Strategy Cards

A squad that crept forward in the dark to lie in wait. Played on one squad during deployment, it may be set up as far as 24" onto the table, and hidden if that position is in or behind cover. It also begins the battle in Overwatch.

Fire support from a warship in orbit, or from a gun battery too distant to see. Played in any one Shooting Phase. A 3" Blast Marker is placed anywhere on the table, then scatters 2D6" on the scatter dice. Every model beneath it is struck on a D6 roll of 4+, at Strength 5 for D10 damage with a -3 saving throw modifier. Armour Penetration is D6+D10+5.

Ground prepared in advance by scouts. Played at any time: a marker goes anywhere on the table, and any model coming within 3" of it sets off a charge on a D6 roll of 5+. Centre a 2" Blast Marker on whoever triggered it. Everything under the marker takes a Strength 4 hit for 1 damage at a -1 saving throw modifier, and models only partly covered are hit on a D6 roll of 4+. The ground stays dangerous: the next model to come within 3" sets it off again.

A commander who has seen how the battle will go before it starts. Played before deployment, it adds D6 to the force's Strategy Rating for the rest of the game.

Played in the Shooting Phase once a model has hit an enemy vehicle, but before Armour Penetration is rolled. The shot has found a seam in the plating: the vehicle's Armour Value counts as half, rounding up, for that shot alone. It does nothing for a weapon that uses a blast marker.

Against Tyranids, halve the target's Toughness instead, again rounding up.

Played at any time on one enemy squad that is Broken. Whatever held the squad together is gone, and its survivors scatter to find somewhere dark to hide. None of them are dead. None of them will fight again either: they cannot be rallied, and every model still standing is removed as a casualty. Played instead on shaken Space Marines, it breaks them.

Played before the opposing force sets up. One enemy squad or vehicle, chosen by the player of this card, has been held up somewhere to its rear and is simply missing when that army is laid out. It joins the battle in the opposing player's first Movement Phase, entering from the table edge at a point inside that army's Deployment Zone.

A speech before the battle that the troops carry with them into it. Played at the start of the game: every model in the army adds +1 to its Leadership for the whole battle.

Played in any Movement Phase from the second turn onwards, and only for a squad or vehicle held back rather than deployed at the start. That force enters along one of the neutral table edges, usually left or right. It must pass a Leadership test to arrive on the turn chosen; failing the test strands it until the test is passed at the start of a later Movement Phase.

A night march hard enough to reach the ground first and pick the positions. Played before deployment: units may be set up as far as 18" onto the board rather than the usual 12". Anything placed beyond 12" goes down before any enemy at all, whatever the two Strategy Ratings say.

Played in place of the dice roll to rally a Broken squad, which rallies without testing. The troops come back to themselves so fast that they lose nothing at all: the squad may take its normal turn straight away. Afterwards it behaves as any other squad, and may break again later.

Played when a character is killed, provided another friendly model stands within 3". That trooper throws themselves into the character's place and takes the blow. The character lives; the trooper is removed instead.

Played as an enemy model fires a Heavy Weapon, which chooses that moment to come apart. An infantry firer takes a Strength 4 hit for 1 damage at a -1 saving throw modifier. A vehicle mounting takes whatever the weapon damage chart gives.

A fresh unit arrives from another part of the front. Played at the start of any friendly Movement Phase, it returns one squad or vehicle already destroyed during the game. The unit must come on from the player's own table edge that phase, and may not arrive within 24" of any enemy. Destroying or damaging it a second time earns the enemy Victory Points exactly as the first time did.

Played at any time on a model, vehicles excepted, that has just been removed for any reason. It turns out to have ducked, or been thrown clear, or hauled from the wreck—whatever fits—and it lives. Where the model stands inside a blast marker that is still in play, shift it to just outside the edge.

Played on one character at the start of the game, who draws a Wargear Card at random from those not yet in play. The character keeps it whatever the card says: race restrictions do not apply, and neither does a full complement of Wargear Cards. A card the character simply cannot use—a force weapon drawn by a non-psyker, say—may be redrawn.

Someone in the enemy camp has been talking. Played at the beginning of the game, it adds D3 to the force's Strategy Rating. It may instead be held back and spent to cancel one of: Barrage, Reinforcements, Flank March (whose force counts as Delayed instead), Booby Traps, Brilliant Strategy, Forced March, Delayed or Ambush!.

Played at any time: something dormant wakes. Put a marker anywhere on the table, and treat every model within 2" of it as though a Virus Grenade had gone off there. Resolve that at once and leave the marker where it is for the rest of the game—anything straying within 2" of it later is attacked afresh.

A bomber falls out of the cloud, lets go of its incendiaries and is gone again before anyone can react. The attack uses the Thudd Gun Template. Pick the line of approach and lay Template 1 with its arrow pointing that way; the whole marker then carries D6" further along the arrow, the bombs travelling on before they land. Place the remaining three markers as for a Thudd Gun. Anything wholly beneath a template is struck automatically, and anything half under it on a D6 roll of 4+. Work the hits out as though from a Heavy Flamer.

One squad is told to hold the enemy's heads down while the rest of the army moves up. Played on a squad during deployment. That squad either starts the battle in Overwatch, or shoots at +1 to hit during the first turn.

Played the moment a model in the army is reduced to zero wounds, characters included. Dying, it gets one shot away from a Pistol or Basic Weapon, or throws a Grenade. Resolve it as ordinary shooting, out of sequence, and then take the model off. A model already in Hand-to-Hand Combat must aim at something it is in base contact with, even where that means a Grenade at arm's length.

Played at the start of the battle, before deployment: an area no larger than 40"², inside the player's own half, is sown with mines. Any model entering that ground, or beginning its movement inside it, sets one off on a D6 roll of 1 or 2. Crossing the ground is enough, jump packs and the like included. A model that stays still is in no danger.

A mine deals one Strength 6 hit for D6 damage at a -2 saving throw modifier. A vehicle is struck wherever it meets the ground—tracks, wheels or legs—at a penetration of 6+2D6+D12, and a skimmer is struck in a location chosen at random.

Infiltrators have been at work behind the lines, cutting supply routes and firing the ammunition dumps. Played on an enemy squad the first time it shoots, which is now running short. From then on roll a D6 for each model in it at the start of every shooting phase; on a 5+ that model spends the turn hunting for ammunition and does not fire.

An aircraft comes across low and fast, then lights its afterburners and climbs away. Name one enemy squad, vehicle, vehicle squadron or weapons battery; a lone character is too small a target. That unit is raked by a Twin-Linked Autocannon, resolved on its usual profile. No model may be struck twice by the Sustained Fire until every model in the unit has been struck once.

Played at the start of the battle, once both sides have deployed. The attack comes in fast enough that the enemy is still reacting: for their first turn they may not set Overwatch, may not Run or Charge, and their vehicles may not Accelerate. From the second turn they behave normally.

Where an enemy unit would otherwise begin the battle in overwatch—through the Ambush! Strategy Card or similar—it must pass a Leadership test to do so.

Played as the enemy throws a grenade at a friendly squad. One of the squad goes down on top of it, dying so that the rest do not. Name a model in the squad and resolve the Grenade against that model alone, even where a blast marker would normally be involved. Should a marker remain on the table afterwards, everyone else is moved to its outer edge.