On September 6, the Warhammer 40k overlords at Games Workshop (GW) revealed new Stratagems for the game’s newest faction, the Leagues of Votann. Four Stratagems were announced in a Warhammer Community teaser, and each of the rules represents what’s most important about the Leagues: their family ties, their efficiency, their hardiness, and their hefty hover-trikes.
First up is Strategic Ploy Stratagem ‘Familial Loyalty’. According to GW, this Stratagem is used in your opponent’s Charge phase. It allows one Votann Infantry or Votann Biker to perform Heroic Interventions until the end of the phase – meaning unexpected counterattacks are absolutely on the table.
Next, GW shares another Strategic Ploy Stratagem, ‘Mag-Riders’. This aims to keep Votann hover-trikes on the field for as long as possible. When an opponent targets a Votann Biker unit from your army with a ranged attack during their shooting phase, Mag-Riders subtracts one from the attack’s hit roll and prevents the attacking unit from re-rolling attacks if it Advanced during its previous turn. These benefits come into play each time the Votann Biker is attacked, and they stick around until the end of this phase.
The final Strategic Ploy Stratagem has a longer name, but it’s one that GW says summarises the Kin’s philosophy perfectly – ‘Luck Has. Need Keeps. Toil Earns.’ GW says this is a Stratagem for the end of your Movement phase. Select a Votann Core Infantry unit within range of an objective marker, and this part of your army gets several benefits until the start of your next Movement phase:
- The unit automatically passes Morale tests
- The unit can ignore any rules causing actions it performs to fail (unless it makes a ranged attack or declares a charge)
- Any time a model in this unit would lose a wound, you can roll a D6 – and won’t lose a wound if you roll a six
“When applied to a unit with Objective Secured, this ploy can be an absolute game-winner”, the Warhammer Community post says. Do bear in mind, though, that the chosen Votann Core Infantry needs to stay in range of the objective marker to keep earning the Stratagem’s perks.
Finally, GW offers up a Battle Tactic Stratagem in the name of the Votann – ‘Optimised Volley’. Used in the shooting phase, this Stratagem affects a Votann unit you’ve selected to shoot. During this phase, any time the unit attacks with a bolt weapon, it scores an additional hit on an unmodified hit roll of six. Two additional hits can instead be scored if the unit has 11 or more models when the Stratagem was used.
Keep up with the Kin in our dedicated Leagues of Votann guide. Or, for everyone else, we’ve plenty Warhammer 40k factions guide instead – whether you’re here for Imperium, Chaos, or Xenos.