Come see all the major rules changes coming to each 40k faction in the new Forge World Imperial Armor Compendium!
From the looks of it some factions were hit hard, while others are unscathed, or even buffed! It’s exciting times, with changes all over the place. Big things include simplifying some of the weird Forge World rules like Macro weapons getting removed and Void Shields getting reworked kind like Structure points back in the day.
All The New Imperial Armor Compendium 40k Rules
Most of the datasheet images were pulled from the Sprues and Brew review above. Be sure to subscirbe to them for a lot of great videos (and articles on their site as well) to check out any of the datasheets you are wondering about in particular!
Let’s see how the changes affect your hobby.
Imperial Armour Compendium 40k Rules Breakdown
One of the best parts about the book in our opinion is that the points costs are at the end of each section!
With recent 9th edition books making this change as well, the points cost of each model is at the end of each section. While everything being in one book can be good or bad depending on the lens you use, everything you need for a faction being in one place is nice. The compact nature of the compendium takes a no-BS approach keeping just what you need.
This means much less flipping through pages, which leads to faster games, and less time looking things up. VERY NICE!
Space Marine Changes Overview
Martial Legacy replaces the old Relic rule. It cost 1CP per model with this new trait. It’s easier to take one of these units now, but harder to spam so to speak.
There was some talk about some of the fan-favorite successor chapters getting something in the new book. However, it looks like that the chapter traits are just recommendations and not actual unique rules. They are as follows:
- Red Scorpions – Ultramarines with Inheritors of the Primarch.
- Minotaurs – Imperial Fists with Duellists and Stalwart chapter tactics.
- Blood Ravens – Ultramarines with Stalwart and Knowledge is Power.
- Astral Claws – Ultramarines with Rapid Assault and Hungry for Battle.
- Carcharodons – Raven Guard with Stealthy and Whirlwind of Rage.
Hecaton Aiakos got a huge buff this time around and is worth considering to take if your a Minotaurs player. 2+ BS and WS make him a beater, 9 wounds mean he doesn’t bracket, 4+INV mean he’s hard to kill, has great weapons, and is only 20 more points than the equivalent dread. The only real reason why you wouldn’t take him is that he is a Minotaur.
Other units getting buffed include Terrax-Pattern Termite (which was already good) getting both a shot increase on its weapons and a damage boost.
The giant primaris Astraeus lord of war got its wounds boosted up to 30, Void shields got reworked, so it now is 2 charges of a 3 wound pool that cant overflow and has to be gone through first. It’s still expensive but a decent option if your willing to drop the 3 cp for the detachment.
As for NERFs, the poor Leviathan Dreadnought got hit hard. going from T8 to T7 is a big deal, plus going from 2s to hit up to 3s is another big hit, the invulnerable goes from 4+ to 5+. Overall making the dread less kill-y and simultaneously easier to kill. similarly, the character Leviathan Carab Culln also received the same downgrade.
Astra Militarum Changes Overview
First up, the almighty Death Corps of Krieg. The doctrine makes them ignore attrition modifiers and when a character or Vehicle dies, on a 4+ they get to make a single attack before being removed.
The Death Riders are looking great. The normal and command squads go up to three wounds and have a 5+ FNP for 15pts each. Their melee is also buffed with a bonus AP on the mounts as well. The command squads are more desirable since they get an extra attack with no extra cost. You also don’t have to include a Commander to be able to take them anymore.
Taking a Commander does let you take one without using a slot though. Overall these units are pretty good, and similar functioning units are pretty absent from the guard lineup. The engineers lose their cool shotguns, so they may not be worth taking over other choices now.
For buffed units, Medusas have some variants go up in cost slightly, but the damage on their big gun increases to d6, meaning that its most likely worth the increase. The Hades Breaching Drill looks better as well. It no longer is required to take veterans inside, so you can make em go elsewhere. The melee attacks both get d3+3 instead of d3 and being flat D3 against most targets and flat D6 against vehicles.
