Votann, Orks and Big Models Behind Terrain
A small hobby chat that turned into army planning
Sometimes it starts with a rules question, and five minutes later we are halfway into planning our next armies. This was very much one of those conversations.
The spark this time was a properly huge model. The first reaction was basically: good grief, what an absolute giant. Which immediately led us to the classic Warhammer 40k question: if something is that big, can you really hide it behind terrain at all?
We were specifically circling around how Obscuring interacts with very large models, and whether they get treated similarly to models with Fly for visibility purposes. In this particular case the answer was slightly funny, because the whole debate became less important once Michał pointed out that this model already has Fly anyway.
So yes, we started with line of sight theorycrafting, but naturally we did not stay there for long.
Combat Patrol shopping anxiety is real
The next useful bit of hobby gossip was about the Leagues of Votann Combat Patrol. Michał mentioned that Patryk and Konrad from 2d6 were saying that if anyone is considering a dwarf Combat Patrol for 40k, it is worth buying the current one now. The reason: the existing box is apparently a really strong army starter, and a new one is expected soon, which would mean the old set gets retired.
That is exactly the kind of information that can suddenly turn “maybe someday” into “right, we should probably decide this week”.
For anyone who has been hovering around the idea of starting Votann, that current Combat Patrol sounds like one of those boxes that are not just convenient, but genuinely efficient as a first step into an army.
Stas is eyeing the space orks
At the same time, Stas declared that he is probably going into space orks from Majorka — meaning, of course, Orks in 40k. And not just any route in: specifically the older box.
We always enjoy these moments, because they say a lot about how people actually enter armies in practice. It is not always about chasing the newest release. Sometimes the older starter is the one with the better vibe, the better contents, or simply the one that makes us want to build and paint immediately.
And honestly, that matters a lot. The best starter box is often the one that makes us excited to clip plastic that same evening.
Salamanders would be nice… if they had a proper box
Meanwhile, Ender summed up a frustration that Space Marine players know very well. He was originally interested in Salamanders, but they do not really have their own dedicated Combat Patrol. Instead, there is basically a single character model tied to the chapter, and the rest has to be assembled from more generic Space Marine kits.
That is a very familiar kind of Warhammer problem. On paper, a chapter has a strong identity. In practice, collecting it often means buying the standard Marine range and building the flavor yourself.
There is nothing wrong with that approach, of course, but it does change the entry experience. A dedicated starter box makes an army feel immediately tangible. Without it, there is a bit more planning involved, and a bit more of that “okay, what exactly do we buy first?” energy.
From Age of Sigmar dwarfs to Votann
The funny twist is that Ender also said that since the dwarfs clicked for him in Age of Sigmar, the 40k dwarfs are now looking pretty good too.
And honestly, that tracks.
A lot of us do this across systems. We discover that a faction archetype works for us in one game — dwarfs, undead, elves, green lunatics, heavily armored zealots — and then we start noticing their cousins in other settings. It is not the same faction, but the aesthetic and the mood carry over enough to make the jump feel natural.
That makes Leagues of Votann a particularly interesting army-building option for someone who already knows they enjoy the stout, stubborn, heavily-equipped side of fantasy miniatures.
Boarding Patrol: a curious side road
While checking Votann Combat Patrol prices, Ender also ran into something called Boarding Patrol. His read on it was simple and accurate: a box without vehicles, meant for fighting in the cramped corridors of spaceships.
That in itself is a neat reminder of how many slightly different entry products Games Workshop has produced over time. Some are broad army starters. Some are tied to a specific style of play. Some become weirdly attractive later because they contain a very focused set of infantry and characters.
The Boarding Patrol idea is especially cool if you like smaller-scale, infantry-heavy force building, or if the image of brutal close-quarters fighting inside voidships is exactly your kind of sci-fi nonsense.
Our takeaway
This was one of those short chats that accidentally covered a lot of what makes army-building fun:
- weird and very practical rules questions about giant models,
- panic-buy logic around starter boxes before they disappear,
- choosing older sets because they simply feel better,
- the awkward reality of collecting subfactions without dedicated support,
- and discovering that a faction in one system can push us toward a similar one in another.
Right now the strongest thread seems to be Votann as a genuinely tempting starter army, especially while the current Combat Patrol is still around. But we are also clearly not done with the idea of Orks, Salamanders, and generally staring at boxes online while pretending we are “just researching”.
Which, as always, is how army-building begins.