Horus Heresy 2e Review: Magistus Amon

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
3/5 stars. The rules are average overall with some parts being good and some not so great.

Background.

The one time tutor to the Thousand Sons' Primarch, Amon served as both equerry and emissary during the Great Crusade. He was really the lead in the legions intelligence gathering unit though. Post Prospero, he became an embittered individual and felt very cut off from his brothers. 

Strengths.

The warlord trait here is an army wide boost that provides shrouded to those units who have infiltrating and scouting special rules during the first two turns. Obviously this calls for specific builds when using Amon as the HQ, but it remains a fluffy choice. The bonus movement reaction is solid.

The armour is good and can give shrouded as well. His weapon relies on poison which I find is strictly worse than having force on board.

Weaknesses.

Looking at his weapon, it really needs to be better for the points cost. At least make it the same as a paragon blade for starters. Lacking any minor arcana is a weakness on the surface. But what it allows Amon to do is join any unit. This is excellent! Having telepathy and divination are sound, if not outstanding.

Overall.

He is a force multiplier who needs to have an army built around him. He is slightly over priced for the equipment that he comes with as standard though. If you're liking the idea of lots of recon squads, this will play well for you. Otherwise, probably not quite worth it. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Ahzek Ahriman

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4/5 stars. The rules are great for a close combat character.

Background.

He he would eventually curse the Thousand Sons legion is the first and final chief librarian during the Heresy. He is a superlatively talented and strong psyker and the arch-magister of the Corvidae cult within the legion. Let alone Magnus' pupil. 

Strengths.

Ahriman has a number of interesting strengths and simultaneous drawbacks. I find it odd that his major strength is close combat here, but it is what it is. 

Given his points value, Ahriman is strictly superior to a praetor in almost every way. He gets lots of psychic powers, a force weapon that is much better than a paragon blade (S=9 at I+1, master crafted!) along with a warlord trait that redeploys three units. The additional reaction in a choice of phase is superlative here. 

Weaknesses.

I find it odd that his psychic dakka is weak here. He is by definition corvidae and his psychic powers are remarkably limited in many ways. Plus he really doesn't want to be corvidae given you want him in close combat. 

Overall.

Treat him as a close combat monster and don't stress about him not being such an army wide buffer, or psychic shooting master. He is more than worth the points which is why he gets 4 stars from me. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Khenetai Occult Cabal

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

Background.

One of the smaller cults within the Thousand Sons legion, the Khenetai fused their psychic powers with their blades and accomplished incredible martial feats therein. 

Strengths.

Baseline of WS=5 and 2 wounds each mark them out of veteran analogues. 

They do not get access to the minor arcana, but instead get a power to yield +1 to all of WS, A, and movement. This is terrific and for the points cost that you are paying here, this is such a strong and tempting deal! The force weapons only add to this amazing deal.

Weaknesses.

For what you are paying, there really aren't any downsides here. 

Difference to First Edition.

Improved! Okay, you can argue with me that they used to be WS=6 as baseline, but here in second edition it is entirely understandable that their baseline WS would be reduced. This matters not a jot though given their psychic powers. 

To be honest, the main problem here is that they are an elites slot. This slot is already mightily crowded!

Builds.

5 Khenetai, Blademaster with Artificer Armour (160 points).

You don't really need the artificer armour, but it is nice to have. Multiple units of this kind of build are powerful. 

Beyond this, I wouldn't advocate much. Maybe a hand flamer is nice for one of them, but I wouldn't expand the unit to 10 to take two of them. Melta bombs are cute, but possibly not needed either - you should have other melta solutions. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Castellax-Achea Automata

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️
2/5 stars. If you played first edition, you will be upset with the nerf that this unit has received. 

Background.

Secret research by the Thousand Sons legion resulted in automata that were expendable in full frontal assaults. As with a lot about the legion, these constructs were pretty much in the realm of heresy even before the Council. The Space Wolves would find out about them soon enough at the Fall of Prospero though. 

Strengths.

Psychic robots! I mean: this unit does have the rule of cool about it. 

With S=6 and T=6 plus 4 wounds, they are akin to a monstrous creature in all but name. They also have the psyker rule.

Friendly models with a psychic weapon can make shooting attacks using the automata as the origin of the attack which is very nice. Their weapons are nice, but not outstanding. 

Weaknesses.

Lack of reliable AP=2 weapons is a problem here. 

You are also probably not going to shoot psychically via them. You are probably going to want that juicy S+1 and T+1 from biomancy instead which means this nice rule is going to go to waste.

Difference to First Edition.

Nerfed in almost every department. Could still work nicely with a Praevian I guess. 

Builds.

Keep to the original build. There aether-fire cannon is honestly not really worth it, and there's no other choices available here. 

The Lion Returns

Interrupting the regular pace of things to just take a moment to gush about the new Warhammer 40,000 model for Lion El'Johnson. 

Of course, the rumours about his release have been swirling around for a very long time now. I am highly impressed there haven't been leaks in the same way that Angron was leaked out. 

What I really like about this model is that the Lion is not "over the top" compared to (say) the Heresy era interpretation, arguably as Roboute has shifted in a quite extreme manner. The Lion is both resplendent, dynamic, and retains the grim dark tone without appearing cartoon like. I think part of this impression is the visible aging that has been done to his face. Naturally, being asleep for millennia or ten is bound to do that to a man. Many have already made note of the looks being similar to a certain Lannister of Game of Thrones fame. I get that completely. Yet, he is also demonstrably still the Lion. He has aged gracefully and lacks nothing of his more youthful determination, aggression, and finesse. The watchers in the dark are similarly interesting on his base and I'm looking forward to seeing how his friendly chat with Cypher turns out (please do this Black Library, okay? We really want it!). 

Even I am slightly tempted to buy this model to be completely honest, and its been a long time since I built a Dark Angels force! Congrats GW on such a fantastic sculpt. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Contemptor-Osiron Dreadnought Talon

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
3/5 stars. Really good and interesting, but gets expensive.

Background.

The result of Magnus The Red's magnificent mind to solve the problem of interring a psychic warrior inside a dreadnought to serve still. The Thousand Sons legion was the first to field them and freely gave the tech away to the other legions who appear to have spurned the gift. Maybe not the Alpha Legion though? 

Strengths.

Psykers in a dreadnought! Yes! How cool is that?!

Okay, in all seriousness though, we can upgrade these with the minor arcana. This is certainly recommended as there are a variety of options here that will be of benefit including the extra movement, the long range sniping, and the bonus invulnerable.

If its a unit of one, then it can be upgraded to a Magnus version which gets a core psychic discipline. This is much less worth it. Even if you are tempted by biomancy for the juicy S+1 and T+1 it has got to the points cost level where a leviathan is superior. So this upgrade isn't worth it in my opinion. 

The force blade as standard is nasty here, but equally regular dreadnoughts do better in the brutal department. Adamantium will is nice, but not worth the extra points compared to a base dreadnought.

Weaknesses.

This dreadnought cannot swap out its force weapon which is understandable, but a bit sad. Hence a close combat build might be good here - and a small terror to lighter tanks. But in keeping with an emergent theme with the Thousand Sons, its all just a bit over-costed for the points.

Builds.

Osiron with 2 Force Blades with built in graviton guns, Minor Arcana (235 points).

Deadly close combat monster and the bane of lighter tanks.

Osiron with Aether Fire Magna Cannon, Force Blade with built in Aether Fire Blaster, Minor Arcana (235 points).

I rather like this mid-range build! Of course, more standard long range weapons are possible here like the Kheres and the Lascannon, but I think I prefer this one for a psychic dreadnought.