Statistics
Start to Present Day: 4 Years, 4 Months. Day of Becoming Fully Playable.
Man Hours: 5,034 (roughly).
Burnouts: 3.
Total Unique Datasheets: 1,264 (not counting duplicate entries. Many are combined because there is simply no reason to have them separate).
Website Views: 41,383
Website Visitors: 21,021
Website Total Downloads: 100,333. We only had 30,000 downloads at the end of 2025. It is really taking off! And this was just its developmental phase!
It is with the utmost satisfaction that I announce Alternate 40k Rules to be FULLY OPERATIONAL! It has been a long, challenging journey with the most exquisite and encouraging feedback from the veteran gamers.
Now, there were a lot of straggler units added here at the end, but before I get into that I want to share my appreciation for my core team of players and those from all over the world that helped make this possible! The numbers are too great to list or even track down the names of everyone that has directly contributed, but I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart!
For my core team at home, I have a surprise for you guys when we next get together on the field of battle. Alex and Jordan have endured the full, unshielded power of my Aspergers longer than anyone else on the team. This never would have taken off had they not agreed to try rewriting the rules with me.
For the team members that joined along the way, Travis has been an excellent aid and supporter. Never before have I seen someone so graciously lose to horrible dice and still enjoy himself. My Dad has also been a great asset, allowing himself to be a punching bag for any stacked scenario that has to be stress tested before putting rules out to the harsh wilds of the internet.
Many people have been involved with feedback, old datasheets, pictures of hard-to-find models for size references, old lore snippets, and play testing. You guys are all awesome and I wish nothing but the best of dice rolls for you!
Started out of disgust for sloppiness, A4R has grown massively. This was originally just intended for my friends so we could have fun with 40k again and I figured why not share it with everyone else? The work is already done after all. I expected to pick up some old salty stragglers like myself but was completely surprised by how many people have begun playing it in their local game groups.
As we are now fully operational, this is no longer just some random homebrew ruleset that is partially complete. Every Codex is available. Every model. No one gets left behind just because they are blocked by a pay wall. Out of all of the games I have rewritten this has been the most complex yet.
Road Map
Alternate 40k Rules is not a sealed and closed case. New models will continue to come out and be added. No doubt old models long forgotten will emerge from time to time and get added, but as to the best of my knowledge we have all of the models playable and competitive! Old works well alongside new, and anything can fight anyone!
Even if you don’t play A4R, but can appreciate the effort and meticulousness that went into it, please consider following along with my newsletter or one of the social sites I use if you want to learn more about a new original game I have been working on. The creator and I bumped into each other online about 2 years ago and are about to file copyrights!
We have been working closely together, from lore to game rules to books, to ensure it is as immersive as possible. The game mechanic is original and incredibly lethal, making it a high stress tactical shooter. I can’t go into a lot of the details yet, but it is going to be a highly affordable and detailed game designed to be played for years.
But, for those that have patiently scrolled through, lets go over the last unit additions. They are in no particular order and are scattered throughout. They can be found on the Rules page here.
Genestealer Cult
Benedictus is a potent Advisor psyker that brings a special Antitank spell with immense range! A good supplement to help pave the way for the star children.
Hippogriff was added like the loyalist counterparts.
Centaur RSV was added as an upgrade like the loyalist counterparts.
Imperial Knights
Destriers were added as a lighter weight Knight. While still Titanic (I could not get it balanced as a Non-Titanic, and its right on the edge), it gives you another option to be bring big knights, even if your points are getting a bit short.
Necrons
Nekrosor Ammentar has been added! Infect your own units with the Flayer Virus for better or for worse to bring this powerful butcher to the table!
Sisters of Battle, Order of our Martyred Lady
Intranzia Fraye was added as well! She brings a tough profile with her combat walker and can throw Judgement like Squats can!
Squat
Updated format and added clarifier for Judgement.
Imperial Guard
Commissar Graves was added! A powerful customized vehicle means good fire power and decent Melee. You can of course also take her on foot (the vehicle is an upgrade), giving you more options!
Hippogriff AFV is basically just a reskinned Pegasus. New weapons are what sets it aside, and they appear to be more armored than the old kit bashes so it was built to run a bit slower (still very fast!) and act as escorts for convoys or exposed friendly lines along long fronts.
Centaur RSV is not even an attempt to reskin a vehicle. It’s just the Heracles Halftrack. So, made it an upgrade for the Heracles to be a slower more heavily armored version. You can of course run it either way for maximum flexibility!
Space Marines
Corrected a typo on the Primaris Captain for Orbital Strike.
