Horus Heresy 2e Review: Aetheric Dominion

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

3/5 stars. I wish that this rule was much more extensive. 

Aetheric Dominion.

The special rule "Aetheric Dominion" is given to dark mechanicum forces and represents the influence of one of the Warp's powers that be. 

Clearly within a single unit, there can only be one such dominion selected. And that unit cannot join another that has a different one. This is all well and good. 

What bothers me here is that in The Martian Civil War, there are only two - yes TWO - dominions to select between. This is more than disappointing. At least give us the core four chaos powers please? But no. 

Heedless Slaughter. 

Registering as the Khorne influence, the Heedless Slaughter dominion is to do as the title suggests. This rule forces you to charge within 8 inches of an enemy, but you can game play over ride this by shooting at a further away target and thus making the charge invalid. In addition, you get +1 charge distance, combat resolution, and sweeps which are all very appropriate. Its just the shooting that perhaps should be controlled a bit more arguably?

Malevolent Artifice. 

I see this as the Tzeentch one, but it seems to not quite be wholly appropriate either. The idea here is that the warp twists human invention to use it against them. If S<T from an incoming attack then you get to re-roll your armour save. I quite like this for engines with a good toughness value (at least better than a plasma shot?). Otherwise if you primarily have engines with a lower profile, then it might be a bit meh. Sure, sometimes you get lots of bolt gun fire incoming. But most of the time it'll be things like las cannons targeting your engines, so I suspect this dominion is a bit useless. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Scions of the Dark Forges

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

3/5 stars. New warlord traits for your dark mechanicum traitor forces. Some are sound, others are very limited. 

Scion of Cyclothrathe.
This forge world has plentiful electromagnetic storms which the mechanicum regularly shielded against. This gives your corrupted engines an improved resistance against haywire attacks (there's a table with 50% of the results being no effect which is nice). Admittedly, this is very limited, but also very fluffy. 

Scion of Xana II. 

This provides an advanced reaction once per battle. This improves an invulnerable save by one pip before making any rolls for that corrupted engine. This is very good and much more powerful, as well as being fluffy for the esoteric modifications that were regularly made by this forge world. 

Scion of Retlaxi. 

I could not point to Retlaxi on a map of the Imperium, but it is a secondary world that resupplies Legio Mortis. Basically when you take the last wound or hull point, it gives out a blast of S=5+1d3 in a random radius which also causes pinning. To me this is a bit of a Pyrrhic maneuver, but its okay so long as you keep in mind it also hits friendly units. 

Scion of Sarum. 

Take blood slaughterers as troops (they handily get line) and also as fast attack. Welcome to the World Eaters resupply world basically. This is nice, but clearly needs you to assemble a dedicated army. 

Overall. 

The default choice is likely to be Xana II for most players unless you have a particular Khorne orientation in which case you're looking at Sarum. Retlaxi is dangerous to yourself, and Cyclothrathe is situational but could be good. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Automata Malefica Rules

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

3/5 stars. Average overall, but good in parts! The automata malefica are the corrupted engines of traitor forge worlds and were created in great numbers during the Heresy. 

Praevians.
Arguably access to corrupted engines impacts the legiones astartes more than the mechanicum, but the chief way in which to gain access to them is via a traitor praevian. This is very simple: you take 1 or more praevian, and you get a maximum of 1 (and only 1) corrupted engine choice to include. This engine has to occupy its own force organisation slot (i.e., not the HQ like the praevian). This is very reasonable.

Corrupted. 

The corrupted rule as applied to engines does several things. Firstly there is Fear at a (1) level, but this can be incremented if it already has fear. Reflectively, they are also immune to fear themselves and instead of failing morale checks just takes d3 wounds instead.

Force weapons against them gain instant death, but its not really instant death, it is just 1d3 wounds instead. They could have just said that, so I'm not sure why there's this circular argument in the rules about it being called instant death to be honest. Oh well. 

Malefic Aegis. 

This one is much more straight forward: its just the invulnerable save. Again, not sure why they can't just call it that, but probably to do with the stacking of other invulnerable saves. Only cyber familiars and the like can modify these. 

Overall. Not too bad, just a bit clunky on the rule names to be honest!

Endryd Haar Painted in World Eaters Colours

Today, I finished up painting Endryd Haar of the Blackshields. But not quite as he became later on in the Horus Heresy. To be candid, I'm not a massive fan of the all black colour scheme of the Fangs of the Emperor Blackshields. So I wanted something different!

This is Endryd Haar in his original World Eaters colours - white armour and blue shoulder pads and back pack. Naturally, the most fun part of my method of painting the World Eaters is the chipping, weathering, damage, and splatter. I deliberately tried to not go over the top with the splatter since less is generally more when using this approach. And here it has worked rather nicely. I've done my usual two-step approach. This involved flicking red contrast paint at selected angles on to the otherwise finished miniatures, and then picking out come appropriate locations for the blood god technical paint to be applied. There's even a kill-count decal applied to the terawatt power fist here just to round things off. 

