Warhammer 40K: ‘Boarding Actions’ Return With A New Supplement
Time to gather your best door-kicking shoes and breach-clearing weapons. Warhammer 40,000 Boarding Actions are making a comeback!
The Arks of Omen campaign wasn’t that long ago. But a lot has happened since that arc. There was a particularly blood batch of rules from that era that kinda make the jump to the new edition. But now they have returned in full. Get ready to dive back into those deadly close combat corridors once again with Boarding Actions!
“Plunge back into the world of door-to-door firefights and desperate charges with Warhammer 40,000: Boarding Actions, a hefty new compendium rammed with fully updated rules and missions for the current edition. This book refreshes dozens of missions from the Arks of Omen series, including both narrative and competitive options as well as larger multiplayer games for up to four people.”
Boarding Actions Return To 40k
Technically you could say they never left. But now they are back with a vengeance — and updated rules! In a new compendium book no less. It’s a pretty massive tome of goodies in there as it covers every single faction in the game. Except for Imperial and Chaos Knights for obvious reasons. That said, it’s jam packed with updated Detachments to get your army back up and running. Each faction has at least two Detachments you can bring to the tabletop. These Detachments also come with their own sub-set of Enhancements, Stratagems, and specific units you can build your lists from.
When it come to these Boarding Actions GW didn’t reinvent the wheel here. For the most part, these Boarding Action Detachments will still allow you to put together a thematic 500-ish point list. These are perfect to tackle the updated missions included in the the Boarding Actions.
“The wide assortment of missions on offer makes good use of the unique Boarding Actions terrain to present tactical challenges found nowhere else. Some are asymmetric, tasking a player with destroying vital infrastructure behind their opponent’s defences, while others are narrative reenactments that relive pivotal moments from Vashtorr the Arkifane’s fiendish campaign.”
As an example, here’s a look at the Boarding Action Mission layout for Dark Depths:
Personally, I’m hopeful that this means GW is going to reintroduce some of those Boarding Patrol Boxes. Those were some pretty solid deals and great supplements to things like the Combat Patrol boxes, too.
These were nice ways to supplement your army on top of being designed for Boarding Actions right out of the box. Honestly, this reminded me of what GW was trying to do with the Combat Patrol game mode — only with Boarding Action specific games instead of a more “Standard” experience. Think about it: Boarding Actions were more restrictive lists with their own Detachment rules and were balanced to play against other Boarding Action Detachments. The game mode even had its own missions and terrain.
These fighter were a lot more claustrophobic than a Combat Patrol game — but that’s the point. Boarding Action games are like games of Space Hulk only without the board game mechanics and with way more factions. If you’re looking for an immersive experience with a small model count and lots of close quarters action then keep an eye out for the Warhammer 40,000: Boarding Actions Supplement coming soon!
