New Recruit Removes Official Warhammer 40K Rules Text "for Legal Reasons": What Changed and What It Means for Your Lists

New Recruit, the most popular free army builder for Warhammer 40,000, has stopped showing Games Workshop's official rules text. The app says it removed the wording "due to legal reasons" and is replacing it with its own descriptions of how each rule works. Some players accuse it of using AI to write the new text, which New Recruit hasn't confirmed. Here's what changed and what it means for your army lists.

Published November 4, 2026.

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What New Recruit changed

New Recruit posted a notice on Sunday, November 2:

"Due to legal reasons, official rules texts for certain games are no longer displayed on New Recruit. We are publishing our own description of how each rule works for most current games."

• Affected: Warhammer 40,000 first, with other current games included. New Recruit says older games will follow, and until then you may see empty descriptions or "[text removed]".
• Replaced, not deleted: instead of Games Workshop's exact wording, rules now show New Recruit's own explanation of what each rule does.
• No more translations: for the affected games, rule descriptions are now shown in English in every language. Unit and rule names are still translated, and New Recruit plans localized descriptions later.
• Not explained: New Recruit hasn't said what the legal reasons are. Many players assume Games Workshop asked for the change, but neither side has confirmed that publicly.

What the new descriptions look like

Players sharing screenshots on Discord and Reddit show that New Recruit's replacements use a short, structured layout instead of a sentence of rules text: each ability is broken into labelled lines such as Timing (when it happens), Select (which units it affects) and Result (what it does). The meaning is the same, but the wording is New Recruit's own. Many players find it clear; others say it reads oddly next to the official text they're used to, and some printed their army lists before the change to keep the familiar wording.

Why it matters

For years, players have used free tools to read unit and army rules without buying every codex. Games Workshop's rules text is copyrighted, and full access normally means buying the codex for your army or using GW's official Warhammer 40,000 app. As Wargamer points out, copying rules text word for word, or with small tweaks, breaches copyright, but the underlying game mechanics themselves aren't protected. That's why New Recruit can still describe how a rule works in its own words.

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The AI accusation

Soon after the change, some 40K players accused New Recruit of using AI to rewrite the rules, pointing to descriptions that read oddly or miss details. This is unconfirmed: New Recruit hasn't said how the new descriptions are written, and even Spikey Bits, which reported the claims, says it isn't known whether AI is involved. The practical risk is the same either way: a paraphrase can drift from the official wording.

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What it means for your army lists

• Building lists still works: units, points and your saved rosters aren't affected by the text change, and New Recruit says Warhammer 40,000 11th Edition is supported, with a one-click copy of your 10th edition lists.
• Check the official wording for tournaments. If a rule matters for a game, read it in your codex or the official app. In a rules dispute, the paraphrase won't count.
• Expect some blanks for a while, especially in older games, while New Recruit writes its descriptions.
• Report mistakes: New Recruit tracks rules issues publicly, and players are already flagging missing or wrong descriptions.

If you play one army a lot, the most reliable option is your army's codex. You can find the Warhammer 40,000 codexes on Amazon, often below store price.

New to 40K? Start with our Warhammer beginner's hub.