Horus Heresy 2e Review: Iron Circle Maniple

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
3.5/5 stars - I rounded down. The rules are rather good. 

Background.

The Iron Warriors Primarch, Perturabo, found freedom to pursue his intellectual endeavors once loosed of his Imperial fetters. One of the most obvious outcomes of this was the refinement of his personal battle-automata -- the Iron Circle. They acted as his body guard at first, but became more common throughout the legion as the Heresy dragged on.

Strengths. 

As automata, their stat line is fairly solid to say the least. Their battle shields are very good (they will prevent instant death) and when in base to base contact with more of the same, the Moving Bulwark rule becomes stronger and improves their invulnerable saves. 

As Perturabo's personal retinue, they can also gain a feel no pain roll which will come in handy considering that their armour save is 3+. Their movement is also sufficient to keep up with their boss too.

Weaknesses.

With BS=3, I guess Perturabo couldn't give them as good a targeting array as his sons own natural senses had. 

Their saves of 3+/5++ is reasonable, but play to the strengths of the moving bulwarks in order to take maximum advantage of this. 

The rules presented for the Cybernetica are somewhat new, and worth reading through twice before you play. The fact that they have to move toward, shoot at, and charge the nearest enemy can be a problem. Doubly so if you face a fast opponent such as the White Scars. 

I would personally play them in 2 roles as a consequence of all of this. Firstly as the intended shield for a HQ choice (including Perturabo himself which is also very fluffy). Secondly as a distraction carnifex. 

Builds.

There are no choices to make here, hence I do not provide any builds. I will state that I think having 3 members of the maniple is a good idea though to maximize its potential. 

Difference to First Edition.

Slightly improved. There are more wounds here, and I like the fact that they have a graviton maul as standard which in turn gives haywire and brutal (2) which is excellent and frightening for almost all enemies possible.