Friday, July 10, 2026

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Acastus Knight Asterius

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars. A knight that must operate at the longest range possible to get the most out of it.

Background. 
The machine spirit is said to be all consuming fire and rage. It is therefore of no surprise that only the veteran pilots in a household will bond with this type of knight. Doubly so given that it is a very long range knight and lacks any glory in melee given its armaments. It remains exceedingly rare in any given household.

Strengths.
As with the Porphyrion, the armour on the front is a fabulous AV=14 and it has 18 hull points to keep it in the game for a long while. The Ionic Flare Shield only accentuates this. And as with its sister knight, this is also a long range affair which can legitimately park at the backfield with the more vulnerable AV=11 rear armour to the board edge. 

The Conversion Beam Desolator Array is interesting. As with other conversion beams, it gets stronger with distance from the target. All ranges come with massive pie plate and ordnance on damage. Strength starts at 8 and goes to 10, AP starts at 4 and goes to 2, and damage is the inverse of that. This is very impressive, and you get 2 shots as well. You really need to go long range though (42 inches and above) to get the very best out of this beast, otherwise you have really wasted your points value and your attacks. 

The Karacnos mortar has a very good range as well and brings a much smaller pie plate with phage on toughness, pinning, poisoned, and barrage. Although S=6 and the AP isn't great, it can work. The remaining volkite culverins are similarly S=6 and reasonable range for anything that gets too close. 

The auto repair is impressive at 4+ which is what really sets this knight apart and why I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 3 (which I would have been tempted to due to the conversion beam range issue of needing maximum ranges). 

Weaknesses. 
Explodes! And at 4+! This is something to consider. 

For the same points cost, you can actually get a Warhound Titan. That is fundamentally the balance here and the trade off to consider deeply. 

Builds.
There are no build here to speak of or analyse. 


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