Warhammer 40K: 10th Ed Missions And Gambits – A Deeper Dive
Games Workshop is taking a closer look at the new Missions and Gambits for Warhammer 40,000 10th Edition. Time to clear somethings up!
When Games Workshop first talked about the new missions and gambits there were some big questions we had. Gambits in particular were a bit of a curveball that GW tossed at the community. That said, I think a lot of the issue was because people didn’t have all the info. GW is attempting to shed more light on the Missions and Gambits today to hopefully answer some of those questions and explain the design decision behind the changes. I’m sure folks will still have opinions about them but I would also say to at least try them out before you make any final judgements.
That said, let’s get into the meat of the Missions and Gambits!
Missions And Gambits In Warhammer 40,000
“In the new edition of Warhammer 40,000, we think we’ve struck the perfect balance, taking the best bits from both [Tempest Games and Grand Tournament-style] games and giving people the chance to play the game the way they want to – even if their opponent prefers a different style for themselves. “
GW goes into more detail on the “why the change front” so if you want to read all the details I would encourage you to check out their full article. That said, I can see what they are aiming for and I think it’s a noble goal. How do you balance the two sides of keeping things predictable and fair vs adding in some randomness to keep it interesting. To me that’s really what the Grand Tournament vs Tempest of War missions come down to.
So how did they tackle that issue? By changing up the mission structure and introducing a little bit of controlled chaos!
Primary Missions In 10th Edition
Games Workshop dropped some key info about the Primary Missions. First up, there are nine different Primary Missions in the new deck. Again, the Primary is drawn after the mission rules and deployment and it’s a “shared” card between both players. That means both players are striving to complete the same mission and both know each other’s goal. We knew most of that. But here’s another bit of info that we didn’t know previously:
“You can score up to 50 Victory points per game from your Primary Mission – more than any other single source of VP – making it the key to triumph no matter what other cards you draw.”
That’s pretty big news. While I think that was implied in the previous round, it wasn’t spelled out this way. This can make a bigger impact for deciding if you’re going to take the gamble and go for the Gambit on turn 3 or not. More on that below…
Secondary Missions
As far as Secondary Missions we knew there were two types: Tactical and Fixed Missions. They can change how you score and even how you plan your army.
Which option you choose to pursue is entirely up to you. Some armies will work better with the Fixed Missions while others might prefer the “on the fly” changes of Tactical Missions. For a lot of folks this might be a “game time decision” based on the match-up or even the Primary Mission they have drawn. There’s a lot of flexibility in this and a lot more variation. So what’s the reward for doing the Secondaries?
“Regardless of whether they’re using Tactical Missions or Fixed Missions, players can score a maximum of 40 Victory points from Secondary Missions.”
That’s another key thing to note! For Fixed Missions that means each of your secondaries are worth 20 points each over the course of the game. As for Tactical Missions, you discard them as soon as they are scored. However, you only drawn new options in your next Command Phase. That means you can’t have an awesome turn where you score 40 points and cap out in one go. Now, you might be wondering “well what if I get a bad hand of Secondary Missions?!” There’s an option to replace them…but it’s not free nor unlimited.
That’s going to be a tough call to make! But at least you’ve got an option. There is one other alternative option for Tactical Missions, too:
Gambits: Friend or Foe?
Now we get to what was arguably the most contentious part of the new missions: Gambits. Going in, we at least know that there’s 90 VPs up for grabs from Primary (50 VPs) and Secondary (40 VPs) Missions. So knowing that a Gambit is a 30 VP swing make it seem slightly less than “a dice roll to win.”
GW goes into a bit of the details as to “why add Gambits” to the game as well:
“In the current edition of the game, it isn’t uncommon for a game to be very close and hotly contested – but due to the nature of progressively scored Victory points, for one player to be mathematically out of reach only halfway through. This can be quite disheartening – whether you’re a competitive player facing a foregone result, or a casual player rolling out a futile struggle after days or weeks of getting hyped for your upcoming game. Gambits are designed to solve these problems – without creating a situation where a totally outplayed army gets lucky just by rolling a 12.”
It’s certainly true that in the current edition you can indeed “math it out” for many games on Turn 3. If one player has a clear advantage vs the other then it’s sometimes easiest to just call it there. Unless there’s some way to create a massive comeback — which is exactly what these Gambits are for.
Now there is still the matter of the Primary Mission Cap of 50 VPs. Even if you complete the Gambit you’re still limited to the same cap so your opponent also gets max points for the Primary you can’t just “roll a 12 and win.” And there’s still the Secondary Missions to consider, too. So just the Gambits are to keep players in the game instead of push them out even further.
According to GW: “By the maths, the Gambit is a competitively balanced, tournament-intended, narratively suspenseful mechanic intended to keep very close games exciting to the end.” We’ll have to see how the community reacts to them in action to find out for sure!
Grand Tournament Packs Day 1
One final note for folks interested in Tournament Play. There will indeed “be a digital and routinely updated GT pack from Day 1 of the new edition.” So if you’re looking to play or run in a GT you’re going to be fully supported and ready to go from the get-go! I’m looking forward to how GW has structured their GT pack. Maybe we’ll get more info on that at a later date (but before launch day).
The new edition’s Missions are going to change the way you play!
