While we got serious point reductions since 9th, the low number of datasheets in the Leagues of Votann index combined with the new fixed squad sizes mean that building armies to a set number of points can be hard. One thousand points seem especially challenging. Lets look at a couple of possible 1000 point lists that could be fun to try out.
For any serious Warhammer 40k list, you need to consider how to deal with hordes of light troops, concentrations of heavier troops, as well as hard targets. You also need to be able to take and hold objectives, and unless you're playing Only War, to score secondary objectives - which often requires good mobility or reserves that can come in at a convenient time.
Votann have units with the ability to do all these things, but they are costly, and hard to put together at 1000 points. The main synergy in the army is having things that can die in order for other things to get tokens, and at low point values there isn't much that can be sacrificed. Granted, the Ruthless Efficiency rule (giving two tokens to an enemy unit at the start of the game) is better at low points, but it only goes so far - especially if you're facing an MSU-style enemy.
List idea 1: Hearthkyn Horde with Sagitaurs
The simplest way of dealing with getting some tokens, is having stuff that can die. Our cheapest unit is half a Hearthkyn unit, at 67.5 points. How do you get half a Hearthkyn unit? Sagitaurs. Incredibly, these two units fill a lot of our requirements for a list as well:
Hearthkyn are very efficient at holding objectives, with the their sticky objectives rule. This rule can be especially important in 1000 point games, where there is a lot of board to cover with few units. The Hearthkyn aren't really super-efficient at anything else, but they do have weapons that can threaten a wide array of foes, which is nice.
Sagitaurs for their part are very fast at 12" with a Scout move of 6", and they can help the Hearthkyn get into good positions. They play the game well. They can also be decent anti-tank and good anti-light and heavy infantry. They are also annoyingly tough at 1000 points, considering there are three of them.
A sagitaur and a squad of hearthkyn comes in at 255 points, so we can take that combo three times for a total of 765 points. At this point we have 9 units. We need a character, so that's next on our list. A Kahl is good for dealing out judgement tokens, though his other buffs are kinda wasted on half a unit of hearthkyn. The simplest answer is taking him in another unit of hearthkyn, for a total of 990 points.
For weapons, the big Hearthkyn unit with the Kahl will take Bolters, to take best advantage of the Lethal hits given by the Kahl. The Thane will keep his bolter but take a plasma pistol. For special weapons, this squad will take an L7 missile launcher (for flexibility and some anti-tank) and your preference of either a HYLas Auto-rifle or a HYLas Rotary-cannon. My preference is on the rotary cannon for this squad. The Kahl himself can take any weapons you like, I prefer a combi-bolter in this squad to keep all ranges at 24". Both melee weapons are good enough, pick the one you like.
The three other Hearthkyn squads will each split in two, half going in the sagitaur. The choice of Bolters VS Blasters for these squads are up to you, both have advantages - see our article on that. I'm taking Magna-rail rifles and Plasma-beamers as special weapons for these three squads, to increase our output against hard targets. These weapons cannot be relied upon, but they will sometimes do something. I prefer keeping a ranged weapon on the thane, but you can do melee here if you want. These squads split with the Thane, Medic, Scanner and Special weapons going in one half-squad to maximize shooting and robustness - the thane takes any AP-2 or better hits to try to tank on his invulnerable save. The other half-squad has the comms array (because he has to go somewhere, you're not spending CP on these guys anyway) and the rank-and-file guys.
Which half goes into the sagitaur depends. I tend to put the "useless combat squad" into the sagis, as I run the sagis up early to dump their contents on the midboard objectives. This means they die first, so the guys with good guns come trudging up behind. But there are other ways of playing it.
For the sagitaurs, we're taking missile launchers on all of them. That gives us six strength 12 shots at damage 3 and 3 strength 9 shots at damage d6, which is decent anti-tank, and we can switch the strength 9 shot for D6 blast if the enemy shows up with hordes. (Damned necrons.) The twin bolt cannon is also a pretty good gun, and punche above its weight against hard targets due to being twin-linked.
Kahl: 90
Hearthkyn: 135
Hearthkyn: 135
Hearthkyn: 135
Hearthkyn: 135
Sagitaur: 120
Sagitaur: 120
Sagitaur: 120
You can switch the Kahl for another character with an enhancement, to help compensate for losing the Kahl's ability to hand out tokens. This can be good if you find that getting visibility to relevant enemies are hard. An Einhyr Champion with a teleport crest can be a good choice for some added mission play and backfield threat, and the Wayfarers grace pairs well with him to make him last longer and be worth two tokens when he is taken out. Appraising Glare also pairs very well with him as it can be used while he's waiting off the board, possibly a better choice even than a Kahl - but it does require that your opponent allows you to fix it to last the entire turn instead of just the phase as it is currently written. I personally don't like "A long list" (Just taking a Kahl is better), and I think Grim demeanour is wasted in this list - it's better to buff a Hearthguard unit with that enhancement. The Grimnyr is another good choice, as his psychic attack is actually a pretty good weapon. If you're planning to keep your Sagitaurs back as artillery platforms an Ironmaster might work to keep them alive longer, but I think the best play is to have them out and about.
List idea 2: Pioneering spirit
While drowning your opponent in T5 bodies might work, hearthkyn warriors aren't the most inspiring troop choices, and even with sagitaurs the Hearthkyn Horde might not quite have the mobility needed to play Leviathan missions super-well. Lets instead maximize mobility, and that means pioneers!
We're still looking at a bit of MSU thinking to maximize points, so we'll just have 3 units of 3 pioneers, at 105 points each they are a steal. I want them with HYLas rotary cannons for the range and searchlights and scanners to make sure they can't be debuffed much. Scanners are mandatory in 10th, but you could replace the searchlight with a comms array if you really want to. Personally, I don't like the odds of getting anything back from that.
We could take bigger units of pioneers as bikes aren't bad, but apart from the judgement token issues with that, bigger units won't give us better mission play.
Instead, we'll take a Hearthkyn Warriors + Sagitaur combo for a total of 255 points. The hearthkyn sticky objectives are still nice to have, and the Sagitaur isn't bad. Same weapons loadout as in the previous example. And it's another 3 units for the token game. That leaves us with another 430 points to use.
We sorely need some anti-tank in this list, and maybe something tough to avoid the enemy being able to focus down the Sagitaur. Lets take a Land Fortress (245), a Kahl (90) and a unit of 3 Brokhyr Thunderkyn with Graviton blast cannons. These cannons are not only good against vehicles, they are also great at thinning hordes. (Of course, this strategy leaves us weak against Monsters, with only the Sagitaur and Land Fortress as credible threats against such targets.) The Kahl goes with the non-mounted unit of hearthkyn to deal out tokens as in our first list, the Thunderkyn goes in the fortress.
That's 1000 points exactly:
Kahl: 90
Hearthkyn: 135
Sagitaur: 120
Pioneers: 105
Pioneers: 105
Pioneers: 105
Thunderkyn: 95
Land Fortress: 245
I'd give you some possible variants, but it's late and it's a working day. Hopefully these lists have given you some ideas, please share your opinions! And remember, a field of foes isn't a problem, it's an opportunity to test the quality of your weapons.
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