Warhammer 40,000, 4th Edition, Deluxe

I have recently been reading through the Warhammer 40,000, 4^th Edition Rules. Partly this is because I’m currently building a ‘Lost and the Damned’ army, using the 4^th Edition as a rough guide, but mainly because I happen to own a really pretty copy of these rules!

Warhammer 40,000 released its forth edition in 2004. I was in 27 or 28 at the time and working weekends at the legendary Dream Wizards gaming store in Rockville, Maryland. I wasn’t a big 40K player, even then, but I enjoyed painting the figures and reading White Dwarf, and knowledge of the game was important for maintaining a good rapport with many of the customers.

When 4^th Edition came out – it was a big deal! The store had ordered a huge number of copies, and I figured I would pick one up. Then Doug, who was my manager at the time, showed me the deluxe limited-edition copy of the rulebook. It was beautiful – faux leather with a matching slipcase highlighted with silver leaf. The book itself had sliver edging on the pages.

It was expensive – even with my employee discount, but Doug told me ‘You are going to want one of these.’ He was right. I mean, even then I was a bibliophile, and this was the prettiest gaming book I had ever seen.

Well, nearly twenty years later, I’ve still got the book. It even made the trip over the ocean with me.

I’m not saying that 4^th Edition is an especially good or bad version of 40K, though you can certainly have a fun game using the rules. I’m reading the book for nostalgia, because it is well-written, because it has fantastic artwork, and as an encouragement to keep working on my Lost and the Damned army. I’m reading it because I like the way the faux leather feels on my fingers.

Laid into the back of the book is a little certificate noting that my copy of the book is number 9151. I wonder how many were printed?

Another amazing thing about this book. At the time I bought it, I had no idea I would ever live in the UK, and Games Workshop itself seemed a kind of mystical, faraway place. Now, as I look over the list of contributors to this book, I’m astounded by the number of people who worked on this book that I have since met in a professional capacity, mostly through my work at Osprey.

On one level, buying a ‘Deluxe Edition’ of a rulebook is kind of silly, as they are likely to be replaced or outdated at some point. For example, this book has been supplanted by 5 later editions, but, at least in this case, I’m sure glad Doug talked me into it.