Size of the Legions Prior to the Heresy?

Just how big are the Legions supposed to be?

Following yesterday's posting on Warhammer Community, I thought I would tabulate what the Black Books (in other words: first edition) had to say about the matter! There are, of course, other sources, such as the black library book series. But the canon in them is arguably less reliable. And besides, our liege lord Alan Bligh wrote quite a number of the old First Edition black books and frankly they're still amazing for the lore that who am I to go beyond them! These numbers mainly reflect the strength prior to the Isstvan battles. 

Dark Angels: Slightly under 200,000. 
Emperor's Children: 110,000.
Iron Warriors: 150,000 to 180,000.
White Scars: 95,000.
Space Wolves: 95,000 to 100,000 (note as well probably lower numbers after Prospero).
Imperial Fists: 100,000 (assumed from Black Library).
Night Lords: 90,000 to 120,000.
Blood Angels: 120,000.
Iron Hands: 113,000.

World Eaters: 150,000.
Ultramarines: 250,000.
Death Guard: 95,000.
Thousand Sons: 89,000-90,000 (note disagreement with literature after Prospero Burnt). 
Sons of Horus: 130,000 to 170,000.
Word Bearers: 150,000 up to Ultramarines levels according to some sources. 
Salamanders: 89,000.
Raven Guard: 80,000.
Alpha Legion: Conflicting Sources in Book 3 (naturally): 90,000 to 180,000. 

[Image - an older pic of my Iron Warriors]

End of 2nd Wargames Gallery: Gal Vorbak charge the Loyal World Eaters

With the mantle of loyalty resting firmly on their shoulders, the World Eaters brace the charging and twisted forms of the Gal Vorbak Word Bearers. 

In the image above, the Gal Vorbak have successfully charged the World Eaters assault squad. The ensuing battle is filled with warp laden gore and mutated bodies striking human berserker who regret having the nails hammered into them. Most of the squad are wiped out in the charge, but several remain and whittle the Word Bearers down to two remaining models. 

Meanwhile, the other Gal Vorbak squad fails to make the charge distance and triggers a shooting reaction from the Leviathan. The Leviathan kills several with contemptuous ease and finishes off the rest in its own shooting phase next turn. 

Overall, this eventually results in a victory for the Loyalists over the Word Bearers. And with plenty of thanks to a lot of lucky dice rolling, it has to be said. 

Horus Heresy 3rd Edition: Weekend Thoughts on Saturnine and Disintegrator Reveals

It has been yet another week of reveals from the Warhammer Community about the new rules for third edition Horus Heresy. 

We have now seen the plastic frames for the Saturnine Dreadnought, the Terminators, and the Araknae weapons platform. All of these look "crisp" and highly modern as we have come to expect in recent times of new plastic releases. 

The Saturnine Terminators are - in their own way - beautiful. They are not quite what I was expecting for this model (cross reference a weapon mounted on the top). Regardless, the power that they are packing is staggering. They have the option of plasma bombards, twin heavy disintegrators, or the disruption fist. The only thing that they cannot have is a double fist configuration. Key here is to note that the weapons all have the same range of 24inches which makes most configurations viable. The plasma is very nice for large pie plates everywhere and there's certainly a nice tactic available to rain down support fire everywhere for this unit (and teleporting them in to place to be able to do so). The disintegrators are very nice with the AP=2 and double shots. What is surprising perhaps is that plasma is locked at AP=4. I feel this is a bit of a change. They have breaching to help, but even so, that is not so good any longer. The fists remain very good for close combat purposes and I can see any combination of configuration working here. Although the points cost is obviously high. Yet they are probably - just about - worth taking. 

The Dreadnought is simply immense. There are other weapon options coming out distinctly from the boxed set to make more options. Obviously from the stat line, dreadnoughts are retaining the wound characteristic and toughness, rather than returning to armour values. This is not great. However, there are now reasonable options to deal with things like this via disintegration. The weapons for the beast are all viable here as well. I like the plasma and inversion beamer myself. But again all of them are very viable. The points cost is eye watering, but worth it. 

On the disintegration weapons, these are obviously very new for this edition to be seen in such numbers. I like the mysterious hints in the lore that no one really knows why they fell out of favour, and that only Leetu is a notable marine carrying one these days. Clearly the drawbacks might be severe, but they do look like they are worth taking. The remaining question is what the points cost is likely to be for a full squad of these (and presumably a support squad and heavy support squad variation, plus perhaps squads like veterans I would imagine as well). 

We are also continuing to see a multitude of leaks from various sources. I never post them directly, but I am certainly aware of them. Plenty of folks appear to have advanced copies and are now painting up those miniatures prior to the release date. I suspect it cannot be far around the proverbial corner. 

End of 2nd Wargames Gallery: Emperor's Children and Iron Warriors Reckoning

Unsure of who is a traitor and who is a loyalist (sounds like an Alpha Legion plot if you ask me), the Iron Warriors might takes on the Emperor's Children elegance and arrogance.  

A group of Iron Warriors terminators is attacked by the Emperor's Children assault squad. Swinging slower than the Emperor's Children, the terminators suffer massive wounds - more than enough to see the end of their days. 

In return, the Iron Warriors Siege Tyrants rain down a fire storm on the assault squad to wipe them off the board through a very rapid rout above the remains of a dead rhino. 

But the Emperor's Children are not yet done. A las cannon heavy support squad sits at the apex of a ruined tower and fires back at the siege tyrants. It isn't enough though - the tyrants are able to take them down at range and force enough unsaved wounds to wipe them clean off the board. Victory to the Iron Warriors!

End of 2nd Wargames Gallery: Salamanders test the Iron Without

Continuing the End of 2nd Wargames Gallery, this is the turn of the Iron Warriors against the Salamanders (in an apparent prelude to third edition perhaps?!). 

The Iron Warriors pour out of the Land Raider and make ready to charge into the Salamanders Praetor and assorted Isstvan survivors. The Salamanders have a handy reaction on their side though and will shoot back at full strength before the Iron Warriors make their lines.

Whittled down by one terminator, the Iron Warriors make quick work of the squad, but the Praetor stands firm and counters with his thunder hammer and (after more than this turn) is the sole survivor of this encounter. 

A larger scale overview of the situation can be seen in this second image. There's an Iron Warriors plasma support squad pumping volleys into a dreadnought which is about to exchange fire with an ordinary tactical squad. 

The tactical squad doesn't stand a chance and is readily partially eliminated and routed. 

Toward the end of the game the Iron Warriors support squad is the only one remaining whilst (a very burned and battered) dreadnought and the (rather sliced up) Praetor remains for the Salamanders after destroying the Land Raider. The game ends up a tie overall. 

End of 2nd Wargames Gallery: Corax Smashes World Eaters

Corax smashes into the World Eaters ranks to deliver a severe blow to those who would think the Raven Guard a spent and dead force. 

[I kept the scenic base on Corax here at it fitted so beautifully well!]

The second image shows a slightly wider angle, including the scene from last week, here. 

Victory in this battle went to the Raven Guard who were able to overpower both the long range firepower from the World Eaters dreadnought and dealt with the close combat threat via their Primarch moving very swiftly across the field of play.