December Detachment Review: Hearthband

I’ve been waiting a while now for the Votann detachment. I fully expected it to be bikes and Hernkyn based. So when I awoke to see it being terminator based (the best and coolest unit) needless to say I was excited.

Did it live up to my excitement? Let’s find out.

The detachment rule is Methodical Annihilation which gives your Votann units Re-roll 1’s to hit if the target is the closest eligible target or within engagement range. In addition, your Kahl, Hearthguard and Uthar The Destined units gain +1 AP (still needs to be the closest target). None of these apply to blast weapons. Einhyr don’t get the bonus without joining termies. Why.

This is: Fine. With a judgment token (henceforth referred to as judgy wudgies) your Terminators are hitting on 2’s. Which is fun. But with their blast weapons being left out I’m left scratching my head.

The main complaint about this detachment I’ve seen is the lack of access to the start of game judgy wudgies we see in the index detachment. Which is a fair critique, but I’d also argue that none of the enhancements or stratagems deem judgy wudgies necessary.

I don’t hate it, I don’t love it. Sums up how I’ve felt about Votann this edition honestly.

Enhancements

The enhancements are very underwhelming. Nothing so bad it’s offensive, but it gets pretty close at times.

Bastion Shield reduces AP of ranged attack’s within 12″ by 1. You don’t have an armor of contempt stratagem in this detachment so it’s probably an auto take for your 10 man blob of termies. For 25 points, it’s good. A

Quake Multigenerator is 15 points and goes on a Kahl. It lets you subtract 1 from hit rolls from an enemy unit you hit this turn with shooting attacks. It’s fine. Your shooting isn’t very long range with the units he’s joining, making this this less effective against shooting units, but you’d be happy to have it versus something like Blood Angels. B

Ironskein is 10 points and adds 2 wounds to the bearer. If you have 10 points left over, go crazy I guess. It’s stinky. C

High Kahl is back in the form of a 30 point enhancement which gives you a 4+ fight on death. You’ll want to get value out of your termie blocks given how expensive they already are. You’ll be re-rolling 1’s, and if you have a judgy wudgie you’ll be hitting on 2’s. It’s good. A

Stratagems

The stratagems are all, really good. There’s some that are less exciting but you get all the tools you might want, and there’s value in that.

Brekkeknots besides being the worst thing ever to say, gives you a 4+ Invulnerable save on your terminator units (or anything with a Kahl attached) in the shooting or fight phase. This is very good, and you’ll likely spam it. For those that don’t know, the Votann terminators don’t have an invulnerable save, only the sergeant, and only if he has the shield crest A+

Sure of Purpose which I just accidentally typed as Sure of Purple lets you pile in 6″ instead of 3″. This is a banger, getting 10 of your terminators in to fight can be super rough at time, and it also works on Beserks, which could be fun. A+

Superior Craftsmanship is 2 CP and gives you +1 damage against monster and vehicle units in the fight phase. I don’t know how to feel about this. Votann don’t exactly have an issue with destroying monsters or vehicles already, but damage 4 Beserks sounds hilarious. A

Unyielding Aggression is fallback, shoot and charge for an infantry unit. Always good. Any extra mobility for Votann is great. A

Materialisation Matrices is 6″ deep strike. Fitting 10 termies 9″ away is very hard. 6″ though? Dude? Hell yeah. A+

Fury of the Hearth gives you Rapid Fire 1 on your Hearthguard. It doesn’t work on the grenade launchers though. So like. What’s the point. It’s fine, you do this with the volkites and feel good about yourself. B+

Lists

Today we have Votann super fan Ryan Mcleod giving his thoughts. If anyone’s qualified to talk dwarf, it’s this guy.

