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 Flux 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! 

Winter Break

Dear Readers,

It is that time of year again and I will be taking a short Winter Break from blogging. Thanks for reading along so far this year! I will try to have an annual review before the end of the year and then get back to more hobby goodness in 2026 alongside yet more Horus Heresy reviews and thoughts. I hope that Santa brings you some hobby goodies if you have been good girls or boys(*)!  

Merry Christmas from Warpstone Flux!

(*) Angron helping paint everything red in honour of the season. 

Meteor Hammer Conversion for World Eaters Sergeant

A bit of a conversion piece today in the form of a Meteor Hammer for a World Eaters assault squad sergeant.

The meteor hammer is made out of several distinct parts. At the lower end (the meteor part) is the head of a power maul / mace. This works out quite nicely as the heavy end as it communicates the weight nicely even though it is not just a spherical mass. 

Attached to the maul's head is a chain taken from spares of the Noctilith Crown portal scenery piece. These are suitably spike laden (and if you press to hard will indent into your skin - ouch). I've pinned the power maul head to this and also drilled through the sergeant's hands to get the positioning spot on. The other end of the chain is from the same range and terminates in a small spear like tip. 

Joining both hands is a curved chain that I think is from the older chaos range - I can't be certain as it has been sat in my bits box for years on end being unused! Possibly the old chaos tank accessories frame? Again, I'm guessing, but let me know if I'm wrong. 

It took quite a bit of shaving and clipping to get the positioning correct on this curved piece regardless, but I think it connects to the hands quite well after a lot of dry fitting and fiddling around. 

Finally the eagle eyes will notice that the head is also a conversion. Here I've used a head front from an eight bound and the rear of the head from a standard helmet and glued the two together and used green stuff to hide everything. In hind sight, I would not choose to do this again and would buy a regular head from the Khorne range to depict the nails. Still - it works very nicely and I am pleased with the overall result here. 

 

Building Phoenix Terminators

In part frustrating, but overall okay. 

Building Phoenix Terminators from Forge World has been a pleasure when I'm now able to look at the final product and see the sheer detail that has been included in the sculpts. It is very impressive. However the assembly process itself was a bit fraught. 

The main issue is the two handed spears. Despite dry fitting many times over, getting these style of spears into the exact position is a pain. The issue is that the bond locations (shoulders and wrists) lack nubs or any kind of obvious joint to help with placement. [Aside: for the uninitiated, there are d6 like marks on the arms and spears to help you get the right parts at least (i.e., ".." on the wrists aligns with ".." on the rest of the body - 2 dots, just like the d6 result of a 2). 

In the end, my approach was to pin one of the shoulders into the approximately correct location. I then glued the spear on to this arm, and then proceeded to attach the other arm into what I trusted was more or less the correct spot. It worked out - just about. My pose on the right hand terminator above looks like a mid-strike movement which I am happy with. The head angle certainly helps communicate this fluidity. 

Conversely, the terminators that are wielding the spears one handed were much, much more straight forward and easy to assemble. They certainly look good in the end, much to my relief!

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Atramentar Flay-Clade

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

3.5/5 stars. I've rounded down due to native WS and the points cost. 

Background.

The terminator elite of the Night Lords, and all swearing fealty to Sevatar. Armed to the teeth (in some cases literally), they are noted to be shock troops employing murderous opportunism, yet also very prone to the Night Lords' failings of being little more than a disunited rabble who might plausibly turn against their own. 

Strengths. 

Two wound terminators in tartaros armour with T=5. There are several rules that set the aside. 

The first is Sworn Loyalty. They can use Sevatar's Leadership value (Ld=10) whilst he is on the battlefield instead of their own (Ld=8). This is valuable. 

The second is cloaked in murder, which gives +1 movement when setting up a charge against an already embroiled foe. 

The customization here is great. They have access to an almost full suite of terminator upgrades - which is exactly what you would expect for this elite unit. More than this, they also have native deep striking which is one of the hallmarks of the Night Lords - they really did invest in teleporter technology extensively. 

Weaknesses. 

Hopefully the subject of your charge is not only already locked in close combat, but also suffering from a status effect to activate the much needed WS+1 bonus for this unit (which has WS=4 base). This is an issue in comparison to alternatives in the Night Lords. The points cost here is also steep, and you are paying for these bonuses and the access to better weapon upgrades through the nose here. Hence the 3.5 stars out of 5. 

Builds.

5 Atramentar, 1 Heavy Flamer, (Power Axes or Chain Glaives)  (180 points).

Expensive in comparison to regular terminator squads (cf., 155 points), but arguably worth it for the extras as discussed above. 

10 Atramentar, 5 Thunder Hammers, 5 Chain Fists, 5 Combi-Meltas (495 points).

Anti-tank, but expensive. Take a Headsmans Axe to taste. 

20 Atramentar, 4 Heavy Flamers, 4 Thunder Hammers, 1 Headsmans Axe (785 points).

The large blob. Not really recommended, simply here as an illustration. Not worth the points.

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Night Raptor Squad

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

3/5 stars. This is a standard marine unit that can be very powerful, but you have to line them up appropriately.  

Background.

A breed apart, forged together by the simple fact that they all have similar ... proclivities. Soar above the battle field. Circle around. Look for prey. Then be really unsubtle about it all. 

Strengths. 

Essentially the Night Raptors are assault squads with built in Fear (1), Impact (I) alongside an impressive Vanguard (4). They get an extra pip in WS as well which makes them valuable. Two wounds rounds out a good value proposition. 

The WS=5 calls for a more combat orientated unit. However, with the legacies rules, you can also add on special weapons. And in third edition, I strongly recommend the flamer to cause panic and thereby trigger the Night Lords rules before you charge in. 

Of course, you can still have melta guns and others to make your squad more specialist, but I really see the flamer as the go to option. Twin lightning claws are also a realistic option here too as are chain glaives and chain blades. 

Weaknesses. 

They are still 3+ save space marines with a leadership value of 8. You need to position them well and get the charge in if you are combat orientated. 

Builds.

5 Night Raptors, 1 Flamer, 5 Chain glaives  (180 points).

A baseline build. Use the flamer to cause panic. Then charge in and finish them off. Expensive points wise, but worth it if you can position them well. 

10 Night Raptors, 8 Twin Lightning Claws, 2 Flamers (365 points).

Burn, rip, shred.

10 Night Raptors, 2 Melta Guns, 2 Chain Glaives, 2 Power Weapons (335 points).

Mixed Threats and will do well.