When was 40K best? Aka the Nostalgia Thread.

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Primarch
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When was 40K best? Aka the Nostalgia Thread.

Post by Primarch » Mon Jan 23, 2017 9:29 am

Well, we've got Pikey piking on the whole game, others (who shall remain anonymous) whinging and moaning on every 40K thread about how they don't like formations, etc.
So how about a rose-tinted, feel-good nostalgia trip back to the good ol' days when men were men and a 3+ save actually meant something.

I only ever played a little bit of Rogue Trader, while I got into the hobby in my youth, I cut my teeth on Space Marine (before it was Epic), Space Crusade (before it was Advanced) and Space Hulk (before it was Limited Edition, but not really). It was only with the boxed 2nd edition set that I got into 40K proper. My first game involved Orks, Grots, Marines and a cardboard Dread. After that I played a lot, despite the game breaking stuff like the Virus bomb that wiped out 50% of my army before turn 1. When I entered 6th form (senior year of high school for the Americans out there), I gave up on the hobby somewhat having neither the free time nor the money to play regularly. It was only after I came to Japan and met the Joshin crowd that I really got back into the game. Plenty of free time, a steady income and no supervision saw my collection of minis swell from a handful of IG to a massive hoard/horde of minis. For me the end of 4th and all of 5th edition is what I think of as 40K. 4th was ok, but 5th was IMHO the best the game has been. Not that it was in any way balanced, but there were steady releases, some nice new kits, at least an effort to standardize the 'Dexes and it was the game that you could guarantee getting a game of at Joshin. The Financial Crisis also saw overseas prices drop to nothing, so a new army wasn't much of an investment. 5th saw the start of NagoyaHammer as well. Sure, I always wanted new armies and new forces like Genecults or 30K and I played around with house rules for them, but it was still a cool game without them.

So how about you? When did 40K really shine for you? Is there a particular period which stands out as being the best?
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Re: When was 40K good? Aka the Nostalgia Thread.

Post by The Other Dave » Mon Jan 23, 2017 10:04 am

In high school with Rogue Trader it was mostly just me and one other guy, and since we played pretty much everything they released (Adeptus Titanicus, Space Marine, Man O'War, all that good stuff) I didn't really play *that* much RT. 2nd edition in university was really my peak of getting people into the game and all-night game sessions and all that nostalgia jazz, but I'm under no illusions that it was a great *game*, looking back on it (the Virus Bomb thing happened to me too, although in my case it was me wiping out about 80% of my friend's Ork army before the game started). Then 3rd edition dropped just as I found my gaming group in Fukuoka, and we played the hell out of that too - that's probably the edition I think about most when I think about "what 40K is," and the fact that 4th (the last edition I played a lot of - it hit during the peak of the Fukuoka group) is basically a refinement of 3rd helps there.

Fundamentally, I think that (for me) a lot of how I see 40K - my nostalgia factor, if you like - is colored by the fact that, in 1993, 2nd edition was sort of at the bleeding edge of wargames design. The changes implemented in 3rd were actually, considering the game that 40K had become (namely, a platoon-level unit-based game rather than the squad-level individual-soldier-based game that RT, and 2nd edition building off it, was), well-thought-out and mindfully-implemented, but since then the very small continuous refinements just haven't kept up with my own developing appreciation of a well-designed ruleset (or the increasing size of the "typical" game of 40K, for that matter).
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Re: When was 40K best? Aka the Nostalgia Thread.

Post by me_in_japan » Mon Jan 23, 2017 1:20 pm

I'm with Prim on the end-of-4th, all-of-5th being my happy place for 40k. I played plenty of RT, and way too much 2nd ed (aaaah, the heady days of youth when I thought a Deep Striking Hawk Exarch with a Vortex Grenade was the epitomy of tactical acumen...) The only edition I never played was 3rd.

That said. I honestly believe that the current edition with the right opponent* is still loads of fun. Can you break it? Hell yes. Is there horrific rules bloat? Oh yeah. But is it still a lot of fun to line up 1500-2000 pts of dudesmen and blow the crap outta other little dudesmen in a be-skulled and grimdark future? Yes. Yes, it is. That's not to say I don't hold high hopes of 8th ed being Age of Sigmared to hell and back. A stripped down, simplified ruleset would really be a shot in the arm for the game. If 8th ed is really, genuinely revolutionary, I'll be more than happy to give it a whirl. If it's more of the same, I'm unlikely to play any more 40k than I do now. That said, there's always 1 page 40k...

