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Warhammer 40,000 studio head reveals how detachments, army-building and special rules will work in 10th Edition codexes

“Codexes will offer a breadth of different ways to field an army.”

Image credit: Games Workshop

Warhammer 40,000 studio manager Stu Black has revealed details of how codexes will look in the forthcoming 10th edition of the miniatures game.

Games Workshop has been calling the new edition “simplified, not simple” and has said that all of the army rules a player needs for a game will fit on two pages. It’s also stated that the new datasheets for the game’s 1,000-plus units will be available from launch, in the form of a free downloadable Index for each faction, with no plans to substantially change them when the dedicated book, called a codex, is released. This has left players wondering what the rules sections of the new codexes will contain, as they formed a substantial chunk of each book in previous editions.

Image credit: Games Workshop

In a recent interview, Dicebreaker took the chance to ask Black what sort of rules content to expect in the new edition’s Codexes.

“There will be a few things – they'll have cool new Crusade content for each faction, a Combat Patrol section and a suite of Detachments,” the studio head confirmed.

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In Warhammer 40k 10E, army building will involve selecting a faction, such as Space Marines or Necrons, but also a Detachment, which is where the majority of the army’s special rules come from.

Black explained how each Index will have a single Detachment that acts as the typical or default version of each faction: “The Tyranids Index Detachment is an Invasion Fleet, for example, representing the various types of Tyranids working together to devour a planet. This gives Tyranids players a cool Detachment rule, six Stratagems and a few Enhancements to capture the feel of that style of Tyranid army.”

Image credit: Games Workshop

Codexes will include multiple Detachments to allow you to use your units in new ways - such as the “Crusher Stampede”, which features enhancements and stratagems focused on big monsters. In keeping with 10th Edition’s streamlined design philosophy, these new Detachments will “replace rather than overlay rules from other locations”.

Warhammer 40,000: 10th Edition is due to release later this month with starter set Leviathan, following its reveal at last month’s Warhammer Fest.

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