Warhammer 40,000
11th Edition — Lezzgooo

Honestly no huuge changes, still 5 phases and your aim is to score primary and secondaries. Just a lot of quality of life improvements. This primer just flags some of the main changes so that hopefully less things surprise you mid-game.

The new mechanics and reworks come first; then a basic rules and phase-by-phase quick ref followed by what you need to know about the our 2v2.

Quick fyi: gdm rules is a great resource to check rules without having to scour the pdf. It has the pdf and app rules and clickable links if one rule refers to another.

Main changes

If you read only one thing on this page, read this list

Each links to its section.

1. Hidden & Gone to Ground — a brand-new way for light infantry to vanish in terrain. The marquee addition, and now the main way to hold an objective safely.
2. Terrain has been simplified — Terrain is either Dense/Light/Exposed; Cover is now −1 to Ballistic Skill and not a save bonus.
3. Fast rolling & wound allocation codified — Fast rolls are officially written in now and the main impact here is defenders must declare allocation groups before rolling wounds.
4. A unit can only have one stratagem per phase — A big change here is you cannot use multiple stratagems on the same units each phase, meaning you can’t do stuff like activate Heroic Intervention, then re-roll the Charge.
5. Overwatch — it is now exclusively triggered at the end of the movement phase. This didn't affect us much but now there's no "baiting" overwatch.
6. Charging is roll-first — roll 2D6, then pick targets within reach. It is also now measured base-to-base. Because of this, Deep Strike is now 8" and you're still rolling a 9 to make a charge from Deep Strike.
7. The Fight phase got an overhaul — First Everyone Piles-in, then Everyone Fights, then Everyone Consolidates. There's also an opportunity to overrun fight in the middle to allow more melee shenanigans. Engagement range is now 2" so it'll be easier to get more models fighting.
8. Detachments & Force Dispositions — spend 3 detachment points to mix detachments, and your disposition decides which missions you play.
9. Battleshock is slightly nastier — easier to trigger (at half-strength) and you must pass a test to recover, so it can last longer. This could be great for Nick's Patriarch.
10. Coherency & engagement geometry — the 9″ coherency rule will affect general screening, also 2″ engagement range lets you move through enemies.
11. Flying units can now "Take to the Skies" — a flat -2″ cost to move allows FLY units to move through any terrain or models.

Ruleshammer: Hidden & Gone to Ground Guide

Basically the only new rule for 11th. Light units can hide in terrain areas regardless of any Line of Sight, as long as they haven't shot. This mainly will just affect round 1 movement and shooting.

How a model becomes Hidden

A model is Hidden while all of these are true:

• It has the INFANTRY, BEAST or SWARM keyword;
• it's within a terrain area containing at least one Light or Dense feature;
• its unit made did not make one or more ranged attacks this turn or during the previous turn (you can start the game Hidden).

On the official mission layouts every terrain area qualifies, so the rule is simply: be light infantry, stand in terrain, don't shoot.

What Hidden does: Detection Range

A Hidden model can only be seen by enemy models within its Detection Range, normally 15″. Outside that range it counts as not visible regardless of line of sight. It works per model, not per unit — and it doesn't override normal line of sight, so a Hidden model that's also physically blocked stays hidden as usual.

Gone to Ground: shrinking the range to 12″

This is the bonus layered on top of Hidden, and it needs Solid terrain (Dense features, not Light). A model has Gone to Ground against a particular attacker when it's Hidden, and it's not fully visible to that attacker because of an intervening Solid feature. The effect: subtract 3″ from its detection range.

Ruleshammer: Terrain Guide. I really recommend that you read this link to fully understand cover and visibility, and then also understand positioning better.

Terrain got a nice overhaul and instead of 10 different types of cover (and 10th basically only using the RUINS keyword anyway), we now have the following distinctions:

Features vs areas

• A terrain feature is the physical model — the ruin, the crates, the container.
• A terrain area is the mat or template footprint it sits within.

Whether a model counts as "within" terrain is decided by the area boundary; the feature affects how models move and visibility.

Note: this means you can toe into a terrain from the "outside" of a wall and contest objectives. This is intentional for the event companion layouts.

We’ve also purposely left space between a terrain feature and the edge of the terrain area to allow a line of models to be on the terrain area from the ‘outside’.