*happily, that covers everyone on this forum.
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Re: When was 40K best? Aka the Nostalgia Thread.

Post by jehan-reznor » Mon Jan 23, 2017 3:30 pm

For me it was 2nd, not too much special units, no flyers, no lords of war, i liked the cc, was not that complicated, and chaos was more fun to play, lots of weapon options, power armor still meant something.

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Re: When was 40K best? Aka the Nostalgia Thread.

Post by Spevna » Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:29 pm

It's between RT and 2nd ed for me.

RT comes with everything you need in one book. Different races, weapons and armour, and vehicles are all covered.

The small model count is a big plus for me too. Each mini on the board is a distinct individual, kitted out however you like.

2nd ed is nice and simple and doesn't suffer from rules bloat. It's also he edition that Necromunda is based around so that's a plus point too :)
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Re: When was 40K best? Aka the Nostalgia Thread.

Post by YellowStreak » Tue Jan 24, 2017 5:16 am

Back in the day, I did most of my 40K-ing with Rogue Trader and 2nd Ed. As stated previously, it was more of a skirmish game back then - we played lots of Space Marine/Adeptus Titanicus for the 'big game' feel.
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Re: When was 40K best? Aka the Nostalgia Thread.

Post by jus » Tue Jan 24, 2017 7:43 am

I think 40k is at its best right now! I have never played 2nd addition, and i imagine it was simpler and more stream lined back then. Rules bloat (is an ugly term)and many may see it as unnecessary. But these rules, true believers, add so much depth, flexibility and flavor to the game. Not to mention the fact that the models have never looked better.( Sorry rogue trader fans, old school style just ain't my jam).

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Re: When was 40K best? Aka the Nostalgia Thread.

Post by Lovejoy » Tue Jan 24, 2017 10:30 am

I had the most fun with it as RT as a teenager, myself and a pal split the cost of that first plastic box of marines. The whole idea felt incredibly fresh and exciting at the time. We added rhinos later, and used to play tit for tat wars of attrition which usually ended up with 2-3 models remaining (on reflection that probably illustrates that the ruleset wasn't perfect). We vaguely pointed up forces, but mostly our games were about just chucking down as many ork and marine models as we had. Lots of other stuff- Britain's Farm models and playpeople castles etc - got pressed into service as terrain. Marvellous.
Returning in 5th I had some great times too. The codexes were more affordable and playable, orks had a solid book in that respect. 40k seems to have diminished since then, and 6th and 7th haven't excited me much. Far too many (special) rules, rules exceptions, data slates, expensive and disappointing codexes... army construction frankly confuses me. It doesn't feel like it actually wants anyone to play it.
I don't see why our group couldn't go down the 5th route again to be honest. I actually do still want to play it in some form, just not the current one.
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Re: When was 40K best? Aka the Nostalgia Thread.

Post by Mike the Pike » Tue Jan 24, 2017 11:58 am

I liked 40K the best during 4th and the start of 5th (IIRC), especially when close combat was 'easier' to get into etc and there weren't all these Lords of War and über formations etc. I also quite the earlier edition even though some of the War gear cards were ridiculous. I loved playing my mate's Ultras, and racing to see if my Bloodthirster would eat Marneus Calgar or the 'Blue Fister' would vortex grenade me back to the warp. One thing I've never liked is the silly allocation of wounds to multi-wound models and characters :-(
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Re: When was 40K best? Aka the Nostalgia Thread.

Post by The Underdweller » Tue Jan 24, 2017 12:04 pm

Well, I have only been playing since about 1/2 way through 4th maybe, but I would say I enjoyed the game from when I started playing until the beginning of the 6th Edition.

Not only because new rules and codexes came infrequently enough to be welcomed, and digested, and were generally FAQd, but also because lots of people still played the game around here and it was always pretty easy to find an opponent. It's harder to get excited about a game that you play twice a year and don't know the rules of very well.

I guess I liked 5th and 6th edition better than 4th, due to being primarily a Tau player. I didn't so much mind the challenging nature of the Tau in 4th edition, but I didn't like that I had very limited choices (eg: lots of Battlesuits and Tanks) if I wanted to have a decent chance of winning a game. Later editions opened up a lot more options for me, which kept things interesting. Of course I switched to Tyranids for a good part of that time, but that is my own fault :)

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