The 2025 Retrospective

Greetings on the Eve of a New Year (Western Terra that is). 

As befits the date, this is the annual retrospective, with a few stats thrown in for good measure. 

The major gaming event of the year 2025 for Warpstone Flus was, of course, the release of the Third Edition of Horus Heresy. Of course, with any new edition, there are controversies. I am not immune to them either. I think when third was first released I was in shock about not merely the scale of the changes, but also the limitations (i.e., squad options that were lacking) placed on units at the point of release. Most, but not all of this, was cleared up with a FAQ and the Legacies release. But my word: this was nowhere near the clean launch that the community wanted or deserved. I recognize full well that there are many folks still playing Second edition, either in protest or that they genuinely prefer the rules set. This is reflected in Warpstone Flux with my summary pages for Second Edition still being exceptionally popular even after Third Edition was released. And I get it. 

For Third Edition though, I have grown to like it. It isn't perfect. Some of the issues about dreadnoughts (contemptors) still remain. Speaking personally, I never liked the switch away from using armour values in First Edition for dreadnoughts (roast me). But the pysker powers work, the army building is actually more fun (you can take almost what you want) and the rest slots in nicely. I'm disappointed with the nerf that Primarchs have had and displeased with Master of the Legion not granting Rites of War any longer -- that was a massive and unnecessary change. Challenges are interesting now and you won't get tar pitted against Vulkan for an entire game at least. I approve! Overall, Third is a different game, but I actually like it now. 

[Image: Corax duels Alpharius!]

I am still in the midst of reviewing the main legions, and will finish next year. Then on to Questoris Knights, Mechanicum, and the rest. I might go lightly on Black Shields since many of the rules are the same. And: Shattered Legions works in third edition now (unlike Second - hence this is a massive improvement in my opinion!). 

Here on Warpstone Flux, some pages have been more popular than others, as you might expect. With the release of Third, the summary page for the new edition remains in the number one slot. And of the legions that I have had chance to review so far, the Alpha Legion dominates by a good margin. Again, this does not surprise me. The next legion down is the Iron Hands which, to my mind, remains one of the strongest legions in third edition. 

For Third Edition, the most popular unit review to date is for the Saturnine Terminators. This is closely followed by the other types of terminators: Cataphractii and Tartaros. It seems that I am not the only person in the world with a fondness for terminators of all different kinds! Even the Indomitus Terminators review scores in the top 30 for the year. The most popular legion entries are also terminators, with Gorgon Terminators and Lernaean Terminators right up there with the Phoenix Terminators some way off. 

For my armies, I have decided to pause my Alpha Legion collection - it does not need to grow any larger unless there are specific characters released that take my fancy. The same pretty much goes for my Iron Warriors. I am currently focussed on expanding World Eaters and Emperor's Children, alongside the Shattered Legions of Salamaners, Iron Hands, and Raven Guard. I am tempted to make an allied force of other legions (I'm thinking Death Guard or Thousand Sons at the moment, but that might change). 

The other thing that I am working on right now is to save up some money to buy the resin Primarchs. I've got a few now, and I am really a big fan of not only assembling them, but also painting them up. I've really enjoyed working on Angron in particular this year and had a blast painting him up as he literally stomped over his unwanted "sons" on the base. Such a tragic figure and a tragic legion really. I also really like the legion specific models in resin. If money weren't an object, I'd snap up a unit of every terminator belonging to every legion to be honest!

Plans for 2026 then are to:

(1) conclude the World Eaters and Emperor's Children factions that I have. 

(2) expand the shattered legion forces.

(3) where I can afford it, expand my Primarch collection. 

(4) consider a new force as an allied detachment to begin with. 

Long term aim is to have a unit from each legion in my collection, but I favour some more than others, it has to be said.

I hope you've enjoyed this small retrospective and look forward to more reviews and hobby goodness from Warpstone Flux in 2026!