Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics (section)

===Detachments for Dummies===
Outside of Open Play where anything goes, your army needs to be Battle-Forged in order to be usable. While in 7e this meant using either the old Combined Arms Detachment of previous editions or one of the faction exclusive FOCs to make your force into a single Detachment, you now can build an army composed of as many detachments as you see fit to use (as long as it remains within the points limit, of course). In addition, every unit in your army must share a faction keyword or must be unalligned, Genestealer Cults are a special case in this regard; their Brood Brothers rule allows them to bring an allied Imperial Guard detachment for each GSC detachment taken, even though they do not have a common faction keyword. Many tournaments, and by reflection game stores, do limit lists to three detachments.  While some of the detachments are very similar, if not identical to, the CAD, many more are modified to emphasize a specific non-Troops slot.

Each Detachment you take will grant you the use of a certain number of Command Points. Everyone starts with 3 CP, but the total number can vary depending on how many Detachments you take and what types of Detachments those are. Knowing which Detachment types will work best for your army will help you significantly when listbuilding. 

The first Big FAQ mandates that every unit in a Detachment must share a faction keyword other than {{WH40Kkeyword|IMPERIUM}}, {{WH40Kkeyword|AELDARI}} or {{WH40Kkeyword|CHAOS}}. They can still be taken in the same army, but they'll have to be in separate Detachments. 

====Patrol Detachment====
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">Generally only good for 500 pt games and if you want to bring a small amount of units from a different faction from the one forming most of your army. All of the dual faction boxes like Dark Imperium and Shadowspear have prebuilt Patrol Detatchments, so you could easily slot one other into your army if you have the points. <div class="mw-collapsible-content">
*'''Mandatory Units:''' 1 HQ, 1 Troops
**'''Optional Units:'''+1 HQ, , +2 Troops, +2 Elites, +2 Fast Attack, +2 Heavy Support, +2 Flyers, 1 Dedicated Transport per other choice taken
*'''Restrictions:''' All units must be from the same faction.
*'''Command Benefits:''' None. Drukhari get 4 CP if they have at least three Patrol Detachments, but in tournaments this is not viable because then you are locking yourself out of having any other Detachments. </div></div>

====Battalion Detachment====
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">Probably the most common and powerful type of detachment, striking a good balance between a high CP yield and reasonable requirements and options, you will usually see between 1 and 2 in each army unless the army includes a Brigade or is heavily skewed towards a specific battlefield role.<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
*'''Mandatory Units:''' 2 HQ, 3 Troops
**'''Optional Units:'''+1 HQ, +3 Troops, +6 Elites, +3 Fast Attack, +3 Heavy Support, +2 Flyers, 1 Dedicated Transport per other choice taken
*'''Restrictions:''' All units must be from the same faction.
*'''Command Benefits:''' +5 CP    (originally +3 CP in rulebook, Errata'd to +5.)</div></div>

====Brigade Detachment====
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">Requires the most units and provides the most CP. Not good for most armies outside of Apocalypse-size games, but armies that have cheap units in every slot (Astra Militarum being the main one) or that play a single sub-faction can use it without spending too many points.<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
*'''Mandatory Units:''' 3 HQ, 6 Troops, 3 Elites, 3 Fast Attack, 3 Heavy Support
**'''Optional Units:'''+2 HQ, +6 Troops, +5 Elites, +2 Fast Attack, +2 Heavy Support, +2 Flyers, 1 Dedicated Transport per other choice taken
*'''Restrictions:''' All units must be from the same faction.
*'''Command Benefits:''' +12 CP    (originally +9 CP in rulebook, Errata'd to +12.)</div></div>

====Vanguard Detachment====
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">The Elites-focused detachment, provides very little CP for the investment you put into it, you will be sorely lacking in CP if you only run with Vanguard Detachments and most Elite units work best in conjunction with other units, running just a single Vanguard Detachment or even multiple Vanguard Detachments will usually not be the strongest option, it is more of an option to get extra Elites or to ally with the elites from a different sub-faction.<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
*'''Mandatory Units:''' 1 HQ, 3 Elites
**'''Optional Units:'''+1 HQ, +3 Troops, +3 Elites, +2 Fast Attack, +2 Heavy Support, +2 Flyers, 1 Dedicated Transport per other choice taken
*'''Restrictions:''' All units must be from the same faction.
*'''Command Benefits:''' +1 CP. </div></div>

====Spearhead Detachment====
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">The Heavy Support-focused detachment, provides little CP for the investment you put into it, building an army based entirely around vehicles can make for a hard-hitting and survivable force, but it will usually lack in other areas, such as board control which can be difficult with a smaller number of units and a lack of screening units will hurt you, especially if your Heavy Support units cannot FLY.<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
*'''Mandatory Units:''' 1 HQ, 3 Heavy Support
**'''Optional Units:'''+1 HQ, +3 Troops, +2 Elites, +2 Fast Attack, +3 Heavy Support, +2 Flyers, 1 Dedicated Transport per other choice taken
*'''Restrictions:''' All units must be from the same faction.
*'''Command Benefits:''' +1 CP. Astra Militarum LEMAN RUSS models in a Spearhead Detachment get Objective Secured. </div></div>

