11th Edition of Warhammer 40k is just around the corner – coming in June! Here’s a few things you should know starting the game or making the transition over as an existing player.
The Edition Starter Box
Each edition starts now with a limited time box including brand new models and the rules. This one is no different – focused on the War for Armageddon between the noble Space Marines of the Imperium and the ferocious Orks.
The Space Marines get two brand new units with the Land Speeder and Eradicators with Heavy Bolters – the rest being new sculpts for existing units. These roughly tally up to 750 points, making some assumptions for those new units we don’t have points for yet! This provides a great starting point for a Space Marines force, being able to be painted towards any Chapter of your choosing.
The Orks get three brand new units in the Bigboss, Bannernob, and Big Mek Dakkarig. It comes up to about the same amount of points as the Space Marine half with 760 – making the two forces roughly balanced against each other! You get the great start to an Ork mob with this set, but you’ll definitely need a few more Boyz to get everything krumpin’.
Arguably the most important parts of the box are all the rules! Included is a hardcover book detailing Operation Imperator – the Imperium’s reclamation of Armageddon. Along with that is a small-sized version of the Core Rules for 11th Edition, containing only the rules you need to play in a size that can fit alongside your army. The Chapter Approved mission deck gives you balanced setups for deployment, terrain, and objectives which is required for pickup or tournament play – along with a brand new Campaign Deck which can create a weekend of narrative fun for you and your friends.
By no means is the box required to play 11th Edition – but it does give you a great head start and is limited quantity. Once all the boxes are gone, they’re gone for good!
Rules Changes
For those of us existing players – it’s important to know the big things that have changed! What we know right now are changes to Army Building, Missions, and Terrain.
Army Building
The system of building towards a points limit has largely stayed the same – with units costing a certain amount based upon how many models are in them. The changes have come in the form of a Detachment and Enhancement shakeup.
Dependent on your battle size, you get an allotment of Detachment Points and a limit of Enhancements. Now some Enhancements have the Upgrade tag, allowing them to be taken on generic units rather than just Characters – as seen on the Bellicose Weapon Spirits in Space Marine’s Fulguris Strike Force detachment.
With a staggering 70 new detachments being added in addition to all the old detachments still being valid, you have to wonder how you’ll play them all? It’ll be easy – you can now take multiple detachments per army. Every detachment a certain cost in Detachment Points, so you could mix and match up to three detachments in a 2,000 point match.
This versatility allows you to give more buffs to completely different units in your army – for example you can take an Ironstorm Spearhead alongside a Fulguris Strike Force to get the most out of your Space Marine tanks and speeders!
Missions
Missions are no longer 100% random – they’re determined by your Force Disposition given by each detachment. You compare your disposition to your opponent’s and that gives your missions!
As you can see above, these two players have the dispositions Priority Assets and Reconnaissance – so that would give them Vanguard Operation and Search and Scour respectively!
Opposed to last edition, each player gets their own Primary mission rather than sharing one. Despite this – each mission pair was created to directly oppose and interject with one another, giving the armies a narrative purpose and forcing confrontation!
Terrain
Terrain still works off of basic footprints with walls/obstructions on top, but provide different benefits. These Terrain Areas give enemy units -1 to Ballistic Skill while shooting a models within the area, along with allowing units to be Hidden within them. Hidden is a brand new mechanic that stops a unit from being targeted by ranged attacks if they did not shoot in the current or prior turn and are 15 inches away from the enemy attempting to fire. Now you can feel much more free to move during turn one!
Round objectives are dead! Long live Terrain Objectives! That’s right, Terrain Areas now act as objectives dependent on your layout. This gives a more narrative reason to secure an area rather than just a random circle on the ground that for some reason gives you VPs.
The More Things Change….
In the new edition, Indexes will not be a thing. Until an army gets a new codex, their older 10th Edition version will still be valid! This includes all supplementary detachments like the Holiday or other special release detachments.
Hopefully that answers (most) of your questions about 11th Edition! Now all we need to do is wait for release…
Stay tuned for Armageddon preorders, coming soon!