Ladies and gentlemen, it's here, and to me it's a disappointment. I know that many may not agree, and if so id love to hear from you so mail me from the mainpage after you read this.
I do have a few good points so I'll start with these. I do like the variable size of squads, and other things like the improved shooting. The ability to fire more times if you stand still or firing less with a reduced range if you move is a big improvcement which simulates realism a lot. I also like the fall back rules and the destruction/pursuit rules which also simulate realism.
On to the bad stuff. I verymuch dislike the standardized movement for all the races. In the beginning of the rulebook there is a table with entries for standardisation of the troops movement. This is no reflection of which race is faster or more nimble. The next bit on the list is the terrain tests which are made by rolling a number of D6's for the terrain you go through and pick the highest.
The shooting phase is no problem to me and works basically the same as before with a few differences. Mostly, instead of save modifiers weapons have an Armour Piercing value which tells what armour the weapon can automatically pierce. (BTW:terminator armour is now a 2+ save). Next, the assault phase, which replaces the hand to hand combat phase. From epic, you can move AGAIN to get into HTH combat. Bad, very bad. The fighting is now like WFB and if you don't play that here it is. Compare the weapon skills and roll a dice to hit your target as with shooting. It is the same down to the I value being used to detetrmine striking order. The good bit of the assault phase is the consolidation and pursuit rules which are very true.
The vehicle bits are decent except for the ordinance rule. The dictates that anything like a battlecannon or multi launcher cannot be fired if another weapon on the vehicle is fired or the vehicle moves! I think that this reduces the power of vehicles too much. They are also very easy to kill in HTH and fairly easy to shoot down etc. Other than thaa this section is not all that bad.
The battles book has some great stuff in it, which partly makes up for the poor rules. There are articles on making terrain, choosing and creating a scenario, scenario special rules, and standard missions you can play. There are different types of battles to play such as take and hold (no mission cards here) etc. There are articles on running and creating campaigns and a system for campaign experience.
The army book is not all that spectacular and everything is oversimplified. This is no compensation for the rest of the rules. Being so oversimplified, it seems that GW is going for a different target audience. It seems that they are trying to appeal to the little 12 year olds who like to play with action figures. Ive only been playing for about 3 and 1/2 years, but i like the 2nd edition better as it is more detailed and is not so simple. In epic this is good because of the MASSIVE numbers of different types of troops you can field, but in 40k these are somewhat restriced by the points of individual warriors.
Anyway, this is only my opinion and I suggest you e-mail me and discuss it if you feel like arguing with me right now. Or else i suggest you pick up a copy and read it through and then get back to me and tell me THEN if it's an improvement to YOU!
Also the models are of very good quality and i do enjoy them immensely.
Now ill include some pictures from the book to make life nice for you.
Black Templars Space Marines
Catchan Captain
Dark eldar Wytch and Striking Scorpions attaks their chaotic bretheren