9th edition rumours

So, as the new year marches on, I'm seeing more and more posts, discussions, and the like about 9th edition coming out this year. Hell, I even know a GW employee who has spoken about it.

What are peoples thoughts? Does anybody have any ideas about what will come, or any news about it?

That they won't do what htey did with Endtimes and 7th with 9th (release many costly books then restart) they took a good hit each time. I think they will end the PA books by summer, then announce 1 more CA (comes out in Nove/Dec, they won't say its the last one tho), and in March show off 9th for summer 2021 release.

We've already been seeing fairly substantial rules changes through FAQs and Chapter Approved, so I would suspect that a new edition isn't likely to be something that brings in sweeping alterations to the game itself. Instead I'd bet that it'll be something along the lines of a new rulebook that consolidates all the changes, probably paired with a new starter box.

I'm thinking more the switch from Age of Sigmar's 1st to 2nd edition, rather than, say, 40k's 7th to 8th.

9th, if it does come around, will just be an update to 8th. They said at the start of 8th that this rules set would be around for some time and would just be tweaked, much like how 3rd set a standard which was just tweaked and added to for the four editions which came after it.

Does anyone want 9e? Personally I hate edition changes, too often they are done poorly and units that use to work last edition get left by the wayside by massive rules overhauls, and then we have to wait another 2 years for a semi-even playing field while GW overhauls all the codexes yet again. I really hope, and I do think the edition shift will be more like 1st to 2nd edition AoS, slight changes that don't instantly make every codex obsolete. I also think an update this year seems unlikely, 2021 would be 4 years after 8e started and 4 years use to be the usual cycle between rules updates.

I think we might see something happening to 8th edition. My guess would be, like many of yours, that we will see an update to 8th edition like aos 2.0. I could see PA as a gateway to something akin to endless spells in aos. Also some adjustments how detachments work, perhaps a limit for units with degrading profiles (changing stats with lost wounds, don't know the exact term of it in english). Like they have in Aos a limit for Monsters.

Anyway I would hope for something on that scale, just to fix the balancing mistakes they made in the last months.

My entire local stopped play, (over 40 players) b.c 8th is that bad, we all want a new edition.

Lord Asvaldir wrote:

too often they are done poorly and units that use to work last edition get left by the wayside

Well right now more units than every is having this happen.


Even an updated version of 8th is completely fine, but something needs to change otherwise my local wont be playing 40k again.

I mean I can't speak for other armies, but a lot of dark eldar units work right now so I'm not sure what you're referring to. There are duds of course, there always will be but there's more good units than bad right now which is a pretty good state of affairs.

That's a bummer everyone in your playgroup isn't happy with the current state of the game, but I have to say I still enjoy 8e. If the marine supplement craziness didn't happen, things would overall be pretty good.

Lord Asvaldir wrote:

Does anyone want 9e?

It takes so much just to play a game these days. BRB, Codex, Suppliments, CA, errata... i'd tolerate an edition update if GW could, for just one edition, get their act together well enough to make some of these unnecessary. There's so much bloat that each new edition costs almost as much as the models on the table.

False Son wrote:

Lord Asvaldir wrote:

Does anyone want 9e?

It takes so much just to play a game these days.  BRB, Codex, Suppliments, CA, errata... i'd tolerate an edition update if GW could, for just one edition, get their act together well enough to make some of these unnecessary.  There's so much bloat that each new edition costs almost as much as the models on the table.

They started 8th with the promise of this, it went out the window very quickly.

I just want all the rules to be in one place. That shouldn't be too much to ask of a game in 2020.

I wouldn't expect much out of 9th edition, but I can wishlist. Mainly, I'd *really* like to go back to 4th edition terrain rules. TLOS is crap.

It would be one thing if most of the updates were free pdfs mostly fluff stories and a few rules changes/a new model, chapter approved being an exception as it would be more the book that combines every update throughout the year and new maps/game missions so at most for a game you would need BRB, Codex, and CA ... hopefully this is what 9ed will become, for releases like PA I could see doing a massive campaign book that has new rules, story, scenarios, and missions for every army and not piecemeal like it is now

Burnage wrote:

False Son wrote:

Lord Asvaldir wrote:

Does anyone want 9e?

It takes so much just to play a game these days.  BRB, Codex, Suppliments, CA, errata... i'd tolerate an edition update if GW could, for just one edition, get their act together well enough to make some of these unnecessary.  There's so much bloat that each new edition costs almost as much as the models on the table.

They started 8th with the promise of this, it went out the window very quickly.

I just want all the rules to be in one place. That shouldn't be too much to ask of a game in 2020.

I think they realize it's a bad way of delivering rules. But it's also a good way of making money, so I very much doubt they'll clean it up.

krayd wrote:

I wouldn't expect much out of 9th edition, but I can wishlist. Mainly, I'd *really* like to go back to 4th edition terrain rules. TLOS is crap.

I would honestly hate this. I thought 4e's terrain rules were absolutely awful, and some of the worst terrain rules 40k has ever used.

All I would really wants from 9th is a rule added to cover the height of monsters. Allow Wraithknights to actually fight something it can feasibly reach, but currently can't because of "base-to-base".

Squidmaster wrote:

krayd wrote:

I wouldn't expect much out of 9th edition, but I can wishlist. Mainly, I'd *really* like to go back to 4th edition terrain rules. TLOS is crap.

I would honestly hate this. I thought 4e's terrain rules were absolutely awful, and some of the worst terrain rules 40k has ever used.

