Happy New Year from the Warhammer 40,000 Studio! We’re all looking forward to another year of poring over tournament results and fine-tuning this great game to keep it fun, fair and balanced for everyone.
This edition of Metawatch accompanies a selection of updates to Warhammer 40,000, which we’ll lay out below – as usual, there’s a video which explains more of the reasoning behind the updates we’ve made for the upcoming season, while this article summarises the facts of what has changed.
The Mission Pack, Dataslate and points changes are designed to be used together, so should be deployed when you get your hands on the Arks of Omen Mission Pack - don’t forget it’s up for preorder this weekend!
Chapter Approved: Arks of Omen – Grand Tournament Mission Pack
Games played using the new mission pack will inform the next season of Metawatch data, so we’re really keen to see what players make of the opportunities it presents. There are some key changes to the ways you will build armies and play matched play games using this mission pack, which we’ll cover here.
All players using this mission pack will now build their armies using the new Arks of Omen Detachment. This flexible Detachment allows players extra choice in theming their armies, by taking one compulsory HQ choice – unless they’re Imperial Knights or Chaos Knights – and three compulsory choices from either Troops, Elites, Fast Attack, Heavy Support, or Lords of War.
The rest of your Arks of Omen Detachment can then be filled out with optional choices, including Flyers and Fortifications. This makes army construction easier and more flexible, and allows players to take less commonly-seen units such as Lords of War without incurring a Command point cost.
Using the Battle Brothers rule, small allied forces can also be fielded alongside the Arks of Omen Detachments of certain armies. ASURYANI and DRUKHARI armies in need of comic relief can add a Patrol Detachment of HARLEQUINS, for example, while the ASTRA MILITARUM Arks of Omen Detachment can be joined by a MILITARUM TEMPESTUS Patrol for some drop troop support.
Neither the Arks of Omen Detachment nor your Allied Detachment cost any Command points – and nor does placing units in Strategic Reserves. As both players start with six CP, you’ll have plenty of points to spend on customising your army with Requisition Stratagems or making bold tactical choices in-game.
Every faction gets their own secondary objectives in the book – including newer armies like Leagues of Votann and World Eaters – and existing secondary objectives have been refined or replaced across the board. A bunch of universal objectives now offer bonus CP if you make good use of Troops – these trusty soldiers are valued for a reason!
There’s also a suite of updated Incursion and Strike Force-level missions for matched play commanders to challenge themselves, written and revised with the above new rules in mind.
Munitorum Field Manual 2023 Mk I
Alongside the new Chapter Approved Mission Pack, the Munitorum Field Manual has been updated in line with the feedback we’ve received and observations we’ve made over the last season of matched play, to bring the points value of every unit in the Warhammer 40,000 game more in line with our expectations.
Some highlights include:
Space Marines are seeing large points changes across the entire range – for example, wargear and weapon options are now largely free to choose from. There are also notable changes to a variety of base model costs, ranging from Reivers to Repulsors.
Adeptus Mechanicus have benefited from an army-wide points review, with wargear costs dropping amongst Troop choices and many VEHICLES getting a price dip, with the aim of improving their overall win-rate and list diversity.
Chaos Space Marines are receiving lots of free or discounted wargear options for VEHICLES and Legionaries, with the intention of making these less-frequently taken units more appealing to players.
Chaos Daemons get a wave of cost reductions. These focus heavily on less commonly-chosen units like Bloodcrushers and Plaguebearers – regular daemonhunters will be pleased to learn that the cost of Flamers remains unchanged.
Tyranids should see their meta reshaped by a complete points overhaul. Cost bumps for beasts like the Carnifex and Zoanthropes are aimed at encouraging more focus on their horde playstyle, while keeping an army of elite monsters as a viable option.
Genestealer Cults have undergone a thorough review of wargear and weapon option costs, to shake up viable builds. Neophyte Hybrid and Acolyte Hybrid squads will find themselves with more points to play with, while speedy Atalan Jackals grab free wargear in exchange for a nudge upwards in base price.
Balance Dataslate
While the Munitorum Field Manual provides us with an opportunity to make changes to points values, the Balance Dataslate allows us to change keywords or abilities to bring individual datasheets in line with the ever-evolving metagame, and ensure there is a role for every unit in every army.