Ryan “Yearns For The Mines” Mcleod’s List and Thoughts

CHARACTERS

Einhyr Champion (60 Points)
• 1x Autoch-pattern combi-bolter
• 1x Darkstar axe
• 1x Weavefield Crest

Kâhl (70 Points)
• Warlord
• 1x Autoch-pattern combi-bolter
• 1x Mass gauntlet
• 1x Teleport Crest

Kâhl (95 Points)
• 1x Autoch-pattern combi-bolter
• 1x Forgewrought plasma axe
• 1x Rampart Crest
Bastion Shield

BATTLELINE

Hearthkyn Warriors (100 Points)
• 1x Theyn
◦ 1x Close combat weapon
◦ 1x EtaCarn plasma pistol
◦ 1x Kin melee weapon
◦ 1x Weavefield Crest
• 9x Hearthkyn Warrior
◦ 9x Autoch-pattern bolt pistol
◦ 9x Close combat weapon
◦ 1x Comms Array
◦ 1x HYLas auto rifle
◦ 1x HYLas rotary cannon
◦ 7x Ion blaster
◦ 1x Medipack
◦ 1x Pan Spectral Scanner

DEDICATED TRANSPORTS

Sagitaur (115 Points)
• 1x Armoured wheels
• 1x HYLas beam cannon
• 1x Twin bolt cannon

OTHER DATASHEETS

Cthonian Beserks (200 Points)
• 10x Cthonian Beserk
◦ 10x Concussion maul
◦ 2x Mole grenade launcher

Einhyr Hearthguard (320 Points)
• 1x Hesyr
◦ 1x Concussion hammer
◦ 1x EtaCarn plasma gun
◦ 1x Exo-armour grenade launcher
◦ 1x Teleport Crest
• 9x Einhyr Hearthguard
◦ 9x Concussion gauntlet
◦ 9x EtaCarn plasma gun
◦ 9x Exo-armour grenade launcher

Einhyr Hearthguard (150 Points)
• 1x Hesyr
◦ 1x Concussion hammer
◦ 1x Exo-armour grenade launcher
◦ 1x Volkanite disintegrator
◦ 1x Weavefield Crest
• 4x Einhyr Hearthguard
◦ 4x Concussion gauntlet
◦ 4x Exo-armour grenade launcher
◦ 4x Volkanite disintegrator

Hekaton Land Fortress (225 Points)
• 1x Armoured wheels
• 1x MATR autocannon
• 1x Pan Spectral Scanner
• 1x SP heavy conversion beamer
• 2x Twin bolt cannon

Hekaton Land Fortress (225 Points)
• 1x Armoured wheels
• 1x Heavy magna-rail cannon
• 1x MATR autocannon
• 1x Pan Spectral Scanner
• 2x Twin bolt cannon

Well the moment of December finally arrived and no unfortunately it’s not Christmas. Was super nervous seeing the Votann detachment come up next. Would we get tossed up and smoked like the Eldar new detachment or get a glow up like so many others. Think I’ve been addicted to the sweet taste of judgment tokens for to long.

First thing you notice right away is oh I actually have to wound things on 6’s again this will be fun. Losing the 4 units that get double judged at the start is rough. Now I need to sacrifice 8 units minimum cost of 640 points to do what I did before or 4 units and 4 command phases of my Kahl seeing you. Hate when army rules tag off your opponent controlling how your rules work.

Ok so new detachment. We keep the judgment token system which on a bs 4 army much needed. We gain re-roll 1’s to hit oh nice that helps. Oh it doesn’t apply to blast weapons for some strange reason I can’t begin to imagine. Wait why closest eligible target that’s strange. But I can live with it. The extra ap only applying to 3 keywords is interesting. Even stranger it doesn’t include the e-champ wild. So units that get the buff Kahl, Uthar (named Kahl), and Einhyr Hearthguard (terminators) but some units will gain it with it like Kahl with warriors or e-champ with Hearthguard.

Losing armour of contempt as a strat was rough and a lot of the old strats were definitely good and made your opponent think twice. I’ll have to give this list a try out. First glance seems like it wants to be in combat so much more than before.”

Final Thoughts

I think I’m mixed on this detachment, it has some good stuff in it, but you trade too much for it. The enhancements are easily the worst part and it shows.

I think you spam 30 Zerks, 30 Hearthguard and hope for the best. Just use the raw efficiency of your stats to push through until your judgment tokens start stacking up.

You won’t regret playing this, but you will feel less cool.

That’s all from me today, tomorrows GSC, which let’s be honest. I’m probably getting everything wrong about, but it’ll be fun at least.

Thanks everyone. Be safe, drink water, and eat the yellow snow.