1st Edition vs. 3rd Edition

[Commander Dante]

This thread is meant to compare 1st and 3rd edition rules.


In my opinion, 1st Edition rules are much more strategic than the unbalanced 3rd Edition rules.

Such as, the 3rd ed. rule allowing the Marines to pick CP's again. In my opinion, sometimes the Marines have to tough it out on one CP...it's not what you have, but what you do with it that counts!

Also, allowing sustained fire on O'watch. In the 1st ed. overwatch is a reactionary shot covering a wide area that doesn't permit concentrated aiming. Since in the 3rd ed. they castrated the sustained fire bonus to begin with (only 5's vs. 3's in 1st ed.), I see that they tried to 'balance' it by allowing sustained in O'watch, but it's a poor trade off for the strategic and realistic rules that 1st ed. had.

It is much more logical that the Emperor's finest warriors could train their aim down to better than a 1 out of 3 chance of hitting a target after aiming at it for several shots.

'Guard' stance is one of two worthwhile rules in 3rd. edition. This was taken from the Harlequin rules in Citadel Journal #2 (only it was changed from a +1 Close Assault bonus for models with hand weapoons, to a re-roll for any model).

Also, maintaining Overwatch after clearing a jam is the other good rule revision. Having to use 3 CP's and wait 3 'Stealer actions to regain O'watch meant you could nearly never do it (had to take CP shots from thereafter).

The psychics in 3rd ed. are much less intricate than in Genestealer expansion, but the psychic rules can be confusing, especially without the White Dwarf #'s 142 and 144 (however, you all have the benefit of both of them through the 'Rules Authority' thread in the forum)



Does anybody else have any comparisons?

[odinsgrandson]

I actually think that most of the rules changes were slight anyway. So you can't kill a genestealer on a 3+ if you spend your whole action shooting at it. Big deal. After the first shot, you're way more likely to kill him than not (since you need a 5+ and you're rolling two dice, the odds are well over 50% chance that the 'stealer is dead).


The old psionics rules were sort of a mess (and yes, GW figured that out and wrote up some FAQs and errata for them). But even then, they were taking a fairly simple game and streamlined set of rules and adding in at least as many rules- which most of the time would only apply to one guy.

The 3rd ed psionics do lose some of the intricacies that the older rules had, but the streamline makes the experience stronger (it is no longer all about the psyker).


What the 3rd edition is lacking is all of the old expansions. The 1st ed game was just ripping with expansions to include all sorts of different creatures that you see in the 40k universe. The 3rd ed- while I think it is an improvement on the stand alone game- has the flaw that it is never going to have an official expansion of its own.

But, hey- we can use most of the older stuff with the 3rd ed rules. Harlaquins, Imperial Guard, Traitor Terminators and Power Armored Marines are all just a mouse click away.

[Commander Dante]

Another key difference between 1st and 3rd edition rules are the line of sight (LOS) allowed into and out of rooms.

For example, in the 3rd edition, you can't see into the corners of a room unless you are nearly in the room yourself.

However, in 1st edition the LOS is quite farther. There is LOS 6 squares from the corner of a 3x3 room, down the corrider and vice versa.

See the PDF of White Dwarf #142, last page.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/28653918/White-Dwarf-142-Space-Hulk-Rules