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 Lathe Biosas wrote:
That sounds like unfun for shooty armies.

Given how small tables are, it's not that hard.
And it is only a 6" aura-I can't cover a whole army with that.

Do your units have to be entirely in 6" or just a single model must be in 6"

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
Do your units have to be entirely in 6" or just a single model must be in 6"

Single model. But coherency is still a thing.

Oh Yeah, I'm going to have to remember unit coherency - now that I'm using infantry.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Huh, I just realized something....

There is no Honored bonus for the Grotmas Knight Detachment.

Fo you think that mechanic will disappear with the upcoming IK codex (or become a specific detachment thing) and that this detachment doesn't interact with it because it was written to be compatible with the new codex?

Leagues of Votann...

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/75a06szv/grotmas-calendar-day-17-glad-tidings-to-you-and-your-kin

There’s nothing more Grotmassy than stockings hanging over an open fire, so take a leaf out of the great big Leagues of Votann book and get the home fires burning with the Hearthband.


When the Eye of the Ancestors has been fixed on some site or resource deemed vital to a Hold, the Kindred may form a Hearthband to ensure its swift conquest. Typically led by one of the most courageous and cunning Kâhls, such forces are painstakingly forged to complete the precise mission for which they are assembled.

Einhyr elites lead the charge, exo‐armoured forms advancing like the Ancestors returned to life, contemptuous of the enemy’s pitiful attempts to cut them down. Hand‐picked Hearthkyn support this advance, no mere citizen soldiers but the finest warriors of the kinhost assembled for this one crucial mission. Driving inexorably into the teeth of the foe, the Hearthband does not stop until their task is complete and the battle is won.

The Hearthband represents the finest weapons and warriors of the kindred, and there is no foe that they will not face down. Methodical Annihilation exemplifies the discipline of the Leagues of Votann, allowing for reliable point-blank elimination. You can re-roll Hit rolls of 1 against the closest target, while units led by their greatest champions also get an extra point of Armour Penetration.

To emphasise the importance of a Heathband’s mission, they are granted Enhancements such as the Quake Multigenerator, rare wargear that destabilises enemies and reduces the effectiveness of any counter-attack. Particular attention has been given to their melee weapons, and Superior Craftsmanship grants +1 Damage against a Monster or Vehicle.

Tomorrow is Genestealer Cults!

Regarding the Nurgle detachment, I note that Foetid Resurgence doesn't have the normal limitation that Characters can't be returned.

I wonder if that's a typo or if it's intentional.

That Votann detachment is kinda sad compared to their index one. Not competitive at all, but I suppose it could be fun for more casual games.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
That Votann detachment is kinda sad compared to their index one. Not competitive at all, but I suppose it could be fun for more casual games.

I've never read any Votann stuff outside of their lore... how's it play vs the Grotmas stuff?

 ZergSmasher wrote:
That Votann detachment is kinda sad compared to their index one. Not competitive at all, but I suppose it could be fun for more casual games.

It's definitely boring compared to some of the fun detachments like Orks had, but I'm not so sure it's weak. A unit of Hearthguard can have:
*Permanent armour of contempt (always on for 1 unit only - enhancement)
*Hit on rerollable 2's on all attacks (always on if a judgement token is in use)
*Extra AP (always on except for the grenade launcher)
*Double rate of fire on plasma guns when needed (1 unit per shooting phase - strat)
*Damage 3 fists when needed (1 unit per fight phase - strat)
*Close range deepstrike to get a mass of volkanites into rapid fire range if needed (up to 44 shots with rapid fire strat)

Lots of Heathguard with Champions/Khals, and lots of Hearthkyn/Thunderkyn supporting would be fine.

A silly 2k list:

 ZergSmasher wrote:
That Votann detachment is kinda sad compared to their index one. Not competitive at all, but I suppose it could be fun for more casual games.

I'm not very tuned into LoV, but I got the impression that it's probably fine as a niche change of pace for those who have the right models. Similar to the 'nid warrior detachment in that way. Not likely to be seen at a tournament, but it does look like it probably offers a new playstyle for those who want to lean into it.