Of course, this kind of half obliterates the plan to have a distinct Blackshields force. That's fine. The new plan is to use my World Eaters detachment AS the Blackshields. The head canon here is that they're far too busy being angry at their former legion to re-paint their armour. Obviously. Hence, this is very early stage Blackshields, and probably with the Panoply of Old Oath. Somehow, I think I can make this work. Regardless, if I'm not using this miniature for Blackshields, he is obviously a character for the World Eaters either in a squad, or as a Praetor himself. He'll fit right in!

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Questoris Household Dark Blessings

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/5 stars. The Dark Blessings are a replacement for the Household ranks and can only be taken by traitors. Some are really good, others a bit less so. Suggested knights are provided for each entry.  

Conqueror of Worlds. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The dark blessing version of the Seneschal. An auto-include for the big boss whose warlord trait provides access to reactions. Suggested Knight: Lancer. 

Heedless Slaughter. ⭐️

A free upgrade (probably from Khorne) that comes at the cost of WS-1 and BS-1, but gain Rage (2) if you have an armiger unit somewhere. I am torn on this upgrade. Rage is nice. But those negatives are bad. Very bad. I probably won't take it on balance.  

Malevolent Artifice. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Gain IWND +1 for each wound or hull point you inflict in close combat until the end of the battle. This is very, very nice, and worth the points cost. Suggested Knights: Lancer, Acheron, Questoris.

Encroaching Ruin. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

BS+1 and a bonus speed to armigers that start a turn next to it. Very nice overall. Suggested Knight: Questoris, and probably Asterius.

Putrid Corruption. ⭐️⭐️

Ablative organic mass that speaks of Nurgle. Loses movement speed, but gains unrelenting which lowers 1d3 wounds from a penetrating shot to just 1. This is okay overall, but not amazing. Suggested Knight: Unclear. 

Infernal Tempest. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tzeentch (we think?) gives you psychic or sorceress powers. Warding grants an invulnerable pip, tempest is nice for its AP=2 but is short range. Suggested Knight: Questoris. 

Ravenous Dissolution.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

WS+1 and marked for death. This is quite strong and calls for a melee unit. Suggested Knights: Lancer, Questoris. 

Rapturous Sensation. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Slaanesh (given the title of the blessing) demands your attentions. No reactions unless you take a Ld test in a large bubble. This is strong, but situational. Suggested Knight: Unclear. 

Formless Distortion. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

WS+1, become a character, and get an ionic lash which is at AP=2 and S=10 with exoshock. Very nice indeed. Suggested Knight: Questoris. 

Assembled Endryd Haar

Endryd Haar is a miniature that I have wanted to get my hands on for a long time, and now that time has come! He was out of stock at Warhammer / Forge World for quite some time, but I finally got my order. The model is relatively easy to put together, although the whole balancing on one foot thing is never quite as good as you first think it is going to be. I glued the dynamic foot to the base as best as I could to provide extra stability. 

The tabard at the front required a bit of work to get fitting correctly into the lower abdomen correctly and this is a paint point that I'd recommend less experienced modellers to pay closer attention to before gluing into place - do a few dry fits first! The rest is easy by comparison. 

My plan here is to paint Endryd up in his original World Eaters colours. The intent is to have him as either a World Eater leader of some kind, or to use him alongside my other World Eaters in a Blackshields force - perhaps as they just found out the extent of the betrayal. I would then give the army access to the World Eaters armoury through Panoply of Old, and add in another Oath that I've not yet decided upon (thoughts welcome!). 

Wargames Gallery: Plasma Eaters

Having moved into place on board their rhino transport, the Iron Warriors plasma support squad takes aim at the World Eaters leviathan before some further backup arrives! 

The decals on the vehicles are doing all the hard work in this image, even if I say so myself. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Camba Diaz

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/5 stars. A cheap praetor with some special rules. 

Background.

A very reliable and steadfast commander who perhaps lacked the legend of Sigismund. He earned his reputation through meticulous siege actions - both on the offensive and on the defensive. Little wonder he was held in good stead by his Primarch. 

Strengths.

In short, this is a Praetor character with a few upgrades. His warlord trait is The Line Unbroken which allows him to declare its activation when on an objective. This gives counter attack and fearless until the end of the battle so long as he stays put. This is strong, and probably best used as a forward attacking force. But you know, if you need to, having that objective on the back line is reasonable if facing off against other Primarchs I suppose. 

He will also gain feel no pain when he has one wound remaining which is fluffy for Camba, and comes with an AP3 power sword - forged by the Iron Hands in some kind of lost bet - that also rends. This is okay without being amazing. 

Weaknesses.

No real weaknesses, but arguably, not a first choice master of the legion. His role is then in smaller points games where his warlord trait might make a big difference. 

Overall.

A fine choice, but just not as good as other choices that the Imperial Fists can make. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Kaedes Nex

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/5 stars. The Raven Guard answer to when something just needs to not be there. 

Background.

Kaedes is not a nice person, to put it ever so politely. He was, very rightly, incarcerated on the same world that Corax came to rest on when he was scattered there. Already an accomplished evil killer, somehow, Corax saw fit to offer him a second chance within the legion. He said yes, and now serves at Corax's command. But he's not liked to the point of being shunned. That doesn't make him bad at his job though. Lucky that he's a loyalist really, otherwise I could readily imagine him falling to the dark powers of chaos. 

