Warhammer 40K: Is the New Hidden Rule Any Good?
Goatboy here and will be talking about 40K’s new Hidden Rule for 11th Edition and if it is going to matter at all.
Every 40K edition usually has a new rule that is initially pushed and then basically ignored as the editon rolled out. The last edition had Battleshock and how it almost didn’t matter as we continued in the game. In other editions we would discover some missions that just didn’t matter or GW overloaded players with tons of Stratagems that were never used. Each edition usually has an initial neat rules idea and then it just doesn’t always work out – ya know like the Chaos Knights main army rule.
Welcome to the Hidden Rule
This time around I am worried it is the new Hidden rule. The idea behind it is good as it is meant to protect models a bit more as they get set up. It’s gonna be designed to help out stuff like a unit of CSM Havocs in terrain, or T’au Stealth Suits skulking around.
“Hidden rule: Infantry, Beast, and Swarm models inside a terrain area can be Hidden as long as their unit didn’t shoot in the current or preceding player turn (and so will be hidden at the start of the game). While hidden, a model is only visible to enemy units within their detection range – which is usually 15” – so you can deploy your models a lot more freely without worrying about a first-turn barrage. “
But is it even going to matter? The game is going to be a brutal push towards the middle and a 15” bubble covers a huge area if you measure it out. This is especially true with so many armies seeming to get rules that ignore hidden or the range of the default hidden. If you can see something at 18” are you effectively able to hide? Would it just be better to have super big walls and hide behind there? Are we still just going to get shot off the table?
Can Hidden Really Matter?
I guess I will see if it ends up helping me out when I get to play the new edition. I just think it will matter turn 1 a bit but anything after that no one will remember that your unit can shoot and stay hidden. I just wonder if we had a better rule that would have just been Night Fight from old 6th Edition (see below) editions. If you didn’t play before you had your guns range limited so you couldn’t shoot at enemies most of the time on turn one.
Well you could if you had a flashlight on your tank that drove up and shot it. But still would it be better for the game? Is the idea that we save round 1 for more set up and round 2 is when the magic happens? It feels like if the answer is we want round 1 to be set up then we have to go bigger with how we shoot and interact.
What if you could only shoot at things in no mans land? This would make going second better again but would this be a better way to ensure turn 1 is a faster round and let you think about movement more? Would that be too much for assault armies that could deploy right behind their deployment line out in the open and not give a crap?
Hidden – The Verdict?
What do you think? Will hidden matter with non gw built terrain that has taller walls to sit on top of? Do we just need more L’s everywhere to hide your precious plastic nonsense from the mean old enemy? Is a game set in the future that is full of crazy guns too shooting heavy? Will just have to find out whenever we get some time to play this new update to our favorite game.
See you out there in 11th Edition!
