With the release of new Combat Patrol box sets for the Imperial Fists and Raven Guards, plus new models for the special characters Darnath Lysander and Aethon Shaan, Games Workshop has added free rules to use them in games of Warhammer 40k as downloads from the Warhammer Community website. But perhaps more interesting for regular 40k players are the new custom Detachments for both Space Marine subfactions.
It’s nice to see the less-renowned Space Marine Chapters getting some love, both with new character miniatures, and new ways to build armies. Whether or not they make an impact in competitive Warhammer 40k, extra options are always welcome, and these new rules seem very thematically appropriate.
You can download all the new rules for free from the Warhammer Community website.
Imperial Fists
The new Darnath Lysander model is a plastic upgrade for an existing miniature, and its new rules are a simple upgrade to the version printed in the Space Marines Warhammer 40k Codex: he gets one extra wound. As before he’s a Terminator Captain who hits particularly hard, makes the unit he leads harder to wound, and is himself incredibly hard to kill.
The new 40k Detachment for the Imperial Fists, Emperor’s Shield, represents a strike force of first company veterans led by Lysander. It provides an army-wide bump to the Oath of Moment ability, allowing you to re-roll Wound rolls of one against the Oath of Moment target: or re-roll all Wound rolls, if the unit making the attacks is led by Lysander.
There are some extra tanky Enhancements in here. The Indomitable Champion enhancement lets a Terminator character return to battle on a 2+; and an Ancient with the Malodraxian Standard makes their unit more resistant against high damage attacks. The Stratagems in the list give buffs to Terminator and Veteran units, be that sticky objectives from Wrathful Conquerors, or an extra -1 AP and the ability to ignore the Benefit of Cover from Disciplined Extermination.
Raven Guard
Aethon Shaan is a jump pack captain with a pair of utterly lethal lightning claws, with the 40k abilities Sustained Hits 2 and Twin-Linked. His unit can be targeted by the Stratagems Rapid Ingress and Heroic intervention for free, letting them safely deep strike into cover at the end of the enemy movement phase, and interfere with enemy assaults. As a Master of Shadows he can pick out an enemy unit during your Command Phase, against which your units can re-roll failed charge rolls for the round.
The Raven Guard Detachment is the Shadowmark Talon, and once again it’s a strike force led by Shaan. This one’s all about stealth: when an enemy unit attempts to shoot one of your units from more than 12″ away, they get a -1 penalty to hit, and your unit gains the Benefit of Cover.
If Shaan is in the force and on the Battlefield, he gives you yet another free use of a Stratagem. Fade into Darkness lets you remove one unengaged infantry unit (or two Phobos or Scout squads) from the battlefield at the end of your opponent’s Fight phase and add them to your Strategic Reserves.
So this is a force that’s hard to shoot at a distance, and keeps sneaking off the board and reappearing in inconvenient locations. Stratagems like Feint and Thrust, which lets a unit fall back and shoot (or charge after advancing if it’s a Scout or Phobos unit), or Stunning Fusilade, which grants +1 BS and -1AP to a unit shooting against a target more than 12″ away, and can force a Battle Shock test, emphasise this keepaway gameplay style.
The name of the game is ‘shenanigans’, and nowhere is that clearer than the Blackwing Shroud Enhancement. This grants the bearer and their unit the Infiltrators ability – letting you start the game with a unit of Terminators, Aggressors, or Exterminators hilariously far up the board.
Whether these new rules make for meta-breaking Detachments or mere curiosities, they’re absolute flavor wins. If you’re the happy owner of a yellow or black Space Marine army and you’re thinking of trying one of these Detachments out, come and show off your force in the dedicated ‘Share Your Army’ channel in the Wargamer Community Discord.
The new Lysander mini might get me back on the horse with painting my Imperial Fists army. I really do love the new Terminators – they’re so good that when I first got my hands on them, they inspired me to be a better painter…