War Zone Nephilim Faction Secondaries | Warhammer 40,000 State of Play

Avatar The Chef June 18, 202219  16 19 Likes

War Zone Nephilim: Faction Secondaries Go to Contents


So as there’s a lot to talk about Faction Secondary wise (there’s NINETY NINE of them), we’ve got this handy dandy breakdown to talk about the key differences between their Codex versions, and the ones in the Nephilim Pack, or in the case of new ones, what they are whilst you wait for your Codex or Supplement. All so you can see what has changed without needing to sift through 3 hours of us reading them on a video. We’re considerate like that. 

Also it should go without saying that all of the below only apply to units with your appropriate Keywords (no AGENTS or the like scoring them).


Contents


Imperium

Adeptus Astartes

Adepta Sororitas

Adeptus Custodes

Adeptus Mechanicus

Astra Militarum

Imperial Knights

Grey Knights

Chaos

Traitoris Astartes

Death Guard

Thousand Sons

Chaos Knights

Chaos Daemons

Xenos

Asuryani

Drukhari

Harlequins

Tyranids

Genestealer Cults

Necrons

Orks

T’au Empire

Leagues of Votann (PLACEHOLDER)

Purge The Enemy – Codex Warfare

It’s the same as before, but VP awarded for destroying an enemy unit with a Heavy or Grenade whilst in Devastator Doctrine is increased to 2 VP (still a max of 5 VP). Helpful to maybe score some points on this one in the early stages, though it’s still not amazing.

Battlefield Supremacy – Shock Tactics

Now changed to if an Objective controlled by an enemy at the start of your Turn is controlled by you at the end of your Turn, rather than both trigger points being for the Round, making this much easier to score, and given you’ll probably be want to be taking Objectives anyways, this is a nice “double up” VP alternative now that Stranglehold is dead.

No Mercy, No Respite – Oaths of Moment

The old classic remains the same but the Oath of Duty portion (being wholly within 6” of the centre) is now only worth 1 VP, and has to be a CORE or CHARACTER, making this a bit trickier to score, and not quite as high scoring when you do, overall dropping the appeal of this one a bit.

Purge The Enemy – Bathe Your Blade In The Blood Of The Foe

Has the same scoring methods and amounts, but now the Challenge is issued before the first turn begins, you pick who must accept it, if the model that accepted the Challenge dies due to not arriving from Reinforcements you automatically max it, and if you do max it you immediately gain 1 CP. It’s a cute change that’s fun and removes some ambiguity, and can cause your opponent’s gameplan to change lest they get the chosen Character in a pickle, but it’s still a difficult one to achieve in certain match ups. 

Battlefield Supremacy – Allow Not The Worship Of Unclean Idols

A similar premise but vastly different methods, now scoring 2 VP for each Objective you take from an enemy unit at the end of your turns, provided a CORE or CHARACTER is also in range. Much easier to score than before and far more widely applicable, and depending on your army build offers a higher scoring alternative to Shock Tactics from the core Marine Secondaries. 

No Mercy, No Respite – Carry Out Your Vows

No changes.

Purge The Enemy – Blade Of Sanguinius

Like the Black Templars version above, this Challenge type Secondary is now issued pre game, you pick the target, and it maxes if they don’t arrive from Reserves, though instead if maxed your opponent immediately loses 1 CP. Fun and fluffy, and whilst tricky to max or even score in some circumstances, the utility to force a change in Character use can be useful.

Battlefield Supremacy – Relentless Assault

No changes.

No Mercy, No Respite – Fury Of The Lost

Now scores 3 VP for one enemy unit destroyed by a DEATH COMPANY unit, 4VP if 2+ are destroyed, and 1 VP if one or more DEATH COMPANY units are destroyed by enemies. It’s a bit better, but still requires you to go pretty heavy on Death Company units to really try and benefit. 

No Mercy, No Respite – Death From Above

Now scores 3 VP if any units are destroyed, with an additional 1 VP if any enemy is destroyed the same turn your unit set up, and another 1 VP if any destroyed units were a CHARACTER. A bit higher scoring all round, with a slight extra bonus to make it a bit more appealing as it’s got much higher potential, but as the previous version it still needs a fairly heavy Reinforcement presence to benefit long term.

Purge The Enemy – Martial Interdiction

You now pick the target, and you score 3 VP for destroying the unit, and another 3 VP if in Melee, rather than getting 6VP for Melee only. The other two bullet points (namely INNER CIRCLE/DEATHWING doing the deed, and the unit surviving to the end) remain the same. Actually being able to score something should they die at range or an accidental explosion makes this much more useful, and as with the other Challenge secondaries, the ability to choose a Character that your opponent wants to use up front could cause them some headaches.

No Mercy, No Respite – Death On The Wind

No changes.

Battlefield Supremacy – Stubborn Defiance

The Objective Marker you pick can no longer be in your Deployment Zone, and you score VP equal to the Battle Round for each consecutive turn, making this harder to both start scoring and to max out. It still has a good potential, but your opponent will have a lot more counterplay as you can no longer rely on the Objective in your home area.

Purge The Enemy – Cull Order

As before but now only scores 4 VP for each Battlefield Role completely destroyed, making this a bit lower scoring overall.

