It’s an exciting time to be a fan of matched play for Warhammer 40,000, as Chapter Approved – War Zone Nephilim: Grand Tournament Mission Pack is coming to pre-order this weekend.
Chapter Approved is the essential companion for matched play in both casual and tournament games, bringing regular updates to deliver the best possible competitive experience – and this instalment is kicking off a new season with substantial changes to shake things up. Let’s take a look!
First up, secondary objectives have received an overhaul. No more flipping between books – all the secondary objectives you can pick from are revised and collated here. That includes faction-specific objectives – there are even secondary objectives for factions that haven’t yet received their newest codex, such as the bold Astra Millitarum or frenzied World Eaters.
Each player starts with three generic secondary objectives – Assassination, Grind Them Down, and Behind Enemy Lines – which they can swap out ahead of deployment. Another change – there are no limits when it comes to faction secondary objectives. If you want to pick two objectives specific to your faction, or even all three, go right ahead – so long as they’re all from a different category.
Perhaps the biggest shift comes with Command points. Players now start each battle with half as many as before – three for Incursions and six for Strike Force battles. What’s more, there are no freebies in Nephilim – players must now also pay a Command point for their first Warlord Trait and Relic, using two new Core Requisition Stratagems.*
Command points are now more precious than ever in the early game – you’ll need to carefully judge how you build your lists, and it’s a real gamble to explode out of the gate with a killer combo.
Fortunately, there are also changes to the Battle-forged CP Bonus. In War Zone Nephilim missions, players generate a Command point during every Command phase, not just their own – doubling the generation rate.** This steady flow of points will allow canny generals to burn resources to react to their opponent, stay in the game with canny ploys, or stock up for big strategic swings in later battle rounds.
On top of all this, the book features nine missions each for Incursion and Strike Force games, tweaked and revised where necessary from last season’s Grand Tournament mission pack. It also includes the Warhammer 40,000 core rules – paired with your faction’s codex, you’ll have everything you’ll need to play your way through a tournament.
Long-time competitive players will notice that the Munitorum Field Manual is absent – fear not! This season brings with it our first free points update. The entire points update document will be available to download in a digital format from this very website, so players who want the latest points changes for their matched play games will have free and easy access.
You can pre-order Chapter Approved – War Zone Nephilim: Grand Tournament Mission Pack from this Saturday – it’s a vital resource, whether you’re a tournament veteran or just want to play games on the most even footing possible.
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* However, you can now take a Super-Heavy Auxiliary Detachment at no CP cost if it matches your WARLORD’s faction – great news for Knight players in Incursion games.
** You start with half the CP, but gain twice as many – neat how it all balances out, no?