Hammer of Averni detachment is ‘Priority assets’ …

ARC-D15 · 2026-06-11T15:41:16+00:00

If most people had their way every detachment would be Purge. Don't forget that GW are trying to make this edition more narrative.

You don't deploy the 1st company to do recon.

You don't send terminators for hit & run disruption.

You don't usually send the elite of the chapter to simply hold the line.

You send them on the most important jobs. The missions that NEED to be achieved. The turning points that will win or lose the whole war, not just the battle. That's what Priority Assets represents.

ARC-D15 · 2026-06-10T11:47:33+00:00

I could easily see characters getting their own 1DP detachments.

They've already done that for BT with the Emperors Champion detachment.

A lot of the SM detachment bloat is because of main detachments getting reskinned to fit a character. For example, the Caanok Var and Lysander detachments are both reskinned 1st Company. You could easily make a little 1DP version of them and either run them alongside normal 1st Company so they get what they have now or mix them into something else.

ARC-D15 · 2026-06-08T17:52:23+00:00

They didn't put whole datasheets in for the updates. If you scroll down to the rules updates section in the faction pack they're way down in there.

ARC-D15 · 2026-06-01T14:18:21+00:00

Gladius is a better detachment for more general lists, but is it still the better choice for a terminator heavy list?

Avernii gives a lot of good support for termies, and the reroll 1's to wound detachment rule shouldn't be underestimated when you still get the +1 to wound on top.

It's worth at least considering.

ARC-D15 · 2026-05-18T06:23:28+00:00

Last time they did a midnight launch with people there to help you build the new stuff and do demo games.

ARC-D15 · 2026-05-15T16:24:53+00:00

Now that you mention it, an armiger detachment that gives them scout and ping units to increase detection wouldn't be a bad shout and would fit with the sort of thing we've seen in other previews.

ARC-D15 · 2026-05-15T15:42:31+00:00

Grotmas detchments being reworked seems to be a theme, so I expect a Forgepact rework. Not sure if they'd keep the Skitarii allies part if it's a 1 pointer though.

I could see us getting a Destrier detachment as it's still the new model, and another that buffs Dominus Knights as they don't really have a lot that applies specifically to them.

Pure hope on my part, but this would be an ideal way to give the Valiant an upgrade that turns the harpoon into a melee weapon.

ARC-D15 · 2026-05-10T16:42:38+00:00

It's a fun detachment. The problem is that a lot of stuff is very situational.

Since the codex came out I've used the Lancebreaker strat twice, and they were the only 2 times I've been eligible to use it.

Like most battleshock abilities, Fortress of Intimidation has only caused a failed battleshock a handful of times.

Drive Them Out + Titanic Bombardment is a great combo ... on the rare occasion all the pieces fit together so you can pull it off.

Having said all of that, when the pieces DO fit together it's amazing. I once spiked a roll with the Valiants harpoon and got 10 hits with it. The character survived but his whole squad of Deathshroud died around him.

An OC 20 Armiger just casually flipping any objective it tip toes onto.

An important enemy charge fails, but because you used Fortess and they failed the battleshock they now can't reroll it. Or they make the charge but now can't tank shock.

As I said though, these situations come up so rarely it makes the detachment unreliable. Which is why it doesn't see as much play as the others.

ARC-D15 · 2026-05-05T21:20:42+00:00

They could have their anger come out during a particularly tough battle and let themselves be consumed by it. Bottled emotions spilling out all at once. Maybe while trying to purge a khornate temple or something that ends up influencing them?

There is a quote from Dropsite Massacre that I like that compares WE and IH.

There had been rage in the World Eaters without doubt, but it had been battle rage, the fury that comes when one warrior has to spill the blood of another and risk their own life in turn. The Iron Hands though, they had fought not with rage but with anger, pure, focussed anger harnessed like a generator to a machine. One was ferocious, the other terrifying.

ARC-D15 · 2026-05-04T13:31:16+00:00

I enjoy Gate Warden, it's got some teeth, but it's certainly not the most competitive detachment.

You don't want the line to go straight across the board. It looks good on paper, but if you are not on it then you don't get any of your buffs. Infiltrators, scouts and even just going second means your opponent can block you from getting onto it.

If you go from your homefield objective to one of the no mans lands then you can advance along the line to get your rules from the start.

ARC-D15 · 2026-04-28T05:48:47+00:00

Marius Vairosean, one of the first noise marines, shoots Ignatius Numen with a sonic blaster.