Battlefield Supremacy – The Long Vigil

Now requires no enemy units to be wholly within your Deployment Zone, but only scores 4 VP. An easier threshold to scoring, but lower when you do score it, making this a much more reasonable Secondary rather than something all in. 

Shadow Operations – Cripple Stronghold

The Stronghold Objective now can’t be in the enemy’s Deployment Zone, the Action can start so long as you control it (even if there are enemy units in range as well), and it only scores 4 VP now, but given the greater ease of achieving that’s fair. You also roll a D6 each time you complete it, and on a 6 your opponent loses a CP, which is funny and capable of throwing a wrench in their plans, but nothing to really rely on.

No Mercy, No Respite – Suffer Not The Alien

No changes. 

Shadow Operations – Bolster Barricades

A CORE unit can set up a Barricade around an Objective you control and hasn’t been Barricaded, as an Action at the end of your Movement Phase, completing at the start of your next Command Phase (or end of battle). When an Objective is Barricaded, you score 1 VP if it’s in your Deployment Zone, or 4 VP if in No Man’s Land, and your INFANTRY get Light and Heavy Cover whilst wholly within 6” of a Barricade. A fluffy and fairly decent scoring Secondary, though it has a decent build time (ha) and limited to one per turn. It also scores zero VP for doing it on Objectives in your opponent’s Deployment Zone, so don’t waste your time doing that. 

No Mercy, No Respite – Cold Fury

Score 1 VP each turn for each of the following-

  • One or more VEHICLES are wholly within the enemy Deployment Zone
  • One or more VEHICLES are wholly within 6” of the centre of the battlefield
  • VEHICLES destroyed one or more enemy units with Ranged Attacks
  • VEHICLES destroyed one or more enemy units with Melee Attacks

Obviously useless without VEHICLES, and even with this is pretty unreliable and fairly tough to score depending on which ones you have. 

Shadow Operations – Secure Or Sabotage

One or more CORE INFANTRY can perform an Action at the end of your Movement on different Objectives you control, completing at the end of the Turn. When completed, the Objective has Explosives on it, and you score 3 VP at the end of the game for each Objective with Explosives. Alternatively, if the opponent controls an Objective with Explosives at the end of any player turn, you can detonate it, removing the Explosives but doing 3 Mortal Wounds on a 2+ to each enemy unit in range of that Objective. You can’t detonate an Objective the same turn it gets Explosives, but you can set up Explosives again in later turns. This is a very easy to achieve Objective given the timings and number that can perform it, though the CORE INFANTRY limitation makes it somewhat tricky to do depending on build. The Mortal Wounds aspect is fun and can potentially be useful for denial purposes in later parts of the game, especially if you have time to replant Explosives, but overall you’ll want to get this done early and sit back for an easy 9-12 VP with little counterplay from your foe.

No Mercy, No Respite – The Promethean Creed

One Objective that isn’t in your Deployment Zone becomes your goal, and you score varying VP for things happening near it-

  • 2 VP at the end of your Command Phase if you control it and a CORE INFANTRY unit is in range
  • 1 VP each time an enemy attack targets, but does not destroy, an INFANTRY unit in range of that Objective (to a max of 3 VP per turn)
  • 1 VP at the end of each player turn if at least one enemy unit was destroyed by an INFANTRY unit within range of the Objective, or score 2 VP if at least one of those models in a destroyed unit was destroyed by a Flamer or Melta

An interesting one that basically requires you to hold a point, not die on it, and kill stuff whilst near it, which is all fairly easy, if a bit spread out and somewhat reliant on your foe, so whilst it can be a fairly easy scorer, it can also be skirted around a bit too.

Purge The Enemy – Heroic Challenge

As with the others- the Challenge is issued before the first turn begins, you pick who must accept it, if the model that accepted the Challenge dies due to not arriving from Reinforcements you automatically max it, and if you do max it you immediately gain 1 CP. A bit easier to achieve, but not much, and can cause some decisions to be made from your opponent regarding their Character placement, but otherwise still a tough one to do.

Purge The Enemy – Glory Kills

The same ways of scoring, but now MONSTER/VEHICLES will net you a VP if you do at least 1 Wound to them rather than 3, and they stack if a CHARACTER, meaning you’ll score the full 5 VP for killing a MONSTER/VEHICLE CHARACTER, or 2 VP for wounding one, making this much easier and more widely applicable against more armies. 

Battlefield Supremacy – Warrior Pride

The same method and scoring, but neither of your units can be within your Deployment Zone, making this a bit trickier to achieve on the defensive. It’s only within though, not wholly, so it’s not too bad. 

No Mercy, No Respite – A Mighty Saga

Now scores 2 VP at the end of each Battle Round (to a max of 5) for the following criteria met by your WARLORD

  • Cause a MONSTER, VEHICLE or CHARACTER to lose any Wounds by Melee Attacks
  • Destroy 5+ models with Attacks
  • Destroy an enemy unit
  • Be in range of an Objective you control not in your Deployment Zone

These are all generally much easier to achieve (and stack a lot easier as well), but being restricted to your WARLORD makes this still tough to score high on overall, let alone the counterplay of your opponent by just killing them, where possible of course. 

