Most Popular Posts of 2023

Its the end of year wrap up! I've done some good progress this year with the Iron Warriors and Alpha Legion for 30k in terms of hobby and painting, alongside some blossoming Mechanicum (Dark or otherwise). Regardless, here's the top 10 posts of the year, and its no surprise that my 30k reviews of the second edition of Horus Heresy are exceedingly dominant. Before we begin, I will give an honorable mention to the White Scars Rules - the only legion to be pushing into the top ten at number eleven. 

10. Legion Terminator Tartaros Squad. Everyone likes terminators apparently!

9. Legion Tactical Squad. The humble tactical squad is essential for many legion builds and its no suprise to see it within the top ten. 

8. Legion Command Squad. And alongside the tactical squad, the command squad's presence in the top ten is easy to understand.

7. Legion Seeker Squad. A nice fast attack choice in the top ten. 

6. Legion Despoiler Squad. Slightly surprised perhaps, but I understand how popular they are. 

5. Legion Veteran Squad. Versatile and regularly looked up by people looking for builds I feel. 

4. Legion Tactical Support Squad. Perhaps a surprise, perhaps not? They're one of my favourite units, certainly. 

3. Successor Chapters of Traitor Legions. A post that I created about which 40k chapters might have traitor geneseed takes number 3 slot. Take with a large grain of salt where applicable!

2. Spoiler-free reading order for Horus Heresy books. A link to the Black Librarium folks who produced the spoiler free reading order for the Heresy books takes number two. 

1. Horus Heresy 2e Reviews Summary. In a surprise to no one - not least myself - the summary page takes the number one slot. I will also be the first to admit that I need to update it! Sorry!

And that's all folks! Happy New Year for tomorrow. I will be taking a short break and back with you in the middle of January! 

Alpha Legion Lernaeans

The final painting post of 2023: Alpha Legion Lernaeans!

Enjoyed painting these up immensely! I have more Lernaeans in the collection that these will join and probably enough for 2 or 3 deadly squads worth. Love the sculpts, and they were a pleasure to paint. 

Lernaean Terminators: Conversion Beamer and Harrower

And just before Christmas, here are two more Lernaean Alpha Legion terminators painted up.

The man on the left is toting a conversion beamer with a power axe. He might or might not get too much use depending on whether I'm thinking of a back line squad, or something much more aggressive.

The man on the right is intended to be the sergeant / harrower of the unit. There's a power dagger hooked on the right of his tabard which in game will generate a handy extra attack -- even with the chain fist that he is wearing. Indeed, the power dagger upgrade is almost always going to be worth taking for a character model in the Alpha Legion. 

And Then There Were Two

Double trouble. A pair of Warglaives have now been assembled!

The machines have opposite arms or handedness, which is something that I like about this build. The poseability is fantastic, and the only real question that I have left is what should I do with the bases. I've not made my mind up with that yet, but very excited to see these pair finally built. Hopefully they will go nicely with what is on order... 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Lord-Castellan Evander Garrius

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/5 stars. Although some of the rules are downright odd, Garrius is fundamentally a character to be reckoned with.

Background.

Unification veteran. Unliked by Dorn due to his brutality. Seconded to garrison duty. And then given the opportunity to prove himself (with relish) at the Siege of Cthonia. Which he sets about doing as effectively as any Imperial Fist Lord might!

Strengths.

Garrius has a praetor like stat line but with T=5. More than this though, what stands out is his equipment. The power fist is basically an AP1 S=8 with brutal 2 and reaping blow. This alone is impressive. It gets better with his volkite weapon which gives assault 5, deflagrate along with rad phage! The rad in particular is going to be amazing here. Meanwhile his armour gives him feel no pain in combat and still lets him sweep despite its bulk. He also has several nice special rules including admantium will at 3+ and relentless. 

Weaknesses.
The Unfavoured Son special rule is downright odd. He cannot be part of a detachment containing Dorn. This won't come about unless an allied player is playing Dorn! But if this happens, then he can potentially gain Fearless and IWND - but the likelihood of this ever triggering is zero (but let me know in the comments if you've had it happen?). 

The Butcher of Larissan warlord trait is not necessarily a weakness, but also comes under the category of odd here. When trailing in victory points, he gains rage. This is, of course, nice. There's also some shenanigans where he can cause victory points earned by the enemy to reduce to zero under certain circumstances and die rolls. This cannot be depended upon though. At least the assault reaction bonus is nice. Taken together, the warlord trait can be beneficial to claw your way back to victory in a game, but its just not reliable.

Naturally, he is also a pure loyalist.  

Overall.

A strong character, yet one that is also optimised for the book in which he appears. He is useful, no doubt about it, but the odd rules don't sit well for me. He's probably still worth the points when played aggressively. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Imperial Fists Additional Rules (Siege of Cthonia)

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

2.5/5 stars, rounded up to 3/5 stars thanks to the new Ferromag shotgun. Leave the new warlord traits at home. 

Ferromag Shotgun.

A free upgrade for a regular shot gun. The reason to take this is the Breaching 6+ shot that you will get from it which gives you a chance at hurting terminators. Obviously this also works in conjunction with the +1 that the Fists already have to hit. Worth taking most of the time.

