Hearthband: The 11th-Edition Leagues of Votann Grinding Advance Detachment

Each time a Leagues of Votann model from your army makes an attack with a weapon that targets the closest eligible target, or a target within Engagement Range of that model's unit:

• Re-roll a Wound roll of 1.
• If your unit is a Kâhl, Einhyr Hearthguard or Ûthar the Destined unit, improve that attack's Armour Penetration by 1.

The first clause is army-wide with no keyword gate at all, which is rare. But it is gated on something else, and that gate is the whole detachment: you only collect while shooting the closest thing.

That is a real constraint and it is worth sitting with. Most shooting armies want to ignore the screen and kill the thing behind it. This detachment pays you for doing the opposite. It describes an army that walks forward and shoots what is in front of it, and it punishes cherry-picking.

The second clause narrows to the Einhyr core and is where the damage comes from. Armour Penetration 1 better on an Einhyr Hearthguard block firing at the closest target is a significant step, and it applies to melee as well because attacks within Engagement Range qualify under the same condition.

Why the two clauses fit together. The rule wants a block that advances into the enemy's front line, shoots it and then fights it. That is exactly what Einhyr Hearthguard delivered from a Hekaton Land Fortress do, which is why this detachment reads as a list-building instruction as much as a rule.

Brëkkeknots (1CP, your opponent's Shooting phase or the Fight phase, just after an enemy unit has selected its targets). Target one Kâhl, Ûthar the Destined or Einhyr Hearthguard unit that was selected; models in it have a 4+ invulnerable save until the end of the phase. Wider than the Hearthguard Covenant printing of the same card, which reaches Einhyr Hearthguard only.

Sure of Purpose (1CP, Fight phase). Target one Leagues of Votann unit that has not fought; its Pile-in and Consolidation moves become up to 6 inches instead of up to 3. Six inches of consolidation is a scoring tool as much as a combat one, because it is often the difference between finishing a fight standing on an objective and finishing it beside one, and the army rule pays Yield Points for objectives held.

Superior Craftsmanship (2CP, Fight phase). Target one Leagues of Votann unit that has not fought; its attacks against Monster and Vehicle units get +1 Damage until the end of the phase. The card's only 2 Command Point spend and the faction's cleanest answer to a heavy target in melee.

Unyielding Aggression (1CP, your Movement phase, just after a Leagues of Votann Infantry unit Falls Back). Until the end of the turn your unit is eligible to shoot and declare a charge in a turn in which it Fell Back.

This is the stratagem earlier versions of this site described as a "fall-back-and-fire trick" shared between two detachments. It has a name, it is Infantry only, and the Mercenary Oathband equivalent is a different card called Grand Artifice with no Infantry restriction.

Materialisation Matrices (1CP, the Reinforcements step of your Movement phase). Target one Leagues of Votann unit in Reserves with Deep Strike; it can be set up anywhere more than 6 inches horizontally from all enemy units, and is not eligible to declare a charge until the end of the turn. Wider than the Hearthguard Covenant printing, which is Einhyr Hearthguard only.

Fury of the Hearth (1CP, your Shooting phase). Target one Einhyr Hearthguard unit that has not shot; +1 Strength on its ranged weapons, and if you spend 1 Yield Point, [SUSTAINED HITS 1] as well.

Bastion Shield (25 points). Leagues of Votann model only. Each time a ranged attack targets the bearer's unit, if the attacking model is within 12 inches, worsen that attack's Armour Penetration by 1; spend 1 Yield Point and until the end of the phase the band becomes 18 inches instead. The Yield Point clause is the only way this reaches a target sitting at range, so bank a point before a shooting turn you expect to hurt.

High Kâhl (30 points). Kâhl model only. Each time a model in the bearer's unit is destroyed by a melee attack, if it has not fought this phase, roll one D6; on a 4+ do not remove it, it can fight after the attacking unit has finished, and is then removed. The Hearthguard Covenant printing of this same enhancement, at the same price, triggers on a model destroyed in the Fight phase rather than specifically by a melee attack. Both printings are in this pack and we do not reconcile them.

Ironskein (10 points). Leagues of Votann model only. Add 2 to the bearer's Wounds characteristic. The Hearthguard Covenant printing reads KÂHL model only. Flagged, not reconciled.

Quake Multigenerator (15 points). Kâhl model only. In your Shooting phase, after the bearer has shot, select one enemy unit excluding Titanic units hit by those attacks; until the start of your next turn it is suppressed, and while suppressed each model in it subtracts 1 from its Hit rolls. A defensive debuff dressed as a gun upgrade, and the cheapest way this detachment blunts an incoming shooting phase.

Enhancement points are dataslate-volatile and none of the four carries a change marker in this pass.

Hearthband costs 3 Detachment Points, which is the entire Strike Force budget. There is nothing left to combine it with, and at Incursion you cannot take it at all. That is the whole reason there are no pairings here, and it is not an omission.

It also carries a Unique Tag, and the tag is redundant. The official Munitorum Field Manual version 1.3 lists this detachment with a tag it calls HEARTHBAND, shared with Hearthguard Covenant. The Faction Pack version 1.1 prints no tag banner above this detachment at all; the pack's only banner sits above Hearthguard Covenant on page 4 and reads HEARTHGUARD. So the two official documents disagree about the tag's name, and we assert the tag without asserting what it is called.

None of it changes anything. A 3 Detachment Point detachment cannot be combined with a 1 DP one inside a 3 DP budget, so the restriction never fires. If you have read a warning about this tag somewhere and are worried it costs you an army, it does not.

What the 3 Detachment Points actually cost you is the alternative. The Leagues of Votann have three 1 DP detachments, and taking all three gives you three detachment rules, three enhancement lists and nine stratagems for the same price as this one. Hearthband is worth it when your list is a single advancing block that genuinely will be shooting the closest target every turn, and when you want the widest printings of Brëkkeknots and Materialisation Matrices rather than the Einhyr-only ones.

If you want to see the alternative written out, our three cheap detachments combo covers the 1 plus 1 plus 1 shape.