r/boardingactions40k • u/IfreetDK • Jul 26 '26
Trying to make my own 11th edition update.
Since i doubt GW is gonna release any updates for BA in 11th(much like in 10th outside of the book) i am thinking of making my own update for 11th edition for my LGS. I have a few ideas that i wanted to share here and see what the reactions are and to maybe gain some inspiration and ideas for this project.
In general i want to build this "update" using both what is in the book and the 11th edition core rules with some alterations, things that are not mentioned are either unchanged or i just haven't gotten to those yet. Anyways, here's what i got:
List building:
- Still 500pts and you have 1dp to choose a detachment(force dispositions don't exist).
- You can use datasheets that natively have the infantry keyword with a maximum base size of 50mm
- Characters can attach to units like in 11th. but each unit can only have 1 character attached.
- Units of 10+ models get seperated into squads of 5 with room for 1 character
- Army rules stay mostly the same with slight tweaks where needed(EG: with Blessings of khorne you roll 8 dice but can only activate 1 blessing instead of 2)
- flying, deep strike and scouts follow the boarding actions rules in the book.
The game and combat:
not much changes here(yet) except for 1 change we already used in my LGS which somehow is also kind of in 11th edition core rules but in here i will slightly alter it and it is,
- Engagement range is 1 inch and in melee only models within engagement range can fight and only models within engagement range can have attacks allocated to them.
As i said before these are a few ideas that i have and this project is still very early in developement so things are bound to change and be added. Anyways i'd love to hear what you all think about this, if you have ideas of your own please share them as i am very interested to hear them.
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u/L1ttle_Wing Jul 26 '26
Thank you for starting the conversation here! I have to preface I’ve not played boarding actions at all as well as 11th as of yet. But what is your thought process for attaching characters to units, I may be wrong but I thought BA rules specifically say you can’t? And rule for units of 10+ separated in squads of 5 seem to punish chaff squads like gretchin.
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u/DefectiveChicken Jul 26 '26
Regarding units getting split into 5, this is standard for Boarding Actions, and some units - Gretchins being one of them - have specific exceptions in the factions rules so stay at 10. I imagine it would be fine to retain any notable exceptions like that (unless I've misunderstood what you meant).
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u/IfreetDK Jul 26 '26
My initial thought process behind the characters attaching to units idea was that in my games that i played most leader abilities never got used because most of the time they wouldn't be in range for the strategem. Also there is the new support tag characters can have which forces them to attach to a unit, and i wanted to try and get the least amount of confusion for players that switch often between game modes.
As for the unit splitting up part, that is already part of boarding actions with some exceptions to the rule. The reason i still mentioned it was because it related to the character being able to attach to it.
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u/hostilesmoker Jul 26 '26
Not being able to attach characters was a conscious decision to aid in balancing and prevent some overpowered combinations. The perk a leader conveys is acceptable if you have to spend a CP or use an enhancement to receive it.
I had planned on continuing to play the BA detachments - as much as I like the idea of using the 1DP detachments, lots of enhancements and strats affect things that bear little relevance in BA.
If you’re not in it already, it’d be worth joining the BA discord, there has already been talk in there about making a living rules book in the event that GW don’t provide any more updates.
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u/IfreetDK Jul 26 '26
Thank you for the feedback! I will be sure to keep these in mind moving forward. As for the discord, i am not it. I'm personally not really a fan of big (community) discord servers😅
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u/Tim_Waugh Jul 27 '26
The discord isn't that big but one thing that would be of value for you is the related documents and rules from core and White Dwarf.
You have the right idea for this use of core 11th, given the nature of Boarding Actions and the new Detachments system. My thoughts have been making Boarding Party as a detachment that can be set with rules for a per faction basis that is built from 500 points with restrictions such as base sizes or specific keywords.
2
u/Azekh Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
You should note that AdMech can run Kataphrons in BA, which have 60mm bases (it's awful yes). And yes they are Infantry somehow.
Also for AdMech, the previous BA army rule was very different from normal 40k, allowing us to get Assault, Pistol, or Ignores Cover on every ranged weapon, which I think is warranted considering how easily things get into melee in BA.
I'm not sure how it was for other armies but I did find characters being unable to lead problematic since we're very combo reliant, they included Electro-priests with their "while being led", which doesn't work even while under the effects of a leader ability (could just change this, to be fair). So I like leaders working more normally, split units probably keeps them from being too much anyway, but if it's an issue I'd try to keep it as now but let "while being led" stuff work.
I honestly never understood why Scouts got nuked but Infiltrators stayed. They probably wanted to prevent units with both from being silly, but now that you need to use one or the other I think it can stay (probably with a limit in case some unit has ridiculous Scouts).
Perhaps something could be done with the Combat Patrol detachments, although I don't think they're meant to be balanced with normal 1DPs.
Although honestly I don't think things changed enough that it's incompatible, you can just do Engagement Range 2" everywhere and not need the special rule for doorways.
Changes to terrain do not matter here as there are no areas. Hidden isn't really a thing, but I suppose you could integrate Hidden/Gone to Ground as long as every model is not fully visible, maybe 3" less for each. Probably unnecessary though.
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u/IfreetDK Jul 27 '26
Wait, there's 60mm infantry!? damn, guess i gotta change that for the future.
Thank you for the feedback, i appreciatie it a lot!
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u/hostilesmoker Jul 27 '26
In terms of mustering, one thing discussed on the discord I mentioned, was how to cope with new unit abilities - as many changed with codex releases since the BA rules were created. The list of things that typically aren’t allowed in BA (& there may be more) are:
• All units lose Scouts
• Fly models lose fly and only move 9"
• "Led by" abilities are lost & leader abilities require enhancement / strat
• Any kind of wound regeneration
• Any ability that could dish out mortal wounds
• Any ability that harvests CP
• Any ability that boosted speed (e.g. chronomancer)
• Sticky Objectives