====Outrider Detachment====
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">The Fast Attack-focused detachment, provides little CP for the investment you put into it but generally less expensive than Vanguard and Spearhead Detachments. Building an army totally devoted to going fast can work depending on the missions you play.<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
*'''Mandatory Units:''' 1 HQ, 3 Fast Attack
**'''Optional Units:'''+1 HQ, +3 Troops, +2 Elites, +3 Fast Attack, +2 Heavy Support, +2 Flyers, 1 Dedicated Transport per other choice taken
*'''Restrictions:''' All units must be from the same faction.
*'''Command Benefits:''' +1 CP</div></div>

====Supreme Command Detachment====
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">The HQ-focused detachment, most characters perform a support role, making this the most niche Detachment option. The Lord of War option makes it the cheapest way for armies to give a single Lord of War the benefit of a Chapter Tactic/Regimental Doctrine/etc/etc. It can be powerful if you have HQ units that are worth spamming or if you want to stack a huge amount of different buffs around your army, the Space Marine Smash Captain with Jump Pack, Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield whose job is vehicle hunting instead of inspiring his troops or the Thousand Sons Terminator Sorcerers whose main job is dishing out damage with their psychic powers rather than buffing their dudes are worth spamming for example, in the past Heretic Sorcerer spam and Tau Commander spam were such powerful tactics that one got nerfed to the brink of existence and the other got limited to one per Detachment.<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
*'''Mandatory Units:''' 3 HQ
**'''Optional Units:'''+2 HQ, +1 Elites, +1 Lord of War, 1 Dedicated Transport per other choice taken
*'''Restrictions:''' All units must be from the same faction.
*'''Command Benefits:''' +1 CP</div></div>

====Super-Heavy Detachment====
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">The Lords of War spam Detachment. Command benefits are better than the other mono-FOC Detachments, but it will fucking eat up your points like there's no tomorrow. If you field this in a friendly game or a 1000 point game you are probably [[That Guy]].<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
*'''Mandatory Units:''' 3 Lords of War
**'''Optional Units:''' +2 Lords of War
*'''Restrictions:''' All units must be from the same faction.
*'''Command Benefits:''' +3 CP. Knights get +0 CP if the Detachment only includes Armigers, +3 CP if the Detachment includes 1 non-Armiger and 6 CP if the Detachment includes 3 non-Armigers.</div></div>

====Super-Heavy Auxiliary Detachment====
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">As most people will almost certainly only have one LoW in their armies at any given time, this is the detachment they'll use to get their Primarch/Knight/Baneblade/Wraithknight onto the field, unfortunately it doesn't give you any CP for your investment and faction-based benefits like Chapter Tactics don't apply to these Detachments- use a Supreme Command Detachment with an optional LoW if you want that.<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
*'''Mandatory Units:''' 1 Lords of War
*'''Restrictions:''' None
*'''Command Benefits:''' None</div></div>

====Air Wing Detachment====
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">The Flyer detachment, best suited for factions that want to milk their flyers for all they're worth. Also, the only detachment that gives you Command Points without an HQ (or three superheavies). Note that the big disadvantage of this Detachment is that units with the ''Flyer Battlefield role'' can't contest objectives, and if you only have these units on the table you are automatically tabled. Be careful if you plan to sink a lot of points into these Detachments.<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
*'''Mandatory Units:''' 3 Flyers
**'''Optional Units:''' +2 Flyers
*'''Restrictions:''' All units must be from the same faction.
*'''Command Benefits:''' +1 CP</div></div>

====Fortification Network====
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">Your buildings, fortresses, and walls. Being able to field large numbers of fortifications was something of an issue in 7th, but this detachment allows you to keep your turtle up to your heart's content (or at least take 6 fortifications if you're in Matched).<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
*'''Mandatory Units:''' 1 Fortification
**'''Optional Units:''' +2 Fortifications
*'''Restrictions:''' None; most fortifications are Unaligned by default
*'''Command Benefits:''' None
</div></div>

====Auxiliary Support Detachment====
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">Unlike all other Detachments, you '''''lose''''' CP for every Auxiliary Support Detachment you bring. Needless to say, you should avoid taking this type of Detachment at all costs. If you really want a single character like Celestine or a Contorted Epitome and don't have the points to bring enough cheap units to have the detachment qualify as a Patrol, or if you just want a single Space Marine squad or Deathwatch kill team for fluff reasons, you're stuck with this. It is the only detachment in which you can bring under strength squads to matched play, so there is that.<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
*'''Mandatory Units:''' 1 HQ '''or''' 1 Troops '''or''' 1 Elites '''or''' 1 Fast Attack '''or''' 1 Heavy Support '''or''' 1 Flyer '''or''' 1 Dedicated Transport
*'''Restrictions:''' Can only consist of a single unit.
*'''Command "Benefits":''' -1 CP</div></div>

====Specialist Detachments====
Not a detachment on their own, Specialist Detachments are an upgrade to regular detachments and the spiritual successors of the 7E formations, but now they function like "premium" Warlord Traits, Stratagems and Relics locked behind a 1CP paywall. More fluffy than OP (''usually'') and the real meat of Specialist Detachments are the Stratagems (i.e. the Specialist Detachment's benefits only kick in if you're willing to sink a lot of CP into them first), so the fanbase didn't rage that hard this time. <sub>Imperium Nihilus - Vigilus Defiant campaign supplement, 2018.</sub>
*A detachment may be so upgraded only once, ''even if the Specialist Detachment upgrade affects different units in it''.