Download the New Warhammer 40,000 Rules for Free Right Here
Alright! After spending my weekend finishing my Lethality analysis, catching up on interviews, and helping my folks, I'm almost ready to tuck into the Kansas City Open. But before that, I've got a PDF burning a hole in my Desktop.
It's time to finally go through the new Core Rules for Warhammer 40,000 10th Edition!
Oh wow! So right off the bat, I was expecting something that would look like previous basic rule sets from previous editions. But this looks and feels like it was taken right out of the Warhammer 40,000 Core Rulebook. I know they were planning on unifying these sections so they matched no matter which source you used. But I wasn't expecting that to apply to presentation.
Speaking of which, page 4 of the PDF details out the page numbers system for the core rules. A triangle with the classic double headed eagle will mark page numbers that get referenced, regardless of which source you're using.
CORE CONCEPTS
They actually call out "Keyword Bold" as something to look out for. Just as in previous editions, Keywords will always use the same font when being referenced in the rules, so you always know when a rule is affecting all Units with a Keyword.
Coherency
Coherency rules have had their break point increased to 6. So where before any Unit with more than 5 models needed to keep each model with range of two other models, now it's units larger than 6. Considering how many units are sold in sets of 3, this makes sense. Don't want to make players feel bad about bringing that 6th model. These rules feel more clear about what happens when you break coherency, too. If you can't setup a model in coherency, that model is destroyed. If you can't stay in coherency when you make a move, you can't make the move. Since the Morale phase is gone, removing models that have lost coherency happens at the end of each turn. These models again count as being destroyed, but they don't trigger rules that occur when models are destroyed.
Engagement
This destruction now applies to Engagement range now too. It technically already did in the relevant sections of the old rules, but now it's a part of Engagement Range rules and so don't need to be repeated.
Visibility
While Visibility hasn't really changed we now differentiate between when a Model or Unit is Visible or Fully Visible. I wonder how the various rules will reference this.
THE BATTLE ROUND
We've already had the full Battle Round revealed, so there are no surprises here. The rules do note that the Mission decides which player goes first in every Battle Round. I wonder if that means they're planning on missions where you don't roll off. That at least makes sense for Narrative Play.
COMMAND PHASE
Here's the big one! For a while now I wanted to know the full sequence of the Command Phase. It was the hardest thing to not spoil for myself. Now I'll finally know!
Gaining CP
Okay, here's a big one. You gain 1 CP at the start of every Command phase. Any other CP you gain, no matter when you gain it, is limited to 1 CP per Battle Round. So this sounds like some of the rules we've seen weren't written to take this into account. Hopefully these were draft rules and will be fixed on release.
Command
The timing is actually pretty simple. The first thing that happens, "before doing anything else" is both players gain CP. Then any rules that happen in the Command Phase happen. According to sequencing, whoever's turn it is will get to decide the order these rules occur. Much like manipulating the stack in Magic, there will probably be some skill to optimizing the order that these rules take place.
Battle-shock
After all other rules have gone off, you enter a separate Battle-shock step. We already know the rules for how Battle-shock itself works. As I noted in the Battle Report blog, Battle-shock has a fixed end point. It ends at the start of your own Command Phase. So if you get Battle-shocked during your Command Phase, that is the worst case scenario. There's also no rule that says you only ever make one test. So the rule for Chaos Knights might legitimately force you to test for Battle-shock in the Command step, then you still have to test Battle-shock again in the Battle-shock step. Once you've checked all your units, the Command Phase ends.
Starting Strength
The rules here only mention Starting Strength and Below Half-Strength. As we've finally seen, there are rules that reference being below Starting Strength that don't care about wounds, such as the Pychophage. So Angron is below Starting Strength if he's taken 1 wound for the purpose of his Infectious Rage (Aura) ability. But he's not below Starting Strength for the Pychophages Feeding Frenzy.
Attached Units
This has been a source of some confusion and hopefully we can clear things up. This section focuses on rules for Starting Strength and Destroyed models. So it looks like we'll get to see the ways Leaders interact with their unit in specific sections.
For now, there are three concepts to keep in mind.
- A Character (Keyword) starts as a Character Unit, and the other unit starts out as whatever kind of unit it is. (eg. Intercessors are an Intercessor Unit.)
- When the Character Unit is declared as Leading another unit, the lead unit becomes a Bodyguard Unit.
- Together, these Units form a new Unit called the Attached Unit.
While the two Units are an Attached Unit they share Starting Strength. However, once one of the two Units are Destroyed, they cease being an Attached Unit and become individual Units again. Starting Strength reverts to the new Unit. So you can imagine a few scenarios based off the example in the rules of a Primaris Captain attached to a unit of 5 Intercessors.
- If the 5 Intercessors had 3 models destroyed, the Unit would still not be Below Half-Strength, as the Attached unit started with 6 models and there are still 3 models left (1 Primaris Captain and 2 Intercessors).
