Games Workshop quietly dropped a series of updates to the Dataslate and FAQs this morning, dropping a ton of small tweaks and adjustments along with point changes for key units. There are a lot of tiny changes in the mix today and a lot to track but we’ve got you covered with a comprehensive list of what changed and what it means for your games.
You can find all of these updated documents here, though the Warhammer 40k app will also be updated to include them.
The Balance Dataslate
Several changes were made to the Balance Dataslate, though we expect there will be more in the near future based on the fact that the Astra Militarum edits stayed in here and at least a few of those will need to be removed with the release of the Codex. There are three changes here – two major and one minor.
- Chaos Daemons’ Denizens of the Warp Stratagem no longer prevents charges. The dataslate removes the “Restrictions” part of the Stratagem, making it so you can now just deep strike anywhere outside of 6” of an enemy unit and charge immediately afterward. That’s honestly kind of bonkers and changes this from being just a utility uppy-downy tool to “an insane threat of a 6” deep strike and charge every single turn, starting on turn 2.” This is honestly bonkers, and just strikes me as an insane oversight – it immediately increases the power level of Daemons substantially when you can drop Rotigus into an opponent’s Deployment Zone turn 2 – or turn 1 if you’re going second, even, and is a change that I think needs to be rolled back immediately.
- Dark Angels: Wording changes and corrections. These were mostly fixing errors and omissions. The error listing a change to the Master of Manoeuvre Enhancement was fixed to use the actual name – Mounted Strategist – and Ravenwing Command Squads now also get Devastating Wounds on their Black Knight Weapon melee attacks, making them much better as well.
- T’au Empire: Bonded Heroes Now works at 9”. One of the big casualties of the change to 3” deep strikes in the Q4 balance update was the T’au Retaliation Cadre, which depended on that ability to use its Detachment rule, which only triggers within 6”. That has been updated to 9”, which both enables it to work off its The Shortened Blade Stratagem but also makes the army just much more lethal at a longer distance. If you thought you were free of flamer hell, well it’s back on the menu.
FAQs/Errata
A number of changes were made to the FAQ/Errata documents for various Codexes and Indexes.
- Chaos Daemons Daemonic Incursion: The restriction on the Denizens of the Warp Stratagem was removed. This is hilarious because they left the 6” restriction to be exclusively in the Balance Dataslate. So if that’s ever removed or you find yourself playing without the Dataslate, watch out for a 3” deep strike that can immediately lead to a charge.
- Chaos Daemons: Greater Daemons can’t use their own auras to set up within 9” of an enemy unit. This one was obvious but some jerks weren’t playing it that way. That said, you can just pay 1 CP to do this now.
- Codex: Space Marines: Text from Index: Deathwatch was added to this FAQ/Errata document around taking a Deathwatch army.
- Space Wolves: An ancient typo on the weapons for the Venerable Dreadnought was fixed, making their Frag missiles damage 1 and their Krak missiles D6.
- T’au Empire: Ethereals gained the For the Greater Good faction rule, letting them get in on the fun and work as spotters, making them much more useful.
Codex: Astra Militarum FAQ/Errata
Also in the mix here was the FAQ/Errata for the upcoming Codex: Astra Militarum, giving us key changes ahead of the book. Most of these are clarifications and changes in wording, though there are a few key adjustments:
- Tempestus Scions gain the Deep Strike keyword. This is one we knew was going to happen going in and mentioned in our review – Tempestus Scions lost deep strike, that was insane and broke the Bridgehead Strike Detachment, and now they have it back.
- Creeping Barrage has the same unit cap as other Siege Regiment abilities. This was a pretty obvious error, and has been fixed.
- Militarum Tempestus Command Squads lose ‘Regiment.’ Another obvious error, where none of the other Command Squads have that keyword.
- Ogryn Bodyguard gained the CHARACTER keyword. This is a new addition, since they didn’t have this in the Index, either, and just makes things cleaner with them from a keyword standpoint. It also means they don’t come back when you use the Reinforcements! Stratagem, clearing up that whole mess. Also, Ogryn Bodyguard can’t deep strike with a unit because they don’t have the relevant keyword. They’re too large for the Teleportarium, it seems.
- Basilisk Earthshaker Rounds don’t reduce your Advance rolls any more. This was a bonkers oversight where you got -2” movement and -2 to advance rolls (and -2 to charges), which would be -4 if you tried to advance, which was crazy.
Grotmas Detachments
There’s a special set of Errata which affects only the Grotmas Detachments, making a number of adjustments to those which affect the overall power level of those Detachments and clear up some issues.
- Adeptus Custodes Solar Spearhead: The Veteran of the Kataphraktoi Enhancement now works in your Command phase instead of your Movement phase, removing your ability to move and use it. This means you’ll need a bit more forethought in your positioning and will need to worry about outrunning your coverage with a forward charge.