Genestealer Cults Today

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-us/articles/v7vsj3wv/grotmas-day-18-wish-upon-the-star-children

From GW:

If there’s one faction that knows how to count down to an event, it’s the Genestealer Cults. For today’s Grotmas Calendar Detachment, it’s the long-awaited Final Day.


Every Genestealer Cultist longs to witness the arrival of the Star Children, and then ascend to join them in blessed oneness. This will be a transcendent experience, a sublime reward for their devotion, or so they believe. The reality is altogether more hideous: as the Tyranids approach, the utterly alien Hive Mind assimilates the more nuanced Broodmind of the Cult.

Many of the faithful die from psionic shock, while others are freed from Tyranid mind control only to go mad with horror as the truth is revealed. The rest become short‐lived puppets for the first waves of Tyranid vanguard organisms descending on their world. Exerting its will to make them fight harder and move faster, the Hive Mind swiftly burns out those who survive, harvesting each flicker of bioenergy to reinvigorate its more valuable Tyranid organisms.

Now, that doesn’t sound like good news for the Genestealer Cults, we’ll grant you – nor very Grotmassy at all! You might feel better about the whole affair, however, when you discover how the Psionic Parasitism Detachment rule works. Yes, you may include Tyranid Vanguard units in their army, and your cultists earn +1 to Hit when selecting targets within 6” of these organisms. The Tyranids can also get +1 to Hit – and heal a few lost Wounds – for the low, low price of some Cultist biomatter… perhaps with a dollop of cranberry sauce.

The definitely justified devotion of the cultists towards these Star Gods is represented by Enhancements such as Inhuman Integration, which grants a Cults unit’s weapons Sustained Hits 1, and by Stratagems such as Avenge the Star Children. When a Tyranids Character is slain, Genestealer Cults get +1 to Hit and to Wound against whoever dared raise a hand to their long-awaited saviour.

Tomorrow is the Sisters of Battle!

oh! hell yeah. this rules. i've wanted to play nids and GSC together all edition, and this is a great way of enabling that. seems strong for bringing some monsters along as bruisers to fill rolls that GSC normally struggles with

 StudentOfEtherium wrote:
oh! hell yeah. this rules. i've wanted to play nids and GSC together all edition, and this is a great way of enabling that. seems strong for bringing some monsters along as bruisers to fill rolls that GSC normally struggles with

Sounds like you're a lot happier. I know the last couple months have been kinda crummy with what they've done to Genestealer Cults.

So glad they gave us that GSC detachment. Can't wait to see the new GSC Crusade content in WD this month- I'm wondering if it's going to line up with the "Arrival of the Star Children" stuff- that's something that isn't well represented by the Crusade content in the dex, so it would make sense.

Looking forward to sisters too. I think it's going to be a vehicle heavy detachment.

I don't play either of those armies, but that detachment rocks! So fluffy and the tag line about what happens when the Nids arrive is so great. I would love to play against this

 xeen wrote:
I don't play either of those armies, but that detachment rocks! So fluffy and the tag line about what happens when the Nids arrive is so great. I would love to play against this

Convert from Chaos... Convert! Convert!


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What's left?

Blood Angles, World Eaters, Tau?

What am I missing?

There are six days left, and we know tomorrow is Sisters.

Also missing:
-Blood Angels
-World Eaters
-T'au
-Black Templars.

That leaves one more. I'm fairly certain they're planning to drop news regarding the Emperor's Children on Christmas Day, so I'm not sure that's it.

Maybe someone is getting a second go?

Don't forget the Space Wolves, BorderCountess - I don't see them on the list yet.

So that's the list.

Tau, Space Wolves, Black Templar, Blood Angels, World Eaters.


And whatever surprise they have on Grotmas Day.

 Dysartes wrote:

Don't forget the Space Wolves, BorderCountess - I don't see them on the list yet.

I wish I could forget them...

Adepta Sororitas Champions of Faith Detachment is out, and it centers on discarding Miracle Dice

Would have been really good if they hadn't just nerfed the quantity of Miracle Dice you generate.

