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This is SprueSentry strategy commentary, not official rules. The detachment rule, stratagems and enhancements below were checked against the official Space Marines Faction Pack v1.2, legal for matched play from the 26 August 2026 balance update, and any points against Munitorum Field Manual v1.3. Points move with balance updates, so confirm the current values in the Warhammer 40,000 app before a game.
Models with the Oath of Moment ability re-roll Wound rolls of 1 against the marked target. A second clause, Recalculating, lets you select a new visible enemy unit as your Oath of Moment target once per battle round after the current one is destroyed, while a Caanok Var model is on the battlefield.
1 CP. Add 1 to Hit rolls, and add 1 to Wound rolls as well if the unit is below its Starting Strength.
1 CP. The unit's melee weapons gain Sustained Hits 1 or Lethal Hits, your choice.
1 CP. Subtract 1 from the Damage of attacks allocated to the unit until the end of the turn.
1 CP. A controlled objective stays yours even with no models in range, until your opponent controls it at the end of a phase.
1 CP. Remove a Terminator unit from the battlefield into Strategic Reserves.
1 CP. Worsen the Armour Penetration of attacks against the unit by 1.
25 points. Add 1 to the bearer's melee Attacks, and once per battle extend +1 Attack to the whole unit for a phase.
30 points. When a non-Monster, non-Vehicle enemy unit within 6 inches fails a Battle-shock test, destroy one of its models; once per battle, destroy D3 instead.
10 points. Improve the bearer's Objective Control by 1, with a once-per-battle boost for the whole unit.
15 points. Return one destroyed Bodyguard model to the bearer's unit in your Command phase. Terminator model only.
Switches on Recalculating, the clause that defines the detachment.
Durable ground-holders, and the only carriers for Steel Font.
See the box: price and offersHigh-AP plasma that converts the Wound re-rolls into reliable kills.
See the box: price and offersThe unit most likely to destroy the oath target early, which is what triggers Recalculating.
See the box: price and offersTough Battleline that holds a Dominator Beacon objective while the line grinds forward.
See the box: price and offersAt 2 DP it leaves 1 DP for rotating psychic buffs.
Covert scorers suit an attrition core that wins on points.
How to play Hammer of Avernii in 11th edition — the 2-DP Iron Hands detachment, its Oath of Moment wound re-rolls, the Caanok Var re-target clause, and its attrition toolkit.
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.
Hammer of Avernii is the Iron Hands detachment: a 2-Detachment-Point package that sharpens the Oath of Moment army rule and, uniquely, lets you re-point it mid-game. It reflects Warhammer 40,000 11th edition (launched June 2026).
This is SprueSentry strategy commentary, not official rules. Rules below were checked against the official Space Marines Faction Pack v1.2, legal for matched play from the 26 August 2026 balance update, and points against the Munitorum Field Manual v1.3. Points move with balance updates, so confirm the current values in the Warhammer 40,000 app before a game.
Calculated Annihilation gives models with the Oath of Moment ability a re-roll of Wound rolls of 1 against the marked target, on top of the standard Oath Hit re-roll. Always on, no activation, no once-per-game window.
The more interesting half is Recalculating. Once per battle round, after your Oath of Moment target has been destroyed, you may select a new visible enemy unit to become the oath target, provided a Caanok Var model is still on the battlefield.
That clause fixes the single most frustrating thing about Oath of Moment. Normally, if you kill the marked unit with your first squad, every other unit in the army spends the rest of the turn shooting at no bonus. Recalculating lets you pick a fresh target and keep the re-rolls flowing, which is worth far more than the modest size of the base bonus suggests. It also rewards efficient sequencing: kill the oath target early in the turn, re-point, and get a second buffed target out of the same phase.
All six cost 1 CP, and the set reads as a durable attrition toolkit:
Take Hammer of Avernii when you play Iron Hands and want a durable, methodical army that wins by attrition rather than by one big turn. It is the detachment for a player who likes grinding: the stratagems reward damaged units for staying in the fight, reduce incoming Damage, make objectives sticky, and heal a Terminator brick back up.
The key build decision is whether you take Caanok Var. The base rule, a re-roll of Wound rolls of 1 against the oath target, is fine but modest. Recalculating is what makes the detachment distinctive, and it is the clause that separates Hammer of Avernii from Emperor's Shield, which offers a similar always-on Oath bonus for the Imperial Fists. If you plan to skip the named character, weigh whether a generic 2-DP detachment would serve you better.
At 2 DP it leaves 1 DP spare at 2,000 points.
Sample gameplan: anchor the midfield with Terminators and Heavy Intercessors, and keep Caanok Var alive behind the line. Each Command phase, mark an oath target you can realistically finish, then sequence your shooting so a fast killer such as Eradicators removes it early, letting Recalculating re-point the oath onto a second target in the same round. As squads take losses, lean into Ruthless Butchery instead of pulling back. Hold Augmetic Fortitude for the enemy's big charge, lock markers with Dominator Beacon and Iron Laurel, and repair the brick with Steel Font every Command phase.
2 DP. At a 2,000-point (3 DP) game that leaves 1 DP for a support detachment such as Librarius Conclave, Subversion Assets or Fulguris Task Force.
Calculated Annihilation gives models with the Oath of Moment ability a re-roll of Wound rolls of 1 against the marked target. A second clause, Recalculating, lets you pick a new oath target once per battle round after the current one is destroyed, while a Caanok Var model is on the battlefield.
Because Oath of Moment normally goes dead the moment the marked unit dies, wasting the bonus for every unit that shoots afterwards. Recalculating lets you re-point the oath onto a fresh target in the same round, so an efficient kill early in your turn buys you a second buffed target instead of ending the benefit.
No. It is an Iron Hands detachment inside Codex: Adeptus Astartes, so it is chapter-locked, and its Recalculating clause additionally depends on having a Caanok Var model on the battlefield.
Written by Sprue Sentry, grounded in the cited sources. Original commentary, not Games Workshop rules text.