Ultramarines
Cato Sicarius got the Rubicon Primaris upgrade.
Captain Uriel Ventris was added! He got missed but that has been corrected! He is a one man army capable of taking on most foes and situations.
Captain Titus has been added as both Lt. and Captain variants, including Firstborn and Primaris. His tenacity in the face of Chaos makes him an excellent choice.
Plenipotentiary Lucia Vestha can be taken as part of his escort squad, which you can customize whom you want to bring. Granting Objective Secured makes this model an excellent choice.
Astropath Dainal Kornelius is a powerful psyker with the ability of navigation to grant Deepstriking units safe arrival with 24″ as opposed to the usual 6″. His special spell allows him to reduce the Psychic Mastery of enemy casters by 1 for a short time, dampening their evil efforts!
Legatus Aemelia Minervas – Is a special liaison for the local Imperial Guard forces of the Ultramar sector. As such, she lets you buy Infantry Platoons from the Imperial Guard book, another way of filling out your Troop Choices if you so desire!
Commodore Gaius Silva is a fleet coordinator. As such, he brings a One Use Orbital Strike to the field and can force enemy Deepstrikers to reroll their Scatter dice!
Veteran Sergeant Metaurus is the recruiter and trainer of Titus. As such, when they work together they may reroll failed Feel No Pain rolls!
Ancient Gadriel is a potent inspiring figure that can help units reroll 1s for Feel No Pains. He is best used when running beside a unit of Primaris Marines or Firstborn with an Apothecary directly into the heart of the enemy.
Chaos – Traitor Guard
Hippogriff was added like the loyalist counterparts.
Centaur RSV was added as an upgrade like the loyalist counterparts.
Dark Eldar
Updated Shadowseer spells
Orks
Thanks to the assistance of a player I was able to get more information about 2e Orks.
Updated Mek Boyz to get a Shokk Attack Gun. Previously it was a bundled weapon profile but requests were made and they were answered!
Snotlings added. These are swarms of the lowest of life forms in the greenskin army. As such, other units can kick them when they feel bad. In exchange for causing Mortal Wounds on them they get to reroll Ranged To Hit rolls because they feel better after missing.
Pulsa Rokkit added. This is the Ork version of the Deathstrike Missile. It fires and leaves a marker on the field. The enemy has to decide what to do. Do they stay? Do they flee? Then it strikes in your next Command Phase! In this case, its a reverse destabilized energy shield that pulses and knocks everyone over. Pulses is plural, but not stable. It has a chance to fire off up to 2 additional times, and causes a 10″ Blast Grav weapon to lock enemies down! They come in batteries of 1-3. They are One Use Only, so be mindful of their use!
Squig Catapults were added to Mek Gunz. They are a fun pinning infantry weapon to keep the enemy down.
Splatta Kannonz added. These made me happy to read about it. Its a literal cannon ball with a chain whipping around it. So a 3″ blast, easy enough right? Wrong! The chain has multiple rockets, timed to go off at different times for utter chaos and confusion! From its strike point, it has the chance to go off an additional 3 times, scattering from its last point of impact each time! Seemed to be a popular Ork mechanic in 2e.
Nob Tandem Biker added as an upgrade to Nob Bikerz. Only one model was ever made like this apparently, but of course we had to accommodate it! The rider gets a variety of special weapons to throw more fire power.
Drill Boss added to Warboss. He is able to join jump infantry WAY more effectively now! Another old model that needs to be included!
Meltaguns were sprinkled throughout. Overall each other weapon variant has been arguably adapted except for these.
Evil Sunz
Wazdakka Gutsmek is the “new” Ork Warboss. Once again, not new! turns out he was around in 2e-4e and then I guess just forgotten about for 6 editions? I did his old bike, The Bike of the Aporkalypse as per the official kit bash, with an option to take his new bike, Big Revva, instead! Both are cool and offer completely different weapon options! The Aporkalypse has a lot of different guns on it, including a mobile autocannon, kustom blasta, and a bunch of shootaz with a Power Klaw, while Big Revva has the psycho-gatler and a dragging claw. This claw allows him on Big Revva to take opponents in Challenges and just run away with them! If you can’t handle a deathball with tons of Auras, just drag them off out of range!
I know that technically he is kicked out of Evil Sunz, but its what I got to work with so they have a supplement now.
Anyways I appreciate all you guys have done and contributed. I’m happy so many of you have expressed interest in the project and hope that now it is fully operational it will be more appealing to those who were concerned that not every codex was tested and released yet.
Cheers! And reach out if you have any questions!
Alternate 40k Rules 