- As detailed in the rules, if the Intercessors are Destroyed, the Captain reverts to being a Character Unit. His Starting Strength is 1, so he is still at Starting Strength.
- If the Captain is Destroyed, the Intercessors revert to being an Intercessor Unit. Their Starting Strength is 5. Since they have only 2 models, they're Below Half-strength.
In either case, the individual Character Unit or Bodyguard Unit counts as being destroyed for rules purposes, even though some of Attached Unit is still alive.
MOVEMENT PHASE
I'm honestly not expecting much to change here, as movement in 9th was pretty elegant. Still, let's make sure there's nothing to make note of.
Advance Moves
The first thing to note is that the bonus to Movement from Advancing now specifically ends at the end of the Phase. In previous editions, there were ways to stack Advance Moves. For example, using the 8th Edition Tyranid Codex, if a unit of Genestealers Advanced in the Movement Phase, their Movement stat didn't change back right away. So if The Swarmlord used Hive Commander on them, they would get to Move in the shooting phase with their boosted Movement. Now, the stat returns to normal at the End of the Phase. Anything that can trigger a second Move in the Movement Phase itself would still benefit.
Desperate Escape Tests
In 8th Edition, you could trap units in melee by making sure that one or more models couldn't Fall Back without moving through one of your models. In 9th, they added the Desperate Breakout Stratagem: a 2CP strat that let you get around this at the cost of rolling a dice for every model in the unit, and losing the model on a roll of a 1.
Desperate Breakout is now Desperate Escape and is a rule any army can access without having to spend CP. In exchange, you now lose models on a roll of 1 or 2. We've already seen one Unit, Greyfax, that has a rule that subtracts 1 from that roll. This could mean every time you have to make a Desperate Escape, you could be risking a third to half of your unit!
This is an important rule for understanding if Battle-shock will be impactful in the game. Remember that if a Unit is suffering from Battle-shock, they have to test for Desperate Escape to Fall Back. This means you can trap a Battle-shocked unit in combat without even having to tri-point it, and if they fall back they lose a third of their models on average.
Moving Over Terrain
A quick and interesting note, they have increased the height limit you can ignore for terrain you cross from 1" to 2". I wonder if GW realized a lot of the scatter terrain they have available for sale is more than 1" tall.
Flying
Flying models now move "through the air." This means that you have to measure the full distance they fly rather than just worrying about horizontal movement. It probably won't come up much, but it's something to keep in mind.
Reinforcements
As I thought, we now have a Reserves rule that applies to all units that are off the table, regardless of the rule that put them there. This helps simplify things and keep those rules acting consistently.
Transports
Thanks to WarCom, we already know that there are changes to the Transport rules.
Before, Embarking and Disembarking were limited if a Transport moved at all. Now it looks like you can Embark after any Normal Move, Fall Back, or Advance if you haven't already Disembarked that phase. Models that start the Movement Phase in a Transport can Disembark if that Transport has not been selected to move, Remained Stationary, or made a Normal Move. Models that Disembark from Transports that haven't moved cannot Remain Stationary but otherwise act normally. Models that Disembark after a Transport has moved count as having made a Normal move and cannot declare a Charge that turn.
We get the full rules for the Firing Deck USR. You select up to that many models embarked on the Transport, and the Transport is treated as having every weapon those models have "Equipped." Equipped weapons are a familiar terminology, but this is the first time I've seen it used this way. This makes me wonder if other rules can effect whether a weapon is or isn't "Equipped."
Destroyed Transports
There are a few changes here. As I noted before, they specifically timed Deadly Demise to not affect Embarked Models. But in case there was any confusion, it specifically says here that Deadly Demise does not affect Embarked Models. Other than rolling for your models and trying to avoid 1s, the rules come with 2 new bullet points.
- "Until the start of its controlling player's next Command phase, that unit is Battle-shocked."
- "Until the end of the turn, that unit counts as having made a Normal move this turn, and cannot declare a charge this turn."
Note that is not "make a Battle-shock test." The unit is clambering out of a burning wreckage, and are not in fighting formation yet.
Emergency Disembarkation
Here's another Stratagem returning as a basic rule. It doubles the Disembarkation range from within 3" to within 6", but your models suffer mortals on a roll of 1-3. At least they're not destroyed like in Desperate Breakout. However, at this step of a Transport being destroyed, if a model cannot be legally placed it is destroyed as well.
THE SHOOTING PHASE
I had concerns here, but as demonstrated in the Battle Report, every model can fire all of its Ranged Weapons. Each model can also select different targets for their weapons, though each weapon must fire all of its shots into the same target. As far as I can tell, this is unchanged from 9th. Early on I thought Shooting might be more restrictive, but it looks like I was wrong.
