Warhammer 40,000 9th Edition

This page is in need of cleanup. Srsly. It's a fucking mess.

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Officially announced on May 23rd 2020 and released (kind of) on July 25th, 2020, Warhammer 40,000 9th edition is the up and coming new batch of everyone's favourite plastic crack addiction (with a price hike on whole bunch of models to correspond with the increased point costs in the succeeding month; thanks GW(and again in 2022, just to really twist the knife)). It comes with a new logo, but is also the departure from the corny 80's aesthetic. Fare thee well, old friend...

Lore wise, 9th shifts the angle from Imperium vs Chaos to Imperium vs Xenos. The Necrons specifically. Why this shift in focus? Well, while officially unconfirmed, the Necron's Silent King (the OG Necrontyr leader) "NOPE's!" back into the galaxy after encountering the Tyranids and the resulting bone-rattling has got the Imperium well and truly spooked. What better way to show off the dramatic shift in power than with a new set of rules?

Well, not a completely new set of rules; don't fix what ain't broken. Thanks to the drip-feed of updates and leaks to tide us over during COVID-19 still going on, we can tell 9th seems less like a complete re-write of the rules and more of a 8th edition 2.0 (or a D&D 3.5 edition). Pete Foley (book and box game designer) says:

"The new edition works seamlessly with all existing codices and Psychic Awakening books, which is particularly important as we still have three more Psychic Awakening books to go! They were all written with the new rules in mind, so you can explore these dark new events knowing all your existing rules will work when the new edition finally arrives."

Well, that statement turned out to be bullshit.

It is scheduled to be succeeded by Warhammer 40,000 10th Edition.

Major Updates

Since 9th is basically an extension of 8th Edition, there are few fundamental changes to the game's playstyle. Shooting, wounding, movement, and model profiles remained generally the same or similar to what they were before. However, there were some significant changes:

Game Modes

• New Crusade mode, a new workup for narrative games, which gives experience points, battle honours (buffs), battle scars (debuffs) and new rules for the army. The core rulebook will have the Crusade system, and future codexes will each have their own additions, such as a Blood Angels character falling to the Black Rage as a result of a game.
• Four recommended game sizes are provided, based on the points costs of each army as usual: Combat Patrol (up to 500 points), Incursion (501-1000 points), Strike Force (1001-2000 points), and Onslaught (2001-3000 points).
• Balanced the scales of battle. Each mission is now designed specifically for one of the recommended game sizes, so you won't be playing a mission that had a 1000pt army in mind with a 500pt army.

Gameplay Changes

• Command point overhaul - rather than being generated by detachments, both players get a set amount based on the points level of the game you're playing. Taking more detachments actually costs you CP this time around (representing the political and tactical resources which must be used to acquire reinforcements), so it's better to take one big detachment instead of many small ones (especially since there's a cap on the number of detachments you can take, based on the size of the game). Additionally, being Battle-Forged gives you a single CP at the start of each Command Phase so you'll never run completely dry of CP.
  • Of course, there are some ways to avoid the detachment costs. The core detachments (i.e. Patrol, Battalion, or Brigade), for example, refund their cost if the Warlord is in one. The Super-Heavy Detachment can as well if you play one of the Knight flavours.
• Points adjustment: virtually everything has received a slightly higher points cost, making battles marginally smaller point-for-point. This is especially important since there are now four different levels of game to consider.
• Reserves have been changed. Now units can outflank which costs 1CP per 10PL. The turn number changes where they can come in from (no coming in on turn 1; 6" from a battlefield edge but not the enemy edge or in their deployment zone on turn 2; 6" from a battlefield edge but not the enemy edge on turn 3 onward).
• Reworked terrain. Terrain is now classified into four distinct categories: Hills, Obstacles, Area Terrain, and Buildings. Apparently the reason for this is that the designers wanted the battlefield to feel like the third player in a game, each piece of terrain feeling fun and being interesting, with woods functioning differently to a bunker, a swamp, a ruin, etc.
  • • Hills are just part of the terrain, so they can block LoS in theory if you're on either side of one but that's it.
    • Obstacles are your barricade etc. giving standard +1 cover against ranged weapons to Infantry, Beast and Swarms
  • Terrain pieces have traits you ascribe to them when setting up the board with your opponent; examples include Light Cover (+1 save against ranged weapons), Heavy Cover (+1 save in melee unless the attacking model charged), Dense Cover (If the terrain is at least 3" high, ranged attacks suffer a -1 to hit though it unless the target is an Aircraft or has over 18 wounds), Obscuring (If the terrain is over 5" tall, models can't see through it or over it unless they're Aircraft or have over 18 wounds), Scalable, Breachable, Unstable, Defensible (Occupying unit can either hit Overwatch on a 5+ or be unable to fire overwatch but gain +1 to hit in melee), Exposed Position.
• Secondary Objectives that can be achieved alongside the main ones, which can are selected by each player. Objectives now give a maximum of 15 VP for each objective, so alpha striking isn't necessarily going to make victory certain anymore.
• 7 core stratagems instead of 3, as mentioned above. They haven't confirmed it 100% yet, but assumedly the original 3 (command re-roll, insane bravery and counter-defensive) will remain. Then there's Fire Overwatch (duh), Cut Them Down (sweeping advance 2.0), Desperate Breakout (fuck your bubblewrap), and Emergency Disembarkation (get out of a transport without exploding, but models die on a 1 or 2 instead of just 1).
• Tightened up unit coherency rules. Every model has to be within 2" horizontally and 5" vertically of at least one other model in the unit, and in units with 6 or more models they need to be in range of at least TWO other models. As part of the morale phase, there is also a check to perform for any models that have fallen out of coherency, removing them.
• Also we're getting official digital rule support in the form of an app. It only took an entire edition, but it's here! On top of that, physical copies of the codices now come with codes to their digital versions. You have to pay a monthly subscription to use the app, though. Typical GeeDubs.
• All Space Marines, including Chaos, get 2 wounds minimum. Holy shit. Edit Circa Nov 2021: “Lol” said Chaos Marines, “Lmao”
• All those tasty buff auras are going to get some serious nerfs. Some units are now gaining the CORE keyword, which makes them the sole beneficiaries of any buffs that a hero of their faction (such as Vanguard Lieutenants boosting Vanguard troops) may provide. This comes with some serious takeaways: most vehicles (and likely monsters) will no longer be able to benefit from these buffs, though something like Dreadnoughts or Iyanden Wraithlords might be an exception. Second, and likely more powerful, is that characters will no longer be able to benefit from auras given by either themselves or any fellow characters. While it's yet to be seen just how far these limits run, rest assured that some really soupy builds will get thrown out.
• Dawn of war "like" edition: as seen first in the Space Marine codex, there can only be one QG per type usually (ex: one chaplain, one apothecary, one techmarine but 2 lieutenants); Chaos warbands can only have one chaos lord but multiple sorcerers available (as seen in the Death Guard Codex), lots of upgrades for the characters and the troops, "fewer relics" but more usable, characters in the elite slots more viable via "grouping them", fewer units but more powerful across the board. I hope this won't transform into Dawn of Eldar...

