Leagues of Votann Apocrypha: Chapter 1, Introduction

The Leagues of Votann army is pretty new, and has few units. But what if we had more?

Many players are dreaming of the day when we get "the rest of the model range" for the Leagues, though as far as I've been able to tell we don't actually know if Games Workshop has any real plans for that or how far into the future that might be. (We already have more datasheets than the Harlequins. At least we're less affiliated with other factions, so it's harder to low-key squat us like they did with the Harlequins in 10th.) 

But thinking about what could be is fun, and in this series I'll share my thoughts about what a wider range should look like, and how the rules should be.

My inspiration will be both what has been written about the Leagues of Votann, as well as the old Squat range and other armies in Warhammer 40k. The goal is to be lore-friendly, and to try to retain the type of army it seems Games Workshop wants the Leagues of Votann to be.

In this first post, we're just looking closer at some sources of inspiration.

Army playstyle

Others have stated, and I fully agree, that the general point cost level we're seeing in the 10th edition indexes is roughly where Games Workshop probably want the Leagues to be. They are similar to what we saw pre-nerf at the 9th edition launch, afterall. The only problem is that they're struggling a bit (a tiiiiny bit) with getting the power level right for those points. In 9th edition they had to bring the points up so much that we felt almost like custodes, while in 10th I think they've erred a bit in the other direction and made us slightly (actually only slightly) too weak for the points they've assigned us.

So I'll be assuming that a Kin army should be a medium-sized force. Not a horde, but not very elite either.

Beyond that, the units we have gotten, and their rules across two editions, give us a clue to how the Leagues of Votann are probably meant to play: A mobile force with the speed and toughness to compete for the midboard, primarily through powerful but short-ranged shooting. 

Mobile? You might think. Surely not, we have a base movement characteristic of 5"! Well, yes. But everything we have can go into transports with M10" or M12", except for bikes that have M12", fly and uppy-downy. We have fairly easy access to deepstrike.

It's probably possible to make a slow Leagues of Votann army, but I find it easier to make a fast one.

This mobility then, should be at the core of any new units added. While it's not a problem if some units may go in a different direction (like Eldar have wraiths), the best units added will help aid us in the "go there and stay there" style of play.

Alternate playstyles

While our main playstyle is outlined above, I think a lot of people would like an artillery aspect to the leagues of Votann, and I agree. Artillery is a very "dwarven" thing to have, and having units that support a slightly more "hang back and shoot" playstyle might be good. I strongly feel, however, that we shouldn't have many such units - as we've seen time and time again with indirect fire, GW finds it really hard to balance. It is also not really fun either to play or play against.

The army might also be expected to do an "anvil" style of play well, with units that advance slowly but are very hard to stop or kill.

Finally, no faction yells "huge humongous war machines" like the squats. We should have some superheavies.

Army weaknesses

As I see it right now, the main weakness of the Votann army is a lack of cheap screens, a slight lack of firepower in the early game before tokens are handed out, and a lack of burst damage to focus down priority targets. The lack of burst damage is felt especially keenly because our guns are very short ranged, and even though we have mobility we are not Eldar - it's hard to bring the entire army to bear on what needs to die.

The army also lacks a good way of dealing with monsters with damage reduction, such as C'tan or Wraithknights, as a lot of our damage output against hard targets is either locked as anti-vehicle (Grav guns), rely on multiple low-damage hits (Conversion beamers, Autocannons and Ancestral Wrath) or are extremely unreliable (Magna-rail weapons).

We also have some units that lack synergy with the rest of the army, such as the Beserks, who should at least have some sort of character that could buff them, or the Grimnyr who can only buff a unit that isn't really worth buffing in the way he does.

New units should preferably shore up these shortcomings. (Haha, short.)

Historical units

While not every new unit has to be inspired by the old days, it's neat if there are some throwbacks. Here are some old Squat units that we might take inspiration from - including some that I think are already used.

The Thudd Gun could easily be added to the Leagues of Votann with minor modernization. It'd be a great backline artillery unit. 

The modern hoverbikes are quite clearly based primarily on the old Squat Trikes, but it's worth noting that the Squat Aircar existed. I think we'd be best off saying it's the excuse for our bikes now flying, and then never talking about it again.

The Iron Eagle Gyrocopter is perhaps the easiest old squat Epic unit to bring into modern 40k. It is very similar in size and functions to various flyers in other armies. In a Leagues of Votann verison, I'd assume the propellers would be replaced with hover-pads similar to those on our E-Cogs and Hoverbikes.

