Horus Heresy Review: Sigismund

Background

In every legion there are individuals who should have risen to greatness if they had lived in any other era. In the Dark Angels, Luther would have undoubtably been placed in charge of The Order on Caliban in the absence of Lion El'Jonson. Kor Phaeron and Erebus would have risen high on Colchis in the absence of Lorgar Aurelian. Sigismund is amongst their number in terms of deadliness if nothing else. His legend is writ large across the Horus Heresy and before it. For without doubt, there are few who could match his skill in combat. Sure, Kharn had the rage, Lucius had the skill, Abaddon had both combined, and Dynat the mastery. But of all the Angels of Death, Sigismund is truly the most able to claim that title short of the Primarchs. As Extermination puts it: "Beneath the Primarchs, there has perhaps never been a more skilled warrior in combat", and Sanguinius to quip: "…less my brother Dorn's champion, and more Death's himself...". Lucky for the Imperial Fists he was a loyalist really, and a crusader to boot. Imagine if he were a Night Lord instead?!

Strengths

His rules really back up this Angel of Death assessment of his background. From the outset of close combat, he can re-roll charge distances to ensure he and his unit get in to melee, as well as sweeping advance rolls, and gain +1I in the first round. An additional point (that is almost by-the-way flavour) is the ability to have Templar Brethren as troops. 

But when he does get in combat, he starts to get highly deadly. Not only must he accept and receive challenges, but he gains the instant death rule that force invulnerable saves to be re-rolled (if applicable). And opponents will be doing that as his preferred weapon is AP2 and S+2. 

Weaknesses

His final special rule is the Slayer of Kings warlord trait. This rule means that the army can gain a bonus to combat resolution for the entire game if Sigismund slays the enemy warlord (plus an additional victory point, if required). This really means that Sigismund needs to be played in such as way as to directly challenge the enemy warlord whenever and wherever possible. 

Tactics

As above, the targeting of the enemy warlord is the way to go for Sigismund. But how will he get to where he needs to be? Is it with a body guard on board a land raider, rhino or other conveyance? Or perhaps something else thanks to being a Master of the Legion?

His artificer armour and Iron Halo ensure that he will at least somewhat survive against opponents, and unusually for named characters in 30k, he also has Eternal Warrior (coupled with fearless, and Adamantium will). His other equipment and rules are what you might imagine, apart from a master crafted bolt pistol. And did we mention 4 wounds?  Sure, he costs like a land raider, but in my opinion, he is worth it. 

Look at it this way, there's only a few enemy characters he need fear. Eidolon comes to mind. And he can even go toe to toe with some of the weaker primarchs (certainly the T=6 ones with a poor invulnerable save) and actually stand a chance. I can't say that about too many other characters. 

Hence, overall, use him as a natural-born killer, but ensure he's got a land raider (or similar) to ride around it, and a half decent bodyguard to take some wounds along the way. His ability to take Templar Brethren as troops is good, but not the real reason to take this Angel of Death. 

Horus Heresy Review: Phalanx Warder Squad

Background

A reinforced company selected from breacher squads of the Imperial Fists Legion, the Phalanx Warders are charged with the defence of the capital flagship, the Phalanx. They are therefore kitted out for boarding actions - both defensive and offensive against enemies. But clearly, they are also of good utility on a highly packed out game board with plenty of terrain features.

Strengths

The strengths of this unit in comparison to the more typical breacher squad may not be too obvious at first. But one has to factor in the Imperial Fists rules, and their rite of war to see the big benefit. To be clear: a 3+/5++ T5 squad running around in large numbers is going to be a pain for many enemies. Equally, that 3+ armour save is not the best. And for the points value, it may be more prudent for the Imperial Fists players to think about terminator squads instead. Therefore, I would only council running these guys in specialist Imperial Fists builds, or if the controlling player wanted something very fluffy and well suited to the Imperial Fists. 

That said, there is a good deal of flexibility available for what kind of builds to utilise with the squad. Given they can sacrifice their (BS5) bolt guns for power axes, there are a number of "modes" in which to build them: for close ranged fire fights, or for pure melee, for objective sitting, or perhaps something in-between. Don't forget, with the increased initiative if they get charged, they can hold their own against enemy squads nicely. But it may not be enough.

Weaknesses

I see their 3+ armour save as being the biggest deterrent for taking this squad, followed by their points costs. They will die like standard marines. And terminators are categorically more attractive for the power gamer I think. 

