T-530, for T-523 (Jordan, 1 Oct (Pacific), via the design session). A report and a data file (docs/data/armyfx.json, which the site doesn't load yet). The rules were read on Wahapedia (11th edition, 2 Oct) and every line here is our own paraphrase: no rule wording is kept.
In short
- armyfx.json has the same shape as detfx.json and leaderfx.json: each army rule as effects in our words, with two additions.
aurasays who grants the rule, its range and who receives it;ldcovers Battle-shock tests taken on more dice. Tyranids are written:- Synapse: near a Synapse creature (6"), Tyranid units get +1 Strength in melee and take Battle-shock tests on three dice.
- Shadow in the Warp: once a battle, every enemy unit tests for Battle-shock, a point harder near Synapse. Kept as a note for now: it's pressure on the opponent's Battle-shock, not dice we roll.
- Wired into the tier test (
tools/tiertest.js --armyfx):- A unit that grants the aura always has it; one that receives it is assumed in range 75% of the time (
meta.assume.inRange, a stated constant). - Three dice lifts the Leadership pass in Anvil and Runner.
- +1 Strength lifts melee damage in Hammer, through ev.js on the default wargear.
- Granting Synapse counts as an aura in Banner.
- A unit that grants the aura always has it; one that receives it is assumed in range 75% of the time (
- What it did: 52 Tyranid units are touched.
- Leadership pass: at Ld 8+ it rises from 42% to 73% for units in range part of the time, and from 58% to 91% for Synapse creatures (Ld 7+).
- Melee damage: up 10 to 20% for gaunts, Warriors and Carnifexes.
- Agreement with list share: V2's ρ rises from 0.127 to 0.146.
- But Tyranid S letters jump from 6 to 25, because no other army has its rule yet.
- Lesson: an army's rules can't go into the letters until every army's are written. Writing them one at a time inflates whoever goes first. Until then armyfx is shown on unit pages and in the calculator (a later card), not in the letters.
- A second lesson: Battle-shock carries a lot of weight in V2's Anvil. It multiplies a unit's whole durability, although Battle-shock only bites once a unit is below half strength. Damping it, for example to half its weight, would keep Leadership rules from swinging letters this hard. Test that before Anvil ships.
- The 36 armies: a background survey read every army rule and wrote a one-line plan for each (below). Findings that change the plan:
- Oath of Moment, as the 11th-edition page stands on 2 Oct (re-checked on Jordan's question; the page's title confirms 11th edition): every Adeptus Astartes army re-rolls the hit roll against its Oath target. The +1 to wound comes on top only if the army uses a Codex: Space Marines detachment (the FAQ counts every detachment in the codex and in the Space Marines Faction Pack) and has no Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Deathwatch or Space Wolves units. The page shows this as an errata. The printed rule's list also named Black Templars, and the errata's list drops them. That's the change we can confirm. Anything newer, such as a leaked future change, isn't on the page, so we model what's published and re-check when the next balance update lands.
- Black Templars: if the army includes Black Templars or uses one of their detachments, its Adeptus Astartes units lose Oath of Moment and take Templar Vows instead.
- The Orks' Waaagh! is now a 5+ invulnerable save, Assault weapons and charging after Advancing, not +1 Strength and Attacks.
- Death Guard's contagion lowers the target's Toughness by 1, which is not the same as +1 Strength. It needs a new "target Toughness −1" effect.
- New vocabulary the engine needs:
- target Toughness −1;
- "only when S > T" and "only when S ≤ T" conditions;
- a Rapid Fire-only condition (Orders);
- a save improvement capped at 3+;
- a re-roll of a single die (Code Chivalric);
- majority Toughness for mixed units.
- Order to write them:
- Oath of Moment (78 lists across the chapters).
- Martial Ka'tah.
- Reanimation Protocols.
- For the Greater Good.
- Dark Pacts, Doctrina Imperatives and Blessings of Khorne.
- Nurgle's Gift, once Toughness −1 exists.
- Orders.
- Votann and Black Templars.
- The rest, with the resource pools (Miracle dice, Fate dice, Pain) last.
