Is Warhammer 40k 11th Edition just a glorified 10.5? We break down the new Armageddon box rules, list building in the new app, and the shifting meta.
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The Long War: Episode 516
Show Summary:
This week, the crew talks about 11th edition’s ruleset and their thoughts about it now that people have played games. Here are the key takeaways, section by section:
- (14:00) The crew’s first conclusion on “11th edition” is that it feels more like 10th edition 2.0 than a full reset. Most core rules are familiar, but the small changes have big ripple effects.
- (24:18) The big rules shifts include no Stratagem stacking, limits on using Stratagems on the same unit in a phase, changes to Overwatch, and new sequencing quirks that players will need to relearn.
- (25:35) The Fight phase gets the most praise. Heroic Intervention feels more dangerous and tactical again, bringing back some of that older-edition “you forgot about these guys” energy.
- (26:46) Wyatt’s main gripe is that GW didn’t fully rework weak detachments. Armies technically have more options, but many players will still default to the same strong picks, like Gladius for Space Marines or the usual Grey Knights choices.
- (31:31) The new two-inch engagement range changes movement, pile-ins, consolidations, and charge positioning, though charges still function closer to the old logic than some players might expect.
- (33:07) The new Disposition system sounds flashy, but the crew feels it may not be as deep as advertised. It creates matched primary objectives, but many still boil down to familiar patterns like holding, killing, or doing actions.
- (36:13) The new secondary system lets players hold cards instead of constantly discarding them, which sounds fun casually but may create competitive issues with big late-game scoring swings and limited counterplay.
- (39:31) The hosts frame the early edition period as a live beta test, with competitive players rapidly finding edge cases that GW will likely need to patch later.
- (46:16) Aircraft and unit spam rules get some side-eye. The crew argues GW often discourages certain builds by making them awkward or costly rather than cleanly balancing the actual unit.
- (55:04) The episode wraps with the usual Long War banter, including a Tim Russ/Spaceballs nod, after a rules-heavy but pretty grounded first impression: the edition seems cleaner, not revolutionary.
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