Warhammer 40k rules updates

Serving Tzeentch, the God of Change, they are uncannily effective combatants. Charge a force belonging to The Scourged at your peril — with brutal point-blank accuracy on their side, these Chaos Space Marines are excellent at defending against melee-focused forces.

Fabius Bile is a figure of terror and legend throughout the 41st Millennium. Having mastered — and twisted — the arts of genetic modification, he goes to war at the head of an army of horrifying creations that match the strength of the Chaos Space Marines with sinister modifications of his own. With Fabius Bile allowing you to customise your forces even further, this army is ideal for tinkerers, schemers, or just anyone who wants to rip enemies apart in close combat!

Famed above all other craftworlds for the sublime skill of their Rangers, choose Alaitoc if you favour using stealth and guile to prove the superiority of the Aeldari in battle. The Aeldari of Biel-Tan — the most militant of all craftworlds — are consumed with bitterness. Their numbers depleted and their craftworld shattered, they continue to pursue their campaign of xenocide against all the lesser races of the galaxy.

Biel-Tan is renowned for the sheer number of Aspect Temples it hosts — and for the quality of its warriors in their chosen field of warfare. If you seek to form an army around a solid core of Aspect Warriors, Biel-Tan is the clear choice.

The once-great craftworld of Iyanden is now a place of ghosts as much as of the living. Despite this, the Asuryani of that faded realm do not meekly accept their fate — instead they call ever more of their fallen ancestors back into the fight for survival. Since repelling a devastating attack from Hive Fleet Kraken at terrible cost, the people of Iyanden have relied upon their Ghost Warriors with increasing frequency. Iyanden is the go-to choice if you seek to wield the full might of the Ghost Warriors.

The jetbike-riding kindreds of Saim-Hann are renowned for their preference for fast, mobile warfare, striking as a serpent before falling back beyond the reach of retaliation.

Theirs is a craftworld of ancient tradition and a proud warrior culture. Famed for its Wild Rider clans, the warriors of Saim-Hann are masters of the skies. If you seek to use blistering speed and the dynamic movement to outmanoeuvre your opponent, then Saim-Hann is your Craftworld of choice. Now, with their own forces splintered and Chaos rampant, they are tested like never before…. Devoted to the worship of the new-born Aeldari god of the dead, Ynnead, the Ynarri are zealous warriors from the Drukhari, Craftworlds and Harlequins who have forsaken their former oaths in exchange for salvation — and strange, death defying powers..

The Ynnari allow you to combine some of your favourite Aeldari models in a single faction, offering access to incredible heroes with all manner of strange powers. Though by far the largest and most influential of the Drukhari kabals, the Black Heart has been taught by Vect to never be satisfied, and to rapaciously pursue ever more power.

Poisoned weapons, such as splinter rifles, are more effective in Poisoned Tongue armies. Unleash venomous volleys with your Kabalite Warriors and watch your enemies fall before you!

The Kabalites of the Flayed Skull excel in aerial warfare, using their speed and manoeuvrability to harry the most elusive targets. Load up your transports and get them into position easily with the Flayed Skull — flying models have increased movement and accurate firepower, making them exceptionally deadly. Every weapon produced in the workshops of the Kabal of the Obsidian Rose is a masterpiece, equal in accuracy and lethality to the finest armaments of the other Kabals.

Many of the weapons of an Obsidian Rose army operate at longer ranges than others, making this a choice for anyone who wants to engage from a distance and cut down the foe before they reach your lines. There is no place for frailties amongst the Cult of the Cursed Blade, for they teach that weakness exists only to be exploited by the strong.

Stronger than other Wyches, and less likely to flee, Cursed Blade forces are ideal for any player who likes to make an impact and stick around for the late game. Whether enthralling spectators in the arena or slaughtering their way through an enemy army, the Cult of Strife have developed a penchant for bombastically violent opening manoeuvres which are as beautifully orchestrated as they are viciously deadly.

Slashing and stabbing rapidly as they rush into melee, Cult of Strife armies are perfect for players who like to adopt a hit and run approach, hunting enemy units and striking hard. Wyches of the Cult of the Red Grief revel in high-speed murder, and there is fierce competition amongst their ranks as to who can butcher their victims the quickest.

