Do you own any 4th/5th Ed Army books? (research into reprints and rules changes)
So I always knew the Skaven book I owned was the 4th Ed rules, but had been reprinted during 5th Ed at which point they had changed the design layout of the Magic Cards. I thought that was the end of it, and it was purely visual, until I started finding other rules changes buried in the various books.
The following is a list of (English) 4th/5th Ed books which have been later reprinted with rules changes, that I know to exist. To the best of my knowledge, the Chaos Dwarf, Champions of Chaos, Realm of Chaos and Dogs of War books had no later reprints.
The actual date of the printing can vary depending on whether you look at the copyright date on the back cover, or that on the inside cover. And they don't always align.
| Book | Inside Cover Date | Rear Cover Date |
|---|---|---|
| Empire | 1993 | 1992 |
| Empire | 1996 | 1992 |
| Orcs & Goblins | 1993 | 1993 |
| Orcs & Goblins | 1996 | 1993 |
| Chaos | 1994 | 1994 |
| Chaos | 1996 | 1994 |
| Undead | 1994 | 1994 |
| Undead | 1998 | 1998 |
| Dark Elves | 1995 | 1995 |
| Dark Elves | 1996 | 1995 |
| Bretonnia | 1996 | 1996 |
| Bretonnia | 1999 | 1996 |
| Lizardmen | 1997 | 1996 |
| Lizardmen | 1999 | 1999 |
| Dwarfs | 1993 | 1993 |
| Dwarfs | 1996 | 1993 |
| Skaven | 1993 | 1993 |
| Skaven | 1996 | 1993 |
| High Elves(5th) | 1997 | 1997 |
| High Elves(5th) | 1999 | 1999 |
The numbers above are correct, at least for the books that I have, even if they don't make sense, e.g. the first Empire printing being 1992 or 1993 depending on which page you look at.
Various rule changes were then buried in these books. In most of the 1996 reprints, the typesetting also changes on the altered pages, so you can figure out where something might have updated. But for the Bretonnia/Lizardman/High Elf reprints, it's all the same typesetting. So I've had to use a bit of OCR and a bit of OCD eyeballing to ferret out the below rules changes and clarifications. It's entirely possible I've missed a few.
| Book | Year | Rules |
|---|---|---|
| Chaos | 1996 | Section on Daemonic Save clarifies that a daemon riding a daemon mount gets +1 in the same manner as cavalry |
| Chaos | 1996 | Harpy leadership now correctly stated as 6 under Regiments (previously was 8 there, but 6 in Bestiary) |
| Chaos | 1996 | Chaos Dragon now lists the armour save rules from 5th (also in WD198 in late 4th) |
| Chaos | 1996 | Chaos Gorgon statline corrected on the Monsters page to reflect that in the Bestiary section |
| Orcs & Goblins | 1996 | Pump Wagon now explicitly states the snotlings don't follow mimic rules |
| Orcs & Goblins | 1996 | Warlords are now capped at 1 |
| Orcs & Goblins | 1996 | The note highlighting the change in Savage Orc points cost from 5.5 (base 4th Rulebook) to 7.5 (Army Book) is now dropped |
| Empire | 1996 | Great Cannon points changed from 100 to 95 in Special Rules section and War Machines page |
| Empire | 1996 | War Altar no longer makes Empire troops within 6" immune to Psychology & Break tests |
| Undead | 1998 | Magic rules updated to 5th edition (various rules changes) |
| Undead | 1998 | Spell Commentaries updated to 5th edition (various rules changes) |
| Undead | 1998 | Adds 3 new characters from the Circle of Blood scenario |
| Undead | 1998 | Heinrich Kemmler points cost updated from 350 to 410 |
| Undead | 1998 | Cloak of Mists and Shadows is now an Item effect, rather than a bound spell |
| Dark Elves | 1996 | Cauldron of Blood now states it and its guardians cannot be joined into a unit |
| Dark Elves | 1996 | Blood Banner cost corrected from 50 pts to 10 pts |
| Dark Elves | 1996 | Clarifies that the Corsair Sea Dragon Cloak unmodified 5+ Save does not apply if an attack denies an armour save |
| Dark Elves | 1996 | Corsair Champions now must be equipped with the Sea Dragon Cloak |
| Dark Elves | 1996 | Executioner Initiative now correctly stated as 6 under Army List (previously was 7 there, but 6 in Bestiary) |
| Dark Elves | 1996 | Clarifies that the Keeper of the Cauldron "Hag Queen" only has Witch Elf Champion stats |
| Dark Elves | 1996 | Also that the Keeper of the Cauldron cannot take magic items |
| Skaven | 1996 | Magic cards rewritten. Card restrictions are no longer listed, but are in 5th Ed Warhammer Magic. Mechanics changes for: Seer Stone, The Rod of Corruption, Liber Bubonicus |
| Skaven | 1996 | Clarifies that the Skaven unique combat rank bonus to leadership is also lost when attacked in the side or rear |
| Skaven | 1996 | Skavenslave Wounds now correctly stated as 1 under Bestiary (previously was 2 there, but 1 in Army List) |
| Skaven | 1996 | Vermin Lords lose access to Dark Magic |
| Dwarfs | 1996 | Clarifies that warmachines with the Rune of Disguise do actually need to be placed on the table |
| Dwarfs | 1996 | Anvil of Doom rules updated for 5th Edition Rebound/Destroy card behaviour |
| Dwarfs | 1996 | Flame Cannon range now correctly stated as 12 under Army List (previously was 24 there, but 12 in Bestiary) |
| Dwarfs | 1996 | Bugmans Tankard now correctly listed as 50 pts under Special Characters (previously was 25 there, but 50 on the card) |
| Bretonnia | 1999 | Hippogriff now correctly listed as 145 pts under Monsters (previously was 125 there) |
| Bretonnia | 1999 | Removes ambiguous wording from the Shield of Bohemond, roll to break the weapon, then roll to save |
| Bretonnia | 1999 | Morgiana's Mirror now correctly states it can be used to supplement Mental Duel, not Magic Duel |
| Bretonnia | 1999 | Clarifies that enemies turned into frogs via the Spiteful Glance spell do not award victory points |
| Lizardmen | 1999 | Clarifies that Skink Shamans have the aquatic trait as per other Skinks |
| Lizardmen | 1999 | Also that Skink Champions can be installed in a Stegadon crew |
| High Elves | 1999 | Clarifies that White Lions when using Lion Rampant or Lion Leaping can still attack as normal |
There were other minor things altered, e.g. references to the Warhammer Battle Magic supplement were updated, typos fixed, references to specific Warhammer rulebook pages changed. So the above are only the changes which affect tabletop play.
I would be interested if anyone has any English language versions that are not listed above? (and are not the known single-edition books) There was a 1997 printing of the Undead book which I don't have, but I assume it had the 5th Ed rules, but maybe not the additional special characters at that stage.
As far as I know, there were no additional reprints of Skaven, Orcs & Goblins, Dwarfs or Wood Elves after the 1996 versions. But honestly there might have been. If anyone has seen post-1996 versions of these I'd be keen to know.