Lone Operative
We also get the full rules for Lone Operative. If a Unit has the ability and isn't part of an Attached Unit, you can only target it if it's within 12". This is so much more simple and effective than Look Out Sir! was.
Make Ranged Attacks
The rules spell out allocating attacks on units pretty well. It hasn't changed from 9th Edition as far as I can tell. You shoot at enemy units with models. You check which models are eligible to fire at the unit before making your attacks. Once one model has begun making attacks, all other eligible models get to make their attacks. It doesn't matter if your opponent removes models so that the unit is no longer an eligible target. It was eligible when you started rolling dice; it stays that way until you're done.
Another point worth emphasizing is that once you begin shooting with one profile of weapon targeting a unit, you have to finish shooting with all of those weapons targeting the same unit before you can select the next. This is mostly to speed up play and maybe get around a little bit of abuse for units that have models with better Toughness or Saves.
Stealth
Another quick, simple USR. Units with this ability are at -1 to Hit from ranged attacks. Done and done!
Big Guns Never Tire
Another nice and simple change. The new version of this rule is simply that Monsters and Vehicles can shoot at Units they're engaged with at -1 to Hit, and you can shoot at Monsters and Vehicles Engaged with your units at -1 to Hit. No exceptions for Blast weapons. No ability to select a target out of Engagement Range with one of your weapons that you can still shoot with if you're no longer Engaged when you do. You can just shoot into Engaged units, and can be shot at while Engaged by units, both at -1 to Hit.
MAKING ATTACKS
At this point the attack sequence is pretty well established. Still, we know of a few minor changes.
Hit Roll
An unmodified Hit Roll of a 6 is now called a Critical Hit, and Critical Hits are always successful. There is no equivalent Critical Failure, even though I think that might have been a useful term for other special rules. As before, a Hit Roll can never be modified by more than +1 or -1.
Wound Roll
Wound Rolls get the same treatment. And I must say, I like the little chart they made for how Wound Rolls work.
Saving Throw
As before, Saves automatically fail on 1s, but do not automatically pass on 6s. Much as it might have been useful to describe The Emperor's Shield, there is no such thing as a Critical Save. Saves can never be rolled at more than a +1, but can be negatively modified to impossible rolls. Note that by these rules, you always roll your Saving Throw, even impossible ones. So if you can benefit from something like The Emperor's Shield, you can make the roll even if you would automatically fail.
Invulnerable Save
Of note here is that Invulnerable Saves cannot be reduced by an attack's AP. It doesn't say anything about other modifiers. Theoretically an Invuln could still be stripped by something like a Stratagem by being reduced to an impossible roll.
Mortal Wounds
I'm pretty sure it was the same way in 9th Edition, but the rule specifically calls out that you inflict normal damage from attacks first, then assign Mortal Wounds.
Feel No Pain and Deadly Demise
As we saw in the Battle Report, Feel No Pain is taken against any Wound lost, including mortals. This makes this an extremely useful ability. We saw Deadly Demise too, and covered it's one peculiarity for Transports above.
WEAPON ABILITIES
Alright! Finally we get the full text on all of these. I'm curious to see if, and how these have changed either from before or from the little teases we've gotten.
ASSAULT
Assault weapons no longer take penalties for Advancing and Shooting. You just get to Shoot with them.
RAPID FIRE
Rather than doubling the number of shots at half range, you add the listed number of shots to your attacks.
IGNORES COVER
I don't know how important the phrasing is, but it specifically indicates that the target cannot have the Benefit of Cover against the attack. So rules that require the Benefit of Cover cannot be used in response.
TWIN-LINKED
Now re-roll Wounds!
PISTOL
I was curious if they'd get rid of the restriction around Shooting Pistols normally, but nope. You can either shoot with your Pistols or your other weapons, not both.
TORRENT
It's important to note that this rule specifies the attack automatically hits the target. It doesn't indicate anything about rolling dice or results, so I'm pretty sure this attack can never count as a Critical Hit.
LETHAL HITS
The same thing can be said for LETHAL HITS. Looks like GW has definitely learned from that mistake. Took them a few Codexes, though.
LANCE
I was curious what this would be for 10th Edition. I was expecting +1 to Strength, but it's just a flat +1 to Wound. That's better in some circumstances, worse in others.
INDIRECT FIRE
I've talked about this rule in a previous post when it was revealed. The important things to remember is it invokes two common rules that cannot stack with themselves, where before it invoked rarer rules that could stack with other rules. When attacking a target you do not have line of sight to, you are at -1 to Hit and your target gains the Benefit of Cover. But you can never be at more than -1 to Hit and your opponent can't gain the Benefit of Cover twice. Additionally, though we haven't gotten to it, the Benefit of Cover doesn't help targets in heavier armor.
All around, you'll want to use direct fire whenever you can, but using a weapon's Indirect Fire rule is less punishing now.
