Detachment Focus: Hearthfyre Arsenal

In our Detachment Focus series we take a deep dive into an army’s Detachments, covering what’s in them, how they play, and how they’ll fit into the broader meta and your games. In this Detachment Focus we’re looking at Hearthfyre Arsenal from the Leagues of Votann.

Most books have their resident Detachment that goes too hard on a small number of keywords, and for Leagues of Votann, that dubious honor falls to Hearthfyre Arsenal. While it probably can’t keep up with the more balanced Detachments of the codex, if you like short AIs who are actually tall, this Detachment has some interesting pieces for them. In this article we break down what this Detachment has to offer.

We’d like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with a preview copy of these rules for Review purposes. We have also been provided with a provisional Munitorum Field Manual for the army to use when writing the review, but please note that these points are subject to change until they are published on Warhammer Community.

Detachment Overview

This Detachment pushes you to focus very heavily on a few types of units, namely Steeljacks, Brokhyr Thunderkyn, and the characters that support those two units. The good news is that this Detachment wants you to bring a large number of the standout units in this book, and provides tools to up their output and utility. The bad news is that this Detachment is a lot of buy-in for some pretty mediocre buffs which other Detachments do better. The Detachment encourages a more static and grindy approach to the game, relying on your high infantry toughness combined with Fortify Takeover being active. With Hearthfyre Arsenal, you will want to push into and hold No Man’s Land objectives early and consistently, giving you more YP to play with and more buffs to activate.

Detachment Rule: Optimal Application

At the end of your Command phase, you gain 1YP for each objective marker you control that is not within your deployment zone and has one or more Iron-Master and/or Memnyr Strategist models from your army within range of it (to a maximum of 2YP gained from this Detachment rule per turn).

In your Shooting phase, each time a Brokhyr, Ironkin Steeljacks, or Arkanyst Evaluator unit from your army is selected to shoot, you can spend 1YP. If you do, until the end of the phase, each time a model in that unit makes an attack, re-roll a hit roll of 1.

Pretty much as advertised, this Detachment gives you more YP for holding No Man’s Land objectives with the units it wants you to bring, and then gives you a way to spend those YP to hit a bit more reliably. The timing of this rule strongly encourages you to get on to points (or right off of them with some stratagem use), survive taking a hit right on the chin, and still be there next turn.

Enhancements

• Farstrydr Node (20 points): Iron-Master or Memnyr Strategist model only. Models in the bearer’s unit have the Deep Strike Ability. This enhancement is a real selling point for this Detachment, both Steeljacks and Thunderkyn will love to have access to Deep Strike to get all of their shooting in just the right place.
• Calculated Tenacity (15 points): Iron-Master or Memnyr Strategist model only. While the bearer is leading a unit, add 1 to the Objective Control Characteristic of models in that unit. In a Detachment that needs to be holding points, this is never a bad idea, but in modern tenth edition killing is usually more important than holding. Take it if you have the points, but it’s not a build around.
• Mantle of the Elders (10 points): Memnyr Strategist model only. Each time the bearer’s unit is selected to shoot, if you spend YP using the Optimal Application Detachment rule when doing so, you can roll one D6: on a 2+, you gain 1YP. Your volkite Steeljacks will have a Memnyr, so why not take it if you have the points? It refunds the YP you want to spend anyway, and can help smooth out the cost without slipping out of Fortify.
• Graviton Vault (5 points): Iron-Master model only. In your Shooting phase, after the bearer has fought, select one enemy Monster or Vehicle unit hit by one or more of those attacks. Until the start of your next turn, that enemy unit is suppressed. While a unit is suppressed, each time a model in that unit makes an attack, subtract 1 from the Hit roll. This can be safely left on the shelf, Thunderkyn want to shoot what they will kill, and have no shots to spare to shoot into a stray target just for a meager -1 to hit.

Stratagems

Leaning into the locked keywords, this Detachment has stratagems that target only specific units, and encourage standing still and taking it while being in Fortify Takeover for your army rule.

