Warhammer 40000 Core Rulebook (9th Edition)
Please note that this is a rulebook for 9th Edition and that a newer rulebook exists.
A 368-page hardback, this is the essential book for any fan of Warhammer 40,000 – everything you need to know to collect, build, paint and play with Citadel miniatures.
It starts with an overview of the Warhammer 40,000 hobby, covering the four areas of Collect, Built, Paint and Play, including descriptions of open, matched, and narrative play.
Dark Imperium
In the first of the book’s huge lore sections, you can read all about the state of the galaxy after the Cicatrix Maledictum – the Great Rift – tore open across the galaxy, dividing the Imperium in two. Humanity faces its greatest challenge in more than ten millennia as the forces of Chaos run rampant across the reeling Imperium even as alien warlords seek to take advantage of the untold devastation wrought upon the Emperor’s realm.
The Saga Imperialis
Upon delving into the next part of the lore, you'll enjoy a high-level overview of the history of Mankind, from its very beginnings, through the early Ages of Terra and Technology, the Ages of Strife and Darkness, all the way up to the Age of the Imperium in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy. It continues to reveal the events of the Age of the Dark Imperium and the Gathering Storm in the time before the Great Rift tore open – and the Age of Witches that followed during the Psychic Awakening. Finally, it lays the foundations of the Indomitus Crusade, following the reborn Primarch Roboute Guilliman's visitation with his father, the Emperor, on Holy Terra.
The Rules
The first section of the core rules covers the basic rules of the game, and takes you through the rules that apply to the seven phases of the game: the Command phase, Movement phase, Psychic phase, Shooting phase, Charge phase, Combat phase and Morale phase.
Additional rules also cover:
- Playing missions and the process of building an army in readiness, using either Power Rating or points values
- Battle-forged and Unbound armies, as well Command points that Battle-forged Armies can utilise
- Battlefield Roles and 11 types of Detachment that can be included in your armies
- Seven Core Stratagems that are universal and available to every army in Warhammer 40,000
- Strategic Reserves – the option to hold back units during deployment and even send them to outflank the enemy line
- Actions – such as planting explosives, hacking into a databank, or performing a ritual – and how they can be performed (and in some cases, prevented)
- Rules for terrain features, such as Hills, Obstacles, Area Terrain and Buildings, including traits the terrain might have and its impact on the battlefield
- Hints and tips for setting up a suitable battlefield, in terms of density and type of terrain, type of terrain, and ensuring that neither side of the battlefield is preferential to the other
Open Play
- Guidance on mustering armies, determining missions, creating the battlefield and a host of other key points to playing a game
- Three bespoke open play missions
Matched Play
- Guidance on selecting battle size, mustering armies, determining missions, creating the battlefield, selecting Secondary Objectives and a host of other key points to playing a game
- 18 bespoke matched play missions, each specifically designed around the size of the game being played: three for Combat Patrol, six for Incursion, six for Strike Force, three for Onslaught
- Secondary Objectives, featuring a list of 17 different Secondary Objectives that players can choose from, split over five separate categories
Narrative Play
- How to gather a Crusade force, and how it gains experience and levels up over its series of games
- A balancing mechanic to allow for any two Crusade forces, from the greenest band of soldiers to the most legendary squad of battle brothers to be able to play an evenly matched game of Warhammer 40,000
- Blank, photocopiable Crusade Cards and Order of Battle sheet for keeping track of your forces.
- Four tables of Battle Honours – Battle Traits, Weapon Enhancements, Psychic Fortitudes and Crusade Relics – each offering different in-game bonuses and effects that the unit has earned through numerous hard-fought battles
- A Battle Scars table for those units who fail to emerge from their battles unscathed…
- Guidance on setting up and playing a Crusade narrative play game through to a conclusion, determining a victor, and updating your Crusade Cards and Order of Battle
- A list of 17 different Agendas that players can choose from, split over five separate categories.
- 18 bespoke Crusade missions.
Rules Appendix
- A Rules Terms Glossary, which provides precise and exacting definitions of 142 separate rules terms to aid in resolving more complex rules interactions