Warhammer 40,000: Fireteam Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• Getting Started
  • Datacard Key
  • Extra Fireteams
  • Contents
• Fighting a Mission
  • Set-up
  • But My Card Says..!
  • Mission Card Key
  • Roll-off
  • Re-rolls
  • Targets of Opportunity
• Turning Points
  • Initiative Phase
  • Strategy Phase
  • Firefight Phase
    • Empty Hexes
    • Objectives
    • Move Actions (1AP)
    • Attack Actions (Variable AP)
    • Disengage Actions (1AP)
    • Wait Actions (1AP)
  • End Phase
    • Final End Phase
• Playing Campaigns
  • How to Play
  • Spoils of Battle
  • Tiebreakers
• Weapon Rules
• Reference
  • Turning Point Sequence
  • Actions

Object of the Game

The object of Warhammer 40,000: Fireteam is to use your fireteam's unique operatives, weapons and stratagems to achieve your mission and defeat an enemy fireteam. How you win each mission is described in the victory conditions on the mission card.

Getting Started

If you have not already done so, punch the counters and tokens from the punchboard and assemble the miniatures in this set.

Now you'll need an opponent. If you are playing a one-off mission or the first mission in a campaign, decide which player will use which fireteam. Each player takes the miniatures from the game box (called operatives in these rules), the datacards and the stratagem card for their fireteam. The datacards and stratagem card for Assault Intercessor Squad Gideon have one symbol, and the datacards and stratagem card for the Deathless Destroyers have the other symbol. The operatives in your fireteam are called friendly operatives and other operatives are called enemy operatives.

The front of each stratagem card shows the strategic ploys that fireteam can use. The reverse of each stratagem card shows the fireteam's composition; it presents all of the operatives that make up that fireteam, and which datacard to use for each.

Once you have chosen your fireteams, you must choose which mission you will play. If this is your first game, find the mission card for the Dual Strike mission. Otherwise, choose a mission both players want to use. If you cannot agree, shuffle the mission cards face down and draw one to determine which mission you will use.

Datacard Key

1. The operative the datacard represents. A single datacard can represent multiple identical operatives, such as Assault Intercessors.
2. The operative's characteristics (APL, Move, Defence, Sv, Wounds). Beneath each characteristic is the value for that characteristic.
3. A photo of one of the operative's miniatures.
4. If the operative has any abilities, they are listed here.
5. An operative's weapons are listed here. Each row is a separate weapon that operative is armed with (Weapon Name, Range, Attack Dice, Hit Value, Damage, Weapon Rules).
6. How many of this operative the fireteam includes.

Extra Fireteams

In addition to the two fireteams in this game, there are others available to play with: Gitkrusha's Bad Ladz, the Flickering Blade, the 55th Kappic Eagles and Stealth Team Quickstrike. Datacards and a stratagem card for each of these fireteams are included in this game. Which models are in the fireteam, and how they are armed, can be found on that fireteam's stratagem card. Miniatures for these fireteams are sold separately.

Contents

• This rulebook
• Assault Intercessor Squad Gideon and The Deathless Destroyers miniatures
• 1 initiative token
• 6 double-sided objective control tokens
• 32 double-sided wound counters
• 10 victory point counters
• 1 turning point token
• 1 double-sided killzone board
• 6 double-sided objective tokens
• 1 double-sided turn token
• 16 activation tokens
• 10 double-sided mission tokens
• 4 double-sided ploy tokens
• 6 stratagem cards
• 12 targets of opportunity cards
• 18 special operations cards
• 10 special issue wargear cards
• 12 mission cards
• 22 datacards
• 1 turn tracker card
• 14 dice

Fighting a Mission

The following rules tell you, step-by-step, how to play through a mission.

Set-up

First set up the killzone as shown on the mission card you are using:

• Place the killzone board with the side pictured on the mission card face-up. The board should be placed so the long edges are facing the players. The board is referred to as the killzone in these rules.
• Place any objective tokens in specific hexes as shown on the mission map.
• Place your datacards and stratagem card face-up on the playing surface, where you can easily reference them.
• Place the turn tracker card next to the board. Place the turning point token on the space marked 1 on the top part of the card. Place the turn token next to the card.
• Place the remaining tokens and the dice to one side of the board, within easy reach of both players.
• The players roll off.
  • Beginning with the winner, both players generate three targets of opportunity each.
  • The winner then places one of their operatives in one of the starting hexes shown on the mission map. All starting hexes that share a colour and icon with that hex are that player's territory. All the starting hexes with the other colour and icon are the other player's territory.
  • The other player then places one of their operatives in one of the hexes in their territory.
  • The players take it in turns placing an operative in their own territory until all of the operatives in both fireteams have been placed. An operative cannot be placed in a hex that contains another operative.
  • If one player runs out of operatives to place, the other player continues to place their operatives until they have no more operatives to place.