PRECISION
Interesting! So PRECISION applies specifically to Attached units. It technically triggers when you target an Attached unit, not when you target a Character. I think there are some rules than need cleaning up. Hopefully they'll be fixed when the Indexes go live.
BLAST
The new, more powerful BLAST rule is both simpler and more generally useful. I know technically there are circumstances where the average number of shots goes down, but I think in most cases players will prefer this rule. I know I was annoyed at how little the Blast special rule mattered for my stranglethorn cannons.
Also, here is where we see the limitation for firing into Engagement Range. I'm curious why they listed the exception for Pistols in Big Guns Never Tire, but not BLAST.
MELTA
Again, this is just a much simpler and easier way to use this rule.
HEAVY
Much has already been said about how this rule has changed. On the one hand, many Heavy weapons hit on a lower BS. But every so often you get one that doesn't, and this just becomes a pure buff.
Then we take a little break from all the rules to enjoy some nice art of all the cool weapons we've been describing.
HAZARDOUS
We covered this one in the Battle Report too. On the whole, this is a much less punishing system for plasma weapons and the like, especially when those weapons have multiple shots. It also lets them make HAZARDOUS weapons that can auto-hit. The big issue is you can no longer "re-roll 1s" out of it. There's going to be many a tense moment when a player has to roll to see if he just killed his own model.
DEVASTATING WOUNDS
Remember that Mortal Wounds are assigned one at the time and follow the rules for attack allocation. This means these weapons not only get around saves, but they spill over.
SUSTAINED HITS
This is another one where we're not referencing any kind of dice roll. So while the Hit that triggered SUSTAINED HITS is a Critical Hit, the additional Hits aren't.
EXTRA ATTACKS
In 9th Edition models had their own Attack characteristic and you had to choose which Attacks would use which weapons. Now you choose a weapon, or weapon profile, and that determines the number of Attacks. This is the exception to that.
One interesting not about this rule is that weapons with this rule can't be affected by other rules. You'll need to watch out for that as people start playing 10th. This will be an easy mistake to make.
ANTI
This is the rule that takes DEVASTATING WOUNDS and brings it to a whole new level. Granted this is obviously an intended interaction. They want Anti weapons to be the bane of their target of choice. Depending on cost, the few weapons with this pairing will probably see common inclusion in lists.
We know of at least two other weapon rules not listed here, CONVERSION and LINKED FIRE for Leagues of Votann and Aeldari respectively. We'll have to see if other factions get their own weapon rules.
THE CHARGE PHASE
We know that there are some big changes here, with at least some aim to make Charging more straight forward and intuitive, and less gamified. Lets see how they look.
The first thing I notice is the wording on the Charge Bonus. If you successfully make a Charge move, you gain Fights First until the end of turn. This may be important, since there might be means of evading either at the end of the Charge phase or in the Fight phase. But if you got your Charge off, you keep Fight First even if you stop being in Engagement Range of enemy models.
Note that Charges can still only be declared against targets within 12". We've seen a few rules that give bonuses to Charge moves, but those rules still won't allow for extreme charges outside of 12". But you also still don't need to be able to see a target to Charge it.
The rules for passing the Charge roll still seem the same. You need to be able to move your unit within Engagement Range of all your chosen targets, you can't move into Engagement Range of enemy Units you're not Charging, and you have to maintain Coherency.
The big change is now you must get into Base to Base contact if you can. But that's only as long as doing so wouldn't prevent you from making a successful Charge. These rules still feel pretty gameable to me.
The rest of the rules here echo Movement, since Charge moves are still Movement and it should be kept consistent.
FIGHT PHASE
Again, we know there are changes here, so lets see what they've done.
Fights First
The big obvious change is that fighting first is now codified not just a special rule, but a step in the Fight Phase. The rules for Fight First now follow the normal selection process of the Fight Phase, starting with the player whose turn is not taking place. This makes the actual Fight First special rule pretty powerful. If you Charge with a unit that has Fight First, you get the same benefit of any Charging unit. But if you get Charged, you'll have first pick and can select that unit to retaliate against the Charging unit before they can even swing their weapons.
There is no similar step for Fights Last, and, as far as we can tell, Fights Last is gone. There is only the Remaining Combats step where you and your opponent go through your remaining eligible units, including any units with Fight First that couldn't fight in the previous step for some reason.
FIGHT
We already know the big change here, but we'll comb through things for anything of import.
Pile In
The text here might seem unnecessary, but this is actually something many aren't aware of from previous editions and a part of high level play. Important new points is that you can't move models that are already in base-to-base contact, and you have to move into base-to-base contact if you can. The requirements listed sound easy, and 9 times out of 10 you'll never have to worry about them. But against opponents who know the tricks they're a big deal. Without drawing a diagram, if your unit is surrounded, such as by an opponent that is tri-pointing you, you can end up in a situation where piling in will break coherency. In these circumstances, you can end up unable to get your models into effective contact with the enemy.