The Tyranids pilot in the tier test
The first rows of the units touched, with V2's tag after the army rule:
| Unit | Army | Rule | Grants it | Ld pass | Damage per turn per 100 pts | V2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hormagaunts | Tyranids | Synapse | – | 42% → 73% | 3.6 → 4.2 | S · Anvil + Runner + Banner |
| Termagants | Tyranids | Synapse | – | 42% → 73% | 4.2 → 4.2 | S · Anvil + Banner |
| Old One Eye | Tyranids | Synapse | – | 42% → 73% | 4.5 → 4.5 | S · Hammer + Anvil + Banner |
| Neurogaunts | Tyranids | Synapse | – | 42% → 73% | 1.4 → 1.7 | S · Anvil + Banner |
| Venomthropes | Tyranids | Synapse | – | 42% → 73% | 3.8 → 3.8 | S · Anvil + Runner + Banner |
| Tyranid Warriors with Ranged Bio-Weapons | Tyranids | Synapse | yes | 58% → 91% | 4.1 → 4.9 | S · Anvil + Runner + Banner |
| The Swarmlord | Tyranids | Synapse | yes | 58% → 91% | 3.4 → 3.7 | S · Hammer + Banner |
| Tyranid Prime with Lash Whip | Tyranids | Synapse | yes | 58% → 91% | 6.5 → 6.9 | S · Runner + Banner |
| Carnifexes | Tyranids | Synapse | – | 42% → 73% | 5.8 → 6.4 | S · Hammer + Anvil |
| Tervigon | Tyranids | Synapse | yes | 58% → 91% | 2.2 → 2.7 | S · Anvil |
| Gargoyles | Tyranids | Synapse | – | 42% → 73% | 1 → 1 | S · Anvil + Runner |
| Trygon | Tyranids | Synapse | – | 42% → 73% | 4.5 → 5 | S · Hammer + Anvil + Runner |
The 36 armies (survey)
| Army | Lists | Army rule(s) | What it does (paraphrase) | How we'd model it | Now / partly / can't | Granted by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Necrons | 33 | Reanimation Protocols | At the end of its own Command phase, each unit heals D3 wounds; slain models come back first. | Healing score: about 2 wounds per unit per own turn. No dice mods. | Now (healing score) | Units with the ability (nearly all) |
| Adeptus Custodes | 29 | Martial Ka'tah | Each fight, pick a stance: melee Sustained Hits 1 or melee Lethal Hits. | att, melee: best of sustained 1 or lethal, per target. | Now | Units with the ability |
| T'au Empire | 24 | For the Greater Good | Units that skip shooting spot a target; others get +1 BS against it, plus Ignores Cover if the spotter is a MARKERLIGHT unit. | att, ranged: bs +1; ignCover if the army has a MARKERLIGHT unit. Assumes a spotter; its lost shots aren't costed. | Partly | Units with the ability |
| Dark Angels | 23 | Oath of Moment; The Unforgiven | Re-roll hits against one chosen enemy per round; no +1 to wound. Unforgiven only adds Ravenwing/Deathwing keywords. | att: rrHit all against the Oath target (the scored target). | Now | Whole army |
| Tyranids | 23 | Synapse; Shadow in the Warp | Confirmed: within 6" of SYNAPSE, +1 S in melee and Battle-shock on 3D6. Once per battle every enemy unit tests, -1 near Synapse. | As written: str +1 melee; Ld resilience; Shadow to the Battle-shock score. | Done | Units in Synapse range |
| Emperor's Children | 22 | Thrill Seekers | Can shoot and charge after Advancing or Falling Back, with some targeting limits. | Reach score: Advance counts toward shooting and charge threat. | Partly (non-dice) | Whole army |
| Orks | 21 | Waaagh!; Da Boss | Re-roll Advances. While riled up (War Cry once per battle for about two turns, or other rules): 5+ invuln, Assault guns, charge after Advancing. Boss warlord gains CP. | def: inv 5+ weighted ~0.2, or a "Waaagh turn" toggle; reach score. | Partly | Units with Waaagh! |
| Chaos Daemons | 18 | The Shadow of Chaos | In their Shadow (own zone; more if they hold half the objectives in an area): +1 to Battle-shock, and a pass heals D3 or returns up to D3 Battleline models. Enemies there or near Greater Daemons take -1 to Battle-shock and D3 mortals on a fail. | Ld resilience + healing, weighted by time in the Shadow (~0.5); Battle-shock pressure on enemies. | Partly (non-dice) | Whole army; named Greater Daemons |
