Horus Heresy 2e Review: Questoris Knights Household Ranks

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (individual rankings follow for each upgrade - this is just a rough average).

4/5 stars. The rules provide some excellent flavour to knight armies and should be used by all players at least in part.

Seneschal. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The boss. The head of the house. Massively experienced. And a big price tag. This provides increased WS and BS which can be very important, but also a warlord trait that permits reactions within a local radius and gains a bonus shooting reaction. Great stuff! Suggested Knight: Lancer.

Arbalester. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Gain BS, and roll an additional scatter die when you have to and choose which result you want. This upgrade is almost a no brainer for longer ranged knights. Suggested Knight: Asterius, Knight Questoris (especially melta).

Aspirant. ⭐️

Not truthfully recommended due to the negatives on WS, BS, and movement. Has utility if you are short on points, willing to give your opponent a bigger chance, or generally want something fluffy. Otherwise avoid. Suggested Knight: None!

Aucteller. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Gain WS. Also gain further WS and A when engaged in a challenge with certain other units (knights, monsters, primarchs, and so forth). This is also a no brainer for your dedicated melee knights that you will get to the front lines very quickly. But you have to get there first. Suggested Knight: Knight Questoris, Acheron, Lancer

Dolorus. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Gain WS and can sweep. A really solid upgrade for melee knights. Suggested Knight: Castigator

Implacable. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Gain a hull point. Attacks against you can't cause more than 1 hull point of damage. Even exoshock! Useful for when you want a survivable knight. Suggested Knight: Unclear. 

Preceptor. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Gain BS. Help out your armiger buddies by giving them improved Ld within a small radius. Can be very useful in the right circumstances. Apply it to a ranged knight and it will be good. Suggested Knight: Knight Questoris

Uhlan. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Gain a ridiculous movement boost, as well as character, outflank and scout. Well worth it for the shock of turn 1. Suggested Knight: Lancer, Atrapos

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Questoris Acastus Knight Asterius

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

3/5 stars. The rules are average.

Background.

The machine spirit is said to be all consuming fire and rage. It is therefore of no surprise that only the veteran pilots in a household will bond with this type of knight. Doubly so given that it is a very long range knight and lacks any glory in melee given its armaments. It remains exceedingly rare in any given household. 

Strengths.
I'm going to talk about the secondary armaments first here. The volkite culverins on the front are a reasonably good weapon for finishing troops off. But to do that, the knight probably wants to opt for the Karacnos mortar battery to fire first. This beast might only be AP4, but with S=6 and a range a special rules that most notably include fleshbane and radphage (let alone shell shock and pinning, plus it ignores cover), this has the potential to be a squad killer overall. 

The main weapons here are the two twin linked heavy conversion beam cannons. At maximum range, these weapons have an eye watering S=12 and AP=1 coupled with a large blast. Truthfully, this is an anti-titan (and anti-knight) weapon at long range. As such, you will want to be targeting enemies at the longest range possible. But the issue here is the minimum firing range to obtain S=12 is 42 inches. The strength decreases as you go below. Still above 18 inches, it is a S=9 cannon, but the AP of 4 is an issue. Up to 18 inches is a paltry S=7 which just doesn't justify the points cost. 

Weaknesses.

I will freely confess to being a fan of the conversion beamer. The main issue with it is that it is most suitable to big game boards. i.e., Apocalypse game boards. Therefore this knight is not really recommended outside of such games. More than this, the points cost of this knight is within shouting distance of a scout titan which might serve you better depending on the scenario.
 

Builds.
There are no builds to speak of here. The points cost is probably just about worth it, but only when you know you will be firing at long range for most of a game. 

To Whom Does the Blood Belong?

Finally finished painting most of the Lernaean Terminator squad for the Alpha Legion. This particular battle brother seems to have splatters of blood streaking down an otherwise freshly washed and ironed cloth hanging between his legs. The main question is whether this blood is his own, or that of his enemy. And if the latter, which enemy was it? So many questions!

Reasonably satisfied with the paint job here even if the photograph doesn't quite do it justice. The colours are nice and crisp, and the base has come out exactly how I wanted it to, including the tuft of grass that has been squashed by the steel plating falling on to the ground. I will have to photograph the whole squad together at some point!

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Questoris Knight Atrapos

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4.5/5 stars. Rounded down. The rules are great!

Background.

Exceedingly rare. The Atrapos is typically a gift for a blood debt, or a spoil of war. They are designed to be enemy knight killers and it is considered a major honour to pilot them, although such outings are only at the command of the head of the household him or herself.

Strengths.
The Atrapos is a knight killer - and monster slayer - mounted on a Cerastus body. Thanks to the macro extinction protocols rule, its weapons are counted as twin linked when firing at knights, titans, and super heavy analogues. 

The singularity cannon is an extreme form of graviton weaponry. Occasionally you will get a vortex result out of this, and sometime you will also hurt yourself. Regardless, the large blast with haywire makes sure that you are going to cause some mighty damage here. Meanwhile the phase cutter is armour bane for close combat at S=10 and AP1. Ouch.

Weaknesses.

No real weakness other than the requirement to get up close and personal with this knight. The flank speed here is your ally.
 

Builds.
There are no builds to speak of here. The points cost is worth it, and the potency of this knight should not be doubted when played to its strengths. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Questoris Knight Megaera

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4.5/5 stars. Rounded down. The rules are great!

Background.

Rare to unknown for many households, the Megaera is a marvel of a forgotten age. It is piloted by only the worthy, or those who have won the right in battle or duels. Bonding with this machine is as much an honour as it is deadly: the leaking radiation will eventually damage the pilot regardless of any matter of prestige. 

Strengths.
Although sharing the same weaknesses as the Styrix in the stat line (low I and A), the lightning cannon is worthy of a good examination. With S=7 and AP3, this is a marine killer. Although there's only 1 shot here, it is a large blast and comes with added rules like rengins and exoshock (let alone shred) which makes it viable across a large array of targets from lighter tanks to tankier infantry. This is backed up by the phased plasma fusil which also has the AP3 line.

The knight can take the standard reaper chain sword, but I feel the upgrade to the siege claw is well worth it here. 

Weaknesses.

I actually like this knight!
 

Builds.
Megaera, Lightning Cannon, Siege Claw (410 points).

Well worth the points here. Take out marines or transports from range (don't forget the irad cleanser if within range). Charge in with the claw and take care of more vehicles. 

Lernaean Progress

I've made quite a bit of progress on painting the Lernaeans over the weekend. This marine is just one example of many. 

To state up front: they're not finished yet.

Tasks left to do include, but are not limited to: fine highlights, gun lenses, base shading and highlights as well as finishing, decals, blood for the blood god technical paint accents, and doing something with those white clothes between the legs. 

But regardless of all of those tasks, I'm pleased with the progress made so far considering how many I've been processing in parallel as part of the painting process!