Warhammer 40K: The Most Important Units of 2023
Take a look at the most important Warhammer 40K units of the last year.
Well, it’s another year in the bag. 2023 was a banner year for 40K, with the release of 10th Edition and a whole host of new army lists. Throughout 2023, there have been several units that really got people talking. Maybe it was because of how they dominated the meta, or maybe it was just their potential. As is now my tradition each year, here are the units that had the biggest impact on the game this year.
The Lion
Early 2023 saw the long awaited return of The Lion. After a 10,000-year nap he woke up to kick ass. In many ways, the Lion was the last big gasp of 9th Edition, its swansong. This was a big and anticipated release that kind of closed out the edition. It also seemed pretty decent on the tabletop. The Lion also helped to showcase just how messed up 9th was towards its end. Despite having some bonkers stats, the Lion simply wasn’t powerful enough to make a big splash in the meta. That’s crazy.
Support Weapons
This year was dominated by the launch of 10th Edition. The edition cleaned up a a lot of things and helped reset stuff from 9th. However, with any edition launch, there are bound to be some issues and things that need to be worked out. Eldar became the most talked about, and powerful, army right after the launch of the Edition. They showcased a number of the issues the game was having. In the early days of the launch, one of the big units talked about were Support Weapons, in particular those armed with D-Cannons. These things were so good that they got the dubious distinction of getting nerfed before they were even officially released.
Gladiators
The Space Marine Gladiators were a unit that didn’t see a whole ton of tabletop action when they first came out. While some people liked them, they didn’t get a ton of play. However, 10th saw them get a major glow up, and they became a staple of Marine armies. They soon became one of the most talked about Marine units, and you’ll find them dominating a lot of competitive lists.
However, their popularity also had a bit of a dark side. Gladiators became known as one of those units you just couldn’t get. Stores were sold out of them, and their availability from GW was spotty. This became somewhat emblematic of GW’s recent supply problems that have made it hard for some people to even play the game. Hopefully, however, if GW is constantly selling out of stuff, that means there are plenty of people out there for you to play!
Wraithknights
No units summed up the major issued with 10th Edition’s start as much as the Wrightknight. It combined a few huge rules problems, such as Towering, Mortal Wounds/Devastating wounds and some lowering of anti-tank weapons power. This unit dominated the game for a while and was to many players – totally broken. Indeed, Eldar lists running them had some of the highest win rates we’ve ever seen. This unit was game-breakingly overpowered and led to players not wanting to fight Eldar at all. However, the Wraighknight also shows how GW is working hard to adapt and fix issues with the game.
We saw major changes get made to Towering, Mortal/Devastating wounds and other problem rules. Wrightknights makes the list for not only showing how many issues 10th had, but also how hard GW has been working to address them. Thanks to those Gw interventions, 40K is in the best place its been all year.
Terminators
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Terminators were one of the first new units shown off for the 10th Edition release and one of the first units we got rules for. All of that means they were heavily talked about for months. And to be fair, their release was a big deal. They were pretty much the first “classic” Marine units to get updated models since 7th Edition. The last two editions saw Classic units slowly withering away in favor of an unending stream of new Primaris units to fill the same rules. However Terminators didn’t suffer this fate, instead getting newer, nicer, bigger models. NICE!
This also came with a lore change/update. They were the first unit to be confirmed to be made up of both First Born and Primaris Marines. This heralded the big change in 10th which mostly removed the First Born/Primaris divide in the rules. Overall they represented a big change from the past several Marine books. The new Terminators also had people wondering if basic Terminators might be good now (they were not, but you still see them played every now and then). Still, that was pretty fun!
Let us know what you think the most important units of the year are, down in the comments!
