The NOVA Open (NOVA) and the Bay Area Open (BAO) spent the past several weeks in close communication over the challenges and nuances of how to structure Organized Play army list constructionin the setting of a newly-released 7th Edition (7th) of Warhammer 40,000 (40K). This article was jointly written by Mike Brandt and Reece Robbins – heads of the NOVA and BAO respectively.
The basis for our shared discussion and conclusions began with the understanding that Unbound/Battle Forged list construction per the 40K Rulebook (BRB) is designed in a fashion that works best when players are able to discuss rough guidelines for what type of game they’d like to play prior to list construction (i.e., limitless detachments, unbound, lords of war, Forge World, etc.). In an Organized Play environment, event administrators must determine this for all players prior to registration. The NOVA and BAO Grand Tournament (GT) formats are widely copied or emulated across the local tournament (RTT) and GT scene in the United States and abroad.
By working together toward similar army list construction rules, we are able to provide a wide array of players who enjoy Organized Play with the ability to invest in lists with confidence they can be used at more than one or two events. Several issues comprised the focus of our discussion.
First Issue – Detachment Construction Using Multiple Codices BAO and NOVA both concluded that per the Rules as Written (RAW), a Detachment in 7th (either Combined Arms Detachment (CAD) or Allied)is built from a Faction, not a Codex. This is a substantial change from long-standing 40K tradition (BRB 118).
- A CAD is built of units that are the same Faction (BRB 122)
- A Codex and a Codex Supplement are considered the same Faction (BRB 118)
Second Issue –Impact of Faction vs Codex Differentiation on Allied Detachments
An Allied Detachment must be comprised of units in the same Faction. This must be a different Faction than the Primary Detachment (BRB 122). A Codex and its Supplement are considered the same faction (BRB 118). Therefore, you cannot ally a parent Codex with its Supplement.
Third Issue – Single CAD Restrictions and Consequences
Many tournaments (including Games Workshop’s own Throne of Skulls) are restricting army construction to a maximum of one CAD. Given the rules clarified above, players would consequently be unable to self-ally. Important changes were made by Games Workshop to the way Battle Brothers (BB) function within the new edition, however, by restricting the number of different Factions that are BB with each other to more fluff-related guidelines and simultaneously making all Factions BB with themselves, they send a clear message that they intend for every Faction be able to access additional BB-level HQ/Elite/Fast/Heavy/Troop choices beyond just a single CAD. By restricting army construction to a single CAD, however, in conjunction with the non-same-Faction base rule within Allied Detachments, Organizers create a potential problem not intended by the designers, and substantially different from the same restriction in 6th Edition. This merits an additional rule tweak.
Fourth Issue – Unclear Factions Some Codices do not clearly belong to a Faction.
- Example: Codex: MilitarumTempestus and Codex: Legion of the Damned. These are presented as Imperial Factions, but the BRB Faction Listing (BRB 118) does not include either of them.
We contacted the Games Workshop Headquarters Event Organizer for additional input on how the parent company was dealing with some of these contradictions, especially how to construct a Detachment (limited to a single Codex, or Blended via Supplement / Legion / Tempestus inclusion?).
The very nice and helpful gentlemen told us he interpreted this as such: consider Supplements, Militarum Tempestus, and Legion of the Damned as their own distinct, independent Factions. While this directly contradicts the BRB, it makes sense and it alleviates Detachment confusion.
NOVA and BAO/LVO choose to follow the same conclusion as the above Organizer (though we do not consider GW Organized Events binding precedent, it doesn’t hurt to understand their choices). Further, we decided to correct the unintended consequence of single CAD by allowing all Allied Detachments to be selected from the same Faction as the Primary Detachment. This achieves the Games Workshop intent for all Factions to be able to access additional detachments with BB-level characteristics while simultaneously addressing the broadly polled concern of the player community (at least presently) with allowing more than a single CAD.
We therefore come to a compromise that gives all factions the same options for a CAD and Ally while avoiding the confusion of blended detachments.
NOVA and BAO/LVO Formats – Joint Army Construction Guidelines and Individual Event Variances
- Armies will not exceed 1850 Points across all Detachments.
- Armies may be constructed from a maximum of 2 Detachments (as defined in the 40K BRB), no more than one of which may be a CAD.
- Allied Detachments may be selected from the same Faction as the Primary Detachment.
- Formations are permitted as one of the 2 detachments, but not Apocalypse or Fortification Formations.
- 4) Detachments may be produced from a maximum of one Codex / Codex Supplement.
- Example - You may not selectively include units within one CAD from both Codex: Tau and Codex Supplement: Farsight Enclaves, despite them being within the same Faction per the Detachment creation rules in the 40KBRB.
- Exception - Units available to various Factions by means other than the primary or supplemental Codex are permitted (e.g., Dataslate Characters, Forgeworld 40K approved units where allowed).
- Example - Consider each Supplement/Codex to be it's own Faction, ie. Farsight Enclave, Militarum Tempestus, Legion of the Damened, etc. Use the Ally Matrix of their parent codex or the Imperial Ally Matrix if an Imperial Army.
- 5) 0-1 Fortification chosen from the following list. All of the rules may be found in the Stronghold Assault supplement. Please note - the following is just the shared list; additional Fortifications are allowed within the event-specific variances listed below.
- Aegis Defense Line
- Imperial Bastion
- Skyshield Landing Platform
- Firestorm Redoubt
- Vengeance Weapons Battery
- 6) Conjured Units are considered to be under your control, but not part of any Detachment. As a result, benefits from your Warlord such as Conqueror of Cities and benefits granted by being a part of a given detachment do not apply to Conjured Units. Furthermore, as a RAW clarification,Conjured Models interact with other models as per the Allies Matrix, regardless of the Faction that summoned them.
- - Forgeworld 40K Approved units are allowed following faction guidelines
- - Failed 2+ saves, if re-rolled, may never succeed on better than a 4+
- - Lords of War are permitted, but only from the following restricted list:
- All of the Baneblade chassis vehicles except for the Hellhammer (and Traitor's Bane variant) and Stormsword, which are not allowed for the BAO 2014.
- Crassus Armored Assault Transport
- Gorgon Heavy Transporter
- Minotaur Artillery Tank
- All Macharius chassis vehicles.
- All Malcador chassis vehicles except the Malcador Infernus which is not allowed for the BAO 2014
- Valdor Tank Hunter
- Marauder Bomber (may not take Hellstorm bombs)
- Maurader Destroyer
- Fellblade
- Cereberus Heavy Tank Destroyer
- Thunderhawk Transporter
- Greater Brass Scorpion of Khorne
- Obelisk
- Stompa
- Gargantuan Squiggoth
- Kustom Battle Fortress
- Kill Krusha Tank
- Kill Blasta
- Cobra
- Scorpion
- Lynx with Pulsar (but not with Sonic Lance)
- Tiger Shark (Escalation version)
- Orca Dropship
- Scythed Hierodule
- - Lords of War are not permitted at this time