Command Phase (NEW)

• A Command Phase is now taking place at the top of the turn. Similar to the Upkeep phase of MtG, this phase is where on-the-board units or game rules resolve their effects. This phase is where you gain CP, activate certain unit effects, active/choose faction abilities, and crucially, gain VP for PRIMARY objectives.
  • Be sure to read the mission, as GT 2020, 2021, and 2022 all have slightly tweaked VP scoring rules. But in general, you cannot score primaries until the second turn. This means that your units will need to survive an opponent's turn before you gain VP.
• Some units have abilities that can be activated in this phase. For example a Space Marine Chapter Master can pick one CORE unit within X" to have full hit rerolls. There are a majority of different ones, so have a look at their sheets.
  • Crucially, most units need to be on the board at this point to activate their abilities (think Chaplain Litanies, or Chapter Master's WLT for gaining an extra CP).

Movement Phase

• Reinforcements have been reworked, so that they now happen in their own dedicated "step", and specifically disallow them from making other moves. In response to 8E Warptime shenanigans that let Deep Striking Daemon Princes get a 2" charge, coming in as Reinforcements (regardless of what the rule is called for your unit), disallows Normal Move, Advance, and Fall Back moves for any reason. They also automatically count as having moved either their maximum normal move (for the sake of Grinding Advance-like rules), or minimum movement (in the case of flyers.) Units set up this way must be 9" away from enemy models, with one specific exception (see below)
  • Strategic Reserves is a specific pseudo-stratagem that costs CP dependent on PL. This is baked into every army and applies to any unit, but they can only emerge from specific table edges depending on the round. When coming out of reserves and being placed in your deployment zone, they can be deployed within 9" of an enemy, and even within engagement range (being considered to have made a successful charge, if you have any abilities that work on that)
  • Also, specifically to spite Space Marine That Guys who claim that their Melta Devastators "aren't reinforcements, the drop pod is", all units deployed during this step are counted as reinforcements. That means they need to be 9" away, horizontally.
• Aircraft changes. Aircraft can enter strategic reserves when they move off the battlefield, but rather than coming on within 6" of a board edge they can now DS in 9" from enemy models, facing any direction.
  • Other models now interact with aircraft sensibly, able to move within 1", over them and their bases, can move/advance even if within 1" of an Aircraft (and vice versa).

Psychic Phase

• You have to cast all powers from the first psyker you choose now, before moving onto the next psyker. You have to think of the order you start casting now.
• Cannot fall back and cast psychic powers any more, unless the psyker is TITANIC.
  • Redeploys are specifically not falling back, so if you cast Da Jump, or teleport with TS power, you can skirt around this rule.
  • Titanic Sized Psykers are either Wraithseers, Tzeentch-marked Knights, or a new shiny, tentacle-grape-flavoured Chaos Knight revealed in 2022.
• Smite's casting still goes up by 1 each time you cast it. This affects all game modes now instead of just matched play. It no longer caps at WC 11, so there will be a point where you wont be able to cast it, if you're bringing that many psykers anyway you are most likely That Guy.
  • Or a GK/TS player. So yeah, still That Guy.
• Can only cast one psychic power per battle round now (except smite, read above). No more catalyst spam, BEGONE FOUL XENOS CHEESE!!
  • Exception: Grey Knights. GK can re-cast spells from their non-Character discipline over and over, at +1 for each successful cast; when changing to the Tide of Escalation, they can cast their Brotherhood-specific power with the same caveat.
  • Exception: Thousand Sons can mirror-move a Witchfire with a Cabalistic Ritual.

Shooting Phase

• Tanks and monsters can shoot in combat. Holy crap, that is a hell of a change. Land Raider Redeemer players are crying tears of joy while lascan Predators beat the shit out of TEQ vehiclelockers. They say you can shoot enemies at at point blank range in the video, but regardless expect more vehicle spam in the future (IG eat your heart out...).
  • What this means is that Tanks and Monsters gain the Big Guns Never Tire rule which allows them to shoot within 1" of them if enemy units are in that distance, however they can't attack anything outside of 1" unless those units are destroyed and they get a -1 to hit with Heavy weapons. Rejoice 'Nids! Your Dakkafexes are now less useless in melee.
  • Heavy weapons have a slight rework, now only Infantry suffer from the -1 to hit penalty if they moved.
• There is a new weapon type, "Blast" (the 9th edition rulebook has an appendix telling us which guns are now Blast). These weapons always deal a minimum number of shots when dealing with randomized attacks When firing on a unit with 6-10 models, you deal at least 3 shots when rolling the dice. When firing at a unit with 11+ models, then it deals the maximum number of shots per dice without rolling. That said, you still have to roll for the actual hits, and Blast weapons can never be fired in melee even if they also have the Pistol type. Oh, well- those dreams of dropping Deathstrikes on charging Hormagaunts were fun while they lasted, but would it really be a good idea to fire one at point blank range?
• Hit and wound modifiers are now capped to a maximum of +1 or -1. Goodbye Eldar flyer spam. You won't be missed.
  • Modifiers can still cancel each other out, though. So in theory while a -2 to hit would only act as a -1 on its own, it would cancel out a +1 modifier to retain the -1 to hit.
• Look Out, Sir! is the new USR that'll keep your characters safe (if they are 9 wounds or lower): If your character is within 3" of a) a VEHICLE or MONSTER with more than 10W b) a friendly non-CHARACTER unit with 1 or more VEHICLE or MONSTER models, or c) a friendly non-CHARACTER unit with 3 or more models.
  • These changes mean that a single Land Speeder can never screen for your Chapter Master (because they're less than 10 W), but, if the Land Speeders is in a multi-model squad, they could, due to the Vehicle keyword. Also, Characters can never screen for other Characters, so your Iron hands Leviathan Character will never jump in front of your Chapter Master.
  • To target a character, the character has to be the closest enemy unit and not have a unit near to screen the character, pretty sure this rules out someone hiding a unit out of LOS and then have the CHARACTER in the open slightly behind the unit and declaring "you cannot shoot my CHARACTER". Some armies had that with Bodyguard "totally-not-a-Universal-Rule", but the 2022 Balance Dataslate removed that. Bodyguard units now have a modified LOS! that can trigger regardless of how many models are left in their unit.
• Indirect Fire Weapons such as mortars and Whirlwinds that can hit targets they can't see recently got a sizeable nerf with the Q2 2022 Balance Dataslate. If these weapons attack enemies outside of LOS, they not only take -1 to hit but the enemy also gains a +1 to their save against this attack. While this isn't too much of an issue for those artillery weapons that fire tons of times, but single-shot artillery will suffer...
  • Except for the good ol' Imperial Guard, who have immunity to this rule. That's right, your Basilisks and Gryphons can keep shelling the opposition without issue.

