There are a lot of changes in Warhammer 40k 11th edition, but the overall experience doesn't change much. This approach has clear advantages and disadvantages. Pro: You don't have to completely relearn the rules. Cons: Some major balance issues may not be resolved. Advantage: Rule changes reduce the likelihood of major mistakes. Cons: It doesn't feel good to pay $295 for a book that's already on your shelf with a few tweaks.
As has been the case with the last few editions of Warhammer 40k, you don't need to buy a new Armageddon box to get the 11th edition rules. It is currently available for free on the Warhammer Community website. However, the Armageddon box includes lovely, practical softcover rules that are much more useful to take with you into battle. Since I've had the box for a few weeks now, I decided to just go for it. Join the fight and stress test the new rules yourself.
What changed in Warhammer 40k 11th edition?
We all want to know what has changed in the 11th edition. But let’s look at some important things that remain the same. Your Codices (Codices?) are all still valid and compatible with the new version. I haven't played a 'true' 11th edition match yet, as some errata and details about individual factions have been released after and between battles, but the rules alone are enough to keep me interested.
11th Edition has tweaked existing abilities so that even if a data card is valid, it may play quite differently now. Are there any Aeldari hosts who love nothing more than to get out of a Wave Serpent, blow something up, and then jump back in? Now it's as mobile as Zimmer Frame's Festus the Leelord. A conga line of guards denying space by boom-boom-boom-boom!-ing across the battlefield? They have to do more of the hokey cokey of placing the lasgun in a much smaller space.
I now have a few dozen turns under my belt and it seems like most of the toxic battle plans have been nerfed in one way or another. However, since neither you nor your opponent are running anything particularly meta or cheesy, there may be a few bits of Stilton that slip through the cracks.
There are a few changes to the command phase, but the biggest one is Battleshock. Failing a Battle Shock test now disables the unit until it passes instead of the next turn. If you can only trigger a few per turn, this can turn into a really effective distraction strategy.
In addition to the previously mentioned consistency rules (units now have to be within a full 9 inches of each other), rotation is now free. My imperial knights are jumping for joy. Or maybe you'll be happy to squeeze between buildings thanks to the new terrain footprints. The engagement zone is now 2 inches, which is a nice buff for combat armies and newly built Sicarian Ruststalkers. This, combined with the nice buff to Deep Striking (now marked as an Ingress Move), makes it much more reliable as it only requires a 7″ charge when it comes into play.
During the shooting phase, ballistic skills can now be modified in more ways (including cover), as can attack rolls. I think this will be the biggest impact of the new edition, but since I was dealing with a horde of orcs, it didn't affect my game that much. I like the fact that height now also affects shooting roll. Because it adds a refreshing narrative resonance to the game.
In combat, wound allocation takes some getting used to. It was a little difficult to wrap my head around, but when attacking a unit with a mixed save, your opponent chooses the order in which they save their wounds before rolling the dice. This delayed play a bit at first, but I think it will streamline things in the long run.
There are much more changes than this brief overview. For example, a unit can only be affected by one strategy per turn. But overall, 11th edition seems like a shift towards the narrative for 40k. This is surprising, coming after several editions geared towards more hardcore and competitive players, but these changes may be exactly what I needed to get back into the game.
game time
I like the 11th edition rules. They're intuitive and push the narrative into every fight. This is what I've always loved most about 40k. Except now my opponents don't have to hear my silly voice and exaggerated death reenactments to get a taste of it.
Since the rules were released, Games Workshop has made more interesting changes. New units call for testing, and the return of point costs for wargear is long overdue, a tedious hangover from the power level days. I also like that taking multiple of the same unit now incurs a points-based penalty, punishing meta chasers while allowing you to take a single lovingly converted unit without it being expensive or meaningless on the table.
But the real reason 11th edition has me hooked again is because it reminds me what a social hobby this is. Over the past year I've made many friends at events ranging from Kamping Kitbash to the Fringe, and I'm making a concerted effort to replicate this in my area.
I know a few players in my area, but most of my tabletop gaming friends are now scattered across Europe and further afield. With a bit of story juice and community excitement to generate new interest in the game, I'm committed to recreating this annual event experience with weekly story events, and 40k is the logical starting point for that.
I'm not going to go to my local game store and ask everyone to play Turnip28 or Aetherpunk28. Because that's my latest obsession. Even Trench Crusade is too niche for this crowd, so I promised to join them where they are. I ended up playing a lot of 7th and 8th edition 40k in pubs in Leeds and had a great time. I hope that with more narrative-focused editions coming out, we'll be able to have as much fun with 40k as we currently do with the standalone alternatives. Who knows, maybe I'll be competing in a tournament before 2029. But I won't stop breathing.