Shadow Operations – We March For Macragge

One or more CORE INFANTRY can perform an Action at the end of your Movement Phase, on any Objective you control that is not in your Deployment Zone and not Claimed, completing at the start of your next Command Phase, or the end of the battle. When completed, the Objective is Claimed, and you score 4 VP. A pretty decent one that has the potential to score well on, especially as the game progresses and the midboard is taken by multiple units. Just watch out for the long completion time and CORE INFANTRY requirements, as your opponent does have a good window of counterplay.

Purge The Enemy – Lightning Strike

At the end of your turn score as follows, to a max of 5 VP per turn-

  • 3 VP for each CHARACTER or MONSTER destroyed by a Charging unit’s Melee Attacks
  • 1 VP for each other enemy unit destroyed by a Charging unit’s Melee Attacks
  • 1 VP for each enemy unit destroyed by an Advancing unit’s Ranged Attacks

Whilst this can be fairly high scoring, it lies entirely on you being the aggressor and offers no opportunities in the opponent’s turn. Likewise while Charging and Advancing is kind of your schtick, you don’t really have many units that can do the ranged portion all that well, and even the Charging aspect can occasionally leave you a bit wanting. Can be quite tricky to pull off well, but decent enough as an alternative in the category.

Purge The Enemy – Slay The Heretic

Still requires you to kill units with Bolters, Flamers or Meltas, but now scores 1 VP each time a unit is destroyed by those weapons, to a max of 5 VP for each for the battle, making it a bit easier to score high on, and no longer being limited to one kill per turn means you have a lot more flexibility on how and when to destroy enemy units. 

Battlefield Supremacy – Defend The Shrine

You now select the Objective (it can’t be in your Deployment Zone) before the first turn begins, and you no longer get the 3 additional VP for holding it at the end of the battle. Overall a bit more flexible on scoring as you have some greater semblance of control over it, though potentially lower scoring without the end game bonus, and with your opponent still able to subtract 3 VP from this for controlling it at the game’s end, your inability to leave it unattended is still something to watch out for. 

Shadow Operations – Sacred Grounds

Now only requires you control the Objective to start the Action, scores 5 VP for any Objective not wholly within your Deployment Zone, and more than one unit can perform the Action each turn, making this overall a much easier to achieve Secondary

No Mercy, No Respite – A Leap Of Faith

No changes. 

Purge The Enemy – Auric Mortalis

No longer causes you to lose VP if your units are destroyed by the chosen enemy, and the Deployment Zone restriction is now just within, not within 6”, making this a lot easier to score and with no fear of losing VP due to some bad luck. 

No Mercy, No Respite – Might Of Terra

Now only applies to CUSTODES units, so your Sisters don’t suddenly cost you 4 VP for being flimsy, though likewise can’t score you a kill for it (but whatever), making this a fair bit easier to score if you can rely on your golden boys inherent toughness. 

Battlefield Supremacy – Stand Vigil

No changes.

Purge The Enemy – Accretion Of Knowledge

No changes.

No Mercy, No Respite – Eradication Of Flesh

Now just requires you to kill more enemy units with VEHICLES than the number of your VEHICLES are destroyed, making this a lot easier to achieve, provided you have the VEHICLES to do it with.

Battlefield Supremacy – Uncharted Sequencing

You now assign the Objectives after determining first turn, giving you a lot more control over where and when you score, lessening the impact first turn might have, and making counterplay a bit more difficult in Deployment.

Battlefield Supremacy – Hidden Archeovault

The Archeovault is still chosen by your opponent, but it’s now before the first turn, and you score 4 VP for controlling it at the end of each Round now, but with no bonus VP for controlling it at the end of the game, making this a lot easier to score throughout the game, though with a slightly lower reward for last ditch grabs.

Purge The Enemy – By Lasgun And Bayonet

Score 1 VP when an enemy unit that started the turn in range of an Objective is destroyed by your units. A reasonably easy one to score, as though it’s reliant on units being on an Objective at the start of the turn, that’s kind of half the point of the game, and you’ll want to be trying to knock units off that same Objective as well, so you can reasonably expect to score fairly consistently on this, albeit unlikely to max it often.

Shadow Operations – Special Orders

An INFANTRY unit can perform an Action at the end of the Movement phase, provided they are within 12” of an OFFICER, and in range of a non-Expunged Objective you control that is not in your Deployment Zone, completing at the end of the turn. When completed, the Objective is Expunged, and you gain a CP on a 6. At the end of the game you score VP depending on how many Objectives have been Expunged; 2, 5, 10, and 15 VP for 4+ Objectives. A reasonable one given you often have a lot of Infantry doing little or otherwise just holding an Objective anyways, and the time for completion is nice and quick, albeit needing an OFFICER nearby is a little limiting. You also aren’t likely to max it, but it offers a nice option for missions where Banners isn’t as useful.

Battlefield Supremacy – Boots On The Ground

At the end of your turn, score 1 VP for each table quarter that has anon-CHARACTER REGIMENT INFANTRY unit wholly within it, and more than 6” from the centre, and score 1 VP if you have a unit with a Regimental Standard wholly within 6” of the centre, or wholly within your opponents Deployment Zone. Neither can be scored on the first turn, and being completely dependent on squishy Infantry limits this pretty significantly. Likely won’t see much use outside of fringe Conscript lists.

