Saturday, June 3, 2023

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Marduk Sedras

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
3.5/5 stars, generously rounded up to 4/5 stars. I hold mixed views about this characters which arises from similarly mixed rules.

Background.
A very old space marine by any standard. He's seen it all and fought alongside the Emperor himself, the Emperor's Sons, and many others besides, including during the Unification. He asked to remain a master rather than join the central core of the legion is Eskaton of the Dreadwing. 

Strengths.
The warlord trait allows him to take a unit of Inner Circle Knights along with an assault reaction. This, of course, means one less elites slot being used.What really shines here is the Ancient of War rule. Since he's seen it all, he can tell his allies about his experiences. All Dark Angels within 6 inches of him at deployment gain preferred enemy against a chosen faction. This is amazing!

His kit is great: the armour can sweep despite the 4+ invulnerable and you pass dangerous terrain checks. His sword, The Death of Worlds, gives S+5 at AP2 which is amazing, but is also unwieldy. The best bit by far is the ability to cause -1 to invulnerable saves. This is truly unique. Could be good in the right circumstances of course and will instant death many. 

Weaknesses.
The warlord trait gives nothing other than the bonus unit and reaction - its not a "proper" trait in comparison to others. But it gets worse. The unit cannot sweep, while Marduk himself can! I find this such a peculiar contradiction! With this said, it is clear in the fluff it is supposed to be cataphractii armour so will no doubt count as such in the future. Hence no such contradiction. With the Ancient of War rule, also beware of stacking everything in a perfect pie plate formation for the enemy to kill you on turn one. He's also restricted to the loyalists - sorry traitors. 

Overall.
An interesting character that is worth it from the point of view of  the Ancient of War rule alone. Add on his combat potential, plasma burner, phosphex bombs, and the rest, and his is quite the tasty proposition. Just a pity about the peculiar warlord trait and going at I=1 in combat otherwise he'd be absolutely stellar. 

2 comments:

Bragg said...

Interesting reasoning but I think you're missing how useful and exploitable his pre game prefered enemy is. You can put him in a transport and measure from that six inches out. That's a huge bubble. He can also affect those in transports as well. On top of being dreadwing and having access to a rather obnoxious rite, you can layer this on top. Absolutely disgusting with very little set up needed.

jabberjabber said...

I'll freely admit I want to like him more than I actually do. That said, I do respect the set up that you speak of - it can be a nightmare. I just feel Dark Angels can do even more disgusting than him overall ;)

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