Warhammer 40K: Pariah Nexus Mission Deck Heralds New Matched Play Season
Games Workshop has announced a new Chapter Approved: Pariah Nexus Mission Deck coming soon. The next season of Matched Play is on the way!
If you’ve been enjoying the current Leviathan Mission Deck for Matched Play we’ve got some news: The new season is coming. That means a new Mission Deck is inbound with the new season. We’re heading into the Pariah Nexus with this one.
Warhammer Community gives us the details…
“Like the previous Chapter Approved deck, this new set of cards generates a randomised set of mission parameters for each game – using refined Deployment cards, fresh Mission Rule cards, and updated or brand new Primary and Secondary Mission cards. It’s a great way to create exciting, balanced challenges for both newcomers and seasoned veterans. This time around you’ll also need to contend with new Secret Missions which replace the previous Gambits, giving players who’ve fallen behind on the Primary Mission a chance to change tactics and aim to achieve victory through other means.”
New Missions, New Challenges
This new season refocuses some of the action back onto Battleline units in particular. Half of the new Mission Rules directly impact them — so bringing in the Battleline is going to be key for victory.
Raise Banners and Rapid Escalation are just two of the Mission Rules from this season that showcase the importance to Battleline units. You’re going to want to bring more than the absolute minimum for your games now.
There’s also new Primary Missions that will add a new tactical challenge. For example, in Terraforming, you get a bonus for being the first player to perform a special Action on each objective first. This should push armies out of their deployment zones — but it could backfire for anyone who’s stretching the lines too thin. How will you play this mission out?
These new missions will also be joining six returning missions from the Leviathan Mission Deck, too.
Play ALL The Objectives
Secondary Missions are still in this Mission Deck but have an updated look. Ideally, this should help to better explain how points are scored with these Secondary Missions, especially the differences between Fixed and Tactical Ones.
Gambits have also been replaced by Secret Missions. This is a fairly large change to go over. There are four different Secret Missions which are kept hidden from your opponent until the end of the game. You’ll have to use your powers of deduction to figure out what mission your opponent is choosing! And when and how you reveal them is also slightly different than Gambits:
“At the end of the third Battle Round – starting with the player who went second – you can choose to undertake a Secret Mission if your VP from the Primary Mission are less than or equal to your opponent’s.”
Again, these are chosen by each player — no random draw here! There’s a catch, however:
“At the end of the game, if you’ve completed its special condition, you’ll earn a juicy 20VP. There is some risk to go with the reward, though – if you pick a Secret Mission, you cannot score more than 20VP from your Primary Mission. You can normally score up to 50VP from the Primary Mission, so opting for a Secret Mission will limit you to 40VP total from both, even if you succeed – you’ll need to decide if the Primary Mission is a lost cause before making that last-ditch tactics-switch for points.”
Personally, I think this is an interesting trade-off for players to decide. If the Primary Objective really is a lost cause, then it’s an easy decision. However, if it’s close, this becomes a really tough decision to make when you’re already down. Will the last-minute shift pay off?
With there only being eight total different Secret Missions (four for Attacker and four for Defender) you’ll have to be wise about how you play them if you don’t want to give them away. Each one is different enough that if you make your move too soon, your opponent will pick up on what you’re up to — and that could be costly, too.
“Each Pariah Nexus Mission Deck contains 69 cards, including both Attacker and Defender decks of Secondary Missions and Secret Missions, so just one pack will cater to both players in a game. You’ll also get six pop-out objective tokens, so all you need to bring along is your army, some terrain, measuring sticks, and dice.”
Are you ready for the next Season in the Pariah Nexus?
