Faction Guide
Leagues of Votann
Space dwarves. Officially, they are the Kin — ancient human descendants who mine the deep void beyond the Imperium's reach. Stocky, bearded, culturally obsessed with grudges and trade. One of the most beginner-friendly shooting armies in 40k.
Playstyle
Tough Shooting Dwarves
Painting
Medium
Rules
Easy–Medium
Starter Cost
~$160
*One of the more beginner-friendly factions in 40k. The game plan is simple; the execution is satisfying.
Who are the Kin?
In the earliest days of humanity's expansion into the stars, before the Imperium existed, before even the Age of Technology reached its peak, humans spread further than history remembers. Some went so deep into the galactic core that even the vast records of the Administratum lost track of them. The Leagues of Votann are their descendants.
Officially, the Imperium calls them the Kin — acknowledging them cautiously as human, but uneasy about what they've become. Unofficially, everyone calls them space dwarves. They are stocky, compact, bearded, and culturally obsessed with two things: trade and grudges. A debt paid is a foundation of civilization. A debt unpaid is an affront that persists across generations. They keep literal records of grudges — and they settle them.
Each League is organized around an Ancestor Core — a vast, ancient artificial intelligence that has accumulated thousands of years of cultural memory, ancestral knowledge, and tactical expertise. The Kin consult these AIs for guidance, upload their experiences to them upon death, and revere them as something between a computer, a god, and a library. This is technically heresy under Imperial law. The Imperium doesn't know. The Kin don't particularly care.
They mine the deep void for rare resources the Imperium can barely reach — exotic minerals, unstable elements, things that require traversing regions of space so hostile that only their hardened Ironkin robots and heavily armored Hearthkyn warriors can survive. They are not allied with the Imperium. They are not enemies of the Imperium. They are simply out there, getting on with it.
How they play on the table
Leagues of Votann are a sturdy mid-range shooting armywith a simple, satisfying game plan: advance toward the midfield, shoot everything, hold what you take. They are tougher than their point cost suggests and hit harder at close-to-mid range than comparable armies. Not subtle. Devastatingly effective.
The army's defining mechanic is Judgement tokens. When your units target an enemy, that enemy can accumulate Judgement tokens. Judged enemies are easier to wound — their toughness is effectively reduced in your rolls. Against a Judged target, everything in your army performs better. Smart play means choosing the right enemy to pile tokens on and then committing your whole army to eliminating that target efficiently.
The unit lineup is straightforward:Hearthkyn Warriors are your bread-and-butter troops — dependable and tactically flexible.Einhyr Hearthguard are elite plasma-armed heavy infantry.Brôkhyr Thunderkyn are walking heavy weapons platforms. The Einhyr Champion leads from the front, a brutal melee character who can anchor a combat or duel characters.
Votann are for you if...
- ✓ You love the space dwarf aesthetic
- ✓ You want a forgiving, beginner-friendly army
- ✓ You enjoy sturdy, mid-range shooting
- ✓ You want a relatively small model count
- ✓ You like a clear game plan: advance and shoot
Maybe look elsewhere if...
- ✗ You want a huge horde of cheap models
- ✗ You want long-range artillery shooting
- ✗ You want the deepest, most complex rules
- ✗ You prefer melee-dominant armies
- ✗ You want the most popular faction (Votann are rare)
Choose your League
Each League has canonical color schemes, rules bonuses, and cultural identity. Pick with your gut — you'll be painting these beards for a while.
Ymyr Conglomerate
Dark grey / bronzePainting: EasyPlaystyle: Resilient and methodical
The industrial miners. Dark grey armor with bronze trim gives a grim, utilitarian look that's very forgiving to paint. Popular starter choice — the grey and bronze palette suits a beginner's brush well.
Urani-Surtr Regulates
Dark red / brassPainting: Easy–MediumPlaystyle: Aggressive and punishing
The fire-and-iron aesthetic. Deep red armor with brass detailing. A strong visual contrast that looks striking on the table and paints up quickly using shade-over-base techniques.
