General Rules

In Warhammer 40,000 there are many different types of troops, from normal humans to gene enhanced Space Marines, and from haughty but human-like Eldar to the eldritch horror of the Tyranids. To represent this, nearly every model in the game has a set of numerical characteristics.

Characteristic Profiles

Every troop type has a profile detailing its given characteristic, for example:

Heroic characters are an army's leaders and heroes. Unless stated to the contrary, a character moves and fights as an individual, picking targets freely—the standard rules for Choosing A Target do not bind them unless they are firing a Heavy Weapon.

Leading Squads

Characters may freely join squads, to do so move them within 2"—Standard Squad Coherency—of a squad and declare that it is leading them. The squad can then use the characters Leadership during Break tests.

A character who has joined a squad may leave it whenever they wish—except while the squad is affected by Psychology, has declared a Charge, or is engaged in Hand-to-Hand Combat.

While leading a squad, characters are counted as part of the squad and must flee if the squad is Broken. The effects of Psychology, however, are tested for separately.

Champions level characters (excluding Psyker Champions) are always members of a squad and cannot leave it.

Targeting Characters

A character standing more than 2" from every other unit may be fired at only when it is the closest target. If a character is within 2"—Standard Squad Coherency—of models at least as large as it and it is not the leader, then it cannot be selected as a target for shooting, even by other characters. If the unit within Standard Squad Coherency of the character is hit, the hit(s) are randomised across squad members and character together.

A good way to randomise hit allocation is to work out the chance of the character being hit and roll for it with a dice. For example, if the unit has five models in it, the chance of the character being hit is 1 in 6. Roll a D6—on a 1-5 the unit is hit, but on a 6 the character is.

The Heroic Character with the highest Leadership is designated as the army's Commander. If more than one Heroic Character has the same Leadership, the player nominates one to be the Commander.

Any unit within 12" of the Commander may use the Commander's Leadership value instead of its own when making any Leadership Tests.

If the Commander is slain, any units within 12" must take an immediate Break Test, even if they have already taken one in that turn.

Psykers are chosen as part of an army using the appropriate Codex army list. The number to include depends on the size of the force, the cost of the Psykers, and personal preference. Some players favour a single powerful psyker, while others spread their points across several less potent individuals.

Mastery Level

To represent their varying levels of power, Psykers are rated according to their Mastery Level, ranging from 1 to 4—the higher the level, the more potent the Psyker. At the start of the game, each Psyker is dealt one Psychic Power per Mastery Level.

Psychic Disciplines

There are 10 Psychic Disciplines, each represented by a deck of Psychic Power Cards. Some Psykers can only draw from a single discipline, while others have access to several. Each Psyker has a primary discipline—from which they must always draw at least one power—and may have one or more tertiary disciplines from which they can draw additional powers.

Dealing Psychic Powers

Psychic Power Cards are dealt in two stages—first all Primary Discipline powers, then all Tertiary Discipline powers. Within each stage, cards are dealt one Psyker at a time, beginning at the highest Mastery Level and working down. Where two or more Psykers stand at the same Mastery Level, a D6 decides who is dealt to first. Each Psyker resolves any Discards before moving on to the next.

At least one power must always come from the Primary Discipline before any Tertiary Discipline powers are drawn. If a player wishes to draw from a Tertiary Discipline, they must wait until all Primary Discipline draws have concluded.

Discarding & Redrawing

Once a Psyker has been dealt their cards, the player may choose to discard some or all in favour of randomly dealt replacements.

Only one round of redrawing is permitted per Psyker, per discipline. Any discarded cards are returned to the deck, shuffled in, and the replacement is drawn at random from the same discipline. The new cards must be kept.

By mutual agreement, players may choose to redraw before returning discards to the deck. This speeds things up and avoids immediately drawing the card you just discarded. However, be aware that this can be exploited—holding discards out reduces the pool of available cards, making it possible to guarantee a specific draw.

Keeping Powers Secret

Once Psychic Power Cards have been dealt, players should keep them hidden until they wish to use them. Place the cards face down, keeping each Psyker's powers separate from one another. This is important because Psykers may not use each other's powers, even if they share the same disciplines.

In Warhammer 40,000, cavalry means any unit whose mount has a single wound—bigger mounts are handled as vehicles, or carry rules of their own. Rider and mount count as one model, and the mount leaves play with the rider when the rider dies.

A cavalry model takes its Leadership, Toughness, Wounds, and Initiative from the rider, and its Move from the mount. Being mounted improves the armour saving throw by +1, and in Hand-to-Hand Combat the mount's Attack characteristic joins the rider's own.

Models of one unit ordinarily keep within 2" of each other—base edge to base edge—at all times.

Broken Coherency

Over the course of a game a number of scenarios may cause a unit to break Squad Coherency.

During Hand-to-Hand Combat models are not bound by Squad Coherency, but they must return to it once combat has finished.

When a unit suffers casualties Squad Coherency may become broken. In this case, the unit must attempt to re-establish coherency in its next Movement Phase. If it is not possible to do so, the smaller part of the split unit counts as being Broken.

