New reveals of the Warhammer 40k 10th edition Leagues of Votann rules show that the notoriously powerful space dwarves will be toned down for the new edition – a bit. The ‘Eye of the Ancestors’ ability will be less impactful, and there’s no mention yet of the potent ‘Void Armour’ defensive ability.
According to a Faction Focus article released on Thursday on the Warhammer Community Website, the Leagues of Votann ‘Eye of the Ancestors’ ability will work in a pretty similar way in Warhammer 40k 10th edition as it did in 9th ed. You’ll track a number of Judgment tokens for each of your opponent’s units, gaining buffs against units that attract your ire.
In 10th edition, enemy units will only gain a Judgment token when they destroy a Votann unit – that’s a lot more miserly than in 9th edition, when tokens were handed out like party treats. The effect of the tokens is also restricted. Votann units get +1 to hit enemy units with one Judgment token, and an additional +1 to wound targets with two tokens. Those are great buffs, but compared to 9th edition, when enough Judgment tokens turned half of your hits into automatic wounds, they’re not so impressive.
There’s also no mention of the League of Votann’s defensive Void Armour in the article. Absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence, so the rule might still be in the game, but it would make sense to remove it, given the reduced armour penetration of most weapons in 10th edition.
It’s not all nerfs. The first Leagues of Votann detachment, Oathband, will allow you to select an enemy unit at the start of the game and give it two Judgment tokens. What’s more, you’ll earn a bounty in Command Points for destroying that target, earning more points the sooner in the battle you annihilate it.
The article also shows the Reactive Reprisal stratagem for the Oathband. For 2CP this allows a Votann unit to return fire after it’s shot at by an enemy unit with Judgment tokens on it. This is very similar to the Sisters of Battle stratagem we saw on Wednesday, though more restrictive and expensive – but that may be appropriate, given how devastating Votann firepower can be.
Powerful ranged weapons still feature heavily in the Votann armoury. The newly revealed datasheet for the Hekaton Land Fortress shows that the dreaded Heavy Magna-Rail Cannon remains lethal, with S18, AP-4, dealing D6+6 wounds, and ignoring armour saves on to-wound rolls of six.
This datasheet, as well as the weapon stats for the dwarf-portable SP Conversion Beamer, also reveal the new ‘Conversion’ Weapon Ability. Weapons with this key-word will inflict Critical Hits on a to-hit roll of 4+ against targets 12” or more away. Critical Hits are used to trigger other weapon abilities, which in the case of the SP Conversion Beamer is an additional D3 hits from its Sustained Hits D3 ability.
Games Workshop has also revealed the datasheet for the Votann’s basic Hearthkyn Warriors. They retain their swiss-army knife of special weapons but gain T5, as well as some twists to their toolbox of gear: the Comms Array now gives them a chance to refund one CP when they use a Stratagem, and the Medipack grants the unit a 6+ Feel No Pain. Objectives that the unit claims remain claimed even after they move off it, continuing a pattern of 10th edition battleline units having strong interactions with scenario victory conditions.
Will the Votann actually be any weaker in 10th edition? Time, and their points values, will tell. Of all the Warhammer 40k factions, the Votann may have attracted the most opprobrium for being overpowered when they first launched, with so much uproar that the Votann were nerfed before their Warhammer 40k Codex was even released.