The Prophets of Flesh have modified their own bodies and those of their servants to an extraordinary extent — so much so that few weapons their enemies bring to bear against them can inflict damage greater than that they have already endured.

If you want an incredibly durable force, join the Prophets of Flesh — they are so inured to pain that they can survive even the most vicious attacks that would cripple lesser warriors. The Coven of the Dark Creed has perfected every method of inducing terror, to the extent that their mere presence fills the minds of their enemies with nightmarish dread.

The mere presence of the Coven of the Dark Creed makes enemies more likely to flee in terror. Use this coven if you want to reduce enemy numbers quickly with carefully targeted strikes. The practice of internecine assassinations that exists amongst the Coven of Twelve ensures that weapons and wits are kept razor-sharp at all times, and only those members who are master flesh-carvers survive long.

Coven of Twelve armies want to close with the enemy quickly and butcher them in close combat, their weapons piercing and carving through armour. The Cult of the Four-armed Emperor are cunning, wily and endlessly patient. They are the masters of subterranean assault. Wherever one of their devoted walks in the open, a thousand more lurk beneath, ready to surge up for the kill.

Do you dream of patiently planning a decisive ambush? Then join the Cult of the Four-armed Emperor. The cultists of the Twisted Helix did not have the Genestealer Curse thrust upon them, but instead voluntarily took it into their society through extreme medical experimentation. They harbour unnumbered bio-horrors amongst their ranks. Play the mad scientist with the Twisted Helix. They excel in the arts of insane alchemy and dark experimentation, creating monstrous hybrids of all sizes and shapes who have the energies of forbidden bio-chemical concoctions boiling through their veins to lend them uncanny strength and speed.

The Pauper Princes believe that greatness can only be found in self-sacrifice and humility. Zealous to the point of mania, they bring the edifice of the Imperium low to ensure the new order can thrive — even if it costs every life save for the Patriarch itself.

Do you see your heroes as the stars of your army and everyone else as just cannon fodder? Well, the cultists of the Pauper Princes are so zealous they would gladly hurl themselves on an active frag grenade to protect their cult leaders. The Hivecult are militant, organised and hierarchical.

They infiltrate not only the criminal underworlds and hive gangs of their host planets, but also the Astra Militarum regiments that recruit from them. To the Hivecult, it is a divine duty to be armed and dangerous. The members of the Hivecult are used to fighting in tight-knit military units.

If you want a force well-drilled in the use of sidearms as well as repurposed industrial tools, then is your Cult. In battle, they fight with an uncanny discipline that sees them triumph against the odds. The Cult of the Bladed Cog is born as much of metal as it is of raw human stock, and is further augmented by the extra-galactic anatomies of the Tyranids. This great blend of human, xenos beast and war machine is a deadly threat to its Adeptus Mechanicus hosts. If you see no difference between man, machine and alien then join the Bladed Cog.

Their belief that all three can be made into a single, all-conquering organism has given them a supernatural resilience that makes them strong and hardy combatants. The weather-beaten, rugged survivalists of the Rusted Claw are more at home on the open wastes than they are in the claustrophobic confines of an Imperial underhive. They are the pioneers, the nomads and the prospectors of their kind.

Throw away your material possessions and join the cult of the Rusted Claw. While they are often clad in rags and tattered leather, the skin and chitin beneath is as hard as oak. The Masque of the Midnight Sorrow numbers many bands of Players, scattered far across the realms of the Aeldari, all fighting a constant war against the Ruinous Powers.

The worshippers of Chaos face few more determined or single-minded foes: these Harlequins will perform any deed to defy She Who Thirsts. Midnight Sorrow units can always be in the right place to launch a devastating counter-attack, making them perfect for players who want to control the flow of the battlefield. Facing the Harlequins of the Laughing God in battle is a terrifying experience, but few masques are as sinister or unsettling as those of the Silent Shroud.

The Silent Shroud affect the morale of nearby units, increasing their likelihood of fleeing under fire. If surgical strikes are your style, you might want to consider the Silent Shroud. Their victims barely have time to realise their danger before the Harlequins are dispensing death throughout their ranks.

