Warhammer 40K: Has 10th Edition Got Transports Right?

40K 10th Edition is changing things up with transports, and bringing back some old rules.

Warhammer 40,000 10th Edition is making some big changes to the game. Unlike 9th Edition, this one is looking to really change things up, and much more of a reset to the game. That’s great. Some of the rules are brand new, and others are being taken from older editions of the game. We’ve seen a lot about new stat lines, weapons, and vehicles. This week we got a nice bunch of details about the new transport rules. So today, lets take a look at if this edition gets them right.

Troubles With Transports

40K has long struggled with getting transports correct. They’ve often see-sawed from too good to useless across editions. In 9th edition they tended to land in the useless category. With units unable to disembark after moving, using a transport generally just takes a powerful unit out of the game for a couple of turns. On top of that, with all units being able to advance, and many able to either shoot or charge after doing so, a lot of transports don’t increase a unit’s movement that much. Currently, only a relatively few number of transports really see play. Those that either allow units in them to affect the battle, or can move and disembark. The new rules promise to change things a lot.

Move, Move, Move!

One of the major changes in 10th is that all units can disembark from transports after that transport makes a normal move. In a few cases it appears they will be able to disembark after that transport has advanced as well. On top of that, some units, such as Land Raiders, will allow charging after disembarking. In many ways this is a throwback to older editions of the game. In these editions, transports tended to see a lot more use. With this set of rules having a transport actually improves the movement of the unit. I think this change is needed if you want to see transport get widespread use.

Units Are More Useful

Another issue that transports have struggled with, is that putting units in them removes them from the game. In a short game of only five or six turns, keeping a powerful unit out of play for several turns kind of sucks. The new Firing Deck helps with this, allowing embarked units to shoot out of firing ports. Now we’ve had rules like this in 40K before. For most editions before 8th, you had a version of this. However, I do think that Firing Deck is a good update of those rules. Previous rules allowed the unit inside to fire out on its own, which created some issues with how the embarked unit interacted with things. Firing Deck makes this a lot more elegant by adding the units weapons to the Transports firepower as if it was one unit.

I like this change a lot. It allows for simplified effects and is more elegant than the embarked unit doing things on its own. This makes embarked units more useful, and keeps things simple, and the game moving forward.

Free Riding

Hey! The day is finally here. It looks like, overall if you are a Marine you can ride in a Marine tank. Honestly, this is good, and I wish we saw more of it. I understand the balance aspects, but in general, a transport is a transport and anyone should be able to jump into one. Less arbitrary restrictions are a good thing.

Are We Getting Actual Mechanized Infantry?

One of the reason that transports have always felt lacking in 40K is they don’t really reflect how modern mechanized infantry works. APCs and AFVs in particular are not just meant to deliver infantry to a fight, but also support them. The two units are supposed to work together, with the AFV providing the heavy fire support the unit needs. In 40K that rarely feels the case. Units and their transports tend to go off and do their own thing. In 9th in particular, outside of sometimes sheltering a unit, the two don’t really work closely.

That’s why rules like Fire Support really have me excited. This makes a Falcon work like a real AFV, dropping off troops in a position they can unload on the enemy and also providing direct fire support to that unit. They actually work together as a combined arms unit. I’ve not really seen anything like it in 40K before, and the idea that we might get more things like this really has me thinking they might have gotten transports right this time around.

Let us know what you think of the new transport rules, down in the comments! 

Author: Abe Apfel

Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers 40K tactics and lore, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe remains in mourning over the loss of WFB to this day.