Horus Heresy 2e Review: Iron Warriors Armoury

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4/5 stars. (The rules are strong).  

Iron Warriors Armoury.

There are only 3 entries in the armoury, but all are very viable and strong.

Warsmith. 

The Warsmith is a praetor upgrade for the Iron Warriors. I will review this unit seperately later on, but for now I will note that the kit that comes with the Warsmith includes the expected fare of a servo arm (yay!) cortex controller, in addition to being a master of the automata and battlesmith. This is a great upgrade and for some of the rites of war is needed.

Graviton Crushers.

These are terrific - full stop. Characters can exchange their power weapons and thunder hammers for maces and crushers which add haywire to the outcome at the price of slightly lower strength. Personally I would use this with power weapons as standard, but might debate about whether to switch out the thunder hammers. For the dreadnoughts, the graviton mail will cost extra, but the S negative implication is offset by brutal (2). 

Olympian Shrapnel Weapons.

There is now a large range of shrapnel weapons available to the Iron Warrriors. For a small points cost and a decrease in range, shrapnel weapons give the Iron Warrior access to pinning. I think its worth noting here that Pinning has a much bigger role to play in second edition compared to previously and this can be very powerful when played correctly. Therefore I would suggest a mixture of some units retaining the range of bolt guns, and others considering the "upgrade" to shrapnel weapons instead.

Difference to First Edition.

Improved. The addition of haywire graviton weapons and the extension of shrapnel rounds is great to see. The Iron Warriors are a force to be reckoned with in second edition overall and I regard the armoury as being rather strong. For me, the Iron Warriors almost set the benchmark for a shooting army and will readily tear down vehicles and fortifications alike, while retaining the tools to deal with infantry through pinning effects. They're a very scary legion to face off against all things considered.