Warhammer 40K: This Comparison Shows Just How Good Leagues of Votann Are

Take a look at one of the big Leagues of Votann units stacks up against it’s Space Marine rival. It’s shocking.

The Leagues of Votann are out and they are super good. So good they are getting banned from some events. We’ve taken a look at how bonkers their army wide rules are before. However an army is more than just is faction rules. The units have to be good. So we should ask, are the Votann units good? Are they broken. Well… probably. To help us find out just how good they lets compare the centerpiece unit from the army, the Hekaton Land Fortress with a similar unit, the Marine Repulsor Executioner.

The Old Tank

First up let’s take a look at the now classic Space Marine Repulsor Executioner. This bad boy is one of the most powerful marine tanks. We’ve got movement 10, BS 3+,T8, 16 wounds and a 3+ save. It can carry 6 models. It gets 18-28 S4 D1 shots. 12 S6 D1 shots. 6 s5 D2 shots and then a choice of heavy guns. One of its guns is better at taking down heavy infantry. The other is a solid anti-tank weapon. It also gets a nice bonus to hit with its main gun. For all this it clocks in at 19 PL. It starts off at 300 points, an can go up to 320 with some extra buffs. It’s a beast, but a costly one.

The New Kid – Hekaton Land Fortress

The centerpiece unit of the Leagues if the mighty Hekaton Land Fortress. A truly brutal unit. It’s got movement 10, BS 3+,T8, 16 wounds and a 2+ save. It can carry 12 models. It gets 8 S6 D2 shots (possibly supposed to be 12). These can be swapped for 8 s7 D2 shots with beam, possibly allowing for a lot more hits. Additionally it has 6 S7 D2 shots. Lastly it’s got a choice of three heavy main weapons. All of which have major damage output. It can also take a one time shot warhead to added in more damage. For all this the Land Fortress clocks in at only 13 power level. In points it will cost you 230 pts, with upgrades taking it to 260 at most.

Comparing The Two

So right off the bat the Hekaton comes out really strong. It has almost identical stats to the Executioner. In fact the only difference is it has one more point of armor. It also has twice the transport capacity. For better base stats it’s 6 PL cheaper and 70 pts less. That’s a steal. But what about the weapons, that’s really what we are here for.

The first thing to note is that the Executioner does get a lot more shots. Without adding the extra guns it can get up to 56 shots, which is a ton. The Hekaton on the other hand is going to max out at 23 shots, not counting one use weapons. That’s less than half the number of shots. Beam weapons do however confuse this a bit. Technically the Hekaton could score 100s of hits each turn with its massive beam armament. It won’t, but yeah, it could. Overall I think it’s fair to say the Executioner gets a lot more shots.

Are They Good Shots Though?

Number of shots of course isn’t everything. Quality counts as well. Here the Hekaton is the clear winner. Half of the Executioner’s shots are s4 and D1. Indeed that vast majority of its shots are stuck at D1. Outside of its main gun none of its weapons get more that AP -1. The Hekaton on the other hand has no weapons with a worse AP than -2 and none that do less than 2D. All of its guns are S6 or better. The Executioner might be better at Hordes, but in damage that will get through to most targets the Hekaton is far better.

The Hekaton is held back by overall shorter ranges. However with smaller tables and move 10, its likely to get targets to shoot at. Considering Judgement of the Ancestors and the better quality of the Hekaton’s weapons it will like get more damage thoughts to targets despite having less shots. JotA also makes the Hekaton a far superior anti-tank unit.

Final Thoughts

I think the key takeaway is that the Hekaton is a highly competitively-priced unit. It’s considerably cheaper than the Executioner. It has the same or better core stats. While it has less shots, and shorter range, once in range it’s far better at reliably putting out damage. It also benefits a lot more from army wide rules. The army rules make the Heavy Magna-Rail cannon one of the most deadly weapons in the game. Combined with Uthar the Destined it’s the most reliable weapon in the game, able to deal 8 damage to most targets with any dice being rolled or any chance of failure. On it’s own it might not be broken, but it’s sure as heck amazing!

Let us know what you think about this new beast of a tank, down in the comments!

Author: Abe Apfel

Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers 40K tactics and lore, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe remains in mourning over the loss of WFB to this day.