The Horus Heresy FAQ packs 11 major rulings that can swing your next game, from Vanguard scoring to stacked Reactions, with no real list changes overall.
Your list might stay the same with the new points, but your next game will play out pretty differently. The October 12, 2026 update fixes the stuff that actually decides games: how assault units score, whether you can stop a glancing hit, what terrain blocks, and how many units can answer one enemy move.
Compared to the last round of Horus Heresy FAQs, this one’s mostly clarifications. Honestly, a lot of it reads like GW finally settling the arguments players have been having since the big rules changes at launch.
We’ve grouped all 11 rulings below, starting with the one assault armies will want to know about.
- Vanguard scoring: majority-Vanguard units score for killing or Routing enemies near objectives, but only ever bank one Victory Point for holding one.
- Glancing hits: a Saving Throw or Damage Mitigation Roll can discard a glance, and a discarded glance never reaches the Vehicle Damage Table.
- Reactions and terrain: several units can react to the same enemy action, and Medium and Heavy Area Terrain count as infinitely tall for line of sight.
Vanguard Units Get Paid to Clear Objectives, Not Sit on Them
Vanguard units got a pretty big buff here. Now a unit with a majority of Vanguard models scores its Vanguard value when its attacks destroy an enemy unit near an objective, or when an enemy unit gains Routed in combat with it.
And that enemy doesn’t have to stay parked on the marker, because the kill counts if it’s within 3″ of an objective right now OR was within 3″ at the start of the Player Turn. So if that squad ran off before you finished it, you still get your VPs, which is a big deal.
Mechanicum players, you’re in on this too. Comptroller still doesn’t let a majority-Vanguard unit score more than one Victory Point for controlling an objective.
A Glancing Hit Isn’t an Automatic Trip to the Damage Table Anymore
Now you get a chance to save that glance first. The updated vehicle rules spell out that a Saving Throw or Damage Mitigation Roll can discard a glancing hit at the appropriate step which is cool. Better yet, the attack procedure got matching wording too, so both sections agree.
But if the glance gets through, it inflicts no Damage, but you still roll on the Vehicle Damage Table. If you stop it with a save, though, you just don’t roll on that table.
Feel No Pain Changes
Before anyone gets clever with Feel No Pain, check what it actually says. It’s explicitly a test to discard allocated wounds, taken after and in addition to a Saving Throw.
So, that wording doesn’t automatically let you shrug off glancing hits.
Stacked Reactions and Infinitely Tall Terrain Change How You Move
If you’re eyeing up one unit’s reaction range, be sure to check the others around it too. The FAQ confirms that multiple units can make a Reaction to a single enemy action. GW’s example even shows several units Repositioning when the same enemy finishes a move within range and line of sight.
Normal eligibility and Reaction Allotment rules still apply, but you’ll want to check the whole position before making your move now.
Talk through this new terrain ruling before deployment. You can draw line of sight over a vehicle if the line clears its body, but now Medium and Heavy Area Terrain don’t work that way.
Plus, area terrain counts as infinitely high:
- Light Area Terrain: no maximum sight distance through it.
- Medium Area Terrain: you can see up to 3″ through it.
- Heavy Area Terrain: 0″, so nothing gets through.
GW also confirms that model-to-model line of sight can use any part of either model. They do recommend agreeing to ignore excessively protruding weapons, banners, crests, and similar details, though. Fair enough.
Transports, Deep Strike, and Flyers All Get Firmer Arrival Rules
For transports, units disembark before their transport moves or after it finishes moving. They can’t hop out halfway through, and they can’t embark and disembark in the same Movement Phase. Whoever did this anyway is beyond us, honestly.
Losing the ride doesn’t leave your passengers stuck now, though. If a transport is destroyed during its owner’s Movement Phase, you can still select an emergency-disembarking unit to move if it’s eligible. Any charge it makes that turn must be Disordered.