I think this one maybe beat out the Thousand Sons one for "worst grotmas detachment" The detachment rule is you need to spend precious miracle dice to "improve" three units? And then limited to only a few units that are actually getting anything of "value" and raising the OC of what my understanding is a subpar unit in 10th. Some one really phoned this one in.

 alextroy wrote:
Adepta Sororitas Champions of Faith Detachment is out, and it centers on discarding Miracle Dice

Would have been really good if they hadn't just nerfed the quantity of Miracle Dice you generate.

Exactly. Given the nerf they gave miracle dice in the recent updates, this detachment is just rubbing salt in the wound.

 kronk wrote:

 alextroy wrote:
Adepta Sororitas Champions of Faith Detachment is out, and it centers on discarding Miracle Dice

Would have been really good if they hadn't just nerfed the quantity of Miracle Dice you generate.

Exactly. Given the nerf they gave miracle dice in the recent updates, this detachment is just rubbing salt in the wound.

Do you think the Detachment was written prior to and possibly unaware of the the Balance Datasheet nerf?

 Lathe Biosas wrote:

 kronk wrote:

 alextroy wrote:
Adepta Sororitas Champions of Faith Detachment is out, and it centers on discarding Miracle Dice

Would have been really good if they hadn't just nerfed the quantity of Miracle Dice you generate.

Exactly. Given the nerf they gave miracle dice in the recent updates, this detachment is just rubbing salt in the wound.

Do you think the Detachment was written prior to and possibly unaware of the the Balance Datasheet nerf?

That does seem very on-brand for GW.

 Dysartes wrote:
Don't forget the Space Wolves, BorderCountess - I don't see them on the list yet.

Whenever I'm listing chapters I always forget them for some reason. I think its probably because I think of them as way more of their own thing than even DA or BA.

 kronk wrote:

 alextroy wrote:
Adepta Sororitas Champions of Faith Detachment is out, and it centers on discarding Miracle Dice

Would have been really good if they hadn't just nerfed the quantity of Miracle Dice you generate.

Exactly. Given the nerf they gave miracle dice in the recent updates, this detachment is just rubbing salt in the wound.

I tend to agree. I think I'll try it at some point anyway, but I'll be combining with the rules for Hymns that we got in the Orktober WD (505?) as well as regular Crusade rules, some of which may offset the nerf and possibly augment the detachment. This detachment is similar to Battle Hymns in function, so stacking might be a) over the top and b) too MD intensive. Battle Hymns are more complex, nuance and well developed... But they only work in Crusade. I think both are decent ways to get rid of low MD rolls; other detachments contain other ways of doing that, but it's nice to be able to do it without burning a strat.

I'm trying to think of narrative triggers for the use of this detachment. It provides extra bonusses to Sacressants and Paragons, so a related question might be about narrative triggers for the inclussion of those units. Sacressants being primarily bodyguards, an army full of characters impotant enough to merrit a bodyguard. The rationale for Paragons might be terrain based? Perahaps narrow passages or gaps for tanks force the army to use something with a smaller footprint for their heavy support?

In terms of the Righteousness schtick, I think in a game with multiple Agendas, you could pick one of those to be Righteous, and then use the Righteousness powers to support the units pursuing that objective. Giving a Saint Potentia a Saccressant bodyguard and keeping her unit Righteous might be another cool Narrative trick.

As a Sisters player I think this detachment, as bad as it may seem at first glance, actually has some play just due to some of the stratagems that simply are not present in the rest of the codex detachments. Being able to pile in and consolidate 6" and being able to fall back and shoot or fall back and shoot and charge if you spent an MD on a unit are both pretty strong. Paragon Warsuits can definitely get hefty buffs in this detachment and I think some Sacresants and BSS builds that can flood the board with bodies might see a little play. This is obviously not going to outperform Hallowed Martyrs now that Bringers is pretty much dead and Army of Faith is subpar at best despite being able to give MD through enhancements and Strats, but I think certain specific builds could be pretty potent and keep Sisters as at least a mid tier faction until the next Dataslate.

