Grotmas Calendar 2025

[LSM]

1 hour ago, Marshal Loss said:

Hoping for a Noise Marine detachment for EC, obviously it's been a great year for us but still baffled we didn't receive one in the codex.

 

There's some unsubstantiated rumours "from a discord server" claiming that there will be an EC one, but that it will be called 'Court of the Phoenician' which certainly don't sound like no 'Sonic Cult'.

 

Probably total bunk - it claims the other five will be: Grizzled Veterans (Guard), Nightmare Hunt (CSM), Rage Cursed Onslaught (BA), Saga of the Great Wolf (SW), and Serpents Brood (Eldar). Surely even GW wouldn't be crazy enough to give CSMs an eleventh Detachment - probably someone with Night Lords on the mind (thanks to Kill Team) and not realising that CSMs are already spoiled for choice.

[Kyari]

13 minutes ago, LSM said:

 

There's some unsubstantiated rumours "from a discord server" claiming that there will be an EC one, but that it will be called 'Court of the Phoenician' which certainly don't sound like no 'Sonic Cult'.

 

Probably total bunk - it claims the other five will be: Grizzled Veterans (Guard), Nightmare Hunt (CSM), Rage Cursed Onslaught (BA), Saga of the Great Wolf (SW), and Serpents Brood (Eldar). Surely even GW wouldn't be crazy enough to give CSMs an eleventh Detachment - probably someone with Night Lords on the mind (thanks to Kill Team) and not realising that CSMs are already spoiled for choice.

 

Given that influencers got the rules and next week's points early I'm leaning towards this not being fake but I guess we'll see. 4 out of the 6 being some form of Astartes is .... yeah........ yeah....

[TheMawr]

50 minutes ago, LSM said:

Serpents Brood (Eldar). 

 

Well that name definitely reads as fake.. drukhari maybe.. at a stretch, but not craftworlds. ( and while Cegorach has some serpent ties, its not at the forefront enough to warrant a detachment name imho, there are many many other harlequin words usable there. and brood is a definitive no there too.)

 

[01RTB01]

2 hours ago, Marshal Loss said:

Hoping for a Noise Marine detachment for EC, obviously it's been a great year for us but still baffled we didn't receive one in the codex.

Totally agree. Having Battleline noise Marines would be immense.

[Alternis]

32 minutes ago, TheMawr said:

 

Well that name definitely reads as fake.. drukhari maybe.. at a stretch, but not craftworlds. ( and while Cegorach has some serpent ties, its not at the forefront enough to warrant a detachment name imho, there are many many other harlequin words usable there. and brood is a definitive no there too.)

 

Just a FYI.

[TheMawr]

1 hour ago, Alternis said:

Just a FYI.

 

Yes thats the lore Im referencing as well in my post.

The exact quote from the codex shifts the wording slightly from titular to descriptive

"These were the Cosmic Serpent’s brood – Starweaver, Voidweaver and Skyweaver whom Cegorach befriended and bested by turns in order to gain their aid. "

 

So while using Serpent's Brood as a detachment name makes sense if you are familiar with lexicanum as its more titular there, its less so when you read it from the codex, especially since its Cosmic Serpent's brood. the cosmic part is important ( but forgotten on the lexicanum page.)

 

Edit : Nope I was wrong, while the lore parts indeed do allude to the above, I had been reading on in the Harlequins codex towards the rules section ( I never paid much attention to that ) and there is a Masque form thats literally "Serpent's Brood" on page 69

Edited December 5 by TheMawr

[TheMawr]

That said I had forgotten about the using of the word brood there, and it could be that the rumor poster didnt put in the exact name ( after all, its not Eldar either.) and it is a Cosmic Serpents Brood, vehicle focused detachment for Harlequins.

 

edit : I still find it unlikely though, but after checking the other thing I thought was against the naming also isnt so definitive anymore.. I thought they had a very specific naming convention for most factions (quite similar to their battleforce naming convention) but that seems to have stopped recently and went all over the place.

Edited December 5 by TheMawr

[HeadlessCross]

19 minutes ago, TheMawr said:

 

Yes thats the lore Im referencing as well in my post.

The exact quote from the codex shifts the wording slightly from titular to descriptive

"These were the Cosmic Serpent’s brood – Starweaver, Voidweaver and Skyweaver whom Cegorach befriended and bested by turns in order to gain their aid. "

 

So while using Serpent's Brood as a detachment name makes sense if you are familiar with lexicanum as its more titular there, its less so when you read it from the codex, especially since its Cosmic Serpent's brood. the cosmic part is important ( but forgotten on the lexicanum page.)

