Iron Hands Breacher Squad Painting

A painting update for today: the entire Iron Hands breacher squad is complete. 

The overall goal here was to represent one of the clans, but also allow some individuality leak into the squad through slightly different placement of decals and mild battle damage. There are several lines of damage across the shields which represent charring of the paints and metal. These will hopefully blend in nicely with the Saturnine dreadnought damage that I painted in Dreadtober. A bit of scattered blood here and there finishes the squad nicely. 

Look closer and some of the squad also sport the Eye of Horus. Are they loyalists who wear it as shame? Or perhaps traitors declaring their allegiance? I always thought that the Iron Hands probably should have been traitors - they certainly are very grim and dark even by 30k standards and were pretty close to Horus - as well as their cousins in the Emperor's Children. But they stayed loyal in the main part of course. 

This squad is armed with a pair of las cutters. I was originally going to go down the graviton path since it suits this legion very well indeed, but figured something a bit more up close and personal would suit them. And the white accents on the shields is something that I was also nervous about, but I think this has paid off nicely. Hope you like them!

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Vorax Attack Maniple

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3.5/5 stars, rounded down. The rules are fine. 

Background. 

Got too much famine going on in the Forge World? Send in the Vorax for a little bit of population culling - that'll cure it. Grim and Dark. Got mutant vermin issues? Same. Got rogue machine problems? Vorax will search and destroy for you. Got a war going down? Well, same thing once again really. 

Strengths.

Starting with the stat line, we have S=5 and T=5 coupled with 4 wounds and a 3+/6++ saving throw which means these predators are going to be tough to dislodge.

Helping them get into position is a more than reasonable movement rate of 10. They're also Fast, have firing protocols, firestorm, and phased reactor shields. 

In the ranged weapon department, they have a twin rotor cannon which is great for the suppressive rule at 24 inch range and S=5. The singular lightning gun is slightly shorter range, but comes with shred and suppressive. These should cause some damage for the points cost. The upgrade to the irad-cleanser should certainly be considered for a model or two - especially for a unit closing for close combat. These provide a very handy phage on toughness, in addition to the usual poisoned and panic. 

Meanwhile the pair of power blades providfes AP=3 with breaching and shred at native strength which is plentiful for melee duties against many foes. 

Weaknesses. 

The WS and BS have had a touch of a nerf since last edition and are down to 3 in Third Edition. 

Don't forget they are also automata. 

Builds.

3 Vorax, 1 Irad Cleanser (155 points).

Considering that they want to be in combat, I like the irad cleanser. The poinst cost is also cheaper than third edition, at the cost of WS and BS as noted above. Very viable still, however. 

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Triaros Armoured Conveyor

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars. The rules are more than sufficient. 

Background. 

This is the dedicated transport for the Taghmata Omnissiah Mechanicum. As might be expected for a Mechanicum transport, it is not a simple thing. Based on ancient technologies never shared with the other half of the Imperium, this transport has a killer front end that is literally capable of smashing things to oblivion, as well as having a large capacity. . 

Strengths.

The front of the vehicle is well armoured with AV=14 and 12 otherwise. The 7 hull points is good and the flare shield will help here too. 

On the centreline are two mounted Volkite Calivers which are notable for the long range. The bolt cannon mauler is also good. 

It has a solid evens-chance of auto repair and can also use itself as a shock ram to yield a +3 increase in damage. 

What is notable here though is the sheer carrying capacity. A whopping 22. Very impressive!

Weaknesses. 

This is not a rhino. It costs not like a rhino too. 

Builds.

There are no particular builds to discuss here apart from the Hunter Killer missile upgrade. I regard this upgrade as being to taste if your army needs them. 

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Armiger Moirax

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4.5/5 stars. Rounded Down. The rules are excellent. 

Background. 

An unseemly tool that wasn't seen much until the Heresy. This is scout class knight able to mount otherwise restricted weaponry. Their pilots were accordingly lesser and expendable in the grand scheme of things - tainted slowly by the otherwise radioactive poison of these machines. 

Strengths.

A modified stat line from regular armigers here with a bonus pip to the invulnerable save, better leadership (or 12) and lower initiative, but 1 more attack. They are powered by a Rad Furnace. This means they cause T-1 for opponents in close combat thanks to radiation leakage. Nasty. 

There is also some great customization available here. The Gyges claw singular or paired is nasty for S+5 (or 6) armour breaker and breaching. These are excellent and come recommended. They have a built in irad cleanser as well which is a nice template weapon overall.

