The new 11th edition Leagues of Votann detachments are here, and all three Ancestor Cores are built to race up the table and punch hard the moment they land.
The Kin are the newest army rolling into the new edition of Warhammer 40k, and GW just spent their Faction Focus handing out three new detachments for them. All three are Ancestor Cores, and cost a single Detachment Point enable them to get up the board fast, find out what your opponent is hiding, then drop an elite hammer on the soft spot.
Games Workshop’s Faction Focus walks through the Armored Trailblazers, the Farseekers, and the Hearthguard Covenant. We’re near the end of the run too, with only the Adeptus Mechanicus and Necrons left after this, so if you tracked how the Aeldari and Drukhari shook out, this is the Votann entry you’ve been waiting on.
If you run Leagues of Votann, this is the 11th Edition preview to circle, because these three 1 DP cores change how aggressively the Kin can play straight out of deployment.
- Armored Trailblazers turn Sagitaurs into a Turn 1 24-inch threat: Scouts 6″ stacks with Blistering Advance to drop a squad almost in your opponent’s lap on the first turn.
- Farseekers light up hidden units and crack open cover for one CP: Hernkyn scouts expose anything skulking in terrain, then Scornful Analysis lets the Oathband blow through the wall to hit it.
- The Hearthguard Covenant makes Einhyr re-roll Wounds and hit harder on command: Avatars of the Ancestors plus Fury of the Hearth turns the elite shooters into a point-blank problem.
Armored Trailblazers Make Sagitaurs a Turn 1 Problem
Sagitaurs are already the workhorse of a kinhost’s motor pool, a fast transport and recon vehicle that scoots out ahead of the heavier armor. The Armored Trailblazers detachment leans all the way into that, handing them the valuable Scouts 6″ ability and a few tricks that make the early game miserable for whoever’s across the table.
- Scouts 6″ plus Blistering Advance equals a Turn 1 deep drop: Sagitaurs already dump their cargo after an Advance, so with the extra Scout move you can spill a squad up to 24″ out of your deployment zone before the first turn even starts.
- Scout moves double as a panic button: those moves happen right before turn one, so you can also yank an exposed scouting Vehicle back out of a bad spot if your opponent’s deployment caught you with your void suit down.
- An enhancement rams Sagitaurs straight through terrain: dense terrain is normally the wall that stops a fast push, so a structural-scan enhancement lets them punch through wood, brick, and iron instead of driving around it.
- Outflanking Armor brings two of them in for 1 CP: trade the pre-battle Scout move for Strategic Reserves, and a single Command Point walks two Sagitaurs on from the flank later.
That terrain trick is also your first proper look at the new Mobile type keyword, which lets a unit move horizontally through dense terrain. Some agile stuff gets it included (Ork Squighog Boyz, for one), and even Super-heavy Walkers can grab it if they’re willing to risk battleshock.
For the Kin, it means the Trailblazers don’t just go fast, they go fast in a straight line through whatever’s in the way.
Farseekers Find What Your Opponent Is Hiding
Where the Trailblazers are about speed, the Farseekers are about information. Hernkyn range out ahead of the main force to scan the battlefield, whether they’re on foot in a Yaegir squad or tearing around on jetbikes as a Pioneer squadron. Plus, that scanning gear does real work now once the shooting starts.
- Pan-spectral scanners drag hidden units into the open: anything trying to disguise itself as scenery gets spotted, and once it’s revealed, the rest of the Oathband can fire on it at their leisure.
- Scornful Analysis cracks cover for one CP: the scouts flag structural weak points so your guns can blow through a weakened wall and hit whatever’s cowering behind it.
- Yaegir on foot or Pioneers on jetbikes: you pick the delivery method, so the detachment slots into a footslogging Oathband or a faster jetbike-led list without much fuss.
Put together, the Farseekers punish the kind of hide-and-hold play that usually frustrates a shooting army. If your opponent leans on terrain to keep their good units safe, the Kin not only find them but then knock the wall down.
The Hearthguard Covenant Turns Einhyr Into a Point-Blank Nightmare
The Hearthguard Covenant is the punch that the other two detachments set up. Einhyr Hearthguard are the elite of an Oathband, advanced armor suits built to fight at point-blank range and shrug off the kind of fire that would fold lesser troops.
- Avatars of the Ancestors re-rolls Wound rolls: every Hearthguard mounts at least two guns, so they get a lot of mileage out of re-rolling Wounds, and the only way to switch it off is to engage them in melee, which is its own bad idea.
- A dying Kâhl can take you with it: even if you punch through their defenses and drop a venerable Kâhl, there’s a chance they answer back on the way down.
- Fury of the Hearth dials the damage up for 1 CP: no distance requirement here, spend the Command Point, and the barrage hits a whole lot harder.
So basically, this is the anvil at the end of the Kin’s hammer. Get them into close range with help from the Trailblazers and Farseekers, and a unit that already re-rolls Wounds becomes the thing your opponent has no clean answer for.
Final Thoughts on Leagues of Votann Detachments
The fun part is that these three 11th Edition Leagues of Votann Detachments are built to stack. Armored Trailblazers pairs naturally with the Brandfast Oathband, which loves its Transports too; the Hearthguard Covenant can reinforce just about any list with a unit or two of elites, and at 1 DP apiece, you can run all three together for a fast pioneering force that softens the ground before the Hearthguard land the finishing blow.
If the rest of the codex follows this 1 DP, mix-and-match pattern, the Kin will be far more flexible in 11th Edition than their small range suggests. Keep an eye on how the points and detachment rules settle out when the full rules drop.
🔗 Related Reads:
- Warhammer 40k 11th Edition Rules: Reveals, Rumors + Predictions
- 11th Edition Aeldari Detachments: Four New Ways to Play Fast
- 3 New 11th Edition Drukhari Detachments for Wyches, Kabals & Covens
- 11th Edition Tyranid Detachments Buff Lictors and Warriors
- 40k Factions Explained: Leagues of Votann Army Guide
- How to Play Leagues of Votann in 10th Edition: Rules Guide
- All the Warhammer 40k Leagues of Votann Models So Far
Which of the new Leagues of Votann detachments are you building your Oathband around first?
