Here are all the new 40k rules previews that are coming our way in Engine war for Admech, Chaos and Imperial Knight models thus far!
Going off of all the official previews of what’s ahead, here are all the details that we know of revolving around Engine War so far. By the way, in case you haven’t seen the announcement, Engine War is going to still be usable in 9th Edition.
All the New Engine War 40k Rules So Far: Admech & Knights
So how is Engine War sizing up to be? Whether you like your machines daemonically possessed or not, there’s something for all of these factions coming soon!
Engine War Table of Contents
The Table of Contents was previewed from GW earlier on. So far, we still have yet to see any support come to the Daemons but we’re sure that’ll change as we close in on the release date.
Imperial Knight Support
Starting with Stratagems, the Knight Wardens got a 1CP Strat to absolutely PEPPER an enemy unit standing within 8″ of it.
The Warden’s Avenger Gatling Cannon’s shots all auto-hit. The key thing is that this will have to be a target within 8″ to make use of it. Good thing Wardens don’t mind getting into melee so you should be close to enemies with this Knight build anyway. SPICY!
For Helverins, this is a 1CP max-shot output trick. If you’re taking a squad of Helverins you’ll want to use this in every shooting phase that you can. Also note it says when an Armiger Helverin model from your army is chosen to shoot with. That seems to mean that 1CP, all your Helverins get max shots, right?
Finally, you’ll probably want to use this Stratagem on a Gallant. Whenever you kill a Titanic unit, you can convert 1CP into +1 attack for the rest of the game. This can be solid if the conditions are right. However, the more attacks you throw on a model like a Knight, they’ll be an even bigger target so don’t expect him to last too long.
Create Your Own Household Rules
Just like every other faction getting more rules support, Imperial Knights will also be able to pull from tables of unique rules to make their own Household.
Imperial Knights now also give you the option to create your own knightly household. When you do this, you get to select two abilities and apply them to your force. Do your Knights like to squash hordes as if they were insignificant insects? Then choose Guardians of the Frontier.
If you plan on going against monsters or just want your Knights to have even happier feet. You can give them Guardians of the Frontier. It’s going to be hard to proc this rule because you have to be standing next to a unit with 11 or more models. That’s really only found in Chaos, Orks, and some Nid lists most of the time.
Stormstriders is a little bit stronger and more consistent as you always get +1″ to your movement and it will hardly ever change. Note, your BS/WS might get worse as you degrade. However, your movement should relatively be untouched.
Mehcanicus & imperial Allegiance Expanded
Imperial Knights owe their allegiance to either the Imperium of Man or the Machine Cult, and you can now get a bonus for your army depending on which one you choose to swear yourself to.
If you roll with Mechanicus, you can auto-heal a wound on each of your turns. Just a useful little side rule that could bring you a bracket higher if you’re damaged.
Each Allegiance also offers a choice of three new Warlord Traits. If you’ve pledged yourself to the Imperium and like getting up close and personal, then increase the range of your Heroic Intervention.
If you choose your allegiance to be Imperial and you make your Knight the Warlord, GW’s given us Tireless Duty to look at. This will let you Heroically Intervene 6″ which will help create a bubble of safety around some units/characters that you don’t necessarily want to be eaten by a Disco Lord.
Chaos Knight Rules
Starting off, depending on if you choose Iconoclast or Infernal to be your Household allegiance, your Knights will get access to specific Stratagems, Warlord Traits, and artifacts.
If your force is from an Iconoclast household, you can now declare your army to be part of House Lucaris, House Herpetrax or House Khymere. Alternatively, if your allegiance is to an Infernal household, you can join House Vertrix or House Khomentis. Each house has its own Household Bond, Warlord Trait, Artefact of Tyranny and Stratagem.
Iconoclast Household Support
For any Herpetrax Knight you take, you’ll get the Dauntless Bond. If you’re playing a War Dog, you’ll only get one (which makes sense). Honestly, it might not seem like a big deal, but any time you make it harder for your opponent to take down a 400+ pt model, you’re forcing them to devote even more firepower than what they may feel comfortable using.
The first rule above was a Bond (Like a Chapter Tactic). Now we’re looking at a Warlord Trait for House Lucaris. Strike First, Strike Often keeps this Knight relatively safe from Smash Captain delete buttons. This Knight will always fight regardless of who charged. If you’re wondering why we said this Warlord Trait will keep you “relatively” safe, it’s because the Smash Captain could always spend 2CP to fight as they die. Overall though, this is insanely powerful. Especially going against other Knights or any melee-heavy list.
