Warhammer 40,000 - Indexes for Space Marine Chapters

Free Space Marines Index Cards - Dark Angels, Blood Angels, Space Wolves, Black Templars, and Deathwatch

Our third set of Datasheets continues the love for Space Marine players.  I'm gonna go ahead and just binge off these in one go.  While some of these Chapters have lots of Datasheets, this should still be far less than what we saw on Friday.

DARK ANGELS

The Dark Angels saw a significant change in their special rules with the reveal on WarCom.  Let's see how their signature units will support the Chapter.

Here we see our first Detachment with a Restriction in place.  This one is simple, you can't include any units from another Chapter.  I think maybe they should have worded this to mention the Faction Keyword, just so you're not referencing the rules in the Space Marine Index to understand how this Restriction works.  But most player probably know the intention here.

Grim Resolve

The new Detachment rule allows Dark Angels to maintain OC 1 when Battle-shocked, potentially keeping them in control of objectives.  While I think most would agree that this is not as powerful as Combat Doctrines, Battle-shock is legitimately looking like a thing.  The big issue I think most players will have is this rule is just kinda boring.

Unforgiven Fury

Oh wow!  This is awesome!  Looks like they're going to be playing up that Battle-shock thing for the Unforgiven.  First, this 1CP strat grants LETHAL HITS to a unit, an ability that combos well with Oath of Moment, but if any units in your army are currently Battle-shocked, you crit on 5s.  This will be particularly nasty on any units with SUSTAINED HITS.

Armour of Contempt

Looks like not every strat in specific detachments will be new.  This makes sense, honestly, since just because you're playing a specialized force doesn't mean that force wouldn't know the most important strategies of the faction.  Imagine a detachment based around Hive Fleet Hydra not having access to Endless Swarm.

Intractable

Fall Back and Shoot and Charge for 1CP.  We've seen strats like this already, but that make them less awesome.

Fire Discipline

Holy!  For 1CP you're unit gets ASSAULT, HEAVY, and IGNORES COVER?  Obviously ASSAULT and HEAVY are mutually exclusive, but it does mean this strat is exceptionally flexible!

Grim Retribution

For 1CP you get to shoot back at an attacking unit that destroyed one of your models.  We've seen that Overwatch is still powerful, and I imagine that strats like this will be too.  Your opponent will need to watch out that they either attack with tough units, or overwhelming force.

Unbreakable Lines

Oh wow!  We've seen strats like this in a few factions such as Guard and Death Guard, but they've been 2CP.  This 1CP strat reduces damage by 1 for the rest of the turn!  Again, there doesn't appear to be limit to this, potentially causing all damage on the unit to bounce.

Shroud of Heroes

This is such a weird synergy, but it does help keep Dark Angels effective against Battle-shock heavy armies like Tyranids and Chaos Knights.  This is similar to the Phoenix Gem we saw for Aeldari, but it only brings back the unit with 3 Wounds, unless the unit is Battle-shocked.  Then it brings them back with full wounds.

Stubborn Tenacity

+1 to Hit if the Character is leading a unit below Starting Strength, +1 to Wound if that unit is also Battle-shocked.  While again, these rules help maintain effectiveness for damaged units, I prefer to plan around dealing damage.

Heavenfall Blade

Like this enhancement!  +1 to Attacks, Strengths, and Damage!  And its doubled when the unit is Battle-shocked.

Pennant of Remembrance

This is the first enhancement we've seen that is really restrictive, requiring it to be used for a Bladeguard Ancient, Primaris Ancient, or Terminator Ancient.  This gives the lead unit a 6+ FNP, with a 4+ FNP while Battle-shocked.  That is an impressive jump in durability.

Azrael

Wow!  Lion's Wrath is no joke!  He is absolutely going to shred Infantry!  This definitely makes his unit a prime target for Unforgiven Fury.  He also just grants 1CP in your Command Phase, a 4+ Invuln, and a once per game 4+ FNP against Mortals.  Oh!  And he can join Hellblasters!

Belial

The master of the Death Wing looks like he's been crafted to be an assassin style character.  Not only do all of his weapons come with PRECISION, but he grants PRECISION to his unit on Crits.  He also just gets to strike back with Mortals when his unit gets attacked in Melee.

Sammael

Oo!  I really like The Raven Sword!  He grants Advance and Shoot and Charge to the Ravenwing unit he's leading.  He also has Greyfax's rule for forcing Desperate Escape tests on the enemy.

Ezekiel

The Chief Librarian is also setup to kill Characters, though his sword is ANTI-CHAOS.  He comes with the Psychic Hood all Librarians do, can force Battle-shock on an enemy, and he grants +1 Attacks in melee to his unit.  And if you're actually trying to Battle-shock your own units so that you can get access to the strange buffs the Dark Angels have, he forces a Battle-shock test on nearby units when he dies.

Asmodai

Fitting a Chapter dedicated to hunting down traitors, the Chief Interrogator Chaplain also has plenty of PRECISION, forces Battle-shock on enemy Characters, and grants a CP if he kills one.  He also grants full re-rolls to Hit in melee for his unit.

