Warhammer 40K: Lessons Learned Playing the 2025 Chapter Approved Mission Deck
Goatboy here with some talk about the things I experienced playing my first set of new Warhammer 40K missions from the updated 2025 Chapter Approved deck.
I just got in a tournament this past weekend. The event didn’t use the locked in new Missions as well as they utilized WTC style terrain. The event was WargamesCon in central Texas, and it is one of the longest running events around and it was a pleasure to throw down again with one of the events I helped start/run/work with for so many years.
Overall on the mission side of things I thought the Chapter Approved Mission Deck worked a bit easier only having two choices with the deployment plus mission. The event didn’t run any twists which I am thankful for as I feel a few of these are a bit wonky. It can make for an interesting experience but not always a competitive experience. This was also one of the first times I played WTC style terrain as normally it is on GW or homebrew set ups matching this new style of maps we all seem to be battling on.
Chapter Approved Mission Deck – Things I Liked
The things I mist like about the new decks and missions is the overall flexibility you have now with the secondary missions. The ability to discard a “stuck” mission at the end of your opponents turn is a huge benefit when competing in Warhammer 40K. I won’t say how many games I have been wrecked from before when trying to score “Sabotage” and watching my poor unit eat it before completing the action. It got to the point where even if I had some hope in scoring it I would just discard it for a CP or exchange it out. I didn’t like giving my opponent power in controlling how I scored points so why even bother. This change at least gives you a chance and I think that is a pretty interesting one.
I also thought the update to The Ritual mission was pretty interesting in that it kept the other “objectives” within the middle of the table which helps per the mission rules for scoring. It also meant going second was extremely powerful again but that hasn’t changed from the matched play games before. I know the Ritual is no longer showing up in the GW list of missions and I feel that is a good thing overall. It means less “mini” objectives you have to bring per game and the whole placement aspect that can be another skill some new players don’t have.
The game is still an objective and board control game so if you are used to 40K right now you should do fine with the new mission decks. Which is a good thing as small tweaks and changes help the experience instead of just blowing it up. I think the bigger issue is just find the decks but that is a whole other experience players have to deal with.
Chapter Approved Mission Deck – Things I’m Iffy About
I am still unsure about the Challenger cards and wonder if there would be a better way to have a catch up mechanic. The first game I ended up not drawing strong secondaries but I controlled the game state thru each turn by slowing killing the opponent. By the end of it I had drawn two Challenger cards, scored them, and then proceeded to catapult ahead turn 4 and 5 after decimating his army. My buddy Dooley with his actual true Salamanders (running Firestorm even) got wrecked but somehow I was the challenger.
It just felt like a weird mechanic that benefits the player going second who can control the big points turn 4 and 5. It also is odd to me it doesn’t just go to the Secondary score and instead floats in this middle space between Primary and Secondary. I still don’t know if 6 is too few of points to have the difference but I would think at 10 it wouldn’t matter at all. We’ll see as I continue to play with this mission deck and figure it out. I do like it better than the Secret Missions from before.
The WTC style terrain was pretty heavy and we had to change terrain placement each round which was a bit of a pain. It was also really hard to push a Land Raider around so if I am playing on this style of terrain again I would look at not bringing a big tank. The pathways were pretty brutal and there were a lot of “corridors” of doom throughout the map. I wonder if making a bit more of the buildings tapper off to a 2 inch high wall might make this work better as it lets vehicles and other big base stuff push around the tabletop.
Overall I had fun even though I had to leave round 5 due to my wife getting a nail in her car tire while taking the kiddos to a birthday party. The event was in town so I could drop, drive back, and get that tire fixed on Sunday. I had five really good games so while I couldn’t finish it out (was looking like I would be towards the top of placement) it was a lot of fun.
What do you think of the Chapter Approved Mission Deck based on the games you’ve played so far?
