Actions

Actions are battlefield tasks — raising a ritual, retrieving archeotech, planting a device — that units perform instead of fighting, usually to score a mission. This page explains which units are eligible to start an Action, the cost it imposes for the rest of the turn, and what causes an Action to fail or complete.

How Actions are written

Where a rule lets units perform an Action, that Action is defined by five labelled parts. STARTS gives the moment the Action begins; UNITS states which friendly units can perform it; USE LIMIT caps how many times your units may start it; COMPLETES names the moment it finishes; and EFFECT describes what completing it does. An Action may also list extra restrictions of its own. The core Actions are open to all players, while others — found in mission packs and similar publications — can be limited by, for example, army faction.

Starting an Action

A unit may begin an Action unless one or more of the statements below apply to it:

• It is currently off the battlefield.
• It carries the AIRCRAFT or FORTIFICATION keyword.
• It is currently battle-shocked.
• Its OC characteristic is 0 or '-'.
• It is engaged — with a TITANIC unit the lone exception, since it can act while engaged.
• It performed an Advance or Fall Back move earlier this turn.
• It has already begun another Action this turn.

That last pair of conditions matters for sequencing: a unit that has already Advanced or Fallen Back is locked out, and no unit can begin two Actions in the same turn.

The cost of acting

Committing to an Action ties a unit down. From the moment it starts until the end of the turn, that unit is not eligible to shoot and not eligible to declare a charge. The shooting restriction is waived only for TITANIC units, which can act and still bring their firepower to bear. In practice this means most units performing an Action are spending their turn on the task rather than on the enemy, so weigh the mission value of the Action against the offence you give up.

Completing an Action

An Action completes at the moment named in its COMPLETES section — often the end of your turn — at which point its EFFECT is triggered. Completion is not guaranteed, however. If a unit that is performing an Action makes a move before the Action completes, or leaves the battlefield, the Action fails and produces no effect.

There is an important nuance in what counts as a move here. Pile-in and consolidation moves are excluded, so a unit does not blow its Action merely by piling in or consolidating during a fight. Any other move — including being compelled to move by an enemy rule — breaks the Action. Because Actions typically run through to the end of the turn, a unit acting near the enemy stays vulnerable to effects that would force it to move, and losing the unit to destruction likewise removes it from the battlefield and denies the effect.

A worked example

Consider a device-planting Action. It might read: STARTS in your Shooting phase; UNITS one INFANTRY unit within a terrain area that is not inside your own deployment zone; USE LIMIT once per turn; COMPLETES at the end of the turn; EFFECT set up one marker within 1" of your unit and inside that terrain area. Reading it against the rules above, the unit forgoes shooting and charging from the Shooting phase onward, must survive and stay put until the turn ends, and only then places the marker. If it is forced to move, is destroyed, or leaves the table before then, the marker is never placed. This template — eligibility at the start, a turn-long commitment, and a payoff on completion — is the shape shared by nearly every Action you will meet.

Frequently asked questions

What is an Action in Warhammer 40,000 11th edition?

An Action is a battlefield task a unit performs instead of fighting — often to score a mission — defined by five parts: STARTS, UNITS, USE LIMIT, COMPLETES, and EFFECT. Core Actions are open to everyone, while others from mission packs may be restricted by things like army faction.

Which units can start an Action in 40k?

A unit can begin an Action unless it sits off the battlefield, carries the AIRCRAFT or FORTIFICATION keyword, is battle-shocked, has an OC characteristic of 0 or '-', is engaged, performed an Advance or Fall Back move earlier this turn, or has already begun another Action this turn. A TITANIC unit is the exception that can act even while engaged.

Can a unit shoot or charge while performing an Action in Warhammer 40,000?

No — from the moment it starts the Action until the end of the turn, the unit is not eligible to shoot and not eligible to declare a charge. Only TITANIC units are exempt from the shooting restriction and can still fire while acting.

Does moving cause a 40k Action to fail?

Yes — if a unit performing an Action makes a move or leaves the battlefield before the Action completes, it fails and produces no effect. Pile-in and consolidation moves are the exception and do not break the Action, but any other move, including being forced to move by an enemy rule, does.

When does an Action complete in Warhammer 40,000 11th edition?

An Action completes at the moment named in its COMPLETES section, which is frequently the end of your turn, and only then is its EFFECT triggered. Because most Actions run through to the end of the turn, the acting unit must survive and stay put for the payoff to land.