Psychic Phase
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Psionics
The Psychic Phase is the only optional phase in the game—if no Psyker capable of using powers remains, and no Psychic Power is currently in play, the phase is skipped entirely. It is recommended to master Movement, Shooting, Hand-to-Hand Combat before incorporating psionics into gameplay.
Psychic activity ebbs and flows like a tide across the warp. The Warp Flux determines how influential Psychic Powers will be during a battle.
Determining the Warp Flux
The Warp Flux is written as so many D6—1D6, 2D6, 3D6 and upward. This number indicates how many Warp Cards are dealt in a given Psychic Phase.
The normal Warp Flux is 2D6. By mutual agreement, players may increase or decrease this value at the start of the game to increase or decrease the impact of the Psychic Phase.
Maximum Warp Flux
Regardless of the level chosen before the game, the Warp Flux may never exceed 1D6 for every psyker. Psykers which are killed, broken, or unable to use their powers no longer count towards this total.
Warp Cards
The Warp Deck has 36 cards in total, composed of: 22 Force Cards, 8 Nullify cards, and one each of Daemonic Attack, Destroy Power, Psychic Duel, Reflection, Ultimate Force, and Energy Drain.
Dealing Warp Cards
As each Psychic Phase opens, the Warp Flux is found by rolling the dice agreed before the battle and totalling them. That many Warp Cards are dealt, beginning with the player whose turn it is.
The Warp Deck is only reshuffled if the cards run out altogether and the deck must be started over again.
Using Psychic Powers
Once Warp Cards have been dealt, Psykers may begin using their powers. Play proceeds as follows:
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The player whose turn it is nominates one of their Psykers and uses one of that Psyker's powers. Psykers can only use their own powers—never those belonging to another Psyker.
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A power is used by choosing its Psychic Power Card and setting it down face up, with enough Force Cards from hand to activate it. No power comes free—one force card at least, and the potent ones ask more; the card itself states the number.
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Once a Psychic Power Card is played, the opposing player may attempt to cancel it with a Nullify Card.
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Unless successfully Nullified, work out the effects as described on the Psychic Power Card.
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The force cards spent on the power then go face up onto a discard pile on the tabletop. The used psychic power card is placed face down in front of the player—it cannot be used again until the next Psychic Phase. If a power's effects last for multiple turns, the card remains face up on the table to indicate it is still in play.
Play passes back and forth this way until neither player has powers left to use. If a player plays Energy Drain, the phase immediately ends.
During the Psychic Phase, if Special Warp Cards are drawn, they may be played or retained as per the card's individual rules.
The Loss of Psykers
A side left without Psykers still receives its Warp Cards as normal.
Nullify cards may be played against enemy psychic powers, although the attempt to cancel always requires a roll of 5 or 6. Force Cards—and the Energy Drain, Destroy Power, Psychic Duel, and Reflection cards—cannot be used.
A side without Psykers can therefore still attempt to cancel some enemy powers—representing the natural resilience of the victims and the chance of a power simply failing—but it is at a clear disadvantage in the Psychic Phase.
Resolving Psychic Powers
Each Psychic Power carries its rules on the card itself, and in most cases that is enough to resolve its effects without issue. However, confusing or apparently contradictory situations can arise—these guidelines resolve the most common ambiguities. If a situation arises where there is not a clear resolution, the players should discuss it and try to agree on a solution—if no agreement is reached, roll a D6 to decide who is right, then carry on playing.
Shooting-Type Psychic Attacks
Quite a few Psychic Powers operate like firing a weapon in the Shooting Phase. Normal Firing Arcs do not constrain them; they may be sent out in any direction the Psyker likes. Shooting-Type psychic attacks do not use the rules for Choosing a Target, even when used by squads—such as Grey Knights or Daemons.
There are two kinds of Shooting-Type attack:
Strikes the First Model in its Path
The attack runs out in a straight line and strikes the first model along it. The Psyker must have a clear Line of Sight to the intended target. Should some other model—friend or foe—turn out to stand in the attack's path, that model is struck in the intended target's place—players should be careful to check this before committing to their shot.
Draws a Straight Line
The attack affects every eligible target along a line up to the Psychic Power's maximum range. Unless specifically stated, neither terrain nor models block these powers, which damage everything they pass over.
A variant lets the psyker set a template against their own base and send it away in a chosen direction. These work as described above and follow the rules for Remains in Play.
Other Psychic Attacks
Some Psychic Powers let the Psyker set a template anywhere inside the stated range. No line of sight is needed, and neither models nor terrain in between can stop them. Placement is free—no model need be chosen as the template's centre—and everything beneath it is hit automatically unless the Psychic Power Card says otherwise.
