Yesterday something came up over at Faeit212: a rumor of a 6th edition rule. There was a discussion in the comments section about how the proposed rule is better because it "makes sense:" I begged to differ: I believe if there ever has to be a choice between "making sense" and being a good rule mechanic, it should err towards the latter. Rules that "make sense" are easily exploited by competitive players: in this case, just physically place valuable or damaged models at the back.
Rules that "make sense" also tend to favor particular armies: this one damages hordes and assaults even more than usual, as one could easily shoot the front 3-4 inches off a unit to prevent it from assaulting, while shooting units couldn't care less: the idea of getting more models for "meat shields" becomes even more accurate: you can just stick your ML's in the back of the squad, with the expendable bolters out front: there would be absolutely zero risk to the valuable models at the back, letting special weapons ALWAYS be the last ones to die.
but, you know, it makes sense. :\
For a great group of disgruntled bloggers working to fix this kind of crap, check out Sirbiscuit's Project Biomorph, a fan-made 40k rule redo.
