Last night, GW streamed the first ever full game of Warhammer 40k 10th Edition. While the stream had some technical difficulties to start out, it actually was extremely well executed. The stream’s goal wasn’t to tell the story of the battle taking place between the player’s Death Guard and Daemons armies, but instead GW focused on showing as many rules/datasheet as they could during the game. The game felt like a convenient back drop to an extra long rules preview for 10th Edition, and I think GW absolutely nailed building up more hype for the new Edition. One thing that was shown in full on last night’s steam was the Gambit cards each player can select if things aren’t going their way on the scoreboard.
Gambits are a new way players can snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat through making some relatively long odds plays on the tabletop for a full 30 Victory Points. GW was kind enough to preview the full rules for selecting a Gambit (found below), but the short version is: at the end of the third battle round, each player secretly chooses to attempt a Gambit. If a player does choose to attempt a Gambit they can no longer score Primary points in Turns 4 or 5, but they will get 30 points for completing their Gambit by the end of the game. While the three Gambits a player can choose from are the same, there is some randomness thrown in as you are required to discard a random Gambit card from your deck before making your selection. This is will mean you will never guarantee access to a specific Gambit, so planning for these during list building will be quite a gamble (or Gambit get it?!).
30 VP seems like a ton of points, so let’s look at the actual Gambits shown off in GW’s streamed game from last night to see if these are something that are worth considering in your games of 10th Edition.
This long wall of text is telling you to to get your models to within engagement range of enemy units at the end the of your fifth turn. Then you get to roll a D6 for each of your units still engaged with the enemy, and on a 4+ you get to count that unit toward this Gambit’s tally. The number you are trying to reach is half of the total number of enemy units that are in engagement range at the end of your fifth battle round with a minimum number of 4, so having 8 enemy units in engagement range statistically means you will complete this Gambit. Oh, but remember you opponent gets to fight your units during your Fight Phase…..
Emergency Evacuation is extremely similar to Delaying Tactics, but you are trying to get your units WHOLLY within 6 inches of the center of the battlefield. Getting 8 of your units in the center will statistically mean you complete this gambit, but that is going to make for a real crowded center of the board. Your opponent does have less play into this Gambit, as they cannot directly engage your units attempting this unless they are blocking out the center of the board. Which they will be because, remember, you showed your opponent this card at the end of the third battle round. Oh, and the game is going so well you also showed them this card to score a ton of points quickly.
This is my jam as GSC. Can I roll an 8+ on 2d6 after getting one of my units wholly within 9 inches of all four corners of the board? Of course I can. This one is going to lead to some absolutely hilarious games where you are losing, and you manage to roll that 10 or 11 plus needed to score the 30 points from this Gambit. This one is absolutely my favorite due to its simplicity compared to the others.
Overall, Gambits seem to do what GW intended in making a game feel less one sided than they otherwise could have. Are there still going to be those games where a Tau gunline shoots you right off the table after a few turns? Absolutely, but with these Gambits available, playing the close(ish) game and riding it out to victory now comes with a little more risk than it used to. It will take some time to see if Gambits are actually balanced and good for competitive play, but for now they offer a very interesting way to keep both players engaged in the game when one player otherwise would not have been.
If you caught the GW stream last night and find yourself needing some awesome 40k models at a discount check out the FLG webstore. All orders over $100 get free shipping!