Ravenwing Talonmaster

Thanks to the special Talonmaster rule, you're free to leave this special Character speeder independent.  He also has an aura style ability that grants IGNORE COVER to nearby mounted and flying units, buffing before they start marking targets.  Finally he gets that free move when an enemy gets close to him.

Lazarus

While a bit more mixed in theme than the previous Epic Heroes, Lazarus is still potent with both a whopping 3+ FNP against Pyschic and Mortals and a 4+ Fight on Death.

Deathwing Strikemaster

Besides access to all the fun Terminator melee weapons, the Strikemaster also grants LETHAL HITS, with an additional +1 to Hit and Wound on units Below Half-Strength.

Deathwing Command Squad

It feels like this unit is slightly more restrictive than it used to be, the wargear more closely echoing core Terminator units.  Unfortunately, this might mean players will have to change out some of their models in existing builds.

Deathwing Terminator Squad

Strangely, this unit gets the same rule as core Terminators, just under a different name.

Deathwing Knights

Inner Circle returns!  Well, at least for Deathwing Knights . . .  It's now -1 to Damage, again with no limit.  Does this literally mean this unit is immune to Damage 1 weaponry?

Ravenwing Command Squad

The bike version of the Command Squad gets the same special rules as the Terminators do.  So which you bring is going to be determined by if you want speed or durability.

Ravenwing Black Knights

Black Knights are positioned as an ANTI-MONSTER/VEHICLE unit, fitting their ancestry.

Ravenwing Darkshroud

Interesting!  Though the weaponry on this speeder is underwhelming, it grants an AURA of both Stealth and the Benefit of Cover.

Ravenwing Landspeeder Vengeance

Similar to the Invicta, this Land Speeder gets to make a retributive strike to punish an enemy that manages to destroy one of your units.

Ravenwing Dark Talon

Oh wow!  That rift cannon is a thing!  Plus not only can this unit strafe with some mortal wounds, it can seriously pin an enemy unit in place.

Nephilim Jetfighter

Many people have noted the lack of -1 to Hit against Aircraft.  But not only does the Nephilim come with it, it gets -1 to wound against models with Fly too.

Lion El'Johnson

We've already previewed The Lion, and he's an absolute beast!  I just can't imagine playing Dark Angels and not bringing this beautiful model.

BLOOD ANGELS

We've already seen Red Thirst, which looks generically strong.  In many ways you're trading the consistent damage it brings for the incredible flexibility of Doctrines.  But lets see if their rules make up for it.

Angels Sacrifice

Did the enemy manage to kill one of your combat hungry Characters?  You now get re-roll Hits against that unit.

Aggressive Onslaught

Is your unit just outside of the newer, more restrictive rules for Consolidation?  For 1CP you can get another 3" to get to grips with your next target.

Armour of Contempt

I'm guessing nearly all Chapters will get this.

Red Rampage

Is +1 Attack and Strength not enough to bring down your charge target?  How 'bout LANCE and LETHAL HITS too?

Only In Death Does Duty End

Of course the Sons of Sanguinius get the Fight on Death stratagem.  I feel like these Stratagems could be used consecutive for one hell of a round of combat.

Relentless Assault

While Blood Angels don't get a Fall Back and Shoot and Charge strat, they do still get to Fall Back and Charge.

Artisan of War

Improved AP and Save are generically good, especially with how hard it is to get high AP.

Visage of Death

So this is proving to be an interesting way to depict models as scary, or in the case of Rippers a nuisance.  Halving OC might legitimately be pretty good, though not as good as actually inflicting Battle-shock.

Archangel's Shard

LANCE is very nice, though I feel they could have gone ahead and made this ANTI-CHAOS 4+ instead of 5.

Icon of the Angel

Blood Angels are all about tearing things up in melee.  Trapping units with them is definitely good.

Astorath

Man he needs a new model!  Maybe this will be the Edition the Sons of the Angel get love.  We've already got new Dante.  The Exectuioner's Axe looks pretty good, but granting Fight on Death and a once per game DEVASTATING wounds is awesome!

Baal Predator

Assault cannons with TWIN LINKED are already pretty awesome.  But this Predator variant can Advance and still fire all its guns at Infantry.

Brother Crobulo

A 5+ FNP and his unit gets another +1 to attacks?  Freaking awesome!

Captain Tycho

Blood Song has some odd stats, but MELTA 2 and DEVASTATING WOUNDS are going to absolutely destroy Infantry.  He also comes with three powerful weapon rules to give his unit.  His ability to go berserk when he gets hit is gravy.

Chief Librarian Mephiston

Mephiston is a beast!  Not only is Vitarus one of the better melee weapons we've seen, but his Psychic powers all function in combat.  Fights First is awesome, and while Transfixing Gaze can perils, -1 WS and potentially -1 Attack is brutal.

Command Dante

+1 to Charge and Hit is great!  And not only does he force Battle-shock on enemies, he does so at -1!

Death Company Dreadnought

While sharing Black Rage with the rest of the Death Company, the Death Dread also gets to shoot and fight back for each attack that targets it!

Death Company Intercessors

We got to see Cawl's failure in the preview.  While not the most impressive, they're ability to Overwatch or Heroic Intervention for free is still good.