The Masque of the Veiled Path epitomises every mistrustful thought and resentful prejudice Humanity has ever held for the Aeldari. Amongst the Asuryani, it is said that to trust the Veiled Path is to step willingly into the void. For all this, they are skilled warriors. The Frozen Stars strike wherever and however they believe will elicit the greatest and grisliest amusement. In some ways they carry themselves as a force for good, striving to inspire their fellow Aeldari and follow the steps of the Final Act.

Frozen Stars armies get more powerful when they play aggressively, and are a good pick if you like to engage quickly and devastate your enemies with a flurry of blows. In the Dreaming Shadow, the fervour and energy of the Harlequins becomes something grimmer and more funereal. They are the guardians of myriad symbolic underworlds; their charge is to ensure that the dead stay dead, and the slumbering never wake. Mortally wounded warriors of the Dreaming Shadow will attempt to land one final strike upon their foe — perfect if you want to ensure that even in death, your units are effective.

Since first settling on the planet Raisa — located upon the very edge of the known galaxy — House Cadmus have taken great pride in their autonomous nature.

In recent times, when the shadow of Hive Fleet Leviathan fell over Gryphonne IV, the Knights of Raisa fought ferociously in its ultimately doomed defence. The destruction of the forge world freed House Cadmus from their obligations to the Tech-Priests, resulting in a change of allegiance that was widely embraced. The Knights of House Cadmus hone their skills in competitive hunts — they excel at destroying enemy infantry, cutting them down in droves with deadly sweeps of their chainblades and mailed fists.

No knightly house exemplifies proud martial tradition like House Terryn. Its Nobles have fought for Humanity since its founding in the 25th Millennium. The house derives its name from Maximilian Terryn, first ruler of the tropical world of Voltoris, a planet colonised at the start of the Age of Strife.

Driving their towering steeds ever onward, the Nobles of House Terryn are amongst the most eager to get to grips with their foes. If you want to thunder across the battlefield, this house is for you. Legend has it, before the STC Knight suits could be completed, settlers were forced to fight these beasts from horseback. Wielding gargantuan weapons with the skill and grace of an expert duellist, scions of House Griffith live for the glory of combat.

Griffith is your house if you want to revel in meeting out justice, up close and personal. There is no knightly house more loyal than House Hawkshroud. Its Nobles have cultivated an impeccable reputation for honouring their debts and keeping their word regardless of the personal cost, often on campaign fulfilling the promises of their lords and laying down their lives to uphold past alliances. Whilst their oaths remain unfulfilled, the Knights of House Hawkshroud will stand and fight to their dying breath.

Ideal for a general who values outlasting their opponents. By the time the antecedents of House Mortan had arrived upon Kimdaria, the mysterious nebula known as the Black Pall surrounded the planet.

The Knights of House Mortan know well the value of a well-placed strike — they honour a well-executed killing blow above all else. When fighting at close quarters, they rain deadly-accurate blows upon their quarry, each movement carefully calculated for maximum effect.

Chrysis was the first Knight world to be rediscovered during the Great Crusade. The Nobles of House Krast are driven to take on the largest foes, making them peerless hunters of renegade Knights. Their cold, calculated efficiency gives them the edge in lethal close-quarters battles and duels.

Only a handful of cities remain on the Questor Mechanicus world of Kolossi. Ever advancing, the guns of House Raven never once let up. If you want to stomp implacably across the battlefield, unleashing copious amounts of firepower, House Raven is for you.

True servants of the Machine God, the warriors of House Taranis bear the honour of belonging to the first of the knightly houses, and although they bear the names of Noble and Knight, they do not follow the feudal ways of their kin. Founded on Mars, House Taranis believe themselves uniquely favoured by the Omnissiah. It may well be true — their superbly maintained machines shrug off blows that first seem to have struck true. If you like your enemies stare in disbelief at the amount of punishment you can take, choose House Taranis.

Despite being one of the greater houses amongst those aligned to the Adeptus Mechanicus, House Vulker is reclusive and mysterious. Yet when called to war, the Knights of House Vulker leave behind their curious trappings, striding out to do battle with all the surety of their peers.

House Vulker places a premium upon well-coordinated plans for both attack and defence, always engaging the enemy at the optimal distance by utilising carefully cogitated trajectories.

