The new kids on the block, the The Leagues of Votann were a highly controversial army on release. Given how much GW needed to nerf them, what has changed for 10th edition?
As ever we start with the faction ability:
Hmmm, so they are sticking with the tokens. Hopefully this won’t be too broken and they will limit token generation. Flat modifiers to wound rolls were a little broken in 9th so hopefully they won’t go crazy with them here. Here is the detachment preview:
This is really annoying and will probably get nerfed by GW. The ability to force an enemy unit to start with 2 tokens is going to kill knight armies as well as several others. It looks like this edition will be heavy on MSU as some of these faction abilities seem a bit much.
The Hearthkyn have taken a big hit to their BS and a few weapons have shorter range. They get a CP refund mechanic and sticky objectives which is nice. I am glad GW is toning down the BS of some armies as it will help reduce lethality, plus these guys can easily get bonuses to hit. The HunTR weapon type is also gone.
Their Land Fortress also lost a point of BS, although the Fire Support rule will make it quite popular.
For the weapon previews we get see the new Conversion rule, which looks pretty decent:
Te stratagem shown is a worse version of the Sororitas one, but that is likely due to the bonuses to hit and wound that they get.
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
What is that terrible cracking sound? Oh of course. It’s the sound of Votann players ripping the magna-rail rifles out of their Hearthkyn Warrior squads. 😣
Seriously. How do they justify an 18” range and a -1 to hit on a weapon that is TWICE as long as an Autoch-patter bolt gun? It makes no sense.
They have gotten nerfed a lot over time.
Alright, so on further reflection the BS 5+ represents the old -1 to hit penalty for moving and shooting with a heavy weapon. The ‘Heavy’ rule gives you a +1 to hit when stationary.
That range though… the magna-rail should have a 24″ range minimum. It looks like they want the Votann to emulate the Sororitas predilection for medium range firefights.