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I asked this question a couple weeks ago and now that the 8th Ed rulebook is out, I think my chances of getting a concrete answer are much better.

Units such as Chaos Warhounds that do not count toward the minimum core choices of an army...

A) do not count toward ONLY the core choices of an army but DO count toward the minimum 25% core point allocation of the army?
For example, in a 2000 point army could I take 2 Ungor herds costing 50 points each and 1 unit of chaos warhounds costing 400 points?

B) do not count toward the core choices of an army NOR do they count toward the minimum 25% core point allocation of the army?
For example, if I want to take any chaos warhounds at all, I will first have to purchase at least 2 other core units totaling 500 points or more in a 2000 point army?

Thanks id advance. I love the warhound models. I’m new to fantasy so I have no idea how they perform on the tabletop but they look awesome.

Since its going from X number of core units to X% must be core.

Im thinking that the points they generate will not be put towards the minimum core needed.

ShivanAngel wrote:Since its going from X number of core units to X% must be core.

Im thinking that the points they generate will not be put towards the minimum core needed.

Perhaps I’m misunderstanding but won’t players still be required to have a minimum number of core choices – only that that minimum quantity must be valued at 25% or more of the army points? For example, a Vampire Counts player couldn’t simply choose to take a single unit of zombies totaling 500 points I a 2000 point army and fulfill his minimum core requirement – he’d still need at least one more core choice. I’m very new to fantasy so please pardon my misunderstanding. I’m trying to wrap my mind around things that aren’t very concrete at the moment.

No minimum number of core choices. The "must have three units" restriction is only that you must have three non-character units in your army. Meaning if you could fit in 25% of your points in core in one unit, 25% of your points in rare for another, and 50% of the total points in a single special unit, you could field the last 25% in characters and still be legal.

If I had to guess, no PDF or FAQs seen by me, it'll be that they come out of the Core Choice section's point limit but don't count towards either:
A) The minimum units in the army [Ex: You couldn't field 50% of the army in Dire Wolves so as to have the other 50% be straight characters].
B) The minimum Core percent in the army (ex: You couldn't take 400 points in Snotlings to fill up your Core requirements - they would still count in Core, as well as meet the three-unit criteria, but no more).
C) Both the above.

"Does Not Count as Core" units do not count for the 25% minimum core you field. So, no, you cannot spam 60 harpies to fill out your core requirements.

Phazael wrote:"Does Not Count as Core" units do not count for the 25% minimum core you field. So, no, you cannot spam 60 harpies to fill out your core requirements.

It’s not as cut and dry as you’re making it. I don’t even know what army has harpies as a core choice. The exact words are “XYZ units do not count toward the minimum core choices of the army”. That phrasing makes things ambiguous and I’m looking for a more thorough understanding of the rule directly from peoples understanding of the 8th ed rulebook. When I need a sentence misquoted though, I’ll be sure to ask for your help.

incarna, it's just as Phazael states.

As a MINIMUM, you must choose Core units such that the sum of their points are 25% of your total point allowance. Every unit you take in your army is a "core choice", as you stress. While it's not set in stone since the rules were written for 7th Edition, one can infer that the "does not count toward core choices" would mean that the given unit's points value is not considered to count to meet the minimum 25% Core selection requirement of the rules. The only ambiguity with the statement is that it refers to the 7th Edition rules that nominally required 3 Core Units (choices) for legal army composition.

My real question is what do units that use two lord choices or a lord and a rare do?

sniperjolly wrote:My real question is what do units that use two lord choices or a lord and a rare do?

2 Lord choices options is a no brainer, really. It would just add their points to your 25% Lords count. Why would it be anything else?

As for different dual slots, the army book errata will answer that.

Whoo-hoo, Valten the Exalted in 2250 games, here we come!

I'm very curious about the dual lord/rare choice units, since that's what a treeman ancient is. Also, will it count as a "duplicate unit" with a normal treeman (meaning max 2 rare duplicates)? I'm hoping it just counts as a lord %... I don't really see how things can be both now.

I'm not so sure about the "does not count towards minimum core" units. I guess the errata will give us the answers... when I first read the question, I was leaning towards "Yes", they would count towards the 25%. But now I'm leaning towards no... I wish they would go ahead and release them and save us the drama

I suspect the "don't count towards minimum core" units will not count their points for the 25% minimum, but WILL count towards the three non-character minimum. They are units after all.
As to the dual slot units, I don't know. Maybe GW will decide that they will follow the most restrictive choice: Treeman Ancient counts towards Lord points and as a limited rare choice. Hopefully not. After all, they and regular treemen are separate entries in the army book (don't have my army book to hand) aren't they? I can see them limiting you to 4 ancients in a 3000+ mega game, however.

will really need to wait for the errata faqs. the way its written they do not count towards the number of core units.
Now everything is just points not number of units.
They technically are core points.

Chances are they will just say that harpies and assassins etc will not count as anything like it should be

I agree that the errata/faq should sort this out.

Harpies do not count towards the minimum number of Core units you must include in your army p95 DE codex

Assassins are characters but do not fill any character or Core selections in your army p95 DE codex

This to me says that their points will count but they will not count toward the minimum 3 units your army must include.

Or it means you could have an assasin for every rank and file model in your army!

EDIT: nevermind... I didnt actually read the rules...