The Leagues of Votann Codex is Broken, Part 2: A Requested Unit Comparison.
Author: Cliff Thomas
On previous article about the Leagues of Votann generated a lot of discussion, most of which was quite healthy. A few folks were critical of the piece - some people made what we think was an excellent point about unit comparisons. While I might think that Necron Warriors and Hearthkyn Warriors were analogous (similar characteristic profiles, similar basic weapon profiles, the ability to regenerate destroyed models), others felt that it would be more appropriate to use a troop unit that is more frequently seen in competitive lists. The same was stated for Hernkyn Pioneers and Outriders (poor, poor Outriders). In response to that line of critique - great push! We’ll spend the next few hundred (wow, that estimate was fucking off, here’s another 1.7k) words attempting to make what we believe is more analogous comparison:
Troops - Hearthkyn Warriors vs. Battle Sisters
For better or worse, troop choices in the latest iteration of 40k’s competitive meta have been relegated to a minimal role - depending on the faction, they can either be considered a “tax” for access to the rest of a detachment’s options, or a source of cheap backfield objective secured bodies. They are rarely chosen for their offensive output or durability, though they can be surprisingly effectively along either of these output poles, depending on subfactions, stratagem access, and wargear options.
The Adepta Sororitas’ Battle Sisters could be considered an exemplar of the troop role. Relatively inexpensive, with access to powerful sub-faction traits and wargear whose effects are magnified through the Act of Faith faction mechanic.
The Sisters of Battle are also performing quite well in the Nephilim Meta. Their overall, Veteran, and Casual v. Casual Win rates are impressively high across nearly 1600 games, and they can be found in most event lists.
For those reasons, I thought comparing Battle Sisters to Hearthkyn Warriors would address some of the pointed criticism of our our original choice of Necron Warriors.
Battle Sisters are one of two Troop choices available to the Adepta Sororitas. They can be taken in units of 10-20, and cost 11 pts per model. Those 11 points get you the following:
| M | WS | BS | S | T | W | A | Ld | Sv | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battle Sister | 6" | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 3+ |
| Hearthkyn Warrior | 5" | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 4+ |
| Difference | -1" | +1 | - | +1 | +1 | - | +1 | - | -1 |
Battle Sisters also come with a “Sergeant” model, adding a model with an additional attack and Leadership to the squad, along with some close combat weapon options.
Let’s compare this to Hearthkyn Warriors - their profile has been added in the table above, with difference highlighted in the row beneath both troop profiles.
Hearthkyn Warriors can also be taken in units of 10-20, and also costs 11 points per model. For those 11 points, they lose one point of movement and Armour Save, gaining a Weapon Skill, Strength, Toughness, and an additional attack per model. They also come with a “Sergeant” model, adding similar access to higher leadership and additional close combat capability.
On basic profile alone, I would judge Hearthkyn Warriors the superior choice. For the same points costs, the baseline unit model gains significantly improved close combat ability (+1 Weapon Skill, Strength, and Attack) in exchange for slightly slower movement and arguably equivalent durability, trading a Toughness improvement for an Armour Save decrease.
“But Cliff” you say, “You haven’t accounted for the weapon options and upgrades! Sister have access to Melta weapons!” Let’s look at the weapons then.
Battle Sisters have Bolters: 24” range, Rapid Fire 1, Str 4, AP 0, Damage 1
Hearthkyn Warriors have Autoch-Pattern Bolters: 24” range, HunTR 2, Str 4, AP 1, Damage
Hearthkyn Warriors gain an additional shot at maximum range at all times, and a point of AP.
Battle Sisters: For every 10 models, a single Battle Sister can be equipped with a Multi-Melta, a powerful heavy weapon: 24” Range, Heavy 2, Str 8, AP 4, Damage D6 (D6+2 if within half range).
Hearthkyn Warriors: For every 10 models, a single Warrior can be equipped with a Magna-rail Rifle, a powerful HunTR weapon: 24” Range, HunTR 1, Str 9, AP 4, Damage D3+3 (Invulnerable Saving Throws cannot be taken against attacks made with this weapon. On unmodified wound rolls of 6, excess damage that weapon inflicts isn’t lost. Instead, allocating excess damage to other models in the target unit until all has been allocated or the unit has been destroyed.
Maybe I’ve got my priorities mixed, but given the choice between the Battle Sisters’ options/profile and the Hearthkyn equivalents above, I’m going with the Hearthkyn’s choice every time. For the typical Troops role, their profile is superior. Their basic weapons are flatly better. The Magna-rail Rifle circumvents the weaknesses of powerful, high damage weapons like Multi-Meltas by ignoring invulnerable saves and allowing for damage to carry over into more than one model.
