Speculation on SM "advent calendar" Detachment

[L30n1d4s]

So, what is everyone's best guess about what the new Astartes detachment will be this December (not counting Deathwatch here, as sounds like they will get a separate, bespoke, detachment of their own)?

 

My top guesses are:

 

1 - Drop Pod / Deep Strike focused detachment (one of the only major archetypes that is still not covered)

 

2 - A "Crimson Fist" style detachment (i.e. emphasis on last stands around Ancients with Banners, fighting hordes (like Orks), etc.), since GW seems to really like including them in past editions, but hasn't really done so in 10th

 

3 - A "Blood Ravens" style detachment (emphasis on Relics and Psykers), since GW really loves these guys from all the Dawn of War games

[Felix Antipodes]

1.  Yes please

2.  Maybe.  Isn’t this every other game nowadays?

3.  Meh.  Never understood their attraction myself, but to each their own.

[Deafbok]

My 5 drop pods would LOVE option 1. 

Give me back my Steel Rain, you cowards!

[Sir Clausel]

Drop pods seems so obvious. So thats my guess. 

But what about other supplements?

[Wormwoods]

1 hour ago, Sir Clausel said:

But what about other supplements?

Do the Dark Angels have any wings left?

[Felix Antipodes]

Maybe Lion will rebuild them now he’s woken from his nap. 

[Sir Clausel]

Dark angels could have a sort of "Risen" detachment maybe?

Space wolves: 13th company?

Black Templars: Sword Brethren detachment.

Blood angels i have no idea.

[ThaneOfTas]

2 hours ago, Sir Clausel said:

Blood angels i have no idea.

Could be a transport/Lucifer Pattern Engines one

[DemonGSides]

It could be something cool like a historical detatchment; like a Shield of Baal type detatchment where it's heavy anti tyranid/xenos.

Other SM factions could get similar things; an anti-psyker one for the Space Wolves to represent the Thousand Sons grudge.  Something along those lines would be fun but not game breaking.

[ThaneOfTas]

20 minutes ago, DemonGSides said:

It could be something cool like a historical detatchment; like a Shield of Baal type detatchment where it's heavy anti tyranid/xenos.

Other SM factions could get similar things; an anti-psyker one for the Space Wolves to represent the Thousand Sons grudge.  Something along those lines would be fun but not game breaking.

Those do sound pretty fun

Edited Tuesday at 02:44 AM by ThaneOfTas

[Cenobite Terminator]

13th Company would be great.

[Indy Techwisp]

On 11/25/2024 at 1:01 PM, Wormwoods said:

Do the Dark Angels have any wings left?

 They already have too many IMO. Of the 6, I think 4 still officially exist.

 

On 11/25/2024 at 12:13 AM, L30n1d4s said:

So, what is everyone's best guess about what the new Astartes detachment will be this December (not counting Deathwatch here, as sounds like they will get a separate, bespoke, detachment of their own)?

 

My top guesses are:

 

1 - Drop Pod / Deep Strike focused detachment (one of the only major archetypes that is still not covered)

 

2 - A "Crimson Fist" style detachment (i.e. emphasis on last stands around Ancients with Banners, fighting hordes (like Orks), etc.), since GW seems to really like including them in past editions, but hasn't really done so in 10th

 

3 - A "Blood Ravens" style detachment (emphasis on Relics and Psykers), since GW really loves these guys from all the Dawn of War games

 

1. This is the one I'm expecting for Base LSM myself, since Drop Pods being underwhelming has been a frequent observation this edition. Hopefully a Dedicated Detachment will give them the kick they need to be usable.
2. I feel the issue with a Detachment like that would be creating a "win more" situation where LSM who reach a position to turtle on points just become unshiftable.
3. While I'd personally like this, it would be a very "Herohammer" detachment and really needs more Psyker Support than a Detachment could give. That said, if LSM were to get a Second Codex this edition I could see it being added there.

