The Leagues of Votann are pragmatic folk, and they always weigh the cost of lives against the value of a claim – whether it’s a silent and lonely asteroid or the middle of a raging battlefield. They know when to unleash their fury and when to remain steadfast in the face of enemy fire, and this Prioritised Efficiency is at the heart of their new army ability in the upcoming Codex: Leagues of Votann.
Previously, the Kin were more than a little obsessed with settling grudges against enemy units – and while that’s very like them, they’ve now cooled off a touch and refocused their attention on taking and holding valuable resources.
Remember: Luck has. Need keeps. Toil earns.
The new army rule carefully measures your army’s progress by accumulating Yield Points – or YP – switching from the aggressive, attack-focused bonuses of Hostile Acquisition to the defensive buffs of Fortify Takeover once you hit the threshold of 7 YP.
Army Rules:
PRIORITISED EFFICIENCY
If your Army Faction is Leagues of Votann, Leagues of Votann units from your army have one of two abilities: Hostile Acquisition or Fortify Takeover (see below). During the battle, which ability those Leagues of Votann units have will change depending on how many Yield points (YP) you currently have:
At the start of the battle, your units have Hostile Acquisition until the start of your next Command phase.
At the end of your Command phase, if you have fewer than 7YP, your units have Hostile Acquisition until the start of your next Command phase.
At the end of your Command phase, if you have 7YP or more, your units have Fortify Takeover until the start of your next Command phase.
Army Rules:
HOSTILE ACQUISITION
Each time a model in this unit makes an attack that targets an enemy unit within range of one or more objective markers, add 1 to the Hit roll.
You can re‑roll Advance and Charge rolls made for this unit.
FORTIFY TAKEOVER
Each time a model in this unit makes an attack that targets an enemy unit, if this unit is within range of one or more objective markers you control, add 1 to the Hit roll.
Each time an attack targets this unit, if the Strength characteristic of that attack is greater than this unit’s Toughness characteristic and this unit is not a Vehicle, subtract 1 from the Wound roll.
Until you’ve built up enough YP to activate Fortify Takeover, your troops get a powerful bonus to their Hit roll when targeting enemies sitting on objectives, as well as the ability to reroll Advances and Charges. This incentivises quick and decisive action in the early game, before castling up to defend those all-important objectives at all costs.
Army Rules:
YIELD POINTS
At the end of each player’s Command phase, you gain 1YP if you control one or more objective markers within your deployment zone, and, from the second battle round onwards, you gain 1 additional YP for each of the following conditions you satisfy:
You control one or more objective markers not within your deployment zone.
You control two or more objective markers not within your deployment zone.
You control more objective markers than your opponent.
In your turn, YP gained in this way are always gained before checking which ability Leagues of Votann units from your army have.
Whenever a rule allows you to spend YP, reduce the number of YP you have by that amount (your YP cannot go below 0), otherwise you cannot use that rule.
Yield Points are earned by capturing objectives: you get more in each Command phase if you control more. If you’re off to a hot start, you can even swap over to Fortify Takeover as early as the second battle round.
They’re used for more than just switching from attack to defence, and many Stratagems and Enhancements get a little extra oomph if you spend YP when activating them. Not only does this give you a reason to build up more past the critical threshold, it also lets you manipulate your stockpile in case you’d prefer the benefits of Hostile Acquisition for that turn.
The Needgaârd Oathband is the most conventional of the new Detachments, building up YP by killing enemy units as well, and it has some of the most effective means of spending them. The Ancestral Crest Enhancement is beautiful in its simplicity, effectively letting you spend Yield Points instead of Command Points to activate the Command Re-roll Stratagem once per turn.
Detachment Rule
NEEDGAÂRD OATHBAND:
MARTIAL LEVERAGE
Each time an enemy unit is destroyed, you gain 1YP.
Enhancement:
NEEDGAÂRD OATHBAND:
ANCESTRAL CREST
Leagues of Votann model only. Once per turn, when you target the bearer’s unit with the Command Re‑roll Stratagem, the bearer can use this Enhancement. If it does, spend 1YP and reduce the CP cost of that use of that Stratagem by 1CP.
When it’s time to hit back, you have plenty of ways to use your YP. Honour of the Hold turns even the humble Hearthkyn Warrior into an armour-busting knife fighter, while Ancestral Sentence synergises wonderfully with the blistering rate of fire on the Ironkin Steeljacks’ heavy volkanite disintegrators with Sustained Hits 2.
HONOUR OF THE HOLD – 1CP
NEEDGAÂRD OATHBAND - BATTLE TACTIC STRATAGEM
WHEN: Fight phase.
TARGET: One Leagues of Votann unit from your army that has not been selected to fight this phase.
EFFECT: Each time you use this Stratagem, you can spend 3YP. Select one enemy unit within Engagement Range of your unit. Until the end of the phase, each time a model in your unit makes a melee attack that targets that enemy unit, improve the Armour Penetration characteristic of that attack by 1. If you spent YP during this use of this Stratagem, improve the Armour Penetration characteristic of that attack by 2 instead.
ANCESTRAL SENTENCE – 1CP
NEEDGAÂRD OATHBAND - BATTLE TACTIC STRATAGEM
WHEN: Your Shooting phase.
TARGET: One Leagues of Votann unit from your army that has not been selected to shoot this phase.
EFFECT: Each time you use this Stratagem, you can spend 3YP. Until the end of the phase, ranged weapons equipped by models in your unit have the [SUSTAINED HITS 1] ability. If you spent YP during this use of this Stratagem, until the end of the phase, those weapons have the [SUSTAINED HITS 2] ability instead.
Elsewhere, the close combat-focused Dêlve Assault Shift Detachment grants Cthonian Beserks the Deep Strike ability and Battleline keyword, with Enhancements and Stratagems aimed squarely at getting them into the melee as fast as possible. By contrast, the Persecution Prospect Detachment favours Hernkyn scouting units and their long-ranged firepower, keeping enemy units pinned down with focused volleys that cripple their movement and set them up for brutally effective counterpunches.
The Brandfast Oathband makes use of transport vehicles to form mobile command centres, handing out Sustained Hits 1 to Infantry that hang around nearby while several Stratagems give your army an extra turn of speed while Hostile Acquisition is active. Lastly, the Hearthfire Arsenal Detachment brings your Ironkin and Brôkhyr units to the fore, using experimental weaponry and their signature advanced firepower to drive would-be rivals away from central objectives.
We’ll be back with more from the new Codex: Leagues of Votann later this week, including a look at the new miniatures and their rules tomorrow. The ancestors are watching, and you should be too!
