Today it’s the turn of the industrius League of Votann to receive their updated rules for use in Warhammer 40,000 10th Edition. Games Workshop let us have an early peek at the new Index Leagues of Votann and you’ll find our thoughts below.

Over the next week Games Workshop will be releasing the free 10th Edition rules for every faction in Warhammer 40k over on Warhammer Community! Every army will be getting a set of Index cards (That will also be available to buy later) covering the rules for each datasheet, along with the Army Rules, Detachment rules for a single detachment plus all the enhancements and stratagems!

If you want to add to your Leagues of Votann and also support the site why not order through our affiliate Element Games and save yourself some money too?

Also check out our 10th Edition 40k Coverage on the site and below on YouTube.

Army Rules

As with all other factions in 10th edition, the Leagues of Votann now have a much more streamlined set of army rules. Eye of the Ancestors returns for the Kin but with some big changes to the iconic Judgement Token mechanic. Enemy units now accrue Judgement Tokens each time they destroy one of your Votann units up to a maximum on two tokens. Each time one of your units makes an attack against an enemy unit that has any Judgement Tokens they benefit from a cumulative bonus. At one Judgement Token they’ll benefit from a +1 to hit modifer and at two tokens they also gain a +1 to wound modifier. It feels like they’ll be less Judgement Tokens to dish out over the course of a battle (although your Khals can still hand them out too and there are some nice Stratagems) and I’ll sure miss the auto-wound ability but +1 to hit and wound is still a very useful bonus.

Oathband Detachment

Detachment rules have also changed quite a bit in 10th edition with each faction gaining access to a single faction-specific Detachment (although I suspect we’ll see more options as Codexes are published). In addition there are now no longer any ‘army-build’ restrictions imposed upon the player when using a Detachment allowing for a much simpler and more flexible list building process. The Oathband is the Leagues of Votann Detachment option and allows you to make use of the Ruthless Efficiancy ability. At the start of the battle you can select an enemy unit and assign to them two Judgement Tokens (a great way to get an early advantage whilst attacking a key unit in your opponent’s army). In addition, you’ll receive a number of CP depending on the turn in which you manage to destroy said unit (the earlier the better).

Oathband Enhancements

Enhancements are a new concept in Warhammer 40,000 10th edition and essentially bring together a number of Warlord Traits, Relics and other ‘unit upgrades’ from across the different 9th edition books. The Enhancements themselves are associated with the aforementioned Oathband Detachment and are only availble to make use of if you have selected this specifc Detachment. Only Characters (not including Epic Heroes) can be upgraded with Enhancements and they are limited to just a single choice (although you can take up to three across your entire army).

Appraising Glare can be used to target an enemy unit currently controlling an objective and allowing all friendly units that target that unit with an attack to count it has having one more Judgement Token than it actually has. Grim Demeanor is a useful pick for mitigating the impact of Battle-shock tests somewhat (I have a feeling Battle-shock will play a big part in games of 10th edition). A Long List allows you redistribute some of the enemy’s Judgement Tokens upon destroying them. Finally the Wayfarer’s Grace enhancement is fantastic and allows the bearer to come back to life with full wounds on a dice roll of 2+!

Oathband Stratagems

The selection of Stratagems have also been trimmed for all factions in 10th edition with just six (in addition to those in the Core Rulebook) available to the Leagues of Votann – these being locked behind the Oathband Detachment.

Warrior Pride provides a small AP boost to a unit that targets an enemy unit in the Fight phase with at least one Judgement Token. Ancenstral Sentence grants a version of the Sustained Hits ability to the ranged attacks of a Votann unit depending on how many Judgement Tokens the target unit has.

Ordered Retreat allows the targeted unit to fall back and still declare a charge or shoot later that turn. Reactive Reprisal is a great Stratagem that allows you to return fire against an enemy unit during your opponent’s Shooting phase. Newfound Nemesis can be used to dish out even more Judgement Tokens to enemy units as a result of them bringing one of your units to below half strength (with bonus tokens handed out if your unit contained your Warlord) and finally Void Armour can be used to reduce the AP of incoming melee or ranged attacks (although now no longer prevents re-rolls to wound).

Key Units

Index Leagues of Votann contains all the respective Datasheets and is now available over on the Warhammer Community website for you to download and digest at your leisure. Every Datasheet has been updated in some way and there are plenty of synergies and devastating combinations to discover.

The Hearthkyn Warriors keep a variety of loadout options and with their Luck Has, Need Keeps, Toll Earns ability allows them to stay mobile and apply pressure over the battlefield.

Einhyr Hearthguard have a really cool ability, Oathband Bodyguard, that can offer some protection from high strength attacks whilst a Character unit is joined to them.