The Leagues of Votann are the Kin: tough, technologically advanced abhuman clones from the galactic core. They fight with ion, volkanite and magna-rail weapons, wear heavy void armour and treat war as a matter of debt and profit. This guide covers who they are, how the army plays in Warhammer 40,000 11th Edition, where to start collecting and how to paint them.
The Kin are a very different kind of faction. Unlike the Tyranids they build rather than consume. And unlike the Imperium of Man, they don’t fear technology. They study it, use it and improve it.
Who Are the Leagues of Votann?
The Leagues of Votann are a Warhammer 40,000 faction made up of the Kin, abhuman descendants of ancient human settlers who have lived in the galactic core for millennia. They are short, stocky and very hardy. Their society is pragmatic, meritocratic and organised into Leagues, each a confederation of clan-families called Kindreds.
Kin society is guided by the Votann, or Ancestor Cores: vast, ancient artificial intelligences that hold the civilisation’s accumulated knowledge and the genetic templates the Kin are cloned from. The Kin don’t worship the Votann as gods, but they revere them as the embodiment of their ancestors’ wisdom.
What Are the Leagues of Votann Army Strengths?
On the tabletop the Votann are a durable, mid-range army that is good at both shooting and close combat.
- Durability: Kin infantry are tough for their size, and the vehicles are some of the sturdiest in the game. Units hold objectives well and trade efficiently.
- Reliable firepower: Ion, volkanite and magna-rail weapons, backed by an army rule that rewards holding objectives, give steady damage at medium range.
- Elite melee: Einhyr Hearthguard, Cthonian Beserks and characters like the Kâhl can hold their own in combat.
The weaknesses are just as clear. The army is fairly slow, model counts are low, and fast, mobile opponents can outmanoeuvre it. Every model matters, so plan your positioning and target priority carefully.
Where Should Beginners Start?
The best-value entry point is the Leagues of Votann Combat Patrol. After that, these are the key models to add:
- Hearthkyn Warriors: The core infantry of the army and your main objective holders. Most lists include at least one squad, and usually more.
- Sagitaur or Hekaton Land Fortress: The Sagitaur is a light, fast transport and fire-support vehicle. The Hekaton Land Fortress is the army’s big armoured transport and gun platform. Either one adds firepower and a safe ride for your infantry.
- Hernkyn Pioneers: The Kin’s bike unit. They give you speed for scouting, flanking and grabbing objectives far from your gunline.
- A leader: A Kâhl is a strong all-round commander. The Grimnyr, a Living Ancestor psyker, adds support, and the Einhyr Champion is a melee specialist. The named hero Ûthar the Destined is a popular centrepiece.
Check the Leagues of Votann 1000 point army list for a worked 11th Edition list.
Leagues of Votann Lore and History
The Leagues of Votann, also known as the Kin, are a civilisation of cloned abhuman descendants of humanity. They live in the galactic core, a region so dense with stars, radiation and gravitational anomalies that the wider Imperium has barely been able to reach it for millennia. They look rather like the dwarves of old Terran myth, but their technology in many ways outstrips the Imperium’s.
Each League is built around one or more Votann. The Votann act as stores of wisdom, technical databanks and quasi-religious figures. In the lore they are ancient and irreplaceable. Their pronouncements can be slow and cryptic, and the question of how reliable they still are hangs over Kin society.
The Kin are organised into Kindreds, extended clan-families that are the basic social and military unit. Each Kindred is led by a Kâhl, a warrior-leader chosen for their ability. The Grimnyr, psykers known as Living Ancestors, give psychic support and spiritual guidance. Kin society values efficiency and earned status over dogma and inherited rank.
The Leagues have a complicated relationship with the Imperium. The Kin trade with Imperial worlds when it suits them, and fight alongside Imperial forces when their interests line up, but they owe no loyalty to the Emperor or the High Lords of Terra. New threats in and around the galactic core, including Tyranid hive fleets and Ork empires, have pushed the Leagues into a more active military role and into more contact with the wider galaxy.
Leagues of Votann Complete Lore — The Return of the Squats
The Leagues of Votann brought back a concept many players thought was gone for good. The Squats, abhuman descendants of human colonists, were part of early Warhammer 40,000 but were removed from the setting in the late 1990s. For years they lived on as a nostalgic memory and a long-running joke that they had been “eaten by Tyranids”.
The Leagues of Votann reimagined the idea from the ground up. The Kin aren’t simply “space dwarfs”. They are an advanced civilisation of cloned humans who have survived in the galactic core for millennia, and their technology rivals or beats that of the Adeptus Mechanicus. For a deeper look at their origins and the change from Squats to Votann, see our complete Squats to Votann history.
The Kin approach technology pragmatically, not superstitiously. They don’t worship the Emperor. Each Kin is grown from genetic templates stored in the Ancestor Cores. Their armies carry equipment an Imperial Tech-Priest would envy: ion weaponry, magna-rail weapons, volkanite disintegrators and heavy void armour.
