Warhammer 40,000 10th Edition is upon us and, thanks to Games Workshop, we’ve been able to spend some time looking through Index Space Marines and all of the updated Datasheets, Stratagems, Enhancements, Army and Detachment rules for the Adeptus Astartes.

Over the next week Games Workshop will be releasing the free 10th Edition rules for every faction in Warhammer 40k over on Warhammer Community! Every army will be getting a set of Index cards (That will also be available to buy later) covering the rules for each datasheet, along with the Army Rules, Detachment rules for a single detachment plus all the enhancements and stratagems!

If you want to add to your Space Marines and also support the site why not order through our affiliate Element Games and save yourself some money too?

Also check out our 10th Edition 40k Coverage on the site and below on YouTube

Army Rules

Army wide rules for all factions in 10th edition have been significatly streamlined. Rules that used to span several pages (and sometimes even several books) have now been condensed into a single page, a single rule in fact! Gone are rules such as Angels of Death, Shock Assault, Chapter Tactics and the like, replaced instead by Oath of Moment, the new (and only) Army Rule for the Adeptus Astartes which takes inspiration from the old Ultramarines relic and allows you to nominate an enemy unit in your Command phase against which all units in your army can re-roll Hit rolls and Wound rolls against. This seems like an incredible army wide rule, able to benefit multiple units in your army and giving you the flexibility to ensure you’re able to deal with your opponent’s most threatening units as the battle progresses.

Gladius Task Force Detachment

Detachment rules have also changed quite a bit in 10th edition with each faction gaining access to a single faction-specific Detachment (although I suspect we’ll see more options as Codexes are published). In addition there are now no longer any ‘army-build’ restrictions imposed upon the player when using a Detachment allowing for a much simpler and more flexible list building process. Index Space Marines contains the Gladius Task Force Detachment which simply unlocks a modified version of the old Combat Tactics rules for Space Marines armies that select this Detachment. In each of your Command phases you’re able to select from one of three doctrines, Devastator Doctrine, Tactical Doctrine and Assault Doctrine which bestow certain bonused on the units in your army whilst that doctrine is in effect. Note that your only able to select each doctrine once so you’ll need to make sure you activate each one at the right time to maximise its impact. The Devastator Doctrine allows your units to shoot whilst advancing, allowing you to move key units into position to contest objectives or counter your opponent’s schemes without sacrificing your ranged offensive capabilities. Tactical Doctrine is also very useful, allowing your units to fall back out of engagement and the either shoot or charge again later that turn! The Assault Doctrine also looks very good, allowing your units to both advance and charge in the same turn. These are all really useful bonuses and gives the commanding player plenty of options throughout the course of a battle.

Gladius Task Force Enhancements

Enhancements are a new concept in Warhammer 40,000 10th edition and essentially bring together a number of Warlord Traits, Relics and other ‘unit upgrades’ from across the different 9th edition books. The Enhancements themselves are associated with the aforementioned Gladius Task Force Detachment and are only availble to make use of if you have selected this specifc Detachment. Only Characters (not including Epic Heroes) can be upgraded with Enhancements and they are limited to just a single choice (although you can take up to three across your entire army).

Artificer Armour grants the Character a 2+ save and the Feel No Pain 5+ ability, a great option for a Librarian, Captain or Lieutenant. The Honour Vehement is a great pick for a melee-focussed character such as a Captain with Jump Pack or a Chaplain. This Enhancement increases the Attacks and Strength characteristic of the model by either 1 (or 2 if the Assault Doctrine is active). Adept of the Codex is a Captain only option and allows a single attached unit to benefit from the Tactical Doctrine even if that doctrine has already been used during this battle. Lastly we have Bolter Discipline which buffs the ranged attacks of the model and its attached unit, granting the Sustained Hits 1 ability in addition to allowing the unit to ‘proc’ critical hits on a 5+ rather than 6+. This would work great on Lietentant leading a unit of Hellblasters for example, allowing them to both score extra hits and inflict automatic wounds on a to hit roll of 5+ in the right circumstances! The Oath of Momenty rule really helps out here too to enable you to go fishing for those 5’s (although beware of the new Hazardous weapon rules!).

Gladius Task Force Stratagems

The selection of Stratagems have also been trimmed for all factions in 10th edition with just six (in addition to those in the Core Rulebook) available to the Adeptus Astartes – these being locked behind the Gladius Task Force Detachment (which suggests that future Detachments will possibly bring other options).

Only In Death Does Duty End grants a unit a ‘fight on death’ ability in the Fight Phase which is always a useful deterrent to your opponent. Armour of Contempt can be used to reduce the Armour Penetration of incoming ranged or melee attacks and Honour the Chapter grants all melee weapons in the target unit the Lance ability (a +1 to Wound roll bonus on the charge) and additionally an extra pip of Armour Penetration if the Assault Doctrine is active!

Adaptive Strategy is a fantastic Stratagem that I believe will see use in every turn of the game, effectively allowing you to make sure a key unit in your army is able to benefit from the most appropriate combat doctrine at all times. Storm of Fire is another useful pick when you’re up against an enemy unit benefitting from cover or whose low armour save is giving you some problems. Finally Squad Tactics is one of those ‘gotcha’ type Stratagems that can undo an opponent’s own strategies, allowing you to reposition a unit in response to the enemy’s own movement.

There is no longer any ‘waste’ when it comes to Stratagems, each of the six options are solid picks and give a Space Marines player all the tools they will need to foil their opponent’s battle plans.

Key Units

Index Space Marines is packed full of Datasheets which are now all available over on the Warhammer Community website for you to download and digest at your leisure. Every Datasheet has been updated in some way and there are plenty of synergies and devastating combinations to discover. Keep your eyes peeled on the website as we’ll be putting the new Space Marines to the test in some battle reports over the next few weeks!

The humble Primaris Lieutenant looks like a great force multiplier with an ability, Tactical Precision, that grants the Lethal Hits ability to his attached unit. This coupled with careful use of Oath of Moment will be a deadly combo when used with either ranged or melee focussed unit.

The Judicar works well in a unit of Bladeguard Veterans, granting them the Fights First ability and allowing them to better make use of their Sword of the Imperium ability in place of the more defensive Shields of the Imperium.

Dreadnoughts look truly terrifying now, especially now that they have a much more forgiving ‘damage table’ mechanic – now able to fight at pretty well even when down to their last few wounds.

Overall i’m really excited to get the Space Marines back onto the battlefield with the new edition of Warhammer 40,000 and their updated army rules and Datasheets. There is a lot to digest here with an expansive selection of Datasheets to play around with and I look forward to seeing the rules for this army expanded in the future 10 edition Codex.

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