Your take on 6th Ed

So who has got the book, who has read the book and what do you think to the new bits?

Personally I dont think it will speed games up, its far more likely to cause issues such as who will have what level of cover save and wound allocation could get a little arduous! Especially in large protracted combats.

Really, you should be agreeing, quickly before a game, which pieces of terrain grant saves, what saves they are and whether they are area terrain or not. Difficulties arrise when you try and make it up on the fly.

I for one am very pleased with the new book.
I felt the 5th ed book dumbed it down a bit too much.

Nice to see that the shooting phase it more potent now, especially for vehicles. That combined with vehicles being slightly less resilient and, I think at least, that games will become slightly quicker if not just the same but with more rules.

One criticism I do have is that wound allocation in combats may become a chore, especially if you have up to 60 to 90 orks involved... as I often have! It's clearly a simple system for shooting but I suppose I'll see once it's put into practice.

I mean, I started playing in 2nd edition and After giving the rules some good attention, I honestly think that this is the best edition since.

Really looking forward to my first game now.

I agree that you would already have discussed what saves you would get but how do you work out if 3 guys have clear shots and 3 obscured then does it get 3 cover and 3 armour or the best of the average. I just think its going to exasserbate the old 50% obscured = cover save issue!

only just got the book need to finish reading through it and then play a few games to see if it makes a difference will post on completion

ah, Vin. I can give you one next week if you're free

zounds a little rude but i get your meaning

So, now that I have amassed the vast experience of 2 games against Vinny, and 1 against myself just trying to get my head around stuff, I have the following initial opinions:

Movement
Pretty much all the opportunities for 1st turn charges have been removed. This is bad for my Dark Eldar and Eldar who now pretty much have to sit in the open and endure a turn of shooting before they assault. But it's good for my Tau. And it was a bit unrealistic (Unrealistic?! it's Sci-Fi!) that it used to be quite feasible to attack an warrior equipped with an automatic weapon before he could even get a shot off.

Shooting
I like that the new changes have beefed shooting up - this is the future after all, and guns are dangerous! I particularly like the snap-fire dynamic, in that it represents the fact that sometimes you just can't aim but you can fire off a few shots anyway which might just hit something. Overwatch is great too - now my Tau don't have to just sit and take it when the enemy gets too close. I like the wound allocation - it makes more sense that the ones at the front die first, and makes movement of individual models more tactical.

Assault
Overwatch really hurts low toughness chargers, but I think it's a good dynamic. I'm not convinced by challenges - the rules have been written in an ambiguous way so that it's not really clear what happens with overkill. I just don't really fell that challenges fit well into a futuristic battlefield with loose squads like they do on a field of fantasy regiments. The introduction of AP values for CC weapons is a good step, although it's stuffed my chances of taking down terminators.

Vehicles
I like that they can shoot more now, even if it's only snap fire, and that they can't take unlimited glances - makes them scarier, but less ridiculously survivable. I don't like the new assault rules: a flying tank which is moving as fast as it can is easier for an infantry model to hit than a Tau Fire Warrior?!!! Come on.

Flyers
It was obvious that these were coming, and it's a good thing - this is the future after all. The "Supersonic Skimmer" fudge of the previous edition was just pants. Currently, flyers are very difficult to deal with (although a LR Punisher makes a fine AA weapon, we've established), but once people more models with Skyfire rules are released and people factor them into their army planning I'm sure they won't dominate games too much.

Mysterious Stuff
Mysterious objectives are quite fun. I particularly like that objectives can give you an advantage for holding them - it makes them worth something rather than "you have to hold this random piece of ground because that's how you win". Mysterious terrain is just annoying - I don't feel it adds anything to the game except another unnecessary bit of randomness.

That's all for now, maybe I'll have some more thoughts after a few more games.

Ooh, and @DaveClark890 - that situation with a half covered squad is dealt with by the Focus Fire rule on p18 - seems like a fair solution to me.

I know its "covered" by the focus fire but there will be MANY debates as to who gets what cover, more so than 5th I think. Its 1 of those things that will just get sorted at the time.

Nice rundown Tweedie,

also nice to see my thoughts, after reading the book, are in line with your finding after a few games.

Still yet to play a game of 6th but hopefully remedy that this week.