For NERFs, Thunderers go down in points but lose Grinding Advance. Sure they’re cheaper, but Leman Russes are probably just better with double the shots most of the time and can take Orders. Trojans are way worse. They no longer give hit re-rolls, now they repair a vehicle and reload any once-per-battle weapons. This has some niche but overall, the re-rolls are what made it shine.
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Adeptus Custodes Changes Overview
Theres lots of small adjustments here and there. For the most part, they are the same or slightly better, but considering half of the Custodes lineup is Forge World, and thus has to rely on 40k rules Imperial Armor Compendium, that’s much better than it sounds for the faction.
For buffs, Venatari Custodians, stay the same cost regardless of what weapons you take. Most of the weapons also got buffed (like 2 damage instead of the d3 mess), making them a pretty friggin’ good option. The Galatus Dreadnought, lost a wound going to 9, however, that means it doesn’t bracket, possibly making the wound loss a buff ironically. It also got 5 points cheaper and an additional attack, giving it a decent set of buffs overall.
The two large changes that aren’t even that bad per ce. Grav-Tanks are losing the grav rule, which means they are much easier to charge and lock up effectively neutering them if it comes to that. The Ares Gunship gets a 20 point increase (up to 450), and the bombs gets changed to once a turn D3 mortals to every unit within 6 inches on a 4+. This makes it much better against death balls and much worse against hordes.
Knight & Titan Changes Overview
Most Knights and Titans are better overall, especially because they now have Blast where they should since they didn’t with the first set of changes when 9th was introduced. Now that the new 40k rules are here in Forge World Imperial Armor Compendium, well alot of these units got better!
For buffs, Acastus Knights (the Porphyrions) drop in points and gain some boosts to their guns in the form of Blast, but might still not be better than Castellans in enough categories. The Magaera and Styrix siege claws gain a sweep attack that’s a better stomping feet, being flat damage three, all while staying at the same points. The large titans all seem to have improvements by simplifying rules and gaining wounds across the board.
For NERFs, quite a few weapon options are just gone. If Forge World doesn’t currently offer it, chance are they are no longer options you can take. Cerastus-Knights are all only 12″ movement at the top bracket and are 26 wounds across the board. They also saw point drops, but overall it is hard to say if losing the speed boost is better or worse with smaller tables in 9th.
Rest of the Imperium Changes Overview
Grey Knights get a variant of the Land Raider with a unique Psycannon stat line on it. Maybe this suggests changes to them later down the line, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up. Land Raiders are still Land Raiders…
Inquisition, unfortunately, have both characters forced to take the Inspiring Leader warlord trait. Solomon Lok never saw play, but Hector Rex was in large part popular due to how strong he could be with an added warlord trait. He’s still a good psyker and he got better weapon skill, an extra wound and mortal wound resistance on his shield. He did also get what’s probably a downgrade in being declared a Terminator (ie taking up two slots in a transport).
Overall Hector may have gotten a sidegrade and Solomon got spiked into the dirt.
AdMech gets the same great buffs to the Termite that the other factions got, and keep the two Secutarii datasheets.
Chaos Space Marine Changes Overview
Units in the Chaos Space Marine section reference a <LEGION> keyword. This tells you to refer to the CSM Codex. That means they fit nicely into your CSM list, but unless there’s a FAQ or errata, its looks like Death Guard and Thousand Sons can’t take any of them.
The Martial Legacy rule also affects CSM now, meaning they have to abide by the same restrictions that Loyalists do.
For buffs, Chaos Terrax Pattern Termite similarly to the loyalist version, got quite an upgrade. While Death Guard keeps the Greater Blight Drone with 9 wounds meaning the profile doesn’t bracket. they also get a 3+ WS, +1 Attack, and the Disgustingly Resilient rulemaking them pretty great overall.
The only major NERF to CSM is that Dreadnoughts don’t have the HELBRUTE keyword, meaning they don’t get legion traits. All while costing a CP to take and sitting at the same point value as the loyalist counter-part (which gets chapter traits I might add). Huge feels bads at least right now!