Death Company Marines

The First Born that succumb to the Rage get SUSTAINED HITS 1 if below Starting Strength and SUSTAINED HITS 2 if below half strength.  I've said my peace here.

Death Company Marines with Jump Packs

Assault Marines with re-roll Charges is always nice.

Furioso Dreadnought

The blood angels melee Dread looks like it can definitely tear things up.  Additionally, it gets one of those rules that lets it just hand out mortals in combat.

Gabriel Seth

We saw him in the reveal too, and he definitely looks like he can destroy most Infantry.

Lemartes

Lemartes grants -1 Damage!  What's up dude!  I thought you were trying to give your fallen brothers honorable deaths not make them immortal!  He also grants LETHAL HITS in melee.

Librarian Dreadnought

Nice!  He just gets EXTRA ATTACKS with the Halberd.  Additionally, Blood Lance is amazing Pychic power for trying to break through some enemy armour.  He grants an Aura of 5+ FNP to everything around him.  But the real kicker is he can attempt to teleport a unit once per turn.

Sanguinary Guard

Been waiting to see what they did here.  San Guard were absolute terrors in 9th!  Encarmine blades look like they've got the same stats as master-crafted power weapons though.  The interesting thing here is that they've had their defenses buffed with -1 to Hit and -1 to Wound if your Warlord is in this unit.

Sanguinary Priest

Alright!  Another way to get improved AP!  This is crucial for assault armies.

The Sanguinor

I'd really like to see a new model for this too.  He grants re-roll Battle-shock and Leadership, which on Marines is huge.  He can also just jump into Engagement Range with an enemy from Reserves.  Now why can't the Mawloc have that?

Tycho the Lost

They decided to let you field Tycho as either a regular Captain or after he succumbed to the Black Rage.  In addition to giving a unit Advance and Charge, he gets a special Deadly Demise that's extra effective when fighting a Warlord.

Sanguinary Priest with Jump Pack

Another "Sir Not Appearing in this Picture", and hopefully more hints we've got jump packs coming.  He's identical to his walking counterpart.

SPACE WOLVES

Sagas were probably the rule I was most interested in from the Faction Focus.  They have potential to be one of the strongest or weakest Detachment rules we've seen.  Each one is a stacking Army Wide buff.  But to get them, you need to have certain things happen.  The nice thing is that you don't have to pick a Saga ahead of time.  So if you were trying to get Saga of the Bear, but ended up scoring Beastslayer, you can pick it instead.

Champions of Russ is our first Detachment that really includes some restrictions in it. This is mostly to make room for the Space Wolves unique units.  But the loss of the Apothecary is kinda big.

Armour of Contempt

Yep, the Rout get it too.  'Nuff said.

Go for the Throat

Oh neat!  We get strats that combo off of Sagas.  So by default this is improved AP, but can also grant LANCE.

Runic Wards

A 5+ FNP against mortals and psychic attacks (4+ with Bear) feels more useful as a strat than a character ability.

Death Howl

Not only does this let you Consolidate further, but if you've completed Majesty this forces a Battle-shock test.

Warrior Pride

There you go!  I really like Sagas now!  For 1CP you just count as having completed a Saga for a turn.

Relentless Assault

A flat Fall Back and Shoot and Charge would have been better, but this is still nice.

The Pelt of Balewolf

Another means for the Vlka Fenryka to inflict Battle-shock.  GW wants Wolves to be scary!

Black Death

Do you want Saga of the Beastslayer?  This how you get Saga of the Beastslayer!

Wolf Tail Talisman

Okay, we really need to see if this can reduce damage to 0.  I'm starting to see just a few of these rules . . .

Frost Weapon

And here's one for if you want a character to try and grab Warrior Born.

Logan Grimnar

We're just starting with the big man himself (at least until Russ returns.)  The Axe of Morkai looks okay, as does the 1CP.  But that once per game army-wide re-roll Charges and Hits in melee is awesome!

Logan Grimnar on Stormrider

He actually doesn't change between profiles.  Just one can join Terminators and the other can join Thunderwolf Cavalry.

Njal Stormcaller

Did I miss Njal getting a new model?  He looks so freaking awesome now!  He gets an interesting set of powers.  SUSTAINED HITS 2 is so thematic for his attacks.  But Stormcaller grants Stealth, and Runic Armour strangely only gives -1 to Wound for Psychic attacks.

Bjorn the Fell-handed

I was kinda hoping the Trueclaw would have a bit more punch.  It's good Strength and Damage but I feel it could use at least -3 AP.  He gets to halve damage which is really nice, and strangely he gets a Vect ability.  He's still a great model, I was just expecting something a little different.

Arjac Rockfist

Does your opponent have monsters?  Well they probably still do because there's not anything to easily pair with his ANIT-MONSTER keywords.  Might have to mine the Space Marine Index if there isn't something here.  Still Wounding on 2s is nice, and he's pretty good for taking out Characters.

Ulrik the Slayer

Ulrik's ability basically lets him issue his own Oath of Moment, though he doesn't get full re-rolls unless he targets a Character, Vehicle, or Monster.  Also if you hate Battle-shock, he can grant units around him Ld5+.

