A lot of powerful weapons, to mitigate the first turn, you can hide things in reserve. We have even more details about two very important phases of the 9th edition 40k with the current rules for strategic reserves and morale. One last thing that has been updated in the mission rules is how objective markers work. In the 8th edition, these were controlled by the player with the most models within 3″ of the center of them. This has been changed to balance things with the number of events and also to extend the control area a little more. Only units specifically placed in strategic reserves are covered by the rules in this section. While strategic reserve units are set up during the reinforcement stage of the movement phase, the methods of using units other than reinforcements still work as before, and most importantly, you do not have to pay the cost of the strategic reserve. If a rule specifically concerns strategic reserves, it shall apply only to units established in accordance with that rule. PLANES have two additional rules for strategic reserves: you must pay all points costs in advance when you create your list. You must not have more than half of your total combined strength in reserves (strategic and non-combined). In addition to substantially cleaning up the process of deploying reserve units as we saw in the movement phase, 9th massively expands the ability to remove units from the table by adding the strategic reserve rule so that everything can be held at a price. Some of the rules for this also directly overlap with the concepts added in the new missions, so today we look at them together.
A wise commander does not necessarily commit all his troops to attack and ensures that additional forces are kept in reserve to reinforce shaky battle lines or exploit a weakness of the enemy. Before you can go to war in a game of Warhammer 40,000, you must first select a mission. The basic rules include a single mission – Only War – which is ideal for starting the action quickly. Others can be found in other books, or you can play a mission of your own creation. If you and your opponent cannot agree on the mission to play, the players must leave and the winner decides. Units with built-in deepsstriker capabilities such as terminators with teleportarium, GSC cult ambush, etc. can still be stored and mounted on the board without having to worry about CP costs. You essentially pay the points for this extra mobility of the device.
„The rules of strategic reserves are designed to be used by armies forged in combat and represent the tactical advantages that a well-organized force will enjoy not only on the battlefield, but also in the wider theater of war. They give YOU full control over your strategy and give you the opportunity to share forces, outsmart your opponent and retain reinforcements, just as battlefield leaders have done for countless generations! When used with enough cunning, strategic reserves have the potential to give you a massive advantage over your opponent by flanking them or using overwhelming power and weakening their attacks – as you`ll see in a moment. This section contains rules for using a number of terrain features that can transform your gaming table into an interactive, themed battlefield set in the 41st millennium. These rules will help you bring your battlefield to life and introduce a new tactical dimension to your games. The new strategic reserves are perhaps the biggest change to the fundamental rules. It will therefore be important to familiarize yourself with them and understand how to use them correctly. Fortunately, GW lays this out quite clearly. In each mission pack, mission instructions contain general rules and mission briefings contain specific details for each of the missions it contains. An example of a mission briefing is provided below. In line with the 9th place, which cleans up and tightens many rules, all mission packs now have a set of „mission instructions”. These offer a series of numbered steps that guide you through raising an army, choosing a mission from the platoon, setting up a table, and playing.
They also set out all the general rules that apply to this series of missions. The new mission rules flatten the points curve, so you can plan to score more points later! An evil last trick with strategic reserves. If the enemy penetrates deep into your area of operations, you can punish them quite harshly with a reserve unit: if a strategic reserve unit is set up, it must be placed completely within 6 inches of a battlefield edge other than the enemy`s edge (as defined in the mission briefing). In addition, they cannot be placed in the enemy`s operational area during the second round of battle. Standard rules apply to be outside 9″ of the opponent What do you think of the new rules for strategic reserves? Overwhelmed command points for each unit? It looks like a game changer. Each unit has a spec sheet that lists the features, war equipment, and capabilities of their models – here we explain what that means, while the rules elsewhere in this section explain how everything is used in the game.