Three categories of feature

• Exposed — ground-level stuff like craters; no effect on movement or visibility.
• Light — low walls, barricades, pipes, small statues; no effect on movement, but can affect visibility.
• Dense — ruins, buildings, large containers, woods; INFANTRY/SWARM/BEAST move through freely; bigger models go around (or through any part under 2″ tall).

Dense features also have the Solid rule — you can't see through windows and gaps under 3".

Any area holding a Light or Dense feature becomes Obscuring and line of sight cannot be drawn from either side.

Obscuring example

More examples at Ruleshammer Terrain Guide, I encourage checking out the whole article.

Two things to note for Primary/Secondary Missions

• Objective Types: Home, Central, and Expansion — Some missions require holding one or multiple of an objective type.
• Territories — The half of the battlefield that belongs to a player. Some missions ask to be present or do an action in a territory.

Also objectives are now terrain areas, not circles

See the below layout example with symbols.

Layouts Example

Cover is now −1 to hit, per attacking model

Each time a ranged attack targets a unit, if every model in that unit meets one or more of the following conditions, that unit has the benefit of cover against that attack:

• That model has the INFANTRY/BEASTS/SWARM keyword and is within a terrain area.
• That model is not fully visible to the attacking model due to one or more intervening terrain features and/or one or more intervening obscuring terrain areas. (See above obscuring example with the rhino).

Climbing & plunging fire

A model can move straight up and down a terrain feature to climb it, provided the following conditions are met:

• That model must remain within ½" horizontally of that terrain feature.
• Add the distance moved vertically up, and the distance moved vertically down, to any other distance that model has moved since its unit began that move.

Fire from a vantage point over 3" tall at a target with models on the ground improves the BS characteristic by 1.

List-building changed in two big ways: you can now mix detachments, and the detachment you build around decides which missions you'll play.

Spend your detachment points

Cheaper detachments carry a lighter rule and only a handful of stratagems and enhancements — some of which can now apply to non-character units (these are upgrades). It's a lot more flexible, with the obvious caveat that some combinations will be stronger than others.

Force Dispositions decide your missions

Every detachment has a Force Disposition. When you build your army you pick one disposition from among the detachments you took, and that determines the pool of missions you can play. There are five:

• Take and Hold — classic objective play, no actions. The only set that can reward holding your home objective. Go wide: bring lots of cheap, tough scoring units, because whatever sits on the centre will get shot off it.
• Purge the Foe — hold objectives and kill units. The most straightforward "just play Warhammer" option, and a strong one — it rewards what your army already wants to do anyway.
• Priority Assets — the most action-heavy; you'll want fast units with decent OC to grab points, perform actions, hold your expansion, and often pick off a unit a turn. Just don't over-stretch.
• Reconnaissance — get around the table: be in quarters or do actions in specific spots, rewarding fast, mobile MSU.
• Disruption — hit-and-run; small, fast, lethal units that trap terrain, move, act, and kill key targets. Never scores its home objective.

You and your opponent reveal dispositions before the game, and the pairing sets each player's primary mission — so the two of you are often chasing different goals. There are 15 possible combinations, so part of list-building is planning how your army will actually score whatever it draws. Primary missions cap at 45 VP; secondaries also go up to 45, and unlike 10th there's no hand limit, so you can sit on a secondary and cash it later.

Not gonna talk about super basic stuff like datasheet details or keywords. Just going to mention some foundations we usually don't think about and details on the new attack/wound allocation system. Oh and 11th no longer has a movement cost for rotating a model.

Rules come in numbered blocks

Rules are now broken into discrete, numbered blocks (the same approach as the newest Age of Sigmar), so referencing a specific rule mid-game is much quicker, and common procedures follow a fixed template that reads the same every time.

Turn Structure

Turns and phases now have a defined Start and End step along with a defined scoring sub-step. Functionally, this won’t change anything for your games, but things can now get much more specific with timing to fix race conditions. This may get more involved once new books start coming out and rules reference these specific sub-steps.

Active and opposing player sequencing

This is a concept that's existed for a bit that’s a bit more codified now. If it’s your turn, you’re considered the “Active Player” which generally means you get to choose how certain interactions stack up if things trigger at the same time. Now though, if you’re in the middle of a move on your opponent’s turn or selected to shoot or fight you become the active player until those actions have resolved.

