of a concise set of army lists for 40K.