Which Models Fight
This is another place where they've taken something that used to be a little hard to understand or visualize, and greatly simplified it. A model's eligibility to fight is now based on two bullet points.
- "A model can fight if it is within Engagement Range of an enemy unit."
- "A model can fight if it is in base-to-base contact with another model from its own unit that is itself in base-to-base contact with an enemy unit."
So either a model is close enough to fight, or it's part of the second "rank" of the unit and can fight.
Select Weapon
Here's the next simplification: you now select only one weapon to fight with. I went into more detail with Extra Attacks above. Other than those, all attacks will be made with a single weapon or profile.
Select Targets
I'm noticing there doesn't appear to be a rule requiring you to attack the target of a Charge. So if an opponent consolidates into your Charging unit, or uses Heroic Intervention, you can attack them normally.
One thing that hasn't changed is that you can still split attacks. Unlike Ranged weapons, which must have every attack with a chosen model's weapon assigned to the same target, Melee weapons can have each individual attack assigned to different targets. The rules for selecting targets still apply as above. You are welcome to split attacks from your models and weapons as you desire. As with Ranged weapons, you must declare your targets before resolving attacks.
If a unit doesn't have any eligible targets, they still get to Consolidate.
Make Attacks
The same rules apply here as in Shooting and are summarized in three bullet points.
- "Resolve all attacks against one unit before moving onto the next."
- "Resolve all attacks with the same weapon profile before resolving any made with a different weapon profile."
- "All attacks declared against a target unit are resolved, even if no models in that unit remain within Engagement Range."
Consolidate
Consolidation moves have been a part of high level play since 8th Edition. Like above, players can surround enemy units and make it impossible for them to Consolidate. But when it comes to using them yourself, the primary uses for Consolidation moves are to trap other units in combat or gain more advantageous board position. As above you also have the added restriction in that models in base-to-base contact can't move, and models must move into base-to-base contact if they can.
This last one has now been codified in the rules. If you can't make a Consolidation move that puts you in Engagement Range of an enemy Unit, you can now make a Consolidation move to get closer to an Objective. The same rules still apply, you have to be able to get within range of the Objective maker, and you have to stay in coherency. This will likely add a new layer of strategy and planning to combat.
DATASHEETS
One of the first things we learned in the teases for 10th Edition is now available as a codified set of rules. There are two interesting things about this presentation.
The first is that in prior rules, the Datasheet was one of the first things presented. This allowed the rules to reference the Datasheet as they were explained. The second is that previous rules used a sample Datasheet picked from 40K, usually a Space Marine.
Instead we now get an "Example Datasheet" that doesn't actually detail out a specific unit. Well, it might, but it's not telling us what that unit is.
It is still a Space Marine though.
DEPLOYMENT ABILITIES
I won't lie, this timing feels weird too. I would think you would want to explain deployment before explaining the exceptions to it. We've gotten many of these already, but I'll comb through them again. This is also where the other part of the Leader rules is.
Deep Strike
We know this one and it reads exactly as we expected it to.
Scouts
Rather than a full Normal Move, Scout now moves a set number of inches based on the ability. The real interesting thing is if you've embarked your models on a Dedicated Transport unit, that unit gets this rule. The move also triggers at the start of the first Battle Round, so you'll know who's going first before using it. Since it occurs before you have an active player, it also has its own priority. In this case the player that is going first makes their Scout moves first.
Infiltrators
We've seen this rule too, and it will likely continue to be important in 10th Edition.
Leader
Part two of the big one.
In this part of the Leader rule, we get the part that probably makes the rest of the interactions work. The Attached unit, "is treated as a single unit for all rules purposes." This probably means when it comes to whether the unit has a given Keyword, if either the Character unit or the Bodyguard unit has it, the Attached unit has it. I do find it interesting that you have to allocate wounds to the Bodyguard unit, even if the Character model has taken damage. This is probably to keep attack and damage allocation simple, and prevent you from extending the life of a Bodyguard unit by having the Character soak damage.
STRATAGEMS
We've seen many of these too, including the initial Stratagem page. Stratagems still have a category they belong to and that category can be referenced by other rules.
Command Re-roll
I'm surprised they haven't come up with a more fluffy name for this. Still it lets you know what it does on the tin. We have a new list of rolls it can be use on.
- Hit
- Wound
- Damage
- Saving Throw
- Advance
- Charge
- Desperate Escape test
- Hazardous test
- number of attacks
I'm a little surprised that there isn't some reference or rule for things like abilities with the Psychic keyword. I also think it's curious that Desperate Escape is here but not Emergency Disembarkation. Either way, this is an important set of tests to have re-rolls for.
