One of the new features in the 9th Edition is the inclusion of a rules glossary in the back of the rulebook. This glossary not only covers rule definitions but also explains rare rules that sometimes come up in your games. For example Ignores Cover and the New Terrain Rules Today, we’re looking at a part of these rare rules interactions. Specifically, we’re going to look at Replacement and Reposition Effects in the 9th edition.
What are Replacement and Reposition Effects
First, what are Replacement and Reposition effects? There are many different abilities and Stratagems that can move a unit from one part of the board to another. One of the more common examples would be the Ork Psychic Power Da Jump. This power removes an Ork Infantry unit from the table and then deploys it outside of 9″ from the enemy. These abilities are considered Reposition effects.
To continue with our Ork examples, let’s look at an Ork Replacement effect. Orks have a Stratagem called Unstoppable Green Tide. This Stratagem lets you remove a unit of Boyz from the table that’s under half strength and place a fresh, full-sized unit on the table. In other words, if your unit of 30 Boyz is down to 14, you can remove the 14 and put down 30. This is an example of a Replacement effect.
Now that we know what Replacement and Reposition effects are and what they look like, let’s go over what this section highlights. The Glossary highlights 4 rules that apply to both Replacement and Reposition effects and another 4 that apply only to Reposition Effects. We’ll briefly go over all 8 of them and then talk about what it means for you.
8 Rules for Replacement & Reposition Effects
First, anything that happens when a unit “is set up as Reinforcements” will trigger if a unit is under a Replacement and Reposition effect. This means that your opponent can use Stratagems that let them shoot at a unit that is set up as Reinforcements. Be careful, as you don’t want to lose half a unit to a nasty Auspex Scan or other similar ability. Next, these units also count as having moved a distance equal to their Movement Characteristic. If they have a minimum Move, they count as having moved that amount instead. There’s not much to impact here, other than that Replacement and Reposition effects will trigger the Heavy Weapon accuracy penalty for moving.
Next, Games Workshop makes it clear these units can’t then make a move of any kind that turn aside from a Charge/Pile In/Consolidate move. We all know how much Blood Angels Thirst to Charge. So, you can’t Replacement and Reposition a unit and then use an ability to force an extra move. This means that when using Replacement and Reposition effects you’ll have to play honestly. You can’t try and gimmick a bunch of movements across the board on top of a Replacement and Reposition effect. Finally, if a Replacement and Reposition effect pulls a unit from being in Engagement Range, they don’t count as having fallen back. Note that some Replacement and Reposition effects will say they can’t be used on a unit in melee, and this point doesn’t null that. It does mean that you can rip a unit out of combat and then charge them back into combat somewhere else.
Rules for Reposition Effects
These rules apply to both Replacement and Reposition effects. Next, let’s look at the points that apply only to Reposition effects. To start, if the unit Advanced then it still counts as having Advanced. So, if you advance a unit of Boyz to get Da Jumped, you better land them near a Warboss or they can’t charge! Moving on, casualties suffered stay removed, and if the unit has lost models before being Repositioned then those lost models still count towards Morale.
This is fairly well known from 8th, but it’s nice to see it spelled out here. As an extension of this, Games Workshop also spells out that damaged models keep the damage on them. Finally, if the unit was under any special effect, that effect lasts for its normal duration. So, a psychic power giving a unit +1 Toughness till the end of the turn would last even if a unit is Repositioned.
Conclusion
And that actually wraps it up! A lot of these are rules that were already spelled out by the end of 8th Edition, but it’s great to see them included in the core 9th ed rules. There are a couple of inclusions that were never technically spelled out like casualties staying removed on Replacement effects. These little inclusions help clarify this ruleset. Plus, if you have questions in your games you can look back at this section and have it answered.
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As always thanks for reading!
Special thanks to Games Workshop for the use of their images and for making the best game ever!
