9th Edition 40k is coming and it’s time for us to take a look at some major changes to each phase starting with the movement rules!
Going off of the free rules download by Warhammer Community there have been minor tweaks in areas that have a major impact in-game. Let’s jump into the Movement Phase.
Look Out For These 9th Edition 40k Movement Rules
We won’t be going through every detail of the Movement phase as largely, it’s unchanged from 8th. You still:
- Select one unit to move at a time.
- You must stay within coherency at the end of the Move.
- You’ve got to finish moving all of the models in a unit before moving onto another unit.
- Units can only move up to “M” which is on your Datasheet. If you do any kind of weird pivots and turns on your vehicles and your hull ends up closer than what your datasheet says you can move, you have to bring it back a bit.
Some of the major changes start with falling back.
As always, you can never advance when you fall back and you can’t charge in the same turn where you fell back. However, tightening things down a bit more, you also can’t cast Psychic Powers after falling back unless you’re a big ol’ mondo unit. That’s a big nerf to Psyker heavy lists like Thousand Sons.
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In addition, Flying units that fall back can’t shoot. That means Tyranid players with their twin Devourer Hive Tyrants might play a bit more gingerly in the future.
One small note to make on reinforcements is that it’s no longer at the end of the Movement Phase. While they do come in at the tail-end of the Movement Phase, by the way it’s worded, it seems like Stratagems that you can use in the Movement Phase are usable on units that just arrived.
Simply because it’s not “At the end” of the Movement Phase like 8th Edition. Rather, you set them up, and then the Movement Phase ends. Hopefully, that’s not confusing.
Finally, things terrain less than 1″ high can be moved over like normal. However, anything more than that and you’ll have to either go around or climb up and down. FLY keyword units seem to have not just the bonus of moving over models (but still can’t end their movement on top of another model), but also ignoring vertical distances altogether.
In short, here are the changes:
- Units that fly can’t fall back and shoot.
- Units can’t fall back and cast Psychic Powers in the same turn.
- Terrain over 1″ tall can’t be ignored.
- Reinforcements now come in during the last part of the Movement Phase, not at the end.
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With all of this on the table for the Movement Phase in 9th Edition, what are your thoughts? Has the Movement Phase just gotten a lot more tricky? Have Flyer and Psyker heavy lists gotten nerfed?
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About the Author: Wesley Floyd
Wesley Floyd
Job Title: Staff Writer
Joined: 2018
Socials: @RealmbrushPainting
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.
