Check out all rumors and confirmations about what may just rock your 40k world next week when Chapter Approved 2018 finally hits store shelves!
GW previewed some of the changes over the past few weeks that will be coming to the game when Chapter Approved finally arrived.
As we already know, there will be some serious changes to Space Marines, Sisters of Battle, and a character creation format for Open play games.
Earlier Rumors on Chapter Approved 2018
Coming from a private Facebook post spotted on B&C, it looks like someone might have some inside knowledge on Chapter Approved. Remember to take everything with a grain of salt. These are still only rumors.
There’s a lot of info in a small amount of space so let’s break everything down into chunks.
Named Characters Changing Costs
- Named Characters are supposed to all be getting cheaper.
- Kaldor Draigo will cost under 200pts.
- Castellan Crowe for Grey Knights will only be 80pts.
- Trajann for the Custodes is going down by 75pts.
- Eldrad will cost 15pts less.
Other Point Changes in the Works
- Tau Commander Farsight will cost 125pts.
- Land Speeders will only be 50pts.
- Tau Crisis Suits will cost just over 30pts.
- Chaos Cultists will cost 5pts.
- Eldar Shining Spears will go up 3pts a piece.
- A Necron Super Heavy will cost 60/70pts more. (Not sure which one.)
Space Marines Getting some Love
- Deathwatch and almost all other Space Marines are getting 5-10% point reduction
- Intercessors dropped a few points (exact amount unknown)
- Warden Custodes and Terminators dropped in points as well. (Again, by an unknown amount.)
Side Notes
- No changes on Abaddon
- Almost no changes on Imperial Knights. Some minor changes for bigger ones (hopefully the Castellan).
- Chapter Approved 2018 will drop around December 15, 2018.
- Sisters of Battle Codex scheduled around October/November 2019.
Chapter Approved at Vigilus Open
Matched play fans have been scrutinising the new points from the book, and it’s clear at this point that one massive winner is the Grey Knights, who have seen sweeping points reductions across a swathe of units.
It sounds like most of the playtesters have Approved of Chapter Approved’s (no pun intended) Grey Knights point reduction. Take hope Daemon slayers! Your time to shine looks like it’s coming up!
Sisters of Battle
Let’s start off with the previews we’ve seen so far…
Starting with Sisters of Battle, we can take a look at a stratagem and an Order of the Sororitas that was dropped as a teaser.
Pretty good when you drop a unit full of flamers that are automatically hit their target, have their range increased to 12″ AND get to shoot again later in the turn.
More and more previews are popping up for Sisters of Battle. It started with rumors, then models, and now art and stratagems!
Sisters concept art from hobby hero Garro!
If you need to squeeze out the last bit of damage on a tank that’s hard to crack, you can use this stratagem and have your flamers and Meltas get +1 to wound. Not too bad for only 1CP. The only stipulation is that there has to be a Bolt weapon in range of the target and everyone has to be shooting at it.
Open Play Character Creation
Chapter Approved 2018 features a new character creation system for open play where you can build your very own legendary heroes. If you’re feeling creative, this year’s edition is going to be great for you.
Players will be able to make their own characters for Open Play games. This is going to bring out the hobby spirit in all of us as players can splice bits together to make their unique character stand out from the crowd.
You may only be able to use your “made from scratch” character in Open Play, but you can always use your model as a sweet converted Captain, Chaplain, etc. in Matched Play.
More Playable Missions
Now that Chapter Approved is right around the corner, Games Workshop gave us a little insight on some of the points changes:
Narrow the Search is one of the missions found inside Chapter Approved. The Objective radius shrinks every turn and Invulnerable saves can’t be taken within 12″ of the markers. Essentially, this will force the players to converge on different points head on and casualties will be massive without any invulnerable saves allowed.
Now let’s look at the real reason why people want Chapter Approved
New Points Changes
…we’ve taken the opportunity both to enshrine some Big FAQ rules in print as well as taking a look at points. As before, this review is pretty wide-ranging, but there are a few highlights…
Necrons
- Triarch Praetorians are getting a hefty points drop
- Necrons will be getting “Aspiring Overlords”
Grey Knights Reductions
- paladins
- Grand Master in Dreadknights
- Purifiers
Eldar
It’s fair to say that some of the most stunning models in Warhammer 40,000 weren’t getting much time on the table in the matched play scene (Wraithknight, we’re looking at you), so we’ve made some adjustments to help encourage their use. For example, the aforementioned Wraithknight has had an enormous reduction in points, now costing a little over 300 points, rather than over 400 before weapons! You’re now free to use these extra points on reinforcements, or more Wraithknights…
Commander Farsight’s Eight
Farsight’s Eight will be held under a Lord of War detachment and is going to cost around 1,000pts. As for right now, we have no idea how these guys are going to perform in-game.
Other Changes & Side Notes
- Cultists are going up in points after they swept the meta as a constant archetype.
- Forge World Magera Knight is going down in points as well.
- The Sisters of Battle Beta Codex is going to be in Chapter Approved 2018
- Renegade Knight Index has been reprinted and remains an official part of the game.
Games Workshop gave us a very general overview of what’s to come.
Now let’s go over the latest rumors from Blood of Kittens. it looks like point changes are running rampant!
Chapter Approved Point Changes Rumors
Most people in the community are looking forward to Chapter Approved for the Points changes. Let’s check out the latest of what was spotted so far.
Grey Knights Updates
- Castellan Crowe: 75 pts
- Draigo: 200 pts
- Grey Knight Terminators 26 pts (Base Cost)
- Grey Knights getting Full Smite
Space Marine Updates
- Land Speeder: 50 pts
- Intercessors: 17 pts (Base Cost)
- Land Raider: 200 pts (Base Cost)
- Land Raider Crusader 200 pts (Base Cost)
- Land Raider Redeemer 180 pts (Base Cost)
- Repulsor 185 pts (Base Cost)
- Primaris Captain 78 pts (Base Cost)
- Captain in Gravis Armour 90 pts (Base Cost)
- Terminators 23 pts (Base Cost)
- Drop Pod 63 pts (Base Cost)
- Twin-lascannon 40 pts
- Storm shield (Characters) 12 pts
Custodes Updates
- Trajann: 175 pts
- Custodian Wardens: 45 pts (Base Cost)
- Allarus Custodians: 60 pts (Base Cost)
Chaos Updates
- Cultists: 5 pts (Base Cost)
- Be’Lakor 240
- Scarab Occult Terminators 26 pts (Base Cost)
- Tzaangors 8 pts (Base Cost)
- Great Unclean One 255 pts (Base Cost)
- Lord of Change 245 pts
- Bloodthirsters 265 pts
- Keeper of Secrets 150 pts
- Rubric Marines 16 pts (Base Cost)
- Warpflamer 10 pts
- Thousand Sons also getting Full Smite
Eldar Updates
- Eldrad: 135 pts
- Shining Spears: 21 pts (Base Cost)
Tau Updates
- Farsight: 125 pts
- Crisis Suits: 32 pts (Base Cost)
- Tau Farsight’s the Eight- Will be LOW detachment
Necron Update
- Tesseract Vault: 555 pts
Only time will tell if these rumors will be true. What faction do you play? Would the points reductions put your army back in a more-competitive spot? Let us know in the comments on our Facebook Hobby Group.
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
