DATASHEETS
Each unit has a datasheet that lists the characteristics, wargear and abilities of its models – here we explain what some of it means, while the rules found elsewhere in this section explain how it’s all used in the game. A condensed version of a model’s datasheet can be found in its construction guide – this contains less information than the full version, but will still let you get your unit on the field straight away.
1. UNIT NAME
Here you’ll find the name of the unit.
2. BATTLEFIELD ROLE
This is primarily used when making a Battle-forged army. Find out more about Battle-Forged armies in the Warhammer 40000 Core Rulebook.
3. POWER RATING
The higher this is, the more powerful the unit!
4. PROFILES
These contain the following characteristics that tell you how mighty the models in the unit are.
No.: This tells you what models are in the unit, and how many of them you should have (the unit’s minimum and maximum size).
- Move (M): This is the speed at which a model moves across the battlefield. If a model has a Move of ‘-’ it is unable to move at all.
- Weapon Skill (WS): This tells you a model’s skill at hand-to-hand fighting. If a model has a Weapon Skill of ‘-’ it is unable to fight in melee at all.
- Ballistic Skill (BS): This shows how accurate a model is when shooting with ranged weapons. If a model has a Ballistic Skill of ‘-’ it has no proficiency with ranged weapons and cannot make attacks with ranged weapons at all.
- Strength (S): This indicates how physically strong a model is and how likely it is to inflict damage in hand-to-hand combat.
- Toughness (T): This reflects the model’s resilience against physical harm.
- Wounds (W): Wounds show how much damage a model can sustain before it succumbs to its injuries.
- Attacks (A): This tells you how many times a model can strike blows in hand-to-hand combat. If a model has an Attacks of ‘-’ it is unable to fight in melee at all.
- Leadership (Ld): This reveals how courageous, determined or self-controlled a model is.
- Save (Sv): This indicates the protection a model’s armour gives.
Some large models’ characteristics change as the model loses wounds – look at such a model’s remaining wounds and consult the appropriate row of its profile on its datasheet to determine its current characteristics.
5. COMPOSITION AND WARGEAR
If a unit’s profile does not, then this part of a datasheet will tell you what models are in the unit, and how many of them you should have. It also tells you the default weapons and wargear the models are equipped with.
Understrength Units
If you do not have enough models to field a minimum-sized unit you can still include one unit of that type in your army with as many models as you have available. This is known as an Understrength unit.
6. ABILITIES
Many units have one or more special abilities; these will be described here.
7. WEAPONS
In the condensed datasheets, weapons are given a number that corresponds to annotated pictures of the miniature, rather than being named. Weapons are described with the following characteristics:
- Range: How far the weapon can shoot. Weapons with a range of ‘Melee’ are melee weapons and can only be used in hand-to-hand combat. All other weapons are ranged weapons. Some weapons have a minimum and maximum range, for example 6"-48"; such weapons cannot target units that are wholly within the shorter range.
- Type: These are all explained under the Shooting and Fight phases of the basic rules. These types are denoted by symbols on the condensed datasheet.
- Strength (S): How likely the weapon is to wound a foe. If a weapon’s Strength lists ‘User’, it is equal to the bearer’s Strength characteristic. If a weapon lists a modifier (e.g. ‘+1’ or ‘x2’), modify the bearer’s Strength characteristic as shown (e.g. if a weapon’s Strength was ‘x2’, and the bearer had a Strength of 6, that weapon has a Strength of 12).
- Armour Penetration (AP): How good the weapon’s attacks are at getting through armour.
- Damage (D): The amount of damage inflicted by a successful wound.
8. WARGEAR OPTIONS
Some datasheets have a bullet-pointed list of wargear options. When you include such a unit in your army, you can use these options to change the weapons and other wargear of models in the unit. The order you use these options in does not matter, but each can only be used once.
9. KEYWORDS
Datasheets have a list of keywords, separated into Faction keywords and other keywords. The former can be used to help guide which models to include in an army, but otherwise both sets of keywords are functionally the same.
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