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This is SprueSentry strategy commentary, not official rules. The parts of this detachment amended in the Chaos Space Marines Faction Pack version 1.2 Rules Updates are confirmed against that document, checked on 27 August 2026. The rest of the rule, stratagem and enhancement lists come from the 10th-edition Codex: Chaos Space Marines by way of community rules mirrors. Detachment Point costs and enhancement points are not in the Faction Pack; they were read from the official Munitorum Field Manual on 27 August 2026 and are reprinted here as a planning aid. Points move with every update, so confirm them in the Warhammer 40,000 app before a game.
At the start of your Command phase, select one unit from your opponent's army to be your focus of hatred. Until the start of your next Command phase, each time a Heretic Astartes model from your army (excluding Damned models) makes an attack that targets your focus of hatred, you can re-roll the Hit roll. An official FAQ confirms you can select a unit embarked within a Transport.
2CP. Just after your focus of hatred is destroyed, one Heretic Astartes Character unit (excluding Damned) selects a new enemy unit within 12" and visible to become your focus of hatred until your next Command phase.
1CP. Just after an enemy unit selects its targets, one targeted Heretic Astartes unit (excluding Damned) worsens the Armour Penetration of attacks against it by 1 until that attacker finishes. Faction Pack v1.2 rewrites this Effect section.
1CP. One Heretic Astartes unit (excluding Damned) within Engagement Range of your focus of hatred has Fights First until the end of the phase. Faction Pack v1.2 changed this from its previous cost and timing to 1CP in the Fight phase.
How to play Veterans of the Long War in 11th edition — the 2-DP Black Legion detachment that names one enemy unit each turn and re-rolls the whole army's hits against it.
BySprue Sentry
ReviewedAug 27, 2026
SourceFaction Pack: Chaos Space Marines v1.2 (official GW PDF, legal from 26 August 2026)
Sprue Sentry strategy commentary for 11th edition, not official rules. Games Workshop updates points and rules regularly; always confirm against the current official rules and latest update before a game.
Veterans of the Long War is the Chaos Space Marines detachment: a 2-Detachment-Point package that hands your entire army a re-roll against a single nominated target, every turn, with no conditions. It reflects (Chaos Space Marines Faction Pack v1.2, legal for matched play from 26 August 2026).
1CP. One Heretic Astartes Infantry or Mounted unit (excluding Damned) is eligible to shoot after Advancing or Falling Back, and its bolt pistols, boltguns and combi-bolters gain Devastating Wounds until it has inflicted 6 wounds that way this turn.
1CP. One Heretic Astartes unit (excluding Tzeentch) that has not shot gains Ignores Cover on its ranged weapons, and Torrent weapons in the unit change their Attacks characteristic to 6.
1CP. Just after an enemy unit ends a Normal, Advance or Fall Back move, one Heretic Astartes Infantry or Mounted unit (excluding Damned) within 8" and not engaged makes a 6" Normal move. Faction Pack v1.2 changed the target range from 9" to 8".
Heretic Astartes model only, excluding Damned models. The bearer's unit is eligible to shoot and declare a charge after Falling Back; against your focus of hatred, if it Fell Back this turn add 1 to Hit rolls, and add 1 to Charge rolls when charging that target. Rewritten by Faction Pack v1.2.
Heretic Astartes model only, excluding Damned models. While the bearer is on the battlefield, each time your focus of hatred is destroyed, roll a D6: on a 4+ you gain 1CP.
Chaos Lord model only. Each time the bearer attacks your focus of hatred, an unmodified successful Wound roll of 5+ scores a Critical Wound.
Heretic Astartes model only, excluding Damned models. Once per turn you can re-roll one Hit roll, one Wound roll or one saving throw made for the bearer.
The thematic centrepiece, and the pack rewrote his Dark Destiny ability so a Dark Pact result of 7 or more gains 1CP.
See the box: price and offersThe unit most improved by a whole-army Hit re-roll against one target, and a good Bringers of Despair carrier.
See the box: price and offersBlack Crusade names bolt pistols, boltguns and combi-bolters specifically, which is what a Legionaries squad carries.