Charge and Fight Phase

• Close combat is getting a lot of benefits, addressing the shooting dominance in 8e's (and 7e's, and 6e's, and 5e's...) metagame.
  • Overwatch has now become one of the 7 core Stratagems. This means that it can only be used once per turn, costs 1 CP to trigger, and it only works on unmodified 6s. Gone is the absolute dominance of Overwatch-dependent armies like Dark Angels, as they absolutely will take casualties while knocking out one charging enemy (unless they get something to give them an alternative way to Overwatch, see below).
    • There will however be other ways of accessing Overwatch. For example, there's a Battle Honour in Crusade that gives re-rolls on Morale and a free Overwatch on an unmodified 5 or 6, etc. T'au in 9th will be able to select wargear that allow their battlesuits to have free overwatch (0CP) and hit on unmodified 5+, 8th ed Ta'u with their free overwatch spam is gone and so is for the greater good (for the better).
  • They're fixing little things like, a Hive Tyrant being unable to attack a model in CC because they're 2 steps up in a ruin while the HT is on the ground floor.
  • A second Stratagem, "Desperate Breakout", allows you to easily break out of combat with 2 CP. This allows a unit to roll 1d6 for each model in it - every 1 is a casualty. After seeing who makes it out, it then allows the unit to fall back. However, any models that still remain within engagement range of the enemy will count as more casualties.
• Combat works a lot differently now, with a bit more nuance on fighting initiative.
  • When charging, you can designate as many charge targets as you want. Unlike 8E, however, you MUST end within range of ALL the targets you declared against. If you cannot end your charge within an inch of all the designated targets, the charge fails. This means that you can't just designate both the Guardsmen 3" away from you, and the Leman Russ 7" further on the off-chance you roll well, it's either you touch them all, or you don't, which means you need to think about your charges a bit more.
  • Units that charged on that turn "can only target enemy units that their unit declared a charge against, or that performed a Heroic Intervention this turn." SM and Tyranid players from 8E will remember that if they managed to wipe an enemy unit in the first round of fighting, they can consolidate to a close enemy unit, then pop a "fight-again" stratagem (that happened at the end-of-the-phase) to let them do another round of attacks to the new unit. Not anymore. Those stratagems haven't just been removed, but the rules explicitly mention that charging units can only attack what they've charged that turn.
  • Fighting happens in a specific order, beginning with the charging units (and thus, the player whose turn it is). Unless the charged player interrupts, or they use an ability to force a unit to fight last, the units that successfully charged fight first.
    • When selecting a model to fight, before attacks are made, you can move your models 3" inches closer (the pile-in move). Afterwards, all models that are within engagement range of an enemy, or within 1/2" of a model within 1/2" (effectively base-to-base of someone also in base-to-base), can make their attacks.
    • TYRANIDS and their SWARMING MASSES skirt this rule with their own rule.
    • Charging units can only attack units they declared a charge against, or units that Heroically Intervened into them. Since Heroically Intervening units attack after charges, you can dump all your attacks on them and preven them from attacking you back later.
  • After all Charging units have made their attack, you move to the general Fight phase. Players alternate activations, starting with the player whose turn it isn't.
    • This leads to some subtle changes. First, it means that you should be charging when you can. Charging in your turn means you get attack priority, and when it's your opponents turn, unless they charged you back, your units still get the chance to attack first.
    • Heroically Intervened units don't get priority like chargers, but the player whose turn it isn't gets to pick them first if they want.
    • Rules that let you "Fight First," means your units Fight First in this section. If you both have those rules, alternate activation. If your units have been hit by a "Fight Last" effect, you can only activate them AFTER all other units have attacked, and alternating if both players used that effect on each other.

Morale Phase

• The morale phase has been reworked a little to be less "all or nothing". A failed morale check automatically causes one model to flee and forces all other models in that unit to do a Combat Attrition check: Roll d6 for each model in the unit, -1 to the roll if it's under half strength. For each 1, a model flees.

Other Changes

The official FAQ answers a couple of notable questions (and a lot of PR chaff). Notably:

• Your codices will all still work, but expect new ones to come out with adjustments and new rules for Crusade.
  • First to get their codices are the Necrons and Space Marines, with the Space Marine codex becoming the "core" codex for all chapters, with all first founding chapters (including Blood Angels, Dark Angels and Space Wolves) and Deathwatch getting their own supplements, except the Grey Knights. Kinda overdue, to be honest.
• Psychic Awakening books all still (mostly) work, except in those odd cases where unit ignores to hit penalties with certain stratagems, abilities, etc. (Except now it has been confirmed that if your faction's 9th Ed. codex comes out, your PA book is now obsolete. So all that 'keep your books' schtick? Yeah...At the very least, all the goodies that PA had are baked in.)
• Forge World indexes have been compiled into one single Compendium that holds all the datasheets for the entire Forge World Range. It's also been handled by the regular Codex rule writers, so while a lot of the more unique rules and abilities many FW units had have been either removed or reworked, everything is a lot more streamlined. Any non-exclusive standard weapon or equipment options many FW units have access to require players to refer to their respective Codex entries for their rules. While that's a touch less convenient, it does help reduce potential confusion as updated Codexes and FAQs alter weapon profiles change over the course of the edition. As a final touch, the Death Korps of Krieg received their own special rules (of debatable quality).
  • The bad news, many FW units have been squatted to Warhammer Legends. The entire Renegades and Heretics line and what remained of the Corsairs are completely removed while the DKoK lost a significant number of their unique units and loadout options. Most of the other factions lost a few units here and there as well. At the very least, though most of the units that were moved to Legends are no longer in production or supported for official tournament play, they at least have rules for casual use so players with those models aren't completely screwed.
• Expect point changes to a lot of units with the new rules coming in. In what way is uncertain, but tanks and explosive weapon-bearing models are prime candidates. And as mentioned earlier, the vast majority of units will cost more points in order to make smaller armies more viable.
• Chapter Approved will remain, though it's now split into the "Munitorum Field Manual" (for all the adjusted points costs and other errata) and the "Grand Tournament" (for extra missions, objectives, and tournament rules).
  • On top of Chapter Approved and the FAQs, GW has also begun releasing something each quarter called "Balance Dataslates", which give them somewhere to display more sweeping changes to the game. These changes are NOT the same as the ones in the regular errata for each codex, which means you have to dig for yet another printout for when you play.
    • Starting in 2022, Point Updates are finally being freely distributed digitally for players. This means you are no longer required to purchase a $40 supplement once or twice a year just to legally play the faction you purchased a $60 codex for. While the Grand Tournament aspect is still sold separately and are still required for official matched play, chances are pretty high any official tournament you go to will have those rules on standby.
• To note: the FAQ says you can still ‘use your army in the new edition’. Yes, you can still use your INDIVIDUAL models but the Death Guard codex has created a scary precedent: VERY strict limits on what you can take in each unit now. That squad of Blightlord Termies with all combi-plasmas? Illegal now. That unit of all melee Plague Marines? Illegal. Seems GW is moving towards a policy of ‘what is in the box is your unit loadout’ as well as ‘milk competitive players until they’re dry’.