I wouldn't recommend the Volkite Veuglaire particularly. Despite the high S, volkite needs big numbers to make the most of it. The lightning lock is a much better prospect with a blast, breaching, shred and suppressive on top of AP=3 and 2 damage coupled with the exact same strength as the volkite. Take the lightning lock. The graviton pulsar is similarly not fully recommended. The final option of the conversion beamer is certainly interesting. Hang back and cause devastation is the way to operate these and they can be good if you pull it off. 

If in doubt though, take the lightning lock. 

Weaknesses. 

They're not a full knight. They lack armour values, and come with the standard advanced characteristics which are excellent in leadership and cool, but very much lacking in intelligence and willpower. 

Builds.

Armiger Moirax, Gyges Siege Claw and Lightning Lock (170 points).

The standard build!

Armiger Moirax, Paired Gyges Siege Claws (175 points).

Close combat only, but viable thanks to the rad furnace inside.

Armiger Moirax, 2 Moirax Conversion Beamers (215 points). 

Very much a longer ranged option. Sit back and fire. 

18 Years Blogging

I don't do these posts very often as I tend to be very forward looking rather than backward. But I'll make an exception today. Warpstone Flux has been in existence for slightly over 18 years now!

Originally I started the blog as a record of what I'd been up to in the hobby space, some painting, games reports, collections, and a whole host of other things. It has gone through expansions into Dungeons and Dragons, roleplay games more broadly (including Sequestered Industries as a spin off - check out drivethrurpg), a period where I didn't post much at all, where my mate "Eldrad" took over for a bit, being part of the From The Warp blogger collective in the very early days, infamous Army List Challenges, and lots more besides. 

It is now quite the reference manual for the Horus Heresy game and those reviews have pushed the blog ever onward to greater heights. Perhaps this is no surprise. As a veteran, my love of 40k still remains, but for me the Heresy game is simply superior now, even though there are quirks to 3rd edition that I think are a degrade compared to 2nd or 1st edition - there remains a lot to be having fun with in third. 

The image on this page is one of the first that I ever posted: a blue-in-pink horror of Tzeentch. I still own the model of this in the collection. In my opinion the Juan Diaz sculpts of this period are some of the best that have existed for chaos. This is not to say that the current range is bad - it is not. But the older miniatures really communicate something that the newer range don't: something a bit more primal. Would love to see these kinds of sculpts make a comeback in plastic to be honest! 

And over the years I've sold quite a bit of my collection too. My old Death Guard amies for instance have long since departed. I have no regrets as they've made way for newer Heresy armies. I also knew that I wasn't going to continue with 40k Death Guard in the long term as the newer sculpts were just too jovial and exaggerated compared to the older grim dark nature of chaos that I loved the aesthetic of decades ago. 

Paints have also changed. Goodbye to Goblin Green and Hello to contrast paints and everything inbetween. Now we also the newer tone pro paints too. I'm yet to road test them in a serious way; I'll have to get back to you! 

More of the same is down the line as well. I have not finished reviewing Third Edition Horus Heresy by any means for instance. There's lots more painting yet to do to establish a couple of armies and detachments that I want to complete. I might sell some too - undecided. Its half tempting to reintroduce some roleplaying game elements back as well, but I'm sticking to Heresy for just the time being so as not to dilute the strong audience. 

Speaking of which, I would likely have given up on Warpstone Flux a long while ago if it were not for the regular readers, commenters, and generous support that it has received over many years. I very much appreciate you being here, and reading to the end of this, what must be quite the tiresome read! Back to normal imminently!!

Dreadtober 2026: Iron Hands Saturnine Dreadnought Complete

Its over the line! The Iron Hands Saturnine Dreadnought is now complete. 

The key two parts of the final detailing are the battle damage and the plasma. 

For the battle damage, there is a strong scoring effect on the left hand side (as looked at) along the shoulder. The idea here is to provide depth to the wound through painting alone. Rest assured that I didn't do anything to the plastic itself. I think this pays off very well.

For the plasma, I wanted to have a sheen of reflection along the main hull of the dreadnought. I lined this up visually and applied progressively lighter blues and whites to get the effect in a modestly haphazard manner. For the weapon itself, this provided a bit of a challenge. I eventually went with the lighter blue, painted the recesses with thinned white so it would flow and then applied darker blue in select central areas to suggest mild cooling away from the core heat. I also think this has worked when viewed from most angles. 

Less was also more for the base. I only added a couple of very minor green shrubs to finish the base off and stuck to the otherwise cracked earth established a few weeks ago. 

Very pleased overall and I hope readers like the outcome as much as I do!

Happy Dreadtober to everyone celebrating!!