Warhammer 40K: 11th Edition Terrain Is Gonna Be Deadly
Goatboy here to talk about the new 11th edition terrain rules – and how to prepare for a MUCH deadlier 40K game.
The 40K 11th Edition shift from objective markers to actual area terrain being fought over is a huge shift in the game. On top of that the removal of improving your armor save with terrain is going to be a big change in how we are used to playing. Let’s talk about the few ways these rules are going to create a hot mess for your army.
Objectives Will Be More Dangerous to Hold
In some of the current 10th Edition missions we will now have the objective getting conveniently hidden behind a wall or other fun shaped L based ruin. The small little piece of the imaginary circle that is the current objective system confidently runs behind the wall and lets you “control” it without really giving up anything to hold it. The new shift in objectives for 11th means that no matter what happens when you hold an area of terrain, you are exposing yourself from multiple angles if your opponent wants to see you. This ability to not be hidden mixed with cover no longer making you tougher to wound and instead just harder to hit will be a major shift in how you hold objectives and try to survive thru whatever your opponent throws at you.
Bigger Terrain – Less LoS Blocking
The other wild change to expect is that while area terrain is now bigger, it most likely will generate LESS true LOS blocking. I know we have Obscuring to help you hide behind the terrain pieces but with stretched areas you are most likely not going to see a giant wall cover the entire length of the terrain pieces. The suggested areas seems to indicate GW doesn’t want giant walls covering a whole side. Instead they want four shifted “mini L’s” in each corner to allow for more things to move through, get wholly within, and still allow for some kind of interaction within the terrain during a game. Yes you can be hidden, but it isn’t hard to get within 15” of an enemy when the game is going to be moving so fast.
-1 To Hit Will Prompt Unit Weapon Changes
The other bigger piece in this and I think something we have to think about if we have an army that hits on a 4+ is that you are now going to be shooting as well as Orks did. Just having any -1 to be hit is going to be very impactful for any of the units that have a low number of shots, powerful weapons. Will this push those armies like World Eaters into switching to weapons that have more shots or things that auto hit? Will we see Orks suddenly just shoot worse with hitting on 6’s against so many things? Are we going to see more of a shift in weapon load outs and options to try and hit better? It is going to be a wild time when weapons we knew were hitting half hte time now hit a 3rd of the time.
What is GW TRYING To Do With New Terrain Rules?
I get the feeling a lot of this terrain design is attempting to make the game’s first turn become a movement focussed set up/staging operation, while turn 2+ is where the damage is really supposed to occur. It might help push games and players to think more so of how to get to their points instead of just rolling to the open lane and blasting away for the Emperor.
~I know I can’t wait to play my aggressive assault armies with all the new staging lines nooks and crannies to get lodged in.