For Khymere, you’re getting access to Fury of Surt’rs Wake which turns your Knight into a mortal wound bomb. It’s pretty cool that they brought in the Norse fire giant Surtr into the fluff. The Knight spews fire everywhere around him melting things within 3″. the only sucky part is that it’s kind of expensive at 2CP for something that’s 50/50. Maybe this will be more cost-effective moving into 9th, who knows?
Infernal Household Support
For the Infernal Household previews, House Vextrix is getting an artifact called the Heretek Power Core. This thing is sweet as you’ll get a bonus inch of movement, +1 damage on your chainsword/gauntlet, and explode at a +1 to your roll. If you’ve got a wrecking ball Knight build, this may be an artifact to consider.
Khomentis is getting some War Dog Stratagem support with Encircling Hounds. This lets you outflank with a unit of War Dogs. If you’re running the melee dudes, you can drop them in up close and make them a priority target. Or in case you’re going up against one of those annoying no-LOS shooting lists, you can drop your autocannon dudes in at a different angle to pop some shots. Definitely competitive at 1CP.
Custom Household Rules
Of course, you may decide that you want to create your own dread household, and Engine War has rules to let you do this. Choose two abilities from the list that really represent how your Knights make war.
Slayer of Kings is okay. We say it’s okay because you pretty much have to be running some form of a melee Knight for this to work and the Rampager already has a 2+ WS. It’s mainly useful for Knights that have a ranged/melee weapon or if you plan on seeing your Knights degrade quickly before they can put some work in. You basically get +1 WS on your Knight if you target a Vehicle or Monster. Remember that this is only for melee and you can’t use your feet.
Pinpoint Cruelty seems pretty dope, getting a free reroll for damage in overwatch, shooting, and melee is solid. It could be a little dependent on your Knight loadout, but if you’re running two thermal cannons then this is definitely something to consider for sure!
Adeptus Mechanicus: The Biggest Support Wave Yet
For the Adeptus Mechanicus, they’re getting a batch of fresh rules on top of a handful of new kits. This is by far the biggest support wave we’ve seen GW give anyone in Psychic Awakening.
Tech-Priest Manipulus
First seen in Kill Team Theta-7 Acquisitus box, these Tech-Priests are now available on their own. Their bodies are bloated with bizarre machinery, allowing them to bend the Motive Force to their will. They float across the battlefield, enhancing nearby troops and unleashing baleful energies with magnarail lances and transonic cannons.
New Cavalry Options
Sulphurhounds
This is a pretty unique weapon the Sulphurhounds are getting. It’s essentially a -1 AP flamer that ignores cover but can also be shot while in melee with the enemy. Not something that’s necessarily game-breaking. However, your opponents will have to take into account any prolonged combat with them. Especially in a bigger unit where you can get 3D6+ auto hits.
Serberys Raiders
We saw earlier that the leader of the squad has an Archeo-Revolver which is enough to blap a regular Primaris in the face. The only downside is that you can only have one in a squad. At least, that’s what it’s looking like still perhaps?
Even if you advance, you can still fire your pistols in the unit, which is pretty solid. But nothing game-winning.
This is pretty sick. Adeptus Mechanicus are getting a fast cavalry unit that can also force characters to keep their heads down. You’ll be able to run up on an objective while slapping a character a few ranks back in the enemy’s deployment.
“Jump” Units Statlines & More Revealed
Both the Skystalkers and Sterilyzors are going to share the same basic statline. We’ve got another 2-wound unit hitting the field making autocannons and stalker bolt rifles look better and better. Honestly, those weapons will be these guys’ worst nightmare. The Pteraxii are only T3 but have a decent save and some nice movement. On top of that, they’re S4 and will be hitting on 3’s. This is probably going to be a unit that you don’t expect to take a ton of punishment. But if left ignored, can do a decent amount of work.
If we’re understanding things right, both units will also come equipped with Pteraxii Talons. Although given the nature of the unit, you’ll probably be using the Talons more on the Sterilyzors.
Pteraxii Sterylizors
The flamer variant of the Skystalkers, the Sterilyzors are getting the same kind of weapon the Sulphurhounds have. It’s just a longer range and counted as an assault weapon. The best part about this is that these are looking to be 12″ deepstriking flamers.
We don’t know the name of this rule. But the Sterilyzors will also be getting +1 Strength and attack on the charge.
On a turn in which they charge, each Sterylizor will be rolling three attacks at Strength 5…
Pteraxii Skystalkers
Next, let’s look at what the Skystalkers are getting. This is baller right here- a 24″ assault 5 gun is fantastic. On top of some flying models that’ll probably be able to move 10-12″, this will give you a massive threat bubble. Especially against cheap units that try to be ignored all game and sit on objectives.