Ragnar Blackmane

Okay, between Frostfang, Advance and Charge, and +2 Attacks and Strength on the Charge, Ragnar will reliably end things.

Krom Dragongaze

In addition to having a below Strength ability, Krom can force a unit to take a Battle-shock test.

Harald Deathwolf

He grants DEVASTATING WOUNDS to Thunderwolves.  The fact he can shrug off a failed save once per Phase is just icing.

Canis Wolfborn

If your in an Infantry meta, you can use Canis Instead.  Unlike Harald, his rule applies to all weapons.  And he also has a rule for dishing out mortals on the Charge.

Wolf Guard Battle Leader in Terminator Armour

Oh wow!  Caught an error!  I'm sure there have been others but this is the first one I remember seeing.  LETHAL HITS is nice, but giving Terminators a 4+ FNP is crazy!

Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf

The generic Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf gets a nice set of abilities with a free Stratagem once per battle round for any unit and +1 to Advance and Charge for his unit.  You'll probably want to include him alongside other heroes.

Wolf Guard Battle Leader on Thunderwolf

This version of the Wolf Guard keeps Tactical Precision, but instead of extra durability gets to make a once per game move in response to being shot at.

Blood Claws

+1 Attack and Strength on a Charge is good for any assault unit.

Grey Hunters

Fall Back or Advance and Shoot is a lot of tactical flexibility for any Battleline unit.

Wolf Guard

The standard bodyguard unit for Space Wolf Leaders gets +1 to Hit while being lead.

Lukas the Trickster

Lukas gets -1 to Hit, which is a generically useful defensive buff.  But his real trick is a chance to inflict some mortals and Battle-shock if the enemy kills him.

Wolf Guard Terminators

Another Terminator unit that has lost a little bit of flexibility in Wargear, Wolf Guard are still a fantastic unit.  And their Battle Leader makes them oppressive!

Hounds of Morkai

We saw these in the faction focus.  They're good at what they do, though you'll probably want a Character to kill a Psyker whenever you can.

Wulfen

The Space Wolves fallen brethren come with a 4+ Fight on Death making them a potentially good distraction unit.

Wulfen Dreadnought

The great wolf claw gets to be AP -3!  Why not the Trueclaw?  Either way, the Space Wolves melee 'Nought gets mortals on the Charge to help them really break enemy units apart.

Murderfang

Murderfang also gets surprisingly reduced AP.  But he at least gets TWIN-LINKED and the ability to fight back when targeted.

Thunderwolf Cavalry

Oh wow!  The Ferocious Charge rule will really pair well with Harald's DEVASTATING WOUNDS.  Now if we can just get them better Crits.

Fenrisian Wolves

Often taken as cheap screeners, wolves are OC 0 now.  So you can screen with them and try to tie up units, but they're not holding objectives.

Skyclaws

Re-roll charges and +1 to Hit on the charge is a nice pair of rules for assault marines.

Long Fangs

The literally long in the tooth Heavy Weapons team not only gets an Armorium Cherub, but can re-roll 1s if it Remains Stationary.  This is a nice set of rules for anything with a Lascannon.

Stormfang Gunship

Not only is the Helfrost a brutal weapon, but it gets to apply a movement debuff too.  Strangely, the wording on this rule marks the target specifically as Frozen.  Maybe there might be interaction for that later?

Stormwolf

There's an interesting rule for a Transport.  If the Transport hasn't moved yet, a disembarking unit gets Advance and Charge!  Given how Aircraft move, I'm not sure how useful that will be, unfortunately.

Wolf Guard Pack Leader

A nice attachment to any unit, this Character gives the unit a once per battle re-roll Battle-shock.  Useful, but incredibly points dependent.

Wolf Guard Pack Leader with Jump Pack

Identical to the foot leader, but meant for your Skyclaws.

Wolf Guard Pack Leader in Terminator Armour

Okay, his ability is pretty useful.  But you've got better options for leading your Terminators.

Iron Priest

Showing the strong connections of the Priesthood of Mars, this model is almost identical to a standard Tech Marine

Cyberwolf

Another popular list filler, the Cyberwolf also gets OC 0.  Interestingly, this unit doesn't have Leader but still has to be attached to a unit.  I'm sure we'll get an FAQ on that.

Wolf Scouts

No model here.  Is this another sign new Scouts might be on the way?  Either way, it gets the ability to go in Strategic Reserves if you're outside of 6"  A nice, flexible unit.

Space Wolves Venerable Dreadnought

Yes!  Wolves get to keep their Ven Dread!  And this potent piece brings an Aura of re-roll Hits and Wounds of 1!

We end with an Armoury datasheet for those repeated weapon options that just couldn't fit on the cards.  Space Wolves do have a fair amount of specialty weaponry.

BLACK TEMPLARS

Templars are probably the Chapter I have the least amount of experience with.  After all, when I started there was just the big four.  And I just haven't happened to have had many friends who like these extra fanatical Space Marines.  Still they've had some beautiful models recently, and their Detachment rule is a nice selectable buff.  Let's see what other rules they get.

