Horus Heresy Review: Marduk Sedras

Background.
One of the oldest warrior in the service of the Dark Angels, Sedras has fought alongside the Emperor himself, primarchs, and many others of renown. He has seen it all. Been there - done that. There's almost no battlefield type he's not served on and mastered. 

Strengths.

Sedras has many strengths. In terms of equipment, he is a terminator with a S+5 sword at AP2 which makes him deadly in close combat. He further reduces the invulnerable saving throw of enemies down by one notch thanks to the sword which could make him the breaker of enemy terminator hammer units. 

To my mind what really sets him aside from others is the Ancient of War rule which gives preferred enemy against a given faction to Sedras and any over half-strength unit within 6 inches of him at the start of the game. This is great and will resonate with many of the plasma weapons that the Dark Angels can bring to the battlefield. 

Finally, he gets to take a cenobite squad instead of a deathwing squad which won't count against the squad limit. This is very nice and comes recommended to take full advantage of his preferred enemy bubble.

Weaknesses.

Sedras is fundamentally a close combat Master of the Legion. The controlling player, as usual, will need to figure out how to get him in to combat quickly. Take a vehicle and start him on the board, as the negatives of not having him on the board (Ancient of War) is too severe to not have him there.

Given that he will start the board castled up with other units, we must also take care that the enemy isn't going to use vindicator splat templates on the army, or call down a barrage from orbit. This is a serious consideration for the Ancient of War rule when setting up.

Overall.

I like Sedras overall. He is worth the points, and can be heavily exploited for the preferred enemy rule that can really turn the tide of a battle in favour of the Dark Angels. He's also a loyalist, and can never be take by traitor forces which is a nice addition and flavourful. I can readily see many players taking him -- possibly even favouring him over the likes of Corswain for his army boosting abilities.