Horus Heresy 2e Review: Iron Hands Legion Traits and Rites

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/5 stars. (The rules are strong). 

Warlord Traits.

From Hel's Heart (Loyalist Only).

The first entry for Iron Hands warlord traits represents the general grief and failure felt within the legion after the dropsite massacre.

The warlord and his unit get Fear(1) alongside the ability to inflict 1d6 hits against the unit that wiped them when and if that happens in a frenzy of death dealing. This is a reasonably strong trait and perhaps should almost be default for many games where the player is a loyalist. 

The Eye of Vigilance (Traitor Only).

The second one is a similarly interesting option and is one for the traitors of whom there will be a surprising number to those unfamiliar with the background. Indeed, of all the legions who turned traitor, it is often surprising that the Iron Hands did not follow the Warmaster down that route -- although clearly many of them did.

With this trait, the player gets a bonus reaction (very strong!) along with preferred enemy against loyalists. For the traitor Iron Hands player, I think this should be the go-to trait.

Silver-Iron Will.

With no allegiance restriction, this is the trait that many will see on the gaming table. The Warlord and his unit basically never take negative modifiers. They laugh at rad phage as much as fear. Counter balancing this is the fact they cannot make reactions in the movement phase, but gain an additional reaction for one of the other phases. The Iron Hands player should see this as a boon.

Rites of War.

Company of Bitter Iron (Loyalist Only).

Take Medusan Immortals as troops, and they gain Line and Heart of the Legion. All models hate traitors, and can be upgraded with Bitter Iron for free as well. Can't take Ferrus though - he's gone.

The Head of the Gorgon.

Take stubborn when in your deployment zone, and gain access to graviton weapons! Nice. Also the option to take units from the Mechanicum (also nice) with cortex controllers. What shines here is the outflank rule gain which makes this amazing. The negatives are just a shrug by the Iron Hands veteran player. You will see this rite of war very frequently with the Iron Hands all things considered.

Difference to First Edition:

Neutral. (On balance, the rules are about the same).