Most competitive Warhammer 40K games are not lost because of bad dice or imperfect army lists. They are lost because players fail to understand how competitive 40K missions are actually scored. While list building matters, consistently winning games comes down to having a clear gameplan that prioritizes Primary and Secondary mission scoring from the very beginning.
In this article, we’re going to break down how to build a strong gameplan for competitive 40K missions before the first dice is rolled. You’ll learn how to analyze mission scoring, identify win conditions, and plan your turns with intent so you’re not reacting on the fly or chasing points too late in the game.
Let’s get into it. it.
Start with the Mission Not Your Army
Before even looking at your opponent’s army list you should have an understanding of the mission you’re playing and how it is scored. Each mission in the Chapter Approved Mission Deck has varying Primary scoring conditions. Some, like Take and Hold, award victory points for controlling any objective on the battlefield, while others, like Hidden Supplies, only award Primary victory points for holding objectives outside of your own deployment zone.
Understanding how a mission scores Primary victory points will help you determine a gameplan that works. Will you have to play aggressively early? Can you play a more defensive game and work towards a late-game push?
One common mistake players make is feeling that they need to push to contest every objective on the battlefield immediately. This can lead to overextending too soon making you more vulnerable in the mid-late game.
Let’s look at an example: Purge the Foe. This Primary mission awards victory points for destroying an enemy unit, holding a single objective (which can be your homefield objective), destroying more units than the opponent at the end of the battle round, and holding more objectives than the opponent at the start of your Command phase. Each of these conditions scores 4 victory points. A good gameplan for this mission would be focusing on holding only your homefield objective early while staging and positioning your own units to maximize victory points for destroying enemy units. A gameplan designed around denying the opponent Primary objective scoring can be difficult in this mission (as the opponent only has to hold their home objective to score).
Many event packets will detail the missions, deployment zones and layouts for each round. Take these maps and sketch out how you will deploy your units to maximize scoring the Primary mission and identify how these units will move and interact in areas on the board.
Define Your Win Condition
Your list may have optimized unit choices and great synergy, but that is not enough. You must also understand your army’s win condition both in the Primary mission you are playing and against the opponent you’re up against.
What does your army need to do to win the mission?
Your list choices should include units that can score Secondaries in the game, as these do not change regardless of mission. How you will attack the Primary will determine your success in the game. Do you need to apply aggressive pressure early? Should you focus on denying your opponent’s Primary?
Predict your Primary scoring before the game. Obviously everyone’s goal is to score a 50 on Primary, but that is not always feasible. You should aim to establish a plan that scores at least 40 Primary victory points. But what does that look like? Map out your round-by-round scoring by Primary victory points you need to earn. Then determine how you earn those points. What is your goal for your end-state of the game? What units do you predict will be alive in the end and where do you need them to be on the battlefield?
For example, in Take and Hold, you earn 5 Primary victory points for each objective you control at the start of your Command phase (or at the end of the battle if going second). If your goal is to score 10 Primary victory points per turn, identify which two objectives you want to control throughout the game. Holding your homefield objective is the obvious first choice, but which No Man’s Land objective will you push to control? What units will score it? How do you reinforce them anticipating the enemy pushing to threaten it? What units of your own will you use to push the mid-board and threaten your opponent’s objectives? Map your gameplan with this in mind before the game even begins.
Identify Your Opponent’s Win Condition
This part is a bit more tricky. Especially if you don’t have a general understanding of how your opponent’s army functions. Do they want to control the board? Are they playing aggressive melee pressure? A maneuverable shooting army?
You may know what you need to do to win the mission, but what does your opponent need to do? How can you stop that or slow them down? How can you disrupt their ability to effectively score victory points in the mission aka controlling the game’s tempo?
Identify the units that are critical to your opponent’s gameplan and how you can deal with them. Remember, you don’t have to kill them, you merely have to disrupt them. Even a single turn of preventing them from moving how they want or fighting something they don’t want to be engaged with can be enough to turn the tide. Quite often against very good players, these things can be the razors edge differences between a win and a loss.
Your opponent will certainly have plenty of damage dealing units, but what units in their army are actually critical for them to score victory points? Identify them and prioritize them.
