We go over Warhammer 40k’s secret weapon to winning games that really is a no-brainer once you actually think about it.
Just like any tabletop game, 40k has all different kinds of damage dealers. But what is the most powerful of them all? The mortal wounds.
Mortal wounds are a big issue for most things in the game. The reason why they are so potent is that hardly anything gets a saving roll against it. They ignore all forms of Toughness/armor saves and deal a direct hit to the unit people you pay premium points for. Let’s dive deeper.
40k’s Secret Weapon To Winning Games
Mortal Wounds Ignore Basic Steps of the Game. Normally, if a player wanted to kill a unit in the shooting phase, they would have to roll to hit, then to wound. Their opponent then makes a saving roll (armor or invulnerable). That’s three different steps of rolling just to see if a unit takes any damage.
Mortal wounds (especially from psychic powers) ignore that. Looking at the Psychic phase, Smite is a real threat to just about any army. As long as you roll a 5+ on two dice, you’re dishing out AT LEAST three mortal wounds. It could go up to a whopping six or more in the right circumstances. That could be six wounds that no one has to roll to hit, wound, or save against.
Mortal wounds are the way to go… but how do you get enough of them?
Cheap Psykers and Mortal Wound Tricks
Sadly, some factions can do it better than others.
- A Supreme Command detachment of cheap Imperial Guard Psykers wrapped in a blob of Guard screen sits at 3D3 mortal wounds a turn. That’s potent when you start doing the math.
- Genestealer Cult can do the exact same thing with Maguses. The scary thing about the Magus is that he can drop into the board with a screen around him already.
- Of course, there’s always the Thousand Sons and big ol’ Magnus with his one eye. He’s a mortal wound machine gun and can even do 2D6 mortal wounds on a smite.
Armies that don’t have cheap Psykers or just lack the psychic phase altogether still have ways of dealing out the pain. We’re talking about mortal wound tricks here.
Necrons and their Tesseract Vault are able to fling mortal wounds like nobody’s business. We were even seeing up to three being taken in lists on the competitive level.
Death Guard even have stratagems to make their vehicles more likely to explode. You can take some Bloat Drones kitted out for melee combat and fly them into a crowd of troops only to eventually explode.
Speaking of Death Guard…
The Faction That Can Withstand Mortal Wounds
Mortarion being an absolute killing machine isn’t the only reason why people run Death Guard. They are one of the only factions that have a decent save against mortal wounds. Nurgle Daemons can even re-roll failed Disgustingly Resilient rolls of 1 with a 2CP stratagem.
What do you think about mortal wounds in 8th edition? Do you spam them whenever you can?
What faction do you play? Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group.
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.
