Warhammer 40K: Are You Ready for Edition 10.5? It’s Almost Here
Goatboy here. We have a giant slew of 40K changes coming in the next few weeks. Edition 10.5 is close, and here’s how to prepare.
40K is in flux! Two new codexes (Sisters & GSC) are here, their updated points will show up, new missions, a new Dataslate, and even an updated points for other armies it seems. It is a whole avalanche of updates that is going to cause the game to have a major shift. It makes it hard to really build a list with so much coming down the pipeline so today let’s talk about what I think might show up.
Battleline is Rising
The biggest question we have coming up is – how much Battleline do you actually need? I think the real answer is: are your faction’s Battleline choices good? A few armies have strong choices so it makes sense to see them show up in lists. But a lot of the other faction’s Battleline options aren’t really looking at adding 2+ of these units in hopes to gain a bit more Victory points. It is going to be the fight of the better Dataslates as we prepare to see if 40K events go hard in pushing Battleline-focussed missions or if we will continue to play the game of – who has the best MSU.
MSU Isn’t Going Anywhere
Speaking of MSU – Multiple Small Units – this is going to be key in the upcoming game environment. It appears Actions are going to be heavily pushed in the new missions deck, so having lots of options to activate is going to be a good thing. I also expect to see those armies with tougher than normal MSU options to be doing well as each of those units takes a bit more to really remove from the game. Things like all those different Eightbound Flavors become a problem when trying to chew through a bunch of Toughness 6 and Feel No Pain having jerks on the tabletop. It also means you can easily spread out more to complete things as well which seems to be important with the changes to how you can do Actions.
OC 0 Units Are Sad
The biggest hit in all of this is how OC 0 can’t do things anymore. Your poor Biovores are going to see less play as their mindless little mines can’t pop out a teleport homer or investigate a signal. The poor Nurglings are going to have to continue being move blockers and Engage on all Front homies. Heck those Chaos Spawns are looking a lot less interesting in CSM since they lost their OC value. You mix that with less push to hold your home objective and you are seeing how the game is going to be getting to the middle with OC values and hoping you stay alive.
Hello Dedicated Transports
Which leads me to think Dedicated Transports like Rhinos are going to be extra spicy in this new game. Did you see that Accursed can ride in Rhinos now? Or how you can have a ton of options for little boxes of doom to take over the tabletop. I expect to same to happen to other armies with cheap Dedicated Transports and MSU units that love riding in them. Orks love their Trukks, the Astra Militarum like their Taurox’s, and Sisters are going to be running Rhinos like a bat outta hell. Just having another fast body that you don’t need to do damage with is going to be a powerful one.
Points Changes Are Up In the Air
Beyond just the changes to the Missions I wonder what will see on the point side of things. I expect Orks to get a few small hits targeting Bully Boyz. I don’t see them destroying the meta right now with Necrons probably being more of a problem as well as Thousand Sons. Thousand Sons might see some hits but I don’t expect big changes until they get a new book, a tweaked Cabal system, and probably some better control of how much damage they could do. Really, on the point side of things, we all have to prepare for how much the Sisters are going to have changes to reflect their heavily tuned and updated codex. If they are too cheap it will be a summer of miracles wrecking our tabletops.
Balance Dataslate is Coming
Of course, we can talk all about this, but there is supposed to be a big Dataslate with FAQ coming as well so who knows how things will change. There is talk there might be a new Ad Mech detachment as well as some changes coming down the pipeline. It is going to be pretty wide open what GW wants to fix and the only thing we can guarantee is any of the released books “dataslate” changes that were from the index will fall off. Who knows how crazy it is going to get where we might see datasheet changes, index army rule changes, and even whole new fun detachments to do battle with. It is going to be a crazy summer as a whole new hammer crashes into the Warhammer 40k universe and will just have to find a piece that makes our army sing on the tabletop.
The only constant in Warhammer 40K is change.
