Horus Heresy 2e Review: Fulgrim

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4/5 stars. The rules are great.

Background.

Loyal to a fault - at least to begin with - and favoured by the Emperor himself to carry the Palatine Aquila. Fulgram was the saviour of his legion and held his troops in a rigid chain of command where his thoughts would filter down effectively as they strove to emulate his excellence in all things. Within that striving lay the trap that chaos would ultimately exploit. Driven onward to ever greater heights and impossible standards, they fell hard, and Fulgrim himself fell hardest as he was seduced by the Laer Blade. 

Strengths.

Looking at the stat line first, Fulgrim has an impressive WS=8 along with I=8 which makes him an exceptional duellist among his brothers. 

His warlord trait - sire of the Emperor's Children - is as strong as it is fluffy. Those of his sons that can see him use his Ld for pinning and morale checks, and every one of his sons has +1 wound resolution in combat. The bonus reaction in any chosen game phase is simply brilliant though (explicitly, he gets the first reaction in the game turn for free - so choose wisely). 

His armaments are strong. He has a choice between the Blade of the Laer (curiously stated in the book as being given to him by the Warmaster? Nope - wrong - please check the fluff my dear writers.), or the Fireblade - Ferrus Manus' gift to him. The choice here is between having duellist's edge and fleshbane, versus S+1 and murderous strike. Could go either way on that to be honest. His ranged side arm is a deflagrating S=6 pistol with two shots which isn't bad at all. Once per game, he also forces enemy units to pass a Ld check in order to use reactions against him - neat, but choose wisely again. 

His armour is strong and provides a 3++ against close combat attacks (4+ invulnerable outside of combat). The final rule is the Sublime Swordsman rule which gives him bonus attacks in challenges based on how much his initiative is greater than others. He will invariably gain a couple of bonuses here. Sudden strike (1) is not bad either. 

Weaknesses.

He is a great swordsman, but he needs to get into combat to reap the maximum rewards. Take a transport when possible. Equally, his movement is swift enough to chase things down if required. 

Overall.

Play as a melee character and get stuck in early and often. Take a retinue of phoenix terminators where required and it will be gold. Probably literally.

Difference to First Edition.

It has been 8 years since the last rules. He has lost the deep striking bonuses here, but his points cost remains very acceptable and is at the lower end of what you can expect to pay for Primarchs. Hence probably neutral, but arguable worse if you used to run deep strike Emperor's Children armies. Fundamentally, Fulgrim is a melee character and he remains so in second edition.