r/Minotaurs40k

First marine for my Minotaur's army!

A dying Lamenter, too weak to quite line up the shot on the Minotaur that's going to be standing over him, using him as a tactical rock.

Just an update to the army for the community. You all motivate me with your builds and so we march on.

This isn't madness...

After porting our historical characters and units to 10th edition, I updated them to 11th. I also went the extra mile and made a 2DP Minotaurs Detachment. I will re-explain the rationale of the ports for the people who missed the 10th ed. posts, and I will analyze the rationale of the new Detachment.

The base for porting Moloc, Aiakos and Enkomi were their 9th edition datasheets, their last official rules. I compared them to the basic corresponding units there (Terminator Captain, chaplain and Contemptor Dreadnought). I noted their differences and applied them on those models in 10th (and now 11th) edition. It is the most accurate way, I think, without going into "wishful fanmaking" territory.

[EDIT] I ran the numbers of Moloc's ranged attack both in 6/7th and 8/9th editions, because the Strength of weapons like Lascannons and the Toughness of Vehicles had their scale changed. His Black Spear (ranged) is S11, not 8. (it was always a lasbeam with 1S lower than a lascannon).

I feel that Enkomi and Aiakos are perfectly converted, I am not sure if Moloc's price is too expensive or not.

Hamath Kraatos was a tougher nut to crack, because he was a sergeant upgrade and not a separate "unit", and that was in 6-7th edition. However, his +1BS, +1W and +1A, along with his lore of being second-in-command in his Company... "Lieutenant" came immediately to my mind, and so I went down that route.

For his Assassin Bolt I kept the S6 and decided on an AP -2 based on other 6-7ed. AP3 weapons. The Damage 3 was based on the Eliminator Sniper Rifle, as it is a powerful solid bolt and not like the D2 Scout Sniper Rifle. I gave it the PRECISION keyword due to all weapons that had the SNIPER special rule back then, having it now, as well as ANTI-[Everything nonvehicle] 4+ and ported his Preferred Enemy directly from his 6-7th ed. rules.

In the old days he had a signum, which is now also equipped by Devastator and Desolation sergeants. I let him keep it after his promotion.

He is a lethal pair with Hellblasters, but I haven't playtested him enough (my gaming group mainly plays Boarding Actions) to see if his 60 points are too cheap. I keep in mind that Lieutenants have much more flexibility on their wargear options, and Kraatos is locked in a ranged support loadout, with subpar melee ability. He is however a force multiplier for sure.

The ROC was quite easy, reduced transport capacity to 15 marines (they added Dreadnought capacity at some point, so I didn't touch it), replaced the vengeance launcher and Hellstrike Missiles with two twin lascannons and a ROC missile launcher, bumped it up 10pts and called it a day.

Now, about the Execution Cohort Detachment (if you want it in doc format, pm me):
First of all, the detachment was more like a fun side-project, not the core of the post. Using the provided datasheets with Imperial Fists rules and excluding their named Characters suffices.

There were Chapter Tactics and model rules from 9th and before which were left out, but gave Minotaurs flavor and theme. My goal in creating this detachment was to do as direct translations of those rules as possible, and any aspects of those rules which were impossible to accurately transfer. I tried to keep inventing stuff from scratch to the minimum, although it was unavoidable. I will explain each part of the Detachment:

DETACHMENT RULES

UNRELENTING ASSAULT:
The original Chapter tactic was "Minotaurs do not suffer Panic tests from shooting attacks and may re-roll failed Pinning tests."

This means "automatically pass Battle Shock tests if caused by ranged attacks". There are no Pinning tests in this edition, and as it is a very subpar rule, I made it a bit less-subpar but in the same spirit, allowing rerolls on all other Battle-Shock tests.

TRAMPLE AND CRUSH:
The original Chapter tactic was "Minotaurs gain the CRUSADER special rule. In addition, they add +1 to any roll to determine charge distances while in an enemy deployment zone."

Crusader rule: "A unit that contains at least one model with this special rule rolls an extra dice when making Run moves, using highest result rolled. IN addition, a unit that contains at least one model with this rule adds D3 to its Sweeping Advance totals (roll each time)."

Ok, pretty straightforward, roll an extra dice when Advancing and discard one of the die. Instead of a D3, I made the Consolidation move a flat extra 2", no need to have even more dice rolls.

+1 Charge in the enemy deployment zone is too narrow and underwhelming in my opinion, while other detachments give charge rerolls or Advance/Fall Back + Charge (yes, mostly to specific units under certain conditions), so I increased the condition to "units fully within the opponent's half of the battlefield".