The accuracy of their close-range firepower is legendary amongst the knightly houses. Every other clan knows that the Bad Moons are showy gits with too many teef for their own good. They also know to dive for cover when the yellow-daubed loons open fire — the sheer amount of dakka that a Bad Moons warband kicks out is amazing to behold. Want to show off the biggest, loudest, and shiniest shootas? With all manner of targeting arrays, extra ammo feeds, and bandoliers of additional munitions, Bad Moons can typically lay down more dakka than any other clan.

This reputation comes from their tendency to use actual battlefield tactics, often to great effect — nothing surprises an enemy commander like Orks who actually think about how, where, and when to fight.

Their instinctive grasp of battlefield strategy allows them to surprise even the most experienced enemies with their manoeuvres, feints, and ambushes. Orks of the Deathskulls are cunning, light-fingered, untrustworthy and insular, with a mean streak a mile wide.

That said, there are none more skilled when it comes to looting the battlefield and cobbling together weapons and tanks from the resultant junk. Are you superstitious? Is your favourite colour blue? If you want to surge across the battlefield in a roaring green tide, this is the clan for you. Once you get stuck into hand-to-hand combat, the Goffs quickly overwhelm their enemies by dint of sheer violent ferocity. If it goes fast, kills people violently, and is painted a bright and garish red, then an Evil Sunz Ork probably already has three of it, and undoubtedly wants another.

If you feel the need for speed, then go for this Clan and daub your vehicles, warriors, and even yourself bright red. For the Evil Sunz, this practice actually seems to work. Snakebites are traditionalists, and many of them are only one or two rusty rungs above Feral Orks on the ladder of civilisation. This has never held Snakebite warbands back, however, for when they unleash their tribal fury upon the enemy, there are few who can long withstand it.

While other clans may see them as somewhat backwards, their bizarre habit of actually allowing themselves to be bitten by venomous serpents to prove their toughness, means that they breed remarkably resilient warriors. Freebooterz are outcasts from Ork society, greenskins who by choice or through exile have left their tribe and clan behind.

They rampage around the galaxy in piratical mercenary warbands, fighting together even as they compete viciously with each other to accrue the most loot. Nab all the best loot for yourself by joining the Freebooterz. In battle, they strive to outdo their fellow greenskins — if one mob of Freebooterz starts doing well, their comrades will strive all the harder to show them up and grab the glory for themselves. Choose this sept if you want to leave your enemies nowhere to hide.

Protected by a formidable ring of floating fortresses, this martial-led sept is well-placed to protect itself from all manner of threats. If you want your forces to get up close and personal then this is the army for you — its warriors are experts in the deadly art of engaging the enemy at close quarters and annihilating them.

Want an army that can keep their head amidst the heat of battle? Unleash a storm of searing pulse energy on any foe foolish enough to charge your forces. It is known to produce especially aggressive and skilled warriors. Want to take the fight to the enemy, utilising a highly mobile and aggressive form of warfare? It has recovered quickly, thanks to its busy trade ports. Large numbers of aliens can be seen here alongside its famously efficient Water caste merchants and diplomats. If you want a sneaky army that makes extensive use of adaptive camouflage fields to elude and disorient your enemies then this is the sept for you.

Hive Fleet Behemoth was the first tendril of the Tyranid invasion to awaken after the long journey though the void. Its brutal, headlong charge through the eastern Imperium was driven by a ravenous hunger that had smouldered for countless aeons — a hunger it could never satiate. If you favour an aggressive play style, then Behemoth are for you. This Hive Fleet unleashes the full might of its swarms in an overwhelming frontal assault.

As the most aggressive of the Hive Fleets, Behemoth excel at getting into combat to feed. Its toxic hosts despoil and denature as they sweep across a world, spitting a miasma of polluting spores into darkening skies, and agonising their prey with a potent blend of necrotic poisons.

Use a range of toxins that adapt with terrifying speed to any foe, agonising and ravaging the bodies of their unfortunate victims with Hive Fleet Gorgon. Hive Fleet Hydra drifts along in the wake of the Tyranid invasion, seeking out defeated splinters of previous hive fleets, cannibalising them and absorbing their genetic memory. Though Hydra appears relatively small, it is capable of unleashing vast hordes of bioforms, burying its prey under sheer weight of numbers.

Do you dream of overwhelming your prey with sheet weight of numbers? Then Hive Fleet Hydra is for you if you like drowning them in a tide of chitin, flesh and slashing claws. None can stand before the hordes of Hydra. Hive Fleet Jormungandr is an insidious menace.

