Objectives are quintessential to literally every match of Warhammer 40k, and in 11th Edition, they’re undergoing a radical shift. No longer are our noble Astartes or wicked Kabalites standing on nebulous circular disks—instead, they’re salvaging relics from bombed-out shelters, or taking point in a destroyed city block. Yes, Terrain Areas are the new objectives for 40k, and it’s a big deal. There’s a number of cascading effects this has on how games are played, from where your units can stage, to how action-oriented gameplans now operate, but the biggest contextual shift is to that of objective-mattering rules. It was fairly common for some powerful tools in 10th Edition codices to only trigger—or receive maximum value—if their unit or target was on a specific circle. With objectives now being cover, and larger, these have a level of ubiquity and ease of triggering that players aren’t used to! In 10th, there were a smattering of units & Detachments that were overlooked for this reason, so I wanted to highlight them here today, especially one of the candidates for previous ‘worst Detachment in 40k’. Let’s dive in.
Via LTDH
ntersFirst and foremost, let’s cover the basics: Previously, objectives were 40mm circles, with an ‘aura’ of 3” that denoted the scoring area. On a standard layout this took up 8.5-10.2% of the total 44”x60” board, and generally had at least some part of their ‘aura’ in terrain. Now, those objectives are either 11.5”x8” trapezoids (which can be combined into a single rectangle) or 11.5”x7” squares, that come with little bumps and ridges for ease of vehicle toeing. More on that later. In any case, the area this new terrain takes up is often going to be ~19.2% of the total board area, nearly twice as was the case in 10th.
That’s substantial, as you might surmise, and no longer is standing on an objective a deathwish; you receive at least some amount of cover, and potentially even the new Hidden rule, if you’re Infantry, Swarms, or Beasts. This makes scoring Primary far safer than it’s ever been, and even if you’re playing one of the most lethal dispositions, in Purge the Foe, you can rack up a few points by being in the right places. There’s also the revealed Go to Ground rule, which enhances Hidden from 15” to 12”, so long as you haven’t shot, and have some partial obscurement from dense cover (rather easy to get).
Via TaleofPainters
That said, while it is safer to stand on objectives, that also makes you a far more appetizing target for something like the humble Leman Russ Battle Tank. When it shoots something on an objective, its Armoured Spearhead rule goes from just rerolling hits of 1 to total hit rerolls, doubly impactful now that cover provides -1BS to attacking units. This style of rule is found in nearly every codex at some point, such as in Emperor’s Childrens’ Infractors, and some armies even hedge their core mechanic on such a situation, namely Leagues of Votann. Objectives are more protected than in 10th, but you’re also incentivized to up the arms race in turn, and pack tools which allow you to better-target foes standing on a full fifth of the game board.
Enter Admech, and more specifically, Explorator Maniple. I’ve been testing plenty of 11th on my own time, and it’s no secret that Lords of the Forge is perhaps one of the best 1DP options in the entire game; the only problem is that our 2DP options are middling at best, so I thought, ‘hey, I could always try Explorator’. As a joke, mind you.
Via KC Holt
As a bit of background, Explorator Maniple was the least-played Detachment for the Adeptus Mechanicus—my main army—in 10th Edition. Recorded on the Tabletop Battles app, a mainstay for competitive data, it had a whopping 30 GT-level games in the final format of the edition, compared to, say, Haloscreed’s 2501. It was perceived as comically bad, because every component required you jump through hoops for any value, namely targeting units on (or standing on) objectives.
The shocking thing is, after 7 games thus far of 11th, the list I’m most excited for is Explorator Maniple + Lords of the Forge. While sure, it only has ~3 stratagems of worth, and maybe 2 enhancements you’d consider, the tools it provides in context are worth far more than the text suggests. Given the new edition is finally here, let’s give Explorator a fair shot, and let me pitch why you ought to do the same as an Admech player.
First, let’s talk its Detachment rule, Acquisition at Any Cost, which allows you to denote a single objective during your Command phase, and until your next Command phase, shooting something on that objective, or with a unit on it, provides reroll 1s to wound. If this reminds you of Eradication Cohort, it should! This is a less-flexible version of that Detachment’s main rule while in Conqueror, but crucially at a DP cost of 2. This means you essentially can launder the effects of the 3DP Eradication into a combo alongside Lords, and that has some absolutely incredible upside.
Moving on, and we have the enhancements. The main two I want to highlight are Artisan & Genetor: Genetor’s an easy sell, giving your unit a 4+ Invuln while on the chosen objective, and is amazing alongside a brick of Destroyers and a Dominus for a weirdly-hard-to-shift squad for not that many points. The one I’m most excited for, however, is Artisan…specifically in the context of a model I don’t think anyone’s talked about in years, Inquisitor Greyfax.
This is fitting in a way, because Greyfax arrived to 40k in the exact same expansion as Belisarius Cawl, Psychic Awakening. So, what’s she do? For the price of a Dominus, you get the standard Inquisitor statline, and a few nice buffs: Anti-Psyker 4+ for the unit, and a +1 to hit against something below half strength. That’s all well and good, but what I’m excited about is her set of guns, Castigation & Condemnor Stake. Each has Devastating Wounds & Precision, meaning with Artisan we’re able to choose to autowound on a 6 and force mortals onto a target, by way of our brick of Vanguard, Greyfax, & the Technoarchaeologist. This is remarkably consistent, and gets nastier on Overwatch, where we can similarly turn a die to a 6.
Not only that, but Explorator provides us one of the best stratagems for its disposition, Priority Assets, being the ability to retain control of an objective we’ve had a unit killed on. This ensures we can play fewer objective play pieces than an average list, and still retain the ability to hold Primary, and coupling that with Explorator’s ability to mark another objective or allow a squad to reactively re-embark, we can dominate the field in a Protector-themed list.
Above is my current list for Explorator, and you can see a couple key packages emerge! There’s the Fusileer brick, newly made good by the point changes, a way to abuse the remain-Hidden rule of Lords by way of some Plasma Destroyers and the TL-409 enhancement, and Greyfax…on top of tons of great toolbox pieces. In essence, this is just a Protector-themed Erad list that gets to play Thulia & Cawl with a 5+ Feel No Pain. I rate that higher than what we’d get in base Erad, I’ll tell you that for certain. This is just an example, a called shot for what I’ll be venturing out to play in my first RTT & GT of 11th, but it applies for a ton of armies, and a ton of units! Pore over your own codex, and see what might do more for you now that objectives are far more impactful! You never know, it might be the difference maker with some of the point hikes in the initial Munitorum Field Manual.
Do you have faith in Explorator for 11th? What other underrated Detachments/units are you excited about? What do you want to see covered, now that the edition is live? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