But My Card Says..!

Some cards, such as mission cards, datacards and stratagem cards, have rules that contradict some of the rules in this book. When this is the case, follow the rules on that card.

Mission Card Key

On each mission card there is a map which is divided into a series of coloured hexes:

• Starting hexes: These hexes are the players' territories. One player uses the grey hexes and the other player uses the blue hexes, as explained under Set-up.
• Blocked hexes: Hexes with a red border are blocked hexes. These hexes cannot be moved into or seen through.
• Cover hexes: Hexes with a dashed white border are cover hexes. Operatives can take cover in these hexes to reduce the damage they suffer from enemy attacks.
• Objective hexes (marked "!"): These hexes are where objective tokens are placed. These are vital points on the killzone that the fireteams are fighting over. Their rules are explained on the mission card.

A mission card contains the mission name, mission rules, scoring rules and victory conditions. (Example, Power Up: Operatives within 1 hex of an objective their player controls that is not powered can make the action Power Up (1AP): Place a mission token next to an objective that is within 1 hex of the operative making this action - that objective is now powered. Friendly operatives within 1 hex of a powered objective you control have their Defence characteristic increased by 1. Discard all mission tokens from the killzone in each end phase. Scoring: At the end of each firefight phase, players score 1 VP for each objective they control and an additional 1 VP for each powered objective they control. Victory: The mission ends after 3 turning points. When the mission ends, the player with the most VPs wins. If the players have the same number of VPs, the result is a draw.)

Roll-off

When a rule tells you to roll-off, each player rolls 1 dice. Whoever rolls the highest score wins. If the scores are drawn, re-roll the dice and keep doing so until one player wins.

Re-rolls

When a rule allows you to re-roll, it means that you can pick up the dice you just rolled and roll them again. If the roll you are making uses more than one dice, re-roll all of those dice unless the rule says otherwise. You cannot re-roll a dice more than once, except in a roll-off.

Targets of Opportunity

To generate targets of opportunity, the player who won the roll-off takes the twelve targets of opportunity cards, shuffles them face down and deals three cards to each player. These cards are kept from the other player and are referred to as that player's 'hand'. The remaining cards are placed in a face-down stack next to the killzone within reach of both players - these cards are called the targets of opportunity deck.

The player that won the roll-off can choose to discard one or more of the cards from their hand, face up, and then draw the same amount of cards from the top of the targets of opportunity deck. After they have done so, the other player can choose to do the same.

Once both players have done this once, take all of the face up targets of opportunity cards and place them face up next to the targets of opportunity deck in a pile - this is called the targets of opportunity discard pile.

Turning Points

A mission is played over three turning points. Each turning point is a series of phases, played through in the order shown below.

• Initiative Phase
• Strategy Phase
• Firefight Phase
• End Phase

After the end phase, the turning point ends, and a new turning point begins. After the third turning point ends, the mission is over and a victor is determined. The victory conditions for a mission are listed on the mission card. Some missions end immediately when a victory condition is met - this will be explained on the mission card.

Initiative Phase

In the initiative phase, the players ready their fireteams and determine who has the initiative for the turning point.

Determine Initiative: Both players roll off. The winner is said to have the initiative - they take the initiative token. If the result of the roll-off is a tie, and one player already has the initiative token, the player who does not have the initiative token is the winner and takes the token.

Strategy Phase

In the strategy phase, the players reveal targets of opportunity and enact powerful strategic ploys. Each strategy phase has two steps, played through in the order shown below.

• Reveal Targets
• Play Strategic Ploys

Reveal Targets: The player that has the initiative can reveal one of their targets of opportunity cards by taking it from their hand and placing it face up in front of them. That targets of opportunity card is now 'active'.

After that, the other player can now reveal one of their targets of opportunity cards in the same way.

Targets of opportunity remain active until a player completes them, as explained below.

Play Strategic Ploys: The player that has the initiative must now choose one strategic ploy from those on their fireteam's stratagem card, and follow the rules for that strategic ploy. Strategic ploys represent the unique abilities and powers available to the different fireteams.

After they have used a strategic ploy, their opponent chooses one strategic ploy from their fireteam's stratagem card and uses it.

Completing Targets of Opportunity: When the condition on an active target of opportunity card is met by the player who placed it face up, it is completed. That player places the completed target of opportunity card to one side along with any other target of opportunity cards that they have completed. This pile is called that player's completed pile. Target of opportunity cards in a player's completed pile will be added to a player's victory point total at the end of the mission to determine who has won.

