Goatboy’s Warhammer 40K: About Those 10th Edition Datasheets
We got some more Warhammer 40K 10th edition rules to talk about – the new datasheets.
The big reveal for the week beyond some really awesome-looking pics of the Terminator models is a better breakdown of the Datasheet cards. We saw the actual Terminator Card and a few more bits of info from the Intercessor card. This is pretty important as the Datasheets are the bones of this new game with a big emphasis on creating easy-to-read cards to battle with on the tabletop.
Meet The New Stats
The first shown thing for the day was how Leadership has changed. Gone are the days of rolling below your special number. Now we’ve gone to a more streamlined – roll above the shown value. Heck, they even show you a + symbol to make it even easier. It was always a frustrating thing for new players to utilize “high” rolls to pass things but for Leadership the lower the value the better. I like this as again it is just easier and while it is different than what we have been used to forever it is a good change. Just like how everyone should be counting down on their wound totals instead of counting up. It just gives you a better bit of info, less need to ask questions, and an easier gameplay experience.
The next new thing was the OC stat which stands for Objective Control. This is how you will see how many models your model counts for when controlling an objective. Gone are the days of if you have X rule. You control it, but if you both have it you have to count up models. Oh, wait, except for this army that counts as more models than your models. This is again, just an easier way to let the game be less of weird little rules that do not add a ton to the experience. This edition seems to really push the experience to your interaction of offensive and defensive rules instead of weird little layers of objective control.
The last new thing, of course, was the reveal of how WS, BS, S, and Attacks are set up on the card. This feels like a bit more fleshed-out AoS method, which I think is a good thing. Having locked-in hit rates just makes things easier to balance and control on the cards themselves. You can also create a much more unique weapon experience if we see models with a ton more attack profiles. It also lets you do some interesting tech options in the wounding abilities that you see on the new Terminator.
Hello New Terminators
Finally, we get a full Datasheet release this week with the new Space Marine Terminators. There is a lot to unpack in the sheet as we have some rules listed in here without any info beyond – it is a special rule. The big change is how each weapon beyond its normal stats can have a new “rule” listed in brackets after its name. These rules are listed to be keywords with some naming structures that feel pretty familiar. Blast, Ignores Cover, Torrent, and Rapid Fire are all rules we have had or have now in the current game. The ones we don’t know about is the Devastating Wounds option, but I can guess it is something cool on the to-wound roll.
The big reveal, though is the Anti-X keyword for attacks. This appears to basically be the Poison keyword we all know and love right now, with just a reskinning to allow it to make sense for multiple weapons. I never liked how things would have Poison Vehicle options and this Anti keyword is just much cleaner. It is a pretty simple idea, and I am sure will see a lot more of those things designed to hurt certain enemies. I bet the Imperial Assassins have a ton of these on all their weapon profiles whenever we see their datasheets. Cool!
Toughness seems to be another shift in how units are set up, with a bigger emphasis on utilizing toughness values to represent things that are tough. I expect it is a push to move things to the 5+ to wound category without having to do crazy things like always wound on a 4+ or other broader rules that could cause issues in the game. We are dealing with a bit of – why is everything in this army so tough problem right now in 9th, and I get the feeling we have GW looking at this a bit more thoroughly.
Clarified Special Abilities
Next up, we got a few rules on the sheet with the updated Teleport Homer with the listed Stratagem that involves it. First of all – how good does the Stratagem setup look? We have the name at the top, the CP cost at the side, when we can use it, what it targets, what it does, and finally, how it is restricted. There is no ambiguity in this rule, which is amazing to think about in the game we have currently. Think of all the Reddit posts, discussions, and other nonsense we have had over Stratagems when they can be down, and how they are used. It is a big help from a Judging standpoint in that the rules are plain to read, and hopefully all of them have very little wiggle room for RAW vs RAI debates.
Then of course, we have their other rule that stacks on the Faction rule we don’t know about yet. I think we will see a lot of these options as army builds, and the faction sheets for the army will have specific combos set up throughout them. Will just have to wait and see if these get to be too powerful but hopefully, the balance of unique, fun, and good-to-use will be at the forefront for all of these army lists. I bet they have a few that have very specific build restrictions, too but we will just have to wait and see.
Did everyone see how AP has dropped a bit from the Chainfist and Powerfist? Also – is the power weapon or all power weapons cleaned up? Does everyone basically have accursed weapons now in a way to clean things up and make it easier to play with models that look cool?
Keywords & Invuls
Oh, and how simple do those keywords look now too? I wonder if we will see a much more “locked” in set of them for the armies, especially with smaller batches of Stratagems and other rules. Will just have to wait and see, and while the lack of Subfaction is a bit sad it does remove some of the “broken” issues we have had with things that let you custom build things out with too many toys to bring to the tabletop.
Oh – and how weird is it that the Invulnerable Save is a shield symbol in the card? I was figuring we would see it in the Save Characteristic, but I am sure there are some other things that either affect it or shouldn’t affect it coming. It makes me wonder what the Storm Shield is going to do. I do hope all Terminators get a 4+ invulnerable save just as a whole, with Storm Shields just doing something else unique – maybe damage reduction instead of a +1 to their saving throw.
I am hoping we get a lot more fun stuff this next week. I am hoping to get a game in at the Kansas City Open in between my team’s games. I really just hope we get to see the new models, too as it would be awesome to crush heads with a new Terminator or two.
What Datasheets are you most waiting for?