Taken together, these two tools provide us with two different ways to keep each and every unit useful and competitive. We have explained the thinking behind the role of the Balance Dataslates in previous Metawatch articles – here are the key changes for the upcoming quarter.
After a period in which units clad in power armour – as well as Astra Militarum tanks – were able to worsen the AP characteristic of incoming attacks, Armour of Contempt has now been removed. Tank commanders may already have noticed it did not make an appearance in the recent Codex: Astra Militarum, as we didn’t feel it was doing the job we wanted it to – check out the video for more on this.
ADEPTUS ASTARTES armies can now choose whether to change their Combat Doctrines to the next step, rather than having to follow the instructions set out in Codex: Space Marines – a fair reflection of their tactical flexibility!
In addition, once objectives have been claimed by Space Marine Troops such as Intercessors or Infiltrators, they remain claimed until an enemy unit takes them back. This change highlights the mobile, rapid response nature of Space Marine assaults, as their Troops move from objective to objective without needing to hold their ground every turn just to keep scoring VPs.
Flamers were seeing a great deal of play in daemonic legions and alongside the Sons of Magnus alike, in no small part because of their great mobility coupled with their ranged firepower. Their flickering flames will no longer hit automatically, instead needing to roll using their BS of 3+. With D6+3 attacks, they’re still likely to land plenty of Strength 5 hits – but without unleashing the outright devastation that units of auto-hitting Flamers used to cause, especially in Overwatch.
The Harlequins have received several tweaks over the course of the Balance Dataslates so far, but the final Metawatch article of 2022 revealed that they were still one of the most effective armies over the course of the year. Worsening the invulnerable saves of every HARLEQUINS unit – while not altering their points values much in the accompanying Balance Dataslate – is our latest effort to bring them in line with the other armies in the game.
The armies of the Hive Mind have also been the target of a few different amendments in order to stop them consuming everything arrayed before them. All the previous Balance Dataslate modifications are still in effect, and in addition, the Overrun Stratagem can now only be played on CORE units.
Furthermore, Biovores, Harpies and Sporocysts can no longer create Spore Mines or Mucolid Spores without costing any Reinforcement points – keeping Tyranid armies from absolutely littering the battlefield with organic bio-bombs.
A change here to the Creations of Bile subfaction, which has been driving up the reported win rates of the entire codex due to its popularity on the competitive scene, means that slain units will have to roll a 4 or more in order to fight before they are removed in the Fight phase.
The limitation on using the Esteemed Amalgam, Emperor’s Auspice and Martial Discretion Stratagems has been removed. In addition, the previous change to grant Objective Secured to ADEPTUS CUSTODES Troops units has now been extended to all CORE INFANTRY units – good news for Allarus Custodians.
A small change to the rules regarding custom Dynasties means a Dynastic Code created with Eternal Conquerors – which grants Objective Secured – cannot also take an additional code from the Circumstances of Awakening. Among other combinations, this precludes a Necron army having both Objective Secured and a pre-game Normal Move from the Relentlessly Expansionist code.
The Adeptus Mechanicus is another faction that has received a suitable amount of tinkering as we try to improve their win-rate relative to the other armies in the game. Kataphon Breachers and Destroyers now receive the CORE keyword, and every unit with Bionics improves its invulnerable save to 5+. That includes Skitarii Rangers and Vanguard, Kataphron Breachers and Destroyers, smaller Servitors, and both flavours of Ironstrider Engine.
We hope that this latest round of improvements will boost the Machine Cult’s performance and help them claw their way up from the bottom of the win-rate rankings!
Between the Munitorum Field Manual and the Balance Dataslate, we have taken the opportunity to rebalance every army for the upcoming season and we hope you’ll see the results of this in your games, particularly battles fought using the Arks of Omen Mission Pack.
We will of course continue to monitor results from events around the world, and the feedback sent to the 40KFAQ@gwplc.com email address, as we constantly balance the many moving parts of Warhammer 40,000 in an effort to keep the game as fresh and exciting for everyone as possible. We’ll share the results of these changes in future updates, and more of our thinking in further Metawatch articles!