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Take a moment to check out our newest blog for The Upkeep Games - Morrison's Favorite Things About 11th Edition Warhammer 40,000!!

If you know who I am, I have been very down on 10th edition of Warhammer 40,000. Like, incredibly down on it. I've talked about it and compared it to the likes of 7th edition, and to 6th edition, which is the only edition that had a two-year cycle.

7th edition was the first time since (I believe) the beginning of the game that they did a full reset and went to indexes. Every other time your codex at least carried over, and it was almost like a continuation of the previous edition. A refinement if you will.

9th edition was my favorite edition. It probably always will be. It had some issues I agree, especially with the stratagem system. BUT... Boy did I despise 10th!!!!

I tell you all of that because my feelings at the launch of 11th are actually really up! Even though this is, like previous editions, basically a continuation of 10th edition.

So here are my five favorite things that changed going into 11th edition of Warhammer 40,000.

Cover
The change to the cover saves, affecting the hit roll and not the save roll, is such an elegant solution to having cover matter more. The fact that the hit roll is the first roll that you do, just mathematically means cover is going to be more important. When Justin Mathews put this in his blog article from the end of March, I thought that it was such an amazing idea. I am glad that he included it. And I'm glad Games Workshop nailed that one from his (and so many players') wish list.

Psychic
All of 10th, Psychic meant nothing. Why give a keyword to an ability that didn't do anything beyond corner cases with certain army rules? I am loving how Psychic doesn't get affected by modifiers. It is a small solution, but a meaningful one that I'm glad to see.

Stratagems
The change to "one stratagem per unit, per phase" is wonderful! I think will cut down on some of the ca---ca-ca--com-com-combo-ca-COMBO!!-PIZZA-COMBO!! nature of the game play. I still think the combo nature of things is going to be the thing that I dislike the most about this edition, but because players can add points to overpowered enhancements, characters, and units. I am glad that the one non-point-based stratagem is now toned down.

Overwatch
Rerolls and modifiers are everywhere, and I think that they should be given out super sparingly. The Snap Shooting from 6th edition that they brought back is a very good thing from a very bad edition. I also love the timing changes on overwatch. Now, overwatch triggers after all of the movements have completed. Overwatch in 10th edition was like 5 stratagems all mangled together. So, it's nice to have it all cleaned up.

Dispositions
The system of dispositions is a very interesting. It's kind of a wild idea. This is one that, at the end of the edition, a lot of people might not like. But I like how it is set up. There are a ton of k***s that can be turned to try and balance it. Disposition Points is one of them. Purge the Foe is the current front runner of the five. But all we have to do is add a DP to all of them and it changes things enough to tone them down.

Detachment dispositions can also be swapped from one disposition to another. This allows players to try and rebalance them until the next season of cards comes out, and fiddle with the numbers printed on the cards. I really like the idea of the asymmetrical missions and how missions change based on which disposition you are up against. I am a casual player that loves that narrative feel of an ever-changing mission.

Well, that's my top 5 changes to 11th edition that I am excited about. Come by the store and talk to me about what changes to 11th you are excited by. Send me an email about which ones you are down on, or a discord message to let me know what edition you started playing in. I would love to see all of you at paint night because I know I am going to really try and get these Word Bearer Deamons painted up.

I love you all,

Your friend,

Chris, the Gremlin

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