There is a lot of talk online at the moment about the idea of a new 10th edition of Warhammer 40K coming some time in 2023. When it drops, we'll all buy it even though arguably the game does not need a new edition at this time, if ever. For me personally, bar a couple of things, I find 9th edition to be the best edition of the game so far. I don't want to see it go away. I'm not finished with it yet. It's not like the edition needs to change but fresh editions every few years puts cash in the bank for Games Workshop as everyone out there has to buy the latest rules to realistically keep playing. It's understandable why they keep doing it.
One thing to remember is that 9th edition dropped during the middle of the Covid pandemic and for nearly 18 months players had little chance to get games in. With that in mind I do think if Games Workshop are going to put out a new edition they should wait two more years to compensate. It's not like they didn't make a small fortune out of Covid after all. I do feel that because of this, if 9th gets replaced this early then the edition was somewhat shortchanged.
There are a few grumbles about the current edition and here are my thoughts on what 10th needs to do if it wants to improve upon 9th. Firstly, they need to reduce the number of stratagems in the game. There really is no need to introduce thirty new ones in every codex especially when some could be condensed down and made more universally viable. For example, in the Space Marine codex there is a strat called Rapid Fire which allows an Intercessor or Veteran Intercessor squad to fire again at the end of the shooting phase. This is far too restrictive. Why can't Tactical Squads benefit from this? Better yet, open it up to all Infantry units but adjust the cost. Make it 1 CP if the squad is a Troops choice and 2 CP if the unit falls under another slot. Likewise there is a strat just for Whirlwinds. Again, condense this with other vehicle strats and make one that just works for space marine vehicles. Games Workshop could easily cut ten stratagems (pulling that number out of my hat) if they did this. Other codexes could benefit from the same. It makes it easier for a player to remember what they have available and more likely to remember what an opponent could do without having to memorise potentially hundreds of stratagems.
Secondly I feel that they should undo the changes to Overwatch. Keep it as a universal stratagem but make it so that it can be used multiple times in the same turn but by different units. Don't leave this as buff purely for the Tau Empire. Assault is too strong as it is and making Overwatch a one use strat is not helping. Every army should get the benefit like they used to. This would help balance out the strength of assault based armies somewhat in my opinion.
Third... although I grumbled initially about the changes to Matched Play under Warzone: Nephilim when the book came out, they have grown on me. I'd stick to the changes to CP and warlord trait/relics. I might even go so far as to say only one warlord trait and one relic regardless. The secondaries are much more balanced under Nephilim so I'd keep those as well. Nephilim has improved the game in these aspects so they I think they should be ported over to any new edition.
An important one that I touched on in my previous article would be to ditch some of the hold objective missions in favour of capture table quarters, kill points or even something like The Relic. Make them default missions as well. Don't focus 40K on tournament or competitive play. Right now, 9th edition Match Play missions are quite frankly boring and repetitive. I much prefer to play the Crusade narrative missions under Match Play rules. The game was never designed not intended to be tournament based and making it so has been a step in the wrong direction.
Lastly, the one remaining thing that I would change would be to fix terrain. 9th improved upon the pointless 8th edition terrain rules to make them more usable but it's gone a step too far. Right now ruins over 5'' in height completely blocks line of sight as though it were a giant metal box going all the way up. But what about a unit that has been deployed on more elevated terrain and can easily see over the offending ruin with true line of sight on the enemy? By rules as written they cannot shoot which makes no sense at all. Terrain just needs some slight changes and rewording to make it better. Bring back true line of sight.
Even with these ideas I am still not convinced that we need a new edition of Warhammer 40K. I can remember right early on when 8th was being previewed that there was mention of the gaming becoming what I call a living system. That means you have a standard rules set that never gets replaced. Instead, you would get an annual update similar to what 8th had with it's Chapter Approved books. Codexes could be updated every few years as normal. All you have to do with a living rules system is correlate all the errata and updates, and reprint the rulebook say every four years with the errata in it. It does seem that Games Workshop went that route with 8th edition as we had those Chapter Approved books. But then something changed, and I guess that it has something to do with sales, and that went away in favour of a new edition and a new rulebook. A living system like I describe would be better. By their own admission, Games Workshop are a miniatures company not a games company so focusing on new model kits and the like while maintaining a single rules edition would be the way forward. But I'm not trying to run a big business. I can only speak as a player of said game and how I would like to see my favourite war game go forward.
What are your thoughts? Do we really need a new edition or are you like me and happy with what we presently have? If you want 10th edition what changes do you want to see made? I look forward to reading your responses.