All I would really wants from 9th is a rule added to cover the height of monsters. Allow Wraithknights to actually fight something it can feasibly reach, but currently can't because of "base-to-base".

Well, the TLOS nonsense of "I can shoot you because I see your antenna or the banner on that cool conversion that you made is a little too high" is extremely stupid and bad for the hobby. 40k is already pretty abstract; there is no need to be so specific about how the terrain is modeled. It's why tournament terrain nowadays is so boring - usually a bunch of featureless wedges to allow blockage of LOS.

krayd wrote:

Squidmaster wrote:

krayd wrote:

I wouldn't expect much out of 9th edition, but I can wishlist. Mainly, I'd *really* like to go back to 4th edition terrain rules. TLOS is crap.

I would honestly hate this. I thought 4e's terrain rules were absolutely awful, and some of the worst terrain rules 40k has ever used.

All I would really wants from 9th is a rule added to cover the height of monsters. Allow Wraithknights to actually fight something it can feasibly reach, but currently can't because of "base-to-base".

Well, the TLOS nonsense of "I can shoot you because I see your antenna or the banner on that cool conversion that you made is a little too high" is extremely stupid and bad for the hobby. 40k is already pretty abstract; there is no need to be so specific about how the terrain is modeled. It's why tournament terrain nowadays is so boring - usually a bunch of featureless wedges to allow blockage of LOS.

I honestly much rpefer that, and the idea that people should just put effort into their terrain, than the idea of the terrain models ultimately meaning absolutely nothing. Back in 4th I remember seeing events where terrain sizes were being randomly assigned, sometimes completely wrong, and on occasion I saw flat footprint cutouts with a note on them saying "its this big".
I would MUCH rather that group and events just put some damn effort into their terrain, rather than covering for bad terrain with a bad rule which just makes everything about numbers again.

Squidmaster wrote:

I honestly much rpefer that, and the idea that people should just put effort into their terrain, than the idea of the terrain models ultimately meaning absolutely nothing. Back in 4th I remember seeing events where terrain sizes were being randomly assigned, sometimes completely wrong, and on occasion I saw flat footprint cutouts with a note on them saying "its this big".
I would MUCH rather that group and events just put some damn effort into their terrain, rather than covering for bad terrain with a bad rule which just makes everything about numbers again.

Well, I'd be fine with putting back in the rules of the 'body' of the model only counting for LOS purposes (seeing as how the models aren't supposed to representing statues stuck in a particular pose), which have been used for most editions of 40k, but were left out of 8th for some reason. I'm also a fan of the Cities of Death cover/terrain rules over the main game's.

I think the number one fix the game needs from a balance perspective is make it so weapons that are firing out of line of sight cannot benefit from character auras with those shots. As it is, there's just no trade off for lobbing shots over a mountain. Exactly as accurate as shooting someone in the face with a pistol at point blank range. Makes no sense and makes the game very unfun.

sekac wrote:

I think the number one fix the game needs from a balance perspective is make it so weapons that are firing out of line of sight cannot benefit from character auras with those shots. As it is, there's just no trade off for lobbing shots over a mountain. Exactly as accurate as shooting someone in the face with a pistol at point blank range. Makes no sense and makes the game very unfun.

That works. I initially thought a -1 to hit for shooting at things that are out of LOS would be good, but I think that it would punish things like imperial guard mortars a bit too heavily. The point is that there needs to be some sort of penalty to make up for the fact that scatter doesn't exist anymore (and to make indirect fire not such an obvious go-to).

Imperial Guard Mortars could use a little punishment tbh. I shed no tears for Guard. They have the best troops in the game.

I would hate it if they bring out yet another new edition. Every time you need to learn new rules, and be careful not to confuse them with old rules. Then there's the crap-ton of errata's and updates, causing you to haul whole stacks of books just to play one game. In the first year the balance is usually crap. And when you finally kind of start to get the hang of it, and things get slightly more balanced because of some updates, they erase all the effort by making a new (and again unbalanced) edition.

A good way for both GW to make money, and for us to find our way through the maze of rules wouldn't be a complete new edition every 4 years, but a new core rulebook that includes all the updates and CA stuff every 4 years. So not like 9th edition, but more like 8.1. Continue to improve what we have instead of just starting from scratch again. If they would do that, maybe we will someday have a really balanced game. Reality: That won't ever happen.

They really need a soft re-release with all the faqs/erratas in the new BRB. Its literally killing my local area for new players.

"Hey you want to start 40k? Well for this army you need your Codex, PA, BRB, CA, oh don't for that 1/2 the core rules are not longer in the BRB but in a Big FAQ, and you also need FAQs for the other 4 books, in total its over 300 pages, GL!"

Yes! Exactly my point. For experienced players it's already quite hard to figure out all the rules. Let alone newcomers.
For example, I am having a lot of trouble finding Ynnari rules atm. I might want to add one Ynnari detatchment to my army, but can't for the life of me find all the special rules and strategems. :S
If I had to begin from scratch now, I would just forget about Warhammer and find another hobby.

They are now in our PA book, but nothing straight out says this lol.

Really bummed out when my local GW guy started talking about 9th. 8th has been one of the best editions so far (been playing since 3ed), mostly because of the constant rule/point tweeks. I am sure there are a number of you lurking out there that remember the bad old days when you had to wait 3-5 years for imballanced units to get nerfed/changed.

If anything, I would like to see an 8.1 edition come out, with all the various FAQs/etc rolled into the BRB. Seems like a waste to have gone through the last 3 years trying to balance the game, only to throw it all out the window because "buy more books".

My $0.02 anyway