Victory Points (VPs): During most missions, players will score victory points (VPs), and the player with the most VPs will be the winner. When a player scores a VP, they add one to the total recorded by their VP counters. VP counters are marked 1, 3, 5 and 10, allowing players to keep track of their VP total at any time. The combined value of all their VP counters is the total VPs a player has scored in a mission. VP counters are kept face up where your opponent can see them, and a player's VP total can be checked at any time.

Firefight Phase

During the firefight phase, the players take it in turns to activate their operatives. The player with the initiative must take the first turn. Each player has eight turns in each firefight phase, which are tracked using the turn tracker card - the player that has the initiative places the turn token on the space for the turn number they are about to start, with their colour and icon facing upwards. When their turn ends, their opponent flips the token over to show their colour and icon, and begins their turn. Once both players finish their eighth turn, the end phase begins.

When it is a player's turn, they activate one friendly operative. They cannot activate an operative that has already been activated unless each friendly operative on the killzone has already been activated in this turning point.

When a player activates an operative, that operative makes a number of actions determined by their action point limit (APL), one after the other. The operative can make the same action more than once. After an operative's activation, place an activation token next to them.

If an operative is activated and that operative has already been activated in this turning point, that operative is treated as having an APL of 1.

The AP cost for each action or weapon is listed beside it in brackets, like this: Move (1AP) or Heavy Bolt Pistol (1AP). If an operative does not have the required number of AP remaining, they cannot make the action.

Tip: If all of your operatives have already been activated in the current turning point, you can activate the same operative in each of your remaining turns!

The actions an operative can make are:

• Move (1AP)
• Attack (*AP), where * is a variable number depending on the weapon action being made.
• Disengage (1AP)
• Wait (1AP)

Tip: Some operatives have additional rules on their datacard. Be sure to read these rules fully before starting a game - they are very important!

Empty Hexes

Some rules refer to empty hexes. Empty hexes are hexes that are not blocked hexes, and do not contain a friendly or enemy operative, in addition to any other types they have (a hex can be both a cover hex and an empty hex, for example). Empty hexes can contain tokens, such as objective tokens or mission tokens.

Objectives

Many missions include objectives, as shown on the mission map. A player gains control of an objective if, after either player's turn, they have more friendly operatives within 1 hex of it than there are enemy operatives. Place a control token in the same hex as that objective to show which player controls it. Once a player gains control of an objective, it remains under their control until another player gains control of it.

Move Actions (1AP)

When your operative makes a Move action, you move that operative into an adjacent hex (a hex next to the hex the operative is in) up to a number of times equal to their Move characteristic, as shown on their datacard.

An operative cannot move into a hex that contains another operative (friendly or otherwise) or into a blocked hex.

An operative that is adjacent to one or more enemy operatives (that is, in a hex next to them) cannot make a Move action.

Attack Actions (Variable AP)

When a friendly operative makes an Attack action, they are referred to as the attacker, and follow the sequence below.

1. Pick Weapon and Target: Pick a weapon from the attacker's datacard and an enemy operative to be the defender. The defender must be:

   • Visible to that operative (see below), and
   • The distance between the defender and the attacker must be equal to or less than the Range characteristic of the weapon that was picked (see Distance, below).

   If the attacker is adjacent to one or more enemy operatives, you must pick one of those enemy operatives as the defender and may only pick a weapon that has a Range characteristic of 1 or the Pistol weapon rule.

   Visible: To check if one operative is visible to another, draw a straight imaginary line from the centre of the hex that contains one operative to the centre of the hex that contains the other operative. If that line goes through or touches one or more blocked hexes, that operative is not visible to the other operative. Otherwise, the operatives are visible to each other. Note that lines drawn through hexes that contain other operatives do prevent operatives being visible to each other.

   Distance: An operative is always considered to be within 1 hex of the hex they are in. A hex adjacent to A is within 1 hex of A; a hex two hexes away is within 2 hexes of A; a hex three hexes away is within 3 hexes of A, and so on (counting hexes from A, as shown in the diagram in the book).

   Weapon Rules: Some weapons, like plasma pistols, have additional rules written on their datacard, such as Pistol or Overcharge. These rules are listed under Weapon Rules below.

2. Attacker Rolls to Hit: The attacker's player rolls a number of dice, as shown by the Attack Dice characteristic of the weapon, and counts the number of hits and critical hits. If there are no hits or critical hits the Attack action has missed and the attack sequence ends.

   • Rolls on the dice which are equal or higher than the weapon's Hit Value are hits.

