Warhammer 40k 9th Edition

Welcome to Warhammer 40,000 9th Edition! Whether you’re brand new to the game or a veteran of hundreds of miniature battles, we’ve got you covered with everything you need to know about playing the game and improving. If you’re a veteran of 8th edition and haven’t played a game of 9th yet due to the pandemic, then we’ve got everything you need to catch up on everything you missed.

 

40k is a complicated game, and if you’re interested in where to start or looking for what changed from the prior edition, this is where you’ll find what you’re looking for.

If you’re acquainted with the core rules of 9th and ready to move on to the more intermediate rules knowledge, here’s what comes next – 9th edition has seen a few changes to its points values and some major FAQs to really tighten up the rules. If you’re looking for a rundown of all those FAQs and changes, here’s where you can find those:

Additionally, we’ve seen several updates to the rules via FAQs and balance updates. You can find our coverage of those here:

 

Are you looking for a more in-depth view of things? Do you have rules questions? Are you an experienced 8th edition player looking for even more about the rules changes? Then check out some of this content.

Ruleshammer

Ruleshammer is our comprehensive resource to rules issues in 9th edition. Each week we answer reader questions and tackle the way 40k rules work.

9th Edition Rules Guides

The Core Rules

The Movement Phase

The Shooting Phase

The Charge and Fight Phases

The June 2021 FAQs

8th to 9th Edition Change Breakdowns

Competitive Play

James “One_Wing” Grover writes a weekly column on the competitive lists that are winning tournaments in 9th edition. You can find the page for it here: Competitive Innovations in 9th

Matched Play Missions

Hammers Of Math

 

9th edition introduces a new way to play Narratively: Crusade. In Crusade, players build a Crusade force that they change and improve over time, adding new units to their forces and shaping their growth. From player resources to campaign guides, we’ve got you covered.

Administratum

If you’re interested in Crusade, check out Administratum, Goonhammer’s custom tool for tracking and managing rosters, running campaigns, and generally just making the bookkeeping for armies easier.

Faction Crusade Rule Reviews

Supplement Reviews

 

Interested in how specific factions have changed and how they play in 9th edition? We are too, and we’re writing guides to each faction as new rules and FAQs are released.

The October 2020 FAQs
The January 2021 FAQs
The July 2021 FAQs
The December Balance Dataslate
The January 2022 Balance Dataslate

Codex Reviews

Start Competing 40k

If you’re looking for more detailed insight and guides for playing each faction competitively, check out our Start Competing page. We’re constantly working to update the tactics here for each of the 40k factions.

 

Faction-Specific Guides

We’ve been wrapping up articles for each faction into faction guides that cover a specific faction in greater detail. If you want to know where everything worth reading about your faction can be found, look no further.

 

Chaos Space Marines are still waiting on that second wound.

Chaos Space Marines - Click Here to Expand

Painting and Modeling

Competitive Play

 

 

The Death Guard were the first Chaos Codex of 9th edition, reintroducing us to Mortarion’s legion.

Death Guard - Click Here to Expand

Getting Started

Painting and Modeling

Competitive Play with Death Guard

Death Guard Hammer of Math

Lore and Narrative Play

 

 

The former Bogeymen of 9th edition are the Dark Eldar, who strike like lightning and hit like a truck.

Drukhari - Click Here to Expand

Competitive Play with Drukhari

In this series Archon Skari joins us to talk about general tactics with the Drukhari

 

The Orks got a powerful new codex and a range update in mid-2021, and were subsequently dialed back in December of that year. They still have a ton of powerful options.

Orks - Click Here to Expand

Getting Started

Competitive Play

Hobby

 

 

The Necrons got a new Codex at the start of 9th edition, and have remained a force to be reckoned with ever since.

Necrons - Click Here to Expand

Getting Started

Competitive Play

Hobby

 

 

Space Marines aren’t just the largest codex in 9th edition, they’re also a huge collection of subfactions and other books and supplements.

Space Marines - Click Here to Expand

Getting Started

Competitive Play

 

The Thousand Sons received an update in Q3 2021, dramatically overhauling the faction.

Thousand Sons - Click Here to Expand

Getting Started

Competitive Play

Hobby

 

The original Faction Focus articles for factions that haven’t gotten new books yet

Most of these are out of date now but some hold up OK. Peruse these at your own risk.