Other psychic attacks work nothing like shooting: they are aimed at a model or squad anywhere within the card's range. Some Psychic Powers can only be directed at single models; others only at squads. If a Psychic Power specifies a single model as the target, it can be used against any chosen model within range, regardless of whether it is part of a squad. Psychic Powers which target squads can be used against any group of models moving together as a squad, support weapons including their crews, and character models or large creatures standing alone, outside any squad's coherency distance. Hits are apportioned randomly in the same way as Firing Into Hand-to-Hand Combat.
Range
Measure range base to base, Psyker to target. A power used on a squad takes effect if any one of the squad's models lies in range.
A template power may be set with the template's centre at the full stated range from the Psyker's base.
Some squads can use Psychic Powers. Their ranges are measured from the squad member nominated to use the power.
Armour Saving Throws
Armour Saving Throws apply against all psychic powers which inflict wounds, unless the power specifically states otherwise. Where a save is allowed, the attack's strength sets the modifier:
| Attack Strength | Save Modifier |
|---|---|
| 3 or less | 0 |
| 4 | -1 |
| 5 | -2 |
| 6 | -3 |
| 7 | -4 |
| 8 | -5 |
| 9+ | -6 |
Characteristic Tests
Some Psychic Powers are resisted by rolling a D6 against a stated Characteristic. These function in a similar way to Leadership Tests—a successful roll is either less than or equal to the given Characteristic, as stated on the Psychic Power Card. A score of 6 always fails.
If a power affects a whole squad, make one roll for the squad using the trooper's Characteristic. A Heroic Character with the squad—champions included—rolls apart, against its own Characteristic.
Some Psychic Powers trigger Leadership Tests. As these affect the minds of their victims directly, re-rolls never apply, and no Leadership bonus applies for a Heroic Character inside Squad Coherency, nor for an army Commander within 12".
Break Tests
Some Psychic Powers cause Break tests—and one can force a further test on a squad that has tested once this turn already.
A squad broken out of Hand-to-Hand Combat during the Psychic Phase is attacked at once by its enemies as it disengages. This is resolved using the rules for Breaking Off.
Split Up Squads
Some Psychic Powers trap models and prevent them from moving; others move models around the battlefield. It is entirely possible for models to be split off from their squads as a result. For models bound by Squad Coherency, the following rules apply:
- If a squad is divided by a Psychic Power, the two parts are treated as two separate squads until both parts are free of the power that split them—a part may be just a single model.
- Once no longer affected by the Psychic Power, the smaller part must attempt to rejoin the larger part as soon as possible.
- While trying to rejoin, the smaller part may not Declare Charges, attack enemies who are Breaking Off, or engage enemies in Hand-to-Hand Combat during Follow-Up Moves.
- The larger part may continue to act as normal.
- As soon as the two parts are within coherency distance, they act as a single squad again.
Remains in Play
Some Psychic Power Cards Remain in Play and continue to have an effect over multiple turns—to indicate this, they are placed face up in a suitable place on the table.
If a Psychic Power has ongoing effects, apply those effects at the start of each subsequent Psychic Phase—once Warp Cards have been dealt, and before any new power is played.
A card that Remains in Play cannot be used again while it does. It persists for the rest of the battle, or until: it is Nullified; the Psyker using it is slain (unless specifically stated); or the Psyker who cast it chooses to end it.
A Psyker may end a Remains in Play Psychic Power early. To do so, they must pick it up instead of playing a new Psychic Power. The card returns to their hand and cannot be reused until the following Psychic Phase.
Psychic Powers in Hand-to-Hand Combat
Psykers may use Psychic Powers while engaged in Hand-to-Hand Combat without restriction—some powers can only be used against opponents in Hand-to-Hand Combat with the Psyker.
Psychic Powers only affect vehicles if the power card specifies a Strength value or includes explicit vehicle interaction rules—no other psychic powers can affect vehicles. This distinction prevents unintended game-breaking scenarios like Teleporting Land Raiders.
Targeting Vehicles
Vehicles—including any passengers and crew—are valid targets for psychic powers that specify squad as their target type, treated the same as any other squad-sized unit. For powers specifying a single model as the target, the target may not be an entire vehicle but may be a single hit location such as a track, weapon, or a single crew or passenger model.
Vehicle Hit Locations
How vehicle hit locations are determined depends on the attack type:
Strikes the First Model in its Path
Roll to determine which location is hit, exactly as if shooting at the vehicle with a weapon.
Draws a Straight Line
A vehicle in the path of such an attack takes an automatic hit on the first location contacted. Any other locations crossed by the line are hit on a D6 roll of 4+.
Template Attacks
Each vehicle location covered or partially covered by the template is hit on a D6 roll of 4+.
