Warhammer 40K's eighth edition ushered in a new era of streamlined core mechanics. It also gave us a baffling profusion of unit-specific special rules, stratagems, faction rules, sub-faction rules, and frequent updates. Ninth edition has added to that with the awesome Crusade mode, and while I welcome it, there’s now a lot to keep track of. In many ways I think this is the best 40k has ever been, but it also feels like the most complex, and the most overwhelming. Illustration taken from Optimal Governance for the Dutiful Oppressor by F. Altmann et al, p.4024 Analysis paralysis graph adapted from here . There are a few ways of handling this. One could just use a simpler ruleset such as Grimdark Future, or to use house rules to cut out elements of the game you’re not keen on. For this article, though, I’m going to proceed on the assumption that you want to play the official rules, but would like that experience to be less cluttered. You don't have to keep up with everything T
Right then, if you are here there's a fair bet that you are someone who prefers the narrative side of gaming. As such, I have no idea whether this post will be of any interest to you whatsoever or whether you'll just find it trite and boring, tough. I want to talk a little about background. This post was going to be all about the characters in my Necron army but I have spent a whole day trying to write something for them, and many weeks with this post sat in draft thinking about it and I've come to a conclusion. I hate writing characters. If you want a world, a system, a biome, fauna, flora, geology, astronomy, physics, technology, a civilisation (preferably fallen), then I will write you that over and over again, I love it. Most if not all of the background that I love, and my thoughts about armies, forces, chapters, and everything else revolves almost completely around the worlds, systems, and civilisations that birth them. I think absolutely nothing about the character