Sharpen your measuring sticks and dust off your dice – Chapter Approved 2022 is available for pre-order tomorrow. It contains two volumes, bringing a host of changes to points values in the Munitorum Field Manual, and loads of new missions for matched play in the War Zone Nachmund: Grand Tournament Mission Pack.
The GT Mission Pack will be the bible for competitive play during the upcoming season of Warhammer 40,000, featuring everything you need to play on the most level strategic playing field. Here's a round-up of the key changes.
Missions Have Been Reviewed
Missions have all been reviewed and improved, with new rules to ensure every game provides players with tactical challenges. There are nine each for Incursion- and Strike Force-sized games, such as The Scouring.
Veterans of the Grand Tournament scene will notice that there is no secondary objective. Missions now come with two primary objectives each, and while scoring is still focused on holding objective markers, these new objectives give players new ways to score crucial points.
Secondary Objectives Revamped
The Warhammer 40,000 team have adjusted a handful of secondary objectives based on feedback from the community. They’ve also added new secondary objectives for factions that don't have their codex yet, which is good news for Astra Militarum, Tyranids, and Chaos Knights players, among others.
When players select secondary objectives, they must select three. At least two of these must come from this Mission Pack, while the third can be from their codex or codex supplement, for new layers of strategy.
Changes to Keywords and List Building
The biggest change to list building are selectable sub-faction keywords such as <Chapter>. Originally these were picked on a unit-by-unit basis, so squads and Detachments could come from different subfactions. This selection is now made when you start to build your list, and the sub-faction you choose now replaces every example of that keyword – meaning your whole army now has to come from the same grouping.
This keeps your armies – and your opponents’ – from becoming overly complex, ensuring that the unit compositions and synergies you build in your lists can provide an interesting, evolving challenge.
There are a handful of exemptions, as you’d expect – named characters have a pre-selected keyword, but are exempt from the restriction, while <Mark of Chaos> and <Allegiance> keywords can also be different – so Bel'akor’s unaligned daemon armies are still viable.
Super-heavy Auxiliary Detachments also encourage a unified army, as they can offer a Command Benefit of +2 Command Points if the Lord of War choice shares a faction with your Warlord (other than Chaos, Imperium, Aeldari, Ynnari, or Tyranids). Combine that with an upcoming points drop, and it looks like Monoliths are back on the menu.
Fortifications Revisited
The last major change comes to Fortifications. These structures have previously chafed against mission deployment, so a new rule has been put in place for players who want to bring their buildings and barricades to the table, which should make deployment easier.
Combined with the points changes in the Munitorum Field Guide, which were previewed yesterday, Chapter Approved 2022 creates the complete competitive experience for Warhammer 40,000.
What's more, additional support will also be released in due course, so you and your gaming group can participate in the larger story of the Nachmund Gauntlet however you prefer. Vigilus Alone is a narrative supplement containing rules for new sub-factions and armies of renown, as well as a fantastic multiplayer campaign system tracking the brutal struggle for the key planet of Vigilus, while you will even be able to tie in your Crusade games using the forthcoming Wars of Faith Mission Pack.
Chapter Approved 2022 is available for pre-order this weekend. The next Balance Dataslate, which is important but less far-reaching due to the changes in Chapter Approved, will follow in early February, continuing to flesh out the season.
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