As part of this year’s Grotmas Calendar, six new Detachments for Warhammer 40,000 are landing in your lap, and it’s time to see what the second one has in store. Yesterday saw the veteran companies of the Astra Militarum issue Orders with aplomb, and today’s recipients also love to shout loudly over the din of battle.
Just… they tend to shout blood-curdling war cries and praises to the Dark Gods instead. Uh-oh.
Nightmare Hunt
Many warbands of the Traitor Legions embrace shock assaults of limitless cruelty and terror. The tactics of a Nightmare Hunt have been employed to fuel sorcerous rituals with their victims’ fear, to sow discord and dread in their enemies or to serve as threatening reminders to circling rivals of a warband’s superiority. For some lords of Heretic Astartes, however, murder and misery-making for their own sake provide a sadistic delight.
Their warriors steal onto the battlefield, darkness their ally as they prowl closer to their prey. Enemy soldiers’ fears are stoked, then exploited, mounting anxiety and confusion becoming additional weapons in the Traitors’ arsenal. Howling horrors plummet from dark skies or tear their way into reality, ready to rend the foe apart in gruesome spectacles. Every error their quarry makes, every reckless decision and panicked judgment that fear drives them to, is another vulnerability that a Nightmare Hunt's predators gladly sink their talons into.
This detachment focuses on Chaos Space Marines that revel in shock assaults and sowing discord and dread, like the fearsome Night Lords. Enemy units within 12” of Chaos Space Marine units have to take Battle-shock tests in the Command phase if they are under Starting Strength rather than Half Strength, with an additional -1 penalty to that test. This is especially handy because Chaos Space Marines that then attack those Battle-shocked units get +1 To Wound, while enemy Battle-shocked units get a -1 penalty To Hit.
The Enhancements continue the shock assault theme. You can give a unit Stealth and make it unable to be targeted outside of 18” if it’s on an objective, or give one of your Jump Pack units the ability to go back into Strategic Reserve. Alternatively, Chaos Lords with Jump Packs can be given the ability to join Warp Talons and gain Scout 6”, and any Character can get another way to force Battle-shock tests, to access your Detachment boosts against more units.
The Stratagems lean into the idea of gaining extra strength from Battle-shocked enemies and give you multiple ways of causing more Battle-shock tests, spreading the fear across your opponents army. Some Stratagems give you boosts against Battle-shocked units like re-rolling To Hit rolls or improving the AP of your attacks by 1. Finally you have a pair of Stratagems to support your assaults – one allowing you to Advance and Charge, while the other lets you Fall Back and Shoot or Charge. Scary stuff!
Nightmare Hunt
view downloads
Does that all sound suitably scary? What do you mean Halloween was months ago? Get it downloaded and give your Chaos Space Marines a run through their terrifying new options, while we chase da Red Gobbo down and shake another Detachment out of him.
It’ll probably happen tomorrow. Shocking, we know.
Catch up on the Grotmas Calendar
view all
