It seems, once again, that Games Workshop have forgotten the true meaning of hot take Thursday, and pushed a bunch of updates on a Wednesday morning. Scandalous. Either way, we’re here as always with a look at what changed and what those changes mean for your armies and your competitive games. This looks to be a fairly chunky FAQ pass, covering not only FAQ items but also some stealth balance updates for a number of factions.

Core Rules

A small number of changes were made to the core rules, mostly shoring some things up around the charge phase.

Errata – Charge Eligibility

Eligibility to declare a Charge has been changed slightly so that it is now continuously checked – i.e. if at any point in the Charge phase you are within 12” of the enemy, you are eligible to charge, meaning that if the enemy moves somehow, new units can become eligible to charge them (or stop being eligible). Previously, eligibility was “locked” at the start of the phase – which I’m going to put my hands up and say I didn’t even know, so it’s probably good that this now works how most people assume it does (even though there aren’t that many ways to move during the Charge Phase).

FAQ – Closest Eligible Target and Overwatch

A unit only counts as the closest eligible target when you are Overwatching them if they would normally meet the criteria for that (i.e. closest visible unengaged unit), the fact that during the Overwatch you can only shoot the target unit doesn’t magically switch on rules that care about closest eligible. Common sense ruling, but a good one to have explicit.

Errata – Embarking within Vehicles with Bases

This…is probably a mistake. The section on embarking into a Vehicle with a Base is updated so that it no longer requires the unit to be “wholly within”, just “within”, which makes sense as “within” is the criteria in the Core Rules. Unfortunately, what has not, been added is the “every model” that’s there in the Core Rules so it suggests you can teleport your conga-lined units into a Transport from across the table. Expect TOs to stamp down on this and a swift follow-up fix, and complete insanity with out-of-phase moves anywhere that plays this as written.

Rob: Seriously, don’t do this.

Balance Dataslate

Note: the statline on the Lord Discordant’s weaponry is still marked in red, but does not appear to have changed.

For the Greater Good

It wouldn’t be the T’au army rule if it didn’t need some red text on it every update now would it? That important, three-edition tradition is being maintained.

Anyway, there have been a few tweaks to the new version of this rule. Specifically:

• While you still select your observer units at the start of the Shooting Phase, you can now choose which unit you want each one to spot at any point in the phase, as long as they have not yet been selected to Shoot. This gives you a bit more flexibility as the phase progresses.
• You can only pick a given enemy unit as a Spotted unit once per phase, so you cannot stack up multiple different abilities that trigger off Spotting.
• The way eligibility for the bonus is checked is tweaked slightly – becoming a Guided unit now requires the For the Greater Good ability, and the bonus triggers when a model in a  Guided unit targets a Spotted unit. In functional terms, this closes a loophole where you could be a Guided unit without having the For the Greater Good ability – you didn’t get the main bonus, but it could theoretically trigger other things.

This feels like it’s a net minor boost – extra flexibility is always useful, and it closes a gotcha angle.

Removed Sections

The following armies have their sections removed in line with the release of their books:

• Space Wolves
• Chaos Knights

This is in-line with the release of new codexes for those armies. Likewise the updates to the Munitorum Field Manual removed the section for Index: Space wolves now that the Codex is fully released.

Chapter Approved Tournament Companion

FAQ – Cull the Horde

There’s an FAQ here about whether you score this if you destroy part of an Attached unit that meets the criteria of 13+ Models overall, but individual parts don’t, with the good example of a 10-model Cultist unit with an attached Dark Commune leading it. The answer is that you don’t score the secondary objective if the individual part wouldn’t qualify, so if you swing at those Cultists and kill ten of them without also killing the Commune, they de-attach, and after that it’s tough luck.

Wings: I think this probably needed a couple of follow-up points. My understanding is that if you managed to wipe that Cultist/Commune unit in a single activation you would score Cull, because Leaders de-attach after all of an attacking units attacks are resolved, but that would be good to get a definite yes/no on. It’s probably also worth explicitly clarifying that this doesn’t (by my understanding) affect things like Cryptothralls that become a permanent part of a unit when they attach to them, rather than acting as a Leader. 

A question worth answering, sure, but could have used a second pass.

Base Sizes

There is at least one unmarked (booooooooo) correction on base sizes, with Swooping Hawks now correctly reflecting their new 32mm bases. That was the only one I could immediately recall being wrong before, but if there are others you were aware of, it’s probably worth going and checking!

Faction FAQs

A large number of changes were made to varying factions here, with a surprising number that function as balance updates or changes in effective power level for an army.

Aeldari

Unshrouded Truth – Errata

You can no longer use this on a unit that was set up on the Battlefield this phase, which does two things:

• Prevents you using it on a unit getting out of a Transport, which was previously possible due to the nuances of how it was worded.
• Removes a trick you could do with a Baharroth-led Swooping Hawks unit of dropping in to hit something with Mortals, then immediately teleporting to Safety. 

From a rules hygiene point of view this is probably sensible on both fronts, but it’s also two straight nerfs and please, GW, my faction is dying. At least it still lets you teleport out of Engagement, huge thanks to whoever wrote the fluff that makes it feel like that narratively “should” work..