Trans-Hyperian Alliance
Blue / goldPainting: MediumPlaystyle: Precision and trade
The void traders and navigators. Bright blue armor with gold trim looks exceptional and is immediately recognizable. Slightly more effort to achieve clean blue panels, but the result is one of the best-looking Votann schemes.
Custom League
Your choicePainting: VariesPlaystyle: Any
The Votann have numerous Leagues beyond the canonical ones. You can invent your own colors and background. The models' armor surfaces and clean lines suit almost any color scheme you choose.
How to paint Leagues of Votann
Using Ymyr Conglomerate (grey / bronze) as the example — the most forgiving scheme for beginners and fast to batch paint across a whole squad.
Prime grey, base coat armor Mechanicus Standard Grey
Grey Seer spray primer, then Mechanicus Standard Grey over all armor panels. For Urani-Surtr: Khorne Red. For Trans-Hyperian: Kantor Blue. One pass with a large brush covers the flat surfaces fast.
Wash with Nuln Oil
Apply Nuln Oil over all the armor. It pools in the deep recesses between equipment panels and creates instant depth. The grey armor now looks like something that's been through deep-void mining runs.
Drybrush raised panels Administratum Grey
Light drybrush of Administratum Grey over the raised armor edges and surfaces. The Votann models have beautifully defined panel lines — drybrushing creates clean edge highlights automatically without careful brush control.
Bronze trim — Balthasar Gold then Agrax Earthshade
Apply Balthasar Gold to all the bronze trim, equipment frames, and rune decorations. Wash with Agrax Earthshade to make it look aged and worked. This is the defining detail that makes the Ymyr scheme instantly recognizable.
Skin and beards
Kislev Flesh on exposed skin, Reikland Fleshshade into recesses. Beards: Rakarth Flesh base → Agrax Earthshade → Pallid Wych Flesh highlight. The beards are small but very characterful — worth taking a little time.
Weapons and energy effects
Weapon casings: Abaddon Black or Leadbelcher depending on the weapon type. Energy cells and plasma coils: Sotek Green or Aethermatic Blue Contrast for a distinctive sci-fi glow. Eye lenses: Moot Green with a white dot highlight.
The Contrast paint shortcut
Prime Wraithbone → applyBasilicanum Grey Contrast over armor → pick out trim in Balthasar Gold and wash with Agrax → apply Guilliman Flesh Contrast over skin. The Contrast paints do all the shading automatically. Surprisingly complete result for three colors and thirty minutes per model.
What to buy first
Start with the Combat Patrol. Paint it before buying anything else — 19 models is a good first project.
Combat Patrol: Leagues of Votann
Includes an Einhyr Champion (melee character), 3 Brôkhyr Thunderkyn (heavy weapons), 5 Einhyr Hearthguard (elite plasma infantry), and 10 Hearthkyn Warriors (core troops) — 19 models total. Every unit type in the core army, ready to learn the Judgement mechanic and the advance-and-shoot game plan from day one.
Search Amazon →Hearthkyn Warriors (second squad)
A second Hearthkyn Warriors box gives you more bodies to hold objectives, more wounds to absorb shooting, and the option to build variant weapon loadouts. Votann armies want reliable troop presence and a second Warriors squad delivers exactly that.
Search Amazon →Paints you need (Ymyr Conglomerate)
Different League? Swap Mechanicus Standard Grey for your League's armor color. Everything else works the same.
Honest cost breakdown
Combat Patrol: Leagues of Votann
19 models — strong patrol force
Essential paints (8)
Grey armor + bronze + skin + shade
Basing supplies
Texture paint + tufts + drybrush color
Clippers + hobby knife
One-time purchase
Plastic glue
Sturdy infantry builds benefit from plastic glue
All-in starter total
~$247Votann are a relatively new faction (released 2022) so the model range is smaller than older armies. The core kit selection is tightly designed — fewer units means fewer purchasing decisions, which is actually a beginner advantage.
Hold the grudge. Settle the debt.
Choose your League, grab the Combat Patrol, and advance into the midfield. The Kin don't retreat. They don't negotiate from weakness. They advance, they shoot, and they remember everything.