New Models

• Primaris Space Marines finally get Assault versions of Intercessors who wield Astartes Chainswords (Chainswords with -1 AP), Lieutenants being shown with a NEO-Volkite Pistol ( 15" S5 D2 Pistol 2 that deals a mortal wound for each unmodded 6 to-wound roll), Bladeguard Veterans (elite marines with storm shields and relic swords), and most of all: Primaris Outriders, Primaris Space Marines on bikes. In general it seems that Primaris are getting more toys, especially toys that finally give them assault options.
  • Outside of the Indomitus set, Primaris Space Marines also get a Firestrike Servo-Turret (Stationary turret that can have either twin-linked accelerator Autocannons or Las-talons), Primaris Techmarines, a Primarine Biker Chaplain, and the Invader ATV (A large ATV mounted with a heavy weapon that's basically the Outrider equivalent to the Attack Bikes. Just imagine a Primaris version of Ork Warbuggy.) They're also getting the Hammerfall Bunker, a Fortification with a big missile launcher and side-mounted Heavy Bolters/Heavy Flamers, and the Gladiator, the Primaris version of the Predator on the Impulsor chassis, and comes with 3 loadouts, short and long range anti-armour, and anti-infantry.
• Necrons get their own special models from the new box. Warriors finally freed from the green tubes and with new guns, Skorpekh Destroyers (New destroyers with spider-legs and arm-blades) with a Plasmacyte hanger-on, a bigger Skorpekh Lord, the Canoptek Doomstalker (A more beefy, attack-oriented Reanimator armed with a massive Doomsday Blaster and twin auxillary gauss flayers), Cryptothralls (new lackeys for Crypteks) and Royal Warden (Elite-looking Immortal to act as the Primaris Lieutenants).
  • Necrons are also set to receive at least five new models not included in the box. These are the Lokhust Heavy Destroyer (A revamped Heavy Destroyer fitted with advanced optics and armed with either a Gauss Destructor or Enmitic Exterminator), a new C'Tan shard now confirmed to be Mag'ladroth the Void Dragon, and an updated Monolith with two weapon options for its corner guns (the traditional Gauss Flux Arcs, and something that looks similar to the Doom Scythe's Death Ray in miniature form; plus the Convergence of Dominion, a stunning set of 3 models that form a Fortification that seems to have weapons called Transdimensional Abductors), Ophydian Destroyers (The return of the OG Wraiths), and new specializations for the Cryptek. Oh, and of course there's the Silent King himself.
• After their massive release last edition, the Death Guard just got a new HQ this time around, the Lord of Virulence.
• Dark Eldar got a plastic Lelith Hesperax. At least they can field the new Eldar Corsair like their non-sick fucks cousins.
• Another faction that's just getting a new HQ, the Adeptus Mechanicus are getting a Skitarii Marshal to lead their cohorts of cyborgs into battle.
• Despite their range revival being less than a year old at the time, the Sisters of Battle got a decent if not massive release. They got characters like the Sisters Dogmata, the Palatine and Aestred Thurga, but also new elite infantry in the Celestian Sacresants, the Paragon Warsuits and a faction leader with Morvenn Vahl.
• Despite getting nothing last edition, the Grey Knights just got an HQ, with a plastic Castellan Crowe. Bummer
• The Thousand Sons also only got a new HQ, the Infernal Master, a Chaos Sorcerer who especializes inn summoning Daemons. One day Geedubs will figure out how to make special Daemon Engines for them, but that day is not today.
• Now moving on to the major releases, the Orks introduced a whole new subfaction in the Beast Snaggaz to swell the ranks alongside last edition's brushup. The new boyz in town got their own named characters, HQs, Squig cavalry, infantry, vehicles, you name it. As for the "normal" boyz, the Megaboss makes his return, though considerably different and lacking ANY customization, as well as new Boyz, Kommandos and finally new Deffkoptas. Also, we actually got a plastic, 40K scale Ork Gargant!.....'s head, which the important Orks can use as a bunker.
• Genestealer Cults got a new HQ with the Reductus Saboteur, who especializes in explosives and, well, sabotage.
• Adeptus Custodes got a character all about damage dealing in melee combat, the Blade Champion.
• The T'au got a plastic Subcommander Miyamoto "No, Not the Nintendo Guy" Darkstrider. Latter, a new Kill Team would be released featuring a Kroot Kinband seemly lead by a new plastic Shaper. So far every Kill Team kit has seen an individual release as part of their 40K faction, and if that is the case here then some of the oldest crap the T'au still had is finally retiring.
• Craftworld Eldar are getting a FUCK HUEG model range update. KHAINE BE PRAISED. New models include Guardians (both Defenders and Storm ones in the same kit), Dark Reapers, Rangers, an Autarch (compatible with the existing plastic kit), Avatar of Khaine, a new unit called Shroudrunners (Rangers on Bikes), Shining Spears, Maugan Ra, Warlocks, and the Kill Team Corsairs.
• After roughly seven years, the Tyranids got a new model, the Parasite of Mortrex. Unfortunatly, it seems they are joining the "you get a new HQ and that's it" club for 9th Edition.
• The Chaos Knights are getting their own dedicated War Dog kit, rather than relaying on the loyalist one. This one comes with options for full melee, range and a mixture of both. Their Desecrator/Rampager kit also got updated so that you can build a Knight Abominant out of it, a new type of Chaos Knight with a tentacle arm that counts as a Psyker.
• Chaos Space Marines are getting a sizeable expansion to their Cultist ranks between new sculpts for the base cultists, Accursed Cultist Mutants (because where else were we gonna get them?), the Dark Commune (Spooky cultist-looking HQ squad, likely to make Cultist-only detachments) and the Accursed Cultist Torments (Giant abominable blobs of WTF slapped together). The legions are getting their own things too with updated Possessed Marines and a newer, bigger and badder Daemon Prince (with plenty of bits that it can be built for any of the Four Gods, Undivided and Age of Sigmar as well with little to no modifications), along with a plastic Warpsmith and Chosen. If you wanna count it, the Blackstone Fortress traitor guard also made a return alongside the traitor commissar and mutant ogryn thanks to the Kill Team Moroch set.
• With their Codex anounced with no mention of new models, it seems the Chaos Daemons model release scheduale is now firmly tied to AOS releases rather than 40K. So for the interest of counting them, the new plastic Be'lakor released under AOS but during 9th Edition and the new Daemon Prince we talked about above actually leaked from the upcoming Slaves to Darkness release so that will release during 9th as well.
• Before they got their big 40K release the Imperial Guard actually got a few sporatic releases here and there as the players waited not-patiently-at-all, with Gaunt's Ghosts becoming an HQ squad for a Black Library event and the Death Korps of Krieg getting a plastic infantry squad via Kill Team. The waiting is not over as of writing this, but leaks later officially revealed by GW have so far confirmed that they are getting a revamped and less boxy Sentinel that builds both variants, the return of the Kasrkin as models (via Kill Team) and the introduction of Ursula Creed, the surprise daughter of everyone's favorite tactical genius. The 35th Anniversary revealed the addition of Field Support Batteries for lighter forms of artillery as well as the introduction of Cadians as their own special units, such as Shock Troopers with more special weapons but no heavy weapons and the solo-fighting Castellan. Later on, the Rogal Dorn Battle Tank was unveiled as a new heavy tank that seems to be somewhere between the Leman Russ and the Baneblade in size and power, and a new character was added in the form of Lord Solar Arcadian Leontus.
• Since the Leagues of Votann, the revamped version of the Squats, are being released as a new army, they will obviously get their own share of models this edition. So far they have confirmed Hearthkyn Warriors, the basic infantry kit coming with plenty of options, Einhyr Hearthguard, which are basicaly Squat Terminators, and Hernkyn Pioneers mounted on, um, Hovertrikes. Yeah, that reveal was fun. Later reveals would give us the Brôkhyr Thunderkyn (heavy weapons squad with exo-frames to carry the guns), the Hekaton Land Fortress as a transport, and heroes in the Kâhl, Grimnyr, and Brôkhyr Iron-Master.
• The World Eaters will be getting new models for Khorne Berzerkers, a Chaos Lord on a Juggernaut (with a named character variant), special cultists named Jakhals, and the Eightbound, possessed marines who are host to not one but EIGHT Khornate Daemons (with Exalted Eightbound being those who were merged into the daemons)...and Angron.