Warlord Trait: Unforgiven.

A loyalist only trait for those commanders who had somehow offended the Primarch and wanted to return to his good graces. It grants an immunity - of sorts - to instant death and replaces this with d3 wounds. To be candid, this is not as fantastic as it might appear since you will basically be taking a lot of those wounds regardless in a straight up fight with something a touch more challenging. In combat, you also gain fearless, but have to charge where possible. The rub here is there's no bonus reaction. Not really worth it outside of fluffy situations.

Warlord Trait: Bound by Glory.

Choose a legion and gain fearless in combat against that legion. But you cannot sweeping advance them. So maybe take cataphractii armour to seal this. The additional assault reaction is okay. Its not really that good overall.  

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Siege of Cthonia - Overall Impressions

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/5 stars. There's some really good lore / background here and new rules. But unless you're playing Sons of Horus or Imperial Fists you may well be thinking about skipping this as a purchase?

In our very detailed reviews of the second edition of Horus Heresy, we now turn to one of the subsequent books published: The Siege of Cthonia. 

If players recall the original heady days of First Edition black books, then they may well appreciate what they are letting themselves in for. There is a whole lot of narrative contained inside this book about the siege. It goes into some gruesome detail as it rapidly descends into sheer terror and brings in legions beyond the Sons of Horus and Imperial Fists. 

The narrative alone is really well executed and a highlight of the book. However, I fully recognize that other players and fans might not want this, and desire simply more rules instead. They are here, but not in so much wild abandon as you might like. 

The new lore itself gets a solid 4/5 stars from myself, but some of the rest of the book leaves things to be desired. The missions within are strictly better than the core rulebook, but still a bit "shrug" - 3/5 stars here. Zone Mortalis rules are solid at 4/5 stars from me and much improved over (say) White Dwarf rules for the same. 

There are new units and rules for both the Sons of Horus and Imperial Fists. Although these are to be very much welcomed, let's state the obvious. There's not many rules for other legions in here beyond the Inductii. This is such a massive shame and let down. Doubly so given the narrative of the sprawling war that is contained within the background. So, 4/5 stars for the new rules themselves, but only 2/5 stars for their diversity. 

We will dig into these rules in future posts!

Painted Volkite Culverin Lernaean Terminator

It seems like a long time ago since I posted the conversion I did for an Alpha Legion Lernaean terminator toting a volkite culverin! Regardless, here is the painted up outcome ready for the table top.

The model follows my newer approach to the metallic blue for the Alpha Legion (which is to say using contrast paints). This has come out well but is a touch darker than some of my earlier terminators. I can live with that since the Alpha Legion is notorious for slightly different armourial colours and iconography. 

The silver edgings are reasonable, but I think they could do with a touch more edge highlighting as this is lost in the distance. The Alpha Legion icon on the knee is something that I might come back to to pick out in gold as well. Other than these minor issues, I think that this one is safely done and dusted. I'm very pleased with the base in particular which blends in with the ruined Imperial Sector terrain that I own in terms of colour scheme. 

Warglaive

Back to some hobby this afternoon, and this time featured the assembly of an Armiger Warglaive. I've only put together one of these, there's obviously a second one to do since they come in boxes of two.

What impressed me about the miniature is the poseability. I was a touch confused at Step 5 where the arms attach to the side and then turn around, but it took just a gentle press to get the glueless pose working. All the arms are nicely actuated and can pivot as required. There's clearly been a lot of thought put into this miniature and how it can be assembled.

I've made this one hold the chain sword in the left hand as - to me - this seems more natural if the rider was right handed. The main weapon is on the right. I suppose ultimately with the mind merging that goes on, a bit of ambidexterity doesn't matter. I am not sure whether to assemble the second Warglaive in a similar left / right hand configuration or not, but I do prefer this way around! Overall pretty easy and straight forward to assemble with no real issues other than the choice of a melta gun on the top. A great model and well designed!

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Thaumaturgy

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

3/5 stars. Quite mixed here. 

Thaumaturgy.

I've often thought of this word as a synonym for spell casting. In the Heresy, the synonym is more like "Use the Warp for Good"? 

Thaumaturgic Succour.

Choose a nearby unit and have them make a psychic test. They regain a wound on a 5+. Nice, fluffy ability to regenerate a friendly unit (multi wound terminators?), but not that great. 

Thaumaturge's Cleansing.

A great template psychic weapon with AP3 at S=4. It also gets the santic rule to hurt daemons on 2+ and force them to re-roll invulnerables. I like this power overall and it is in stark contrast to the otherwise minor power above.

Overall then, a good close range flamer, and a situational and non-guaranteed wound regenerator. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Telepathy

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️

2/5 stars. I was hoping for more. 

Telepathy.

Hand-in-hand with telekinesis, telepathy is a staple of many science fiction settings. Warhammer has had many variants of this over many years, and the Heresy era sees a re-imagining of some powers.

Telepathic Fugue.

This power confuses your enemy within a bolter range and prevents them from using a reaction. This is a very reasonable power, but also very situational and requires some forethought. 