No Mercy, No Respite – Inflexible Command

At the end of your turn, score as follows-

  • 2 VP if every INFANTRY unit is within 6” of an OFFICER
  • 1 VP if every VEHICLE is within 12” of a VEHICLE OFFICER
  • 1 VP if any enemy units were destroyed by a unit under the effect of an Order or Tank Order

OFFICERS inside a Transport grant OFFICER to that VEHICLE, and if you have a Vox-caster in a unit, they can count as being in range of an OFFICER at 24” instead, provided that OFFICER is within 1” of a COMMAND SQUAD with a Vox-caster. A tricky set of conditions to achieve, and quite low scoring to boot, especially as the game goes on and you lose OFFICERS, though conversely as casualties mount you might find it easier to score as there are less units to get into range. Limits you a fair bit in terms of positioning and target priority.

Battlefield Supremacy – Yield No Ground

Each bullet point is only worth 1 VP now, but you can score in the First Battle Round, making it overall a bit more of a flatter scoring curve throughout the game, but harder to max on.

No Mercy, No Respite – Honour Of The House

No changes. 

Shadow Operations – Renew The Oaths

No changes.

Purge The Enemy – Duel Of Honour

No changes.

Purge The Enemy – Destroy The Daemon

Scores the same, but you lose 1 VP at the end of the battle for each DAEMON unit on the battlefield that is not below Half Strength, or has at least half their wounds remaining in the case of units with a Starting Strength of 1. Still very easy to score given the disparity between the two armies, though with a slight downside now should you not finish the job, somehow.

No Mercy, No Respite – Teleport Assault

Now scores 4 VP for the same criteria, making it still tricky to achieve, but more rewarding when you do. 

Warpcraft – Purifying Ritual

You now have to control the Objective you’re Purifying, and you only score 5 VP for Purifying 4 or more Objectives. This is still a great Secondary, just a bit lower scoring in the early stages, and has some form of counterplay by your opponent now.

Purge The Enemy – Rise To Glory

At the end of each Battle Round, score 2 VP for each CHARACTER, MONSTER, or VEHICLE destroyed in Melee by your CHARACTERS, with +1 VP if they had 10-19 Wounds, or +2 if they’re TITANIC or the WARLORD. In addition, each time you do this roll 2D6, if the result is less than the Wounds of the destroyed model, gain 1 CP. Capped at 5 VP a round, but honestly, that doesn’t matter as this is a pretty bad Secondary. Reliant on killing certain units in Melee with only CHARACTERS massively limits how often you can score this, and who against. Your Characters can be built to be melee beatsticks, but they can only be in so many places at once. Whilst it does have a slight advantage of being a pseudo-combination of Assassination and Bring It Down, it suffers too much from it’s restrictions.

No Mercy, No Respite – The Long War

Score 1 VP at the end of your turn for each enemy unit you destroy that was in range of an Objective, and score 2 VP if you control at least 1 Objective that was controlled by your opponent. Whilst it is fairly easy to score, it is capped at 3 VP per turn, so you weirdly need to stagger your kills and Objective grabs, and likewise an undefended Objective is worth no VP for you, at least in regard to this Secondary. Not a bad choice if you’re anticipating lots enemy units, or significant board control by your opponent, but this can be fairly limited as the game goes on and casualties are suffered on both sides, both denying you the ability to kill and take, and likewise preventing your opponent from having bodies for you to score from in the first place.

Shadow Operations – For The Dark Gods

One INFANTRY or BIKER unit can perform this Action at the end of your Movement Phase provided they are wholly within a Table Quarter that hasn’t been Dedicated, and are within at least 3” of said Quarter. The Action is completed at the start of your next Command Phase, or at the end of the turn if the unit is ObSec. You then Dedicate the Quarter to one of the 4 Gods, and if you have a MARK OF CHAOS it must be to that God. Your units wholly within that Quarter gain +2Ld, unless they have a MARK that doesn’t match the God of that Quarter. At the end of the game, you get VP for each Dedicated Quarter- 2 VP for 1, 5 VP for 2, 9 VP for 3, and 14 VP for all 4. A good alternative to Retrieve Nephilim, with a similar range of effect and better scoring, though taking longer on non-ObSec units (though they do then have the advantage of not being able to fail the Action due to numbers). The main issue with this one becomes the requirement of the centre of the Quarter, meaning your foe can attempt to block off your positioning, especially if you’re looking to get a unit Deep Striking there.

Shadow Operations – Infiltrate And Subvert

One non-CHARACTER INFANTRY unit can perform this Action whilst wholly within 6” of your opponent’s Deployment Zone at the end of your Movement Phase. It completes at the start of your next Command Phase, and scores 3 VP when completed, with an additional 1VP if the unit is wholly within your foe’s Deployment Zone itself. In addition, roll a D6 if the unit was in range of an Objective when the Action was completed. On a 3+ (or 5+ for CULTIStS), that Objective is subverted and the opponent can never control the Objective, nor perform Actions in range of it, for the rest of the game. It’s a reasonably low scoring Objective, given the time frame and positioning required, however the threat of just permanently denying an Objective to the foe is a dangerous prospect indeed, which can make them have to switch focus to your unit lest they risk the subversion. If built around with lots of small units that can get to your opponent’s lines quickly to force their hand, this can be quite good, though it will still likely be low scoring.

