GW gave us a teaser of what a basic turn will look like in the new 9th Edition 40k with new rules updates for phases and mechanics.
Coming from Warhammer Community, they’ve given us a crumb to digest while we wait for the new Edition to get here. Looking at a basic turn for a player in 40k, we can already see some new changes from 8th.
GW Reveals 9th Edition Turn Phases & Mechanic Rules
Starting off, we’ve been given a taste of how each phase of the game will be broken down. It looks like each phase will have a page or two worth of information with quick pointers to help new players get acclimated.
Unfortunately, the picture is too blurry to read any specific changes to the Movement and Psychic phase. However, things looks streamlined and easy to read with red bullet points for sequencing and more
New Command Phase Before Movement
They also broke down what a basic Battle Round will look like and we can actually read this one! Check out the first phase in the list…
The Command phase is a quick new addition to the turn sequence. In this phase, Battle-forged armies will acquire new Command points and spend the ones they have on certain Stratagems.
If you play Age of Sigmar, you’re probably thinking that the Command Phase is just the 40k version of a Hero Phase. With a description like “Both players muster strategic resources and use tactical abilities,” this sounds exactly like the start of an AoS Hero Phase where you net CP at the start of your turn and pop certain command abilities on your characters.
All of the other steps in the turn look to be unchanged. But if you notice the table on the right, it mentions “out of turn abilities” like moving, casting a psychic power, shooting, charge or fight. That’s a mechanic that had almost no presence in 8th Edition so it’ll be interesting to see just how often this out of sequence thing will come up.
Smiting something in the charge phase, for example, sounds like a really nasty way for a Psyker to Overwatch! Or perhaps now shooting rules will apply to any shooting type attack made out of phase like Overwatch, or even smite in the Psychic phase.
After seeing some clear inspiration from Age of Sigmar, do you think other elements of the fantasy game will port over into 9th Edition? Would you like to see alternating combats regardless of who charged?
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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.