The Skystalkers are also getting some Grenade Clusters. Where this rule will shine is if you’re able to bring a unit of ten and move over something like a Dreadnought or Impulsor. In that circumstance, you’ll be rolling ten dice looking for a 3+ for each mortal wound. That’s plenty of potential to make a nice dent in a vehicle or finish something off.
Three Flyer Options In One
Archaeopter (coming with three builds)- Transvector, Stratoraptor, and Fusilave
For rules, we’ve got the Command Uplink. This probably isn’t going to come up in very many games. But at least if you NEED it, you can give your dudes on the frontlines a higher leadership.
The Chaff Launcher is going to shut down Autocannons, Stalker bolt rifles, Avenger Gatling Cannons, Burst Cannons, etc. that are normally used to chip wounds off of armor. Way more useful than the command uplink.
Build Your Own Forge World
Engine War introduces the option for you to create your own forge world for your Adeptus Mechanicus force to hail from. You then get to select a primary and secondary ability to make a new dogma for your world.
They’ve probably broken two tables down in Primary and Secondary rules to help keep things balanced. Some are probably way more powerful than others and wanted to keep players from picking the top rules always.
Radiant Disciples is really strong. But where it’s usefulness falls off is that it’s only for INFANTRY. If your Skorpius Disintegrators and Dunecrawlers turned a S8 melta into S7, that would be ridiculous.
Omnissiah’s Shield is another good one to use in conjunction with Radiant Disciples if you want your Infantry to stick to the board as much as possible. However, you definitely wouldn’t pick these if you’re planning on using a heavily-mechanized force.
Admech Getting New Forge World Canticles
If you want to stick with the main Forge Worlds, there are some new Canticles coming your way. For Mars, Panegyric Procession is pretty disgusting. This is almost equivalent to the Iron Hands Devastator Doctrine bonus. Ignoring heavy and increasing the Strength by 1 will be able to give the army a brutal turn of being able to crack open armor.
For Stygies, Plea of the Veiled Hunter is basically the Ultramarines Chapter Tactic with a mechanical reskin. Still good nonetheless.
New Holy Order Warlord Traits
Whichever forge world your forces are from, you can now join in the political machinations of the Adeptus Mechanicus. If your Warlord joins one of the four Holy Orders, they will be able to select the associated Warlord Trait. Each Holy Order gives you a choice of three abilities to select at the start of one of your turns. Throw in your lot in with the Magi to get these abilities.
A Warlord Trait with three abilities for you to select is already a solid bonus. But giving you the choice of exploding 6’s to hit, rolling charges, or rolling 2D6 and picking the highest to advance is something that any army can use. This is more than likely going to be a hot pick. Just remember- don’t build a list around this guy because Snipers will be all over him like stink on $@*%.
Two New Stratagems Revealed
This is a 1CP “turn off your Chapter Master rerolls” or a 1CP “turn off your Chaplain Litanies”. This should most certainly see play. For 1CP, turning off an invuln aura or any kind of reroll is huge.
Although there is some real power in this Stratagem, the unit causing this will more than likely be focus-fired into next week. To get the max benefits from it on your turn, you’ll probably only want to use this on units that are putting off an invulnerable save aura like Deredeos, Knights, and Big Meks.
For the Skystalkers (S3 assault 5 guns), you can pop a CP and have a unit become “suppressed”. This is a slightly worse rule from what the Primaris Suppressors have as they turn off overwatch. However, subtracting all the hit rolls from a suppressed unit is decent in the right circumstance. It can hurt armies like Tau, Orks, and Guard who have 50/50 or worse BS.
There you have it! That’s everything we know on Engine War so far. Keep your eyes peeled for Daemon support to pop up at some point because we’re still in the dark on what they’ll be getting.
What do you think about all the new hotness ready to drop in Engine War? Will you be starting an Adeptus Mechanicus force? Is the House Lucaris Warlord Trait Smash Captain repellent?
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About the Author: Wesley Floyd
Wesley Floyd
Job Title: Staff Writer
Joined: 2018
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About Wesley Floyd: Wes has been in the Warhammer hobby since 2015 and joined the Spikey Bits writing team in 2018. He is known for his satirist takes on trending topics and imaginative yet amazingly affordable hobby solutions to painting Warhammer miniatures.
Imperial fanboy, tabletop fanatic, and the self-proclaimed King of Sprues. He knows for a fact that Mephiston red is the best-tasting paint and is the commission painting equivalent of a Wendy’s 4 for $4. If you like what he writes and want to contact him or have your tabletop minatures painted (to a mostly okayish standard), message him on Instagram.