Shadow Operations – Despoil Dominions 

One INFANTRY or BIKER unit can perform this Action at the end of your Movement Phase of an Objective that is not Despoiled, and has no enemy units within range. The Action completes at the start of your next Command Phase, or the end of the battle, whichever happens first, and the Objective is Despoiled. You score you 1VP if the Objective was wholly within your own Deployment Zone, and 4VP if elsewhere. In addition, any enemy units that start to perform an Action whilst in range of a Despoiled Objective, immediately fails the Action on a 4+. Overall a mixed bag, able to score well if your units are left alone, or low if at all should your opponent move to counter you. The Action denial is a cute addition, but unreliable. Overall this likely won’t score high due to the length of the Action, but the high potential can make it worth considering to force your opponent to account for it in game.

Purge The Enemy – Specimens For The Spider

At the end of each Battle Round, score as follows-

  • 3 VP if at least one CHARACTER or MONSTER was destroyed by a Melee Attack
  • 2 VP if at least one non-CHARACTER, MONSTER or VEHICLE unit was destroyed by a Melee Attack

You also score 1 VP at the end of the Game if any ASTARTES (so ADEPTUS, HERETIC or SANCTIC) were destroyed by Melee Attacks. Reliant on Melee means you won’t be scoring this often in the early turns, and needs you to be killing CHARACTERS or MONSTERS to attempt to max this out. However they do stack, so killing a unit and a CHARACTER in Melee during the same turn will net you 5VP, not a bad haul for what you probably want to be doing with this army. Against some foes it’s not all that great as you either won’t or can’t get their CHARACTERS, or have a ton of VEHICLES which will limit your potential, but it has good chance to score 9-12VP with relative ease vs some armies.

No Mercy, No Respite – Adorn The Canvas Eclectic

At the end of each Battle Round, score 1 VP for each of the following-

  • Control more Objectives than your opponent
  • More enemy units were destroyed by Ranged attacks than your units
  • More enemy units were destroyed by Melee attacks than your units
  • More enemy CHARACTERS were destroyed by attacks from your CHARACTERS, than yours were by theirs
  • If all four of the above apply

Basically, be better and do more than your opponent at the end of each Battle Round. Whilst it’s a fairly restricted set of criteria, it’s stuff you likely wanted to do anyways. The main issue becomes the match up. Against Knights, you’re probably not doing much on this. Tau will likely deny you the Shooting, but fail miserably on the Melee. Some armies will outplay you on the Objectives. It’s all told not a very high scoring Objective, as any game where you can do well on it, Grind Them Down is probably easier, though this can have some semblance of advantage in that the denial aspect of it requires a much wider spread of work to do. 

Shadow Operations – Masters Of Demolition

After rolling for the first turn, but before the first turn begins, your opponent sets up 3 Demolition Objectives anywhere on the battlefield, on the ground floor of battlefield, not in terrain with Unstable Position, more than 6” away from the battlefield edge, and more than 9” from each other. Only one of them can be set up within 6” of your opponents Deployment Zone. These Demolition Objectives don’t count as Objectives for any other rules except this Secondary. One non-CHARACTER INFANTRY unit can perform an Action at the start of your Movement Phase if within range of a Demolition Objective, and no enemy units are within range. It completes at the end of the turn, and you score 4VP, or a massive 7VP if it was within 6” of the enemy’s Deployment Zone. An interesting one, as it can cause you opponent to have to also move to deny these Objectives in addition to performing their own plays. Given the Deployment Zone restriction, this means at least 2 of them will be in No Man’s Land, so you have opportunity to get to them, and should you opponent try to keep one safe in their own territory, it can backfire if you manage to get to it. On the flipside, this is easy to deny points, as not getting to one near your opponent’s Deployment denies you half the points, them being all in the midboard automatically costs you 3VP, and whilst it completes in a single turn, the set up to start it happening at the start of the turn means your foe has a turn to either kill the unit, or just move a unit into combat or in range of the Objective to deny it. They can also be placed right next to a normal Primary, making them easy to deny if your opponent is going to get the main Objectives already. Overall quite tricky to score well on, though it can make you opponent need to come to you to deny the midboard, which against some armies they might not be inclined to do. 

No Mercy, No Respite – Sow The Seed, Reap The Fear

Score 1 VP each time an enemy unit-

  • Fails a Morale Test
  • Falls Back
  • Fails an Action
  • Is destroyed by a Melee Attack, and you roll equal to or over their Ld on 2D6. Note this is including any modifiers they would have had at time of the last model being removed, ie your own -2 Ld and other potential debuffs

A mixed bag, as Morale Tests might not matter to some armies, Falling Back is something other armies don’t want to do, and some won’t have Actions, or can’t fail them easily. However, these things are generally likely to come up at some point in a game, especially combined with your Ld debuffs, and some armies might have to grant the VP to Fall Back and do something, letting you get some recompense. Killing a unit doing an Action does cause the Action to Fail, so that can potentially net your 2 VP there if you also roll well on the 2D6, though Psychic Actions aren’t affected by this Secondary. Against some armies this can score quite well, and there’s no cap on VP per turn or Round so it can rack up quite highly quite quickly, but against others it’s pretty terrible, so judge accordingly.

