`Thought begets heresy.
Heresy begets retribution.'
Having now completed reviewing Books 1 though 5 of the Horus Heresy series, the time is almost upon Warpstone Flux to begin reviewing Book 6: Retribution in some detail. As I have done for the previous 5 tomes, each and every new unit will get its own review eventually. Please be patient, I don't have infinite time available to me for this blog or my hobby, but I will certainly get around to each and every new unit eventually, alongside the new rules for each of the new legions presents, new rites of war and everything else that goes alongside it.
In my reviews of the Horus Heresy to date, I've not delved much in to the different missions available in each tome, but I might change that in the future as we're locally enjoying playing a few of the custom missions. I guess there's other things that I might throw in to the mix, but I do want to concentrate on the units available and how they shape up to others. All told, I'm still very excited about the Horus Heresy series as it is such a well-balanced, well thought out game system (or codex, arguably).
How does Book 6 stack up against the others for me though? Well, with Betrayal (Book 1) I was uber-excited. Having never seen anything like Betrayal come out of Games Workshop before, it was an absolute revelation. And for me, it certainly ranked up there with the old Realms of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness in terms of its sheer scope an audacity. Plus, Betrayal was nicely self-contained. It focussed on the initial betrayal of the loyalist elements of the Sons of Horus, Death Guard, Emperor's Children and World Eaters. Sure, one could play it with other elements, but in and of itself, it is an awesome tome. Massacre (Book 2) continued in the same tone, but shifted focus to what followed. For me, the only let down was not having the full rules for all of the legions that participated in the Isstvan V campaign. That came later in Extermination (Book 3) alongside some really neat rules for small points value games that I really liked. Conquest (Book 4) was a bit of a lower point for me personally -- I know folks will disagree with me. It felt more "filler" than "killer". Costing more in sheer pounds or dollars than the other tomes, Conquest has been the low point of the series for me. That's not to say its rubbish -- its just to say that I found to previous 3 volumes superior -- they're all really good and high quality after all. Don't get me wrong, I like the conquest system for game playing, the Questoris Knights, and the other armies, its just I felt the previous 3 were offering me (personally) more. Tempest (Book 5) was okay as well. For me, some of it felt like filler (particularly repeating the Word Bearers entries) although I can see it is necessary for folks who just want to play out Calth. Which is fair for repetition at some level. However, I'm actually not a big fan of the Calth campaign personally but I can understand its importance in the grand scheme of things.
For me, Retribution (Book 6) is a true return to form. Lots of new ideas (Black Shields, other factions, etc.) all vying for my attention. Plus new rules for 3 new legions never seen before in the series. Its everything that I want and like about the Horus Heresy series. I'm also very much looking forward to Book 7 (with promises of Thousand Sons, Space Wolves, sisters of silence and the rest).
Hence in the coming months, expect to see more reviews of the Horus Heresy series coming fresh out of the Retribution book from me!
Hope you're still enjoying the Horus Heresy series by the way -- I certainly am! And in the coming months I'm aiming to complete my Warlord Titan (its almost there now to be honest), play more games against the local group with my Alpha Legion (battle reports to follow I hope), think about more army list builds for Horus Heresy armies in general, and get on with building and painting some Questoris Knights of my own for fielding alongside my Alpha Legion forces. All this whilst writing my blog in my spare time and holding down everything else. Hence, don't expect everything at once. Its the journey that's important folks. -K.
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