Warhammer 40K 10th edition arrives this summer with streamlined rules

Games Workshop announced finally the 10th Edition of After months of teasing fans mercilessly, Warhammer 40,000Its marquee miniatures wargame. On Wednesday, at the annual AdeptiCon convention, it also revealed its two star factions — the heroic Ultramarines and the Alien-like Tyranids — with a lavish CGI trailer.

In amongst a host of new models — which includes a revision of the iconic Terminator Space Marines, among others — came details of a titanic shift in how the popular tabletop game will be structured going forward. It will have a 10th anniversary edition that is more efficient than ever. There will also be an updated format for collectors as well.

Here’s what we know, with additional details only shared in-person with AdeptiCon attendees in Schaumburg, Illinois.

New approach to rules

Image: Games Workshop via YouTube

Players of the past Warhammer 40,000’s 9th edition ruleset needed to lug around multiple hardback books, sometimes needing three or four such books on each side of the table just to play a single game. This type of rules sprawl not only increases the complexity but also makes it more difficult to play. 40KNot only that, but it also covers the initial cost of joining the hobby. The Tenth Edition aims to end this excess.

At the core of this transition is something called a “datasheet” — effectively a large notecard — that will contain all of the rules needed to run a single unit of miniatures at the table. Players should already be familiar with the format. Warhammer Age of SigmarFrom years ago, the company has used similar cards. More importantly, all the additional rules that will control how a player’s army (now called a “detachment”) will behave fits on a single two-page spread from a single book.

Games Workshop

“It works in a one-in-one-out system,” said Games Workshop global events executive Michael Brandt. “If you want to run a Space Marine Scout Company or a Space Marine Battle Company, you’re going to take one of those pages as your spread. You’re not going to combine a bunch of things and end up with pages, and pages, and pages of rules. It also makes it very easy to share your rules with your opponent before you start the game.”

Games Workshop had to make a fundamental shift in order for these rules to be consolidated. Brandt explained that Universal Special Rules or USRs are making a comeback to the format. Similar to keywords in The Gathering is MagicUSRs may be applied to any army of the Warhammer 40k universe. That means fewer rules to memorize overall, and fewer late-game “gotcha” moments that turn the tides at the table.

The new format

Games Workshop will make changes to the rules to improve the quality of life for veterans players. However, they have also created a novel way to encourage new players to get involved in the hobby. Combat Patrol, a new form of play that was introduced Wednesday, could be the most effective introduction. Warhammer 40,000 yet.

Games Workshop

For years now Games Workshop has been seeding retail stores all over the world with Combat Patrol boxes — usually a few dozen units, including a vehicle, packaged in a single box for less than $150. These boxes have traditionally been used to build larger armies or add new units to older armies.

Games Workshop showed at AdeptiCon that each box had been secretly created as an army. Using Combat Patrol rules — a subset of the larger, full-fat 40K ruleset — those boxes will be akin to pre-constructed The Gathering is Magic Commander decks. Each Combat Patrol box will receive a set datasheet and detachment rule online. This allows it to be a powerful fighting force while also being balanced against the Combat Patrol boxes. The result should be a lighter, more newbie friendly way into the hobby — and a way for dedicated fans to collect a broad range of different models, rather than simply investing in a large collection for a single army.

Games Workshop

“It is also somewhat simplified from the regular game, but not overly simplified,” Brandt said. “It’s mostly kept to a limit on the number of bespoke different rules that a datasheet might have, but it’s architecturally the same game. So it’s very easy to translate from Combat Patrol into the full version of Warhammer 40,000As opposed to moving from, [Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team], which is really a different game, into something like Combat Patrol.”

“We’ll be supporting Combat Patrol with organized play and other activities as well,” Brandt continued, “so it’s easier to go buy one Combat Patrol box and you’re good to go. Period. Forever.”

The Arks Of Omen serve as a bridge between the 9th and 10th editions

The announcement also includes Warhammer 40,000 Games Workshop concluded one of the most enduring mysteries of the 40K lore, closing it with its 10th edition. The result was a bridge between the 9th to the 10th editions and beyond.

Games Workshop

The carrot on this particular stick is named Lion El’Jonson, and he’s the founding father of the Dark Angels chapter of Space Marines. His gorgeous new model shows that, even after 10,000 years of hibernation inside his floating space fortress, he’s still quite the dashing war daddy.

But, while his reintroduction to the timeline moves the universe’s overarching story line forward in seismic ways, the Arks of Omen series of books that lead to his introduction also introduced a new way to play — a format called Boarding Action. Games Workshop showed that the Boarding Action rules can be used with all editions of the game at the AdeptiCon. So, the five-book Arks of Omen series isn’t just one of the last to be published for 9th edition, it’s also the first to be published for 10th.

More to come in the 10th edition Warhammer: 40,000To be announced in the months before its summer release.