Detachment Focus: Vessels of Wrath

Merry Grotmas! Games Workshop is releasing a new series of detachments – one per army, every day until Christmas. In this series we’re looking at these new detachments, covering what’s in them, how they play, and how they’ll fit into the broader meta and your games.

Blood for the Blood God! World Eaters are one of the game’s newest full factions, releasing late in 9th edition, and though they’ve had strong moments in the 10th edition meta they remain limited by their small range and single detachment. Much like Votann, picking up a second way to play is a big deal for them because their toolkit is already so narrow. That said, it didn’t help Thousand Sons or Votann very much but maybe the third time is the charm. Let’s see how the Vessels of Wrath detachment shakes out, and whether the Red Angel will be raging at his enemies or at his own Legionaries.

We’d like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with a preview copy of these rules for Review purposes.

Detachment Overview

The Vessels of Wrath Detachment trades out army-wide bonuses on the charge for the ability to give up to three units in your army an additional, guaranteed blessing each round. This allows you to trade some of your damage output for much more versatility and guaranteed movement buffs when you need them most, and can make some strategies much more viable just through virtue of their reliability. From a construction standpoint this doesn’t really push you in any crazy directions but will keep you grounded in Infantry-heavy armies and away from Jakhals as the bonuses only apply to characters and the marine units.

The Video Version

If you’re less of a reader and more of a blood-soaked raving madman, you can always opt to watch the video version of this article, here:

Detachment Rule: Wrath of Khorne

At the start of the battle round, after activating Blessings of Khorne, you can pick one or more models from your army (including ones in TRANSPORTS) to gain the VESSEL OF WRATH keyword. You can pick from either WORLD EATERS CHARACTERS (except EPIC HEROES), or the Champion models for either type of Eightbound, Khorne Berzerkers, or World Eaters Terminators units, up to a maximum number depending on the game size:

• Incursion: 2 Models
• Strike Force: 3 Models
• Onslaught: 4 Models

Until the end of the battle round, you can pick an additional Blessing of Khorne from among those you haven’t already selected which will apply to all VESSEL OF WRATH units in your army in addition to any that were already active. This doesn’t seem to require you choose something you could have gained via your roll, so feel free to slam that Advance and Charge button on three units per turn as you like. Although you can’t use this on Kharne the Betrayer or Lord Invocatus, you can use it on the champions of the units they join, letting them get the benefit as well. Ironically, Angron can’t benefit from this.

Losing out on army-wide +1 Strength and +1 Attack on the charge is a big deal but the key to why you’d take this Detachment is consistency – the ability to guarantee Advance and Charge for three of your units in any given turn is huge, and in those turns where you manage to roll it naturally you’ll have plenty of other options to choose from, and can regain some of that lost power by taking Lethal or Sustained hits instead. This also makes it way less important to have icons on objectives to juice your rolls during the game, since you know you can always get the ability you need the most.

Enhancements

You’re going to be surprised to learn that most of these are about doing things in melee. They’re also pretty good. 

• Archslaughterer (25 pts) – Gives the bearer +1 AP on their melee weapons, and +1 Damage if they’re a VESSEL OF WRATH as well. This is basically your replacement for the Berserker Glaive, which was more or less a must-take in the Berzerker Warband Detachment. Trading out Strength for AP isn’t the best exchange, but given that you aren’t combining that strength bonus with +1 from the Berzerker Warband Detachment bonus, it’s not as important here as it was since you aren’t going to S9 with a Master of Executions. That said, going to AP-3 is very valuable, and you’ll want this just as much on your Master of Executions in this Detachment.
• Vox-Diabolus (20 pts) – Each time the bearer’s unit destroys an enemy unit with a melee attack, gain a CP on a 4+, or a 3+ if the bearer is a VESSEL OF WRATH. This is pricey for the effect, and probably not worth spending your last 20 points on.
• Avenger’s Crown (15 pts) – If the bearer is destroyed by a melee attack and hasn’t fought yet this phase, then it can fight on death on a 2+. Cheap and cheerful. This probably goes on your second Master of Executions, if you’re taking two.
• Gateways to Glory (10 pts) – DAEMON PRINCE or MOUNTED model; you can move horizontally through models and terrain features when making a Normal, Advance, or Charge move. The now somewhat standard wall-hack feature for big models, helpful in World Eaters that can bring relevant numbers of them to the table. This does a lot to make the already on-the-cusp Daemon Prince playable since he can now use terrain a lot more effectively than before while still handing out a 4+ invulnerable save to nearby Eightbound.