Again, we get some more restrictions.  The obvious one is that no Psykers can be in your army.  But Templars also seem to have their own Gladiators, Impulsors, and Repulsors.

Fervant Acclamation

Like many armies where you have to pick an option, for 1CP Templars get to give one Unit another option.  The restriction here is that unit must be lead by a Character.

Devout Push

Templars get a D6" move towards an attacking unit for 1CP.  What's interesting is that if they've take the vow "Abhor the Witch", its 6" instead, but it's just an option to move closer to a Psyker.  If they want to move closer to the firing unit, they still can.

No Escape

For 1CP you can potentially trap a unit in combat, or at least force a Desperate Escape test.  Always useful!

Armour of Contempt

Templars were not going to be the Chapter that wasn't getting Armour of Contempt.

Crusader's Wrath

Nice!  They get an improved AP strat too, this time with the bonus if they vowed "Suffer Not the Unclean", they get +1 to Strength.

Vicious Riposte

What's better than 4+ Fight on Death?  Well, obviously just Fight on Death would be better, but getting it on 3s if you're in Honour the Emperor is good too.

Perdition's Edge

Improving Strength and AP by 1 is nice.  But if you know you're in a high Toughness meta, you'll reliably get the +1 attacks too.  And I'm expecting that to be the case to start.

Sigismund's Seal

The buff for if we're in an infantry heavy meta.  I'm honestly not expecting this, so this might be the one left in the Reliquary.

Witchseeker Bolts

It's curious this is for ranged weapons.  Never really thought of Templars as snipers.

Tannhauser's Bones

Even if you never take Honour the Emperor, this is a fantastic survivability buff.

Chaplain Grimaldus

Grimaldus was a popular include in Templar armies in 9th, and with a Commander style ability he'll probably still be popular.  Right off the bat, he always has re-roll hits in melee.  But each battle round he can choose from Advance and Fall Back and Charge, 5+ FNP, or improved AP.  All fantastic buffs!

Crusade Squad

The classic templar unit comes with re-rolls for Advance and Charge.  A very reliable unit for getting stuck in.

High Marshal Helbrecht

Looks like Hellbrecht will be a beast in combat, with high AP on both the sweep and strike.  Additionally, as long as you took one of the special weapon vows, his crits on 5s will destroy things.  If that wasn't enough, he gets mortals on the charge too.

Primaris Crusader Squad

The new hotness with new models gets the same rule as their First Born brethren but can also make a Scout move.

Primaris Sword Brethren

These will reliably let you take "Suffer Not the Unclean" and still have an answer to hordes.  They'll have an answer for nearly anything they fight.

The Emperor's Champion

While the Black Sword isn't as impressive as Hellbrecht's, Skillful Parry is an excellent survivability buff and Sigismund's Heir helps him in those Epic Challenges.

Castellan

Another model that might prove useful backup if you're not taking LETHAL HITS for a game.  As a bonus he also grants Fall Back and Shoot and Charge.

Marshal

Even if you take Hellbrecht, you might want a generic Marshal for both his free strat ability and his version of Finest Hour.

Black Templars Gladiator Lancer/Reaper/Valiant

Hmm . . . I wonder if Templars are getting their own Gladiator when their book drops?  Funny thing is the only difference I can spot is the multi-meltas on the Lancer and Reaper.

Black Templars Impulsor

Again, it's got a multi-melta.  On brand, but did this really need its own Datasheet?

Black Templars Repulsor/Executioner

Same thing here.

We finally end with another Armoury sheet for all the wargear that ran over.  Gotta say, I'm curious about that last set of Datasheets.  Not really sure what's going on there.  Would it really have broken Marines if their hover tanks could have multi-meltas?

DEATHWATCH

Okay!  Now here's something new!

Deathwatch come with a special rule to address their strange Kill Team variants.  One complaint Deathwatch players have had in the past is that Kill Teams like Cassius can be really obnoxious to run.  Let see how they simplified things.

The first simplification is that you normally use the Toughness value that is most common in the Kill Team.  If there's a tie for number of models with a given Toughness, you always use the highest value.  For Transports, Kill Team models that wouldn't normally fit count as 2 models, but can otherwise hop on board just fine.  Finally, all Kill Teams count as Infantry for terrain.

Deathwatch also has quite a few restrictions.  This makes sense since these are supposed to be veteran Space Marines.  Interestingly, all flavors of Primaris are fine.

Armour of Contempt

Yep.

Teleportarium

You get to choose either two Kill Teams for this strat, or one unit without the Keyword.  Looks like this is a standard feature on all their unique strats.  This one does what you think it would, teleporting those units.

Adaptive Tactics

You can swap out Mission Tactics for up to two Kill Teams for 1CP.  However, this is a swap, so you still only get the one.  Not sure how this works with Tactics you've already chosen.

Hellfire Rounds

Looks like special issue ammunition is back as a collection of Strats.  Don't think this was revealed before.  In this case it's ANTI-INFANTRY 2+ and ANTI-MONSTER 5+.

Kraken Rounds

Improved AP and range is always good!

Dragonfire Rounds

In this case its ASSAULT and IGNORES COVER.  Probably the most situational of these strats.