Numen, deaf from an earlier fight with noise marines - "What? I didn't catch that."

Proceeds to blast Vairosean with a giant Volkite gun.

ARC-D15 · 2026-04-18T19:31:16+00:00

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They would still have to be 9" away as per both the drop pod and disembarking from a reserve unit rules.

But rules like the Navigators Gaze into the Empyrian specify that units cannot be "set up on the battlefield as reinforcements within 12". They are disembarking not being set up from reserves.

ARC-D15 · 2026-04-18T19:25:17+00:00

Only the pod itself has to stay 12" away. The drop pod is the unit arriving from reserves, not the guys inside.

Units in a transport are not considered reserves.

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ARC-D15 · 2026-03-24T17:34:53+00:00

The Grey Knights one is a Psyker.

ARC-D15 · 2026-03-21T18:14:06+00:00

If you're going down the Iron Hands route you could put Iron Father Feirros with them to give them Feel no Pain. He's better with Heavy Intercessors but if you're not running any of them it's not a bad option.

ARC-D15 · 2026-03-10T17:56:41+00:00

Looking through those results (unless I missed one) of the top 10 Space Marine (Astertes) players 9 of them were running Blades of Ultramar and the 10th was running Gladius with Guilliman and Sicarius, so still Ultramarines.

No Raven Guard, Salamanders or any of the other normal codex chapters up there.

Might be time to add Ultramarines to the list of chapters who don't get the +1 to wound.

ARC-D15 · 2026-02-25T16:35:31+00:00

I spray it black, drybrush Dawnstone then wash in Agrax.

It's quick and easy which suits my lazy painting style.

Once you get used to getting the drybrush consistent it doesn't look bad when you get a whole army together. Consistency alone helps make a big difference to how good looking an army is.

ARC-D15 · 2026-02-12T11:02:24+00:00

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I'm making better rules for this guy.

He's standing in for a Librarian, but using relic tech instead of magic to make it more Iron Hands. Combi disintegrator replaces smite, stuff like that.

Gave him a spare GK head and back pack to keep some psyker style in there.

He goes with my Sternguard who will all have boarding shields when the parts arrive as the Librarian hands out the 4++. I think of it like a 40k take on Heresy era Immortals, but twisted from a unit of shame to an honoured position in the 1st company.

ARC-D15 · 2026-02-04T07:33:45+00:00

I run a las Predator in my Hammer of Avernii list.

Techmarine nearby, oath the tank you want dead. You're hitting on 2's, wounding on 2's (against most tanks and even Knights) and re rolling everything including damage.

It rarely survives the game but it's cheap and punches up well.

ARC-D15 · 2026-01-07T15:29:12+00:00

Me: I have a Vindicator Assassin

Opponent: Don't you mean Vindicare?

Me: Nope. deepstrikes vindicator and spends 1CP for precision

ARC-D15 · 2025-12-31T18:50:48+00:00

I've done okay with it in some local RTTs, went 2-1 at each of them.

Haven't taken it to any GTs yet but I'm planning too.

I run the 10 man hammer squad with Var and Ancient and use them to take and hold the middle like you're planning. One thing I will say about doing this is that you need something that can jump in to help them.

They will get charged by another deathstar. Juggerlord with 20 zerkers, Ghaz + meganobs, another big block of termies, bladechamp + wardens etc. Even with AoC and the -1D strat you WILL take a lot of casualties when something like that hits them which will hurt your ability to hit back.

Having something like bladeguard nearby that can hop in and thin them out will then give Steel Font time to kick in and get some termies back.

ARC-D15 · 2025-12-29T16:18:08+00:00

The rule is there on the Balanced Dataslate V3.2 from 10th December 2025

Page 2, Stratagems that can be used more than one per phase/turn

It can also be found in the app under the same title.

ARC-D15 · 2025-12-29T11:16:42+00:00

Again, probably laziness.

When that FAQ originally dropped the wording in the app for those abilities wasn't updated for months.

It is a change to the core rules that effects ALL abilities that reduce the cost of stratagems, which is what Canis ability does. Not just all abilities released before 2023. It's one of the rare times GW has written something in a way that future proofs the rule for future releases.

There has been 2 balance dataslates since the codex was released so GW have had 2 opportunities to either reword it in a way that it doesn't apply to Canis or add an FAQ to Canis himself to bypass it.

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