Box Sets

• The Dark Imperium boxed set went out of production soon with the new focus of 9th, so if you wanted (different) Space Marines and Death Guard, you had your chance...
  • Because once it finished, there was a new boxed set called "Indomitus". As with everything else, it's set to be Marines vs. Necrons. (N.B. it's a limited edition "launch" set. Expect new starter sets later on)
    • Marine Models: Sword+Shield Captain, new Chaplain, Lieutenant with neo-volkite pistol+shield, Judiciar (A sort of loyalist Master of Executions that carries some kind of relic that messes with time) Bladeguard Veterans and Ancient (Primaris Sword+Board vets), Eradicators (Gravis-armored Primaris with Melta Rifles - basically a multi-melta with Assault rather than Heavy rule), Assault Intercessors, Outriders.
    • Necron Models: New Overlord with a Hyperphase Glaive and Tachyon Arrow, a Royal Warden (Lieutenant-tier Immortal with a relic Gauss Blaster), Plasmancer (Cryptek specializations are returning! YES!), Cryptothralls (Disposable mob units with special benefits when near a Cryptek), Skorpekh Lord, Skorpekh Destroyers, Plasmacyte (A walking energy emitter for Skorpekhs), Canoptek Reanimator (Seemingly able to resurrect things), Scarabs, and 20 new Warriors.
  • Regular boxed set confirmed, basically a lite version of Indomitus. Command Edition features the Captain, 5 Intercessors, 3 outriders, the Overlord, 10 Necron Warriors, 3 Scarabs and 3 Skorpekh Destroyers; Elite Edition is the same but it's missing the full rule book and the plastic scenery; Recruit Edition is the Lieutenant, 5 Intercessors, the Royal Warden, 10 Warriors and 3 Scarabs.

• April 2021 gives the new release of "Piety and Pain", showing Sisters of Battle vs Dark Eldar. The new Lelith and SoB Palatine that were teased at the beginning of 9E are going to finally arrive here alongside some more new Dark Eldar Kits. While it was released after the Dark Eldar codex, it did give a minor glimpse into how the Sisters would fare in their new codex.

• September 2021 saw the release of "Hexfire", the teased-about boxset for the Grey Knights and Thousand Sons. Incidentally, this is where the new model of Castellan Crowe will be packaged, while it's only assumed that the newly-revealed Infernal Magister will be leading the traitors in blue.

• January 2022 saw the release of "Shadow Throne", a boxset for the Adeptus Custodes and Genestealer Cults. Only the heroes (Custodes Blade Champion and Genestealer Reductus Saboteur) are the only new models in this boxset.

• The Advent Engine 2021 culminated in revealing "Eldritch Omens", a boxset for the Eldar and Chaos Space Marines, with plenty of new models to go around, pre-ordering starts February 2022. Chaos got a new Warpsmith and Chosen that follow the legacy of kickass Dark Vengeance left behind. The Eldar got a new Autarch, new rangers, and (shocker of all shocks) a new unit: Rangers on jetbikes!

• January 2023 revealed the unnecessarily long "Wrath of the Soul Forge King", which pits CSM versus Dark Angels. The Dark Angels only get the newly Primaris-ified Azrael while the CSM are being led by Vashtorr.

• A limited box called "The Lion's Guard" tying it with the release of Arks of Omen: the Lion, saw the return of Lion El'Johnson to the modern setting joined by a set of three Bladeguard Veterans.