Counter Offensive
It's still here, it's still 2 CP, and you're probably going to want to use it after any big Charge phase your opponent gets.
Epic Challenge
Oh! Now what do we have here?
This is an old concept that dates well back into Warhammer's mist shrouded past. Unfortunately, this Stratagem doesn't actually set up a duel between two Leaders. But it does allow your Character model to attack your opponent's Character model.
Insane Bravery
We saw this one in the Battle Report. It's considerably improved from before, costing only 1CP and triggering after you've failed a Battle-shock test instead of before. With how important Battle-shock looks, this will be a good one to keep handy.
Grenade
Alright! I've been waiting to see what this does!
Hmm . . . It's 1CP for an average of 3 mortal wounds. That's not bad, at least by 9th Edition standards. You could potentially spike it and finish a unit off. My guess is that's what we'll see this used for.
Tank Shock
Another classic returns! This is a bit of an oddball one. So armored tracks on the Land Raider are Strength 8. You'd be rolling at least 8 dice against every target, 10 against most Infantry. That's again around 3 mortals. Again, you can spike it, but you're capped at 6 mortals. Unlike Grenade, I can see situations where you need to get your tank through combat and don't want to tie it up. So you might use this to try and finish off a unit blocking your path.
Rapid Ingress
This is the incredible Stratagem that we first saw in the Terminator reveals. It's a pretty big deal. You get to see where your opponent has moved and will know where they can shoot and charge before you bring your unit in. Then on your turn, that unit will be able to act normally. I predict some armies will make great use of this.
Fire Overwatch
Another used to deadly effect in the Battle Report. The big buff here is that you can now use it in both the Movement and Charge phase. All and all it's much more flexible than before, though you can still only use it once per turn. There was some interest as to the interaction between this and TORRENT. But GW has played TORRENT automatically hitting as canceling Fire Overwatch's requirements.
Go to Ground
Another Stratagem that has been expanded in it's use, you can now just use it to protect a unit being shot at. It's a 6+ Invuln and the Benefits of Cover, so it can increase the survivability of light to medium infantry.
Smokescreen
Previously only in certain Codexes, you can now use this Stratagem for any unit with the Smoke keyword to give it -1 to Hit from Stealth and the Benefits of Cover. This was previously a Vehicle Keyword, but we've seen it on some Infantry now too.
Heroic Intervention
Another rule that just used to be something you can do turned to a Stratagem, and at 2CP too. The good news is that it's now a 6" range and can target nearly any unit. A restriction is made for Vehicles, requiring them to have the Walker keyword to use this Stratagem. The bad news is now you resolve it as a Charge, including a Charge roll and move. Even worse, you don't get Fight First.
There are still going to be reasons to use this. At the very least, 2 open CP now means that your opponent has to be careful with Charges around any of your units.
STRATEGIC RESERVES
Introduced in 9th Edition, Strategic Reserves had very specific rules with tiered CP costs and limits on when and where you could bring them in. While interesting in theory, in practice players rarely used them. To begin with, most factions had dedicated Deep Strike units that could go into Reserves for free while not having the restrictions and often their own Reserve Stratagems. But the big problem was that it always felt like there was better things to use the CP on, even before CP got halved in Nephilim. Arks of Omen introduced free Strategic Reserves, and the rule suddenly got some new life. Let's see what the rules will be in 10th.
Now Strategic Reserves are just based on point totals. A standard Strike Force game will let you put 500 points of units in Strategic Reserves. Another excellent simplification. And though it should be obvious, you can't put Fortifications in Strategic Reserves.
They've broken up the rule into Arriving From Strategic Reserves and Setting Up Strategic Reserves Units. The timing part is the same as it's always been. You can't bring them on until the second Battle Round, and if you don't bring them on by the end of the battle they count as destroyed.
Setting them up is slightly different. The restrictions are still based on Battle Round though.
- 2nd Battle Round: Must be set up wholly within 6" of any board edge and not in your opponents deployment zone.
- 3rd Battle Round on: Must be set up wholly within 6" of any board edge.
- They must remain outside of 9" horizontally of any enemy models.
This means it is now technically possible to fully encircle your opponent provided they're not screening properly. This will potentially make Strategic Reserves a powerful tool against smaller, more elite armies.
TERRAIN FEATURES
This is something else that got previewed in a WarCom post, so we've seen some of this. But let's see what they were holding back.
Benefit of Cover
Being in cover is now a binary state. There's only one form of cover now and, as far as we can tell, no way to improve it. Despite this simplification, cover has one of the more complex and wordy exceptions in the book so far. If your model has 3+ save or better, and the attacking weapon is AP 0, you don't get the Benefit of Cover. I think maybe they should have said something like, "The Benefit of Cover can never improve your armour save to better than 3+ after armour penetration has been applied." It just seems like such a weird, wordy, and gamified exception to me. What is it about AP 0 weapons that they can blow through cover against power armour, but AP -1 weapons can't? And considering they wanted to make armour count for more, why is the limit at 3+ and not 2+? It just seems like a weird place to add in a layer of complexity.