 

For Divergent Detachments:

Blood Angels:

• Since we already have Death Company, "Standard" and Jump Pack detachments, the only angle left untouched is Vehicles. (Buff that Baal Predator and the Furioso Brutalis Dread painted Red and the DC Dread.) Maybe this could be fluffed as the "Baal Defenders"/Anti-Horde detachment as well via enhancements and Stats.

Dark Angels:

• They have "Standard", Deathwing/Inner Circle and a Ravenwing/Bike Detachment that should really be a White Scars detachment instead imo. As for what they're missing, there's still 4 slices of other chapter's pie Hexagrammaton Wings left untouched, so pick any of those. I'd choose Firewing (assuming it still exists) since Stealth DA is an interesting idea.

Space Wolves:

• So we don't know what Space Wolves Detachments are, but I'd wager the current one just... isn't in the Supplement. At all. AFAIK it's not been very well received by SW players and they're seeing nearly total use in Stormlance instead for Comp. Since I think the Supplement is going to hard pivot away from the Sagas, I feel the Grotmas detachment might just be another crack at a Saga like thing to replace the underperforming index one (again, even tho it's basically Index Detachment 2.0, barely anyone is using it anyway so it's not as much of an issue IMO)

Black Templars:

• As above, expect the Index Detachment does see use. Since that's almost 100% going in the Supplement, we need something to complement it that won't step on the toes of the Supplement. In my opinion, THIS is where a "Hold the Line" style Detachment should end up, themed around Grimaldus and his Last Stand thing. Otherwise, steal SoB's thunder and have a "God Emperor's Miracles" detachment 'cause the BT are the Religious Astartes.

[Indy Techwisp]

Oh, should probably also include a Grey Knights prediction.

Uhh, Detachment that buffs magic is probably gonna be covered in the codex...

Detachment that hyperfocuses on killing things with the Chaos Keyword probably is as well...

 

No clue, honestly.

Everything I can think of seems like it'd be a Codex Detachment instead.

[redmapa]

For Templars I would love to see a Marshall's Household to buff Elites but perhaps this will be in the codex so something more out of the left field could be

 

1. Righteous Zeal making a return, detachment where infantry units move forward when shot at

2. Fighting Company detachment, something that buffs units that have a leader to represent a Castellan and his specific mission 

3. Relic based detachment, why not make a detachment with less Stratagems but with more enhancements and more powerful relics, maybe even two tiers of enhancements one for characters and another for Sergeants, our sprue has so many cool bits that used to have rules so why not bring them back? More cool kit bashes are always a plus.

 

 

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

On 11/24/2024 at 7:13 PM, L30n1d4s said:

So, what is everyone's best guess about what the new Astartes detachment will be this December (not counting Deathwatch here, as sounds like they will get a separate, bespoke, detachment of their own)?

 

My top guesses are:

 

1 - Drop Pod / Deep Strike focused detachment (one of the only major archetypes that is still not covered)

 

2 - A "Crimson Fist" style detachment (i.e. emphasis on last stands around Ancients with Banners, fighting hordes (like Orks), etc.), since GW seems to really like including them in past editions, but hasn't really done so in 10th

 

3 - A "Blood Ravens" style detachment (emphasis on Relics and Psykers), since GW really loves these guys from all the Dawn of War games

Deep strike detachment probably not since that’s the SG detachment for BA.

[redmapa]

1 hour ago, Inquisitor_Lensoven said:

Deep strike detachment probably not since that’s the SG detachment for BA.

 

Ravenwing and Stormlance are both aimed at fast units like bikes, there can be some overlap. Besides you could just make a Drop Pod detachment very different by making DP into dedicated transports or giving a shooting buff to deep striking units or making it half phobos where you use phobos units as beacons for 3" deep strikes or other buffs, there's a ton of options that could be different from the BA detachment.