Codices

• Necrons: Adds the Szarekhan Dynasty along with rules for custom Dynasties, Command Protocols, and features for Crusade. Cryptek specializations are making a comeback, and they can take special relics on top of the faction's basic relics.
• Space Marines: Adds Crusade features and consolidates rules introduced in Psychic Awakening (e.g. upgrading a Chaplain to a Master of Sanctity now costs points instead of requiring a Stratagem). Also of note is that in the first time in a very long time (if ever), all space marine chapters have been made to remain at a standard by merging the various first founding chapters who had variant armies into just supplements.
  • Blood Angels: Includes all the unique bloody units (alongside a big buff for Death Company Intercessors) as well as providing new benefits for marking your HQs to the Death Company. Oh, and there's some stuff for the Flesh Tearers as well since they were there.
  • Dark Angels: Includes all the unique secret-y units as well as providing a means to make any Monowing army viable. Deathwing in particular are now almost as tanky as the Death Guard.
  • Space Wolves: Includes all the unique wolfy units (including a new Reiver variant) as well as merging the sagas into mini-objectives that are tied to Warlord traits.
  • Deathwatch: Now as an add-on to the Space Marine codex, the Deathwatch saw a lot of changes, two of the most important being the massive reworking nerf to the Special Issue Ammunition, the changes for kill team formation and the addition to a ton of units from the regular SM codex that they couldn't take before for some reason.
  • Black Templars: A bit of a surprise to see them released so late after the other Codex Chapters. So far they've announced a primaris-ification for all their unique stuff, so new models came for the Emperor's Champion, Helbrecht and Grimaldus. Also of note is a new Primaris Crusader squad, which might be the first-ever example of Primaris Scouts. They also included new models for the Castellan and Marshal, which they designed with the old-school nostalgia in mind and made to work for either Primaris of Firstborn marines.
• Death Guard: It's uncertain how much this will be tied to the main CSM codex, as there's no solid release date for the core CSM. Includes rules for contagions (debuff auras in a new wrapper) that your army can now spread around, as well as a rework on how your forces are tanky.
• Dark Eldar: Consolidates the massive rework made by Psychic Awakening by integrating the custom factions and obsessions.
• Adeptus Mechanicus: Presumed to follow up with the Warzone Charadon funtimes. Sadly, the Book of Rust didn't provide much aside from the gifts provided to Forge World Metalica. Confirmed for a new model is the Skitarius Marshal, a leader-type unit for the Skitarii, while the Technoarchaeologist is a generic version of a Blackstone Fortress character. Also making a return from 7E are the Doctrina Imperatives that the Skitarii used to rely upon.
• Adepta Sororitas: Somewhat to be expected after seeing the new stuff 9E teased for the Sisters. So far, the new units are slated to be the ever-memeable Paragon Warsuit (including a unique character), the Palatine, a sister carrying a special banner (a unique character), the shield-bearing Celestian Sacresants, and the Predator Castigator battletank. Also included after getting the shaft in Psychic Awakening is rules for custom orders.
• Orks: Having been teased here and there, the Orks got another hefty buff with pretty much getting T5 and boyz getting AP-1 choppas. The Beast Snaggas are also looking to be a powerful new addition, granting a 6+ invuln of swoleness and having an edge vs monsters and tanks as well - they've effectively become their own mini-faction like the Speed Freeks before them considering how they got their own boxset upon the codex's release. In its unquestionable wisdom, the glorious overlord GW has also decided to make a version of the new Orks codex with unique cover art exclusive to the extremely limited Beast Snaggas boxset at launch...before releasing it again a month later, after everyone's already seen the obvious flaws of the codex.
• Grey Knights: Because of their unique organization, it's pretty obvious as to why they weren't grouped into the rest of the loyalist marines. Mostly unchanged from last edition, though Castellan Crowe got a fancy new model. Incidentally, there was also that teaser for them...
• Thousand Sons: The other half of that teaser abovementioned. Apparently generic Chaos is getting btfo, with the Sons of Magnus getting their codex before the general army as well. There's already talk of a new HQ called the Infernal Master. Unlike the Death Guard, they got to keep the Dark Hereticus discipline (But with a few new spells and some renames).
• Adeptus Custodes: First part of the "Shadow Throne" box. Alongside all the other rules, they announced a new hero called the Blade Champion as well as the Knight Centura. The latter is particularly of note as this alongside the re-shuffling of the existing Sisters of Silence units means that you can make a full detachment for them...with an extremely limited set of rules when compared to the golden bananas.
• Genestealer Cults: Other half of the "Shadow Throne" box. They're getting a new hero called the Recductus Saboteur, who might be their super-special arsonist hero. While the codex doesn't have faction-appropriate rules for various hijacked IG vehicles, there is a rewrite for the Brood Brothers rule that let you do so.
• Tau Empire: Billed for January 2022, making it the first xenos codex of the year. From what we know, there won't be much for models and lore aside from a new model for Darkstrider, the rules are seeing the Tau getting more than a small heaping of boosts by letting battlesuits shoot in melee and some rewrites to their Mont'ka/Kauyon system. The worst nerf they suffered is that universal overwatch has also meant that For the Greater Good has been wiped.
• Craftworld Eldar: One half of the 2021 Advent Engine. The Eldritch Omens boxset's reveal has essentially opened the floodgates for a ton of new molds, from the multi-piece Autarch returning most of his/her weapon options to new Rangers and a completely unit in the form of Shroudrunners: a jetbike ridden by two rangers, with one sniping. Outside of Eldritch Omens, Eldar continued to receive some much-needed love in the form of a brand new plastic update to their Guardians (with completely plastic Storm Guardian bits), Dark Reapers, Shining Spears, Warlocks and the complete overhaul of the Autarch as well as making Maugan Ra the second Phoenix Lord to receive the plastic update. Last, but not least, the Avatar of Khaine received a massive update (literally) with a pristine new plastic model, complete with three different head options and dealers pick on whether his Wailing Doom takes the form of a sword, spear or axe. The Eldar's new Battle Focus heralds the return of the old jump-shoot-jump shenanigans while Strands of Fate gives you the ability to store some natural 6s for moments where you need them.
  • This codex would also roll the Harlequins back into the Craftworld codex while also giving a sizeable rework to the Ynnari.
• Tyranids: As part of the announcements at ITC 2022, a teaser for a new Nids Codex was dropped as well. It's clear that with this sudden announcement that they're trying to stall the CSM even harder than they've already done, but we've yet to see if anything from Warzone Octarius will hold or what will get robbed again for the sake of "balance". Previews so far show an impressive number of much-needed buffs, as well as the triumphant return of the Parasite of Mortrex.
• Imperial Knights: Announced during the lead-up to Adepticon 2022. While psykery remains off the table, some of the leaks do give a priestly form of reinforcement.
• Chaos Knights: Announced during the lead-up to Adepticon 2022. Already announced are the Knight Abominant (A psychic knight equipped with a Volkite cannon that the dark mechanicus just managed to still keep around and tentacle flail) and War Dog Karnivore (Full-melee armiger with chainsword and claw)
• Chaos Space Marines: Another hotly-anticipated codex, especially due to the massive treatment given to their loyalist brethren. The second Warzone Charadon book was supposed to make CSM-Daemon armies more tenable, but it came with the huge caveat of requiring Be'lakor to lead as well as limiting the effectiveness of the various marks, hampering any hopes the chaos-addicted had. Also not helping is how the only real CSM updates the book gave was simply errata from the various supplements last edition showed. However, with the 2021 Advent Engine wrapping up with Eldritch Omens and the Adepticon 2022 trailer, their time might finally come mid-2022. Warhammer Fest 2022 confirms a hefty expansion to the cultist forces with a few new units (enough to potentially make their own detachment as a sort of Lost and the Damned lite), the addition of the new models from Kill Team as upgrade choices, a new set of Possessed, and the confirmation that the new AoS Daemon Prince is indeed cross-compatible with 40k by having some power armor bitz.
  • What came was...weird. While the CSM got their much-anticipated stat bumps, their rules are a copy-pasted combat doctrine-like system, you are now very constrained to the existing legions and warbands with even the minor warbands getting the axe while the rules for Khorne Berzerkers (who have no codex to draw reference from) have been unceremoniously dumped into a White Dwarf. Also gone are the customization of various units (Chaos Lords, Chosen, Terminators, etc.), completely useless cultist rules that make them the worst unit in the entire game, and a lack of quality control not seen since 5th Edition Tyranids
• Chaos Daemons: Confirmed to be next after Chaos Space Marines, the daemons are now getting separate Invulnerable special snowflake unmodifiable saves for melee and shooting; what makes it different from invulns? Well, if you have rules to ignore invulns, these aren't, so get fucked. They also got a ton of statline reworks that sadly saw the Daemonic Loci vanish from existence. Alongside all the other updates, this seems to be including the Be'lakor-exclusive Regiment of Renown from Warzone Charadon. Warp Storms also make their big return, but now as something you can trigger and not bound to any random table of FUN*.
• Leagues of Votann: HOLY FUCKING SHIT, SQUATS ARE OFFICIALLY RETURNING TO 40K! A reveal that took all of us by surprise, especially since their first teaser trailer was released on April Fool's Day. What came was...utterly broken beyond all comprehension to the point that GW had to publicly apologise and slap on errata for the army before the codex even hit shelves.
• Imperial Guard: By the end of 2022, and several previews worth of models and reveals, the codex for Astra Militarum finally comes out in November along with the Cadia Stands Boxset. Gone are the traditional regiments, veterans, legendary heroes such as Yarrick and Creed, for the line must be held regardless. Thankfully their customizable regiments and varied selection of strong relics and upgrades gives them the power to take on anything that comes their way. Or, at least until the next edition…
• World Eaters: Confirmed with Warhammer Fest 2022. Only a matter of time considering that God-exclusive armies have proven their worth in the two editions since, to say nothing about how it fared for Age of Sigmar. Khorne Berzerkers will be getting new models along with a new set of terminators filled with daemonic fury as the Lord Incovatus sees a return of Chaos Lords on Juggernauts riding into battle. More importantly, Angron makes his big return to 40K, finally getting a daemon model along his ascended brothers.