All in all, the Detachment rules might not be the strongest, but as I see it they represent the Minotaurs rushing to steamroll their foe.

ENHANCEMENTS
EMPOWERED BY HATRED:
This was a Warlord Trait in the Siege Assault Vanguard featured in Imperial Armour X. Although it wasn't Minotaurs-specific, it is highly relevant because the Minotaurs were explicitly compatible with it, their characters could be used in it, and the later ROC-pattern Storm Eagle was specifically available to Minotaurs versions of the force. Contemporary Forge World-era material even singled the list out as particularly appropriate for their heavy equipment.

This Trait gave the Warlord and his unit the HATRED Special rule while in the enemy deployment zone.

HATRED: "A model striking a hated foe in close combat re-rolls all failed To Hit rolls during the first round of each close combat."

This would greatly represent escalating pressure, as TRAMPLE AND CRUSH gives its bonuses while in the enemy half, and a Character with this Enhancement escalates it further. So, I kept it pretty much as-is.

MANDATE OF THE HIGH LORDS:
This is the only purely made-up rule. The Minotaurs are absolute in enforcing the will of Terra, and I believe that an OC bonus represents that.

BLOOD LORD OF THE BREACHES:
Another Siege Assault Vanguard Warlord Trait, it gave RAMPAGE when assaulting a unit occupying a fortification.

RAMPAGE: At the start of any Fight sub-phase, models with the Rampage special rule gain +D3 attacks if the combat they are in contains more enemy models than friendly models - count all models locked in the combat, not just those models that are engaged. Roll once to determine the number of bonus Attacks all Rampaging models involved in that combat receive that phase. A model that has made a disordered charge that turn receives no benefit from Rampage.

I translated "fortification" into "Objective". Charging into a bigger enemy unit and going bananas is quite thematic, I believe.

UNMAKER'S TOUCH:
This is a port from the Deathwatch TTRPG, originally a famed Chainfist of the Minotaurs. As an enhancement, it makes a Terminator Character's melee weapon more effective against vehicles and fortifications, as its lore suggests.

STRATAGEMS
All army/unit rules which couldn't neatly be translated into Detachment rules/Enhancements or were missing from unit datasheets later, became Stratagems:

ARMOR OF CONTEMPT:
Classic Space Marine defensive Strat.

DARK FURY:
This was one of Asterion Moloc's rules. It made Moloc's unit Fearless, and counted as having assault grenades (no Initiative penalty when charging through terrain).

Well, as UNRELENTING ASSAULT partially makes Battle-Shock Tests less of a problem, this ensures that even if a unit indeed becomes Battle-Shocked, it's no more. The second part of the rule could only be translated as "ignore negative modifiers to Charge rolls", as there is no Initiative anymore, and Terrain works differently, so this is the closest alternative to its spirit.

[EDIT]: Wording fix: In the Dark Fury Stratagem, replace WHEN and TARGET with the following:
WHEN: Your Charge phase, when one ADEPTUS ASTARTES unit from your army is selected to declare a charge.
TARGET: That unit, even if it is Battle-Shocked.

BANE OF HATRED:
This was Enkomi's rule. He gave RAGE to his unit.

RAGE: "In a turn in which a model with this special rule charges into combat, it gains +2 Attacks for charging, rather than +1. A model that has made a disordered charge that turn receives no benefit from Rage."

One extra attack when charging, quite straightforward.

SANCTIONED FRATRICIDE:
A signature rule, and one I personally missed the most, as it has a ton of flavor and it's an essential trait of the Minotaurs. It conferred Moloc and his unit the PREFERRED ENEMY: SPACE MARINES rule.

PREFERRED ENEMY: "A unit that contains at least one model with this special rule re-rolls failed To Hit and To Wound rolls of 1 if attacking its Preferred Enemy. This applies both to shooting and close combat attacks."

Pretty much a direct port. If the target is also the Oath of Moment target, the unit rerolls all Wound rolls, not only 1s (to amplify intensity).

STALWART:
This is a port from the 9th Edition's Imperial Armour Compendium (and Codex: Space Marines), which suggested Chapter Tactics for the Minotaurs as Imperial Fists successors.

DUELLISTS:
And another port from the 9th Edition's Imperial Armour Compendium (and Codex: Space Marines), which suggested Chapter Tactics for the Minotaurs as Imperial Fists successors.

Enjoy! Let us know what lists you come up with. Enforce the will of Terra!

Imperfect but got to cut some corners if I’m ever going to finish an actual army.