Strengths.

A 3 wound moritat with two hand cannons that have to shooting profiles. The first provides pinpoint strikes and comes with brutal (2) concussive and pinning with sniper, the second provides a way to empty the ammo stores and comes with a whopping six shots with concussive and pinning. 

His shooting ignores most modifiers like night fighting and so on. And he always - always - attacks at full ballistic skill. This is actually a little bit insane, but there you go. He also has an uber-infiltrate rule to help him deploy where he needs to be, and a slew of other more standard special rules that include things like rampage and shrouded. Unlike many good shooting character, he is also good in close combat with rending and more brutal (2)'s helping a lot. 

Weaknesses.

No jump pack is a serious negative here coupled with the 12 inch range on the hand cannons. Yes, there are rules to help, but it remains the reason I can't give 5/5 stars. 

He's also a non-compulsory HQ and cannot be part of another unit. Hence he can and will get targeted regularly. Happily, he can also be part of a Blackshields force which makes for an interesting option. He also only get the Falcons rules if a Raven Guard. A bit pricey in terms of points cost as well, but that's okay for what you are getting. 

Overall.

I can see a lot of Raven Guard and Blackshields players wanting to take Nex. He gets some early turn kills in before perishing (assuming he doesn't get over watched back or reacted back) which is always a danger. But hey, why not just snap shot at your full BS back yourself as well?

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Aster Crohne

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/5 stars. A strong centurion, but a little bit on the expensive side. 

Background.

Aster Crohne is a survivor who defies belief. A relic of the wars that tore Saiph apart, and one who was undertaking the Great Crusade prior to the rediscovery of Sanguinius himself. He stood apart from the main legion and never really rose in rank as he should have, finding himself in charge of the 94th company and the Inductii. 

Strengths.

When he loses his last wound he will be put back into reserves with one wound on a 4+. This only happens on the first time, but it is a great fluffy rule that helps him stay in the game. 

His warlord trait is directly associated with the 94th. It gives Inductii sweeping attacks as well as A+1 when making successful charge. This is in addition to the usual Fear rule that Blood Angels Inductii have and overrules (at least from reading the rules) the lack of sweeping assaults which is good news for the Blood Angels player. The additional movement reaction is solid. Aster can also join Inductii units which is obviously a good thing.

His weapon of choice is a S+1 AP=3 axe that also rends which is great for dealing with enemy blobs of tactical marines. The two hand flamers are also good, to be clear. 

The stat line is basically a consul centurion with an extra wound which is good.

Weaknesses.

Obviously as he's not a Praetor, he does not have Master of the Legion. This isn't so good. He's well suited to leading Inductii though, so that's a plus. 

We also need to acknowledge the points cost here as well. It is on the high side, and you will also need a transport for maximum effectivess.

Overall.

A fluffy character with rules to suit. He's going to be wanted as a Judicar (Centurion) to lead Inductii, but that's it. Good for small points value games that involve Inductii, but in higher points value games I would want to just be using him for his ability to slice and dice. The Blood Angels are not short of other ways of doing this though!

Wargames Gallery: Destroying the Iron Without

The World Eaters like getting up close and personal. And their attack on the Iron Warriors land raider is no different, they just employ their chain fists to get the job done. Iron Without for not much longer I'm sorry to report. 

The Martian Civil War: Overall Impressions

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/5 stars. An essential read for mechanicum fans, especially those of you wanting to have access to the Dark Mechanicum side of things. Moderately skippable for other factions, but the lore expansion is impressive. 

The book itself covers the conflict to recover new mark power armour from the forges in the early stages of the Heresy. It goes into detail then about the assassination attempts, and then in the latter phases the fight against the scrap code. I would have liked a bit more on the civil war itself, but you know what, its so good that it doesn't matter. 

The new campaigns are good, but the apex missions are a bit hit and miss along the way. Not sure you'd expect otherwise. The terrain and scrap code are stand outs here for me. The relic hunt standard missions are cool enough to carry the rest. 

Whilst the chaos knights are good to have, the star of the show is certainly the daemon engines that are now available. Welcome to the dark mechanicum! On top of this we also get techno-heresies which are great. 

This is all rounded out by some new space marine characters. Overall then, its basically a dark mechanicum and chaos knights book with more lore than you can shake a stick at. Seriously: I've read and re-read the lore here and am impressed. The main negative is that the book is shorter than the other predecessors, but at least it was printed correctly (cf., Beta-Garmon). I like what I have purchased and I think it makes sense for mechanicum fans to also have a look at it, but beyond that, its certainly mainly one for the lore lovers out there. 

Overseer Conversion Fully Constructed

Hey readers, the Overseer conversion has now been completed - including the nemesis bolt gun! And it is massive!

But to be honest, I regret nothing! The barrel if it were to be slung across the marine's chest would actually be absolutely fine and appropriate for a sniper. With this pose however, the marine really looks dynamic and a little bit like he just doesn't care how he snipes his targets. 

This is good, because I'm thinking this is either going to be Alpha Legion or World Eaters. I'm tilting toward the latter right now. 

