The first FAQ for 10th Edition Warhammer 40k is here; come see what Games Workshop did to fix a pretty big mortal wound attack!
We’ve seen a lot of people complaining about nearly every faction’s rules, talk of OP combos, and what looks to be typos by GW. However, we’re still technically in the preview stage when it comes to 10th Edition Warhammer 40k, which a lot of folks tend to forget.
We also know GW doesn’t have the biggest playtesting pool, meaning there will be some terrible units and super overpowered ones. With this in mind, we’re sure GW will update the index cards and make more FAQs, potentially even day one. So, while seeing a pre-day one FAQ for 1oth Edition Warhammer 40k is a little annoying, it’s nice to see GW addressing the naysayers head-on.
The beginning of 10th Edition Warhammer 40k has been a wild ride, as GW has released a FAQ for the core rules.
People have already been complaining about some of the datasheets and rules, but from the looks of it, GW is willing to make the necessary changes. They have already made some datasheet tweaks and now have a ton of clarification on the core rules.
However, this isn’t anything out of the ordinary for a new edition. If you remember, at the start of 9th, they had two FAQs within two weeks of that edition dropping. Either way, it’s better to get some clarification before playing any games, but don’t expect the FAQs for 10th to end here, even for the core rules…
10th Edition Warhammer 40k Rules FAQ & Designer’s Commentary
The Warhammer 40k 10th Edition FAQ and Designer’s Commentary is from Warhammer Community and can be downloaded here.
The ‘simplified, not simple’ philosophy of the new edition streamlines many of the rules, but with so many moving parts in an average battle, there are bound to be some interactions that require a little more nuance. To keep these clarifications from overburdening the Core Rules, the Warhammer Design Studio have put together a commentary document going over many of the less common situations you might encounter.
If you’ve ever wondered what happens when a weapon’s Damage is reduced below 1 (it isn’t), whether abilities stack when duplicated (nope, pick one), or exactly which units can see into and out of ruins (with pictures!), we recommend giving this document a solid read.
Well, there you go; Redemptors can take damage from things that only have Damage 1, and the debate is settled.
Big Guns is good to have some clarification on what can shoot at what. Critical Hits are only unmodified rolls of 6’s, but some things are not critical hits but just rolls of 6.
The really interesting part here is disembarking large models; some bases are too big to get within 3″ total, so as long as it’s within an inch of the vehicle, you’re good to go.
There have been some questions surrounding distances for deep strikes, charging, and moving. If you could fly, the model on top would fly 5″ to get there; however, it looks like you measure over and up, not true distance.
So, even though he’s technically further away from the model actually to charge, for deep striking, you always measure horizontally and not diagonally.
There have been a lot of questions about flying models moving. No longer do you go over; you actually have to spend movement to go up and over, or around. Then this also has a significant effect on flying models that are not infantry, as they have to go around ruins.
When you have terrain of different sizes like this, flying units and moving can get funky. Just remember, though, you have to stay in coherency no matter what, so sometimes you just can’t make the move at all.
The priority of rules is interesting because the anti keyword (and other abilities) means you always wound on a certain roll, which overrides the defensive abilities. However, deep striking goes the other way, and defensive abilities take precedence.
Ruins are always the most complex piece of terrain in 40k, so it’s nice to have some clarification from GW about what can see and how.
Visibility is pretty similar; if you can see any part of a model or unit, you can shoot at them.
Nothing too crazy, but having even one model in the feature counts as within, but not wholly within.
This is important for dedicated transports, as you modify everything inside the vehicle. Then, you don’t miss out on extra damage with devastating wounds.
Download the Full 10th Edition Warhammer 40k FAQ Here!
Currently, the 10th Edition Warhammer 40k FAQ with Designer’s Commentary is 18 pages, so be sure to read through it all before you play your next game!
10th Edition Warhammer 40k Gets Its First FAQ
This brief FAQ correction comes from the Imperium Factions Warhammer Community post.
Note: There’s also a very slight update to the Deathwatch datasheets posted earlier this week. After field tests, our resident tech-magos deemed Hellfire Rounds to be a little too dangerous on certain units, so that Stratagem has been tweaked. It now does not affect weapons with the Devastating Wounds rule. You can download the updated Index here.
It’s pretty interesting this is the only thing they have changed so far, as there have been quite a few typos spotted (or at least what seem to be typos) and some other significant issues hobbyists have pointed out.
Either way, this opens quite a big door for GW to change the cards before the Edition entirely drops or after people start playing and discovering more of these points.
Another Classic Sepulchre of Heroes Meme
We’ll see how much gets changed moving forward, but we don’t think the time is here yet to get upset over your favorite faction potentially not being strong enough (or other factions being much stronger) quite yet…
It is, however, possible a lot of these issues may be due to the fact Games Workshop just doesn’t have enough playtesters.
How Many Hours Go Into Playtesting
A lot of this just boils down to simple math, and from that, you can see that without outside help, it may be literally impossible for Games Workshop to actually make their rules balance with each other over time.
Here is how much time it would take to test ONE army. Just to note, we’re going off three hours per game which is pretty average, especially when you have to factor in the playtesters, who wouldn’t know the book very well and would be trying out a bunch of stratagems and special rules.
We’re also doing the math for 25 factions to play test against in Warhammer 40k, which varies depending on how many Space Marine codexes etc., are out there at the time.
- One game vs. all factions with 1st turn: 75 hours (3 hours x 25 factions)
- 2nd game against all factions with 2nd turn: 75 hours
- Playing with different types of terrain (i.e., light and dense cover): 150 hours
- Playing with different types of terrain but going second (i.e., light and dense cover): 150 hours
Total (so far): 450 Hours
This is 450 hours already, but remember, this is against a single army list for each opposing faction, as you can’t change their list while changing other variables about the game (like first turn or terrain density, etc.).
So, this is in no way done, as the vast majority of Warhammer 40k factions have 2-3 viable lists. Now when you extrapolate that out to include a max of three viable lists for each faction, you end up with this:
Total hours for multiple lists: 1,350 hours
(These numbers also do not take into account supplements…)
Then again, this isn’t enough, as dice rolls can vary over a game, mistakes made by players, etc… Honestly, it could be closer to 2,000 hours of playtesting to get a good gauge of how an army works.
However, even this is still missing something. Changes!
What happens if the playtesters find out something is either too strong or too weak? You then have to go back and make the changes. Then guess what? You have to retest everything once again! So the total number of hours just becomes staggering.
Realistic number of hours: Well over 2,000
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