Horus Heresy 3e Review: Contemptor-Achillus Dreadnought

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 stars. I really like both the rules and the model.

Background. 

Custodes can recover from many physical injuries. But every once in a while something (undefined, but probably brutally nasty) happens that they cannot recover from physically. Where they still have the will, they get interred in a dreadnought in much the same way that space marines are. There are few of these though due to the previously mentioned facts. But those that do exist are exquisitely made.

Strengths.

The stat line is superb with S=8, T=7, 6 wounds and 5s in WS and BS. 

The Dread Spear has the same range as other guardian spears, but fires at S=10, AP=3, and 2 damage. It also comes with armour bane and armour breaker at 4+ which is very impressive overall. 

In close combat, it is even better: S goes up to a stupendous 11, the AP is 2 and 3 damage is scored per hit. armour bane is here again with impact on AM. This is a dreadnought that could give a primarch pause to worry if they don't have the WS to beat them down (which they all should do to be very honest!). Eternal warrior is nice here as well along with lightning blows and vanguard. 

Weaknesses. 

Intelligence is reduced to 5 for reasons that I am unclear on. Let me know in the comments if the lore of being in a dreadnought affects intellect? I actually can't recall.

The dreadnought also explodes when dead. But what an explosion it is. 

Builds.

The only upgrade here is whether to change the inferus incinerators for lastrum storm bolter, or adrathic combi-destructor. To be honest, I actually like the incinerators, but can see a role for the others as well. 

Salamanders Fire Drakes Ready

The full squad of Salamanders Fire Drakes has been assembled and is ready for painting!

What I spent a lot of time on here was the basing. All of the bases have a large amount of "junk" on the surface. The thinking here is to emulate a war torn battlefield. Perhaps even Isstvan? 

The models themselves were straight forward to assemble. As previously discussed, I also made a conversion for the heavy flamer fire drake that I was glad to have done. Even though I had to order a few extra parts to make all of this work out. Time to get these marines primed and ready for painting now. 

Wargames Gallery: Iron Warriors March

In the face of the World Eaters, the Iron Warriors show the bitter resolve that they all hold and the iron within readily becomes the iron without. 

The support squad is armed with plasma guns and has just decanted from the rhino to shoot away at the terminators. The siege tyrants meanwhile have their choice of targets, but will opt for the leviathan dreadnought. The tactical squad meanwhile is content to stay put and hold an objective (located underneath the feet of one of the central models!). Obviously there is a World Eaters counter charge about to happen here as well, but the Iron Warriors look set to win on victory points. 

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Sentinel Guard Sodality

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 stars. Excellent.

Background. 

The Custodian Sentinel Squad is the defensive formation of the Legio. As such they come with the Praesidium shields and the already very impressive Custodes stat line. Together these make for a formidable objective camping unit or counter assault unit. 

Strengths.

Mostly 5's in the stat line with 2 wounds each. They are all eternal warriors. This unit is fundamentally the same as the Custodian Guard squad in terms of background, so I will reproduce much of that material here noting the change in armaments. 

The special rule, Lightning Blows, is notable for the fact it grants critical hits on a successful charge. And there's not reason to not be able to pull off a good number of successful charges here either. 

The War blade and shield are a great combination and very well suited to a melee orientated squad. Indeed, I would favour deep striking in this squad with an Arae-Shrike teleport on a command choice in order to make the best of it. The shield is much better defensively of course which will aid the Custodes in staying alive a lot longer when played well. 

Weaknesses. 

Not really too many weaknesses if I am being honest here. 

Builds.

10 Sentinels (400 points). 

Ten members just because it is a round number, no other reason. Take 11 if you like to mess with the percentages you need to compute by hand for 25% casualties? The vexilla is mandatory of course.

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Custodian Guard Sodality

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 stars. Truly excellent, if expensive.

Background. 

The Custodian Guard Squad is the basic unit of Custodes that are deployed across the galaxy during the Great Crusade, Heresy and the Scouring thereafter. They are flexible and deadly to say the least. .

Strengths.

Mostly 5's in the stat line with 2 wounds each. They are all eternal warriors.

The special rule, Lightning Blows, is notable for the fact it grants critical hits on a successful charge. And there's not reason to not be able to pull off a good number of successful charges here either. 

The come with the basic Guardian Spear and the nasty Misericordia which players must remember exist at the end of combats. The Guardian Spear has shred at range (slightly shorter than bolt gun range it has to be said), and in close combat hits at S=6 with AP=2 and impact on attacks which is very nice. 

In terms of upgrades, players can take a Magisterium Vexilla to replace the Guardian Spear. I don't really recommend this since its effects of only making enemies score 1 victory point in a short range on a leadership test isn't as desirable as simply wiping them off the gaming board with firepower or charges in the first place. Beyond that, the only real question is how many to have in a squad. There's no points cost advantage to having big squads here (compared to space marines), so that question only gets settled by looking at whether you need multiple small units, or big blobs. I could go either way on that. 

Weaknesses. 

Arguably the biggest negative is that they only have a 6+ invulnerable save. Terminators have better, but the Custodes still win on the stat line and equipment. 

Builds.

10 Custodes (450 points). 

I selected 10 members as an illustration only. Take 6. Take 12. 

Building Breacher Squad Marines, and What To Do With Part 52

I recently bought the Breacher Squad boxed set, including the marines and the upgrade frame. I really like the look of these squads, even though they are probably more suited to the close confines of Zone Mortalis, I still feel that they have a good role to play in regular Horus Heresy games. The invulnerable save gives them and edge to stay on objectives and also to advance under otherwise horrendous fire. 

For this particular squad, I am aiming to build them up as Iron Hands. The first miniature, and squad sergeant is pictured below. 

Here I have done a simple head swap from the Praetor character to make him look a lot more like an Iron Hands character. The shoulder pad is also a Forge World resin upgrade. And yes: I know it should probably be on the other side, but the shield made it too bulky to fit, so too bad. He is armed with a power fist which is (presumably temporarily switched off) gripping a melta bomb ready to be attached to some enemy armour. 

The Breacher marines themselves are very easy to work with and I am impressed by their quality. They come with a lot of left over pieces as well. But the parts labelled 52 puzzled me a lot at first, as shown in the second image.

These parts are not mentioned in the slightest in the instruction booklet. It took me a little while to puzzle this one out. They are arm guards, or bracers. Effectively these can be used on other armour marks to make them more convincingly look like Breacher Squad members. I think I might use them anyway as conversion pieces on other armour marks to help pick out squad sergeants or marines who otherwise have artificer armour or similar. They are not much use with the marines supplied in the box since they already have these parts moulded on to them naturally. Hence I think this is mostly for Mark 4, 5, or 6 to take advantage of in my opinion. Puzzle solved!