Warhammer 40K: Top 5 Powerful Non-Lethal Rules in 10th Edition
Goatboy here. 40k is full of rules that don’t kill units, but instead are powerful tools to win the game – these are the ones you want.
Warhammer 40k 10th Edition is full of rules that aren’t methods of opponent destruction, but instead are powerful options to win the game. These are things that go beyond using your BS, WS, or Strength to power through a wound. These rules are normally not dependent on any roll you need to do and instead are designed to “win” the game by either generating points or monopolizing your board presence.
#1 – Sticky Objectives
I think all the armies have this sort of option within one of their detachments or via a unit or two, such as World Eater Jakhals These allow your army to keep control of an objective without having to waste a unit that needs to sit on it. These options show up and are used all the time and something we all should think about whenever we are building a list to compete. I listed this as the first one as it is always powerful. You can see how this initial rule has even escalated thru the new books with some of the options now saying you go beyond just controlling it and instead control it with an OC power greater than the “0” you would have by moving off of it.
#2 – Reactive Moves
There are a ton of units that give you an option to “move” if your opponent moves within a certain range of it. Think of Votann Hernkyn Yaegirs. This can help you try to box in that arriving unit and keep them from charging something useful. This could also let your unit “get off” an objective to not give up an Overwhelming force secondary mission. You could also just use it to make the charge a lot more difficult for the enemy. All these moves are great ways to get moves and actions outside your game turn which can help you win the game.
#3 – Redeploy Options
This is usually attached to an enhancement or special character ability – such as the Callidus Assassin. This allows you to take some of your units that you have already deployed and “redeploy” them. This could mean just moving them outside of line of sight which is useful. It could also mean putting them into a more aggressive deployment if you are going first. It could also mean you just put them in reserves to cause your opponent to rethink some of their movement. All these things allow you to play another game that happens before you start the battle on the neoprene matts of the grimdark future.
#4 – Scout/Infiltrate
I combined these two as it feels like a lot of units either have both or we use both in the same sort of way. These units are plentiful, such as Space Marine Scouts. The ability to get a pregame move is very powerful as it lets you stage things quickly on the table. It is the same with Infiltrate as well, but that rule has the added option of creating space an enemy can’t always move into as well. Both are just methods to push your board presence and can be a big factor for keeping an assault army down or just getting the jump on jailing your opponent in their zone.
#5 – “Uppy-Downy” aka going back into Reserves
This doesn’t show up in a ton of armies and most likely for a good reason. The ability to get pulled back into reserves during the game turn is a powerful option. It lets you go back and prepare for a redeploy to help cover a new mission you pulled. Most of the time these units end up being able to deep strike so going back into reserves and allowing for a teleport down onto the table later is very useful for scoring an objective that was left alone or create a new flank to attack. The Aeldari’s Baharroth is an example of this type of ability.
All these rules are designed to help you play the mission and players that utilize and have mastered these rules are usually the ones winning most of their games. These rules move outside of the whole normal side of rolling dice and hoping for a success. When building an army, you have to think about these options and how you can utilize or neuter them on the tabletop.
What special rules do you look for the most in your units?