| Death Guard | 16 | Nurgle's Gift (Aura) | Enemies in Contagion Range (1", 3", 6" by round) lose 1 Toughness and suffer the plague chosen at the start: -1 to hit in melee and cover vs their shooting; or worse Save; or -1 Move, Ld and OC. | New att mod "target T -1" (not the same as +1 S at the doubling steps). Worse Save = ap +1. First plague = def hitMinus (melee) + cover (ranged). Melee always in range; ranged ~0.4. | Partly (T -1 mod missing) | Aura from every DG model |
| Adeptus Mechanicus | 15 | Doctrina Imperatives | Each round pick one. Protector: +1 BS, and Battleline (or near it) is -1 to be hit in melee. Conqueror: +1 WS, and Battleline (or near it) gets +1 AP. | Better one per lane: bs +1; Conqueror ap +1 for BATTLELINE (~0.5 for others); Protector def hitMinus, melee. | Now | Units with the ability |
| Astra Militarum | 15 | Voice of Command (Orders) | Officers order units within 6": +3" Move, +1 WS, +1 BS, +1 A on Rapid Fire weapons, +1 Save (no better than 3+), or +1 Ld and OC. | Officer aura (~2 units), best order per unit: bs +1, atk +1 (rapid-fire weapons only), sv +1 capped at 3+. | Partly (needs those two conditions and per-officer eligibility) | OFFICER characters |
| Aeldari | 15 | Battle Focus; Strands of Fate | Tokens each round (4 at Strike Force) buy +2" moves, 6" pile-ins, Assault on vehicles, moves after being shot. Fate dice: pre-rolled results that replace one roll a phase. | Reach score. Fate dice: skip, or a small flat bonus. | Partly (non-dice) | Whole army |
| Adepta Sororitas | 13 | Acts of Faith | Miracle dice (one a turn, one per unit lost) replace one roll per unit per phase: hit, wound, save, damage, charge, Battle-shock. | Not per attack: a small flat bonus (one auto-pass a turn) or skip. | Can't yet (resource pool) | Units with the ability |
| Blood Angels | 13 | Oath of Moment; Sons of Sanguinius | Re-roll hits on the Oath target, no +1 wound; chapter rule is roster-only. | att: rrHit all vs Oath target. | Now | Whole army |
| Grey Knights | 13 | Gate of Infinity | After the enemy Fight phase, up to 3 unengaged units go to reserves and can arrive next turn. | Reach score (redeploy every turn). | Partly (non-dice) | Units with the ability |
| Drukhari | 13 | Power from Pain | Pain tokens (one per Command phase, per enemy unit destroyed, per failed enemy Battle-shock) switch on each unit's own Pain ability for a phase. | Each datasheet's Pain effect in our words (like leaderfx.json), weighted ~0.6. | Can't yet (per-datasheet data) | Each unit's Pain ability |
| Leagues of Votann | 13 | Prioritised Efficiency | Early: +1 to hit targets near objectives, re-roll Advance and charge. Once 7 YP: +1 to hit while on a held objective, and -1 to be wounded when S > T (not vehicles). | att hit +1 (~0.7); def woundMinus with a new "S > T" condition (~0.5). | Partly (needs S>T condition) | Whole army |
| World Eaters | 12 | Blessings of Khorne | Each round roll 8D6 and spend doubles/triples on two of: +1 charge, 6" pile-ins, slain models fight on 4+, melee Sustained 1, melee Lethal, Devastating vs INFANTRY. | att, melee, weighted by our sim: lethal 0.87, sustained 0.97, both 0.58; lethal + devastating 0.32. | Partly (weighted) | Units with the ability |
| Ultramarines | 12 | Oath of Moment | Codex chapter: re-roll hits and +1 to wound vs the Oath target (chapter detachments count as Codex). | att: rrHit all + wound +1 vs Oath target. | Now | Whole army |
| Imperial Knights | 12 | Code Chivalric; Super-heavy Walker; Bondsman | Pick a quality: re-roll one hit and one wound per shoot/fight; or +2" Move and +1 Advance/charge; or +2 OC, +1 Ld. Deed done: CP. Walks over low terrain. | New "re-roll one die" mod (small); OC/Ld and reach scores. Bondsman is per datasheet. | Partly | Units with the ability |
| Chaos Space Marines | 11 | Dark Pacts | On shooting or fighting, take Lethal or Sustained 1 for the phase; failing a Ld test costs D3 mortals. | att: best of lethal / sustained 1; self-cost P(fail Ld) x 2 wounds. | Now (cost partly) | Units with the ability |
