Games Workshop has given us another preview leading up to the release of 8th. Come take a look at the latest on missions and objectives.
Warhammer Community just revealed how missions and objectives are going to work in 8th edition, let’s see what they had to say.
Missions are still a big part of the new Warhammer 40,000.
Experienced players will often tell you that it’s just as important to play the mission as to obliterate your enemy to secure victory, and that’s just as true now.
There are a lot of missions in the new Warhammer 40,000 book, which will give players hundreds of hours of variety.
The most basic mission, Only War, is flexible enough for any style of game. This mission works with armies of any size (though two that have comparable total power levels work best). This mission will be available as part of the free rules in the Warhammer 40,000 Battle Primer and, of course, in the new book itself.
You can see that the mission is simple to set up, and the varying objective types still make it a variable game that will have a lot of replayability.
There are three open play missions that give a bit more variety to your games: Annihilation, Hold at All Costs and Death or Glory – each an archetypal mission fit for any collection.
Narrative play brings more options still, and the rules for these missions are a bit more in-depth. There are six of these in the book: Meat Grinder, Ambush, Patrol, Blitz, Sabotage and Rescue. Each comes with not just new mission rules, but three new Stratagems for the Attacker and three for the Defender, making these games quite distinct from a traditional game. Here are a few examples from the Sabotage mission:
And of course, we have matched play. A lot of these missions will be familiar to players today. You still have your six Eternal War and six Maelstrom of War missions, but with a few tweaks since their last outing. One big change is we now have six deployment maps, rather than the three of today.
Players of a certain vintage might recognise some of these from even older editions.
MMMMMM Cleanse looks to be back!
As well as some changes to the missions and maps, we also have changes to the objectives, particularly in Maelstrom of War. The objective deck has been re-done from the ground up while keeping the feel of that type of game, with its constantly changing and updated orders.
The biggest change in Maelstrom of War, though, might be this little addition: a new Stratagem that any army can use.
We’re getting a good look at examples of how Stratagems will be helping you out with missions and objectives now. For 2 command points you can activate the Orders Stratagem in Maelstorm of War, which is usable by any army in the game, and allows you to discard your Tactical Objective and generate a new one at the start of your turn.
Don’t like the Tactical Objective you have, no problem! Narrative Play is going to have six missions to choose from, but there will only be three objectives for Open Play. Matched Play is still going to have six Eternal War and six Maelstrom of War missions, but now they have six deployment maps instead of three.
What are your thoughts on the new missions and objectives? Let us know in the comments below.
Check back with us tomorrow when they reveal stats for Primaris Space Marines.