[Indy Techwisp]

5 minutes ago, redmapa said:

Ravenwing and Stormlance are both aimed at fast units like bikes, there can be some overlap. Besides you could just make a Drop Pod detachment very different by making DP into dedicated transports or giving a shooting buff to deep striking units or making it half phobos where you use phobos units as beacons for 3" deep strikes or other buffs, there's a ton of options that could be different from the BA detachment.

Something like "Drop Pod units in this Detachment gain Dedicated Transport" is very doable, tho I think Drop Pods would need more support than that to be worth taking on the Tabletop.

[Moonstalker]

A Steel Rain detachment seems like the missing piece, but I'll put in that I'd like to see a detachment that focuses on character-vs-character in melee.  That's something that's very on-brand for marines, one champion facing another in a duel while a battle rages around them.  Maybe a special rule that interacts with Oath of Moment, where if you Oath an enemy character, your characters gain full rerolls against them, and a bespoke stratagem that brings back the old dueling rules from past editions.  Something like nominate a character to issue a challenge, and the opponent can nominate a character to accept it.  Move them into base to base, the two of them can only fight each other.  If the opponent refuses to nominate a character to accept the challenge, you can designate a character that is eligible to accept the challenge and force them to sit out the combat.  Load it up with enhancements that focus on increasing the individual combat power (whether that's durability or damage dealing) of characters instead of providing squad buffs.

 

I'm not sure that detachment would be any good, but it'd be flavorful and fitting for various Chapters that prefer headhunting the enemy leadership.

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

14 hours ago, redmapa said:

 

Ravenwing and Stormlance are both aimed at fast units like bikes, there can be some overlap. Besides you could just make a Drop Pod detachment very different by making DP into dedicated transports or giving a shooting buff to deep striking units or making it half phobos where you use phobos units as beacons for 3" deep strikes or other buffs, there's a ton of options that could be different from the BA detachment.

I didn’t say anything about drop pods, but they’re simply not going to make a DS detachment for anyone else now.

 

of course there’s a lot of overlap between armies using 95% of the same units.

 

drop pods being a detachment focus seems unlikely to me.

edit

theres not much you can do to buff DS to make a new detachment centered around that different enough from the BA detachment.

 

however bikes and speeders, you can buff movement, shooting and melee, all pretty easily in different ways, and have different focuses.

 

a WS detachment could very easily be more movement and melee focused while a RW detachment can have strats specifically for speeders, and focus more on shooting(since plasma is a big thing for DA)

 

Edited 18 hours ago by Inquisitor_Lensoven

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

11 hours ago, Moonstalker said:

A Steel Rain detachment seems like the missing piece, but I'll put in that I'd like to see a detachment that focuses on character-vs-character in melee.  That's something that's very on-brand for marines, one champion facing another in a duel while a battle rages around them.  Maybe a special rule that interacts with Oath of Moment, where if you Oath an enemy character, your characters gain full rerolls against them, and a bespoke stratagem that brings back the old dueling rules from past editions.  Something like nominate a character to issue a challenge, and the opponent can nominate a character to accept it.  Move them into base to base, the two of them can only fight each other.  If the opponent refuses to nominate a character to accept the challenge, you can designate a character that is eligible to accept the challenge and force them to sit out the combat.  Load it up with enhancements that focus on increasing the individual combat power (whether that's durability or damage dealing) of characters instead of providing squad buffs.

 

I'm not sure that detachment would be any good, but it'd be flavorful and fitting for various Chapters that prefer headhunting the enemy leadership.

A duelist detachment I think could be very good for the non-generic chapters.

 

imagine Dante, Mephiston, astorath, the lion, EC, etc getting buffed in combat, against other characters or not it would be massive.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

I'd like to see a durability-buff detachment for generic Marines.  Sure, there's a few enhancements here or there that grant FNPs, but nothing army-wide.  I'd even accept it only affecting Infantry models.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the consistency from combining Oaths and the Ironstorm buff, but I yearn for the days when my Iron Hands were much harder to kill.