Chapter Approved Updates: Matched Play Overview!

With 2018 coming to a close, there’s only one thing on the mind of Warhammer enthusiasts everywhere: Chapter Approved 2019 is on the way!
GW has been teasing a number of different updates over the past few months, and it definitely seems like they’re going to deliver. Between new missions, new rules, and new point values for some of your favorite units, the ever-evolving world of 40K is up for some of its biggest changes yet!
We’ve got a full rundown of how the new Chapter Approved will be shaking up the game below!

First up, we have the brand-new additional rule for certain missions: Acceptable Casualties. This new rule essentially eliminates the “wipe your opponent off the board” default win condition, meaning that a player can still win by objectives even if their armies are totally destroyed! This will likely cause army construction to change drastically, as brute-force armies can no longer rely on simply tabling their opponents.

Next up we have “Narrow The Search”, a mission that appears to draw inspiration from the popular “battle royale” style of video games such as PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Fortnite. Each opponent must fight for control over the objectives, with the added caveat that players have to be closer and closer to each objective with each passing term. This could potentially be catastrophic for long-range armies such as T’au, as the brutal close-combat for control of each objective will be a tough fight for even the best units.

Of course, with these changes in missions comes changes to a number of different units as well. The Necrons are seeing several reductions in points, making bigger units such as Triarch Praetorians much more cost-efficient than they have been in the past.
The real story, however, is the Grey Knights. As a faction that has long been seen as non-competitive due to their high unit costs, a mass-reduction in units such as Paladins and Purifiers mean that the Emperor’s favorite demon-slaying children are FAR more versatile and efficient than they have been in the past.

Of course, Chaos Cultists fans might be slightly upset, as the cultists are getting a slight point increase due to their near-omnipresence in Chaos lists. It isn’t much, but it might be enough to encourage players to try out a unit that may have been languishing on the shelf for too long.

And, finally, for anyone who’s looking to have a few more giant robots in their life, the massive Eldari Wraithknight has received a massive reduction in points as well, meaning that you’ll likely be seeing it in a LOT more armies in the future!

Every day, we’re hearing more and more great news coming out of GW. Only time will tell what the next new update to your favorite army will be!