Warhammer 40K Grotmas Review: Emperor’s Children, Space Wolves, and Space Marines – Oh My!
Goatboy here to finish off the Grotmas week. This time will talk about the new Emperor’s Children Detachment, the new Space Wolves Detachment, and how Marines get hit and utilize a new Datasheet.
While it is sad not to see every army get a detachment I am thankful we got a bunch of new ones to look at. I have enjoyed the detachment system and think these new ones are pretty interesting.
Emperor’s Children – Court of the Phoenecian
The Emperor’s Children get a new detachment called Court of the Phoenician, which is a close combat heavy option for the EC players. The detachment rule is called Sensational Performance, and it gives your units, if they charged, the ability together +1 Strength and AP on the units’ melee weapons. There are a ton of caveats, and you can only target someone that isn’t targeted by someone else, and you can target a unit you were in engagement range with at the start of the turn. This is due to how the army can all fall back and charge, etc. Fulgrim also gets the ability to discount 2 specific stratagems each battle round by 1.
The enhancements are all built around making your characters fight better. You get an ignore all modifiers to any WS, Hit Roll, or wound roll. You get to add a 1″ extra move to a Lord Exultant and let that model join a Flawless Blades unit. You get an option to force a Battleshock test on a unit within engagement range at a -1. You finally get an upgrade for a Daemon Prince that gives the model +1 strength and attacks on their melee weapons.
The Stratagems seem pretty decent. You have an option to be -1 to wound if the Strength of the Attack is higher in the fight phase and shooting phase. You get a 2CP reroll hit and wound rolls versus a character unit in melee. You get at 1CP ignore terrain features move, which could be helpful for those flying Daemon princes that got more expensive. You get an option to get +1 Strength and AP on your shooting attacks when shooting a unit within 12″. There is a reroll charges 6″ aura off of one unit which feels pretty good for 1CP. Finally you get a d6 blood surge move after getting shoot and losing at least a wounded. Overall, this army feels ok, but I think the current “correct” choice with Coterie of the Conceited is better.
Space Wolves – Saga of the Great Wolf
The new Space Wolf Detachment – Saga of the Great Wolf aka, Wolfy Gladius, is a cool new option for Space Wolves. This is a detachment designed in a Gladius-like way by allowing you to call upon three different rules at the beginning of the turn to supercharge your army. If you happen to be playing with Logan, you can call upon a rule you’ve already chosen as well, which matches into some of the nonsense Calgar can do now. The three rules are Encircling Jaws, which gives you reroll advance and charge rolls. Hunter’s Eye lets you get a +1 to your ranged attack hit roll. Ferocious Strike lets you select a unit and pick Lethal Hits or Sustained hits for the weapons they have. I think Ferocious Strike looks pretty mean and most likely used twice with Logan on the battlefield.
There are four Enhancements, with the first one giving a Terminator Captain the ability to use Rapid Ingress for 0cp and even use it if they have already used it before. This can be spicy to let you drop 2 things into a rough position for your opponent. We have an option for the Wolf Priest to cause a Battle Shock at -1 on enemies in the fight phase with him. You get a redeploy option as well for up to 3 units. Finally, the Wolf Guard Battle Leader would get a lance on all the weapons in the squad they are leading.
The Stratagems look pretty interesting with a -1 AP after getting selected by opponents’ attacks. You have the needed Advance/Charge or Fallback/Charge. You have a cool mounted only Stratagem that lets the unit ignore terrain and models. You get another that lets you repack one of the Hunting Pack rules as well. You get a +1 to wound during shooting for a CP. There is a d6 surge move if you were selected as a target of an attack, which seems fun. Overall, this is an interesting detachment that feels very Space Wolf-like, but I think Gladius will still be used or Stormlance as the abilities just seem better.
Space Marines – Assault Termy Tweak
Finally, the Space Marines got a nice little datasheet update with fixed Assault Terminators. The unit got two big rules changes, with the first one gaining hitting on a 3+ with their Thunder Hammers. This is pretty powerful and will help let the unit actually do something when they get into combat. The other update is to change their Battleshock on the charge to always cause Battleshock tests to any unit within engagement range of them. Hunter’s Instinct took a hit in only counting as 1 higher for the Battle Round in your movement phase. This keeps you from using Rapid Ingress to do some mean things.
Overall, we got some fun updates this Grotmas, and while it isn’t giving things to everyone, it is still great to get some fresh new content. Who knows what the next year will bring with rumors of all kinds of fun stuff.
~Until next time, Happy Holidays and may all your rolls be 6’s.
