GW heeft met de achtste editie van 40K een versimpeling doorgevoerd die andere miniatuurfabrikanten ook doorvoerden. Er zijn zeker parallellen met de 4e-editie update van Flames of War, zie de volgende overeenkomsten, (uit The New Flames of War in Ten Quick Points)

1. The new edition of Flames Of War has slimmed down, to just over a third the size of the previous Version 3 rulebook. Unnecessary flavour text has been trimmed away and long, hard-to-apply rules have been revamped. The result is a fast-playing, easy-to-learn game.

2. The new unit cards turn many of the old special rules into simple numeric ratings, so for example, there is no need to remember British Bulldog as the card has Motivation 4+, but Counterattack 3+. Likewise, Wide Tracks is now just an easier roll to cross terrain.

3. The flavourful special rules are still there. The Germans still have Stormtroopers and the British still have Tally Ho and Mike Target. Better still, the rules are revamped to work with the new edition making them shorter, sharper, and more relevant to your games.

4. Flames Of War retains (and expands) the tactical challenges players face, while getting rid of ‘gamey’ complexity and hidden ‘gotchas’. Hit allocation is down from four pages of complexity to two short and simple rules – you hit what you shot at (with additional hits going to their nearby friends) and the player being shot can roll a die to rearrange things if they don’t like your choices.

5. The game is fast and bloody (or is that even faster and bloodier?). The new Dash movement (replacing At the Double) allows for quick repositioning without taking double hits, making manoeuvre more important than ever.

6. Manoeuvre warfare has also been enhanced by the new reconnaissance rules that allow units to spearhead your advance, grabbing bits of No-Man’s Land to add to your deployment area.

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9. Players have much greater flexibility in how they structure their forces. You can have any number of company-sized formations in your force and then add support to back them up. As long as one of your formations is still fighting, the battle’s on. With 100 points being the new medium-sized force, getting your force ready for battle has never been easier.