Fluff Updates

Imperium

• The Indomitus Crusade introduced last edition got retconned slightly. You know how Bobby G called it over after the Raukos Rift? That was rewritten (including new re-releases of the Dark Imperium novels) into being merely the end of phase 1 of the crusade, and several other stages ongoing. Its other effects are still completely canon.
  • It should be noted that this wasn't entirely new, as Psychic Awakening: Pariah was also set during the crusade - which would be weird to set some years in the past without any repercussions spreading while the rest of that series' events were playing out.
  • The Plague Wars now have become part of the first stage of the Indomitus Crusade, with Guilliman reaching Ultramar and fighting back the Death Guard onslaught across Ultramar, the conflict ends with a fateful duel between Bobby G and Morty, where the former literally gets a Deus Ex Machina in the form of the Emperor reversing the effects of the Godblight disease used by Mortarion (imagine the Anathame on steroids).
  • The Emperor then proceeds to wound Nurgle and tell him he is coming for him and his brothers, while Nurgle snatches Mortarion to have a little chat for not obeying him from retreating as the Scourge Stars are under siege by Tzeentch forces, the whole thing ending in a decimation and routing of the Death Guard from Ultramar.
  • While some people didn't like what they felt was a forced resolution, many fans actually cheered the fact the Emperor finally, FINALLY made a clear statement he is done being subtle. A few readers have even pointed out it was curious the final part of the Plague Wars trilogy just coincided with the beginning of worldwide mass-deployment of the COVID-19 vaccines, So yeah, no more allegories, maybe-maybe-nots and hints, the Emperor is truly coming back!
• The Octarius War seems to finally be shifting. Rather than any decisive victory, the battlefield merely expands to encompass part of the planetary cordon. There are Inquisitors that try to address this issue, with one finding a weird Ork device that allowed them to blunt the effects of the shadow over the warp. However, these efforts end up being in vain.
  • While in the sector for other reasons, the Black Templars had managed to show up to defend a Forge World from ork invasion while the magi in charge seethed about the lack of Inquisitorial support. While the invasion was eventually crushed, it came at a serious cost for Helbrecht, who was in such dire condition that he just happened to need the Rubicon Primaris in order to survive...Just like another Chapter Master just one edition earlier...
  • Nids won the war.
• Speaking of Papa Smurf, Warzone Nachmund has been announced, and that will mean that whatever narrow foothold he won on Vigilus will inevitably come under threat by Abby's forces again. Unfortunately, Calgar didn't take active part in this conflict, but the forces of the Imperium rally under the idea that the chapter master is a martyred saint despite not exactly being dead.
• Psykers are being born in unprecedented numbers throughout the Imperium, leading to speculation that the evolution of humanity into a psychic species is accelerating. The Black Ships are struggling to keep up with them, and psychic phenomena are growing alarmingly common. Even species thought unable to be psykers like the Ogryns have begun awakening to such powers.
• Remember how the Salamanders prevented Angron from being summoned back to Armageddon? It turns out they didn't actually prevent the summoning so much as delay it, and the growing amount of Khornate daemons on the world is getting the Ordo Malleus concerned that the Red Angel might be back very soon indeed.
• As many expected, the Salamanders finally got confirmed successor Chapters in the Ultima Founding.
• The Leagues of Votann finally confirm the full-scale return of Squats into 40K as more than just a one-off reference. Now they're described Dark Age of Technology survivors who hold an uneasy alliance with the greater Imperium and have trade deals with whoever will do business with them, with the Mechanicus in particular viewing them as hereteks. Rules-wise though, they aren't considered part of the Imperium since they're a separate faction.
• After Creed's presumed death, the title of Lord Castellan of Cadia was passed down to his daughter Ursula.
• Yarrick is reportedly "at the Emperor's side". No cause of death is known, but one of the skulls Angron is wearing does have a rather prominent bionic eye...
• Following Vashtorr's invasion of The Rock, the Dark Angels eventually discover what the forge-daemon was really working on when they discover that he managed to recreate his own Caliban...with warp-storms and factories. Needless to say, the Unforgiven were very pissed. Even more so when he then made off with the Tulchulcha Engine, which just so happened to be the last component he needed to forge the Key.
  • Speaking of the Dark Angels, it turns out that Lion El'Jonson was alive after all! And he's been awake this whole time, aging a lot less gracefully than Gorillaman's stasis-induced power nap. It seems he's managed to mellow out a lot, as he's figured out how to forgive some of the Fallen Angels the less egregious traitors of the Emperor. And we mean actual forgiveness, not the Imperium's thinly-disguised pious executions.

