Horus Heresy 2e Review: Hibou Khan

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

3.5/5 stars. Rounded up. A traitor turned loyalist with nice rules.

Background.

A Terran born Khan, Hibou naturally gravitated to Horus thanks to involvement in the Vth legion warrior lodges. He resented the legion's growing influence from Chogoris and when the rebellion started, he threw in with Horus along with a number of other Khans (it is easy to forget just how divided the White Scars were when the Heresy began). He then sought contrition but his primarch cast him out to seek his own absolution with the Sagyar Mazan which would bring him into the orbit of the Shattered Legions. 

Strengths. 

The stat line is reasonable and is basically a centurion. The equipment is standard, except for the Breath of the Storm which is an excellent AP2 two handed blade. It comes with a range of special rules such as Breaching and Murderous Strike that would make him competitive in many situations. 

The warlord trait grants Rampage (2) which is very nice along with a reaction that doesn't go away upon his death (it just transfers from movement to assault). He can also join the Shattered Legions, but you won't want to do this. 

Weaknesses. 

The Karash rule will stop him joining other units, but as a leader of the Mazan, he's a potentially good choice. 

Is he worth the points cost though? I'm on the fence a bit. The Feel No Pain helps here, but outside of a dedicated Mazan force, you probably won't be taking him (sad face for the Shattered Legions here too). 

Overall.

Won't be seen outside of very fluffy and specialist builds which is a bit sad for me to say. Indeed, I've never seen him on the battlefield yet - would be interested to hear if you have?

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Tybalt Marr

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/5 stars. Tybalt Marr is relentless in hunting down the Shattered Legions, but his rules are quite good against others as well!

Background.

The Either. The Hunter of the Iron Heart. Tybalt Marr was charged by Horus himself to take down the Shattered Legions and the remains of the Massacre at Isstvan. He did this very relentlessly and almost saw off Meduson himself. But didn't quite. He came to despise the Iron Hands as well as respect them eventually, and proved that the Shattered Legions could not act with impunity. 

Strengths. 

Tybalt Marr is a praetor with some nice special rules and equipment. Let's briefly talk about his equipment first. The Culling Blade is an AP=2 fleshbane affair with murderous strike to boot. It is quite a character killer when in the right position and can equally devastate entire enemy squads. His stat line is on par for a praetor so there's no real complaints here.

He has a special rule (warlord trait) that once per battle he can undertake a shock assault and force every unit in a large range to take a pinning test. This is really amazing - and when done right can turn the tide of an entire battle. That said, you'd better have something to reduce the leadership of enemy squads handy if you can since most units can be expected to pass this outside of mortal forces. 

Weaknesses. 

Hatred of shattered legions is fluffy and appropriate. However. You will almost never play against shattered legions, so it is a waste realistically. Yet another reason that Shattered Legions being unplayable is a terrible thing in second edition. 

Overall.

Worth the points overall and the warlord trait is amazing when deployed at the right moment and your opponent has some unlucky die rolls! Very fluffy as well. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Horus Aximand

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/5 stars. Little Horus comes the the Heresy wracked with haunted guilt about the side he has chosen, and armed with Mourn-It-All which is fantastic. A very fluffy choice for the Sons of Horus! 

Background.

Little Horus looked exactly like his gene sire in appearance. He chose to follow the same into Heresy and became a traitor, but was never too sure about his choices. He became wracked with guilt about it, and sought to justify his choice to himself repeatedly, ultimately fighting on Beta-Garmon. He also has a knack for staying alive despite the most grievous wounds. 

Strengths. 

Purely from a points cost point of view, Little Horus is about right for what he brings. He is fundamentally a praetor with a stat line to match. He has a few special rules which are worthy of mention.

His warlord trait let's him return to the game with +1d3 wounds when he first "dies", but not against instant death and similar. 

Mourn-It-All is a very nice blade with a valuable AP2 along with bonus S, and a few special rules which make Little Horus great in close combat against even elite enemies. 

The Castigatus close combat shield on the surface looks good with a 5+ invulnerable save that reflects back attacks at S=4 if he successfully saves with it. But that's about it. It is more of a draw back if you ask me. 

The Haunted special rule is exceptionally circumstantial and represents bonus victory points if Loken is on the opposition. Two bonuses if Horus Aximand does the deed up close and personal. Honestly, it won't happen outside of a narrative game, or that once in a while 3 sigma event!

Weaknesses. 

The warlord trait obviously only effects himself, rather than being a force multiplier. 

The shield should probably just be dropped. He can do better realistically, and it hampers him having two close combat weapons.

Haunted won't happen most of the time unless its forced.

Overall.

Very fluffy! Little Horus is worth the points, and is particularly effective in close combat. You need to get him there. And you need to face off against Loken if you can! It won't happen, but hey, when it does its a dream narrative! 

World Eaters - Half Terminator Squad

One half of my World Eaters terminator squad today!

