This past week has given us two new 40K detachments for the Space Marines and the Orks. Today I want to review the new Space Marine Option called Vengeful Hosts.
As I like to call the Vengeful Hosts – Revenge of the Jumpy Boyz. This detachment is all about those crazy Space Marines that strap a jump pack to their backs and launch themselves into the fray for the Emperor.
Vengeful Hosts – The Basics
Overall this detachment is a 1DP option that pushes the Jump Infantry for your Space Marines armies. Just like the CSM jump option – all the rules within this detachment are for Adeptus Astartes Fly Infantry. If you don’t got no jump pack – you get no dang rules.
The overall rule is a pretty nice and simple rule that powers up those options you have within the Space Marine book. All those type of Infantry get to reroll hits of 1 if they made a charge move or an ingress move. This means the shooting variants of Jump Infantry and the charging ones both get a nice little bonus which I think is pretty dang cool. I love these simple rules as they are easy to understand especially for new players.
Vengeful Hosts – Enhancements
There are two enhancements for this option and while one seems somewhat ok the other is pretty dang awesome. The first one is called the Avenging Angel and it grants the user the ability to pick an enemy unit within 9” and force a Battle Shock test at -1 if the person holding the enhancement made an ingress move. I think this is ok as again it could be fun and if the cost of the enhancement is low might make for some interesting usage. I just don’t like relying on something that forces your opponent to fail a roll beyond just failing an armor save.
The next enhancement is pretty dang amazing. It’s called Orksbane and thankfully it isn’t only useful versus Orks. This is a weapon given to an Adeptus Astartes Fly Infantry unit and gives them a 4 attack, Cleave 2, Strength 8, AP -2, and Flat 3 damage close combat weapon. You can see this being a giant Chainsword wielded by a very angry Space Marine captain coming in hot. The WS hit on this weapon is a 2+ which means they are coming in hitting on 2’s and reroll 1’s to miss. If you happen to have a rule that could give them Sustained Hits or something else fun you could see this guy hitting a unit of 10 models and swinging in with 8 attacks.
Vengeful Hosts – Strategems
There are 3 Stratagems that are all 1CP and boost up your Fly Infantry. The first one, Meteoric Onslaught gives a unit a +1 to strength if they made a charge move in the fight phase. The second one, Purge By Sectors lets a unit that ends up unengaged to make a normal move of d3+3 inches. Remember this can’t get you into Engagement range but lets you hide, hold an objective, or get closer to doing something. The final one, Know No Fear isn’t just for Fly Infantry and instead just lets you pick a battle shocked unit and unbattle shock them in your command phase. A very useful option you can have to ensure you still hold that terrain piece.
The Verdict
Overall I think this could be a fun little detachment. This especially combines real well with the Angelic Host detachment from Blood Angels to give you an army that can redeploy all over and just be a pain in the butt. The detachment still has an Advance and charge plus with Sanguinary guard hitting on 2’s they are going to come in hot and do a decent amount of damage as needed.
Death From Above!
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Thomas Reidy, aka Goatboy, the ever-evil member of BoLS. I do arts, play 40k, and even paint a lot of stuff. I have been playing Warhammer 40K since the 1990s, and have won multiple national events including Adepticon and GW GTs. I’ve been writing for BoLS for 15 years. Look at my Instagram to see what I am working on – or working on for someone. I am always doing something hobby related.
Source: Bell of Lost Souls