Chaos

• Typhus decides to get off his lazy ass and tries to conquer the Charadon Sector, home of both the Forge World Metalica as well as central HQ for the Imperial Knight House Raven. Of course, Metalica and Raven have poised themselves to repel the invaders with full force.
  • Book 2 not only sees the Imperium get some reinforcements (including Abbess Movenn Vahl - yes, an actual High Lord is getting involved with this shit), but Be'lakor also reveals that he has his grubby mitts in this mess as well with an army of heretics and daemons. In the end, the First Prince accomplishes in doing something, sinking Kolossi into the warp and screwing over Typhus' plans of dedicating Charadon to his patron deity. Metalica technically survives, but is now suffering from signs of Warp corruption that the cogboys have just barely managed to contain. Rip.
    • The Chaos Knights codex re-introduce the remnants of Kolossi as House Korvax, now a fully corrupted household bound in service to the Dark Master.
• Haarken Worldclaimer returns to harass forces defending the Nachmund Gauntlet as part of the re-igniting conflict in Vigilus.
  • While the Warzone books were left on the cliffhanger of Abaddon making his way back with nothing stopping him, it wasn't until the 35th Anniversary stream that we finally get to know his agenda - A new armada of ships led by "Arks of Omen", Space Hulks fished out of the Warp with the help of Abaddon's new buddy Vashtorr and re-armed to serve the forces of Chaos. They are currently hunting for something only known as "the Key".
    • As a meta bit to this development, GW is looking to add in a new series of campaign books suitably named "Arks of Omen", with the first of them giving game rules for Boarding Actions and utilizing the terrain from the newer Kill Team boxsets.
    • As 2023 revealed, Vashtorr himself decided to take the lead in invading The Rock, all while Azrael was still recovering from the Rubicon Primaris. While the Dark Angels pursue Vashtorr back to his Daemon World (which to their horror is their own homeworld of Caliban, reassembled through his infernal machinery) in an attempt to retaliate, he succeeds in assembling the Key, opening numerous tunnels into the Webway. He and Abaddon are now looking for "the Lock", a stockpile of ancient technology dating back to the War in Heaven. Only the Key can grant them access to it, and if they get their hands on the Lock's contents they could annihilate the entire galaxy several times over.
• D'vok the Unmaker, a Black Legion Warpsmith in charge of his own Warband, leads an assault on the maiden world of Daethe. With its inhabitants all but wiped out, the only thing left between D'vok and all the Exodite souls housed within Daethe's world spirit were a few paltry psychic wards. In an effort to gain Abaddon's favor, D'vok set about cracking open these wards so that he could craft newer Daemon Engines fueled by the much more potent aeldari souls ripe for the taking. Unfortunately for D'vok and his warband, Saim-Hann had received a psychic cry for help and a warhost led by Autarch Ghaelyn swiftly retaliated. Though the assault on the surface of Daethe quickly favored the Ruinous powers, the Craftworld fleet in orbit was able to ultimately decimate the Chaos ships in orbit. With a potent Warp Storm rolling into the system, D'vok attempted to stamp out the last vestiges of Aeldari resistance, but was unfortunately unable to do so; the last remaining Warlocks were able to reinforce the wards protecting the World Spirit, undoing much of the work his warband had done to crack open the reservoir of psychic energies. As a final insult, the Warlocks had intentionally been conspicuous in their efforts; while D'vok and his warriors were hunting the Warlocks, Ghaelyn had led a contingent of rangers against his fortress and destroyed its Void Shield generators. With no shelter from the oncoming Warp Storm, D'vok and the few Chaos Space Marines remaining fought the last few living eldar on the planet to the death.
  • Ultimately a defeat for Chaos, though not one of substance. A relatively nameless warband was ultimately wiped out, but they bled a large number of Aeldari lives during their efforts on Daethe. If nothing else, there's little to stop another Warband from discovering the still-defenseless Daethe once the Warp Storm passes.
• Angron's back, and he has a new trick. Every time he gets cast back into the Warp, he re-emerges exactly eight weeks, eight days, and eight hours later, complete with eight Crimson Omens that strike terror into anyone unlucky enough to witness them. The Inquisition is baffled as to how he's become impossible to truly banish- all they know is that even direct hits with voidship-grade weaponry can only delay him for a while before he returns to slaughter again.

Xenos

• The Octarius War would eventually end up going to the Tyranids of all races, following an utter bruiser of a war on the capital world of Octaria. While the Overfiend was able to score an early kill on the Swarmlord, Swarmy would respawn/fucking cheat and redirect the hive fleet's reinforcements to overrun the nearby planets and cut off the Overfiend from any support.
  • The end result sees the Swarmlord cripple the Overfiend before devouring the ork, destroying the entire ork offensive. That's right, the Tyranids won Octarius and have enough biomass to shit out enough fexes and biotitans to devour the entire Imperial cordon. GG, Kryptmann.
• The Necrons have been very busy working on their Pariah Nexus, which would be able to completely sever the connection between reality and the Warp if it is allowed to be brought up to full strength. The fact that this would destroy the souls of every sentient being in the galaxy (leaving them apathetic shells of their former selves unable to muster even the motivation to protect themselves) is a bonus in their eyes, since they make perfect subjects for their experiments on reversing biotransference.
  • Imotekh has shown only disdain for the Silent King, as he believes that he alone should be the one to reunite the Necrons and holds Szarekh responsible for allowing their empire to fall in the first place.
  • Warzone Nephilim was confirmed in Warhammer Fest 2022, meaning that Szeras' little experiment from Psychic Awakening might become the setting for a full-blown war rather than merely a research expedition turned invasion.
• The Craftworld Eldar have largely kept to themselves (as usual), though Saim-Hann has been particularly involved in the Nachmund Gauntlet. When a Chaos Space Marine warband (lead by a Warpsmith named D'Vok) assaulted the maiden world of Daethe to prey upon the World Spirit shielded within, Autarch Ghaelyn organized most of her clan to defend the Exodite souls housed within. Though the defense of Daethe cost clan Vaethyr Kurthanil half of their warriors, Autarch Ghaelyn among them, they successfully managed to reinforce the psychic wards protecting the World Spirit of Daethe and exposed the few remaining Chaos Space Marines to the full wrath of an oncoming Warp Storm.
  • Long story short, the Eldar get a pyrrhic victory over Chaos. The Chaos Warband is all but wiped out and they failed to acquire ripe Exodite souls for use in Daemon Engines, but the Craftworld Eldar paid a very heavy price to achieve victory. Due to this, in true GW fashion, the status quo remains largely unchanged due to this.
• The reveal of the Leagues of Votann also exposed that the Tau's Demiurg auxilia were really just Kin who sold their advanced tech to the Tau. Why yes, the Tau Empire's super-powerful ion cannons were made by Squats, and they're not even the good ion weapons!
• During the Arks of Omen narrative, Farsight was seen fighting orks and his return to Arthas Moloch in a desperate attempt to stop them. There, the t'au discovered the remains of a mysterious structure with crystaline formations growing atop of it. This place was the location of one of Vashtorr's MacGuffins.

Basic Rules

Here's the FAQ for Codex changes