Things That Make You Go, “Hmmm…”: The New 40K Rules (Part 1)
Since the new 40K rules were released this fall, I’ve spent a lot of time reading them to determine what’s changed and how it will affect my style of play. What follows is a list of some of the changes that I found most interesting. If you’ve noticed them before, you get a gold star; if you hadn’t noticed them before, think of this as a lesson learned the “easy way” (as opposed to the “hard way”—on the gaming table). 

I’ll provide a page number reference for each item so you can look them up in your copy of the rules (for the purposes of this article, I’m assuming you have the hardbound English-language version). 

The list below is not meant to be comprehensive: there are plenty of other rule changes, but I don’t discuss them here because they seemed very obvious or have already been discussed to death on Internet forums.

Bases (page 6): “…when measuring distances, use the closest edge of the base as your reference point. For models without a base (usually vehicles), use the model’s hull/main body instead.” So, you can legally spread out your troops by having a full 2" between bases, not models. And no more measuring the range for a vehicle’s weapon starting from the tip of the gun.

Area Terrain (page 17): “Area Terrain, like models, comes in size classes, ranging from Size 1…to Size 3.” Note, however, that no guidelines are given on page 17 and only a few examples are given on the Cover Summary Table on page 25. So in addition to agreeing with your opponent before the game on what cover provides what save, you’ll also need to negotiate what size (1, 2, or 3) each piece of Area Terrain is. 

Moving Up and Down (page 17): The new rules incorporate the rules from Codex: Cityfight on moving up and down inside buildings—except now this applies to all terrain

Target Priority (page 19): “…you must pass a Leadership test if you want a unit to target any enemy unit other than the closest. If the test is failed, resolve the unit’s firing at the nearest enemy unit instead.” This rule makes it more worthwhile to upgrade squad leaders in units that specialize in shooting. There’s no reason not to aim for a target other than the closest: if you brick your Leadership test, you don’t forfeit any firing. 

Line of Sight and Area Terrain (page 21): “Note that although it is possible to see into Area Terrain, you cannot see through it even if it is less than 6" deep, hence if a unit is behind Area Terrain as tall as itself and the spotter, they cannot be seen. Models that are classed as taller than the Area Terrain can see and be seen over it.”

Hmm.

Cover Saves (page 25): The Cover Summary Table lists several types of cover and the saves they provide; these saves tend to be higher (that is, more beneficial to the unit taking the save) than in the previous version of the rules. Part of the inspiration for this comes from Codex: Cityfight, where fortified buildings provide a 3+ save.

Removing Casualties (page 26): “When a unit suffers as many wounding hits from the firing of a single enemy unit as it has models, the shooting player can nominate one model in the target unit that could be a casualty. This model must make a save against one of the wounding hits. The owning player can choose which wounding hit he saves against…”

Note that the owning player gets to pick the weapon that the nominated model saves against. So though your opponent is most likely to pick out the most valuable model in the unit (say, a character or a heavy weapon trooper), you will, most likely, pick the weakest weapon to save against (“You say my Commander needs to save? Fine. He’ll take a lasgun shot—oh, and he’s wearing artificer armor, by the way.”).

Rapid Fire Weapons (page 29): As we all know by now, if your unit uses Rapid Fire weapons, they may not charge into close combat in the Assault Phase. Given that, I don’t expect to see Tactical Marine Veteran Sergeants or Dark Eldar Sybarites with power weapons or agonizers, respectively. Gosh—you mean Marines with guns will use them to shoot instead of swing them like clubs? Shocker!

Multiple Gets Hot Shots (page 30): “The chance of suffering wounds is equal to the number of shots being fired, so firing two shots means that the weapon Gets Hot on rolls of 1 or 2….” Is anyone out there ever going to rapid-fire your plasma guns ever again? No? Me neither. 

Template Weapons (page 31): “As with blast weapons, casualties inflicted by template weapons do not have to be taken from amongst the models actually covered by the template, but must come from within range of the firer.” This is the exact opposite of how template weapons were treated under the old rules. In the old days, you could make darn sure that the leader or the dude carrying the heavy weapon in the enemy squad got some flamethrower love—no longer. 

Sniper Weapons (page 32): “A sniper weapon hits on a 2 or more regardless of the firer’s BS.” Really? Does that include Ork Lootas, too? “Sniper hits…roll 2d6 for armor penetration against vehicles, but no additional bonus for Strength.” Those two squads of Space Marine Scouts armed with sniper rifles just got better. 

Shooting and Assaulting (page 36): “A unit that fired in the Shooting phase of the current turn may only declare a charge against the unit it shot at.” The Trial Assault Rules from a few years ago allowed Terminators and bikes to shoot one target and assault another—no longer. 

Moving Charging Units (page 37): “After the first model in the unit has been moved, you can move the others in any sequence you desire. There are some constraints on their movement, though. The most important one is that each model must end its charge move in coherency with another model in its own unit that has already moved.” In the past, you’ve had to move the closest models first, which meant that if your Barney Badass Hero was near the back of the squad, he might not make it into base-to-base contact with the enemy. Now, even if your BB Hero is in the back, you can just move him second, so long as he is within 2" of the first guy to charge.

Retinues (page 51): “Should the unit be destroyed, the character may once again move between units.” Hmmm.

Monstrous Creatures (page 55): “When moving through difficult terrain, Monstrous Creatures may re-roll the dice to see how far they move, as they smash aside anything in their path.”

“Monstrous Creatures enjoy the advantage of being able to automatically pass the Leadership test required to target enemy units other than the closest.”

“Monstrous Creatures can fire up to two weapons a turn.”

Hmmmmm.

Multiple Detachment Games (page 78): The paragraph mentions that “above a total 2500 points, the Force Organization chart deliberately becomes a real limiting factor.” I suspect that many players will use 2500 points as the bare minimum for fielding more than one detachment—but note that there is still no rule preventing you from taking more than one detachment at lower point levels. 

Deep Strike (page 84): Note that players are no longer required to fit all their Deep Striking models under the large Blast template, as was the case previously. Necron players everywhere drool at the idea of having a Lord with a Veil of Darkness teleport a 20-strong squad of Warriors into rapid-fire range of an enemy unit.

Sehr Intressant, Nicht Wahr?
I believe that the rules above will have a significant effect on most battles: players would be wise to familiarize themselves with them before going into a game. Because the rules for vehicles have changed so dramatically, I’ll devote Part 2 of this series to them. 
 

© copyright Kenton Kilgore, January 2005 

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