The digital rules also outline how the active/opposing players sequence rules that have identical timing (e.g. "at the end of the movement phase").

First, the active player does all their mandatory abilities, then selects and activates all their optional abilities. After that, the Opposing Player does the same. If any new rules are triggered by things either player does, those do not happen until all pre-existing rules have resolved.

Coherency

A unit is in coherency while both of the following apply to every model in that unit:

• Within 2" horizontally and 5" vertically of at least one other model in that unit.
• Within 9" horizontally and 5" vertically of every other model in that unit.

Coherency examples

Tabletop Battles Hammer of Math: Coherency Circles and Triangles

Also, engagement range is now 2"

Measuring Distances and Visibility

This is something we've debated before and not necessarily done so consistently(?), so I want to draw a clear distinction:

• Distance is measured "to or from the closest part of a model's base."
• Visibility requires that "for an observing model to have Line of Sight, it must be possible to draw an imaginary straight line from any part of that model to any part of the model being observed."

While Shooting, these are two separate checks, and passing one doesn't guarantee the other — as in the diagram below, where the DISTANCE from the stealth battlesuit is measured to the closest Necron, but VISIBILITY is only granted to the third Necron.

Attacks: save groups & allocation

The hit and wound rolls are unchanged — what's new is how saves and damage get allocated, rebuilt so you can roll everything in batches. After wounds are scored:

• The defender sorts models into groups by identical Wounds / Save / Invuln — and each CHARACTER is its own group.
• They set an allocation order, with rules: a non-character group containing a wounded model must go first; character groups can't go before non-character groups; a wounded character group goes before an unwounded one.
• All saves are rolled together and applied lowest roll first down the order.

For a uniform unit this just speeds things up. For mixed units you commit to the order up front, so you can't cherry-pick the perfect model one wound at a time. You'll often want your weaker models early, to soak the low rolls before the dice reach your durable ones. A few other points: FEEL NO PAIN rolls happen per wound as you allocate; mortal wounds are dealt at the end of each batch (not piled onto a character at the very end); and PRECISION now lets you pick a visible character's group to take the hits, as long as one attacking model can see them.

Invulnerable saves are no longer optional

Stratagems

The change stops hyper-buffing a single elite unit and spreads CP spending more evenly across your roster. It also interacts with the Doubles rules: the one-per-unit limit applies across the whole force, so your teammate can't spend a stratagem on a unit you already targeted that phase.

Modifier order, finally tidied

Multiple modifiers resolve in a set order: set values first, then multiply, add, divide, subtract, rounding up at the end. What you'll notice: setting damage to 0 can't be undone by +1 damage; "halve damage" now applies after melta bonuses; and +1 OC buffs no longer rescue a battleshocked unit.

Hazard rolls

A new shared mechanic. HAZARDOUS weapons, desperate escapes and emergency disembarks all force a Hazard roll: roll a D6, and on a 1–2 the model takes a mortal wound (1–3 for a MONSTER or VEHICLE). It triggers twice as often as 10th's Hazardous but usually hits softer, and it's one unified rule across all those situations.

Actions are back in the core rules

Actions are codified again, each with a clear structure. To start one a unit needs at least OC 1, must be on the battlefield, can't be an aircraft or fortification, and can't have advanced or fallen back. Key point: shooting and actions are mutually exclusive for the turn — shoot and you can't start an action; start an action and you can't shoot or charge.

Familiar shape — gather CP, use abilities, test morale — but battleshock has teeth now, and it's the biggest change in the phase.

Battleshock: easier to get, harder to lose

Two-model units and lone multi-wound models can no longer dodge the test. And because recovery isn't automatic — with most Leadership values at 6–8 — a unit can stay shocked for several turns. Insane Bravery still auto-passes once per game, but not on a unit that's already shocked.

So anything that inflicts battleshock at range jumps in value, anything that removes it does too, and a forced emergency disembark (which auto-shocks the unit) is a nastier punishment for blown-up transports.

Two changes to how units occupy space — coherency and engagement — are among the biggest adjustments for returning players, and Overwatch and Flying both shifted too.

Coherency: the 9″ rule

A unit is in coherency when every model is within 2″ of at least one other model and every model is within 9″ of every other model. The shortcut: picture a 9″ circle, and every base has to fit inside it.

