Horus Heresy 3e Review: Venatari Sodality

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️ 2/5 stars. I want to like it more, but I just feel other options in the army are superior. 

Background. 

Custodes who have proven themselves in the Blood Games (which seems to be a game of tag designed to test the emperor's defences) can take up the mantle of Venatari. So long as they also have an aptitude with the flight technology of their power armour as well. Typically found in the rafters of the Imperial Palace, they swoop down from high to the battlefield to pick their targets. 

Strengths.

I like the models and I may be in a minority to say that. 

The attraction here is the movement rate of 14 combined with the potential to deep strike in or outflank. Firestorm also means that they don't have to make snap shots for volley attacks which is good. 

For equipment they come with the Tarsus Buckler as standard which gives S-1 to incoming volleys or overwatches against them. This is very nice. The Kinetic Destroyers are excellent with breaching at 5+ and S=7 with 3 shots, but at very close range only. They can certainly whittle down an enemy squad before a charge. Or, upgrade to the Ventrum Lance and have a good close combat attack with AP=2 and S+1 with precision and a very limited shooting attack at S=5 to cause stun. And the Neutronium Cascade Mines are an interesting option with S=9 and 3 damage with a slew of special rules including armour bane and detonation to help with destroying tanks or immobile structures. 

Weaknesses. 

Melta bombs are gone and effectively replaced with the Neutronium mines. They're okay, but I did prefer the melta bombs. 

I'm not sure what this unit should do. The base build is a close range shooting option. The melee version is fine, but I prefer a guardian spear for all round purposes. 

Builds.

3 Venatari, Neutronium Mines (195 points).

Distraction carnifex territory or maybe neutronium-cide anti-tank. Difficult to tell. Eliminate a rhino and shoot the transported squad I guess. 

3 Venatari, all with lances (165 points).

Perhaps a better all round build, but lacking in shooting. Again, very much a distraction carnifex that an enemy has to deal with or it will cause some damage. I prefer this configuration. Add Neutronium to taste. 

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Coronus Grav-Carrier

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 stars. The rules are average for the points cost. 

Background. 

I personally have always liked the grav-craft since they were first depicted in Rogue Trader. The Coronus carries on this tradition by having the grav-craft be in use by the Legio Custodes. The wider background shows that the craft was an upgrade to the Jocasta design employed in the Unification Wars. Of course, the other grav-craft are based on the Coronus design and have improved it whilst maintaining the goal of being fast an able to deploy into zones that other vehicles might find tough.

Strengths.

As a heavy transport, it has a carrying capacity of 14 which is reasonable overall. But remember that your regular Custodes has Heavy (2). 

The movement rate is 12, which is okay. The armour is 13 with 11 on the rear and 8 hull points which means it is mid-range in terms of survival. 

On the plus side, it does have auto-repair at 3+ and is an assault vehicle with deep strike as standard which is excellent. The armaments are also very reasonable with a turret Arachnus blaze cannon (amazing with S=9 in concentrated mode!), and a twin lastrum bolt cannon which is S=6 but with only AP=4. 

Weaknesses. 

I would really like to have seen the movement rate be higher. In second edition it was 16, so this is quite a bit of a loss in my opinion. The access point is on the rear, which is also where the AV=11 armour is located. 

Don't take it for deep striking purposes if you already have an Arae Shrike elsewhere in the army as you will compete against yourself for getting your army on the board. Instead, think of it as an enhanced and very much upgraded rhino for your Custodes. I'd actually begin with it on the board to make best use of the blaze cannon!

Builds.

There are no builds to discuss.

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Telemon Heavy Dreadnought

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars. Great model with good rules, and lots of points too. 

Background. 

Hand crafted by the Emperor himself (well -- at least one part of the armour is), the Telemon is an exceptionally rare beast. Only the most remarkable Custodes gets to be interred, and the order would sooner the dreadnoughts remain unoccupied than some lesser Custode pilot it. Truly a waste of resources!

Strengths.

The stat line has S=9, T=8, W=8 which make it very durable (and also a fire magnet for the most high strength enemy fire power). The 2+/4+ save only adds to this. 

It comes with a Spiculus missile launcher which gives suppressive and breaching with 6 shots at S=5. This makes it very good for anti-infantry work. 

The options are then:

Telemon Caestus - a great S+3 fist with AP=4 and an incredible 3 damage (4 if paired). Great for anti-armour thanks to armour bane, but also has critical hitting and shock. I'd be tempted to take one if you feel you can catch a tank. It comes with a build in neutronium cascade projector which is an excelletn S=7 template with breaching, phage on Toughness, as well as the interesting annihilation cascade which gives you a chance at more penetrating hits. I suspect this isn't going to hurt much except the rear of a rhino though (or similar!).

The Arachus Storm Cannon is amazing. I'd take it. It has S=9 (going down to 6 if in a burst, but with more shots) and AP=2 and 3 damage. Two of these is deadly. 

The adrathic desolator is something that doesn't know where it sits. Great for rending, but you already have plenty of anti-infantry options and it only gives as many shots as the storm cannon but at a lower strength. Could be excellent against multi-wound enemies though. 

The Iliastus accelerator culverin is the rapid tracking option with S=9 and breaching. I like this almost as much as the storm cannon.  

Weaknesses. 

Intelligence has been reduced to a remarkable 3!

It also explodes and costs a dreadful amount of points. 

Builds.

Telemon, Caestus, Arachus Storm Cannon (385 points).
This is what I would regard as a standard build.

Telemon, Caestus, Iliastus accelerator culverin (380 points).

Another very nice option that switches out the cannon for the rapid tracking of the culverin.  

Telemon, 2 Iliastus accelerator culverins (390 points).

Rapid tracking shooting platform. I actually prefer one fist here to be very honest, but 2 culverins can still work. 

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Contemptor-Galatus Dreadnought

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 stars. Great model with reasonable rules. 

Background. 

The best way to describe this dreadnought is as an anchor point. Armed and armoured with some of the best technology in the Imperium and a pilot who was possible a great friend of the Emperor himself, the Galatus is intended to be a power house for the slaughter of any enemy of the Imperium from within or without.

Strengths.

Superb with S=8, T=7, 6 wounds and 5s in WS and BS. 

The Gravis Praesidium Shield is excellent for not only providing a 4+ invulnerable save, but also granting the Shield trait which can be overlooked. 

The Warblade is reasonable overall. It has a template panic flamer built int, along with an AP=2 and 2 damage close combat profile that gives reaping blows as well as being aflame. This will be more than enough to take on 2 wound terminator enemies for instance. 

Weaknesses. 

The main detriment here is that compared to a space marine dreadnought with a Gravis Power Fist, the Galatus is actually weaker. It shouldn't matter all of the time - to be clear - but what it ultimately means is that the Galatus is fundamentally anti-infantry. And the rest of your core army can likely do just as good a job at that. For this reason alone, I am giving the dreadnought a middle of the range 3/5 stars. 

Builds.

There are no builds to discuss. 

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.