As with other Imperial Fist squads, they're slow. They will need some kind of transport (land raider!) to carry them around, or otherwise, attach an apothecary to the squad and use them to sit on an objective for the game.

Builds

Below, I look at a number of ways to build this squad, some more suited to melee and close combat than others (who are more ranged).

10 Phalanx Warders, legion vexilla, sergeant with power fist and artificer armour (295 points)

This is the baseline squad. The price is already up there, and you can now see why I think baseline terminators are just better, even if there are 10 members in this squad. Add flamers to taste for objective sitting squads.

20 Phalanx Warders, legion vexilla, 4 thunder hammers, 5 power axes, sergeant with Solarite power gauntlet, artificer armour and melta bombs (570 points)

Very expensive here as each upgrade costs per model (and not for the squad). Take these guys in a Spartan land raider and happy hunting to you.

10 Phalanx Warders, legion vexilla, 2 plasma guns, 5 power axes, sergeant with artificer armour, plasma pistol and melta bombs (380 points)

A smaller, more plasma orientated version of the above squad. I contend 10 terminators with combi-weapons are strictly better at this level. Replace the plasma with breacher charges if you like?

Overall

I want to like this unit. Genuinely, I really do. The models are fantastic. But the rules prove to be over-costed for what they do and they're taking up a valuable fast attack slot. Take terminators instead to be honest. Or if you do take them, realise that they are a good fluffy choice, team them up with a land raider, the Imperial Fists rite of war, an apothecary and be happy with them. 

Horus Heresy Review: Templar Brethren

Background

These men are the guardians of the Temple of Oaths on the Phalanx (the great flagship of the Imperial Fists). Naturally, these guys are also the ones that will go on to form the core of the Black Templars in 40k, along with Sigismund. 

Hence, they are the zealots, the ones who might otherwise fit in very well with the Word Bearers. And they're also armed to the teeth.

Strengths

The best way to think about these guys are that they are bloodletter analogues. Yes - I know that's slightly heretical to compare them to daemons. But hear me out. They all have power swords, and hence will be able to slice and dice their way through power armour. But its a bit better than that. They also have ranged weapons (bolt pistols) and both types of grenades. Better yet, they all have artificer armour. So even if they don't have a 5+ invulnerable save, their armour is simply superior to all around them. Additionally, the character for the unit has 2 wounds and everyone has an extra pip in WS, just for fun (well, it ties in well with their strict training regime to be fair). They are clearly kitted out for close combat duty, and should be used appropriately.

Weaknesses

Not many, to be honest. The worst thing is that they are not all chosen warriors. Hence its only the squad character that will be issuing and accepting challenges. This isn't a big negative though. And secondly, its necessary to realise that they are a melee squad -- they're not meant for ranged pistol shooting (even if they get a bonus to hit due to the Imperial Fists Legion Rules). 

But remember -- they're intrinsically slow, and will in all likelihood need transportation of some kind to get them where they need to be.

Builds

Below are a number of builds to think about.

5 Templar Brethren, legion vexilla, Chapter Champion with thunder hammer (195 points)

This is something of a base line unit. It should ideally be used with a rhino, drop pod, or other type of transportation.

5 Templar Brethren, legion vexilla, 2 plasma pistols, Chapter Champion with plasma pistol (230 points)

Similar to the above, but with a small host of plasma pistols since the AP they provide is arguably superior to shooting at BS5 with bolt pistols. Again, they need transport. 

10 Templar Brethren, legion vexilla, all with combat shields and melta bombs, Chapter Champion with thunder hammer (385 points)

This is one to marry together with the legion's rite of war (hence the shields) and transport around in something like a land raider. They're dangerous to everything and can back it up. Add plasma pistols and a nuncio Vox to taste.

Overall

This unit is a solid choice for the Imperial Fists player. Although pricey, it must be compared to parallel units such as the Emperor's Children Palatine Blade Squad in some ways. To be clear: the Palatines are slightly cheaper, but the Templars are kitted out differently and can be boosted in an Imperial Fist army that is using the legion's rite of war. They're also really good for adding in a close combat orientated HQ selection as their personal guard.

Horus Heresy Review: Imperial Fists Legion Rules

The Imperial Fists, the praetorians of Terra and the rulers of Inwit. The rock and the foundation upon which the Imperium has been constructed. Loyalists to a fault. All these things and more are probably true of this unique legion. 

Background Material Evaluation

Much of the background for the Imperial Fists is exactly what we have come to expect from this legion. One that is capable of defending fortified positions with ease, and one that is also capable with the not-so-humble bolter and bolt pistol. 

