New Chapter Approved 2023 40k Rules, Missions & Points

The sinister schemes of Abaddon and Vashtorr are affecting more than just this galaxy – they’re also upending the matched play scene for 2023. Next year, the Arks of Omen Grand Tournament Mission Pack arrives, and with it comes updated missions, new secondary objectives, and major changes to how you’ll muster and deploy your forces.

Games Workshop also mentions that a new Dataslate and point changes will be here soon. With all these changes at once, it might really mix up the meta and how games play out. We’ll have to wait to see everything before we make any final decisions. However, maybe the biggest change so far looks to be how you can make detachments.

First, there are the compulsory slots – rather than picking one or more of the Detachments from the Core Book, each of which feature different roles to fill, the new Detachment simply lets you pick one of five unit types to make up your compulsory choices. 

Once you’ve picked out an HQ choice and loaded up on three units of the same Battlefield Role – whether they’re Troops, Elites, Fast Attack, Heavy Support, or even Lords of War – you’re free to flood your roster with extra squads of any type.

This Detachment is incredibly flexible and will work for all factions, though there will be a couple of specific additional rules to it to allow for unusual armies like Drukhari and Dark Angels forces, that would previously have usually been made of multiple smaller detachments.

This might be a look into how the new edition will handle detachments and rules in general. Instead of using up a bunch of Command Points, you just basically pick whatever you want. Then, if you have a ton of any units like Fast Attack, Heavy Support, etc… you can actually take six units of that in one detachment.

Seeing how it won’t take up any of your CP (which could also mean CP is gone in the next edition), this should make list-building easier and really help certain armies. Also, this is nice for Knights of both flavors as it includes up to six lords of war.

Free stuff is a big theme in this matched play season. You don’t even have to spend any CP to put your units into Strategic Reserves – good for armies with ways to boost their Strategic Reserves, like the T’au Commander’s positional relay, the Aeldari Webway Gate, or a tunnelling Tyranid Trygon. 

As you can see, they seem to be moving away from CP a lot, so it is interesting to consider how the 10th Edition 40k may work.

Battle Brothers

Allies also don’t cost any CP, but they come with a few caveats – only certain factions and types of Detachments can join your main Arks of Omen Detachment as warzone comrades. It’s all laid out in a new section of Battle Brothers rules, representing iconic partnerships from the 41st Millennium.

They say this is just one option to get allies, so maybe Games Workshop wants to return to more soup armies.

The CP you save will go to good use – you’ll still need to pay for your Warlord Traits and Relics, and there’s now a third Requisition Stratagem. Many powerful leaders can only be taken once per Detachment – and with only the one Arks of Omen Detachment available, you’d be unable to take more. Fortunately,  Heroic Support lets you double up for only one Command point. Need a larger re-roll bubble? Take two Captains. A double-dose of scythe-slaughter? Recruit Typhus alongside a Lord of Contagion. Aeldari looking to reignite the War in Heaven? Show them who’s boss with two C’tan Shards.

This is an interesting change and really seems to favor certain armies. Getting this for only one Command Point seems like a very small price for certain units and characters.

Some other changes from last season remain in place, too – Fortifications are easier to deploy, the CP regain is the same, and Dedicated Transports must start with a unit inside them, fulfilling their intended role rather than gallivanting off on their own from the get-go.

Nothing huge here, but it does make sense transports have to start with units inside.

Updated Chapter Approved Secondary Objectives

Several missions have been updated to provide new challenges for experienced commanders – in particular, the timing on when you score Primary Objectives has been tweaked, making for a more even experience regardless of who won the roll to go first. 

There’s also a huge collection of new and revised Secondary Objectives to shake up the competitive scene. Along with universal objectives, there are specific goals for each faction – including the new Leagues of Votann and World Eaters. Each of the iconic Space Marine Chapters and Traitor Astartes Legions also gets an extra Secondary Objective of their own. For example, Salamanders score by withstanding enemy fire on critical objectives, while the Emperor’s Children aim to display their martial excellence in every facet of war.

Having new secondaries is always fun, as it really changes how the game plays. Certain armies can sort of get a power spike without changes other than the secondaries. We’ll have to see all of them before making a real opinion, as it’s hard to have an overall opinion from just these two.

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What do you think about the new Chapter Approved 2023 Arks of Omen Grand Tournament Mission Pack rules updates, points changes, and Secondary Objectives? 

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