Warhammer 40k 10th Edition is the current version of Games Workshop’s ever-growing sci-fi tabletop wargame in 2024. 10th Edition makes games simpler and quicker, cuts down the number of rulebooks players need, and generally makes it easier to get started. Read on for everything you need to jump into the latest version of 40k.
This guide is meant as a resource for existing 40k fans looking to catch up on 10th edition – if you’re a newcomer who’s been blown away playing Space Marine 2 and are looking into trying the miniature wargame for the first time, you should read our What is Warhammer 40k? guide instead. If you like what you see, we can recommend the best Warhammer 40k starter set for you.
Otherwise, here’s everything you need to know about Warhammer 40k 10th edition:
Warhammer 40k 10th edition rules
The Warhammer 40k 10th edition rules launched on June 24, 2023, building on the general structure of 9th edition, which ran from 2020-2023. However, Games Workshop has restructured a range of key game features with the stated philosophy of “simplified, not simple”.
In general, 10th has been extremely well received by the community, mainly because it cuts out many of the more persnickety and time consuming elements of earlier editions, both on and off the table. Here’s a short version of the biggest changes from 9th edition, including links to our guides explaining how everything works now:
- There’s no morale phase – it’s been replaced with the Warhammer 40k Battle-shock rule, which is now key to holding objectives.
- There’s no psychic phase – non-combat psychic abilities are now listed on unit datasheets, and psychic attacks are listed alongside ranged and melee weapon attacks, and take place in the Shooting or Fight phases.
- Universal special rules are back – instead of a huge number of almost identical unit abilities with hundreds of different names, units and weapons are now tagged with universal Warhammer 40k Abilities, reducing rules confusion and book-checking time.
- Building army lists is much simpler – wargear no longer costs points, and the key systems for Warhammer 40k detachments and Warhammer 40k Stratagems have been drastically slimmed down.
- Weapons now have their own statlines – the relevant ballistic skill, weapons skill, attacks, and strength stats for each weapon are now listed with the weapon on each unit’s datasheet, rather than being separate stats to be used in conjuction with the unit’s base stats.
- Models now have an Objective Control stat – 10th edition gives every unit an ‘OC’ score per model, and the player with the highest OC total of models near an objective holds it. This eliminates silly situations where tiny weak units hold an objective over stronger ones -and gives designers better tools to make units better or worse at taking and holding objectives.
Naturally, scratch the surface and you’ll find dozens of other, smaller changes from the rules you might remember from playing 9th or 8th edition and before – but those are the major ones that characterize 10th.
Rules downloads
The 10th edition core rules are free to download from the Games Workshop website, along with the latest updates, commentary, and errata. Here are some quick links to the PDFs you’ll need to play:
- Core rules – 60 pages explaining what you’ll need to play the basic game of 40k, including the game and turn structure, key mechanics, and more.
- Core rules updates and errata – 34 pages of tweaks and clarifications to the core rules that GW has added since launch (last updated August 1, 2024)
- Balance Dataslate – GW’s quarterly roundup of competitive balance tweaks, making targeted changes to both core and faction rules to correct balance issues that arise. The most recent Balance Dataslate was published on June 20, 2024.
- Munitorum Field Manual – the most up-to-date listing of the points costs for every unit in every army. The most recent update was published on August 21, 2024.
Warhammer 40k 10th edition index cards
Games Workshop made army rules for every Warhammer 40k faction available free at launch, via Warhammer 40k 10th edition Index cards. You can download your army’s PDF Index cards for free by clicking these links:
Remember, these Index rulebooks were created as temporary rules for each army so everything was playable when 10th edition launched in June 2023 – if an army now has a 10th edition Warhammer 40k codex, the index rules are no longer legal and have been replaced by the codex.
Warhammer 40k 10th edition Codexes
Warhammer 40k 10th edition Codexes are being released at a rate of about two per quarter, replacing the Indexes as they go. Codexes update the datasheets for every unit, add new Detachments, and come with lore and advice on painting miniatures.
You can check all the army books that have come out so far, which upcoming codexes will release next, and all the release dates we know, in Wargamer’s regularly updated guide to Warhammer 40k Codex release dates.
The following factions have 10th edition Codexes – so you won’t be able to use their free index rules any more in official games:
Warhammer 40k 10th Edition lore
Warhammer 40k 10th Edition lore takes over where 9th Edition’s Arks of Omen book series left off. Across those four books, arch-traitor Abaddon the Despoiler launched deadly assaults across the Imperium of Man aboard Space Hulks, the Daemon Primarch Angron returned to reality in a storm of gore, the new Daemon Prince Vashtorr the Arkifane invaded the Dark Angels’ fortress monastery, and the T’au separatist Farsight achieved new levels of influence.