Of course, there is also the whole rivalry going on with the Iron Warriors. In many ways, the Imperial Fists are the mirror of the Iron Warriors: skilled with building and ripping down fortifications and masters of shooting. But unlike the Iron Warriors, the Imperial Fists have a strong emphasis on being as solid as a rock. Therefore, what I have previously written about the Iron Warriors being a baseline force to beat applies to the Imperial Fists as well. These two legions are the ones that other legion players should be testing their legions out against. If they can defeat either (preferably both), then I think the other legion players are going to do well overall in many 30k games. 

Legion Rules Review

Just like the Iron Warriors, the special rules for the Imperial Fists are all generally very positive with few drawbacks. The first one is Disciplined Fire. This is probably the one that 40k players might be expecting - something akin to bolter drill. For this rule, all marines get +1BS for using bolters and bolt pistols or their heavier variants. Very interestingly, the Imperial Fists heavy support squads gain tank hunters in addition to this as well. This is a great boon to the legion and one that they're going to be known for. 

Note quite the counter-balanced I think it should be, the Blood and Honour rule means that this legion must issue challenges. I don't think this should have beed added to, to be honest, but it has been: these characters must re-roll failed hits. This gives such an edge to the likes of Sigismund when he doesn't really need any more encouragement.

Unshakable Defence means that the legion is stubborn when in fortifications or cover. This is a huge boon as stubborn is at a premium cost in 30k.

Finally, The Bitter End special rule that can force a game to go to six turns if an opponent wants it to. Not much of a negative here arguably.

Overall, these rules suggest that the Imperial Fists legion player should be looking to the bolter, to shooting and limited close assault in specialist units, combined with fortifications and cover to win their games. 

Rite of War

The Stone Gauntlet rite of war is one that is modelled around miniatures that have shields; specifically boarding shields, or storm shield. Note here that the Vigil Pattern Storm Shield IS a Storm Shield (hence the name). In such units, the men gain +1T for being in coherency with at least two similar men. This is huge. A toughness bonus makes these marines almost as good as Plague Marines in some ways. Add in an apothecary, and this rite of war creates some serious monsters on the table top that will be very hard for some legions to remove by force. In addition, the Shield Charge rule grants a hammer of wrath rule to shield-armed squads. Naturally, this is balanced up by having to take breacher squads as the compulsory troops selection. 

This rite of war argues strongly for many breacher and terminator squads with Vigil shields (see below), but also backed up with some longer range firepower and (or) tanks. 

Wargear

There are several items of unique war gear available to the legion. Like the Salamanders, the Imperial Fists have been developing shield technologies of their own. The Vigil Pattern Storm Shield grants a 3+ invulnerable save to any one who has it, at a penalty of costing extra points to equip it. For a base level standard Tartaros terminator squad, it'll be 75 more points thanks. For Cataphractii, 50 extra points. Hence they're not cheap. But they could well be worth it!

Complementing this is the Teleportation Transponder. For a per squad cost, terminators (and terminator characters) can gain the deep strike rule! Recall that terminators do not automatically gain deep strike and you'll see how good this potentially might be. 

The Solarite Power Gauntlet is a potential replacement for thunder hammers, coming in like a regular power fist but master crafted. They're good in some ways (additional attacks when paired with bolt pistols for cheap), but I think I like the thunder hammer more for the concussive special rule to be fair.

Finally, the Imperial Fists (and, as it happens: the Blood Angels) terminators gain access to the Iliastus Pattern Assault Cannon. At the time of the Heresy, the assault cannon was a prototype weapon. Although it is heavy 4 with rending and S6, there is a small chance of malfunction - which means that it cannot be used ever again in the game. This is probably not much of a drawback, as by the time it'll malfunction, the terminators will be in close combat.

Overall

The Imperial Fists seem like an incredible army to have. Their strengths lie in their bolters, their terminator squad upgrades, and (with the rite of war) breacher squads.

Depending on which build one wishes to do, I think the Imperial Fists player can take on most in the game. For me personally, I would be erring on the side of building a couple of terminator squads with the special equipment (yes - that mean the Vigil Storm Shields) to make them unique, as well as taking full sized tactical squads to have an amazing BS5 fury of the legion attack. I would also be taking heavy support squads for the tank hunters rule. If I'm not taking the rite of war, I'd be tempted by taking a fortification as well (depending on the opponent and mission - if known in advance). Add in some tanks (vindicators, rhinos, land raiders, Sicarans) and its a solid army to run and beat.