The miniature itself was easy to construct, but as I thought, the back banner is a little fiddly to get sitting right on the backpack itself. The join it just a little too thin for my tastes, but I can live with it. I need to also tidy up the scepter a little bit, but its basically done at this point. 

Wargames Gallery: World Eaters Terminators

The World Eaters materialize via teleportation on to the battle field thanks to the warmonger consul leading the charge with his handy (and risky) device. They advance accordingly!

I think this is also the first image that I've managed to get with them all together on the playing surface. They look rather good in the white, blue, and (ahem) red even if I say so myself. 

Unboxing: Overseer

I bought the Overseer loyalist model on pre-order when it was available to fulfill a critical part of my miniatures aims for the year: a unit of Auxilia lead by a marine. Here are the bits directly out of the box!

Clearly there's going to be some clean up required on the bits with all the flash and so forth needing to be removed. The banner on the back of the back pack in particular looks to have almost a stake that goes directly into the backpack. I don't like the look of the thin joint, but it should work.

My plan here though is to replace the plasma pistol with the nemesis bolt gun that I converted earlier in the week. Given that Auxilia are mainly ranged shots (or at least mine will be), it makes more sense for the Overseer to have a long range weapons as well, rather than a short ranged plasma shot. More on this in the near future!

Warsmith - Built

An assembled Iron Warriors Warsmith!

Assorted thoughts.

This character is a beast. The sheer level of detail in the parts is incredibly high. This said, there are several points that I think others should keep in mind when assembling him. 

Firstly, the tabard at the front is hard to get to sit flush with the legs and waist. This is, in part, due to where the sprue attached to the resin. It needs a bit of shaping, but you can get there. 

The major problem I had was making the mistake of gluing the pistol hand in place before adding on the ammo belt. Don't be me. Do it the other way. Add on the ammo belt first. Secondly, I actually glued the ammo feed in slightly the wrong place. It is supposed, I think, to be fed in through the gap in the weapon before the trigger. Instead, I have glued it to the side where there seemed to be an ideal slot that dry fitted the joint. It wasn't a joint though. Rookie mistake by me after so many years. Oh well. I think it can easily be got away with. The other thing I tried to do was to bend one of the tendrils to touch the graviton part of the weapon. Seemed like the thing to do, in the absence of a construction guide. But looking at how others have done this, I now realise it is meant to be free floating. I also glued the pointy ended tendril to the side of the weapon where the ammo feed should have gone. I regret nothing because it will make the model much less prone to breakage. A win, even if it looks a bit odd upon close inspection. 

Everything else is pretty standard. The only other thing I can think of would be to attached the claw at the top before gluing the shoulder pad / hammer arm into place. Didn't matter in the end for me, but it might be a tight fit for others. 

I wish this came with assembly suggestions or instructions, but I made it work. 

Nemesis Bolter Conversion Concept

Following on from my Alpha Legion recon squad that were armed with Necron weaponry, I had a bit of an idea about a Nemesis Bolter conversion...

The basis of the nemesis bolt gun is a Mark III bolter. I have shaved off the original barrel from the weapon and glued on instead a long length of the Necron weapon. This is rounded out by a scope on the top from the modern space marine range. 

Admittedly, the weapon is long. Very long. It rivals Exodus' weapon even. However, it certainly has a certain something about it which is hard to mistake for anything other than a long range sniper rifle in my personal opinion. I'm intending to use this on my new acquisition of the resin Overseer loyalist model that recently arrived. More on that project soon no doubt!

Unboxing: Iron Warriors Warsmith Terminator

A little something arrived in the post today: the newly released Iron Warriors Warsmith in Cataphractii Terminator armour! 

I thought readers might like to see the unboxing of this one.

The first image is of the outer shell of the box itself. For the curious, it measures 14cm tall by 9.5cm wide to the outer edges of the plastic shell. 

The forge world resin contents are shown in the second image. That graviton crusher hammer is absolutely almighty. The sheer size of it is bewildering. And probably spells contempt for any budding Imperial Fists. I don't quite know how taken I am with the side arm of the combi-grav, but for the sheer rule of cool I'm happy to pay the points cost!

I think my only gripe is that the striding version of the model with the hammer in both hands is a Warhammer World exclusive. That said, this one is still posed very nicely to survey the battlefield and lead from the front, so who am I to deny it is a beautiful miniature. Its certainly going to be leading my Iron Warriors going forward - once I assemble and paint it of course!

Wargames Gallery: Not Skalathrax

Skalathrax would be years later. Yet the shadow of the sorrowful breaking of the former legions could be seen in the height of the Heresy where the loyal World Eaters took vengeance against the traitorous Emperor's Children on an alien world for the right to plunder and re-supply the armories. Chain blade rattled against chain axe. Falax blades wove through phoenix spear. And no quarter was given. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Autilon Skorr

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
5/5 stars. The original delegatus, and shining brightly in small points games in second edition!

Background.

Appearing in the scrolls of honour for the Great Crusade no fewer than seven times, Autilon was the go-to man when a brand new world needed to be brought to compliance. This frequently happened with a bit of chaos and one well placed round to the head. After the Heresy broke out, he failed at the debacle at Epsilon Stranivar IX, and was removed from Alpharius' side, sent to the outer rim to try to regain glory. 