Thief of Secrets

Wow!  This is improved Strength, Damage, and AP and it gets better as soon as you destroy a model.

Beacon Angelis

Deep Strike and free Rapid Ingress!  If you really like hitting hard and fast, this might be the enhancement for you.

The Tome of Ectoclades

Oh wow!  This is actually better than Guilliman's!  This enhancement gives you Oath of Moment on two enemies for one battle round.  Fantastic!

Osseus Key

This is a nice little debuff to hand out every round.  Since I sincerely think we'll see plenty of Vehicles, this might be auto-include.  Well, after The Tome of Ectoclades.

Watch Master

Although he needs to be your Warlord to get the full benefits, he grants Advance and Fallback and Shoot and Charge and can Vect a stratagem.  Very useful, even if I'm a bit underwhelmed otherwise.

Watch Captain Artemis

This Watch Captain makes sure you can always use a strat on the unit he's leading . . . if you've got the CP.  He also gets back up and stays in the fight on a 2+, though only with 1 Wound.

Kill Team Cassius

And here it is!  The craziest single unit in the game!  Why doesn't Kill Team have bespoke rules for this again?  Either way, this unit gets DEVASTATING WOUNDS and re-roll Battle-shock.  Brutal when combined with Hellfire rounds!

Deathwatch Veterans

We had this unit spoiled before, and I still find the rules interesting.  That's about all I can say there.

Deathwatch Terminator Squad

Another unit eagerly awaiting new Terminator models.  This unit has kept its flexible wargear upgrades.  It also inflicts Battle-shock tests on charges and can use a Teleport Homer.

Veteran Bike Squad

Other than access to Deathwatch weaponry, this is just a Bike squad.

Corvus Blackstar

The Deathwatch fighter can strafe enemy units for mortal wounds on 5s.  Otherwise, it's got decent weapons.

Proteus Kill Team

The Proteus Kill Team comes with +1 to Hit when targeting a unit that isn't Below Half-strength.  This is the more useful half of this bonus in my opinion.

Fortis Kill Team

The unit designed to finish off what the Proteus Kill Team starts.  These two are obviously meant to be fielded in pairs.

Indomitor Kill Team

The Gravis armoured Kill Team can work alongside both, possibly even forming a 1-2-3 punch.  Still, of the three I think the Proteus is most useful.

Spectrus Kill Team

The Deathwatch Infiltrators can return to Strategic Reserves when you need them to.  Considering how deadly some of their ranged weapons are, this could be lethal way to outflank an enemy.

Finally we get another of those overflow armoury pages.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Okay!  That was another binge!  And I'm betting CSM will be pretty bad too.  Space Marines are going to kill me!  Either way, I think I have an image in my head for each of the Chapters.

Dark Angels are weird.  So many of their buffs involve things happening that you don't want to happen.  Otherwise they feel very flexible and able to bring answers to nearly any situation.  They'll be good, I just think they'll likely be best in Gladius.  But maybe some skilled players will prove me wrong.

Blood Angels are definitely vicious.  They have a lot to play up their shock assault angle.  They're going to miss the opportunity for an army wide Advance and Charge, but their detachment rule is at least a constant and consistent buff.

Space Wolves are all about their characters, not all of which are impressive, but enough are to get the point across.  I do think a skilled player will be able to get their Sagas up early and often, but they're definitely not a "blind charge" kind of army.

Templars on the other hand might be.  It would be nice if their Enhancements weren't built around Vows you haven't taken yet.  My guess is that they're going to want LETHAL HITS a lot, so it might be safe to start there.  But of the three melee Marine Chapters, they definitely feel like the most simple and pure "get stuck in" force.

Deathwatch has me a bit stumped.  I really can't tell if they'll be good.  My gut says Doctrines are just better than Tactics.  I do think it's cool that their Kill Teams feel designed to work together.  And though I think having to constantly pay CP for special issue ammunition is a bit rough, Hellfire rounds will likely put in a lot of work.

But this has only just scratched the surface!  I'll be honest, since I'm mostly a Tyranid fanboy, I'm going to be devoting my deep dive to that faction and maybe GSC.  But I feel like there's a lot of depth between these Indexes and their parent Index.  We've likely only seen the barest hints of the potential combos between these forces.

Just wait until the actual books come out!

Chaos Daemons and Death Guard Reveals from the Kansas City Open

I have preordered my copy of Leviathan, both the box and the book!  Although the queue has gotten bad, I'm honestly surprised at how well things went for me on my end.  I was second in line to place my order, and not only did I get a Special Edition of the Leviathan book, but they were still available for customers after me.

I've also gotten my hands on the miniatures.  I love them all!  I love this box!  I especially love how ugly cute the Neurogaunts are!  And the Screamer-killer is every bit as awesome as I'd hoped it would be.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to pick up my order on release, as I'll be at Smallville Comic Con.  So I'll have to wait until Tuesday to actually get my hands on my own box.

But I still have my work cut out for me.  I'm currently deep diving into the Tyranid datasheets.  I also want to look at Summer Game Fest.  Obviously, I've had the Space Marine II announcement spoiled, though I haven't watched the new trailer.

No.  I won't be doing a deep dive on Space Marines.