More Movement Updates
Deep Striking units count as having moved a distance equal to their full Movement characteristic, so keep that in mind for rules that care about how far they went. Orbital Assault Vehicles count toward the maximum number of units that can Deep Strike each turn. Flyers also have to arrive after a successful Aerial Reserves roll, so you can’t hold them back for a better moment.
Flurry of Blows, Force Weapons, and Mortarion’s Extra Reach
Want the extra swings from Flurry of Blows? Well, they now come with a hard Damage limit. The revised Gambit adds D3 to Current Attacks during the Strike Step, but every hit inflicted while using it is set to Damage 1.
Special rules, including Shred and Critical Hit, can’t modify that Damage, so you can’t sneak around the limit either.
So, you’ll have to weigh that up when picking a Gambit instead of just grabbing more attacks. Force weapons also need a fresh Willpower Test each time you select them in a Challenge’s Focus Step to get their improved characteristic. And Phage effects suffered in a Challenge don’t spread to the rest of the unit.
Mortarion’s movement rule got another revision, but don’t get carried away. Shadow of the Reaper treats his Movement as 10 when he Rushes and adds 2″ to his Set-up Moves. Only those moves get the benefits, so no more moving Mortarion moves over 10 inches anymore.
Army-Building Clarifications Shut Down the Creative Combos
Got a list built around borrowed rules, added slots, or an attached character? Give these new changes a look before your next game. You can’t borrow Legion Tactica, Gambits, Advanced Reactions, or Additional Detachments from Rites of War you haven’t selected. Keep your Rite of War separate from the rest of your legion-specific special rules, as a few other combos got cleared up too:
- Added Force Organization slots: they still follow their detachment’s unit restrictions.
- Corrupted Legions Prime Advantage: vehicles are explicitly excluded.
- Ravening Madmen: these units can only join, or be joined by, models with that same rule.
Mechanicum also gets two more clarifications beyond the Comptroller cap. Heterodox Malefic models get an explicit exception that lets you modify characteristics when invoking Cybertheurgic Rites. Decimator weapon swaps trade a heavy flamer and a claw together, and you can select that option more than once.
The Smaller Fixes Still Worth Knowing
These aren’t headline changes, but they can help when an argument comes up mid-game.
- Reaping Blow counts all friendly and enemy models locked in the same combat to work out whether a model is outnumbered.
- Shot Selector’s corrected entry is Breaching (5+). Both fixes apply wherever those rules appear, well beyond one army book.
- Armor Penetration Tests always fail on a natural one.
- “Majority” means the most common value, even if fewer than half the models have it.
- Two separate lightning claws don’t automatically give you the paired lightning-claw profile.
- You choose which eligible destroyed unit counts for First Strike or Giant Killer.
- A scattering blast’s central hole stops at the battlefield edge.
- Destroying a vehicle unit in combat still lets you take normal Aftermath options.
- Vehicles can’t occupy upper terrain levels or building battlements.
- Zone Mortalis gets a corrected Configuration Tertius deployment map and Battlesmith (3) for the Combat Decryptor.
Final Thoughts on the Horus Heresy FAQ
So give the army-building and Vanguard changes a look next time when you’re making your list, and be sure to go over the FAQ with your opponent before deployment. It’s easier to agree on terrain, banners, and multiple Reactions before the game than argue about them on turn three.
We’d guess GW has more changes coming for Horus Heresy on the way in 2027, so keep an eye out for the next FAQ too.
đź”— Related Reads:
- New Horus Heresy FAQs land with buffs, nerfs, and a few surprises
- GW Drops New Horus Heresy FAQs & Legacy Army Rules
- All The Top New Horus Heresy Rules Changes
- New Horus Heresy Roadmap + Release Schedule: Updated For 2026
- GW’s Hot Mess: 5 Problems Holding Back Horus Heresy
- Mortarion: Primarch of the Death Guard Lore
Which ruling in the new Horus Heresy FAQ changes your next game the most?