A different Harlequin detachment would be nice. The current one has a REALLY lame rule (even if the Enhancements and Strats are solid), and the other one is technically not even theirs (though it's nice).

[Gree]

It would be cool if EC finally got a detachment that actually centered around their Cult unit.

 

However, the Cult Legion codices exist to sell Primarch kits. Now, Fulgrim is an underwhelming unit on the tabletop. Going by the leaked name, I suspect that this will be something intended to help boost him.

 

Nightmare Hunt sounds interesting. Probably a reworked Dread Talons detachment.

[HeadlessCross]

Having looked at the new Guard detachment, it doesn't do anything but make current lists stronger. Dorn Command tanks will just shell out more orders and Bullgryn walls got significantly stronger with them. 

[01RTB01]

1 hour ago, Gree said:

It would be cool if EC finally got a detachment that actually centered around their Cult unit.

 

However, the Cult Legion codices exist to sell Primarch kits. Now, Fulgrim is an underwhelming unit on the tabletop. Going by the leaked name, I suspect that this will be something intended to help boost him.

 

Nightmare Hunt sounds interesting. Probably a reworked Dread Talons detachment.

Agreed on cult centering. However, I've used Fulgrim a lot and honestly love him. He's got the speed to go where he wants and I've always found him to slaughter nicely. However, other's mileage may vary. Be interesting to see him boosted though.

[Lord Marshal]

Nightmare Hunt Detachment for Day 6. Dread Talon? I hardly know her!

 

Looks like the leaked names are correct then.

 

Edited Saturday at 04:08 PM by Lord Marshal

[TheMawr]

list seems legit

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/kdtvqqh5/grotmas-calendar-day-6-terrify-and-terminate-with-a-new-chaos-space-marines-detachment/

[LSM]

*Sad vocoder noises.*

[Indy Techwisp]

So, since today's Detachment seems to confirm the list...

4 of 6 are Marines.

3 of 6 are Imperium factions.

The one Xenos Detachment is Aeldari (who I don't think we're exactly pining for Detachments).

 

If they're not lying that these were supposed to be Balance Dataslate detachments, I question why these factions were determined to need something.

 

Also, do we think this is all the "game content" for 40k this Grotmas?

AoS can probably expect some stuff as well, but this is a significant step-down from the amount of content we got last year.

[HeadlessCross]

28 minutes ago, Indy Techwisp said:

this is a significant step-down from the amount of content we got last year.

That's why I tempered my expectations and only expected to get maybe up to ten detachments max. 

 

While this new detachment is as lazy as the SM Character detachments, it does CRAZY work to solve the problems Dread Talons was having. Battleshock isn't a good mechanic, but you get nice offensive bonuses at least going that route vs just "try and out-OC your opponent randomly". It's worth playing a couple times at least. 

[ursvamp]

43 minutes ago, Indy Techwisp said:

I question why these factions were determined to need something.

Dread Talons seem to be agreed on to be pretty much the weakest CSM detachment. So judging by today’s detachment (that’s just a tweaked version of that one, but with a new name for some reason), perhaps they are focusing on improving underused, or underpowered, detachments?

 

i don’t know enough avout AM to say anything about Grizzled (though it didn’t give me that impression). But maybe Harlequins and Death Company are in about the same boat as Dread Talons?

[Marshal Loss]

Pleased to hear EC are effectively confirmed to be getting a detachment. Based off the name & rumours floating around of a stratagem that will let snake daddy go through walls, Court is probably intended to alleviate Fulgrim's issues. Hopefully it doesn't lead to a scenario where Fulgrim is great in this one detachment and bang average in all of the others. 

 

Sad it's not going to be a Noise Marine themed one though. I get they want the cult legions to have very specific themes, and this iteration of the EC have an intense and crippling phobia of long-ranged firepower so I suspect they don't want a 'shooty' detachment, but the sonic theme is just too cool not to play up. Maybe one day when we (hopefully) get more units. 

 

17 hours ago, 01RTB01 said:

Agreed on cult centering. However, I've used Fulgrim a lot and honestly love him. He's got the speed to go where he wants and I've always found him to slaughter nicely. However, other's mileage may vary. Be interesting to see him boosted though.

 

Personally I'd like him to do a bit more damage, but I think the 'Fulgrim is bad' wisdom largely comes from the competitive scene as his 130mm base means he's flat out unable to navigate key paths on most prescribed terrain layouts. Personally I think he should just ignore terrain - I mean he's a snake with wings - but I guess we'll see what this detachment and the upcoming rebalance does for him. 

 

[Indy Techwisp]

If the rumours that these Detachments will largely carry over to 11th are true, then EC might be getting their Sonic Detachment with their 11th codex.