Torc of Morag Hei – FAQ

Two clarifications about how this works:

1. If you activate it and the opponent has enough CP to use their Stratagem at the new, higher cost, they have to continue with it.
2. If you activate it and they do not have enough CP, no CP are spent and the Stratagem has no effect (but still counts as having been activated, so can’t be used elsewhere in the same phase).

Good to have this clarified – as a TO this is pretty much how I would have ruled it anyway save for the last bit about not being able to use the Stratagem elsewhere, so I guess this works out as the tiniest net buff.

Aspect Shrine Tokens – FAQ

These don’t stay behind with an Autarch or Phoenix Lord if the Aspect unit is wiped while they’re unspent. This makes sense, given those models don’t have the ability.

The Yncarne – FAQ

The Yncarne must heal the full amount when Ethereal Form activates – you can’t choose to stay one wound down to keep the option of Fight First. This was obvious from the plain language of the rules, but apparently hope springs eternal.

Astra Militarum

Reinforcements! – FAQ

No, you cannot use it on a unit that was Battle-shocked. Not even if you really want to. Also, the destroyed unit does not currently contain a model with a Vox Caster. Come on now.

Vox Caster – FAQ

Speaking of Vox Casters, having two in a unit does not give you two attempts to generate a CP.

Chaos Daemons

Note: There is no changelog for this, so if there are others we’ve missed, please let us know.

Nurglings – Errata

Nurglings now only come in a maximum size of 6 in Daemons, in line with their Datasheet in the Death Guard Codex. There were use cases for maxing on these, so this does work out as a small nerf. Alas.

EDIT: Mike Pestilens pointed out that this was in the last update. Apparently the new changes are Blue Horrors moving from an 8+ save to a 7+ (sure, whatever), and the Lord of Change now brackets on 7+ wounds and not 6+.

Chaos Knights

Imperious Advance – Errata

A small tweak making it so that you can, in fact, end a Charge within Engagement Range after activating this. I assume no sensible TO would have ruled otherwise.

Chaos Space Marines

The First Rule of Khorne Club… (Cabal of Chaos – Errata)

…is “no fucking wizard nerds” – you can no longer give a KHORNE model Touched By the Warp. This was always a weird oversight.

Plague Marines – FAQ

No, there is not some baffling, convoluted way you can use the Death Guard army rule in Chaos Space Marines when applied by Plague Marines. Come on now.

Dark Angels

Leonine Aggression – FAQ

No, you cannot use this to Charge out of Combat.

Emperor’s Children

Carnival of Excess – FAQ

The check for whether a unit already has Sustained Hits (and thus benefits from Criticals on 5+) accepts any value of Sustained Hits, not specifically Sustained Hits 1. Good to have that closed off.

Grey Knights

Stormraven Missiles – FAQ

Yes, these are better than regular Marine ones. What of it? Do you know how big Greater Daemons are?

Imperial Agents

Combat Landers/Clandestine Operation – Errata in an FAQ Hat

An actual buff here – although you choose units for these effects at the start of the Declare Battle Formations phase, which is before Leaders get attached, this FAQ says that any Leader who joins those units will benefit too.

This means you no longer have to use two “slots” on this if you want to use them on a unit and the Leader, and for Clandestine Operation if you want to go all in on Infiltrating three big Deathwatch Kill Teams with Watch Masters/Artemis, you can now. 

Seems legitimately helpful, if not something that will suddenly fire these into the metagame.

Necrons

Cryptothralls

Yes, these can sneakily manage to Fight more than once if they die, Fight on Death, then get reanimated via a Stratagem. Didn’t hear no bell.

Orks

Big Mek Shokk-Boosta – Errata

This is updated to add standard riders about moving through but not ending within enemy Engagement range, and also allows the unit to ignore Desperate Escape tests. Why are Orks running away? Unclear, but I guess that helps.

Space Wolves

Iron Priest – Errata (Nerf)

Mercifully, this now only gives Rapid Fire 1 to a single weapon on the chosen Vehicle, not all of them, which is much more sensible. Plausibly a bit underpowered compared to regular Techmarines now, but that’s what happens when a rule like this slips through and has to get nuked.

Rob: This means slapping the butt of an Impulsor full of Desolators isn’t nearly as crazy good as it was, but you still get most of the value you were looking for on a Repulsor Executioner or Gladiator Lancer. You just won’t also get it with Rapid Fire Hunter Killer Missiles.

Logan Grimnar – Errata (Nerf)

Logan’s aura is no longer cumulative with anything else that increases the CP cost of stratagems, addressing an issue where it was a bit too easy to roll him around with a Callidus Assassin. Honestly – this should just be an update to the core Balance Dataslate for these, they should never stack.

Rob: Strong agree on that one.

Wolf Guard Headtakers – Errata

These still get to pick a quarry if they start the battle in a Transport. Good.

Wolf-Touched – Errata

Whoops, no you cannot suddenly attach a Leader to a Wulfen Dreadnought. Cut that out.