For now, we still have Kansas City.  I'm only a week behind!  So today, it's Chaos Daemons and Deathguard.

CHAOS DAEMONS

The exhibition match put three Greater Daemons to work alongside Be'lakor, showing what kind of power the combined forces of Chaos have.  Thomas Reidy also showed off just how mobile the army can be, removing and Deep Striking Screamers and Flesh Hounds into Rob Jones's back line, as well as Deep Striking a Blood Thirster.  Reidy was the overall winner of the match, his ability to outmaneuver the Death Guard winning out over the casualties Mortarion's sons inflicted.

Throughout the match and the weekend, we got to see four new Stratagems, two Enhancements, and seventeen new Datasheets for the Neverborn.

Daemonic Invulnerability

For 1CP this Stratagem let's you re-roll 1s on your Invulns in the Shooting phase.  That is really good!  It looks like some of our old access to re-rolls has been changed to defensive re-rolls.

Denizens of the Warp

Do you really need to Deep Strike in a unit, and your opponent has you screened out?  Maybe you're fielding a lot of Tzeentch and want to bring in some Flamers to roast your opponent.  For 1CP this Stratagem lets you Deep Strike outside of 3" of the enemy, but gives up the ability to Charge.  Another amazing Strat!

The Realm of Chaos

For 1CP you get two scoop up to two units and put them in Strategic Reserves.  Note, that Strategic Reserves is not Deep Strike.  Still, as shown by the battle, this can easily outflank some opponents.  Somewhat situation, but still a useful tool for the toolbox.

Warp Surge

Advance and Charge for a unit in your Shadow of Chaos for 1CP?  Yes please!

A'rgath, The King of Blades

A simple enhancement that increases the Strength and Attacks of a Khornate Daemon by 1, with the bonus doubled within the Shadow of Chaos.  Boring, but effective.

The Everstave

The ranged version of A'rgath, I feel this is potentially much more potent.  It's far easier to stay within your Shadow of Chaos as a ranged combatant.  And combined with a Torrent weapon and Overwatch . . .

Bloodcrushers

This feels pretty tough, if a bit slow, for a mounted unit.  That 4+ Invuln can go a long way.  Mortals on a charge makes me a bit jealous.

Bloodthirster

This thing puts in work!  Though not the toughest monster we've seen, at T11 W18, it's not going down easy.  Honestly, I'm pretty sure the best loadout is with the standard Axe of Khorne.  This thing already does a ton of damage in Melee.  And anything that survives still has to face Relentless Carnage.

Contorted Epitome

Although not the meanest daemons, these Slaanesh casters are no slouches.  Considering they're probably going to be character protected so they can grant that 4+ FNP against Psychic and mortals, they're going to have staying power.  And although 12" is a short range to affect shooting, Horrible Fascination might just help your Daemonettes get a charge off without being blasted off the board.

Daemon Prince of Chaos

Although pretty tough, this model can't lead units or gain Lone Operative, so it'll need to make the most out of that 2+ Save and 4+ Invuln.  But the once per game 3+ Invuln definitely helps.  Don't get me wrong, this model isn't bad.  But I think he'll probably see more play in CSM, while Daemons will probably pull out bigger guns.

Exalted Flamer and Flamers

Flamers auto Hit again!  And the Exalted Flamer hands out ASSAULT to those Torrent weapons.  The Exalted Flamer hands out pinning debuffs to hit units, which is guaranteed to be at least one unit within 12".  Meanwhile, even if your opponent survives your Overwatch, Flamers can still Fall Back and Shoot.

Flesh Hounds

While not the potent anti Psykers they were before, Flesh Hounds can still get into melee easily.  And they do get a 3+ FNP against Psychic attacks.

Great Unclean One

T12 W20!  This smelly boy isn't getting cleaned up easy!  Either you can use him to tie up and wear down units, or you can use him as deadly support for Plaguebearers.

Kairos Fateweaver

While being pretty good at blasting things off the table with warp fire, Kairos's main draw is that he can help generate CP while making an opponent's Stratagem more expensive.

Lord of Change

The non-character Lord of Change is here to support your gunline, dealing devastating attacks with its Bolt of Change while increasing the Strength of nearby Flamers.

Pink Horrors

Yes, Horrors still split on 4s.  While multiple model and weapon profiles exist on the Datasheet, it looks like when the last Pink Horror dies you need to switch to another one.  Either way, it looks like these things will still be a nightmare to deal with.

Plague Bearers

Coming with the ability to infect an objective marker, plague bearers are still incredibly durable melee infantry.

Screamers

A fast moving charge unit so Tzeentch has a way to tie up heavy infantry, Screamers can also strafe units for a little mortal wound damage.

Sloppity Bilepiper

One of the best models in the game for so many reasons, the Sloppity Bilepiper helps get the normally slow moving Nurgle units into combat and forces Battle-shock tests in the fight phase to boot.

Soul Grinder

Deceptively mobile, the Soul Grinder looks like it will be a potentially versatile daemon engine.

Spoilpox Scrivener

Another Leader to buff up your Plaguebearers, this Scrivener gives them both SUSTAINED HITS 1 and better objective control.

