There are a lot of changes in Warhammer 40k 11th edition, but no huge overhaul to the overall experience. There are obvious pros and cons to this approach. Pro: We don’t have to completely relearn the rules. Con: Some major balance gripes may not be addressed. Pro: There’s less chance of any major missteps with rule changes. Con: It doesn’t feel great to shell out $295 for a book with minor tweaks to the one already sitting on your bookshelf.

As has been the case for the past few editions of Warhammer 40k, you don’t have to buy the new Armageddon box to get the 11th edition rules. They’re available now, for free, on the Warhammer Community website. But the Armageddon box includes a lovely, physical, softcover edition of the rules which is far more useful for taking along to battles. I’ve had the box for a couple of weeks now, so I decided to do just that — take it to some battles and stress test the new rules for myself.

What’s Changed In Warhammer 40k 11th Edition?

We all want to know what’s changed in 11th edition, but let’s go through some big stuff that’s staying the same. Your Codexes (Codices?) are all still valid and remain compatible with the new edition. Some errata and details about individual factions have been revealed since and between my battles, so I’ve not played a ‘true’ 11th edition bout just yet, but the rules alone are enough to get me excited.

11th edition has tweaked the existing abilities so that, while your datacards are valid, they may play quite differently now. Your Aeldari host that loved nothing more than nipping out of a Wave Serpent, blasting something, and hopping back in? It’s now about as mobile as Festus the Leechlord on a zimmer frame. Your conga line of Guardsmen denying space by bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-eh!-ing across the battlefield? They’ve got to do more of a hokey cokey putting their lasguns in a far smaller footprint.

Now I’ve got a few dozen turns under my belt, it seems that most of the toxic battleplans have been nerfed in some way. However, neither my opponents nor I run anything particularly meta or cheesy, so there may be some sliver of stilton that’s slipped through the cracks.

The Command Phase has a few tweaks, but the biggest is to Battleshock. Failing a Battleshock test now cripples your unit until it passes, rather than until the next turn. If you can trigger a few per turn, this could transform into a really effective strategy of disruption.

As well as the aforementioned coherency rules (units now need to be wholly within 9” of each other), pivoting is now free—my Imperial Knights are jumping for joy. Or, well, squeezing between buildings for joy thanks to the new terrain footprints. Your engagement zone is now 2”, which is a nice buff for combat armies and my freshly-built Sicarian Ruststalkers. This also couples with a nice buff to Deep Striking (now labelled an Ingress Move) which results in only needing a 7” charge when you enter play—much more reliable.

In the shooting phase, your Ballistic Skill can now be modified in more ways (including by cover), as can the hit roll. I feel like this will make the biggest impact of the new edition, but didn’t affect my matches too much as I was facing a horde of Orks. I like the fact that height now impacts your shooting roll, too, as it adds some refreshing ludonarrative resonance to the game.

In combat, wound allocation will take some getting used to. I found it a little hard to wrap my head around, but when attacking a unit with mixed saves, your opponent chooses the order in which they save the wounds before rolling the dice. This held up play a little at first, but I think it will streamline things in the long run.

There are plenty more changes than this brief overview—units can only be affected by one Stratagem a turn, for example—but overall, 11th edition seems like a turn towards the narrative for 40k. This comes as a surprise after a few editions catering for the more hardcore, competitive players, but these changes may be exactly what I needed to dive back into the game big time.

Time To Game

I like the 11th edition rules. They feel intuitive and push a narrative into every battle, which is what I have always loved most about 40k. Except, now, my opponent won’t have to listen to my silly voices and over-the-top death reenactments to get a feel for that flavour.

Since the release of the rules, Games Workshop has followed up with more exciting changes. New detachments beg to be tested, returning points costs to wargear is long overdue after a dull hangover from the Power Level days. I also love that taking multiples of the same unit may now incur points-based penalties, punishing those meta-chasers while allowing me to take a single, lovingly-converted unit without it being overcosted or pointless on the table.

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But the real reason 11th edition is going to suck me back in is because I’ve been reminded what a social hobby this is. Over the past year, I’ve made so many friends at various events—from Kamping Kitbash to Fringe—that I’m making a concerted effort to recreate this in my local area.

While I know a few players near me, most of my tabletop gaming pals are scattered across Europe and further right now. With some narrative juice and community excitement powering renewed interest in the game, I pledge to replicate these annual event experiences to weekly narrative occurrences, and 40k is the logical starting point for that.

I’m not going to rock up to my local gaming store and demand everyone plays Turnip28 or Aetherpunk28 because they’re my most recent fixations. Even Trench Crusade is too niche for this crowd, so I’m committing to joining them where they’re at. After all, I played a lot of 7th and 8th edition 40k at pubs in Leeds, and had a great time doing so. I hope that, with a more narrative-focused edition rearing its head, I can have as much fun with 40k as I’m currently doing with independent alternatives. Who knows, maybe I’ll even end up at a tournament before 2029. I wouldn’t hold your breath, though.

Warhammer 40K

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