6th. Oh My Eyes.

And so it begins. Sixth edition is here, and I've been thumbing through it looking at the rules and whats new. We knew what a lot of them were, but its nice to see it in black and white. Only, thats the thing. Its not in black and white. Its in aged yellows, oranges, and the complete book is full colour. Wow. I'll talk about the rules a little later on, but first of all I'd like to talk about the aesthetics.

Simply put, the layout design is amazing. Lots of nice little touches, and you never know whats going to make your eyes weep in joy next, weapon designs, emblems, or the latest in spectacular John Blanche pieces. This seriously is some good stuff.

The background section, 'The 41st Millenium' is full of fluff for where the world lies now. The Emperor could be on his last brain cells, aliens are growing ever more varied, and it really does make you wonder if there will be some sort of broken Imperium in the future. Theres also some nice sections for all the other races with some history and artwork, some of which is old but still looks nice.

As a photographer myself, theres some great images in there too. Whether they could have been a little more experimental is questionable, but I think you go too far and you're not showing the full quality of the miniatures off. 

All in all its a great looking book and, I have to say, worth the money. Its a pity that the price hike has been so high on the miniatures themselves with no reason as to why. 

The rules themselves are pretty good. Myself and my nephew had a small game, about 500 pts or so, just to teach him the basics and so I could see how a few of the changes work. Wound allocation has potentially slowed the game down, but I think its worth it as it makes so much more sense and adds implications to assaulting, whether its doing it yourself or getting assaulted. We both fielded a dreadnought to see how the hull points stsyem works, but what do you know? My nephew blew my dreadnought up with some rending assault cannon and then a 6 on the damage table. Damn! He proceeded to win the game 3-1. It was a good laugh though and just a simple exercise to see how the rules work. Assault troops with the Hammer of Wrath are a bit more deadly, although 3d6 falling back meant mine rolled 13" and feld. Doh! 

Looking forward to the first night at the club playing, and seeing what everyone else thinks of the rules. 

Whats your thoughts so far?