Emperor's Shield: The 11th-Edition Imperial Fists Detachment

Wrath of Dorn improves what you do to your Oath of Moment target. Models with the Oath of Moment ability get a re-roll of Wound rolls of 1 against the marked unit, on top of the standard Oath Hit re-roll, and a Darnath Lysander unit gets a full Wound re-roll against it.

The important thing about this design is that it is always on and costs no CP. Compare it to 1st Company Task Force's Extremis-Level Threat, which gives full army-wide Wound re-rolls but only once per game. Emperor's Shield trades that spike for permanence: a smaller bonus every single turn instead of one enormous turn.

That changes how you play. There is no window to plan around, so target selection with the oath becomes the whole skill. Mark the unit you can realistically kill, every turn, and the bonus compounds.

All six cost 1 CP:

• Fury of the First (Shooting or Fight) — add 1 to Hit rolls, and add 1 to Wound rolls if the unit is below its Starting Strength. The signature Imperial Fists stratagem: it pays you for fighting on with a mauled squad rather than pulling it back.
• Disciplined Extermination (Shooting) — the unit's ranged weapons gain Ignores Cover and improve AP by 1. Both halves at once makes this the detachment's main damage stratagem; use it on Hellblasters or a Sternguard block against anything hiding in a ruin.
• Obdurate Vengeance (Fight) — destroyed models roll a D6 and fight on a 3+ before being removed. A generous threshold, and it turns an elite unit's death into a final round of attacks.
• Wrathful Conquerors (Movement) — a controlled objective stays yours until the opponent's control exceeds yours. Sticky objectives so your slow units can advance without giving up score.
• Dropship Extraction (end of opponent's Fight) — remove a unit from the battlefield into Strategic Reserves. An escape hatch for an expensive brick that is about to be surrounded.
• Armour of Contempt (defensive) — worsen incoming AP by 1.

• Champion of the Feast (25 pts) — +1 melee Attack for the bearer, and once per battle extend +1 Attack to the whole unit. The offensive pick, and the once-per-battle burst gives you a decision to time even though the detachment rule does not.
• Indomitable Champion (20 pts, Terminator) — the first time the bearer is destroyed, roll a D6 and on a 2+ it returns with 3 wounds. Keeps a Terminator character in the fight through the turn that was supposed to kill it.
• Malodraxian Standard (20 pts, Ancient) — subtract 1 from the Wound roll when an attack with Strength greater than the target's Toughness is made against the bearer. A defensive answer to oversized guns being pointed at infantry.
• Disciple of Rhetoricus (10 pts, Terminator) — +1 Objective Control, with a once-per-battle boost for the whole unit. Ten points to make a Terminator brick genuinely hard to out-score on a marker.

• Darnath Lysander — the rule's named payoff, upgrading his unit from re-rolling Wound rolls of 1 to re-rolling them all against the oath target. If you own him, this is his detachment.
• Terminator Squad and Assault Terminators — the natural Lysander bodyguard, and the only legal carriers for Indomitable Champion and Disciple of Rhetoricus.
• Sternguard Veterans — elite ranged veterans that spike hard with Disciplined Extermination on an oath turn.
• Hellblasters — high-AP plasma; adding Ignores Cover and another AP step on top is how you delete an entrenched target.
• Bladeguard Veterans — durable melee that benefits from Obdurate Vengeance and Champion of the Feast.
• An Ancient — the only carrier for Malodraxian Standard, and a solid support model in a list that wants units to survive being shot.

Take Emperor's Shield when you play Imperial Fists and want a detachment that makes your existing plan more consistent rather than asking you to build around a new mechanic. It is well suited to an elite infantry list — Terminators, veterans, Hellblasters — that expects to trade repeatedly and wants each trade to go slightly better.

The comparison worth making is with 1st Company Task Force, which is also 2 DP and also elite-infantry-focused. 1st Company gives full army-wide Wound re-rolls against the oath target but only for one turn in the entire game; Emperor's Shield gives a smaller bonus, every turn, plus a full re-roll for Lysander's unit. If you like planning one decisive alpha strike, take 1st Company. If you would rather grind reliably and not have to guess the right turn, take Emperor's Shield.

At 2 DP it leaves 1 DP spare at 2,000 points.

Sample gameplan: build around a Terminator brick led by Lysander, with Sternguard or Hellblasters as ranged support. Each Command phase, put the oath on the unit you can genuinely remove this turn, so the Wound re-rolls actually pay. Open damage turns with Disciplined Extermination on your gun unit. As squads take losses, lean into Fury of the First rather than retreating, since being under strength is what switches its Wound bonus on. Hold objectives with Wrathful Conquerors and Disciple of Rhetoricus, and keep Dropship Extraction for the turn your brick is about to be surrounded.