Stratagems

The six Stratagems here are heavily combat-focused: Three are used in the Fight phase, while another two are focused on getting into combat or chasing down a unit trying to run. They’re all priced at 1 CP.

• Aspire to Infamy (Battle Tactic, 1 CP) – Used in the Fight phase, for one unit of Berzerkers or Jakhals that hasn’t fought yet and is within 8” of a friendly CHARACTER. Until the end of the phase, non-CHARACTER models in your unit get +1 Strength and AP. Berzerkers absolutely need this – AP-2 is a key missing component to their combat effectiveness and does a lot more for them than +1 Strength. 
• Overshadowed by None (Battle Tactic, 1 CP) – Used in the Fight phase, on one INFANTRY, MOUNTED, or DAEMON PRINCE unit that hasn’t fought yet. Until the end of the phase, get re-rolls to Wound against MONSTER or VEHICLE units. This is a solid Stratagem which you’ll use regularly, particularly with a Master of Executions rocking the Archslaughterer Enhancement. Any time you can combine Devastating Wounds and full re-rolls you’re doing well. 
• Gory Dedication (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – Used in the Fight phase, just after a WORLD EATERS unit from your army has fought, if one or more enemy models were destroyed with those attacks. Pick one objective marker you control that that unit is in range of and sticky it. Letting units move on from sitting on points is a helpful capability for an army that wants to get up and punch things. It’s not quite as good as being able to sticky an objective on Death, but having an alternative option as you move through an objective is pretty good.
• Punish the Craven (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – Used in your opponent’s Movement phase, just after an enemy unit is selected to Fall Back (except for MONSTERS and VEHICLES). Pick one of your INFANTRY or DAEMON PRINCE units in Engagement Range of that unit; when the unit Falls Back all models have to take a Desperate Escape test, and at -1 to the roll if your unit is a VESSEL OF WRATH. This is more of a threat than something you want to use – it’s the kind of thing you mention to an opponent to play mind games, making them too risk-averse to drop back. It’s better against smaller, elite units, but because it doesn’t work against vehicles or monsters you can’t catch anything big with it. You don’t actually want to use this most games.
• Meet Force with Force (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – Used in your opponent’s Shooting phase just after an enemy unit has shot. Pick one INFANTRY, MOUNTED, or DAEMON PRINCE unit from your army that lost wounds from those attacks. You can make a Blood Surge move, ending as close as possible to the closest enemy unit (except AIRCRAFT), and you can move into Engagement Range. Khorne Berzerkers or VESSEL OF WRATH units can re-roll the D6. A careful opponent will try to play around this, but this is still potentially helpful for catching someone out and getting into combat instead of standing around getting shot. People expect this from Berzerkers, they don’t from everything else and being able to surge with Terminators is huge. Also note that the trigger here is wounds and not lost models, so you can use it to get a surge with berzerkers even if you didn’t suffer casualties, which might be good for getting out of sight before you do start taking casualties.
• Brazen Contempt (Battle Tactic, 1 CP) – Used in your opponent’s Shooting phase, just after an enemy unit has selected its targets; pick one of your units that was targeted. Until the end of the phase, your opponent’s attacks get -1 to Wound if that attack’s Strength is higher than the unit’s Toughness, or for VESSEL OF WRATH units they just get a straight -1 to Wound. This is potentially very helpful for getting something through a phase without being shot to pieces, especially on something like Eightbound where T6 can help push even heavier weapons to 4s and light stuff to 6s to wound. Terminators also love this, and flat -1 to wound is super helpful when you’re trying to tank a bunch of smaller arms fire as well.