The Goliath Mega-cannon was a stationary mortar that approaches the height of a Knight. Not sure how these would work in 40k, though they'd make very cool terrain pieces. These could easily be reimagined as smaller mortars, however, which could easily be part of a more artillery-style line for the Leagues of Votann.

The Overlord Airship. This flying behemoth is, if I remember correctly, comparable in size to a thunderhawk. As such, I doubt it'll make it back to 40k as a usable model - they might make some Forgeworld monstrosity out of it, but in that case I doubt we'd ever see one at the table. Which is a shame, as it's fairly iconic. Its main armament was 6 battlecannons, so each of those turrets is probably the size of a Leman Russ turret.

I'd like to see a scaled down version of this, perhaps with Autocannon turrets instead of battlecannon ones. It would be a great candidate for the Hover keyword.

The Hellbore, Mole and Termite. These three "underground drop pods" were mostly the same, but varied in size and capacity. The Hellbore was supposed to transport entire companies, and as such are unlikely to make it into 40k. 

The Termite is on the opposite side of the scale, transporting a few troops. It actually exists in 40k already - until recently. It was moved into legends at the onset of 10th edition, which means it's perfect to bring back for the Squats. 

The Mole is between the other two in size, and could transport light vehicles and artillery in addition to troops. 

The Land Train was perhaps the most iconic of all squat war machines. I actually believe we've already gotten a modernversion of this. The Hekaton Land Fortress is the locomotive (the model even has a train coupling at the mack), and the Sagitaurs are the cars reimagined.

A train, while cool, wouldn't work well in 40k.

The Cyclops and the Leviathan were humongous vehicles, standing as tall as Knights. They could easily become "lord of war" options for the Leagues of Votann, but their footprint makes me wonder how it would work. While they're about as tall as knights, they are very broad and long, and you'd have serious problems placing them on a regular 40k board.

For this reason, I think we'd need to look at some serious reimagining if these were to be brought back.

Inspiration from the codex

The 9th edition codex for Leagues of Votann does give us some hints about what new units might look like. (Of course, the Slicing Orbs of Zandros know that that doesn't mean GW will ever do anything about those ideas themselves - which is fine!) 

Possible units:

• Other Hernkyn units. The Hernkyn, as described on page 18 of the 9th edition codex, remind me of nothing so much as the outcasts/rangers of the Eldar, though they do it for the community instead of for themselves. This makes it easy to imagine other Hernkyn units, perhaps scouts on foot or wielders of various Xenos tech they've traded for or looted. In particular, not creating a Hernkyn "Lone Operative" (not necessarily on bike) would be a lost opportunity.
• Cthonian sappers and combat engineers. Mentioned on page 19 of the 9th edition codex.
• Non-Hearthkyn soldiers of the line. Page 20 of the 9th edition codex mention that Hearthkyn are the most common, implying that other kinds exist - probably professional soldiers, as the Hearthkyn are akin to (well trained) militia.
• High Kahl, Lord Grimnyr, Brokhyr Forge Master. Previously upgrades, could be upgrades again or new units.

Possible vehicles:

• "Light Gunship" - Mentioned as working alongside Sagitaur ATVs on page 17 of the 9th ed codex.
• "Harvester Fortress" and "Harvester plant" - Unknown what this is, probably a civillian vehicle, but might be an inspiration for repurposing for military purposes. Mentioned on page 17 of the 9th ed codex, and again on page 19 where it's said the Cthonians use them for military purposes.

Possible named characters:

• Kahl Svêkh Thûrkann - Mentioned on page 17 of the 9th ed codex. Greater Thurian League, history of fighting the World Eaters.
• Kahl Kôyvymm Rhêyd, heroine of the Blackharrow Expedition. Greater Thurian League, page 28.
• Grimnyr Vôk, the Fire of the Votann. Greater Thurian League, page 28.

There are several other possibilities.

Combinations not currently possible:

• Grimnyr leading Hearthguard. Mentioned on page 17 of the 9th edition codex.

Look for the next Apocrypha post soon!

Leave me a comment if you have ideas for units you really think should be included. Or if you think I'm wrong about our playstyle, or if I forgot some important old Squat unit. In the next post, I'll start detailing some units that I think GW should add to the Leagues of Votann.