Halt The Printing Archeotech
In the grim darkness of the far future, the story continues. This might seem logical to newer fans of the franchise, but for untold years the universe was firmly entrenched at the end of the 41st millennium. That was until 2017, when 8th edition hit us like a bolter shell to the face. Not only did the lore move on considerably, introducing the Cicatrix Maledictum, Primarchs and Primaris marines, but the ruleset basically got thrown out the window. We got something new, something bold that had been adapted to the times. It was a momentous time to be a 40k fan. Since then we’ve had mainly tweaks, even 9th edition was nothing groundbreaking. That is, until now. Praise be to the immortal god emperor, for Warhammer 40k 10th edition has arrived!
Bolter Shell Or Las Bolt?
The question that’s been on everyone’s lips is, will this be another 8th edition style shakeup in the 10th edition? And now that we’ve seen it, I have to say yes, if not a bolter to the face, then at least the chest area. The fact that the rules are getting significantly re-written and they are re-releasing unit cards for every unit in the game (for free) makes it a major overhaul, even though we have yet to hear anything about what a lot of those rules changes might be. I’ll dabble into what we do know rules wise shortly, but first, miniatures!
Heroic Knights & Horrible Gribbles
The Lion has woken up and he isn’t in a good mood, he clearly wanted to lay in another couple of thousand years. If you haven’t seen the new Tywin Lanister *cough* I mean Lion El’Jonson model, go take a look, it’s a thing of beauty and something I’ll definitely be picking up. I’m cheating somewhat here as the Lion will likely be out before 10th as he’s part of the last Arks of Omen book, but still, shhh.
So what models are we getting in the new edition? Space Marines and Tyranids. Marines are healthy already but Nids are looooong overdue for a model refresh, so that’s good to see. All we’ve seen so far are some new Terminators and Termagants, which look really nice. I expect we’ll see a lot more popping up in the coming weeks and months.
Rules
There are some big changes here in 10th edition as we’ve already touched on. To facilitate them making lots of changes, all current codexes will become invalid upon release of the new edition. Instead we’ll be getting free downloadable indexes/datacards, with the option of buying physical versions, so all armies can jump straight into the new edition. It’s nice that these will be free this time as in 8th you had to purchase them. That said, if they have separate datacards available for each faction, I’ll probably end up buying some for my Votann. The core rules will also be free to download, I just hope that this time they include at least some basic missions, as the current free core rules are great, but you still need to buy books in order to start playing.
So far we’ve only had a sneak peak into what is changing rules wise, but already there are significant changes. Let’s take a look at a few.
- More focus on unit datacards being your go to place during games, including more single use per turn abilities, to encourage you to take a mix of units since you’d only be able to use the ability for one. Some of these are also reactive, meaning you can be doing something during your opponent’s turn.
- Building an army is simpler. Detachments are gone. Now just pick a Faction, Warlord and up to 3 of any unit (6 if they are battleline, which I assume will be mostly troops)
- There will be less stratagems and command points overall. 6 strats per army plus some more generic ones, and major subfactions will likely swap out the 6 main strats.
- Unit profiles are changing significantly. We still have a lot to learn here but we already can see that BS/WS, Strength and Attacks are all listed on weapons and not at all on the model itself. There is also a new OC stat, which, though unconfirmed, is likely to be objective control and form a handy replacement for the objective secured mechanic. Leadership has changed to, for example, 8+, but we don’t know what the check will be yet.
- The Psychic phase has been removed and its abilities spread into other phases. The Morale phase is also gone and its checks will happen in the Command phase. You also no longer lose units when failing morale, so perhaps it will be some sort of debuff for breaking.
- Worry not people who have been enjoying the Arks of Omen scenarios and boarding actions, those rules will be updated for the new edition.
- And finally there is a new way to play focused on the Combat Patrol boxes. No list building, just use the contents of your combat patrol box against someone else’s. Great for beginners and those testing out new armies.
That’s all for now and some of it is a bit vague, but I’m sure more information will be coming soon.
When Is It Arriving?
Summer, says GW for 10th edition. Which is a wide range, but my bet would be on June as that’s their 40th anniversary. We’re going to be getting a lot more information before then, and I hope they’ll have something related to it at Warhammer Fest next month (demo perhaps). Whatever the case, I hope you’re as excited as I am for this new edition!
