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Good day everyone! Zak Ludick here with another Rules Review getting ready for the big tournament at the start of December!

So it is time for me to learn all about all the different armies that I may face and I do so here for your viewing pleasure!

We continue on with Space Marines, as there is a MASSIVE variety of them that can be fielded.

As described in yesterday's post, all Space Marines are capable of the Oath of Moment ability.

Now you need to select a Detachment. A lot of these are modeled around the warfare of specific First Founding Chapters, anyone can now field any of the styles of warfare and build a list around them.

There is an additional Army rule for all Adeptus Astartes armies. If you have any Chapter Specific units or characters, you cannot include units or characters from any other chapter but the one that you already have. In other words they all need to be from the same Chapter.

The List of Detachments available

For all the Codex Astartes Chapters, and the divergent Chapters, they can select any of the following:

• Gladius Task Force
• Anvil Siege Force
• Ironstorm Spearhead
• Firestorm Assault Force
• Stormlance Task Force
• Vanguard Spearhead
• 1st Company Task Force

Now it is nearly synonymous that these Detachments are paired with their usual counterparts:

Gladius - Ultramarines
Anvil Siege - Imperial Fists
Ironstorm - Iron Hands
Firestorm - Salamanders
Stormlance - White Scars
Vanguard - Raven Guard

However, you can play any of these in any combination!

Even the Divergeant Chapters get to choose these!

So my Space Wolves can choose Champions of Russ, or one of those 6 Detachments, depending on how I build my army!

Dark Angels can play Unforgiven Task Force or these 6, Blood Angels have Sons of Sanguinius or these 6.

Black Templars have Righteous Crusaders and Deathwatch have Black Spear Task Force and yet they too can choose any of these other 6 Detachment rules.

This makes for a MASSIVE variety of different armies that may be fielded in the tournament, with many amazing and crazy combinations that can be made.

What does a Detachment do? Well it gives you three things:

• A Detachment Rule
• 4 Enhancements to choose from for your non-named characters
• 6 Stratagems that can be accessed by this Detachment.

Let me go over a brief summary of each Detachment Rule. To look at the rest is to invite a deep dive into combinations for that specific Detachment.

Gladius Task Force

This is historically known as the Ultramarines Detachment. It focuses on the Codex Astartes and using Combat Doctrines. Since Roboute Guilliman is their Primarch, this generally does fit their description, but as I said: You can field Ultramarines Characters in any of the other 5 Detachments.

Combat Tactics - During your Command Phase, you may select one of three Doctrines to be active until your following Command phase. In a 5 turn game, this means that there are 2 turns where there is no Doctrine. The other issue here is that sometimes only one or two units need the Doctrine active and it becomes a waste of others.

The 3 Doctrines are:

Devastator Doctrine - Advance and Shoot
Tactical Doctrine - Fall Back, Shoot and Charge
Assault Doctrine - Advance and Charge

I feel that generally it will go Devastator, Assualt and then Tactical when needed. There is a lot more nuance than this but let continue to the next.

Anvil Siege Force

Synonymous with the Imperial Fists you get the Shield of the Imperium Detachment rule.

All weapons gain the Heavy Keyword and this a +1 to Hit when they remain stationary. Additionally, weapons that are already Heavy get a +1 to Wound when remaining stationary.

Simple and very shooty. Does rely on you sitting still to gain the bonuses though and some part of this army will not get those bonuses for most of the game as they need to move to hold objectives.

Ironstorm Spearhead

This one is synonymous with the Iron Hands and is amazing. It is the one I am trying out with my very Mechanized, Dreadnought Heavy Space Wolves army!

Armoured Wrath: Every unit can, once per phase, re-roll one To Hit OR one to Wound OR Damage Dice.

Meaning crital shots per squad could be rerolled to Hit or to Wound if the to Hit was successful and lastly Damage done on variable damage dealing weapons.

Firestorm Assault Force

This one epitomizes the Salamanders. It grants the Close-Range Eradication.

This gives all ranges weapons the Assault keyword meaning that they can Advance and Shoot with any of their units. Additionally, if the target is within 12" then add +1 Strength to the gun's profile.

Stormlance Task Force

This one shows the lighting assaults of the White Scars.

Lightning Assault gives your whole army the ability to Advance and Charge.

Vanguard Spearhead

This one is exemplary for the Raven Guard.

Shadow Masters ability gives all your units some defensive abilities. Unless the attackers are within 12" they suffer a -1 to Hit and the Space Marines gain Benefit of Cover!

1st Company Task Force

Extramis Level Threat. This ability gives your entire army Re-rolls to Wound against the Oath of Moment target.

Wrapping up

And there you have it, a massive variety just on the surface level of these Detachments. There is much more to learn but that will have to wait for another post!

Thank you for reading!

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