Tip: There are three types of wound counter, all double-sided. This is to make it easier to keep track of the damage operatives have suffered. Each side has a number (either 1, 2, 3, 5 or 10), and that number represents that number of wound counters, not a single wound counter.

For example, if an ability instructed you to remove one wound counter from an operative, and that operative had a wound counter showing a '3', you would treat that operative as if it had three wound counters showing a '1'. After resolving the ability, the operative would have two wound counters, each showing a '1', or could be given a single wound counter showing a '2'.

Disengage Actions (1AP)

An operative can only make this action when it is adjacent to one or more enemy operatives. When your operative makes a Disengage action, you move that operative into an adjacent hex. You cannot move the operative into a hex that contains another operative or into a blocked hex. After this action, the operative must not be adjacent to any enemy operatives. If this is impossible, this action cannot be made.

Wait Actions (1AP)

When your operative makes a Wait action, that operative's activation ends and any remaining unspent AP are gone and cannot be spent. A Wait action is normally only used when you must activate an operative but there isn't anything that operative can do at that point to help you achieve victory.

End Phase

In the end phase, remove all ploy and activation tokens from the killzone and move the turning point token to the next turning point. Once the end phase is complete, the turning point is over and you are ready to begin the next turning point.

Final End Phase

Each mission card specifies when the mission will end, usually after the third turning point. The end phase of the last turning point of a mission is the final end phase. After the final end phase, each player takes their completed targets of opportunity cards and adds the value of those cards together. The value of each card is written on the bottom of the card. Then they add this total to any VPs scored from the mission they are playing, as described on the mission card.

Tip: If one fireteam has all its operatives taken down, the game does not end - play should continue unless the players can agree on the result of the game.

Playing Campaigns

Warhammer 40,000: Fireteam is a game that you can play as individual skirmishes, where a player's victory or defeat is decided in a single quick, tense mission. However, you can also enjoy it in a campaign, which is a term for a number of connected games played by the same two players. In a campaign, a player may lose one or more missions, only to overcome adversity and triumph in the end! These rules describe a campaign which you can play in a day or across a couple of evenings.

How to Play

In a campaign, your fireteam is aiming for more than victory in a handful of skirmishes against their hated foes: they are working to greater goals in a wider strategy, as dictated to them by their greater command structure on the planet.

In addition to fighting normal missions, your fireteam's progress towards their goal is marked by special operations - moments in their campaign where your operatives face a crucial test to determine their worth. In this test, you are called the agent, and your opponent is called the antagonist. Should your fireteam succeed in a special operation, they will win a great reward and be one step closer to their goal. Should your fireteam fail, however, it will be a setback that will create an opportunity for your rivals.

When a player wins their final special operation, they win the campaign.

Each fireteam has three two-sided special operation cards, labelled first special operation, second special operation and final special operation. Each contains a rule that applies to the mission and takes effect while that mission is being played. This will make things harder for your fireteam - after all, this is a special operation that has been entrusted to them and will doubtlessly be more difficult and better rewarded than regular missions.

To determine which special operation the agent plays, count their Battle Honours:

• If they have no Battle Honours, play their first special operation.
• If they have one Battle Honour, play their second special operation.
• If they have two Battle Honours, play their final special operation.

To play a campaign:

1. First decide which fireteam you will use. Each player uses the same fireteam for each mission in the campaign.
2. Start by playing a random mission. To determine a random mission, shuffle the mission cards face-down and draw one.
   • Each time a player wins a campaign mission, they will gain the spoils of battle (see Spoils of Battle, below).
   • Campaign missions must have a winner. If the mission would result in a draw, use the tiebreakers to determine a winner (see Tiebreakers, below).
3. The winner of that mission (now called the agent) plays their special operation. To play a special operation, determine a random mission. Then use the relevant special operation card in this mission.
4. If the agent wins the special operation, return to step 2. Otherwise, the antagonist (the other player) becomes the agent: return to step 3 and play their special operation.
5. Once an agent wins their final special operation, they are the winner of the campaign.

Spoils of Battle

Special Issue Wargear: When a player wins a campaign mission, they gain one piece of special issue wargear. To do so, they shuffle all of the special issue wargear cards face-down (other than those the players already have) and draw the top card.

Special issue wargear cards are cards that heal an operative or give them a temporary boost in one mission. They are powerful cards and can mean the difference between victory and defeat! The player can keep the special issue wargear card until they use it, and they can use it when they want as described on the card. Each piece of special issue wargear can only be used once as described on the card.

When a player uses a special issue wargear card, and that card affects an operative until the end of the mission, the player should place the special issue wargear card next to the board.