The Imperium has claimed to have destroyed the hive fleet on several occasions, only to discover that Jormungandr has burrowed deep beneath the infrastructure of its worlds like a flesh-eating parasite, lying in wait for the perfect moment to re-emerge.

Shock your foes by emerging from subterranean tunnels to attack. This makes the warrior-organisms of Hive Fleet Jormungandr extremely difficult to target — by the time you strike from your hidden locations, it is far too late for your enemies. Seen on a galactic scale, Hive Fleet Kraken is attacking across a front that covers thousands of light years, making a cohesive defence impossible to mount.

In the face of this seemingly unstoppable threat, whole Imperial systems have been evacuated or simply abandoned to their fate. Harry your enemies and unbalance their forces with the lightning-fast flanking attacks of Hive Fleet Kraken, before encircling them for the final, bloody massacre.

This Hive Fleet has also been seen to feint retreats before springing a trap to utterly confound their prey.

A stifling aura of null power drifts ahead of its invasion swarms, before the fleet lands on prey planets and overcomes any defences through endless long-range barrages.

Such firepower lays waste to anyone foolish enough to stand up to the power of the Hive Mind. Hive Fleet Leviathan is the largest and greatest of the Tyranid hive fleets to descend upon the galaxy.

Attacking upwards through the galactic plane, its tendrils are spread out across a broad front, stretched across the Segmentums Ultima, Tempestus and even Solar. You enemies will lose the will to fight after seeing the apparent indestructibility of your forces. From Gheden, the Nihilakh dynasty defend their borders, jealously guarding their ancient secrets.

Home of the alien-studying Xenarites, Stygies has a reputation for secrecy and untrustworthiness. And the means to give orders across the table, the Enhanced Data tether, both went up five points to 10 points each!

The fact of the matter is that at 5 points it was an auto include. This is another way to limit how many models are actually on the board.

There are a lot of 10 point increases on Admech that are similar and will force you to make a similar decision. Unfortunately, they also increased the points for the Iron Strider. Most Iron Strider lists had gone down to 3, maybe 4, in their lists versus their hay-day when you could run 10 or even They increased the point cost of the succubus as well as the raiders.

Raiders may only have a toughness of 6 and a 5 up save, but the fact of the matter is they could move so fast and hop over things they were oppressive.

Necrons see a host of their units gain the Core keyword, so they can benefit from numerous synergies and aura abilities that were previously unavailable to them. It also makes a huge impact on the variety of effective units that you can field.

Flayed Ones , Canoptek units, and Destroyers in particular get a big boost from this. All Necron units that were given Core, on top of having built in rerolls, but there are also now certain buffs that only go with Core. The Reanimator could only bring back core units, and a lot of units have been changed to be included in the core units, meaning that tons of units can now be brought back. Many units that have been added to Core still come with a hefty price tag, but at least you can bring them back now!

For the Astra Militarum, the bellowing of their officers is set to have a greater impact on the battlefield thanks to a handy boost to their orders, while their mainline battle tanks are now more durable thanks to an improved Save characteristic, meaning it will be significantly harder to silence the biggest guns of the Imperial Guard.

Content We Liked: January 9, Warlord Wednesdays: Battlebling Accessories Review. Competitive Innovations in 9th: Advent Annihilation. Goonhammer Reader Survey. Goonhammer is Selling Out! Welcome to the New Goonhammer. Ruleshammer articles updated!

Maybe next year I might actually find time to write the missing ones too! Links to the updated articles below. It also serves as a link back to the Ruleshammer Compendium! Plenty of players have presumptions on both sides and a significant number of events have rulings on it. In 8th edition there was an FAQ item specifically saying that you could not do this, but that item has not been carried forward into the 9th edition rules. For that second category, Transports have a specific rule that prevents stratagems being used on embarked units.

Credit: Jack Hunter. Crimson Fists Heavy Intercessors. This has now been fixed, and any rules that set a stratagem cost to a specific value are used first , and then modifiers applied after. The main thing affected here is the Death on the Wind secondary for Ravenwing, as the units now have to actually move to count as scoring it. Overall, we think this is a really good set of core rules updates, which have done a lot to answer long-standing questions as well as addressing some hot issues that fell outside the expectations of the designers.

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