Strengths.

If you are playing small points value games, the Delegatus consul is really amazing. He provides a way to bring Master of the Legion to such games and as such, I stand by my original rating for the Delegatus here as well. 

Autilon Skorr has some special rules in comparison to the standard delegatus. Once per battle, he can make a Ld teast at a value to 10 to rally all his troops (falling back, or pinned) that have line of sight to him. This is unique in the game pretty much and can be a game winner if played right in smaller points games. 

The ability to make a reaction at zero cost every turn (even if limited to a nominated phase before the game begins) is very strong. The Feel No Pain rule that gets better every turn is also powerful. 

Weaknesses.

His S=5 AP=2 axe is not so amazing except against mortal and mechanicum troops perhaps. But it'll still hurt where he needs it to. I'd suggest burying him in a big mob of Alpha Legion troops or elites (or perhaps snipers at a vantage point in the middle of the table) and act accordingly. 

Overall.

I really liked Autilon Skorr in first edition and played a lot of games at lower points values with him. He did very well. In second edition, his rules have been tweaked, but he is still a force to be reckoned with and worth the points values. Master of the Legion is invaluable at these levels and he is a great exponent of what is possible with this, alongside potentially game changing rules. Certainly a must-take for sub-1000 points games for the Alpha Legion commander! 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Nârik Dreygur

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
3/5 stars. The original Praevian returns under legacy units! 

Background.

Loyal to the Emperor now, but shattered on Isstvan and rebuilt with extensive augmetics. Dreygur survived but was tossed aside by Perturabo as any broken toy would be. Bereft of command he finally broke when the Alpha Legion nearly killed him later on and became a pseudo-Blackshield. He's complex. 

Strengths.

Dreyguy is a consul with a host of special rules above and beyond the typical Praevain in second edition. As well as being a master of the automaton, he gains some A and stubborn bonus when close to Cassian Reborn and can also be taken as a Blackshields marine rather than a loyalist Iron Warriors choice. 

He has a bunch of special equipment like his power fist that also contains haywire (very nice). The cortex controller and designator help a lot with mastering the robots around him whilst the refractor field and artificer armour makes him more survivable. 

Weaknesses.

This is not a long ranged character. Sure he has a master crafted pistol, but he really needs to be in close combat with some robots. Take some Vorax or Castellax to go with him, and get him to where you need him to be (which could be tricky). 

Overall.

Not bad overall, but a bit limited considering the wider builds possible with the Praevian consul overall. You need to get him in position and his robots to help him in close combat realistically to make the most of him. Otherwise, perhaps take a fortification where he can man some longer range weapon and simply use the power fits as a deterrent (a bit of a waste really). The ability to take those robots is great though and not to be wasted; whilst the ability to take him as a Blackshields should not be overlooked either!

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Erasmus Golg

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
3.5/5 stars. Rounded up. Very reasonable, but stuck with a fixed warlord trait. 

Background.

A survivor of the newly found Primarch's decimation, Golg really didn't mind the brutality that much. In fact he embraced it. What he really did mind a whole lot was not being recognised for his talents. He never made it to the inner circle of Perturabo. And he is rather tetchy about it all the time. At his core, he's quite the bully. And on the battlefield too. 

Strengths.

W=4 is certainly a massive boon here. He acts as a praetor in cataphractii terminator armour and has all the pros and cons that you might otherwise associated with such armour. Interestingly he carries both a nuncio vox and an augury scanner, along with his amazing AP=2 and S=10 chain blade fist thing. 

He has a bunch of special rules including hammer of wrath (2), stubborn and relentless which are very reasonable. 

Weaknesses.

The choice of warlord trait is fixed as blood-handed. This is okay, but a choice would have obviously been better. The combi melta is excellent and makes him a massive danger to tanks in general. 

As a terminator, you will also have to think about how you will get him into position. There's a certain rite of war that springs to mind about terminators though (Pride of the Legion). 

Overall.

A very reasonable warlord choice for the Iron Warriors. What stands out here though is that he can be selected for both traitors and for loyalists alike. Hence if you have a terminator squad around him, then this is a warlord you are going to like a whole lot. Fundamentally, he's an anti-tank hero that can readily double up to be a massive melee threat as well. Little not to like other than the fixed trait. 

Second Half of World Eaters Assault Squad

They are brutal. Hardly cunning though. And there's chain axes, and big monster power maul. Plus red. Red everywhere. 

In particular, I like how the red had splattered nicely over one half of some of the models, including the torso and the beakie helmet. The dynamism in the squad is similarly pleasing with all the models looking like they are ready, willing, and able to carry out the Emperor's duty and forge compliance in the best way that they know how. Or perhaps the Warmaster's darker compliance. Either way, that's the squad of ten assault marines complete! Very pleased with this overall. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Iron Havocs

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4/5 stars. Good rules, but perhaps not quite the same as the previous edition. The extra BS pip really helps them shine and makes them worth taking overall. 

Background.