Speaking of that I am almost positive that when the next Balance Patch for the game hits in the Spring, Sisters will have dropped to a point (44-45% winrate at best) where GW can at least remove one or two layers of these nerfs. Even just removing the nerf to gaining Miracle Dice when units get destroyed each phase I think would make the faction relatively fine without giving any NPE's (though as of the last few months I am still not certain why an army with barely above a 50% winrate was so much in the crosshairs of GW). I would love to see Bringers at least go back to 12" range for the strength buff while the Stratagem cost changes stay since it still nerfs the detachment, but I doubt that will be happening. Regardless of what exactly happens, I think some level of "more Miracle Dice" will be given back to the faction in the next dataslate and as soon as that happens I could see Champions of Faith seeing a fair amount of play, maybe almost as much as Hallowed Martyrs at least casually since Army of Faith usually requires spending 2 MD per unit each phase to get the most out of the detachment rule while this really just requires one big turn of discarding 3 MD and saving up for that big turn of Righteous. Other than that turn it will probably be okay to only discard one or two MD max just to buff a Paragon unit or a Sacresant unit (maybe a BSS or even other unit if it really makes sense to in order to get that +1 movement).

This is definitely mediocre at best right now, but I think it still has play and many Sisters players at my FLGS are considering it more of a low C tier detachment which I think makes some sense. I will be playtesting a little with it but personally it fits the balanced shooty and fighty vibe that I love to play with my Sisters collection and yet also has that level of Faith that has always made the army so cool to me since the end of 4th edition, so in terms of theme I love it and I really think the Sisters community CAN make it work even if it doesn't top tables much. Even Art of War does see some value in it if only for the solid stratagems that either require more setup if one is playing Army of Faith OR that simply do not exist like the Fall Back and Shoot strat, since the Penitent Host one isn't universal since its only for Penitent units.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/9zalt6ai/grotmas-calendar-day-20-eat-your-heart-out-gabriel

Blood Angels Today!

The Dark Angels might have monopolised all the obvious Grotmas gags about angels three weeks ago, but the Blood Angels have arrived to bring death to the enemies of the Imperium – enter the Angelic Inheritors.


The Blood Angels have inherited much from their Primarch. Their grace, nobility and psychic prowess all trace back to Sanguinius, as does the spiritual curse that has afflicted them since his death. More esoteric, perhaps, but no less a gift of their gene‐sire, is their propensity to blaze brightest during the darkest moments of despair. Just as Sanguinius himself is said to have brought hope to the hopeless at the point of his gilded spear, so too do the Blood Angels rise in the face of adversity as though in fulfilment of some ancient prophecy. At such times, the angelic and monstrous natures ever at war within Sanguinius’ gene‐sons find an equilibrium. Icy calm in their ferocity, furious in their clarity, the warrior angels of Baal strike with unerring and unstoppable wrath to snatch victory from the bloodied jaws of defeat.

The Legacy of the Angel manifests itself in the form of three abilities. Blood Angels will choose two of these at the start of the battle, and all of their Character units will benefit. They might choose the power to Fall Back, Shoot, and Charge in the same turn, or re-roll Hit rolls and Wound rolls of 1, or re-roll Advance and Charge rolls. The Troubling Visions Enhancement even lets a Character unit benefit from all three Legacy abilities for the equivalent of one battle round, while continuing the theme of the cursed blessings that the Blood Angels have inherited from Sanguinius.

The Detachment supports an aggressive playstyle, with Stratagems like Unto the Burning Skies, which sends Blood Angels Jump Pack units back to Strategic Reserves at the end of your opponent’s Fight phase, ready to descend like avenging angels all over again. The Sanguinor can even do this within Engagement range of enemy units, making him a terrifying foe to face.

Tau tomorrow

I'm mildly salty about the new BA detachment. Mostly because it kind of seems like a +1 version of a lot of other detachments.

Picking two of the detachment optional abilities where something like the invasion fleet only gets one. Their to-hit/wound rerolls just require a character be attached whereas even the very spicy starshatter detachment at least required your target be on an objective.

I doubt it's going to break the game or anything, but it does make me wonder if designers thought marine players were avoiding characters or something. I'm not sure I've faced a marine infantry squad all edition that didn't have a character attached, so it feels like kind of a non-tax.