Variants would include elitist terminator builds perhaps with pride of the legion or orbital assault, breacher builds with the Stone Gauntlet rite of war, bolter heavy builds, and almost anything in-between. 

Games Workshop Covent Garden

Covent Garden is physically located in the centre of London, UK. Broadly, it is at the Eastern extrema of the West End of London (the West End is reasonably famous for all the entertainment, commerce, tourism, plays and theatres nearby). 

The Games Workshop in Covent Garden is situated in very close to the tube station that bears the same name. Literally, its not even a ten minute walk away from the tube station, hence it is very, very accessible for both casual and the more serious gamer. 

It is located in a small arcade of shops collectively known as The Market. When I arrived at The Market, however, I could not readily identify where the store was situated inside. I knew it was Unit 33 that I was after, but I honestly could not find it at first glance. I literally stalked The Market for about 15 minutes before I found the store! Now, some of this might be my own ineptitude to be quite honest. But there really did seem to be a lack of obvious information about which stores were where inside The Market (again, this might be because I was looking for information in all the wrong places). 

The Games Workshop store turned out to be on the lower level of The Market. Finding a staircase down was not too hard, but it really looked like I was heading in the wrong direction at that point as the lower level where it is situated looked more like a food area than one that had regular stores in it. Yet lo and behold, there was Games Workshop on the lower level near the food outlets. 

I liked the architecture of The Market overall - its general ambience is great and the stonework very clean and attractive. Indeed, it looks like that most of the stores in The Market cannot have their own logo or fonts for their store names -- check out the image that shows "Games Workshop" written in the curve above the doorway to the place. 

The store is reasonably spacious (wide, but not terrifically deep arguably) with a number of tables set out with a mixture of Warhammer 40k, Warhammer, and Lord of the Rings (although the latter didn't look like it had gotten much play recently … but maybe we could say that about a lot of the stores perhaps?).

I snapped this image in the window of the store. I'm not entirely sure what its showing to be honest, but I thought it looked cool.

Overall, I liked the store, but very much disliked the effort that I had to go to in order to locate the store in the first instance -- it really was like looking for a proverbial needle in a haystack for me. Now, I'll take some of the blame for that from being inept and never having been there before. Equally, I wonder if that's a common thing for visitors to The Market?

Horus Heresy Review: Nârik Dreygur and Praevian Consul

In the background fluff for this Iron Warriors character, he was effectively killed on the battlefields of Isstvan when a Raven Guard Moritat slew him. But that was not the end. A small, relatively unknown group within the Iron Warrior fraternity, the Apolakron, rebuilt him almost from scratch. This included building in to his very skull a cortex controller. And now Dreygur keeps company more with robots than he does with his former brothers (who now shun him actively as Perturbo has probably also discarded a useless tool in his arsenal). 

Strengths

Not only does Dreygur and the new consul type - the Praevian - gain a Cortex Controller, but they both also have a Cortex Designator. This is a very interesting device that means if the consul scores a hit from range against a particular target, then the robots in his unit will gain preferred enemy against that unit as well. This is incredibly powerful with the right set-up of robots to back him up.

But moreover, the Praevian has the Master of Cybernetica special rule. This means that he can select a unit of Vorax or Castellax automata to be part of his unit. He can't leave these robots, but that's not the point! The ability to take robots without the mechanicum is game-bending in the possibilities. Imagine a dark fire cannon (or several) attached to the consul to provide an awesome back line unit?! 

It gets better though. The robots can select to have one of a small group of special rules (e.g., Tank Hunters, Scout), or the Legiones Astartes rule associated with the same legion that the consul is a member of. Consider an Alpha Legion or Raven Guard group of robots with infiltrate - this could be game changing realistically - no other legions can field similar as far as I can see. 

Weaknesses

The Praevian can't take terminator armour or bikes, but this is not a huge negative to be fair. On Dreygur, the power fist may or may not be useful, depending on what type of robots accompany him, whist the master crafting of the bolt pistol seems superfluous. 

For a generic Praevian though, the build could be made to be a whole lot more suited to the legion in question and to the robots that will accompany him. 

Overall

I really like the Praevian, and Dreygur. I would certainly be taking Dreygur with something like Castellax with two power blades each, or the Vorax to make best use of his power fist. But for other legions, I can certainly see other good builds, like the dark fire cannon being extensively used.

I think in a number of ways this consul opens up doors that no other character can. The robots that go in the same unit as him have to be well tailored though, but that can be easily arranged. The only real question is the choice of something like Tank Hunters versus the appropriate legion special rule.