Dispersed Formation

Certain units fight in Dispersed Formation, which stretches their coherency range to 4".

If a model or unit has the Infiltration ability, it can be placed on the table after both armies have been deployed, instead of during the standard deployment sequence. Infiltrating units may be placed anywhere on the battlefield that is not in Line of Sight of any enemy model. If they are placed behind or within concealing terrain, they may start the game in Hiding. If both sides intend to deploy infiltrating units, they must each roll a D6—with the lowest score deploying first.

Hidden Models

A Hidden model cannot be seen and cannot be targeted during the Shooting Phase. If any model in a Hidden unit Moves or Shoots, the whole unit is no longer Hidden. Models can go into Overwatch while remaining Hidden, but they cease to be Hidden once they open fire.

Normally a Hidden model is revealed as soon as it moves; however, if a model begins its turn Hidden and moves only through concealing terrain, it will remain Hidden.

Hidden troops may go into Overwatch, but they may not do both in the same turn. After hiding, models may go into Overwatch from their next turn.

Going into Hiding

A model goes into hiding at the end of its Movement Phase if it either stood still or covered no more than its normal move—never after a Charge or a Run. Cavalry cannot hide at all, nor can vehicles or models in Tactical Dreadnought Armour.

Spotting Hidden Models

Models can spot Hidden troops within a radius equal to their Initiative (in inches). When Hidden models are spotted, they become Detected (see below)—and can be fired at normally by the troops that detected them.

Detecting Hidden Models

When even a single model in a Hidden unit is Detected, the entire squad ceases to be Hidden and becomes Detected. Some models also have equipment or traits that allow them to make Hidden enemies Detected from afar.

If a model is Detected, it may not be targeted directly during the Shooting Phase, except when using a Blast or Template weapon. Detected models that are caught in a Blast or Template weapon's area of effect are hit on a D6 roll of 4+—this also applies to Hidden models, even though they can never be the original target of a shooting attack.

Buildings provide both protection and tactical advantages—often improving fields of fire and making troops much harder to kill.

Movement in Buildings

Models may enter a Building in their move phase by moving through an unlocked door, open doorway or window. Doorways offer no movement penalty but entering through a window counts as crossing a wall of equivalent height. If a Door is locked, it must be Destroyed before models can move through.

Once inside, models can only move at their normal rate, and may not Run. Charges may only be declared against enemy models visible at the start of the turn. It takes models an entire Movement Phase to move from one level of a building to the next, regardless of the method used.

Attacks on Buildings

Buildings are given an Armour Value and as such use Armour Penetration rules when being attacked.

If a Building suffers a penetrating hit then consult below:

Weapons which use a blast marker do not affect other models when fired at a Building, and Buildings are not affected by weapons which use a blast marker when fired models.

A Building may be attacked in Hand-to-Hand Combat as if it were a vehicle.

Doors

Generally speaking, Doors can be opened and moved through without restriction. However, if a secure Building—such as a Fortification—is being defended by one side at the start of the game, the Doors are locked. The occupying side may access the building freely, but the opposing force must destroy a Door to gain entry.

A Fortification follows the rules below in addition to whichever Buildings rules apply.

A Fortification is a prepared defensive structure—a bunker, tower, stronghold or wall section. Each has its own datafax giving its capacity, access, fire arcs, deployment and the Armour Value of every location, front and side/rear.

These rules govern the larger Fortifications. Trenches, razorwire, emplacements and concealed bunkers carry their own rules for access and damage on their own datafaxes, and are not covered here.

Access

Troops enter a Fortification only through the steel doors in its walls, and only where the model is physically small enough to pass. A dreadnought, Tyranid or Ogryn cannot enter unless the Fortification was purpose-built for it.

Take a model that enters off the table and place it on that Fortification's floor plan, one model to a square. Moving one square costs 1" of the model's Movement. Changing level means moving into a square beside a ladder, at the cost of the model's entire movement; it arrives beside the ladder on the new level, and may still fire or fight that turn.

Every level has a trapdoor and every Door a lock, so occupants may seal a Fortification against enemy models entering or changing level.

Firing Out

One model may fire through each Vision Slit, restricted to a 90° arc straight through it; where floor plans are in use it fires through the slit on the side of the square it occupies. Models on the roof shoot under the normal rules.

A Firing Port is a fixed sponson on a larger Fortification, taking two squares of the floor plan—one for the weapon, one for the gunner. Any model in the owning player's army may act as gunner, provided it stands on the gunner's square and has not moved that turn. A Firing Port fires within a 180° arc centred on itself. No more than one Vision Slit in three may be replaced with a Firing Port.

Support Weapons

The roof of a Fortification whose datafax allows it may carry a Support Weapon, counted as dismantled and reassembled there. Nothing moves it to the roof mid-battle, and one set up there stays for the duration. A Mole Mortar may not be set up on a roof. A Support Weapon may be set up inside a Fortification, but may not fire out of it.

Attacks on Fortifications

Models that shoot at a Fortification may either attack the models on its roof or the Fortification itself—models inside are beyond direct attack, no matter that they fired out the turn before. Models on the roof are attacked under the normal rules and receive the -2 hit modifier for being in Hard Cover.

