Glossary

Plain-language definitions for terms used across this guide and the tracker. Where the precise mechanic is still pending confirmation against Games Workshop's own documents, that's marked below rather than guessed.

Battle round

One full cycle of the game in which both players take a turn. A battle usually lasts five battle rounds, but your mission has the final say.

Player turn

One player's half of a battle round: their Command, Movement, Shooting, Charge and Fight phases, in order.

Phase

A named stage within a player turn (Command, Movement, Shooting, Charge, Fight) with its own set of things you're allowed to do.

Command Point (CP)

A resource you spend on stratagems — optional rules you can activate mid-game for an effect. Both players gain 1 CP every Command phase, regardless of whose turn it is.

Battle-shock

A test the active player takes in their Command phase for any unit that's currently battle-shocked, or at or below half-strength: roll 2D6 against the unit's Leadership. A unit that fails has its Objective Control reduced to "–" and can't be targeted by stratagems or start/complete actions until it passes a future test.

Objective Control (OC)

A stat representing how good a model is at holding an objective. Both players add up the OC of their models within range of an objective; the higher total controls it, and a tie means neither player does (unless the objective is secured — see "Sticky objective" below).

Sticky objective

The community term for what the Core Rules call a secured objective: some rules let a player's army secure an objective, so they keep control of it even after they no longer have units in range, until their opponent's control becomes higher than theirs.

Strategic reserves

Units held back at deployment to arrive later, via an ingress move in the Movement phase. They can only arrive from the second battle round onward, and any that still haven't arrived by the end of the third battle round are destroyed.

Detachment

A themed set of rules you attach to your army, granting a detachment-wide rule, its own set of stratagems, and access to specific Enhancements.

Detachment Points (DP)

The budget that limits how many detachments, and how powerful a mix of them, you can combine in one army at a given points level. See Building a legal list.

Enhancement

An optional upgrade you can give to a character, usually for extra points, granting an additional rule or ability.

Force Disposition

A broad strategic role for your army, generally tied to your detachment choice, that feeds into which mission you'll play. See Setup. VERIFY exact list and mechanic.

Primary mission / secondary mission

Primary: the main objective set by your mission, usually about controlling the table. Secondary: additional objectives you can also score points from. See Scoring and winning.

Datasheet

The stat block and rules for a single unit. See How to read a datasheet.

Stratagem

An optional rule you can activate during the game, usually at a specific point, by spending Command Points.

Points value

The "cost" of a unit or upgrade, used to keep both players' armies roughly balanced for an agreed total. Current values are published in the Munitorum Field Manual.

Deployment zone

The area of the table where a player is allowed to set up their army before the game begins, defined by the mission's deployment map.

Engagement range

The area within 2" horizontally and 5" vertically of a model. While a friendly model is within an enemy model's engagement range, both units count as engaged with each other.