Horus Heresy 2e Review: Legion Moritat

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/5 stars. I like this unit more than I should which is why it gets 4 stars. Not even sorry. The rule of cool applies. And they're good. 

Background.

Moritats are lone killers within the legions. Some are regarded as outcasts without honour. Others are welcomed for their death dealing but casually shunned. All have some amazing skills with short ranged weapons which reminds me of so-called "gun kata" (look up the movies with this in if you've not seen them - you're welcome). 

Strengths.

Although there are some minor rules like scout and counter attack here, the key rule that defines the Moritat is the Chain Fire special rule.

Using this, they can fire a single weapon up to 6 times in a shooting phase. For something that has pistol (2) and is used in pairs, that makes a whopping 24 shooting attacks in total which more than makes up for the point cost associated with this HQ choice. 

There are limitations here regarding gets hot (if using twin plasma pistols) which cause the chain fire to terminate abruptly. Similarly this also applies to melta attacks and armour bane if you have access to this. Finally, the rad grenades are a really nice touch here - don't forget to use them.

Weaknesses.

They cannot be a compulsory HQ -- this is absolutely fine though. 

Difference to First Edition.

Arguably weaker. The first edition saw an endless chain with some good rolling, but here it is capped. I don't think anyone on any side of the conflict will mind the maximum of 6 shots though given that even a Moritat will miss 1 in 6 times based on BS which in first edition would have stopped the attacks. 

Builds.

The options for the Moritat concern which pistols to use, and whether to operate in pairs or mixtures of pistols. I would recommend for the sake of sanity and the chain fire rule to use matched pairs. 

Moritat, Twin Plasma Pistols, Jump Pack (145 points).

The two plasma pistols will rain death at high AP against a selected squad assuming they don't get hot quickly. Rolling one dice at a time here slows things down, but that's the only draw back. The jump pack is almost mandatory to get them into position.

Same, but twin bolt pistols (125 points).

Fine, unremarkable, but workable.

Same, but twin volkite serpenta (129 points).

Worth the upgrade over the bolt pistols. 

Same, but twin disintegrator pistols (165 points).

Eek! No model for this yet, but can be converted.