| Space Wolves | 11 | Oath of Moment; Curse of the Wulfen | Re-roll hits on Oath target, no +1 wound. Wulfen near SW characters or Wolf Priests: +1 OC (infantry), +3 (vehicles). | att: rrHit all; OC score for WULFEN. | Now | Whole army; Wulfen |
| Thousand Sons | 8 | Cabal of Sorcerers | Each sorcerer tries one ritual a Shooting phase on 2D6 (3D6, risking D3 mortals on doubles): re-roll 1s to hit (all on 10+), D6" move, D3 mortals (D3+3 on 11+), +1 AP (+2 on 12+). | Weighted army buffs: rrHit "1s" 0.83; ap +1 0.28 on 2D6, 0.74 on 3D6; mortals as flat damage. | Partly | Sorcerers; buffs hit the target for all |
| Salamanders, Raven Guard, Imperial Fists, Iron Hands, Space Marines, White Scars | 7, 4, 3, 2, 2, 0 | Oath of Moment | Codex chapters: re-roll hits and +1 to wound vs Oath target. No chapter army rule. | att: rrHit all + wound +1 vs Oath target. | Now | Whole army |
| Black Templars | 6 | Templar Vows (replaces Oath) | Pick one vow: Precision and charge re-rolls vs PSYKERS; +1 to wound in melee when S <= T; charge after Falling Back; sticky objectives. | att melee wound +1 with a new "S <= T" condition; the rest to reach/OC. | Partly (needs S<=T) | Whole army |
| Chaos Knights | 5 | Harbingers of Dread | -1 Ld to enemies within 9" from the start; at rounds 1, 3, 5 add one more (or roll two): another -1 Ld, +1 wound vs Battle-shocked, Stealth, forced tests, D3 mortals on failed tests, +3" auras. | Ld pressure score; def cover vs ranged (Stealth) weighted by when it's picked. | Partly | Whole army (auras) |
| Genestealer Cults | 5 | Cult Ambush | A points pool (10 at Strike Force) brings listed destroyed squads back at full strength via markers. | Revives score: squads returned per Resurgence cost. | Partly (non-dice) | Listed squads |
| Deathwatch | 1 | Oath of Moment; Kill Teams | Re-roll hits only. Mixed Kill Teams are wounded on the majority's Toughness. | att rrHit; majority T in the engine. | Now; Kill Teams partly | Whole army |
| Agents of the Imperium | 1 | Assigned Agents; Kill Team | Ally allowances; majority Toughness. | Nothing beyond majority T. | Nothing to model | n/a |
| Adeptus Titanicus / Titanicus Traitoris | 0 / 0 | Towering Example; Super-heavy Walker | Titan is warlord; one Titan as an ally; walks over low terrain. Traitoris swaps keywords. | Reach only. | Nothing to model | n/a |
Order to write them
- Oath of Moment (78 lists, 11 chapters): rrHit all; wound +1 with a Codex: Space Marines detachment and no Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Deathwatch or Space Wolves units (2 Oct errata).
- Martial Ka'tah (Custodes 29).
- Reanimation Protocols (Necrons 33): healing score.
- For the Greater Good (T'au 24).
- Dark Pacts (CSM 11), Doctrina Imperatives (AdMech 15), Blessings of Khorne (WE 12).
- Nurgle's Gift (DG 16), after adding "target T -1".
- Orders (AM 15), after the rapid-fire condition and the 3+ cap.
- Prioritised Efficiency (Votann) and Templar Vows (BT), after the S vs T conditions.
- Cabal of Sorcerers, Harbingers of Dread, Waaagh! (weighted).
- Non-dice scores: Daemons, EC, GK, Aeldari, GSC, Knights, Wulfen.
- Last: Drukhari (a Pain effect per datasheet), Sororitas and Fate dice (resource pools).
Once per battle or chosen
- Best choice per matchup (picked with the target known): Ka'tah, Dark Pacts, Doctrina (per lane), Orders, Templar Vows, Code Chivalric. The DG plague is picked once for the game: show the best overall (usually worse Save).
- Average over the game: War Cry (~0.2 or a toggle); Shadow in the Warp (Battle-shock score only); Harbingers (extra abilities from rounds 1, 3, 5: weights 5/5, 3/5, 1/5); Contagion Range (grows by round); Votann's two states (~half each); Daemons' Shadow.
- Probability-weighted: Blessings of Khorne, Cabal rituals.
- Resource pools (flat bonus or skip): Miracle, Fate, Battle Focus, Pain, Resurgence, Yield.
New vocabulary needed: "target T -1"; conditions S > T and S <= T; rapid-fire-only; save improvement capped at 3+; a single-die re-roll; majority Toughness.