40K: 9th Edition’s New Core Stratagems
Let’s dive into the new edition and talk about the new set of SEVEN core stratagems.
Welcome to 9th Edition. There are many, many changes from 8th, some giant, and some subtle. Stratagems came roaring into 40K like an avalanche in the last edition and people have been asking for tweaks to them for some time. You will remember that back in 8th there were only 3 Core Strats usable by everyone. Here they are for reference:
Ahh the start of 8th edition… such an innocent time.
Into the New
First up before we talk about the new core strats themselves we get some baseline rules. The big one is that you DON’T have to be Battle-forged to use Strats and CPs. You just lose out on the default ones and the free 1CP per turn. If there are special rules in missions, or other ways to gain them during a game, yes indeed your non Battle-forged army can still scrape up a few CPs and use Stratagems. Neat!
Meet the Magnificent Seven
And we are off to the races. 8th Edition increases the default Core Stratagems from three to seven. The old 3 are still here (with tweaks) and we get 4 new ones.
Back in my day!
The Old Guard
Command Reroll: 1CP – The exact tests you may reroll are now defined, and you can reroll the test, regardless of how many dice it uses.
Counter Offensive: 2 CP – Relatively unchanged. Now not specifically tied to charging enemy units.
Insane Bravery: 2CP – Now limited to once per battle.
Hey Brothers, I just graduated!
The New Boys on the Block
Cut Then Down: 1CP – Now provides a handy way to inflict Mortal wounds on 1 in 6 models who are falling back, so units slipping out of combat by any method can be made to pay a bloody price for it.
Desperate Breakout: 2CP – It’s a painful method and you will probably lose models, especially if the enemy throws a Cut Them Down on you. But there are times when you HAVE to get a critical unit out of assault and back in the game doing something else. This gives players a (bloody and painful) tool to get back in the game when they would be otherwise locked down.
Emergency Disembarkation: 1 CP – This is another painful Strat that will cost you on average double the amount of casualties than a standard Vehicle Destroyed disembarkation. But your occupants get to be placed with 6″ of the vehicle not 3″. This will be a corner case Strat to get out of those sticky cases where you might otherwise lose an entire unit if their transport is totally surrounded by bad guys.
Fire Overwatch: 1 CP – Ahh the big one, and everyone already has an opinion on it. Mine is here. I think this is overall now a corner case Stratagem usable in specific cases where you have a potent combination of weapons that can do real damage (mainly auto-hit weapons).
~Have at it. Which is going to be your standby?