Chaos Daemons Changes Overview
Uraka, Cor’Bax, and Mamon are here once again, plus some of the really big greater daemons, named or otherwise all have new 40k rules changes in the Forge World Imperial Armor Compendium!
Unfortunately, there really aren’t any buffs for Daemons. Most of the small Daemon Princes are fine, but overall nothing stands out.
In a similar vein, their arent that many NERFs either. greater Daemons are cool, but paying 3 CP to take a greater daemon with no exalted abilities is just almost unplayable. The only one worth any thought is Scabeiathrax, who has some offensive options while being durable for the lower new cost.
Overall what was okay before is still okay and what was bad is still bad.
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Chaos Knight and Titan Changes Overview
Nearly all of these changes mirror the Loyalist counter-parts with knight getting points lowered across the board.
There are a decent amount of buffs, but the largest is probably the Acastus Knights getting a massive 100 points drop, and the Magaera and Styrix siege claws gain a sweep attack that’s a strictly better stomping feet, being flat three damage, all while staying at the same points
Just like Imperium quite a few weapon options are just gone. If Forge World doesn’t currently offer it, chance are they are no longer options you can take. Cerastus-Knights are all only 12″ movement at the top bracket and are 26 wounds across the board. They also saw point drops, but overall its hard to say if better or worse definitively.
Eldar Changes Overview
For buffs, the Lynx gets simplified rules and a point cost reduction. Craftworld lists might not really need it, but it’s a decent long range option nonetheless. The Revenant Titan can be a sleeper in a Strike Force game. It’s 1500pts, but that leaves you just enough points to put stuff in your list to grab objectives. While it only has 32 wounds, it’s got T9, and a built in 4++ against shooting, making it very hard to kill at range. It has a 30-inch movement and all of the weapon options are pretty good.
It’s also a Monster instead of a Vehicle, meaning none of the bonuses against vehicles work against it. So long as your opponent doesn’t get a huge charge off with a big blob, this can do some work.
For NERFs, the Warp Hunter is still way too expensive considering it can just get swatted out of the air and the Nightwing gets a weird makeover trying to be a heavier flyer, which is completely useless and won’t ever be needed more than likely. RIP Phoenix we will miss you.
Tau Changes Overview
For buffs, Tetras, get a heavy 3 marker light instead of the single shot that placed three, meaning an average of 2 instead of all or nothing. Remoras get two seeker missiles for free, more wounds, and are always in cover. Considering neither increased in points, these are both great changes.
For NERFs there’s a single big one, Y’vahra finally gets kicked down a peg. It got its points lowered, but the weapons took a big hit as well. The damage of both modes of the all-mighty flamer is now only one, and the other gun lost AP and can’t deal MWs to vehicles anymore.
Necron Changes Overview
For buffs, the Tomb Stalker and Tomb Sentinel both get huge point drops and some melee weapon improvements on top of that. They lose a point of BS/WS, but you can drop in next to a Technomancer with a control node to mitigate it.
Ork Changes Overview
For buffs, the Warboss on Warbike returns from legends. The only downside is he has the Speedwaaagh! ability rather than regular Waaagh! In exchange, he gained toughness and is now T7 which is huge.
For changes, the Gargantuan Squiggoth got a huge point increase, plus minor buffs to the kit, but not nearly enough to make up for it.
Tyranid Changes Overview
For buffs, the Malanthrope is slightly improved in exchange for a 15pt increase. The aura is now a 6″ radius, making it even easier to use it to shield your forces. Sky Slasher Swarms get a built-in deep strike for absolutely free and are otherwise unchanged.
There is only one clear loser perhaps is the Stone-Crusher Carnifexes can’t be taken as broods any more and got a point increase for some reason.
Are you happy with the updated 40k rules from the Forge World Imperial Armor Compendium?
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About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