This is the "ranged" half of the squad with standard combi-bolt guns. The other armaments are either power mauls from the Dark Angels range, or chain fists from the terminator range. The gaming purpose is to give these terminators flexibility to take on dreadnoughts where required thanks to the fists, but to also pose a good strength on the attack thanks to the mauls as well. I really like the Dark Angels range for blending with World Eaters - somehow it just gels magically. 

Painting follows my now standard prescription for the World Eaters. The most fun part of this is the battle damage (sponged on black and grey), as well as dubious quantities of blood for the blood god applied in both a dappled manner, and in streaks and rivulets around key areas. Some of these are on the fists and gloves themselves for obvious reasons. Others are streaked across the miniatures or suggestive of enemies fighting back. Meanwhile the decals feature a mixture of the older iconography, standard crux terminator symbols, and regular legion heraldry as would befit such a force. I am actually aiming for loyalist World Eaters here, but it is hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys with this legion - there's just too much blood to tell them apart successfully! I suppose that's the point!

2025, and a 2024 retrospective

Happy New Year to all my readers - long term and those just joining me!

The past year was busy for a variety of reasons, not least with the slow and steady releases for the Horus Heresy. I aimed to complete an Emperor's Children allied detachment which I happily accomplish with a Sun Killer squad, jump pack assault squad, along with an apothecary and praetor / consul (depending on how I'm playing it). The image below shows the assault squad including the sergeant as an eleventh member. Initially I didn't really want the shields, but they looked so cool that I couldn't go past them. I'm very pleased with the way they all came out, even if they're not totally points cost efficient - but who cares. 

I also commenced a World Eaters allied detachment too. I have the terminator squad at an advanced stage now, but the jump pack assault squad is lagging behind largely thanks to my painting efforts going into a leviathan dreadnought as part of the much celebrated Dreadtober!

I still haven't decided whether to keep the World Eaters detachment when I'm finished with them or not just yet. I'm just going to see how it goes for the moment as I haven't had many games to play test them alongside a full primary detachment. I'm thinking of allying them with my Iron Warriors as they are a nice fit thematically. 

So what lies ahead in 2025?

I'm still yet to finish the reviews of the Battle for Beta-Garmon. This is getting closer to being done though and shouldn't take too much longer (aiming for the end of the season at least). I need to get my hands on the new Mechanicum book as well soon enough. And then there's the rest of the legacy units to plough through. So plenty more reviews yet to come. 

In terms of miniatures, collecting, and painting, I'm thinking of maybe expanding my Mechanicum mini-force slightly to make a full (if minimal) primary detachment. I am more considering some Black Shields though - I just need to determine which my favourite Oaths are. Its actually a really hard choice! I might also get a unit of Solar Auxilia las rifle men to be ruled over by an Overseer when the space marine model for that gets released. 

As for the new model of Fulgrim in daemon form, I think I might give it a pass for the moment. I am not a fan of the face - the Forge World resin one is simply better in my humble opinion, although I do like the rest of it. 

Wishing you all a happy 2025!

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Legiones Consularis: Overseer

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/5 stars. Very fluffy for your narrative in case you want to have a marine lead a group of mortals. 

Background.

Sometimes the legions decide to incorporate some mortals in their strategies. They might be a way to earn favour with mortal forces and bring honour to them. It might be the case that the mortals have gained a ceremonial honour. Perhaps they are bringing extra forces to simply bolster their own. In all cases, an Overseer from the space marine legions is put in charge of them on the battlefield. 

Strengths. 

The is a HQ choice and an upgrade for a consul. As such, they have all the usual selections for such HQs excepting for bikes and jet packs and similar. 

The can gain a power maul, or a power lash for some additional points. This is somewhat over priced, but is fluffy. The power lash in particular is an interesting option that doesn't occur else where and grants AP3 with shred and reach, albeit at S=3. Given that you are probably not going to get into combat so much as do a lot of shooting, this upgrade is probably not quite worthwhile in my opinion other than to illustrate the new models that Forge World / Warhammer is about to bring out (at the time of writing!). 

Their primary purpose is to be able to take a tercio of 1-3 Solar Auxilia Rifle Sections, or 1-3 Imperialis Militia infantry squads. The Overseer joins these and grants them their Ld characteristic and the tercio gets the aligned special rule for the space marine legion in question. The marine also gains the aligned special rule too which is interesting. They further cannot be allocated wounds unless there's no one else left. 

Weaknesses. 

Precision shots are going to be an issue here I feel. Regardless, this is a great way to have a small retinue of mortals join a space marine force if you don't feel you want to invest in a full allied detachment. 

Builds.

There are lots of viable builds for consuls here, but I would recommend overall to focus on shooting since you probably won't be aiming or wanting to get into combat. As such figure out if you are a moving force, or a static one, and choose a ranged weapon accordingly for your overseer. Also select your power weapon if your Overseer model displays it!