- Adeptus Mechanicus Haloscreed Battle Clade: This ability now can only be used to select an ADEPTUS MECHANICUS unit, closing an insane loophole that let you pick allied knights.
- Chaos Knights Iconoclast Fiefdom: Dark Sacrifice can only be used to pick friendly Damned units. A hilarious omission in the basic Detachment meant that you could technically select your opponent’s Damned models for the sacrifice. Likewise for the Tyrant’s Banner.
- Deathwatch Index: Not technically a Detachment thing, the Hand Flamers for Deathwatch Kill Teams gained the [PISTOL] keyword, and the Fortis Chainswords now hit on a 3+, correcting a typo in the Index.
- Necrons Starshatter Arsenal: This Detachment saw a ton of nerfs, some minor, some major. Demanding Leader Enhancement’s ability was moved from your Movement phase to your Command phase. This makes it a bit less good, since you can’t move and use it, requiring a little bit more forethought. The CP Cost of the Merciless Reclamation and Unyielding Forms Stratagems was increased to 2 CP, making them much more costly, though if you’re already taking Imotekh you might not feel this so much. And the Reactive Reposition Stratagem was changed to always be a reactive move of D6” regardless of the target keywords, making it less reliable and bonkers on your Doomsday Arks.
- Thousand Sons Hexwarp Thrallband: The Empowered Manifestation Enhancement gets a minor update to say “you can” add 6” to the range of the abilities it affects rather than just that you do. I guess this matters to somebody.
Points
For the game as it exists currently, there is only one change, which is the Tankbustas datasheet getting a +30pts uplift from the prior MFM release. This is because the old value was for the one in the Index and the new one is for the updated datasheet for their Kill Team release, reflecting the sheet’s changed abilities. The value hasn’t technically changed – it’s just correct and in-line with their new datasheet and the value in the app.
The other major change is to the Codex: Astra Militarum points. These are listed as being non-competitive only until the Codex has its full release, but let’s be honest, they’re telling us what the points are going to be. To add some clarity here, the ups and downs listed are compared to the back of Codex points, which is the normal way these are presented, despite the fact the Index points are still in this document and in some cases all that’s happening is the two things are being aligned (for example a Basilisk in the Codex goes up to 140pts, which is also what it already costs in the Index).
Winners/Losers
There aren’t a ton of massive changes here, but enough to significantly change the fortunes of more than a few armies, and it’s worth talking about the winners and losers a bit.
Winners
- Chaos Daemons – I can’t see a world where this isn’t rolled back to some degree because it’s an honestly insane ability to have a 1 CP 6″ deep strike with a charge, especially when you already have the ability to pull units up from your Deployment Zone. Daemons are the big winners this time around.
- T’au Empire – The 9″ rule for Retaliation Cadre is a huge buff and puts them back on the menu in a big way. The Ethereals getting a boost is just gravy.
- Astra Militarum – regardless of whether you like their point costs, getting Deep Strike back on Tempestus Scions is big and I’m glad we don’t have to wait longer for real points and updates. More of this going forward. If you’re one of the “the codex is obsolete day 1” babies, my advice is to shut up – the alternative to this isn’t “perfect codexes out of the gate,” it’s “no updates at all.”
- Space Marines – Those Q4 buffs are pretty bonkers, and they’ve managed to skate by with no adjustments. Plus Deathwatch and Dark Angels did get better.
Neutral
- Everyone Else
Losers
- Necrons – The Starshatter Arsenal loses a lot here, and it’s not undeserved. The Detachment was a bit too much as written, and scaling it back is a good thing. That said, this hurts Necrons in their most competitive Detachment at the moment, and that’s not great given the state the rest of the faction’s Detachments are in.
- Adeptus Mechanicus – Picking your Knights with Haloscreed was a fun piece of broken tech while it lasted. If you were doing this, I don’t feel sorry for you.
- Adeptus Custodes – Very minor losers here, since the Veteran of the Kataphraktoi Enhancement did get worse.
Final Thoughts
While this wasn’t the most massive set of changes, there are some important adjustments here, and it’s all spread out across a large number of books and digital documents. GW was helpful enough this time to provide some docs compiling all the changes and that made doing this much easier. That said, I am once again going to say that the Daemons change is bonkers and needs a second look like, immediately. Previously Chaos Daemons players needed to spend at least one turn moving onto objectives in the middle of the table to put their opponent’s Deployment Zone in the Shadow of Chaos to enable 6″ deep strike charges, and now they’re just free to do so immediately. Suddenly dropping Rotigus or Shalaxi into your opponent’s DZ on turn two – or even one if you’re going second – with the ability to charge right away and tag enemy units is insane, and while those are large bases when it comes to screening, you had better believe we’re in for some miserable new play patterns as a result of this.
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