Planning Early and Late Game Strategy in Competitive 40K Missions
The early turns of the game are all about movement, positioning and staging. You are trying to 1. position your units to score Primary points and 2. deny your opponent’s ability to interact with your plan.
Resource management is critical to an effective game strategy as well. What are your Command Point expenditures? How many Command Points do you need on your turn and on your opponent’s turn? In the early stages of the game you may be conserving your Command Points for the “go turn” and only using Command Points defensively.
What units in your list are your early “trading” units? These are cheaper units designed to force interaction from the opponent with the intent to force a bad trade. In Aeldari, for example, Rangers make great early game trading units. They have the Infiltrators ability allowing you to be flexible with where they can be positioned in deployment. Additionally they have Stealth making them harder to hit with ranged attacks. And they have a reactive move ability when enemy units move closer to them. This unit offers a lot of utility for a low point cost.
Understand that not all armies are designed to “trade” either. Adeptus Custodes, for example, don’t have a lot of trading pieces as most of their units are expensive ultra-elite infantry. So playing a trading game with them is not the right approach. Instead a better approach might be pushing these units forward, protecting them with terrain as much as possible, while keeping other units nearby for Heroic Interventions etc.
In the pre-game stage you should have identified what units you want alive in the late stages of the game, and develop a plan accordingly. In the early stages you’re protecting these units so they have an impact to shift the Primary to you in the later game. From deployment on to the first movement phase, you’re moving each unit with purpose and intent to impact the game.
Another common trap for players is feeling that expensive units need to be impacting the game immediately to get maximum value. While that may be true for some matchups it isn’t true for all of them. The expensive unit can impact the game by merely existing in some cases. Threatening areas of the board allowing you to control the tempo and flow of the game.
For example, in the Scorched Earth mission, players can earn Primary victory points by “burning” objectives on the battlefield and removing them. But knowing when to burn and identifying what units you want to burn them is critical. You can earn 10 Primary victory points for burning the opponent’s homefield objective. Does your army have the ability to do this? If so, what units do you want there burning that objective in the late game? How can you remove the units your opponent may have defending their home objective? These are all factors you need to consider when establishing your gameplan and putting it into action.
Adapting Your Gameplan
As the old saying goes, no plan survives contact with the enemy. While it may sound cliche, it is very applicable in competitive 40K matches. Whether your dice whiff, your opponent’s dice spike, or something unexpected happens you need to be able to adapt your gameplan when things go wrong.
Let’s take a look at the example above with Scorched Earth. What if the unit you were planning to use to burn your opponent’s home objective has unexpectedly been destroyed in the mid-game? How are you going to respond? Can you refocus to burning another No Man’s Land objective instead?
This is much more nuanced and involves being able to see counter-plays from the opponent ahead of time. It isn’t always easy to identify when your gameplan begins to unravel, but examine the board state at the end of each turn. Ask yourself “is my initial gameplan working?” Then examine what your opponent has and how they can respond to what you have left. Identifying this early can allow you time to shift to a different approach.
Understand that things will happen that you didn’t expect or plan for. You’re going to fail a charge sometimes. You’re going to leave that enemy unit on a single wound. These things are going to happen, but you cannot allow yourself to get tilted because of them. When you become tilted you start making bad decisions. Take a breath, evaluate the board state, and adjust your gameplan.
Adjust, adapt and overcome.
Final Thoughts
Warhammer 40K is a complex game. We all know that, of course. We often put more emphasis on army lists and less on mission planning. Understanding how your army scores Primary and Secondary points for each mission helps you develop a gameplan for success before the first dice rolls. Identify your win condition and your opponent’s. You may have to adapt your gameplan as the game progresses and avoid going on tilt when things go wrong (and they will). Having a gameplan for competitive 40K missions ahead of time can save you mental strain in the game. This allows you to remain focused and confident at the table.
If you’re new to the game or looking to improve, then don’t forget to grab my FREE eBook: Forging Your Path to Victory: A Beginner’s Guide to Competitive 40K. A great starting point for those looking to jump into Competitive 40K. Subscribe and get your free copy!
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