These marines are the elites of the heavy support squads within the Iron Warriors. They lay down withering lines of fire with heavy weapons to saturate the battlefield and lay waste to everything in front of them. This is also a legacy unit and a break from our usual reviews. 

Strengths.

Choose between shrapnel cannons, las cannons, missile launchers or auto cannons. The BS=5 on these marines is excellent. 

Precision shots is really nice to have - especially for the auto cannons. 

Weaknesses.

Not so great leadership values. You will want to watch out for incoming close combat units who might not want you in situ. 

Builds.

5 Iron Havocs, sergeant with nuncio vox, marines with Shrapnel Cannons or Auto Cannons (145 points).

A baseline build that is effective.

5 Iron Havocs, Vexilla, Augury Scanner, Sergeant with Nuncio Vox, Las Cannons (240 points).

Very expensive in comparison to the plain heavy support version. The BS upgrade will certainly mean that you pretty much get rid of your target though, so yay!

10 Iron Havocs, Vexilla, Augury Scanner, Sergeant with Nuncio Vox, Artificer Armour, Power Fist, all with Missile Launchers (335 points).

For when things just have to die on the first turn. And for subsequent turns with a power fist to create some deterrence. Very expensive. Very effective long range option. 

Half Squad of Heresy World Eaters

Today's painting features a half squad of Heresy World Eaters marine. The other half is coming soon, so enjoy the first half. I've shown a few of these on their own before, but very happy to see them come together like this. 

Three standard marines coupled with the sergeant with falax blades and a marine with a power spear / power lance. Several of them are standing on top of orange barrels, possibly toxic, and green coloured terrain which is to reflect some of my own scenery. There is a dynamic quality to each of the marines, posed might fight, or charging in to the fray, as befits this legion.

The other thought that is lurking in the back of my mind about this force is that they would probably make some nice Blackshields. Yes, I know they're painted in World Eaters colours. But perhaps the narrative here is that after being betrayed, but before ridding themselves of their iconography, they are out for themselves reeving the galaxy with the remnant chain axes of their former legion. Not sure where I'm going with this thought, but I might add Endryd to this force to see how he looks ultimately. 

Hope you like the set, looking forward to showing the second half of the squad soon!

Heresy Pre-orders Day

Good morning (to those of you in the UK; or a very late evening to my mates Down Under). The new pre-orders for Horus Heresy are available to order today! I am actually fairly blown away that there's such a lot being released in one day. These include:

Traitor and Loyalist Overseer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Traitor and Loyalist Herald ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iron Hands Praetor ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 stars for all praetors, not specifically Iron Hands)

Iron Warriors Warsmith ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Space Wolves Caster of Runes ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Arquitor Magisterium ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Secutarii Axiarch ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

and a Mechanicum Heavy Support Force

Links to the above units and my reviews of them can be found by clicking above. I've also included my own evaluations here in case anyone is pondering. 

For me, I've made an order for the Iron Warriors Warsmith which has been on my list for a long time and its really nice to have that in place. I've also taken the plunge for an Overseer since I wanted to make a small lasrifle section for fun and this was one of my goals for the year ahead. I was on the fence about the Iron Hands praetor for my shattered legions. I already have a conversion and think I will keep it in place - doubly so given that Shattered Legions are not really playable. 

Looking forward to building these to say the least, most especially the Warsmith (can't lie). 

Another painted World Eater with Jump Pack, Chain Axe and Bolt Pistol

As the title of this posts suggests, here is another completed World Eater with a jump pack, chain axe and bolt pistol ready for deployment.

The splatter on this marine is intended to be very one sided as possible (his right hand side / left as you're looking at the image). This has worked terrifically well on the beak of the helmet and reasonably on the torso. It is accomplished in the same manner as I've previously written about: blood for the blood god provides the thicker blobs, then I've flicked (using my finger nail) contrast red from the correct angle to get the finer splatter and spray going where I want it to land. The overall effect brings everything together nicely.

The observant will also notice the War Hounds iconography on the shoulder pad as well - suggestive of a more loyalist (or old) member of the World Eaters. This is brought up to date with the crossed chains on the grieve indicative of dealing with one of his own legion in the gladiatorial pits. There's also the usual level of grime and chips present, but these are dominated by the splatter which was the intent. Very pleased overall and this squad is almost ready to be brought together for a group photograph soon. Stay tuned. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: The Solar Auxilia Legiones Auxilia

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/5 stars. A great idea! Albeit with variable legion related rules outcomes. 

Background.

Some solar auxilia were assigned to the legions themselves during the Heresy. They might represent indentured service, home planet forces come to aid their upgraded and uplifted brothers, held under oath, or otherwise. Each has been shaped by the legions and comes with their own rules. 

Rules Evaluation. 

You can play these types of solar auxilia so long as you have a space marine commanding your main detachment and a solar allied detachment. You mortal men gain the Legiones Auxilia (X) special rule. They become fellow warriors (unless already better) and can therefore score (hello Line!). 

On the downside, they get pinned if they see a legion unit in a large area fail a morale check. Just don't let it happen I guess.

What follows are some knee jerk thoughts on the individual legions solar auxilia. Overall, remember that the Solar Auxilia are primarily a shooting force unless you have configured a specialist melee unit. 