Tormentbringer on Exalted Seeker Chariot

That is a lot of attacks with DEVASTATING WOUNDS!  But the main reason you bring this is to buff your nearby melee units and grant some Fight on Death.  I can see this being a great centerpiece model for any Slaanesh themed army.

DEATH GUARD

With a relatively newer book and fewer rules and datasheets to bring over, it's no surprise that we have fewer reveals for Death Guard.  Still, I know fans of the Fourteenth Legion weren't all that happy with their Faction Focus.  More reveals are definitely desired.  From the match, it definitely looks like transports help a lot with Death Guard mobility.  And while they don't seem to be quite as tough as before, despite literally having their Toughness increased, they also feel like they hit harder.

Disgusting Resilient

The old Death Guard special rule is now a Stratagem.  And, honestly I'm a bit disappointed.  Not only is this 2CP, but you can only use it in the Fight phase.  The real surprise here though is there's no limit to the effect.  This does look like it can reduce damage to 0.

Living Plague

A generic enhancement that increases the range of all Auras including Nurgle's Gift.  A useful, if boring, enhancement.

Shamblerot

Now this is awesome!  Making charges harder for your opponent is always a good thing!

Blightlord Terminators

While we've already seen the front of this Datasheet, we got to see the back of the card now.  Other than the simplifications and consolidations that have been made, the weapon options really haven't change.  This shouldn't be surprising, as GW is trying to write the rules for the kits now and not just theoretical loadouts.

Death Guard Daemon Prince with Wings

Trading a point of Toughness for some increased movement might be just what the doctor ordered.  Although outclassed in Daemons, this is a pretty awesome sheet for Death Guard.  Its ability to inflict Battle-shock and gain Devastating Wounds on a charge is awesome!

Death Guard Rhino

Strangely, this Rhino isn't any tougher than its Imperial counterparts.  It does come with some Death Guard appropriate weaponry though.

Deathshroud Terminators

While these don't look impressive, that bodyguard rule is really nice!  The new Transhuman may not be as strong as the old one, but it's still an awesome rule.

Foetid Bloat-drone

A potentially amazing harassment unit, while its kitted out for anti-infantry, all those LETHAL HITS will make it potentially deadly against any target.  Even better, it comes with Fall Back and Shoot and Charge.

Foul Blightspawn

That plague sprayer is evil, but you're taking this for Fight First.  Probably an auto-include in many lists.

Lord of Virulence

Another potent threat in his own right, while you can take him to give re-roll wounds to a unit, what you really want him to do is guide your Plagueburst Crawlers.

Mortarion

One of the first reveals was the big man, himself.  He is definitely no slouch in combat, with The Lantern potentially spiking to take out larger targets and a massive T12, W16.  He went toe-to-toe with two greater daemons and Be'lakor and nearly survived.  Probably his best rule is his ability to allow all Death Guard models within 6" to ignore modifiers to everything but saves.  Unfortunately his Host of Plagues has to be picked at the start of each Battle-round, making it a little less flexible than others we've seen.  The choices are also a bit boring, with Diseased Influence probably being the most useful of the three.

Myphitic Blight-haulers

Normally I feel meltas are a bit weak as anti-vehicle weapons for the new Toughness profiles of 10th Edition.  But at +1 to wound on Vehicles, these will turn most enemy armour to slag.

Plague Marines

Punching well above their weight, it feels like a waste their rule is centered around holding objectives.  But if you're not worried about Battle-shock, you can definitely just sticky the objective and keep marching.

Plague Surgeon

Bringing back a slain model every turn and healing 3 wounds to another Infantry model, this guy will definitely increase the durability of your units.

Plagueburst Crawler

We've already seen the main attraction on this datasheet, and it's still awesome.  I am a little surprised this isn't tougher.

Tallyman

You're probably always bringing at least one of these for the CP generation.  But even without that, +1 to Hit is nice and that plasma pistol is pretty good.

Typhus

Finally, we have the man who gave the Fourteenth to Nurgle.  Strangely, he's got a pretty potent defensive buff for units he leads.  But he also does potent mortal wound damage to enemy units.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Although billed as the more casual match, Thomas Reidy and Rob Jones are both experienced players.  And while not the nail-biter Friday's match was, it was still a close and interesting game.  It's a good example of the difference between looking at rules on paper verses on the board.  From the datasheets so far, Daemons look really scary.  Their datasheets are strong, and their rules seem to make them very flexible.  And while they won the match, the Death Guard still did a ton of damage to them.  While standing back and absorbing a bunch of damage is very thematic and very Death Guard, I'm guessing someone in the studio decided it wasn't that much fun to play.  So Death Guard may have lost some staying power, but now they hit much harder.  I'm sure some players would prefer they were both tough and a spreading plague the enemy can't resist, but the game has to be balanced somehow.  But if you're a Death Guard player, let me know!  Do you like the deadlier weapons and the ability to punch harder?  Or do you just wish you still had more durability?

Warhammer 40,000 10th Edition Core Rules

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.

1. 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.)
2. When the Character Unit is declared as Leading another unit, the lead unit becomes a Bodyguard Unit.
3. 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.

1. 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).
2. 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.
3. 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!