• Unwavering Accuracy (2CP): In your Shooting phase, one Brokhyr Thunderkyn unit can ignore any or all modifiers to Ballistic Skill characteristic, the Hit roll, the Wound roll, and Armor Penetration Characteristic. This is the best version of this rule since it ignores Wound roll modifiers and AoC, so will find a lot of use on a unit with a max of AP-2 and S7, but it is also steep at 2CP. This could have probably been 1CP and been fine, but makes Uthar even more of an auto-include (more on that below.)
• First Concern (1CP): In your Shooting phase, just after a Brokhyr, Ironkin Steeljacks, or Arkanyst Evaluator  has shot, if that unit Remained Stationary in your Movement phase, that unit can make a normal move. This, however, is the worst version of a rule. Shoot-and-Scoot-but-only-if-you-didnt-move is so, so much worse than any other Shoot-and-Scoot mechanic, and to get use out of this you have to plan ahead something like 8 phases, survive, and hope your opponent doesn’t see this obvious telegraph coming. It’s a rough one for sure. Paying a CP for the privilege to just do something you could do for free is a hard pill to swallow…
• Delayed-Fire Rounds (1CP) – In your Shooting phase, just after a Brokhyr, Ironkin Steeljacks, or Arkanyst Evaluator unit from your army has shot, that unit can select one enemy unit (excluding Monsters and Vehicles) hit by one or more of those attacks. Until the start of your next Shooting phase, each time that unit makes a Normal, Advance, or Fall Back move, roll one D6 for each model in that unit. For each 1, that unit suffers 1 mortal wound, to a maximum of 6 mortal wounds. Grenade with more steps involved, but may be occasionally useful for finishing off a tough unit. Once again, this Detachment seems to struggle with the concept that usually you want to shoot to kill.
• Wall of Steel (1CP): In your Charge phase, just after an Ironkin Steeljacks unit ends a charge move, select one enemy unit within engagement range of your Steeljacks unit and roll one D6 for each model in your unit. You can choose to spend 2YP when you use this stratagem, and if you do, roll two extra D6. For each 4+, that enemy unit suffers 1 mortal wound, to a maximum of 6 mortal wounds. Tank Shock for Steeljacks, I don’t hate it, don’t love it, but it’s nice to have in your pocket, especially in an army that is light on the Grenade keyword and on melee threats.
• Preventative Purge (1CP): In your opponent’s Movement phase, just after an enemy unit ends a Fall Back move, one Brokhyr Thunderkyn or Ironkin Steeljacks unit from your army can shoot as if it was your Shooting phase, but can only target the enemy unit that Fell Back (and only if it is an eligible target), and you subtract 1 from your Hit roll when making these attacks. This is your bread and butter, it gives you a second Overwatch for Steeljacks, who love to Overwatch, or a boosted one for Thunderkyn. Important to note that it does not require the unit to be the same unit that the Fall Back is away from, so it can be threatened from a safe distance. Expect to use this at every opportunity, and is a good reason to bring Uther to help lighten the CP load.
• Cogitated Need (1CP): At the end of your opponent’s Movement phase, one Ironkin Steeljacks unit from your army can make a Normal move, but must end as close as possible to the closest objective marker. Another one you will use every turn that you can. It will help you get on to points to activate your rules, and to get in position for your next turn after you have seen your opponent’s moves. I wish it didn’t have the rider about objectives, but with careful positioning it has solid use. I mean, it’s Phantasm, but on stubby robot legs.

Playing This Detachment

As mentioned above, this Detachment will thrive on jamming as many Steeljacks and Thunderkin into the list as possible. We are talking about a real clown car situation. Because the Detachment rule and stratagems only help there, why not lean all the way in. You will still need to use other sheets from the book to support, specifically Warriors, Land Fortresses, and Uthar for his bubble of free CP, but they will be playing on datasheet rules only with exactly zero buffs. The game plan is simple – bully the middle of the table, rush to Fortify Takeover,  and lay down as much firepower as you can so that you can survive through your opponent’s turn. During their turn, you will throw out as many Overwatch activations as you can (which is sometimes two) with Devastating Wounds Steeljacks. Step 3; Profit.

Strengths

• This Detachment prioritizes units that love to use the -1 to Wound from Fortify Takeover.
• The stars of this Detachment are real heavy hitters from the codex overall, namely Steeljacks and Thunderkyn.
• Access to out of phase movement, albeit with terms and conditions.

Weaknesses

• A Detachment rule that is a lot of effort just to re-roll 1’s to Hit on a very, very narrow set of the book, with no interactions with the rest of the book. Other Detachments give more to the army for less restrictions.
• Most of the stratagems are janky on their terms and conditions, making them less useful than everyone else’s version.
• It’s an attachment where you need to survive full turns on points, with zero defensive boosts.

A Sample List

Windmill slam Steeljacks and Thunderkyn. Garnish with support pieces to keep up damage and Uthar to reduce the CP load. That’s pretty much it.

<A real clown car of highly heretical AIs> - click to expand

The game plan in a Heathfyre list is nice and simple –  you start two units of Steeljacks in the Land Fortresses, the enhanced Farstrydr in Deep Strike, and 1-3 units of your Thunderkyn in Strategic Reserves. The Sagitaur splits your warriors, with Uthar leading one half. Because the stratagems and Detachment rule benefit big units and in shooting only, there is really no reason to break up your murderballs. The Iron-Master with the enhancement is a fun little OC10 lone op unit. Cycle out of the transports as best as you can, and bully the middle while you lay down an eye watering amount of Devastating Wounds volkite shots. You want to set up your units to be able to move either on to points or back in to the Forts using your Cogitated Need move, and the Thunderkyn keep popping up at edges of the board to really create problems with their shooting. All while you Overwatch like an absolute madman. Rinse and repeat, and hunker down in Fortify as best you can using your mass of T6 bodies.

Final Thoughts

Hearthfyre Arsenal is a fun idea, just bring as many of the cool new Steeljacks as you can shake a volkite rifle at, and support them with anything Brokhyr tagged. In reality, it just doesn’t quite work. The timing and conditions of the Stratagems make the Detachment cumbersome, and it requires a lot of steps to get a pretty mediocre offensive buff for a single phase for about three units, and other Detachments do the same job but way better. The main problem is that it encourages a gameplay pattern, namely “stand in the open and take it on the chin,” that doesn’t have legitimate play in competitive 10th edition. It likely won’t hold up in a competitive setting without some serious tweaks. However, if you feel like bringing every single Steeljack you can buy, hucking around Devastating Wounds, and doing some fun out of sequence damage and moves, Hearthfyre Arsenal gives you a clear gameplan to do it.

Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.