T’au

Kauyon – Errata

Hrmm. So – in the Codex FAQ, there’s an update to the Kauyon wording to make it clear that both parts of the new version of the ability (for the updates to For the Greater Good)  only apply in the third through fifth Battle Rounds. However, the “wrong” wording where the Ignore Modifiers bit applies all the time is still there in the Balance Dataslate, which theoretically takes precedence over other documents. Feels like the intent is obvious, but who knows which way TOs will go.

Thousand Sons

Warpmeld Pact – Mutalith Vortex Beasts – Errata (Nerf)

Mutaliths no longer work with the Warpmeld Pact detachment rule at all. Not sure why you couldn’t just whack 20pts on them.

Warpmeld Pact – Timing – Errata

The Mortal Wounds from a Warpmeld Pact now occur at the end of the phase. On paper, this is a buff, especially on the offence as you won’t lose models who cannot then attack. In practice, the goal is shutting out the ability to potentially pull Tzaangors out of harm’s way by losing models, so is a nerf in places where TOs were allowing that.

Mutalith Vortex Beasts – Aura – Errata (Nerf)

This now doesn’t stack with any other bonuses to casting, mostly relevant for Magnus, where it became too easy to hit the “big” versions.

Rob: It’s important to note that the Mutalith buff only applies when you Channel the Warp, i.e. roll the third die – so it’s not quite as devastating as it was but it’s still a bit of a blow to Magnus, whose ability to go to +3 made him a must-take when it came to firing off the big Twist of Fate. It’s also a nerf to Ahriman, whose utility was further diminished by being limited to +1 on his casts.

Rubricae Phalanx – Errata in an FAQ Hat

Like Imperial Agents, Characters joining a Rubricae unit you’ve given Infiltrate to can benefit. This is a huge boost to the Detachment, as it makes Infiltrating a Terminator unit with Sorcerer possible, or lets you go hard with Rubricae.

Rob: This is huge – Taking a 10-model unit of Terminators to infiltrate is big, but taking them without a character made the whole thing pointless.

Minor Errata

A few units get standard rules or profiles that were missed added – the important one being Firing Deck 2 on Rhinos, making them even better in this army.

Rob: I’d like to wish a very merry “eat it” to the nerds who replied to our latest YouTube video telling us that Rhinos don’t have Firing Deck. You all knew that was an oversight. Come on, now.

Tyranids

Subterranean Assault – Markers – Errata

Tunnel Markers are now explicitly 40mm circular Markers. This adds a little bit of reach compared to playing them as single points on the battlefield, I must confess I do not know how events were ruling this beforehand, there’s nothing in the UKTC FAQ, so whether this actually plays as a buff will depend on what the local ruling was (but clarity is good and welcome).

Subterranean Assault – Tunnel Network – Errata (Nerf)

You cannot use this to pull units from Engagement Range, in line with most similar effects.

Subterranean Assault – Mawlocs – FAQ

Mawlocs only trigger their Terror from the Deep if they use their native Deep Strike to arrive – so it’s either/or on arriving from a tunnel or getting Mortal Wounds.

World Eaters

Hoo boy these are going to make some players (rightfully) mad.

Summoned by Slaughter – Errata (Nerf)

Two major changes were made here to the Summoned by Slaughter Stratagem from the Khorne Daemonkin Detachment:

• Transports now disembark before you drop your unit in
• Bloodletters must be placed more than 6″ away from all enemy units

That first one is more an edge case, preventing you from trapping a unit in a transport, but that second adjustment just absolutely devastates what was one of the game’s coolest abilities. Going from a 1″ restriction to 6″ makes the ability much, much less useful, and makes it way easier to screen Bloodletters off objectives with your surviving units. It’s a massive nerf that I’m not sure the Detachment needed, especially given how it hasn’t been the strongest way to run the army recently. This may kill the Detachment dead. A 6″ drop is still good but it’s nowhere near the power level Bloodletters had before. I’d have personally recommended a 3″ restriction if this had to be put into place, but 6″ is in-line with other rules changes they’ve made.

Icon of Khorne – Errata (Nerf)

A slight nerf, the Icon of Khorne wording has been updated to require your icon bearer to be alive and in the unit. Makes sense.

Lord on Juggernaut – FAQ

If you give this guy the Disciple of Khorne Enhancement in the Khorne Daemonkin Detachment, he can no longer be your Warlord as he loses the required keyword to do so. I’m really not a fan of how this detachment handles the Warlord situation, but this is what it is.

World Eaters Helbrute Clarifications – FAQ

Finally, there are a number of FAQ items here for the World Eaters Helbrute, none of which really change how it works if you already knew the rules for combat. He can’t pile in and fight in the Shooting phase if he’s out of Engagement Range, and he’ll only very rarely be able to shoot in the Fight phase as Big Guns Never Tire doesn’t apply then. He can trigger his ability more than once, and he can still fight normally after the ability triggers. These little murder robots stay winning.

 

That does it for this week’s changes but you can bet we’ll be looking at how all of these change the competitive environment over the next few weeks, having an impact on games and events. Check back next Wednesday for Competitive Innovations and stay tuned for these changes to show up in our Start Competing faction guides over the next few weeks.

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