The morale phase has always been a weird rules mechanic GW could never get right in 40k, and now, it’s been completely reworked for 9th edition!
As your units get blasted by horrifying weapons in the grimdark universe, their mental fortitude could become a little shaken. A shambling Death Guard squirting you with mystery ooze must be traumatizing or something… With that said, the Morale Phase has been reworked. So learn it now before you have to pause in your next game to read the rules carefully.
New 40k Morale Phase Rules: Will Your Units Get Spooked in 9th?
These rules are a part of the free downloadable 9th Edition PDF from Warhammer Community:
You should definitely read these rules for yourself but here are the highlights:
- You’ll take a Morale Test like always, rolling a D6 + adding the number of models lost and comparing your Ld on the datasheet.
- Rolling a 1 during the Morale Test is always a success.
- If you fail, one model runs away (no matter how bad you fail). You then have to take a Combat Attrition Test.
- Combat Attrition Tests involve rolling 1D6 for each model in the unit, and for every 1 rolled, a model in the unit runs away.
- Somethings can modify the roll, like -1 debuffs, or if the unit is below half-strength. This could mean you have models run away on a roll of a 2+ or 3+. That’s a big deal.
Leadership-Effecting Units Will Be Viable
While the current datasheets of leadership-effecting units only give a -1 Ld, there have been some strong hints over the past few weeks of things changing for them. The GW team on Warhammer TV’s Twitch Stream talked about units like Night Lords, Reivers, Sanguinary Guard, etc. causing a -1 modifier to the Combat Attrition roll. If this is stackable, Morale could be a haunting phase for some armies.
For Example, Sanguinary Guard and Reivers in one Blood Angels list could force a unit to have models run away on a 3+. There hasn’t been any word on their datasheets being changed to affect Morale that way, but it was heavily hinted.
Stu Black even mentioned that “Future unit rules will have effects on the Morale Test and the Combat Attrition Tests”.
With all of this taken into account, the Morale Phase may be underplayed during the first few games of 9th Edition. However, we may see some surprising morale-destroying lists that are initially not taken seriously show up to sucker punch the meta.
What are your thoughts on the reworked Morale Phase? Does a Morale-killing list interest you? What are some other solid -1 Ld units out there?
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About the Author: Wesley Floyd