Individual Legion Notes.

I grade all legions as "Good", "Average", or "Poor" herein. 

Dark Angels: Good. Your space marines gain the same move or shoot reaction as your mortals if in very close proximity. This is very nice and effective. 

Emperor's Children: Average to Poor. Gain hammer of wrath for a turn if you remove models. Although this seems good, remember you're mortals. Close combat isn't your thing in general.

Iron Warriors: Good. Ignoring modifiers to pinning checks is solid. 

White Scars: Good. Feel no pain in your deployment zone or on top of an objective is solid. 

Space Wolves: Average. Your shooting disallows cover and shrouded saves. This is excellent. But I suspect your enemies armour is better than your shots? Right?

Imperial Fists: Average to Poor. Improve your own cover save by one pip in terrain. Nice enough if you are positioned well. 

Night Lords: Poor. Not being affected by fear is actually solid, but rage is just not what you want your shooting squads to get. 

Blood Angels: Poor. A+1 when close to marines doesn't matter when you are mortals fighting against marines I think. Remember once again your strength is in shooting not melee most of the time. 

Iron Hands: Good to Average. Demonstrating that once again the Iron Hands really should have been a traitor force, they slam augmentations into their brains to destroy their fear. As a result, they remove 1d3 models per failed morale check for falling back. 

World Eaters: Good. Possibly the best of the lot. Having +1 to hit with shooting fulfils their role as being the mopping up detachment when an enemy is either falling back or already has suffered casualties. Very fluffy too. I genuinely like it a whole lot. Perhaps enough to make a squad of these? 

Ultramarines: Average to Poor. You're not really going to use it that much. You only suffer snap shots when charging against a unit you shot and and made casualties in. 

Death Guard: Poor. Minus one to wound against you versus fleshbane and poison is okay, but very situational. Re-rolling dangerous terrain checks sounds good, but you shouldn't be there in the first place. But hey, you are tied to the Death Guard, so perhaps you are intentionally there in the first place?

Thousand Sons: Average to Poor. Adamantium Will is okay if situational. Being able to allocate your failed warp tests to the allied mortals is poor form, but accepted practice I guess. 

Sons of Horus: Good. Really up there with the World Eaters. Adding 2 to charging distances for your marines if the mortals have removed models from that unit by shooting is actually very useful. 

Word Bearers: Average to Poor. Fleet and Crusader have their uses and you will usually activate this since I suppose you will be close to your marine brothers. But yet again remember you want to be shooting unless you have a dedicated close combat squad in your Auxilia. 

Salamanders: Good to Average. Gain a cover save of 4+ when you have an intervening unit of Salamanders. Nice and fluffy if you ask me. But also: try not to shoot through your own allies!

Raven Guard: Good. Ld+1 when they can draw a long line of sight to Raven Guard marines is a great boon for mortal units. 

Alpha Legion: Good. Ablative wounds to an uncaring parent legion. If you target the marines, take a Ld test to NOT shoot at the mortals instead if they are under 12 inches away. Nice. Fluffy. Slightly awkward silence afterwards. They were the diversion after all and knew what they signed up for. Or did they? Just whose side are they on? 

Lotara Sarrin and Angron Transfigured!

What a surprise reveal today in the Warhammer Community! No less than Angron Transfigured into daemon primarch form! And as if that was not enough: Lotara Sarrin herself as Captain of the Conqueror. 

I really like the Lotara miniature, but will freely admit to being very curious about her rules / ruleset. As a mortal, she is probably not exactly going to last too long, but she does have a very storied history analogous to certain other mortals in the Heresy (without naming names, there's some preachers of the Emperor that should get mentioned, and although not mortal, I wouldn't mind seeing some rules for characters like Grammaticus whilst we're at it). I do like the miniature though - its refreshing to see a female character in a powerful position getting her dues. The tight braids coupled with the paint job from the Warhammer community is excellent.

Angron himself in daemon primarch form is awesome too. The sculpt is much more detailed that the 40k version. Which, with all kindness, should be expected from resin. With this said though, I still actually really like the 40k sculpt. Unlike with Fulgrim, I have a hard time trying to pick the "best" between the 30k and 40k versions (Fulgrim's head is easily better in the 30k resin form!). But for Angron I could actually go almost either way. The wings on 30k Angron are truly massive - very reminiscent of Fulgrim in a lot of ways. The leg joints are not quite what I'd imagined though - I thought he would have the extra joint like he is always pictured with. Equally, it could be just the angle we are viewing it from? I'd like to see more. The head is very good regardless and the sheer detail in the skulls is immense. I'd honestly happily play either miniature in a 30k game (as I would with Fulgrim - but honestly the 30k mini looks better despite the rules). Looking forward to hearing more about the rules for 30k Angron to see what he can do in comparison to his primarch form. 

Power Spear/Lance World Eaters - Painted

Continuing on the World Eaters painting theme of recent weeks, I've now completed the power spear wielding assault marine. 

Yet more blood for the blood god and splattered red contrast paint makes for a superlative contrast to the regular whites of the armour. The decals include the assault symbol on the left shin, the legion icon in the middle of the chest, and on the left shoulder pad (not really visible in the above image) is the War Hounds icon, suggestive of a more loyal time and place. Which is how I like it considered that I wanted to suggest that this squad may plausibly be loyalists. 

