Melta Bombs in Horus Heresy

Following on from the previous digest of thoughts relating to the new edition of the rules set for Horus Heresy, I wanted to briefly touch on one of the most outstanding corrections to the rules we have seen. Namely: Melta Bombs.

To explain the context for this one: Melta bombs have long been an upgrade item that a squad can take to battle. More specifically, it is an upgrade that certain units can take one of for every single member of the squad. Legion outrider squads spring to mind, amongst others.

Many players (including myself, I must admit) were very used to playing that every single model armed with a melta bomb could try to land it on their enemy in close combat (the fight phase) if they chose to.

The Frequently Asked Questions for 7th edition put an end to this. Those clarifications mandated that only one grenade could be used per phase of a turn per squad. This outraged many people in the community who felt that this was the wrong call. In turn, there were others who pointed to the fact that this was simply just "rules as written" and was therefore simply reinforcing how grenades should have been played all along.

With the introduction of the modified 7th edition rules set for Horus Heresy, this situation has been reversed. Now every model armed with a melta bomb appears as if they will be able to try to land their bomb on top of a target. Of course, this will make the players happy who spend a (not inconsiderable) number of points on upgrading their units to take melta bombs on every single model.  Why would the army lists allow this, after all, if only one model were to take an attack with a melta bomb in a single given phase.

I am personally very glad to see the return to the rules as they were being played before the FAQ was released for 7th edition. It all makes a bit more sense this way to my mind!