Warhammer 40K: What New Codexes Say is Coming to 10th Edition
Goatboy here. The newest two 40K codexes, Adeptus Custodes and Orks tell us several things about the future of 10th Edition.
Today I look towards the future for 40K in some kind of grimdark crystal ball. I bet it has a ton of cables, is probably connected to some dead looking dudes, and has too much OSL. But let’s take a dive into the 10th Edition future by looking at what the two new codexes have done, changed from their index, and updated for their release.
Custodes Ignore All Modifiers Change
I think the biggest shift we see is how in Custodes we finally get an update to how ignore modifiers will most likely work. GW explicitly changed their rule and added what it actually affects. If you don’t know what I am talking about – look at how a lot of 40K events ruled the Ignore All Modifiers rule for some of the index armies. Custodes Trajann was one of the big offenders of it and it was ruled that it also ignored all modifiers to anything that model or that model’s unit did.
This means it would ignore damage reduction, AP modifier reduction, and any other modifiers to that unit. It was a “raw” interpretation of the rule and while in some ways I could agree with it – it was a bit too powerful. A lot of the time 40K 10th Edition utilizes specific sets of rules to make something tougher. So having a blanket rule that ignores those methods for being tougher is a hard thing to properly balance with points.
There are a lot of times when the rule does nothing. There are some matchups that totally shift how the game plays. I always believe that if you have rules you pay for to make you tougher – they should always work. It is one thing to have modifiers stack to where you ignore a -1 to hit or wound but to just fully ignore your rule is a frustrating thing. It was why I thought too many lethal hits became an issue and the same with too much Anti-* stuff.
What It Means For the Future?
This change in the rules will most likely be coming for all the other armies that have it. I am sure will see a Balance Dataslate update at some point if the one left in a printed book stays the same. I think it is for the best as you can then look at those tough models and price them appropriately for being so tough. This is me looking directly at the C’tans and their bully mentality on the tabletop currently.
GW CAN, and WILL Change Core Army Mechanics
The other big reveal from all of this is if GW’s Design Studio think your current Index army doesn’t play the way they want it to play – they will get rid of it. You can see how the Adeptus Custodes book was probably heavily looked at after the Tacoma GT and the whole, walk to the middle, wave your middle finger to your opponent, and just sit on those middle objectives. A lot of this ‘just sit and dare your opponent to come at them’ is a delicate thing to balance. If you charge Custodes you dont have a great chance of kill all of them. Then they should hit back hard enough to hurt almost anything that gets that close. Thus this codex shift to removing a lot of the protection options and instead forcing the army to go for a more offensive approach.
Also as a buddy has stated – Tanks knowing Karate is BS.
We also saw a lot of Datasheets tweaks between both Custodes and Ork codexes too. Things like just updating Units and shifting how they play now. Look at how Meganobz went from a much more aggressive damage dealer to something that can survive more. Or heck look at the Squigosaurs and how they were almost like offensively weaker C’Tans to becoming a leader option for your Squighog Boyz. These guys also saw a hit, which means even though the Ork codex is a better book a lot of their old offensive power was toned down.
What It Means For the Future?
This leads me to think that some of these upcoming 40K 10th Edition codexes coming out will be toned down as well. I can’t expect CSM to keep some of the shooting potential that it still has. Or how about just the Aeldari book and its still OP interactions. It’s going to be a crazy series of codexes when they come out and we see Gw redesign some of these factions from the ground up. There is no way GSC is staying the same just because it needs work to make it actually function. I also wonder how much. Sisters of Battle will change – as the Sororitas appear to be a bit powerful as well.
Are you excited about the new stuff? I am ready to see CSM come out just due to the sheer amount of Detachments that would show up. Also the whole Emperor’s Children index has me very interested as well. I just hope we see well-designed things for the armies and just a few unique ways to actually play.
What other stuff do you think will change? Any other big rule that will shift as other armies come out? Are we going to see a push to make Battleline viable?