Engagement range — and moving through it

Engagement range is now 2″ horizontally (still 5″ vertically). The twist: with standard moves you can now move through an enemy's engagement range freely, as long as you end outside it. A model is ENGAGED if it's within range of an enemy, and a unit is engaged if any of its models are. A small unit can now wall off an approach more effectively, since 2″ reaches a long way, so abilities that let you shoot and then move climb in value.

Overwatch moved here

Overwatch now happens only at the end of the Movement phase, not in the Charge phase and not the instant a unit moves or arrives — and it no longer needs to target a unit that moved. It still hits on 6s within 24″, but with no re-rolls, which nudges Torrent weapons up for the job. Net effect: get your defensive shooting in during movement, because there's no last-second reaction as a charge comes in.

Flying: Take to the Skies

To jump over units and terrain a flyer now Takes to the Skies — a flat −2″ to its move, and it clears everything, no fiddly vertical measuring. Flying vehicles still can't end on top of a terrain feature.

The mechanics of picking targets and rolling to hit and wound are familiar. The big shifts that touch shooting are covered elsewhere — this is what's left that's specific to the phase.

Where the big changes live

• Saves & damage allocation — the rebuilt save-group system is in Basic Rules, since it applies to fighting too.
• Cover — now −1 to hit and judged per attacking model; see Terrain & cover.
• Overwatch — defensive shooting now resolves in the enemy Movement phase.

Indirect fire stays leashed

Indirect weapons remain deliberately weak: the target counts as having cover (−1 to hit), you can never hit better than a 4+, you get no re-rolls, and you only reach that 4+ if a friendly unit can see the target and your shooter stayed still — otherwise it's 6s. It can still target Hidden units, but landing meaningful damage through it is hard.

Close-Quarters Shooting and Monsters/Vehicles

The Close-Quarters keyword replaces Pistol as the way to shoot while engaged in melee. This is where the 10th Edition "Big guns never tire" rule now lives. A unit may shoot if all of the following apply:

• Engaged and did not make an Advance move this turn.
• Has one or more Close-Quarters weapons, or is a MONSTER/VEHICLE unit.

Charging is simpler and swingier — you roll first and then decide what you can reach.

Roll first, then pick targets

• You only need to get within 1″ of a target, not into base contact — handy for setting up pile-ins.
• With 2″ engagement, a successful roll usually leaves slack, so charges land more often — but a double 1 always fails (you can never start within 2″).
• Charges out of deep strike still need a 9, and setup is >8″ away, so they're marginally harder.
• Staying an inch off a wall no longer saves you — a monster's 2″ reach swings a long way through gaps.
• Roll a charge you don't like? You're never obliged to move.

No Overwatch here, and a buffed Heroic Intervention

Overwatch is gone from this phase (it's in Movement now). Heroic Intervention resolves at the end of the phase: the 1CP version counter-charges units that charged you, now with no 6″ cap, and a new 2CP version lets any army charge any unit, capped at 6″ — so you can't safely park on an objective right in front of a melee threat any more.

The Fight phase got the biggest overhaul of any part of the turn — changing who fights, where, and when. If 10th's combat movement felt too constrained, this opens it back up.

Where: a flat 2″, no supporting attacks

Engagement is 2″, so the old "on or off the wall" deployment games are largely gone, and more models can reach to fight. There are no more supporting attacks — instead of the base-to-base daisy-chain, it's just a flat 2″ fight range, which streamlines the whole phase.

When: pile in together, active player picks

• Every eligible unit piles in at once at the start — not one at a time as it's selected.
• Players still alternate activating units, but the active player chooses who fights first.
• All charging units gain Fights First for the turn — so even against a defender's Fights First unit, the active player gets to swing a charger before the defender activates theirs. Charging with several units at once is still rewarded.

Overrun and Consolidate

A new Overrun Fight lets a unit pile in and fight again if it's no longer engaged — for example, if it kills its target with mortal wounds on the charge, or a second charging unit is freed up after the first clears the target. It can fight into something new (which does expose it to being hit back).

At the end of the phase, units that could fight Consolidate 3″, all at once, with a priority order: into the unit they're engaged with (and any other enemy they can touch); failing that, into the nearest enemy; failing that, onto an objective. Much like 10th, just ordered more clearly.