Armour Penetration
Each hit inflicted on a vehicle requires a separate armour penetration roll.
Some Psychic Powers state an armour penetration value directly on the card, and some bypass armour altogether to affect a randomly selected crew member. However, unless specified otherwise, psychic attacks with a Strength value must penetrate the vehicle's armour or hit an exposed crew member to deal damage.
A Psychic Power that does not specify an armour penetration value uses the standard Armour Penetration rules, adding the Bonus Penetration Dice for its Strength.
Waaagh! Power
Orks and Gretchin do not draw on the warp as other races do—they generate their own psychic energy. Each Ork and Gretchin creates a weak psychic field, and in the excitement of battle these fields merge into a communal surge of energy known as the Waaagh!
This field interferes with the powers of other races, making Orks and Gretchin difficult to affect with psychic attacks—and it can be focused by Weirdboyz into devastating psychic assaults.
Weirdboyz in Battle
Ork armies do not include Psykers—they have Weirdboyz instead. A Weirdboy acts as a focus for the power of the Waaagh! and does not gather power from the Warp Flux; energy pours in from the excited Orks and Gretchin nearby.
Like other Psykers, a Weirdboy receives Psychic Power Cards when the game begins—one power per Mastery Level, drawn from the Ork Weirdboyz discipline.
The Dangers of Waaagh! Power
During the Psychic Phase the Ork player receives half as many Warp Cards as the Warp Flux rolled—energy raised by the Orks themselves rather than pulled from the warp.
Before any psychic powers are played, each Weirdboy must test to control the power of the Waaagh! The power absorbed is determined by the single highest source on the chart below—sources are never added together—plus the hand-to-hand combat modifier where it applies.
Waaagh! Power Chart
Models Within 12" of the Weirdboy
Waaagh! Power
A model Hiding or fleeing adds nothing to Waaagh! power. The +2 applies wherever on the field Orks, Gretchin or Madboyz fought in the Hand-to-Hand Combat Phase just gone.
To control the power, the Weirdboy rolls a D6 and adds their Mastery Level. Beat the absorbed Waaagh! power and the Weirdboy holds on; a total no higher than the Waaagh! power means control is lost, and the Weirdboy rolls on the 'Eadbangerz Chart below.
A Weirdboy more than 12" from any Ork or Gretchin—so long as no hand-to-hand fighting happened in the phase before—escapes the Waaagh! power entirely. Such a Weirdboy works no psychic power and takes no control test, though its Warp Cards remain good for Nullifying enemy attacks.
'Eadbangerz Chart (D6)
The Benefits of Waaagh! Power
To a Weirdboy, every Warp Card is as good as a Force Card. A power requiring three Force Cards could, for example, be played with two Force Cards and a Nullify card counted as the third. A Special Warp Card spent this way is discarded as an ordinary Force Card would be, staying spent for the rest of that Psychic Phase, cancelled power or not.
A Weirdboy who absorbs a Waaagh! power of 4 or more generates one extra Warp Card. The extra card is added to the Ork player's hand and may be used by any Weirdboy. The card arrives whether or not the Weirdboy kept control—though the 'Eadbangerz Chart may promptly take it back.
Orks generate their own psychic energy and are unlikely to draw the attention of daemons. Daemonic Attack played on a Weirdboy bites only on a D6 roll of 6—and even then the usual D6 escape from being dragged into the warp remains open.
The Nullify and Special Warp Cards that arrive with the Warp Flux stand for the natural resilience of Orks and Gretchin—their innate toughness, not the Weirdboy's conscious effort, is what turns psychic attack aside.
Weirdboy Warpheadz
Warpheadz are Weirdboyz whose minds have become saturated with Orky power through long survival—manic, overconfident, and drawn to the thick of the fighting. A Warphead uses all the normal rules for Weirdboyz, but has a Mastery Level of 4 rather than the usual Weirdboy Mastery Level of 2.
Minderz
Four Minderz escort every Warphead, keeping base contact at all times. The Minderz fight normally as well as restraining their charge.
If all four Minderz are killed, the Warphead makes a Run move towards the biggest group of Orks available, trying to get within 12" of the best source of Waaagh! power. In the Psychic Phase, a Warphead without Minderz always uses a psychic power picked at random, and other Weirdboyz may only use their powers after the Warphead has done so. If there are not enough Warp Cards to play the randomly chosen power, there is no further effect, and other Weirdboyz may use their powers freely.
Madboyz
Warpheadz exert a strange influence over Madboyz. A Madboy within 2" of a Warphead may take Leadership Tests using the Warphead's Leadership of 8, even though Madboyz cannot normally benefit from a character's higher Leadership.