What makes the faction stand out is how it blends deep tradition with cutting-edge technology. The Kin honour their ancestors through the Votann, keep careful accounts of debts and grudges, and fight as traders, miners and soldiers all at once. If you want something different from the gothic horror of most 40k factions, they’re a refreshing alternative.
All Leagues of Votann Leagues Explained
The Kin aren’t a single unified state. They’re a collection of Leagues, each with its own traditions and character, which gives you plenty of room to choose a background and colour scheme for your army. The best-known Leagues are:
- Greater Thurian League: The largest and most influential League, and the one the studio presents most prominently.
- Trans-Hyperian Alliance
- Ymyr Conglomerate
- Kronus Hegemony: Known for its aggressive, expansionist outlook.
- Urani-Surtr Regulates
Each League has its own published colour scheme and background in the codex. You can also invent your own League, since the lore leaves plenty of space for homebrew Kindreds.
Leagues of Votann Key Characters
Ûthar the Destined
Ûthar the Destined is the faction’s best-known named character. He is a famed Kâhl whose knack for surviving against the odds has made him a legend among the Kin. He fights well both at range and in melee, and in most lists he works as a centrepiece commander. Check his current datasheet in the codex or the Warhammer 40,000 app for his exact abilities.
The Ancestor Cores (Votann)
The Ancestor Cores aren’t characters in the usual sense, but they are the most important entities in Kin civilisation and give the faction its name. They are ancient artificial intelligences of huge complexity. Each holds millennia of knowledge, the genetic data used for cloning, and strategic analysis that the Kin rely on. Whether the Votann are truly sentient is a question even the Kin can’t fully answer.
The Kin can’t build new Votann, so each one is irreplaceable. That gives the faction’s story a quiet tension. The Kin’s whole civilisation depends on machines they no longer fully understand.
Leagues of Votann Army Rules and Detachments
The Votann’s current army rule is Prioritised Efficiency. You earn Yield Points (YP) at the end of each Command phase for controlling objectives, especially ones outside your deployment zone. Below 7YP your units have Hostile Acquisition (+1 to hit enemies near objectives and re-rollable Advance and Charge rolls); at 7YP or more they switch to Fortify Takeover (+1 to hit while holding an objective and tougher against high-Strength attacks). The older Judgement tokens, which mark enemy units as priority targets, still appear in some datasheet and detachment rules. Check the current codex and the Warhammer 40,000 app for the exact wording, because the details can change between books and balance updates.
11th Edition changes how you build the army. Instead of picking one detachment, you spend Detachment Points: 2 DP at 1,000 points and 3 DP at 2,000 points, with each detachment costing 1 to 3 DP. You can’t take two detachments that share a Unique Tag. At Incursion size, a single 3 DP detachment is allowed if it’s your only detachment. Your existing Votann codex stays valid until the faction gets its 11th Edition codex. Our Detachment Points guide walks through the system.
Two core changes matter a lot for the Kin. A unit can now benefit from only one Stratagem per phase, and Command Re-roll counts as one. Cover now gives -1 to hit against ranged attacks instead of a bonus to saves. A Votann Combat Patrol is a good way to learn the army before committing to a full force.
Leagues of Votann Best Army Lists
1000 Point Votann List
At 1,000 points, a good structure is a Kâhl leading a squad of Hearthkyn Warriors, a Hekaton Land Fortress or Sagitaur for armoured firepower, a unit of Einhyr Hearthguard as an elite melee and shooting threat, and Hernkyn Pioneers for scouting and grabbing objectives. That gives you a balanced force that can shoot, fight and hold ground. For a full worked list with current points, see our 1000 point Votann list.
2000 Point List
At 2,000 points you build on the same core. Take more Hearthkyn squads to hold objectives, add heavier vehicle support, and include Einhyr Hearthguard for counter-charges. Ûthar the Destined or a Kâhl can lead. Faster units like Sagitaurs and Hernkyn Pioneers contest distant objectives. The key to Votann play is a solid firebase that focuses its fire, with fast elements doing the scoring. Don’t spread too thin, because the Kin fight best when they can concentrate. Check the Munitorum Field Manual for current points, and our Detachment Points guide for how to spend your 3 DP.
Leagues of Votann in the Current Meta
The Votann play as a durable, mid-range army that grinds opponents down. Their army rule rewards taking and holding objectives, so they get stronger as they gain ground.
Competitive Votann lists usually feature Hearthkyn Warriors as durable objective holders, supported by hard-hitting Einhyr Hearthguard and vehicles like the Hekaton Land Fortress. Kâhls and Grimnyr provide leadership and support.
The faction’s strengths are durability and dependable damage. Its challenges are limited mobility and a fairly compact range. Exact standings shift with every balance update. See the faction tier list for current rankings.
Leagues of Votann vs Other Factions
Players often compare the Votann to the T’au Empire. Both armies are built around ranged firepower, but they play differently. T’au rely on long range, target-marking support and battlesuits. Votann fight at shorter ranges but are much tougher: their infantry can survive punishment that would wipe out T’au Fire Warriors, and they can fight in melee thanks to units like the Einhyr Hearthguard.