Telepathic Hallucinations.

The ranged weapon for telepaths has a great range (36 inches no less!) and assault 6. If successful, then the target must take a pinning test with a +1 Ld penalty for every his suffered. This is a great way to cause pinning! But not much use for anything else. 

In short then, telepathy is a neat power, but there are stronger and more offensive powers available in the game.

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Telekinesis

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
2.5/5 stars, rounded up. The rules are fine, but I'd like something a bit better for telekinesis, not going to lie. 

Telekinesis.

What science fiction setting would be complete without a mild touch of moving objects with your mind? Many in fact, but Warhammer is not one of them thank you very much!

Telekine Dome.

Place a dome to provide a 6+ invulnerable save over a reasonably large area. You cannot move or do much of anything else, but if you pass your psychic check, then the invulnerable save gets an incredible boost to 4+. This is highly situational and defensive, but it certainly has its uses against incoming fire that is not already within the dome. In all honesty, I think a more offensive stance should be preferred most of the time.

Telekine's Focus.

A ranged blast weapon with S=8 and sunder. The AP won't kill marines, but it does provide a reasonable shot for the librarian to use. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Pyromancy

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

Divination.
Fire! And more FIRE! Plus a touch of rage perhaps. A very clear discipline that has long since been in the canon of this setting and most others besides. There is a particular way of running this discipline that will require movement and positioning, but it is a good one fundamentally. 

Pyromantic Combustion.
Use a large blast template, scatter it, and inflict a S=6 hit at AP4. Beautiful. Pass a psychic test and you get three pie plates. This is a highly damaging power and one to be used as quickly as possible in the early shooting phases. Yes, the pie plates scatter, but we can't have everything. 

Pyromantic Desolation.

The fire only cares that it consumes. This melee weapon comes with S=6 and AP=3 which is a great combination. The critical drawback here is that it also generates a regular pie plate centred on the user. Hence this is a power that you want to use when you're all on your own, and striking at high initiative. There's a certain art to this. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Divination

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

Divination.
Scry the future and determine the best course of action with divination powers! 

Divinatory Aegis.
In place of a shooting attack, add some prevision shots to a nearby friendly unit. Add a psychic check to boost it to 5+. This can be really handy in a game where you are keen to take out specific targets. As such, I rather like it on some support squads with special weapons, or in a command / veteran squad with mixed weapons. 

Diviner's Dart.

This is a ranged psychic weapon. With AP2 at S=6, this is a rather juicy weapon which only gets better with sniper and guided fire - literally shoot around the corner to snipe your target! I rather like this more than I should.  

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Biomancy

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
3.5/5 stars. Rounded up. The rules are good. 

Biomancy.
In general biomancy is the art of enhancing one's own - and others - body and physique. There are two powers within this discipline.

Biomantic Augmentation.
By sacrificing a shooting attach, the psyker can add +1 to Strength for a unit in a small radius - including himself/herself for the remainder of the player turn. 

In general this is a reasonable buff, but questionably at the price of not shooting. Hence this is going to only be used just prior to a charge of a large unit I would anticipate. 

Biomancer's Rage.

This is a psychic weapon. When successfully activated, the psyker gains a S=10 attack in close combat with 4+ rending. This is just amazing for what you could otherwise do. The only downside here is that the AP is a measly 4 and therefore does very little to help rip apart space marines beyond the rending. Very handy for tackling light tanks though!

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Aetheric Lightning and Force Weapons

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 
The rules are average.

Psychic Powers is a topic that my readers have long petitioned me to review formally. Given that I've now finished with the Mechanicum faction, it is high time that I looped back to redress this omission from much earlier on.

We begin our Psychic Powers review with Aetheric Lightning and Force Weapons. More will follow. 

Aetheric Lightning.
In short, the psyker unleashes lightning bolts from their hands at their target. This is very much a classic of the grim dark, and indeed many different science fiction settings that have psychic beings within them.

The range of the power is 18 inches but it is only at S=3 and AP4. Handily you get 4 shots with it to make up for the lack luster profile. 

The kicker here is the force keyword. With this, the psyker can make a psychic test prior to attacking. If successful, the the strength value is increased to 6 (but a fail is a perils of the warp as per usual). 

Some minor math-hammer then. Against marines (and used by marines), 2.67 shots will hit, and at S=3, 0.88 wounds will result and translate into 0.30 unsaved wounds. If you are successful with the psychic test, then of those 2.67 shots, 2.22 will wound and this results in 0.74 unsaved wounds. Hence a successful psychic test here is likely to be the difference between gently tickling and a palpable wound. Therefore the advice is to always attempt the force option. 

Force Weapons.
Physical force weapons come in a variety of different shapes and sizes. They all do the same thing as the lightning bolts: doubling of strength when a psychic test is passed. The general rule from above is the same here: always try to activate the psychic force weapon to double your strength. This is even more important for marine on marine action since when doubled you get to S=8 (baseline marine being S=4) which is critical for those multi-wound monstrosities. Of course, this doesn't affect AP, so choose the type of weapon appropriately.