Horus Heresy 3e Review: Acastus Knight Porphyrion

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars. The rules are good for this rare knight.

Background. 

What is the machine limit that a single human mind can safely interface with? Apparently it is the Porphyrion, after which you will need more minds to take care of the scout class titans. 

This is a different class of knight altogether compared to the ones thus far visited. It is not only rare, but often taken to be the symbol of a household authority itself. Its vast form means it is almost strictly a long range knight.

Strengths.

AV=14 on the front begs for the knight to be placed at the back field with its AV=11 rear at the board edge. With XX hull points, it isn't going anywhere fast anyway.

The Neutron Wave Battery has an impressive range of 120 inches, so my advice above can remain true all battle unless you are playing on an Apocalyptic scale. With four shots at S=12 and AP=2 with 4 damage, this is impressive. Armour bane, shock from stunning, and ordnance on damage escalates things further and means you can potentially pick off other knights, land raiders, and pose a threat to titans as well. 

Added to this are the iron storm missile battery giving you a nice large blast to take care of marines and similar, and some auto cannons in case you felt you lacked in the shooting department. 

Being a colossus means it doesn't need a base, and things are measured from its hull directly. It also blocks lines of sight. Auto repair is fine, but the independent fire rule is excellent and will come in very handy here.

Weaknesses. 

Explodes!

You are also only 25 points away from a Warhound Titan itself. The points cost is incredibly high here. There's a legitimate question about whether to just get a titan instead?

Builds.

There are no build here to speak of or analyse. 

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Cerastus Knight Atrapos

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4.5/5 stars, rounded down. A knights knight for destroying knights and other foul xenos macro constructs. 

Background. 

Exceedingly rare. The Atrapos is typically a gift for a blood debt, or a spoil of war. They are designed to be enemy knight killers (against xenos macro-constructs) and it is considered a major honour to pilot them, although such outings are only at the command of the head of the household him or herself.  

Strengths.

The graviton singularity cannon is impressive. It has a valuable large pie plate, with AP=2, S=9, and a whopping 8 damage! 

If that's not enough, then there's also heavy on damage, armourbane, and critical hitting. 

The phase cutter also has armour bane, but is at S=12! The damage is a mere 6 though, and it has AP=2 with some small modifiers to initiative and attacks which is acceptable. 

Weaknesses. 

Explodes!

The overload on the cannon is a mild issue, but tolerable. This is made up for with a 4+ auto-repair which is excellent compared to other knights of its chassis design. 

The points cost is high here, but I think it can just about be justified. To be clear, this is a specialist knight and needs to be treated as such. You are after destroying other knights or vehicles with this, so don't waste it chasing primarchs!

Builds.

There are no build here to speak of or analyse. 

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Cerastus Knight Lancer

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 stars. An ideal knight for the points value and 5 stars too because it also has the rule of cool in addition to everything else going for it!

Background. 

The most famous configuration of the Cerastus Knights has to be the Lancer. They bring with them a legacy of war. Not for them are defensive positions, but rather their reputations are ones of destruction and conquering. They race ahead of their forces to engage enemy champions in single combat and are regarded as impetuous, yet simultaneously held in high regard.  

Strengths.

The shock lance and gauntlet shield are an iconic pairing. The shock lance at range provides 18 inch cover with 6 shots, at S=7. This also yields stun which is nice, and has AP=3 which enables you to almost single handed arc (lance?) down enemy space marine formations. 

In close combat the lance is agile and gives precision along with a much needed increase in initiative and an extra pip in strength. This enables it to take on most foes and stand a chance against them. The movement rate on the knight also means you should be able to get into position nicely. 

Meanwhile the ion gauntlet shield gives a 5+ invulnerable save in melee against penetrating hits. You also get the invulnerable save against glancing hits before any rolls are performed on the vehicle damage chart.  

Weaknesses. 

Explodes!

I genuinely like this knight. I just need to build one of my own!

Builds.

There are no build here to speak of or analyse. 

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Cerastus Knight Acheron

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars. The rules are good.

Background. 

Deployed as a sign to the enemy that they intend extermination, these knights are sinister and and spell utter death and cleansing flame. Their pilots tend to be either those of iron wills, or those damaged souls that relish the massacre, such is the machine spirit of that contained within. Few elect to pilot them.

Strengths.

The reaper chain fist is impressive. It combines armour bane with S+3 (for a total of S=12) and AP=2 with a truly maddening damage characteristic of SIX! This is an up close and personal weapon that is designed to destroy tanks and building alike. 

The inferno cannon is a hell storm template which combines shred and panic (as you might imagine) with a strength of 7. Really useful against massed foes, or just the contents of a tank transport that you just exploded. 

Weaknesses. 

Explodes!

I actually like this knight a lot more than others. But you do have to get up close and personal to get the most out of it. So you will need to think about positioning and movement more than you would with other knights since you are quite likely to expose your comparatively weaker rear armour a lot of the time. 

Builds.

There are no build here to speak of or analyse. 

Thousand Sons Terminator Praetor Conversion

Tackling my first miniature of the Thousand Sons today and I opted to do things the hard way. I really should have started with something more routine! Too late!

This is a Praetor (or perhaps Centurion). I was originally going to make this a simple kit bash and go for a pair of lightning claws. But no. I had to do things differently! Instead, we have a chain fist (tartaros style) accompanied by a combi-disintegrator (from the regular marine range), legs from the chaos space marine range and the core resin from the Thousand Sons range. The shoulders are from the newer cataphractii range and have slotted over the tartaros arms quite nicely to be honest!

Perhaps the hardest point of the miniature was attaching the resin torso to the plastic legs. They really don't want to fit together thanks to the upper outer thigh armour on the legs. Hence, I have torso at a bit of an angle to the legs and pinned on the inside. This works since it looks like the marine is looking down the combi-disintegrator to take a shot, or is otherwise presenting less of a target area to other incoming shots. 

I like this guy overall, he had a certain dynamism about him that the Thousand Sons terminators often lack (for good reason) and can easily imagine him being a sorcerer as well. I like the disintegrator option here for fun and think it might have flexibility. Of course, a force weapon should almost have been the default option, but the chain fist is interesting for different reasons. This is an up close and person praetor who wants to take on your dreadnoughts and isn't afraid to conjure up some psychic might to help along the way. 

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Cerastus Knight Castigator

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 stars. Great against massed lesser foes. 

Background. 

The Castigator is typically piloted by those venerable scions of a Household who can be relied upon to hold the line and to conserve ammunition when required. The machine spirits of these machines are stoic but no less able than the more impetuous ones in other knights. These knights are favoured by households who face multiple and lesser foes.

Strengths.

The Cerastus class knight comes with the auto repair, explode, and vanguard you might expect and layers this with an ion shield 13 armour on the front, 12 hull points, and a rapid movement of 14 which is one of the stronger points for this class overall in my opinion. 

The Castigator itself comes with the castigator bolt cannon which shoots out 10 shots every turn at S=6 and has AP=3. Ordnance on damage and suppressing fire is good here. Overall a great weapon for regular marines, or mechanicum or mortals. The tempest warblade has reaping blow and is aflame. With AP=2, it is deadly in close combat and will see off terminators quite nicely. 

Weaknesses. 

Explodes!

Honestly, I should like it more, but I actually prefer other Cerastus knights. The number of shots here has also decreased compared to second edition which is sad. 

Builds.

There are no build here to speak of or analyse.