After this, each terrain feature get their own little section, almost like their own Datasheet. This reminds me a little of the weird Terrain rules they tried to introduce in 9th Edition as an alternate game mode.
Charges
They've done a better job of fixing terrain blocking charges this time. It will still be possible for a player to block charges using these rules, especially for models on big bases. But it's better than blanket extension of Engagement Range.
Placing Models
They seem to want you to make sure your entire model is on a feature now too. They specifically call out not having any part of your models base or footprint hanging off of hill, structures, etc. While this will make the battlefields of the 41st millennium a safer place for your miniatures, it does feel a bit picky.
Visibility
As before, Terrain can now affect visibility. Woods now prevent models from being Fully Visible, and Ruins still block visibility entirely (except for Aircraft and Towering). Other than the Benefit of Cover, we still haven't seen any rules that interact with models not being Fully Visible.
Plunging Fire
Ruins, but not other Terrain Features, have rule that provides a buff to models that are wholly with the Terrain Feature and more than 6" above the board. This rule improves the Armour Penetration of a weapon by 1. I don't think I've seen anything that restricts improving Armour Penetration, so it might be possible to improve it further.
EXAMPLE BATTLEFIELDS
Starting in 9th Edition, GW began putting more thought into what kind of terrain best supported the rules they'd created. It had been obvious for many editions, but battlefield with less terrain tended to be a boon to ranged armies, while more terrain helped melee armies. In both rulebooks and their own events, GW has been trying to present terrain layouts that will be as balanced as possible.
For matched play, GW makes a note of trying to make the battlefield as balanced as possible, often referred to as symmetrical battlefields in competitive play. They specifically call out having large structures to block visibility in the center of the board.
They make a note of how some terrain setups might be better for a narrative experience, while matched play games want something more balanced. The fourth board they show resembles current competitive terrain setups in many ways. They go on to show potential boards for other battle sizes and amount of available terrain.
AIRCRAFT
Aircraft have often felt like an afterthought, and the end result has been unbalanced play and models. Now they have their own section of the rules.
Deploying Aircraft
As in the Balanced Dataslate, Aircraft must now be deployed in Reserves. They then become Strategic Reserves after the battle starts. Since this occurs after the battle begins, Aircraft don't count towards the Strategic Reserves limit.
Hover
Hover has been significantly changed. An aircraft with Hover can either start the battle in Reserves as normal, or start on the board in Hover mode. Once an aircraft is in Hover mode, it stays that way for the rest of the battle. It loses the Aircraft keyword and can only move up to 20".
Aircraft in the Movement Phase
Aircraft can only make a Normal move now. They get to ignore Engagement Range for this purpose. It looks like all aircraft now have the same minimum move, 20". As before, the entire Aircraft must move at least 20" in a straight line. It can then pivot up to 90 degrees. What's different now, is after that turn, you can just keep moving the aircraft as much as you want. So if you want to strafe the board in a single turn, you can. As before, if the aircraft crosses the board edge at any point, it leaves and goes back into Strategic Reserves, and must arrive in your next turn.
Aircraft and the Movement of Other Models
This is mostly unchanged as well. Aircraft don't affect the movement of other models, only their placement. At the end of any model's movement, they can't end it on, or within Engagement range of, enemy Aircraft.
Aircraft in the Charge and Fight Phases
Aircraft can't normally charge and they can still only be charged by units with the Fly Keyword. They can still Fight in the Fight phase, but only against models with the Fly Keyword. They do not get to Pile-in or Consolidate, and they do not affect other models making Pile-in or Consolidate moves.
I'll admit, I never really got to use Aircraft in 9th Edition, and I don't remember many details from games where I saw them. But these rules seem like they're slightly easier to learn and understand than before, and are fairly intuitive. After all, these models represent craft wheeling high above the battlefield. The interaction they with ground forces should be relatively limited.
MUSTERING YOUR ARMY
I feel like we've had this almost entirely revealed at this point. But let's dive deeper and see if we can spot anything new.
Select Battle Size and Start Your Army Roster
I immediately note two things. The first is that Combat Patrol isn't even mentioned here. It looks like they really want to divorce Combat Patrol from the core rules as its own separate game type. The second is that the rules directly reference the Munitorum Field Manual, emphasizing that points will be their own release.
Select Army Faction and Detachment Rules
I'm not sure, but here I believe we get our first specific mention that some Detachments will restrict what units you can include. I'm hoping they will also let you give some units the Battleline keyword, to allow you to select more of them.