The fifth and final book, Arks of Omen: The Lion brings an end to the narrative in a momentous event – the re-awakening of the Dark Angels Primarch Lion El’Jonson.
The Imperium definitely needs that help, because at the start of 10th edition the extra-galactic Tyranids have launched a surprise invasion of the Western galactic rim, into the soft underbelly of the Imperium and the route to Holly Tera.
Using narrative books to bring an end to the story (and sometimes rules) of a game edition is a familiar pattern from Games Workshop. 7th edition 40k ended with the Gathering Storm supplements, which gave rules and narrative for the fall of Cadia, the opening of the great rift, the birth of the Eldar god Ynnead, and the resurrection of the Ultramarines Primarch Roboute Guilliman.
8th edition 40k ended with the Psychic Awakening supplements, which brought updated rules for the Warhammer 40k factions and explored the psychic impact of the great rift across the Imperium of Man.
Likewise, the Broken Realms books ushered in the leap from second to third edition for Warhammer Age of Sigmar armies.
Is Warhammer 40k 10th edition good?
The new edition of the game has been out for half a year now, but if you haven’t tried it yet, you might be wondering: is Warhammer 40k 10th edition good?
First of all, do you enjoy Warhammer 40k at all? 10th edition is a continuation of earlier versions of the game. That means fairly long play sessions, fairly crunchy rules, lots of dice, and lots of information to process. If those aren’t for you, then 10th edition won’t appeal any more than a previous edition.
Games Workshop has done a very good job making 10th edition more approachable for new players. There’s a dedicated starter mode in Combat Patrol, which allows you to play games with just one box of models. The rules are fairly tightly written, and are also fairly easy for a layman to read. The core rules are short enough to read in one sitting, without being vague and imprecise.
Ninth edition 40k had big problems with the organisation of information. Rules could be scattered through multiple sections of multiple books. 10th edition compresses the information down into a much smaller space: you can play games using just the 40k app for reference quite happily.
10th edition is still a deep game with lots of tactical options, but some systems have been greatly simplified. The options open to a unit will be written on its datacard, on the single page of rules for its army, or the single page of stratagems that you can activate during a battle. Ninth edition had so many options that it was, frankly, a miserable and confusing experience unless you played very regularly.
One area where 10th edition missed the mark at launch was the balance for competitive players. Late in its lifespan, ninth edition was fairly well balanced for tournament games. 10th edition completely overhauled the entire game, and threw that balance into disarray.
Some tournament organisers produced immediate house-rules to fix perceived problems, as they considered 10th edition was “clearly not balanced”. Games Workshop then implemented a balance patch, but data from tournaments suggested the Eldar and Genestealer Cults were grossly overpowered in tournament games, while Leagues of Votann continued to suffer.
Since then there’s been a major balance overhaul with the first Balance Dataslate, and the game is currently in a pretty good spot as far as balance is concerned.
Warhammer 40k 10th edition release date
The Warhammer 40k 10th edition release date was Saturday, June 24, though Games Workshop let most of the rules and army lists trickle out in a free digital edition over the two weeks previously.
This continues GW’s tradition of releasing new editions of its big tabletop wargames during the Summer.
Warhammer 40k Leviathan starter set
Warhammer 40k 10th edition Leviathan was the bumper launch box set for 10th edition. The box packed in 25 Space Marines and 47 Tyranids, plus a massive hardback rulebook, and mission cards.
More than a year after the main launch of 10th edition, it’s now pretty tricky to get hold of a Leviathan box – but Games Workshop has since repackaged the Leviathan minis into three differently sized and priced starter sets: Introductory, Regular, and Ultimate.
The cheapest Introductory set comes with only a few minis and starter rules, but packs in the tools you need to get started building and painting miniatures; the regular Starter Set has more substantial forces; and the Ultimate Starter Set comes with terrain and two complete Combat Patrol forces for the Space Marines and Tyranids.
Check out our rundown of the Leviathan starter set contents to discover the oodles of awesome new models that released with this set. If you’d like to see what Team Wargamer got up to with the minis, you can check our Leviathan review or editor Alex’s personal account of falling in love with Tyranids and Contrast Paint.
Source: Wargamer
