The first of three monthly rules updates is here for 11th edition of 40k. Come see how it will affect your games.
There’s no bigger play test for a tabletop game than immediately after its launch, and 40k is no different. Thousands of games have been played worldwide since the end of June, and the Games Workshop dev staff have been paying close attention to player feedback. These updates will eventually move to a quarterly release schedule, but we’ll receive an update every month for the first three months of the edition – and the first of those is here today.
The full update is available via the Warhammer Downloads page now. The rules update is currently filtering its way through the Warp to the official 40k app as we speak. It should be fully integrated sometime in the next few hours.
There are tons of small changes and clarifications, but a few of the biggest issues identified so far seem to have been addressed.
Purge the Foe Significantly Altered
The changes to Detachments and the introduction of the new Force Dispositions system have been arguably the biggest changes to 40k in many years. It’s no surprise that such a radical new mechanical system would have some rough edges at launch, and the community was quick to identify one in particular. Conventional wisdom has emerged around the Purge the Foe Disposition with some consensus in the community that it is the most efficient Disposition and therefore the best choice in a competitive games environment.
Games Workshop reports that despite this belief, win rates at the events they track have been reasonably balanced between Dispositions. But Purge the Foe has indeed been leading slightly. They also point out that it’s been the most taken Disposition, so without seeing actual numbers it’s hard to guess as to whether its impact has been as outsized as some players claim. Nonetheless, the game’s developers have made some alterations to Purge the Foe.
First and foremost, Purge the Foe mission maps have seen their objective count increased from five to six. Opponents should have an easier time capturing these objectives as the Purge player (Foe Purger?) will find their attention split even further. As well. The mission’s central objective is now split in half, making it harder to control with a single large model like a Defiler. Oh, Defilers. Won’t these scamps ever stop being total bastards? No, probably not.
Further changes will effect this disposition, as well. Several detachments with the Purge’ affiliation have had their DP points increased, and a few detachments have had their affiliations changed entirely. In short, if you want to take Purge the Foe, it’s likely that you’ll be limited to a single detachment in 2,000 point games. A number of units common to Purge’ armies have also seen their points increase, so it will be interesting to see how this all shakes out.
Other Changes and Clarifications
A number of less sweeping changes are here, as well. Most of these concern specific units and abilities but the biggest deals with healing characters attached to other units. As seen in the smaller event update earlier this month, the update to characters and healing in units has been maintained. Characters that can revive themselves now return as a unit of one, rather than as part of their bodyguard unit. Healing like this remains potent but much less frustrating for an opponent to manage.
A host of clarifications have also been made. Primarily quality-of-life stuff like only being able to generate a single extra Command Point per round and that dedicated transports like Rhinos or Devilfish must begin play with a unit embarked within.
There’s quite a bit more to dig into, but that’s the big stuff. 11th edition seems to be off to a pretty solid start if the biggest problem to be dealt with was a single Force Disposition. More major events are coming soon, so we’ll see what this all looks like a month from now when we receive the next of the three initial monthly updates.
How are you feeling about your favorite army after today’s update?
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Simon Berman has been a wargamer since 1993 and has worked in the tabletop games industry since 2008 as a staff writer for the first three editions of WARMACHINE and HORDES. These days he’s the General President of the Brush Wielders Union, a worldwide organization of miniatures painters of all skill levels, a freelance games writer who has contributed to a number of roleplaying games like Eclipse Phase, Dune: Adventures in the Imperium, and The Hammer and the Stake. He runs his own small-press publishing company, Strix Publishing, and paints more miniatures than he can keep track of. Simon lives with his wife in Tacoma, Washington along with a number of cats and a pack of savage wiener dogs.
Source: Bell of Lost Souls
