Warhammer 40: 10th Edition’s Most Annoying Rules
Goatboy here and as the title says it all – here are the three rules in Warhammer 40K 10th Edition that annoy us all.
Really, these three 40K rules interact with units in ways that I do not find joy in engaging with. I have said this many times but I think the current 10th Edition of 40k is one of the best ones we have played in our every growing world of competitive plastic toy soldier fanatics. It feels like there is a lot more balance, interaction, and emphasis on generalship in 10th, versus previous editions. There, are still things I wish just weren’t in the game right now. Let’s dive in so I can show you why I dislike these three rules, and how GW should try to address them.
-1 Damage Infantry Units
I really dislike -1 damage on infantry units. This is one of those rules that I think has showed up a few to many times in the game currently – especially when creating an absurdly tough unit. How many times have you looked a new assault option or weapon option that is damage 2 and thought – this might be really good. You get excited and then your buddy tells you “well you’ll just die to Dark Angel Deathwing Knights”. You will do the math, get scared at the idea that your unit could shovel a crap ton of wounds and then you wouldn’t even kill one of them. It is frustrating and one of the biggest issues with a lot of armies “tough” little jerk units that we see. I’m sure you remember how annoying Astra Militarum Bullgryn were when they were way too cheap? Just imagine an army that is built upon the idea of an avalanche of 2 damage rolls up to a unit of damage reduction jerks. Now imagine trying to dig through three of those units. Damage reduction is great on a simple tough model like the Redemptor or other big giant-ass vehicle. It can be frustrating but when you engage it you are trying to chip it away. It is a whole other thing to try and chip away at entire unit of jerks that just don’t care about the damage you are trying to pile into them.
Reroll Hits & Wounds
Next up is the whole reroll hits and reroll wound successes to try and get more successes. I understand the idea of it in the game and have used it in the past but it isn’t a clean rule at all. A success should always be a success and end the die roll. The idea to try and fish for more damage can be so polarizing in ways of either – oops I roll 10 6’s or crap I didn’t roll any. It gets even more frustrating when it starts to stack on both your hit roll and your wound roll until you are just going ham on the pool of dice in your hand. I think a simple method would be you just can reroll misses. This way you could the whole idea of Critical hits being less “important” and easier to cost for units. Just having this push to win the game of Yahtzee on the tabletop is a frustrating thing. One of the new ones I am seeing unit wise like this is Space Marine Sternguard and their glow up they got in the data sheet. You can see how the Oath target they pic gets them Reroll to wound and with their regular rifle they get Devastating wounds on top of it. They already reroll to hit and it’s pretty easy to get Lethal Hits with an attached character or just utilize the Sustained hits from their Heavy Bolter option as well. You just start to get a lot of dice rolling, rerolling, new rolling for wounds, and then rerolling. That is just too much dice-shenanigans for one unit to “engage” all the time.
“Surge” Moves
The last rule I don’t like is surge like moves that let you “get” out of the way. I don’t mind it in small batches but with the new Aeldari we are going to have a lot of – you thought I was exposed but I tricked you! This is a game of moving, holding, and engaging the enemy. Having so many things that do out-of-phase moves can be a real pain in the butt to try and deal with. I don’t mind a few things doing it as you can plan for it and figure it out. Just having it hit an entire batch of options, like the now super annoying Aeldari Howling Banshees can be such a pain. I also don’t mind those surge moves that force you into a specific direction as this game is run by movement and having to worry about “being” moved into something you don’t want is a cool interaction. Really just look at the new Ynarri rules and how their “movement” tricks all can depend on stacking deaths, having CP, and just setting up the army to collapse around the enemy in a way. I just worry all this extra movement stuff just slows down al already complex game and doesn’t help with getting players moving along quickly with their turns.
What rules do you not like now in the current 40k? I do wonder in the future if will get more locked in movement rules as it seems each edition tries to clean that up especially on the assault front.
