Warhammer 40K: I Hope The Arks of Omen Detachment Becomes Permanent
The Arks of Omen Detachment makes list building a whole lot easier and I hope it becomes the standard option Detachment in the future.
When Games Workshop introduced the latest version of the detachments into 8th Edition is was an attempt to codify the various formations that had been introduced from 7th. Folks had build armies around those formations and GW didn’t want to burn those bridges. So, to throw those armies a bone, the detachment system we have now was created.
And yeah…it works for what it is. These Detachments also had to balance the newly introduced CP system as well and take that into account. That system also took some adjustments through 8th and 9th edition. The current mix is functional and makes sense — even if it feels a bit overly complicated. Bare in mind that GW has also released a handful of Balance Dataslate that also impacted how we all build armies. Plus they introduced HQ/Detachment restrictions, too. Combine that with the fact that you can create armies with a mix of Detachments and you end up with a system that can have a lot of layers.
That’s why I’m glad the Arks of Omen Detachment is coming to the game with the upcoming Chapter Approved: Arks of Omen Grand Tournament Mission Pack. While that is a mouthful, it’s got some changes coming that I’m looking forward to.
The New King of Detachments
Unless you really just want to include some allies the Arks of Omen Detachment has enough slots to fill pretty much every type of army you want. Functionally, it sits between the current Battalion Detachment and the Brigade Detachment but has the added benefits of both Lord of War slots and also Fortification slots. And, depending on which option you start with from the compulsory list, you could end up with more of that slot available which is perfect if you were running one of those armies based off the old formations.
Another fun benefit of the Arks of Omen Detachment is that it costs 0 CP to build out. I am curious how this is going to work with the existing rules and adding multiple detachments together. I think GW probably worked that out already as they hinted at in their article:
“Allies also don’t cost any CP, but they come with a few caveats – only certain factions and types of Detachments can join your main Arks of Omen Detachment as warzone comrades. It’s all laid out in a new section of Battle Brothers rules, representing iconic partnerships from the 41st Millennium.”
I have a feeling you’re only going to need to build the one Arks of Omen Detachment but if you want to add another Detachment you options might be limited. Either way, this should help ease some of the bookkeeping you need to do for your CP.
I also appreciate the fact that this feels a lot like the old Force Org Chart setup. You’ve got the one main Detachment that basically includes all of this stuff and then the optional Allied Detachment (which won’t require CPs but will have some unknown limits). For the scale (points value) of most standard 40k games in Matched Play this seems like a good fit.
Another factor I really like about the new Arks of Omen Detachment is that there is no mandatory “Troop Tax” inclusion. If you wanted to bypass the Troop Tax with the current Detachments you’d have to dip into one of the options. While this was functional, you typically ended up having to spend CPs to make your army fit into two Detachments. Sometimes because you needed more HQ options or because you wanted to add a Lord of War or Fortification — or whatever other myriad of reasons you might have.
While the “Troop Tax” is gone the new Arks of Omen Detachment features 0-9 optional Troop slots now. So if you were in the opposite boat and needed tons of slots for them you should be good to go. I also appreciate how there are more slots for your Elites, specifically for Character Units now. You could have 6 Elite units and another 3 Elite Character units in your list with the Arks of Omen Detachment. That should be more than enough to go around.
Thanks Abaddon!
From a pure “ease of use” perspective the Arks of Omen Detachment wins big in my book. No need to worry about CP. No need to worry about adding in Lords of War or Fortifications as extra Detachments. Plus you’ve got a ton of slots to work with for any army you want to build. I want to see the rest of the upcoming Chapter Approved to see how this will all fit together because I’m liking how easy this is making army construction. I hope the Ark of Omen Detachment option sticks around for a long, long time.
Less bookkeeping and more options? Where do I sign up?