This section covers the official framework for organised play — and specifically what changes when you play a Doubles game. Our first 2,000-point game is a 2v2, so this is the bit that matters most right now.

How a standard event game plays out

The Warhammer Event Companion is the official document for organised 40k, from local leagues up to world championships. A game follows a fixed 14-step sequence:

• 1. Muster armies — build and lock your list in the app, choosing your Force Disposition at this point (not just before the game).
• 2. Determine mission — look up your opponent's disposition on your Force Disposition card; the primary mission listed there is yours for this game.
• 3. Determine a layout — each pairing of primary missions has three recommended layouts (A, B, C). Randomly pick or use the specified one.
• 4. Create the battlefield — played on a 44″ × 60″ table. Set up terrain areas as shown, then place terrain features on them.
• 5. Determine attacker and defender — roll off; the winner decides who attacks and who defends.
• 6. Select secondary missions — secretly choose Tactical or Fixed secondaries. With Tactical: draw two at the start of each Command phase; once per battle you can spend 1CP to swap one. With Fixed: pick two from the four options and display them face-up for the whole game.
• 7. Declare battle formations — secretly note which units go in transports and which go into strategic reserves, then reveal.
• 8–9. Deploy and redeploy — alternate deploying units one at a time, starting with the defender. Titanic units cost you your next deployment drop. Redeployment rules (Scout moves etc.) resolve after both sides are down.
• 10–11. First turn & pre-battle rules — roll off for first turn, then alternate resolving pre-battle rules, starting with the player going first.
• 12–13. Play five battle rounds.
• 14. Determine victor — highest VP wins. Maximum scores: 45 VP primary (up to 15 per round), 45 VP secondary (up to 15 per round, or 20 per Fixed card across the game), 10 VP for Battle Ready painting.

What changes for a 2v2 Doubles game

The Warhammer Doubles Event Companion runs on the same 14-step sequence above, with a set of modifications for team play. The key terms first:

• Force — the combined armies of both players on a team.
• Unified Force — both armies share all the same faction keywords. For Space Marine factions, you don't need to share the same Chapter keyword, just ADEPTUS ASTARTES.
• Force of Convenience — any force that isn't a unified force.

Army construction in Doubles

• EPIC HERO units, datasheets with a "once per army" limit, enhancements, and any other once-per-army items cannot appear more than once across both armies in a team.
• A particular Upgrade can be taken more than once in one player's own army, but not in both armies on the same team — even if both players took the same detachment.
• Each team picks one CHARACTER from either army to be the team's Warlord.
• Point restrictions based on army size (e.g. ally allowances) are based on each player's individual points limit, not the combined total.

Friendly and enemy in a Unified Force

This is the biggest in-game change and it matters a lot for how abilities interact:

• In a unified force, models in both armies count as friendly — so your teammate's ADEPTUS ASTARTES units can benefit from your abilities that affect friendly ADEPTUS ASTARTES units, and can even embark in each other's Transports.
• In a force of convenience, your teammate's units are neither friendly nor enemy — an IMPERIUM unit in one army won't benefit from its teammate's abilities that affect friendly IMPERIUM units.
• Even in a unified force, if the two players chose different detachments, each player's detachment rules only affect their own army and enemies — you can't use your stratagems on your partner's units.
• If both players in a unified force chose the same detachment, the force uses its detachment rules as if it were a single army (so stratagems and detachment abilities can cross over).

Command points in Doubles

The entire team shares a single CP pool. The force (not each player separately) gains 1 CP per battle round. Stratagem limits apply to the force: a unit can only be the target of one stratagem per phase, and once-per-battle stratagems like Insane Bravery are limited to once per battle across both players.

With multi-detachment armies and characters locked in at construction, it's worth keeping your lists somewhere tidy and shareable rather than on a napkin.

If you'd rather not install anything, any builder that exports a shareable link or a clean printout works — the goal is just that everyone turns up with a legible, current list.

• GDM — Rules, Missions, and Force Dispositions
• Tabletop Battles — 11th Edition
• Ruleshammer — Terrain Guide
• Ruleshammer — Hidden & Gone to Ground Guide
• Ruleshammer — Save Groups, Precision, and Feel No Pain
• Ruleshammer — Charge Phase
• Ruleshammer — Shooting: Range, Line of Sight, and Visibility