At the end of each mission, before the winner draws a special issue wargear card, first return all of the special issue wargear cards used in that mission to the pile of special issue wargear cards.

Battle Honours and Command Assets: When a player wins a special operation, in addition to gaining a special issue wargear card (see above), they turn the relevant special operation card over: on the reverse is a Battle Honour or Command Asset which is now theirs.

Battle Honours grant either a specific operative or an operative of your choice a bonus that lasts for the length of the campaign, as described on the card. Unlike special issue wargear, they are not 'used up' and discarded at the end of a mission.

Command Assets grant either a specific operative or operative of your choice a bonus to mark the success of their campaign, as described on the card. In future games and campaigns, whenever you use that operative's fireteam and your opponent is the player who you defeated in that campaign, you can use that Command Asset. This means if you start a new campaign with that fireteam against the same opponent, you will have that Command Asset for the length of that campaign - a significant increase in power to mark your achievement! However, when you next fight that fireteam's final special operation, you must discard that Command Asset before the start of the mission.

Tiebreakers

Campaign missions must have a winner for the campaign to continue. If, at the end of the mission, the result is a draw, use the following tiebreakers to determine who wins.

1. If there are operatives from only one fireteam on the killzone at the end of the mission, that fireteam's player wins.
2. Otherwise, if one fireteam controls more objectives than the other at the end of the mission, that fireteam's player wins.
3. Otherwise, if one fireteam has a higher proportion of its operatives on the killzone at the end of that mission, that fireteam's player wins.
4. Otherwise, the players roll off, and the winner of the roll-off wins.

Weapon Rules

Some weapons have weapon rules to represent their extreme killing power, or a useful quirk of using that weapon. A weapon's weapon rules are listed on an operative's datacard, and the effects of those weapon rules are presented below.

Ignores Cover: Weapons with this rule that target a defender in a cover hex treat the defender as not being in a cover hex.

Overcharge: Weapons with this rule can be overcharged. Before resolving the Attack action, declare if you want to overcharge this weapon or not. If you do, that weapon is overcharged until that Attack action is resolved. Add 2 to the Damage characteristics of an overcharged weapon. When a hit roll is made for an overcharged weapon, each roll of 1 (after re-rolls and ignoring any modifiers) deals 4 damage to the operative armed with that weapon. If an operative is taken down by this damage, the Attack sequence does not end and is completed following the rules on pages 8-9.

Pistol: Weapons with this rule can be picked when making an Attack action against an adjacent enemy operative.

Rapid Fire: During an Attack action, add 1 to the Attack Dice characteristic of weapons with this rule if the defender is within half of the weapon's Range characteristic.

Reference

Turning Point Sequence

1. Initiative phase: Both players roll off. The winner takes the initiative token - they have the initiative. In a tie, the player who does not already have the initiative token is the winner.
2. Strategy phase: Each player can reveal one targets of opportunity card, starting with the player who has the initiative. Then, starting with the player who has the initiative, each player uses one strategic ploy.
3. Firefight phase: The players take it in turns to activate operatives, giving them an activation token to show they have been activated. Each player has eight turns; the player with the initiative goes first. When activated, an operative makes a number of actions determined by their APL, unless they have already been activated this round, in which case they have an APL of 1. An operative cannot be activated a second time unless each surviving friendly operative has been activated in this turning point.
4. End phase: Remove all ploy and activation tokens from the killzone and move the turning point token to the next turning point. In the final end phase, count up all VPs scored from completed targets of opportunity and add these to your VP total.

Actions

• Move (1AP): Move the operative a number of hexes equal to or less than their Move characteristic. An operative that is adjacent to one or more enemy operatives cannot make a Move action.
• Attack (variable AP): Pick a weapon from that operative's datacard and an enemy operative to be the defender. The defender must be visible to the attacker, and within the Range characteristic of the weapon being used. If the attacker is adjacent to enemy operatives, you must pick one of those operatives as the defender and may only pick a weapon that has a Range of 1 or the Pistol weapon rule.
  • Roll dice equal to the weapon's Attack Dice characteristic. Rolls which are equal or higher than the weapon's Hit Value are hits. Rolls of 6 are critical hits instead.
  • The defender rolls dice equal to their Defence characteristic. Rolls which are equal or higher than the defender's Save characteristic (Sv) are blocks.
  • Each block cancels one hit or critical hit. All hits must be cancelled before any critical hits can be cancelled.
  • For each hit, deal damage to the defender equal to the weapon's first Damage characteristic. For each critical hit, use the second Damage characteristic instead.
• Disengage (1AP): Move the operative one hex so they are not adjacent to any enemy operative.
• Wait (1AP): The operative's activation ends.