The other weapons options repeat this pattern. Perhaps performance is equivalent when including faction and sub-faction bonuses ?
The highest performing Adepta Sororitas sub-faction is currently the Order of the Bloody Rose. They’re the Sisters close combat Sub-Faction, with bonuses related entirely to increased effectiveness in close combat:
Sub Faction Bonus: Quick To Anger
• Each time a unit with this conviction fights, if it made a charge move, was charged or performed a Heroic Intervention this turn, then until that fight is resolved, add 1 to the Attacks characteristic of models in this unit.
• Each time a model with this conviction makes a melee attack, if that model’s unit made a charge move, was charged or performed a Heroic Intervention this turn, improve the Armour Penetration characteristic of that attack by 1.
The Kronus Hegemony is the LoV’s close combat Sub-Faction. Their sub-faction bonus reads:
Sub Faction Bonus: Battle Prowess
• Each time a unit with this custom fights, if it made a charge move, was charged or performed a Heroic Intervention this turn, then until that fight is resolved, add 1 to the Attacks characteristic of models in that unit.
• Each time a model with this conviction makes a melee attack, if that model’s unit made a charge move, was charged or performed a Heroic Intervention this turn, add 1 to that attack’s Strength characteristic.
Finally, a seemingly equivalent bonus. Sisters get the AP, LoV get’s the Strength. Maybe there’s oh, wait, wait the LoV bonus continues:
Ancestral Judgment
• Each time a model with this custom (excluding a COG model) makes a melee attack against a target that has 2 or more Judgment tokens, the Armour Penetration characteristic of that attack is improved by 1.
Well shit. Given that its relatively easy to distribute Judgment Tokens, this ends up meaning that the Kronus Hegemony troops receive +1 strength in combat when compared with Bloody Rose Sisters.
It gets worse for the Sisters. Tear Them Down is a fantastic stratagem, allowing Bloody Rose Sisters to automatically wound on unmodified rolls of 6 to hit on melee attacks. LoV receive this bonus as a faction-wide trait, and then some.
Those automatic wounds also count as sixes. Put another way - the Leagues of Votann passively benefit from a significantly improved version of the Tear Them Down Blood Rose Stratagem, for all attacks, for the entire game.
Both units also benefit from Armour of Contempt. However, you can’t re-roll to wound rolls or damage rolls against Leagues of Votann units.
Hearthkyn Warriors are, across multiple measures, significantly better than Battle Sisters.
The Rest
With additional time, I would have written an in-depth comparison of Tomb Blades and Hernkyn Pioneers, but real life beckons. I strongly recommend taking a look yourself! While Pioneers cost 10 more points than Tomb Blades, they come with Relentlessly Expansionist and Eternal Conquerors built in, are more durable, and have significantly higher offensive output. Throw on your subfaction bonus of choice and…well you’ll get the point.
The same thing goes for the Hekaton Land Fortress - as far as cold, mathematical output and durability go, the closes equivalent would be the Iron Hands Repulsor Executioner immediately following the Iron Hands 8th Edition Supplement. That vehicle combined with buffs from the Codex version of Iron Father Feirros lead to a triple executioner lists winning events everywhere. Three years ago, 40k Stats Center provided an excellent rundown of the Iron Hands problem, using both empirical analysis alongside the opinions of top players and TO’s after seeing and experiencing the faction’s impact on the table. It was bad. It required multiple rounds of nerfs. The book’s ruleset was so strong that the army can still perform well in the right hands, *even now*.
Conclusion
I want to make a few things clear before flipping the switch on the tornado siren. Ultimately, you should play what you want. The Leagues of Votann model line looks amazing - I picked up a bunch of boxes because I'm building an Ash Wastes Nomad army that I plan to use as a proxy Ork/GSC/Imperial Guard list, and those bike models look fantastic (I'll be ditching the rest of the models, not my preferred vibe). If your play experience is heading to your friends house and playing some narrative-based friendly games, you're probably not taking the most finely tuned list anyway. If you like the models, and love the lore, then get after it with these short kings.
However, for the competitive community - this codex is an enormous fucking problem. When Land Fortresses (and Cthonian Beserks…) arrive, the competitive meta is going to be thrashed. They have the equivalent of Iron Father Feirros + Three Repulsor Executioners, except better. They have the equivalent of the Children of Bile Possesed riding in those Executioners, ready to respond to whatever close combat threat you sent out to deal with them. The more time I spend looking closely at the Leagues of Votann book, the more certain I am that the competitive community has to advocate, loudly, for a rapid response to the book.
I just finished hobbying up a Skarbrand that I’m pretty happy with, with only the basing to go. Hope you’re getting fun stuff on the table, and messaging your TO’s and local communities about the Leagues’ potential negative impact on your competitive context.