 

(Tho IMO it'd be more likely to be a ranged Detachment rather than Sonic specifically).

[TheMawr]

1 hour ago, Indy Techwisp said:

So, since today's Detachment seems to confirm the list...

4 of 6 are Marines.

3 of 6 are Imperium factions.

The one Xenos Detachment is Aeldari (who I don't think we're exactly pining for Detachments).

 

 

Leaving subjectivity behind ( optimal/suboptimal detachments ) Harlequin and Ynnari armies can only select a single detachment.. the others are not just suboptimal, they are not available ( the divergent paths & datasheets rules create a situation that the max pts of harlequins you can possibly take is 925 points; 1 of each unit...this already includes a maxed out troupe that cannot ride the sole Starweaver and one of two leader characters that cannot join a bodyguard unit (as there is only one datasheet.)

An Asuryani army on the other  hand can absolutely use the harlequin detachment, its just sub-optimal. (same way tzeentch daemons can use the slaanesh daemons detachment, nothing prohibits it, it just adds nothing.)

 

They dont work quite like things as kroot/krieg/sisters of silence/beastsnaggas/tzaangor etc ( none of wich are seperate factions in the rule sense ) nor do they work as Loyalist Spacemarine chapters ( wich effectively have 2 factions ).. the closest equivalents to Harlequins and Ynnari are the daemons datasheets in the cult codexes, also faction keyword locked to 1 detachment in the codex, however those at least still have the online chaos daemons detachments for the moment.)

 

So while "Eldar" have 9 detachments, there is no Eldar/Aeldari faction anymore, and the hard split into 3 seperate factions since the codex means that Asuryani have 8 ( of wich one is the, for asuryani suboptimal but in contrary to the ynnari one non-restrictive harlequin detachment ) Harlequins have 1 ( if you have multiples of any harlequin unit that is, wich many players probably have since last decade) and Ynnari have 1 with the latter having the unique position of having the only 3 purchasable models that can only be used in a single detachment... but in contrary to Harlequins, its just 3 epic hero models, not an entire army.

 

So to make a long story short.

Harlequins 100% are THE most pining-for-a-detachment army out there right now, and thats even when counting objective arguments only. ( and I say this as a non-harlequins player myself.)

Edited Saturday at 08:03 PM by TheMawr

[TheMawr]

Another thing though.

We know 500 Worlds Titus introduces more detachments ( I dont quite understand if its 6 for Ultramarines and Necrons combined or 6 each.) and we can assume that further books, wether they are called 500 worlds or not will add more detachments.

I wonder if it rules out the recepitants of these 6 detachments as players in the campaign.

[Tastyfish]

2 hours ago, Indy Techwisp said:

So, since today's Detachment seems to confirm the list...

4 of 6 are Marines.

3 of 6 are Imperium factions.

The one Xenos Detachment is Aeldari (who I don't think we're exactly pining for Detachments).

 

If they're not lying that these were supposed to be Balance Dataslate detachments, I question why these factions were determined to need something.

 

Also, do we think this is all the "game content" for 40k this Grotmas?

AoS can probably expect some stuff as well, but this is a significant step-down from the amount of content we got last year.

 

To be fair, the first set of quarterly detachments was Tau, Orks and Custodes in March, then CSM, Dark Angels and Tyranids in June.

Presumably this set is then the delayed Q3 ones and Q4s.

 

So of the 12 (we're missing the name of one);

 

Three (DA, BA, SW) to give 25% Imperial marines

Three (CSM, CSM, EC) to give 25% Chaos marines

Two (Custodes/IG) Imperials

Four (Tau, Orks, Nids, Eldar) Xenos

 

I suspect it'll be Necrons, but wouldn't be surprised to see Sisters or AdMech (maybe even Agents!) given that slot might be in 500 worlds Titus.

Not sure if Votan have the range for more detachments, I still forget about them fairly often.

Edited Saturday at 08:53 PM by Tastyfish

[Gree]

Dread Talons was probably the CSM detachment that desperately needed an upgrade.

 

Master of Executions synergize very well with the Nightmare Hunt detachment special rule. A MoE leading a Legionary squad can hit really hard for their points cost. That's 170pts, right?

[HeadlessCross]

3 hours ago, Gree said:

Dread Talons was probably the CSM detachment that desperately needed an upgrade.

 

Master of Executions synergize very well with the Nightmare Hunt detachment special rule. A MoE leading a Legionary squad can hit really hard for their points cost. That's 170pts, right?

Believe it or not, Deceptors is actually worse than Dread Talons. 

[Emperor Ming]

Cosmic Serpent.....

 

Could someone fill me in on that