Select Units and Warlord
Right away I notice that it specifically says you can select Enhancements when you select a unit. It looks like Enhancements can be taken by more than just your Warlord, and different detachments might have different rules for assigning Enhancements. So things like Chapter Command or Adaptive Physiologies might join Relics and Warlord Traits as Enhancements you can give your units.
Dedicated Transports actually have to be used now. You get to take 6 of them, just like with Battleline units, but you must have a unit embarked in it. You cannot take a Dedicated Transport as its own unit anymore. If something happens and you can't embark a unit in a Dedicated Transport before deployment, it counts as destroyed.
And there it is! Only Characters can be given Enhancements and you can have up to three in your army. Each Character can only have one Enhancement, and each chosen Enhancement must be unique. As before, unique characters, now Epic Heroes, cannot be given Enhancements.
You now choose your Warlord after you've chosen Enhancements. Your Warlord now gains a Warlord Keyword.
MISSIONS
This is another one where we've been waiting for the full steps and timings of the game rules. Though I think this was less an area of intrigue than the Command Phase was.
Muster Armies
Normally, you will use the rules listed on pages 55-56 of this rulebook, remembering that these page numbers are specific to the Core Rules. However, there is some future proofing here in that it mentions a mission could affect how you muster your army, such as in the Arks of Omen campaign.
Create the Battlefield
Missions may detail how terrain is placed in addition to objective markers now. Again, the Arks of Omen campaign comes to mind. Still, most missions will assume battlefields similar to those discussed in this rulebook.
Determine Attacker and Defender
While in the Battle Report the winner of the roll off chose, here it specifies the winner of the roll off is the Attacker. This is something that got introduced partway through 9th, if I remember correctly.
Declare Battle Formations
We'd pretty much guessed everything that would happen in this step. It is a little interesting both players do this simultaneously in secret. It also has a specific order. This makes sense, since you'd want to attach your Leaders before you embark Attached units in Transports, and you need to load your Transports before you can put them in Reserves.
Deploy Armies and Determine First Turn
There are no longer any standard rules for deployment; it's entirely mission dependent. So a mission might have the defender deploy their entire army first, or it might use the normal alternating deployment, etc. The same is true for which player goes first.
Resolve Pre-battle Rules
This now always occurs after the first player has been determined, and always alternates between the players. I find it interesting there are no exceptions for missions here. Though that wouldn't stop a specific mission from altering this by detailing its own setup.
The rest of the game proceeds either as normal, or as determined by the mission itself.
OBJECTIVE MARKERS
Though I knew there had been some changes made to Objective Markers, I wasn't expecting them to get their own section of the rulebook!
They're still 40mm, but the big change is that models can no longer stand on the Objective Marker itself. I'm expecting in many games, players will continue to use objective mats, but may now put special tokens or models on them too. This will probably be the best compromise between being able to read the game state and creating a visually interesting battlefield.
Objective Markers are now either Controlled or Contested. Every Objective starts out Contested, and then you check for Control at the end of any phase. Control is determined by which player has the greater OC present on the Objective. You must have more OC on an Objective to gain and keep Control. If your models have no OC, say from being Battle-shocked, they do not Control the objective.
Objective Markers are now entirely positioned according the Mission rules. This means they can be placed on or within Terrain features now. The rules provide some friendly advice for handling this, including potentially moving terrain features to accommodate the Objective.
I'm guessing many competitive formats will still probably play with fixed objective markers and terrain to keep things easy and balanced.
ONLY WAR
We end with a generic starter mission, similar to many we've seen before. There are no rules here for using the new Mission Deck. I'll also note that this basic ruleset does not include awarding victory points for having a Battle Ready army, which I think is a good thing. Although winning after being tabled also doesn't exist in this mission, that fits the narrative it represents. This means some missions may have specific rules for what happens when one opponent tables another. Although on the whole, I prefer the theming of determining a victor based solely on VP, this does give each Mission Pack more narrative control over the victory conditions.
FINAL THOUGHTS
And that's it! It's here! Once we have the indexes, we'll be able to play! Pre-orders for Leviathan are this weekend! The hype is real!
Trying to curve my enthusiasm to be objective, I still feel like this is a positive evolution of the rules. Other than the big changes to the turn structure and Morale, most of the changes feel incremental. And those incremental changes feel like logical simplifications. I ran into all of one rule that has me scratching my head, and that's the wording on the Benefits of Cover. It just feels like this could have been, "After modifying for Armour Penetration, Cover cannot improve your save to more than a 3+." That would still feel a little gamified, but I think it would be simpler and give better use cases.
Another thing I noted is that there are no "sacred" rules, such as those we've seen in other rulebooks that can never be changed or modified. This means any Special Rule or Stratagem can alter any rule in the book. Hopefully the Design Team will use this sparingly.
Other than that, I just honestly can't wait to start putting games in. If things go according to plan, my health might allow me to actual get more board time this edition. Keeping my fingers crossed!
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