See the box: price and offersThe only legal Warmaster's Gift bearer, and the character that turns the focus of hatred into a kill.
See the box: price and offersDurable elite infantry that pairs with Contemptuous Disregard. No current catalog kit matched this datasheet, so no box is linked.
Focus of Hatred is a re-roll waiting for volume of fire. Havocs and Obliterators with Heavy supply exactly that, and Let the Galaxy Burn adds Ignores Cover on the same turn.
Nothing in Focus of Hatred helps against a target you cannot see or reach. Fleshy Curse ignores both problems, and Cabal's Psyker buffs stack with the army-wide re-roll.
This is SprueSentry strategy commentary, not official rules. The pack does not reprint this detachment in full, but its Rules Updates section officially amends four of its rules, and those amendments are confirmed against the pack, checked on 27 August 2026. The rest of the rule, six stratagems and four enhancements come from the 10th-edition codex by way of community rules mirrors. Its DP cost and enhancement points come from the official Munitorum Field Manual, and the Warhammer 40,000 app is the final word.
At the start of your Command phase, select one unit from your opponent's army to be your focus of hatred. Until the start of your next Command phase, each time a Heretic Astartes model from your army (excluding Damned models) makes an attack that targets your focus of hatred, you can re-roll the Hit roll.
That is the whole rule, and its virtue is that it has no other condition at all. No keyword, no phase, no range, no objective, no pact. If the target is your focus of hatred, everything you own re-rolls hits against it.
An official FAQ confirms you can select a unit that is embarked within a Transport, which matters more than it sounds: you can name a squad while it is still inside a Rhino and be ready for the turn it disembarks.
The skill is target selection. A full re-roll on hits is worth most against a unit you can genuinely kill in one turn, and worth almost nothing against something you can only chip. Pick the unit your army is about to focus anyway.
Six, and Faction Pack v1.2 changed three of them, so check any older list you have written down.
Endless Ire is the detachment's tempo play: kill the target early, then keep the re-roll running for the rest of the turn instead of waiting for your next Command phase.
Three of the four are written around the focus of hatred, which keeps the detachment coherent.
(Points come from the Munitorum Field Manual and move with updates; confirm in the app.)
Take it when you want a simple, universally applicable 2-DP core that works with any Chaos collection and gets better the more shots and attacks you can point at one place. It asks nothing of your list, which makes it the natural core for a mixed collection or a first competitive list.
Be clear-eyed about the limits. One unit per turn is a narrow window, so a spread-out opponent blunts it, and the re-roll excludes Damned models, so a cultist-heavy list gets less from it than a marine one. It also has no defensive detachment rule at all: Contemptuous Disregard is the only mitigation you get, and it costs a command point each time.
Sample gameplan: name your focus of hatred in the Command phase against the unit you were already going to focus. Put Warmaster's Gift on a Chaos Lord and Eye of Abaddon on a second character so kills refund command points. Spend Black Crusade to move a Legionaries squad into range while keeping its shooting, Let the Galaxy Burn on the turn cover is the problem, and hold Endless Ire for the moment the target dies early with attacks still to make.
2 DP, which at a 2,000-point game leaves 1 DP for a support detachment. DP costs are not printed in the Faction Pack; the official Munitorum Field Manual lists it at 2 DP, and the Warhammer 40,000 app is the final word as points updates land.
Focus of Hatred. At the start of your Command phase, select one enemy unit as your focus of hatred until your next Command phase. Each time a Heretic Astartes model from your army, excluding Damned models, makes an attack that targets it, you can re-roll the Hit roll.
Four things. It rewrote the Eager for Vengeance enhancement, dropped the Bringers of Despair stratagem to 1CP and moved it to the Fight phase, changed the Millennia of Experience target range from 9 inches to 8, and rewrote the Contemptuous Disregard Effect section to worsen the attack's Armour Penetration by 1.
Yes. An official FAQ confirms that a unit embarked within a Transport is a legal choice for your focus of hatred, which lets you commit to a target before it disembarks.
Written by Sprue Sentry, grounded in the cited sources. Original commentary, not Games Workshop rules text.