Shadow Operations – Raid And Reave

INFANTRY and BIKER units can start this Action at the end of your Movement Phase on different Objectives that haven’t been Raided yet, and that have no enemy units in range. The Action completes at the start of your next Command Phase, or end of the battle, and you score VP as follows-

  • 1 VP if the Objective is wholly within your Deployment Zone
  • 2 VP if the Objective is within No Man’s Land
  • 3 VP if the Objective is wholly within the enemy Deployment Zone

The Objective is then Raided, and the unit now carries Spoils of War. Score an additional 1 VP for each unit with Spoils of War that is on the battlefield, or in a TRANSPORT on the battlefield, at the end of the game, or 2VP instead if they are wholly within your Deployment Zone. A weird spread of VP that requires pretty much every Objective to be Raided and the unit to be alive at the end of the battle in order to even approach maxing. Realistically you can get a decent amount of VP towards the end of the game when firepower is lacking, but the length of time and overall low scoring for the immediate gain is low, though being able to do it with multiple units can force your opponent’s attention to have to split. Keeping them alive, or back in home territory, is another tricky prospect, as doing it early can mean less points later on, but doing it too late can mean denial by your opponent by being near the Objectives.

Shadow Operations – Exalt The Dark Gods

One INFANTRY unit can start this Action at the end of your Movement Phase if wholly within 6” of the centre of the battlefield. The Action completes at the end of your turn if the unit is an ICON, DARK APOSTLE or MASTER OF POSSESSION, or at the start of your next Command Phase otherwise, and in either case there can be no enemy units wholly within 6” of the centre. When the action is completed, you gain 1 on your Exalt Tally, and at the end of the game you score 3 VP for 1 Tally, 5 VP for 2, 9 VP for 3, or the full 15 VP if you have 4 on your Tally. A variant on Investigate Signals with a somewhat easier starting point, though situationally more difficult completion, and a generally better spread of VP. A PSYKER can still cast Powers without this Action failing, though of course any Auras will still be turned off whilst it’s ongoing. If you can dominate the centre, this can rack up some easy points, but you’ll almost need to build for it to get the units capable of completing it in a turn to do it, otherwise you could score quite low.

Purge The Enemy – Skulls For The Skull Throne

It’s a Challenge type one akin to the Marine ones, so you pick a CHARACTER from both armies to throwdown before the first turn, scoring 5 VP for destroying them, another 5 if it was with Melee, and 5 VP for if destroyed by your CHARACTER. You max it out if they’re destroyed by not arriving from Reinforcements, and you immediately gain 1 CP if you max it out. As with the others, its fine, and can make your opponent wary with the chosen Character, though it’s not always the easiest to score. 

No Mercy, No Respite – Fleeing Vectors

A slight change to the previous version, and includes an additional way to score. The Morale portion now scores 2 VP if any enemy units fail Morale in both player’s turns, with an additional 1 VP if any models in that unit were destroyed by Plague Weapons. You also now score 1 VP if at least 7 enemy models were destroyed by your attacks in any player turn, with an additional 1 VP if any of those were destroyed by a Plague Weapon. This overall is now much simpler to score, and being capable of achieving in both turns means it’s a lot more consistent. You’ll still need to have some units fleeing if you’re looking to score high however, and the 7 model requirement makes no distinction for larger things like tanks, so they still only count as one (you stupid elf).

Battlefield Supremacy – Despoiled Ground

Effectively the same but now scoring 3 VP for each bullet point rather than 4 VP, though the table quarters one is split into 2 (so 3 VP for having a unit wholly within 3 table quarters, and an additional 3 VP if you have one in all 4 quarters). This was already a fairly tough one to score, and now scores less, so it’s a tough sell

Shadow Operations – Spread The Sickness

Now only needs you to control the Objective, and you automatically Contaminate it if the unit has Objective Secured. If they don’t, they need to roll a 4+ to Contaminate, but there’s no Mortal Wounds anymore. In addition, you score 4 VP instead of 3 VP if the Objective is not in your Deployment Zone, making this overall a lot easier to achieve and higher scoring to boot.

Purge The Enemy – Sorcerous Prowess

Now also grants 2 VP for each non-PSYKER unit destroyed in your Psychic Phase, letting you use this as a solid option for this category regardless of opponent, though being reliant on your damage dealing does make casting order important.

No Mercy, No Respite – Wrath Of Magnus

Can still only be chosen if there’s an enemy PSYKER, but now splits the VP across the three types of powers, granting you 1 VP at the end of each Battle Round in which you manifested at least one, and more than the opponent, for Witchfire Blessing and Malediction powers. This makes it tougher to score than previously, but gives you more flexibility for scoring in turns where killing models isn’t as useful or possible. MAGNUS cannot count towards any of them either, cos we wouldn’t want him being useful now would we?

Warpcraft – Mutate Landscape

You now need to control the Objective you’re looking to Mutate, but the Warp Charge no longer increases. This makes it a bit trickier to score as the game progresses, but without the danger of a last minute failure 

Shadow Operations – Burn Empires

Now just needs you control the Objective Marker in order to Burn it, and can’t be done by CHARACTERS, but whatever. The main issues with this are still there, namely that it takes until your next turn to complete, meaning your opponent has time to counterplay by destroying or otherwise halting the Action, and taking the unit’s Psychic and offensive output out of the game for a turn, which can leave you on the backfoot if timed poorly.

Battlefield Supremacy – Ruthless Tyranny

No changes.

No Mercy, No Respite – Path Of Destruction

No changes.

Shadow Operations – Storm Of Darkness

No changes.

Purge The Enemy – A Fitting Challenge

No changes.

