Core Concepts

Before you move a single model, a handful of foundational ideas underpin every game of Warhammer 40,000: how armies and units are defined, who counts as the active player, how you measure and roll, and how a unit's nerve is tested with Leadership and Battle-shock rolls.

Armies, units and models

Each player fields an army built from units, and every unit gathers one or more models. You are the controlling player of everything in your own army, so whenever a rule mentions the "controlling player," read it as whoever commands the models that rule is affecting.

The models in a unit act as one body and move and fight together. Most sit on a base, and that base is treated as part of the model for all rules. Any ability or effect that lands on a unit reaches each of its models.

Rules frequently distinguish friend from foe:

• Friendly units and models are the ones in your own army.
• Enemy units and models are the ones in your opponent's army.

If a rule simply refers to units or models without saying "friendly" or "enemy," it affects any unit or model regardless of which army it belongs to.

Active player and opposing player

At any given moment one player is the active player and the other is the opposing player. The roles swap back and forth through the battle, but every player is always one or the other. The instant one player becomes active, the other becomes the opposing player.

While it is nobody's turn (at the very start or end of a battle round, say) the active player is whichever player takes the first turn of that battle round. During a player's own turn that player is usually active, though two situations briefly pass active status across the table:

• Whenever a unit gets picked to move, whoever controls it takes the active role for the duration of that move.
• Whenever a unit is chosen to shoot or to fight, its controller holds the active role until every one of those attacks has been worked through.

This matters because it determines who resolves reactive rules during an opponent's turn.

Measuring distances

All distances are measured in inches ("), and you may measure at any time you like. There is no restriction on checking a range before committing to an action. Unless a rule states otherwise, when you gauge where a model stands in relation to anything else on the table, you measure to or from the nearest point of that model's base.

Dice

The game uses six-sided dice, abbreviated to D6. You will see dice rolls written several ways:

• 2+, 3+ and so on mean a result equal to or greater than that number. A 3+ succeeds on a roll of 3, 4, 5 or 6.
• A range such as 1-3 or 4-6 means any result inside that band triggers the stated effect.
• 2D6, 3D6 and so on means roll that many D6 and add the results together.
• D3 means roll one D6 and halve the result, rounding up (so a 1 or 2 gives 1, a 3 or 4 gives 2, a 5 or 6 gives 3).
• D6+1, 2D6+3 and so on means roll the stated dice and add the fixed value to the total.

Leadership rolls

For a unit's Leadership roll, its controller rolls 2D6. Should the total reach or beat at least one of the Leadership (Ld) values carried by the unit's models, the roll passes; if it falls short, it fails. Whatever rule instructed you to make the roll spells out what success or failure means.

Battle-shock rolls

A Battle-shock roll is simply a Leadership roll made for a specific reason, most often during the Command phase. If the roll succeeds, nothing happens. If it fails, the unit, and every model in it, becomes battle-shocked.

While a unit is battle-shocked:

• The Objective Control (OC) characteristic of all its models is treated as "-", so it cannot hold objectives.
• Its controlling player cannot target it with Stratagems.
• It cannot start an action, and any action it had already started cannot be completed.

Battle-shock represents a unit's discipline buckling under casualties or disruption, and shaking it off usually has to wait until a later turn.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between the active player and the opposing player in Warhammer 40,000?

The labels decide who gets to use "reactive" rules. Most Stratagems and abilities that fire in your opponent's turn are written for the opposing player, so when your opponent picks a unit to shoot, you are the one who may respond. The one case that surprises people is a Pile-in or Consolidation made by your unit during the enemy's Fight phase: for that move you are briefly the active player again.

How do you measure distances in Warhammer 40,000?

From base edge to base edge, and pre-measuring is always allowed, so you can check whether a charge is likely before you commit a Command point to it. A model without a base measures from the nearest point of the model itself. Vertical distance counts in the same inches, which is why coherency and Engagement Range quote a separate vertical figure.

What does D3 mean in 40k dice rolls?

It is a three-sided result rolled on an ordinary D6: read 1-2 as 1, 3-4 as 2 and 5-6 as 3. Written with a modifier, such as D3+1, the fixed number is added after the halving. Weapons with a D3 Damage characteristic roll it once per unsaved attack, not once per unit.

How does a Battle-shock roll work in Warhammer 40,000?

Roll 2D6 and compare it with the Leadership on the unit's datasheet, where 7+ is the common value and lower is better. A leader attached to a unit contributes its own Ld, so a squad led by a Captain tests against the best value in the group. Nothing happens on a pass; on a fail the whole unit is battle-shocked until it recovers, normally at its next Command phase test.

What happens when a unit is battle-shocked in 40k?

Three things stop working: it loses all Objective Control, so a shocked unit standing on an objective is not holding it; you cannot spend CP on it; and any action it was performing is lost. It can still move, shoot, charge and fight at full effect. The state lasts until its next Command phase roll succeeds.