GW has tacitly confirmed that the Space Marines are going to lose their familiar Oath of Moment army rule when their new codex for the next edition of Warhammer 40k is released. Instead, the Adeptus Astartes will fall back on their Combat Doctrines – a flexible suite of power-ups that is currently part of the Gladius Task Force detachment, but was the faction’s army rule during 8th and 9th edition.
The news comes from the Warhammer 40,000 Combat Patrol Compendium, an upcoming softback supplement that will release alongside the core rules for Warhammer 40k 11th edition and which provides a general introduction to the hobby as a whole, from the lore of the universe to the basic principles of building, painting, and playing wargames. I’ve got a review copy of the book: on page 22, in a paragraph introducing the concept of Army Rules, it states that Space Marines “have the Combat Doctrines army rule, which reflects their tactical flexibility”.
It also adds that this rule “lets you swap into a different doctrine (a specific style of warfare) during the game, giving the whole army a thematic benefit for a turn”, which is how doctrines have worked since they appeared in 7th edition: the Devastator Doctrine, Tactical Doctrine, and Assault Doctrine each provide a different bonus.
What that bonus is has changed over time. In 8th and 9th edition, each doctrine provided bonus AP to a specific class of weapon. In 10th edition, the doctrines provide greater maneuverability: the Devastator Doctrine lets marines shoot after advancing; the Tactical Doctrine lets them shoot or charge after falling back; and the Assault Doctrine lets them charge after advancing.
There’s an outside chance that Marines will have Oath of Moment as well as the Combat Doctrines, but I don’t see it. The 10th edition 40k codexes are going to remain legal at the start of 11th edition, and factions tend to have only one army rule (not counting administrative army rules that dictate unit choices). The same paragraph that announces the return of Combat Doctrines says that the Ork army rule is Waaagh!, just the same as in 10th edition – though the specifics of how it functions may have changed.
With Combat Doctrines becoming an army rule, they can’t be part of the Gladius Task Force detachment any more – but then again, we don’t even know if a detachment with that name will even be part of the new ‘dex. And it’s possible that Oath of Moment will return as a detachment rule; the 1st Company Task Force already buffs the Oath of Moment, so it might be a new home for the rule.
Oath is a spikey rule: it provides a big buff against a single enemy target, making it very valuable against elite armies and proportionately weaker against armies packed with chaff. Are you happy to see it go, or will you be lamenting its loss? Let us know in the Wargamer Discord community.
Source: Wargamer