A Fortification is a large stationary target. At Long Range it counts as a Large Target for +1 To Hit, and at Short Range it is hit automatically.

Roll for hit location and damage on the Fortification's datafax, as for a vehicle. Only a direct hit affects a Fortification. A weapon with a Blast Marker that strikes models on the roof, or that Scatters onto the Fortification or a nearby target, damages only the models on the roof; one that hits the Fortification directly damages a single location, chosen at random.

A Fortification may also be attacked in Hand-to-Hand Combat, exactly as a vehicle is.

Doors, Vision Slits & Firing Ports

A model within 6" of a Door with a clear Line of Sight to it may shoot the Door directly. The hit is automatic—roll neither to hit nor for location. A trapdoor may be attacked the same way by a model on the roof or in the same section; it has an Armour Value of 15 and uses the Door Damage table.

Once a Door is destroyed, later hits on that location pass through the doorway and strike a randomly chosen model inside.

A model inside 6" of a doorway or trapdoor that has been destroyed, or within 1" of a Vision Slit, may fire or lob a grenade through it at a model within, rolling to hit and to wound as usual.

Nothing may be fired or thrown through a Firing Port, which has no slit to shoot through. A Firing Port may still be hit by rolling for location, or attacked in Hand-to-Hand Combat.

Where a shot penetrates the armour of a location on a Fortification, consult the table for that location below. These tables are common to every Fortification; only the location itself and its Armour Value are read from the Fortification's own datafax.

Vision Slit

A hit on a Vision Slit passes through it and strikes one randomly determined model inside the Fortification, resolved under the normal rules.

Players are awarded Victory Points for fulfilling certain criteria during a game. Each Mission Card lists the points awarded for completing its objectives. Additionally, Victory Points are awarded for damage done to the opponent's units, as follows:

Squads

Vehicles

Characters

Vehicle Squadrons

The rules for forming and fielding squadrons are described in Vehicle Squadrons.

Support Weapon Batteries

The rules for forming and fielding batteries are described in Support Weapon Batteries.

When using these tables to work out Victory Points, the points value is the total cost of the unit—including any Wargear.

Mission Cards describe one or more objectives to be accomplished during a game—and the Victory Points awarded for doing so.

Faction Restrictions

Orks never take The Assassins or Witch Hunt—such tactics never occur to them.

The Tyranid player does not draw from the deck, but randomly selects a mission from a list of six—by rolling a D6 or using the randomiser.

Only Engage and Destroy, The Assassins, Witch Hunt, Hold the Line, and Take and Hold may be taken against Tyranids—the remaining missions assume bases to raid, ammunition to steal, or bunkers to assault.

The full list is available here.

For every 1,000 points an army consists of—or part thereof—1 Strategy Card may be drawn at random. An army of 1,500 points therefore draws 2 cards.

Some special characters and items of wargear alter how many Strategy Cards a force draws, or negate particular cards. Any such exception is given in the relevant army list entry.

The Tyranids faction never draws Strategy Cards. Instead, they have special rules that are implemented directly before Strategy Cards are drawn.

Players fighting against Tyranids remove Virus Outbreak, Malfunction, and Traitor from the deck before drawing. Facing Tyranids, Crack Shot halves the target's Toughness, rounding up.

The full list is available here.

Wargear Cards represent the rare and specialised equipment carried by an army's leaders—bionics, relics, force fields and master-crafted weapons. Only Heroic Characters may be given them; ordinary troopers never carry one.

A character carries no more cards than their rank allows. The chart below gives that allowance, and applies equally to Ork bosses, Eldar Exarchs and their like. It stands unless the character's own army list entry supersedes it.

Each card's points value is printed on the card itself, and is added to the points value of the character carrying it. Chosen cards are written on the army roster.

Every card belongs to one of three rarity classes. The class is a rule rather than a label—it governs how many of that card an army may field.

Two of these limits are given as recommendations rather than rules. White Dwarf 195 recommends that Unique items are used only by the special characters listed as carrying them in an army list, and that another character may take one only if the opponent agrees before the battle starts. The Uncommon allowance is a recommendation on the same footing.

Restrictions

Rarity governs quantity alone. The restrictions printed on a card—a race, a troop type, or a named bearer—apply in addition, and are never set aside by it.

Some items are expended in use. Where a card says so, it is discarded once its effect has been resolved and may not be taken again for the rest of the battle.

Wargear in Play

A card stays with the character it was allocated to. If that character is killed their wargear is destroyed with them, and may not be salvaged by anyone else. Characters may not pass wargear from one to another during a battle.

A scenario whose objective is the capture of a device or piece of equipment may set this aside, but that is an exception rather than the ordinary case.

Two departures from the sources are worth noting. Codex Ultramarines states that a Wargear card cannot be allocated more than once, which applies the Unique restriction to every card; White Dwarf 195 is later and more precise, and the site follows it. The rulebook gives the allowance as a chart by rank while the codex gives it as the character's army list entry; neither says which governs, and the site treats the chart as the standing allowance and an army list entry as superseding it.