Battlefield Supremacy – Reality Rebels

At the end of your Turn, score 1 VP for each table quarter that has a DAEMONS unit wholly within it and there are more DAEMON units than enemy units (any units within 6” of the centre aren’t counted, for both sides). Additionally, score 1 VP if you have a DAEMONS unit wholly within 6” of the centre. A somewhat tricky one to achieve, as it will be heavily matchup dependent, as you’ll need to ensure you have both the staying and killing power to shift enemy units and hold up there. Scoring at the end of your turn, and from the first round, does give you some decent potential however, and can force your opponent to move to deny, though you’ll need to keep units back to score in your home quarters, not ideal for a combat focused army.

No Mercy, No Respite – Nourished By Terror

Each time an enemy model flees, score 1 VP, and every time you destroy an enemy unit, roll 2D6, scoring 1 VP if the result equals or exceeds the Ld of the last model in that unit. A strange one that isn’t massively rewarding if you kill units, but can weirdly score incredibly high and fast if your foe has a string of bad luck on Morale checks. Not always good, and small elite armies are certainly not candidates for this, but it can offer a nice alternative for the category. 

Shadow Operations – Despoilers Of Reality

INFANTRY units can perform this Action at the end of you Movement phase if within range of an Objective you control that is not in your Deployment Zone, and that is not Corrupted. The Action completes at the start of your next Command phase, or at the end of the battle, and when completed the Objective is Corrupted and you score 4 VP. A decent scoring one, especially since you can do this with multiple units, and on some missions this can be quite high scoring as you can hit the midboard Objectives quickly. The completion time is long for your fairly squishy units to hold out for, but the target saturation it can cause is decent.

Battlefield Supremacy – The Hidden Path

Control of the Webway Gate is now achieved if you simply have an ObSec unit within 3” of it, or have more units than your opponent within 3”, making it much easier to score if you’ve bought the Gate. The non-Gate version is identical.

No Mercy, No Respite – Wrath Of Khaine

No changes.

Warpcraft – Scry Futures

You now need to control the Objective to perform the Psychic Action on it, but the Warp Charge doesn’t increase, otherwise it’s the same. A bit of a downgrade as you can’t use a fast Psyker to nip in an score VP under the enemy’s nose now, but still an overall solid choice. 

Shadow Operations – Scout The Enemy

Everything is the same apart from the completion timing is now at the start of your Command Phase, or the end of the battle, whichever comes first, giving you a chance of some last minute scoring at the end of the game now if you go second.

Purge The Enemy – Take The Alive!

You now score VP for each unit destroyed by Melee in a Battle Round (with the same criteria; 3 VP for a CHARACTER or MONSTER, or 1 VP for anything else), but you’re capped at 5 VP per Round. This is now much easier to score if you’re going Melee heavy, letting you get a good stream of VP for murdering units as the game progresses.

Purge The Enemy – Beasts For The Arena

Now anyone can score this, but you only net 2 VP if done by a non-WYCH CULT unit. You still get 3 for doing it with them, and any TITANIC units are worth +3 VP. Again this is much easier to score than before as anything can contribute, though the unit types are still restrictive (MONSTER, CAVALRY or BEAST), and it’s still Melee only, making this quite a specific one, especially compared to Take Them Alive!

No Mercy, No Respite – Fear And Terror

Now totally different, instead scoring 1 VP each time an enemy unit-

  • Fails a Morale Test
  • Falls Back
  • Fails an Action
  • Is destroyed by a Melee Attack, and you roll equal to or over their Ld on 2D6. Note this is including any modifiers they would have had at time of the last model being removed, ie your own -2 Ld and other potential debuffs

These things will probably come up at least a few times during a game, though how often is matchup dependent. Killing a unit doing an Action does cause the Action to Fail, so that can potentially net your 2 VP there if you also roll well on the 2D6, though Psychic Actions aren’t affected by this Secondary. Against some armies this can score quite well, and there’s no cap on VP per turn or Round so it can rack up quite highly quite quickly, but against others it’s pretty terrible, so judge accordingly.

Battlefield Supremacy – Herd The Prey

You only score 1 VP for each quarter now, but you can score from Turn 1 onwards, making it a bit more consistent over the course of the game, albeit lower scoring and not as much of a win-more button.

Battlefield Supremacy – Take Your Places

No changes.

No Mercy, No Respite – A Deadly Performance

You now only need to kill 2 units in Melee for that bullet point, making that aspect a little easier to contribute. Otherwise everything is the same.

Warpcraft – Weave Veil

It now starts at Warp Charge 3, and has an 18” Range, making this easier to score throughout the game. Interrogation is still generally better due to the range and CP regen potential, but this makes a nice alternative for Character-light opponents.

No Mercy, No Respite – Synaptic Insight

Dedicated Transports now contribute to the Synaptic Kill Tally, but everything else is the same.

Purge The Enemy – Cranial Feasting

CHARACTERS are now worth 3 VP for being destroyed in Melee, but you only get 3 VP for the WARLORD if they are destroyed by a FEEDER TENDRILS unit. Otherwise it’s all identical.

Shadow Operations – Spore Nodes

No changes.

Battlefield Supremacy – Broodswarm

The previous criteria remain, but now you also gain 1 VP for having more models on the battlefield total, so you can score a max of 5 VP for it each round now- More models, more models in your Deployment Zone, more models in their Deployment Zone, more models in No Man’s Land, and all four completed.

