Warhammer 40K: 10th Edition – Battle Round Rules And More Datacards
Warhammer 40,000: 10th is coming and Games Workshop is shifting the phases of battle. Plus, we get a look at more unit Datacards!
The turn sequence in Warhammer has always been a key part of the game. Each step determines what units can do from moving, shooting, and fighting in melee. We’ve seen various iterations throughout the many editions and now 10th Edition is putting its own twist on things. We knew that psychic powers were getting a rework and that means we no longer have a psychic phase. But what about the morale phase? Looks like that’s getting consolidated down as well.
“The turn structure is still the same: one player still takes the first turn, to manoeuvre and fight with all the forces at their disposal, and then the second player does the same. This is still called the Battle Round, but seven phases have now become five – and both players will now contest each one to the fullest.”
The breakdown from GW is pretty straightforward:
“You perform admin for the turn ahead in the Command phase. Then you manoeuvre in the Movement phase, take aim in the Shooting phase, charge into melee in the Charge phase, and get biffing in the Fight phase. “
Now then, if you were wondering about psykers and morale don’t worry — those aren’t gone from the game. They have been incorporated into other steps. Let’s talk about psychic powers first. All of the powers now activate in the appropriate phases. Again, from GW:
“Peering into the future for tactical insights? That’s an ability for the Command phase. Paralysing foes with hypnosis? You’ll do that in the Fight phase. Tossing around eldritch lightning? That’s a ranged attack, used in the Shooting phase alongside any regular guns you may be carrying.”
Psychic Powers
How about some examples from the new Datasheets? That new Terminator Librarian reveal seems like a good model to start with:
So we’ve got a few new ability and weapon abilities to talk about, too. First up, he does have two gun options, one of which is a Combi-weapon. It has Anti-Infantry 4+, Devastating Wounds, and Rapid Fire 1. The other is the Stormbolter with Rapid Fire 2.
As a side note, I’m not 100% sure on the weapon interaction there but I’m pretty sure this model will just cause Mortal Wounds to Infantry on a 4+ with the Combi-weapon. That’s based off the wording from Anti and the Devastating Wounds ability:
Moving on…let’s talk psychic powers! The Librarian’s Smite is now an attack that happens in the shooting phase and it’s got two “firing modes.” The first one is the classic “Smite Witchfire” with the Psychic keyword. the second is “Smite Focused Witchfire” which looks like it’s hits harder but also has the Devastating Wound and Hazardous keyword. Unfortunately we don’t know exactly what Hazardous does other than “it might backfire” which GW described as:
“Plasma-lovers will be familiar with this effect, which kills the shooter – or inflicts mortal wounds, for CHARACTERS and big models – on an unlucky roll.”
On the right side, we also see that the Terminator Librarian is still rocking a Psychic Hood which grants himself and any squad he’s leading a 4+ Feel No Pain roll vs Psychic Attacks. He also has the Veil of Time (Psychic) ability which grands the unit he’s leading Sustained Hits 1 also.
That’s all well and good…but how about a different example on the Xenos side?
Da Jump triggers at then end of the Movement Phase and it allows you to teleport the unit he’s in across the battlefield and have them land more than 9″ away horizontally from enemy models. It’s interesting that GW accounted for horizontal and vertical movement with that positioning…
Now, you might be wondering if there’s some sort of check or roll involved to see if these Psychic Powers activate. It doesn’t look like it! Smite and ‘Eadbanger are just Ranged Weapons and use the attack’s BS to hit. And the Abilities just seem to fire off, too.
What About Morale?
Morale has been a weird topic. We knew some changes were coming to help make it more meaningful in 10th. This is our first look at what exactly those change will be. Now, you’ll be taking Battle-shock tests in the Command Phase (which is at the start of the turn) for any units that have taken enough losses to trigger one. But these Battle-shock tests aren’t the same as they were.
“Battle-shock tests are super simple. Roll a 2D6 for every unit that’s Below Half-strength – that means they’re a squad with less than half of their starting models, or a single model with less than half of their starting Wounds. You’ll need to roll equal to or above your new Leadership characteristic – if you fail, that unit suffers some nasty penalties until your next turn.”
Okay…wow! I like these changes to Battle-shock because they actually make a lot of sense. If the unit is below Half-strength they have to make a check. If they fail, they get all of those penalties until the start of your next Command phase (which is when I’d assume you take another test). Morale isn’t just a “one-and-done” thing where a few extra models run away. It’s now a thing that’s going to stick around and impact units later in the game as they take casualties.
Whew! That’s a lot to chew on from the new edition. What do you think of all these changes? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Hmm…Psychic Powers and Morale in other phases? I could get used to that…
