Horus Heresy Review: Legion Hussar Squadron

Background.
Hussar squadrons are armoured bikes for the space marine legions. They take on a variety of roles for the legions including recon, and assault for which they are valued. To my mind, they are the first response for many legions, and have the ability to not only screen other units, but also launch attacks where required whilst other units are setting up. 

Strengths.

Apart from begin expensive meat-shields, the hussars are fundamentally a troops selection, although they are classed as a support squad. The hit and run special rule is universal here and fits nicely with a strike and fade style of play that could see ready use with (e.g.) Raven Guard, Alpha Legion, Night Lords, and others beyond that even. 

Weaknesses.

Only the squad sergeant can take the majority of upgrades -- sadly, this includes melta bombs. 

Indeed, the only upgrade permitted to the entire squad is the replacement of the bike's twin-linked bolt guns with the snub rotor cannons. I'm not sure about this upgrade to be honest. On the one hand, the rate of fire (salvo 4/5) is really good. However, the S=3 and AP=6 for this weapon makes is a dubious choice, but the real killer for me is the range of 12 inches. The twin-linked rule makes up for this though. The bolt gun outshines this for tactical play, but against weaker opponents (mechanicum, etc.), the rotor cannon could really shine in combination with hit and run. It just depends on the opponent and the style of play the controlling player is aiming for.

Builds.

5 Hussars, sergeant with melta bombs, power fist (170 points).

Something of a baseline squad this one. The idea here is one of flexibility and small unit harassment: charge a transport to place a melta bomb, or take pot shots at the enemy lines.

10 Hussars, all with twin-linked snub rotor cannons, sergeant with power lance (410 points).

This build is a bit scary: salvo 40/50 being pumped out from close range with twin-linked can readily dent a hole just by the sheer number of shots. The power lance is present here as the squad will hit and run after the turn it has charged.

Horus Heresy Review: Nakrid Thole

Background.
Thole is arguably a quintessential Night Lord preator writ in flesh. He's never fought with the Emperor, and never set foot on Terra. He was obedient to the Night Haunter, but only up until the point he left the legion, and then he was happier to get stuck into the targets he wanted to rather than be subjected to Imperial rules. 

After clawing his way up the ranks, he had a good company of killers at his side and when Curze made haste for Thramas, Thole did what he wanted: killed at will.

Strengths.

Thole comes with a standard Praetor stat line and a balanced set of equipment that I regard as flavorful for the Night Lords. 

The Valour's Shadow rule means that he cannot be targeted within a large group of marines, and sometimes he won't count toward the kill tally for victory points since he's (cowardly) slinked away (with a tactical retreat to live another day). 

He comes with two interesting weapons in the form of a flay-whip, and the Devil's Due (a sort of over-powered power hatchet). I think that unless he is facing off against a large blob, the whip probably won't see that much play. The Devil's Due is superior thanks to its AP2 and S+2 boost most of the time. With that said, the combination of the pair can be powerful in the right circumstances. The whip might well reduce an enemy to I=1, and then the Devil's Due will swing in prior to an enemy striking at I=1 to finish them off nicely. It is a characterful combination, but not hideously over-powered.

Weaknesses.

Like many Night Lords, Thole wants to be in close combat, and quick. He will also need company as the Talent For Murder special rule is too good to overlook for him. Night Fighting will also appeal for Thole as well. 

Overall.

Thole is a solid Praetor for the Night Lords legion, if not categorically outstanding.  He will likely see use in the rite of war bearing his moniker: the Cross of Bone. 

Digital Art

It has been a modest amount of time since I last updated the blog here. In part, the reason for this has been health related, and distinctly the most recent UK lockdown due to Covid-19. Such things cannot be helped and they are what they are. 

Hopefully we will resume more frequent posting soon.

In the meantime, I have been (re)teaching myself some digital art techniques (alpha channels, selections, layerings and so forth) and produced this design. I'm intending to use it in a forthcoming roleplaying publication. More on that exciting development in due course. 

Hope that my regular readers are all doing well. 

Dominion of convergence: 3/3

The final part of the Dominion of Convergence is the most worn away and stripped down of the triplet. 

With this piece, it is possible to see the entire inner working of this machine. Full Necron technology on display and naked to the world save for a few bits of characteristic stonework near to the bottom of the device. The piece does look alien in origin, I'll give it that. But I'm not so sure about the whole stripping away of the stone work around the outside of the technology. It strikes me as physically rather odd looking; not withstanding the narrative of what they are supposed to be. 

In terms of construction, once again this is a very easy terrain item with minimal amount of parts being used and needed to glue together. No special notes here to make really other than to check the filing of the smoother edges prior to painting. Speaking of which, I'd better get underway with that at some point soon!

Dominion of convergence: 2/3

This is the second component of the dominion of convergence set. What I find most odd about this particular piece is the extra bit of Necron stone attached to the upper regions of the monolith. In the image below, it can be seen stuck on the front facing panel to the upper right of the monolith.

I think my feeling of oddity stems from the way it is just kind of hovering there without support. Sure, its techno-babble magic something something holding it in place - yeah I get that. But from a gravity point of view, it just feels a little bit wrong to my eyes. Further, the reverse of the piece -- which can be seen sticking out at the left hand edge of the above image -- also feels a little bit off. I might fill in the gap that can be seen in the image with a bit of green stuff to make it a bit more convincing to my eyes before I paint it up, and potentially just add a little bit of support underneath it. 

Other than this visual, I do like the piece, and I like the feeling of age that it communicates with the weathered front "rock" face being eroded away to reveal the internal technology behind. 

Dominion of convergence: 1/3

When I originally saw the release for the Dominion of convergence, I knew that I wanted to have this set as part of my (far too extensive now) scenery options. What I like about this kit is the sheer simplicity. They literally are just line of sight blocking obelisks. But they're more than that: they have the feeling that they can slot in well on almost any kind of set up outside of set-piece space hulk style battles. Even deep in the subterranean confines of hive cities and spires, they might not plausibly look out of place to drop in there. 

The putting together of these scenery items is very simple indeed. There are so few parts to be worried about, and they all slot together very nicely. My only tip is to be aware of the base that comes in two halves. It is imperative that that base lies flat to prevent wobbly model syndrome affecting this otherwise glorious looking scenery. In some following posts, I will show the others obelisks one by one with a couple of thoughts on each. More to follow.