Purge The Enemy – Ambush

You now score 2 VP for destroying at least one unit the same turn you deployed from Ambush or Underground, and 2 VP for destroying at least one unit with Ranged Attacks whilst they were Exposed. You are capped at 4 VP, but it’s an easier and more rewarding option than before, though the Underground/Ambush aspect will still likely result in staggering your army’s arrival to try and maximise.

Shadow Operations – Sabotage Critical Location

The Critical Location Objectives are now placed before the first turn begins, you only need to control them to perform the Action, and completing the Action on turn 4 and 5 yield an extra VP each (for 6 and 4, respectively). This makes this a lot easier to achieve and score reasonably well on, though your opponent still has good counterplay options as they know who has the first turn before placing now.

Shadow Operations – Ancient Machineries

Completely different now, as the Action can now only be done by one unit, on any non-Awakened Objective you control that isn’t in your Deployment Zone, completing at the end of the turn if the unit is ObSec, otherwise in your next Command Phase or end of the battle. When completed the Objective is Awakened, and you score 4 VP. Still only doable by CORE or CANOPTEK, but it now offers a good option for melee or short ranged units that are approaching the midboard, especially those that have ObSec innately, or via the custom Dynasty.

Battlefield Supremacy – Purge The Vermin

Now only scores 1 VP for each table quarter, but can be done from Turn 1 onwards, and you also get 1 VP if there are no enemy units wholly within your Deployment Zone as well. A lower scoring, but now quicker starting option, and with a second criteria can help spread the score out a bit easier.

Purge The Enemy – Code of Combat

You now score +1 VP if an enemy unit is destroyed in Melee, and if they were a CHARACTER you get a CP to boot. Still requiring NOBLES to do this makes this a very limited Secondary to use, but for armies looking to leverage them it’s now a slightly better pick than before. 

No Mercy, No Respite – The Treasures Of Aeons

The enemy can only choose Objective Markers in their Deployment Zone if there are no more Objectives to choose in No Man’s Land, making this a good choice on certain missions where there are at least 3 there, ensuring your units can start closer. Otherwise, the same requirements and scoring. 

No Mercy, No Respite – Stomp ‘Em Good

No changes. 

Purge The Enemy – Da Biggest And Da Best

Now scores 2 VP at the end of each Battle Round (to a max of 5) for the following criteria met by your WARLORD

  • Cause a MONSTER, VEHICLE or CHARACTER to lose any Wounds by Melee Attacks
  • Destroy 5+ models with Attacks
  • Destroy an enemy unit
  • Be in range of an Objective you control not in your Deployment Zone

Despite being overall easier to score and stack, still being tied to your WARLORD makes this a tricky one to get max on, as they can’t be everywhere or feasibly do multiple criteria a turn, and with a hard counter of just being killed makes it a risky one if you need them to be in the thick of it.

Battlefield Supremacy – Green Tide

Now just grants 1 VP for each quarter that has 10+ models in total within it, ignoring those within 6” of another table quarter. A pseudo Engage On All Fronts, though requiring hordes, as your non-INFANTRY still only count as 1 model, making them less suited for this. Engage is generally better, depending on your army build.

Shadow Operations – Get Da Good Bitz

The Action can now be done on any Objective in No Man’s Land (no more pre game selecting), you just need to control it, and if a LOOTAS or GRETCHIN unit does the Action, they complete it that same turn. You also get the “end of the battle” caveat for when you go second. You are capped at 5 VP per round now, but it generally is a bit easier and you have some extra flexibility for scoring it, and where.

Battlefield Supremacy – Decisive Action

No changes.

No Mercy, No Respite – A Clean Victory

No changes.

Shadow Operations – Aerospace Targeting Relays

FIRE WARRIOR TEAMS now complete this at the end of the turn, otherwise the same. This becomes quite easy to score high on early in the game if you use a unit of your cheap Infantry on the flanks and in your Deployment Zone, making this quite appealing for the category.  



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Gerald Cloud
2 years ago

In regards to the DG secondaries, there was another change with despoiled ground(battlefield supremacy). The original version only scored off of units. It now scores off of units, which is a major change. Now the different Daemon engines, poxwalkers, cultists, spawn, really everything in the codex, now contribute toward the requirements to score. I am stoked about he change.

Ryan Tracey
Ryan Tracey
2 years ago

What is happening to all the other generic secondaries? I know the WarCom article said that everyone starts with 3 secondaries and then they have their faction specifics, have all the other secondaries gone?

Mingus
Mingus
2 years ago

Quick note on despoiled ground, it’s now changed to death guard rather than Bubonic Astartes, which makes it way easier to score

Johan Ström
Lodge Member
Johan Ström
2 years ago

Dammit Chef, I looked

Kaibong deity
Lodge Warrior Member
Kaibong deity
2 years ago

Great work,super helpful thanks

Elliott Lansdown-Bridge
Lifetime Member

awesome summary

Ben Whitburn
Ben Whitburn
2 years ago

Thanks for this guys! Makes it so much easier to understand the changes.

Andreas Schwarz
2 years ago

My god, thx for the effort! Awesome summary!

Matthew Wall
Lodge Member
2 years ago

Made you look. Nice one Chef!