This is a very good suite of Stratagems to have. You’e got a pair of very good damage output buffs, the ability to make blood surge moves, a defensive buff, and the ability to sticky objectives. There’s a lot to like here and these easily rival the Berzerker Warband – and may be a bit better. The big loss is Apoplectic Frenzy, so you’ll have to make up for that with more measured movement and the guarantee you’ll be able to Advance and Charge any given turn.

Playing This Detachment

It’s admittedly difficult to evaluate this Detachment without a ton of test games. It gives up a lot in terms of losing Auto-advance 6” with Apoplectic Frenzy and +1 Strength and Attacks on the charge, but gains a lot of reliability from the additional blessings of Khorne, and the Stratagems here are very useful. Because of the unit counts and how the champions can be chosen, it does feel like this Detachment was made with the 30-terminator build in mind, though losing an attack and Apoplectic Frenzy with that army is a big loss given your large bricks only move 5” and have 3 attacks with power fists. Where you can make that up most effectively is by giving them Sustained hits or Lethal Hits with a blessing and buffing them with Aspire to Infamy or Overshadowed by None. Eightbound also like these buffs all the same, and there’s a fine case to be made for them as well.

The name of the game here is consistency. While your ability to rocket across the table with a unit and completely kill something is substantially reduced, you’re trading that out for guaranteed movement on a larger number of units – Frenzy only hits one, while with this Detachment you’re basically picking three units to give a 3”-4” movement buff before the charge. Combine that with 2” from your blessings and you’re still looking at a 5-6” average increase in speed, which you can combine with Scouts 6” and the 9” movement on Eightbound to send them 20” or so before the charge on the first turn. You’ve also got other options, of course – you can pretty much always choose the melee buff you need, and there’s no reason for you to not have the 6+ Feel No Pain active whenever you need. 

There’s no world where you build around this and don’t want to include at least one Master of Executions with the Archslaughterer Enhancement, joined a unit of Berzerkers in a Rhino, and it’s worth looking at Kharn paired with one as well. While he can’t be a vessel himself, the champion of the berzerker unit he’s attached to can, enabling you to get the buffs on him that way. And Kharn loves both getting to AP-3 and having full re-rolls to wound against vehicles and monsters.

Strengths

• Having the ability to automatically apply blessings to three units gives you a ton of consistency and the ability to guarantee Advance and Charge
• Great Stratagems give you a good mix of movement, damage, and defensive buffs
• The Master of Executions is just as good here as in the Berzerker Warband

Weaknesses

• Losing +1 Strength and +1 Attacks from Berzerker Warband is a big drop in combat effectiveness
• Losing Apoplectic Frenzy to auto-advance 6” really cuts down your threat range
• Angron gets nothing out of this Detachment

A Sample List

There are a few concepts we can build around here but I’ve opted for the 30 Terminators build. It’s far from your only option and I think there’s probably a build that includes more Berzerkers and a pair of Masters of Executions but this is probably where I’d start. Either this or running 2×10 Terminators and a trio of Eightbound.

Sample Vessels of Wrath list - click to expand

This is pretty straightforward, though note that you’re going to need to do a bit more coordination – you’re giving up a lot of punch in exchange for consistency and flexibility and while that’s going to feel bad some of the time, the upside is that you’re more likely to be able to arrive with all of your units at once. Coordinating their movements and charges will be an important part of making the most of this.

Final Thoughts

The World Eaters are a tough army to build new detachments for – they really only do the one thing, and while they do it very well, coming up with creative new ways for them to do that thing has to be difficult. To its credit, the Vessels of Wrath Detachment does give us an interesting new way to play World Eaters, making some interesting trade-offs. Is it worth it? It’s hard to say. But it definitely looks like it’s worth testing.

Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.