The Adeptus Mechanicus share the Votann’s technology-heavy look but play quite differently. AdMech units tend to be specialised and fragile. Votann units are more straightforward and forgiving: durable, reliable and stronger as they take and hold objectives. For a wider comparison, see our factions ranked guide.
Collecting Leagues of Votann
The Leagues of Votann are among the newer armies in Warhammer 40,000, so the whole range is made of modern, high-quality plastic kits. The chunky armoured look of the Kin, with void suits, ion weapons and rugged equipment, makes a cohesive force that looks like nothing else in the game.
After the Combat Patrol, good early additions are more Hearthkyn Warriors, Einhyr Hearthguard (elite heavy infantry) and a Hekaton Land Fortress. The range is compact and focused, which makes planning a collection straightforward. The low model count means a full army doesn’t take long to build.
Painting Leagues of Votann
Difficulty: Beginner-Friendly
Votann models are excellent for beginners. The chunky, clearly sculpted models have large armour panels that are easy to paint neatly and highlight cleanly. They have enough detail to look impressive without being overwhelming, and the compact range helps you settle into a consistent technique quickly.
Key paints for the orange-and-teal studio look: Jokaero Orange (armour), Troll Slayer Orange (highlight), Stegadon Scale Green (secondary colour), Leadbelcher (metallics), Abaddon Black (undersuits), Agrax Earthshade (wash), Moot Green (energy and lenses) and Retributor Armour (gold details).
A simple order of work:
- Prime, then basecoat the armour panels in your main colour and the undersuits in Abaddon Black.
- Paint the metal parts with Leadbelcher and the gold details with Retributor Armour.
- Wash the recesses with Agrax Earthshade (or Nuln Oil on the metals) to add depth.
- Edge highlight the armour panels. Their geometric shapes make this easy.
- Pick out lenses and energy effects last.
The void suits have clear boundaries between armour panels, undersuits and equipment, so you can paint each area cleanly. Ion weapon effects are usually painted as glowing blue-white energy. A white basecoat with a Blue Horror glaze is a quick way to get there. Each League has its own published colours, so it’s worth looking at the official schemes in the codex before you choose. Grey military tones, red-and-gold and camouflage patterns all suit the Kin as well.
Related Armies
If you enjoy Leagues of Votann, you might also like these armies:
- Adeptus Mechanicus — Both factions are technology-focused with durable infantry and powerful ranged weaponry.
- T’au Empire — The Leagues and T’au both emphasise advanced technology and ranged firepower.
- Kharadron Overlords — The closest Age of Sigmar equivalent: technology-loving duardin with a mercantile culture.
Everything Leagues of Votann on Warhammer Guild
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are the Leagues of Votann?
The Leagues of Votann are a civilisation of abhuman clones known as the Kin, descended from ancient human settlers. They are guided by ancient AI supercomputers called the Votann and are more technologically advanced than the Imperium. They field tough infantry armed with ion, volkanite and magna-rail weapons.
Are Leagues of Votann good for beginners?
Yes. Their infantry is durable and elite, the model count is low, and the core idea of their rules is easy to grasp: take objectives and hold them. Check the current codex for the exact army rule.
What are the strengths of Leagues of Votann?
Leagues of Votann have excellent durability, reliable mid-range firepower and rules that reward taking and holding objectives. Their vehicles, especially the Hekaton Land Fortress, are tough and versatile.
What are the weaknesses of Leagues of Votann?
Leagues of Votann are fairly slow and field small armies. They have few fast assault options and mobile armies can outmanoeuvre them. Because their rules reward holding objectives, they can struggle when they are pushed off them.
What are the Votann?
The Votann, or Ancestor Cores, are vast, ancient AI supercomputers that serve as the collective memory and guiding intelligence of the Kin. Each League is built around its Votann, which hold millennia of accumulated knowledge and the genetic templates the Kin are cloned from.
Are the Leagues of Votann xenos?
No. The Kin are abhumans: cloned descendants of ancient human settlers who adapted to life in the galactic core, so they are not aliens. Games Workshop groups them with the Xenos factions on its website and in army books, mainly because they are not part of the Imperium. In the lore, the Imperium is wary of them but does not treat them as true xenos.
Are there female Leagues of Votann?
Yes. Kin society includes women as well as men, and female Kin serve as warriors, leaders and specialists. They appear in the lore and fiction, and several kits support building female models. Like the rest of the Kin, women are grown from the genetic templates stored in the Votann, not born in the usual way.
What units do the Leagues of Votann have?
The core units are Hearthkyn Warriors (the main infantry), Einhyr Hearthguard (elite heavy infantry), Hernkyn Pioneers (bikes) and Brôkhyr Thunderkyn (heavy weapons). The range also includes Cthonian Beserks, the Sagitaur transport and the Hekaton Land Fortress. Characters include the Kâhl, Grimnyr, Einhyr Champion, Brôkhyr Iron-master and the named hero Ûthar the Destined.
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