The Leagues of Votann Army Set is available for pre-order this weekend, an incredible box which includes a special edition of the new Codex: Leagues of Votann. We’ve seen how their weapons work and found out what went into designing this ancient culture. Now, we’re looking at the Crusade rules for Warhammer 40,000’s newest faction.
For a real insight into how the Crusade rules for the Leagues of Votann work, we turned to Warhammer+ Battle Report presenter Si Grant, who’s been growing his army for a series of programmes on Warhammer TV.
Si: When an Oathband sets out from the galactic core, they do so not in search of fame and glory but to further the cause of League and Kin. In terms of their Crusade campaigns, their primary goal is to acquire fresh resources rather than killing and conquering.*
With every battle fought, your force will consolidate their military gains in the form of Requisition Points and Campaign Experience as normal, but they’ll also accrue one of four fundamental resources.
If you can stockpile sufficient resources, you can exchange them for Kindred Assets, which will give you bonuses in your Crusade – such as providing discounted Requisitions, or bonus Energy Sources with each battle.
If the Ancestors smile upon them, your Oathband will even discover Rare Resources. These represent exotic minerals, priceless salvage, experimental power sources, or extremely sensitive information. You can use these to upgrade your Kindred Assets, earning even greater campaign bonuses.
Powerful though these Crusade effects can be, you’d better enjoy them while you have them. Each time you lose a battle, there’s a chance that any Kindred Assets you possess may also be lost, as key supplies are squandered or abandoned in the wake of a defeat.
Budding Kâhls can download their own copy of this Acquisitions Sheet right here, in anticipation of their own Crusades.
Grudges
A fun element of playing with the Leagues of Votann in Crusade campaigns is that your units will develop a seething hatred for those who have wronged them. Should this happen, the calm level-headedness typically displayed by the Kin is usurped by a single-minded determination to claim vengeance against their enemies.
This effect can have mixed blessings. When fighting an enemy force against which any of your units hold Grudges, there’s a chance you’ll lose Command points as orders are ignored in a wrathful fury. However, there’s an equal chance that you can dish out Grudge tokens to enemy units.
As if that weren’t intimidating enough, the more Grudge tokens an enemy unit has, the more bonuses you’ll receive against them. One or two Grudge tokens allow you to re-roll to hit rolls of ‘1’, while you can re-roll all misses against a unit with three Grudge tokens! What’s more, your Grudge tokens act just like Judgement tokens for your Grudge-bearing models…
There is the small matter of your Grudge-bearing units no longer having the discipline to Fall Back or start actions if there are enemy units nearby – but if you’ve killed them all in an apocalyptic rage, it’s not an issue!
Thanks, Si! If you’ve not already done so, check out the three Leagues of Votann Crusade games on Warhammer+ to witness these new rules in action. You’ll be able to pre-order the Leagues of Votann army set from Saturday, and start your own Crusade force to claim the galaxy's resources and settle your grudges.
* Though they will kill you if you get in the way – this is Warhammer 40,000, after all.