Lexicon

Codex glossary

40 core 11th edition terms, each with the rules meaning and the way the Imperium's serfs would tell it.

40 of 40 entries

Battle RoundSequence of play: One full cycle in which both players take a turn. A battle lasts five battle rounds unless the mission says otherwise.; A single tide of the war — the hour in which one side surges forward and the other answers in blood.
Command PhaseSequence of play: Start of your turn: both players gain 1 Command Point, then Battle-shock tests are taken for units Below Half-strength.; The vox crackles with orders from the command choir; every warrior learns whether their nerve holds.
Movement PhaseSequence of play: Move units up to their Move characteristic. Units may Remain Stationary, Advance, or Fall Back out of Engagement Range.; Boots, tracks and claws grind forward across the ruin-choked killing ground.
Shooting PhaseSequence of play: Select eligible units one at a time and resolve their ranged weapons against visible targets.; The air ignites — las, bolt shell and slug converge on whatever still stands upright.
Charge PhaseSequence of play: Declare charges within 12", roll 2D6, and move into Engagement Range of every declared target if able.; The war cry goes up, and the distance between hate and its object closes in seconds.
Fight PhaseSequence of play: Units that charged fight first, then players alternate selecting units within Engagement Range to Pile In, attack and Consolidate.; Blade against carapace, teeth against ceramite — the honest arithmetic of butchery.
Command Point (CP)Sequence of play: The resource spent to use Stratagems. You gain 1 CP each Command phase; you may use each Stratagem once per phase.; The favour of the high command, hoarded and spent at the exact moment the line would otherwise break.
AdvanceMovement: Add D6" to a unit's Move. That unit cannot shoot or charge this turn unless a rule (e.g. Assault) allows it.; A headlong sprint through the shell-fall, weapons unfired but ground taken.
Fall BackMovement: Move out of Engagement Range. The unit cannot shoot or charge this turn unless a rule permits, and may need a Desperate Escape test.; A fighting withdrawal — never a rout, whatever the enemy scribes record.
Engagement RangeMovement: Within 1" horizontally and 5" vertically of an enemy model. Units in Engagement Range are locked in combat.; Close enough to smell the enemy's fear, or their promethium.
Deep StrikeMovement: Set the unit up in Reserves and place it during the Reinforcements step, more than 9" from all enemy models.; Drop pods, teleport flare and warp-torn air — arrival where the enemy assumed safety.
ReservesMovement: Units held off the battlefield. They must arrive by the end of battle round three or count as destroyed.; Forces still inbound, watching the battle burn beneath them.
Vertical / Difficult TerrainMovement: Moving up or down terrain features costs movement equal to the vertical distance travelled.; Rubble, girders and shattered hab-blocks exact their own toll on every advance.
Hit RollAttacking: Roll a D6 for each attack; equal or beat the weapon's Ballistic or Weapon Skill. An unmodified 6 is a Critical Hit.; The measure of a warrior's steadiness when everything around them is coming apart.
Wound RollAttacking: Compare Strength to Toughness: double or more wounds on 2+, greater on 3+, equal on 4+, lower on 5+, half or less on 6+.; Whether the blow bites deep, or merely scars the plate.
Armour Penetration (AP)Attacking: A negative modifier applied to the target's Save characteristic.; How contemptuously a weapon treats the armour standing in its way.
Invulnerable SaveAttacking: A save that is never modified by AP. Use it instead of the armour save, never both.; Iron faith, refracted force fields, or the fickle protection of the warp.
Feel No PainAttacking: After a save fails, roll for each lost wound; on the stated result, that wound is not lost.; Some things simply refuse to notice that they have been killed.
Devastating WoundsAttacking: Critical Wounds from this weapon inflict mortal wounds equal to the weapon's Damage instead of proceeding to the save.; A hit that no plate, field or prayer was ever going to stop.
Mortal WoundsAttacking: Wounds inflicted without hit, wound or save rolls. Allocate them one at a time to models in the target unit.; Psychic backlash, plasma bloom, raw entropy — damage that ignores the rules of steel.
Lethal HitsAttacking: Critical Hits automatically wound the target, skipping the Wound roll.; The strike that finds the join in the armour every single time.
Sustained HitsAttacking: Each Critical Hit scores the listed number of additional hits.; A weapon that keeps firing long after restraint has left the gunner.
BlastAttacking: Add 1 to the Attacks characteristic for every five models in the target unit. Never targets units in Engagement Range.; Shells that do not care which of the horde they land among.
TorrentAttacking: Attacks made with this weapon automatically hit their target.; There is no aiming a wall of burning promethium — only pointing it.
HazardousAttacking: After resolving attacks, roll one D6 per Hazardous weapon used; on a 1 a model in the unit is destroyed or suffers 3 mortal wounds.; Machine-spirits of the volatile sort, apt to punish the presumptuous.
OverwatchAttacking: A Stratagem letting an eligible unit shoot at an enemy that moves, hitting only on unmodified 6s.; Fingers already tight on the trigger, waiting for movement in the smoke.
CoverAttacking: A unit receiving the Benefit of Cover improves its armour save by 1 (never against AP 0 attacks for Infantry with a 3+ or better save).; A wall of rockcrete between you and eternity is worth more than any oath.
Visible / Line of SightAttacking: A target is visible if a line can be drawn from any part of the firing model to any part of the target model.; If a gunner can see it, doctrine says the gunner may kill it.
Battle-shockMorale & control: Below Half-strength units test in the Command phase: roll 2D6 against Leadership. Failing units have OC 0 and cannot use Stratagems.; The moment discipline frays and the survivors start looking behind them.
Objective Control (OC)Morale & control: Each model's contribution to controlling an objective marker. The side with the higher total OC within range controls it.; Ground is held by those willing to keep standing on it.
Below Half-strengthMorale & control: A unit that has lost half or more of its starting models (or wounds, for single-model units).; The squad still answers the vox, but the roll-call has grown short.
LeadershipMorale & control: The target number for Battle-shock and other tests, taken on 2D6.; The measure of an officer's voice against the screaming of the guns.
DetachmentArmy construction: The single detachment chosen for your army, granting its detachment rule, enhancements and stratagems.; The doctrine your commanders swore to before the drop-ships opened.
EnhancementArmy construction: An upgrade bought for a CHARACTER model from your detachment; each may be taken only once per army.; Relic blades, honoured banners, whispered pacts — the tools given to those who have earned them.
StratagemArmy construction: A CP-purchased effect used in a specified phase, once per phase per stratagem.; A commander's intervention, called down the vox at the precise moment it matters.
Unit LimitArmy construction: Maximum copies of one datasheet: 2 at Incursion (1,000 pts) and 3 at Strike Force (2,000 pts), doubled for BATTLELINE units.; Even the Departmento Munitorum will not sanction a fourth of anything.
WarlordArmy construction: One CHARACTER model nominated to lead your army during muster.; The one whose name will be carved into the campaign stone — or struck from it.
BattlelineArmy construction: A keyword marking a faction's core troops; these units get double the Unit Limit.; The rank and file who die in the thousands so the heroes may be remembered.
Dedicated TransportArmy construction: A transport bought alongside a unit; it gets the doubled Unit Limit allowance.; The armoured coffin that carries the squad to whichever door needs breaking.
LeaderArmy construction: A CHARACTER ability letting the model be attached to a listed Bodyguard unit, forming a single Attached unit.; A captain takes his place in the line, and the line stands taller for it.