Horus Heresy 2e Review: Armillus Dynat

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4/5 stars - the rules are good!

Background.

Many legions have a named character other than the Primarch whose legend is writ large and are very capable commanders and fighters. For the Alpha Legion, Armillus Dynat represents such a character and his own legend might have been so much greater had he been in one of the more glorified legions. But within the Alpha Legion, he is a bit of a mystery with only the Ultras noting his character, and later others thanks to Paramar. 

Strengths.

Dynat has a number of positives to his name. With his warlord trait he can grant 3 units either infiltrate (making up for first edition mutable tactics - yay!), scout, or counter attack. These are nice choices to have and the bonus movement reaction is going to be very sound in addition to this. 

His stat line is very remarkably the same as a generic praetor. And in that it is unremarkable. What sets him apart is his equipment kit and his ability to split attacks between any of his weapons. He has a pair of power weapons - a rending power sword, and a thhunderstriking thunder hammer. Handily, if a hit is scored with the power sword, he also gets one further free attack with the hammer at I=1. Precision striking (4+) is also great here. This makes up for his baseline attacks being 4 and allows him to compete with other close combat monsters out there -- especially on the charge. Rounding this out are the venom sphere and the phosphex bomb which is easy to overlook. 

Weaknesses.

He's good, but not outrageous. He's a force enhancer, and great in combat against many other opponents. The way I read the rules, he can also purchase a power dagger for 5 points which might be nice if you need breaching or sudden striking. In fact, having just written that, I'm more convinced this is a good move, even if its yet another close combat weapon. I mean he gets a load of attacks on the charge, but can go at I=6 with the dagger and breach nicely, followed by several swings of the sword, and then a few hammers to finish things off. Best thing is the ability to choose how to split those attacks so Dynat and pick it according to the opponent. 

Overall.

A great character, good in a fight, and has an important warlord trait that can help the army now that mutable tactics is gone (sigh). 

Difference to First Edition.

Improved. Dynat was my "go to" praetor in first edition (when not using Skorr in low points cost games) and he will certainly remain so in second edition. His abilities in combat have improved, and he's retained the ability to get troops in where they need to be by infiltration (rather than deep strike, but its more units now). He's lost a wound, but I'm not bothered especially and traded it for another attack. The cognis signum loss is more of a hit, but I rarely used the sweeping bonus in my own deployment zone, so overall I see this as an improvement and a way to make up for the loss of mutable tactics from the legion. That, and his points cost has come down.