The base of this marine is also interesting and a blend of a plastic barrel from the 40k battlefield terrain range, coupled with resin parts in my bits box and a liberal application of grunge from Armageddon basing paint. A bit of contrast paint and dry brushing finishes the effects nicely. 

Falax Blades on World Eaters Assault Marine Painted

I had a lot of fun painting this character! This is the World Eaters squad sergeant for an assault squad. Naturally, I upgraded him with a pair of falax blades - because that's exactly what you should do in my opinion!

The painting follows my standard formulation for World Eaters with the off-white of the armour contrasting nicely with the blues of the shoulder pads and jump pack. What really makes most World Eaters come together nicely is the blood. This is the fun part to say the least! Here, I've done something a bit different if you can pick it by eye. I've applied blood for the blood god liberally on select locations of the armour. These are the denser red blobs. 

However, I've followed this up with some careful flicking of red contrast paint. On the torso, it is possible to see the spray from this aligns very pleasingly with the blood for the blood god lines that I've painted diagonally. 

And to think that these monsters are supposed to be the good guys (for clarity: I'm going to run them as loyalists most of the time despite the head swap suggesting otherwise potentially!). It is easy to see how they fell, but equally it is tragic unlike some other legions. 

I will have to get the rest finished and photographed soon! 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Legion Company Command Squad

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

3.5/5 stars, but rounded down. Great for small points value games and narrative ones but outshone by the actual legion command squad. 

Background.

Within any given legion, there are companies. These are lead by lesser commanders, but all the same, they also have company command squads. They in turn carry the banner of the company into battle which contains their victory rolls and therefore inspires the rest of the troops. 

Strengths. 

The banner that is carried not only gives a Ld=9 aura, but also grants Line to your squad so long as the banner remains on the table. This is good and calls for the unit to be capturing objectives and similar. 

There is incredible flexibility in build available - not quite at the command squad level, of course, but you can kit them out for serious close combat duty, or for more ranged duty. 

I also really like the fact that they can bring a rhino, a drop pod, or a termite into play. This is excellent. 

Weaknesses. 

You can only add a company command squad to an Optae or to a Centurion. My reading of this is that it categorically does not extend to other consul types. This is ... okay, but I would have liked all consuls having access to the company command squad.

Despite the flexibility of builds, the basic equipment lacks chain swords. Ouch. And there's no jet bikes or similar available here sadly. 

Fundamentally though, these are still veterans with no 2+ saves or invulnerable saves. They are cheap enough in terms of points cost for you not to care too much either. 

Builds.

Company Command Squad, 9 Members, Nemesis Bolt Guns, Company Standard, Augury Scanner (290 points).

A back field company command squad to stay put on an objective and ping away at distant targets. Take 2 missile launchers instead to taste for a few extra points - a nice variant. 

Company Command Squad, 9 members, Lightning Claws, Company Standard (280 points)

Get in one of those transport options and get up close and personal with the enemy. Use power weapons instead to reduce the cost - this is actually a good idea in many cases. 

Company Command Squad, 9 members, Company Standard, Nuncio Vox, 2 Melta Guns, 3 Combi-Melta Guns (260 points).

Tank hunting configuration for which you will also need a transport. 

Painted World Eaters Jump Pack Marine

There's just something about the blood for the blood god paint, combined with contrast red paint flicked on to that white of the World Eaters that makes everything come together nicely. Maybe "nicely" isn't quite the right word, but you know what I'm getting at.

This is the one with the Dark Angels power maul coupled with a head swap for the sake of depicting the nails. Naturally, this is a loyalist marine who has been betrayed I suspect! He's a bit angry about everything that has been going on and seeks justice for it all. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Legion Optae

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

3/5 stars. Great for small points value games and narrative ones. Otherwise, different choices should be made in a crowded HQ space. 

Background.

These men are marines that have risen modestly through the ranks and have been entrusted with a small quantum of command. This might be for routine tasks or low level missions. They are still well connected to the men that they have shared battles with and have won their respect and the ability to inspire them directly thanks to their (presumably) shared history. 

Strengths. 

They come with a stat line very similar to a Veteran of the legion. Their main strength is arguably the Strength of the Legion special rule which allows an automatic regroup and subsequently suffers zero restriction on charging or shooting in the same turn. This is clearly a nice boon and represents (narratively) their ability to turn their comrades around thanks to their connection to them. How often this would happen is questionable though. 

Their upgrades are a wide selection of possibilities only ordinarily seen in Consuls. As such, you could think of this HQ character as a very low level Consul in many ways. I see them as excellent for small points value games - and they can really shine there. As someone who plays smaller points games more regularly than larger ones, they really are an attractive choice to maximize the points so long as they aren't upgraded too much. 

Weaknesses. 

They are - only - veterans. They don't come with any of the usual upgrades you might otherwise expect for either consuls or praetors. This is an issue. Further, the points value can escalate quickly, so I'd advise keeping the points as low as possible to make this HQ choice work. You also need to reckon on no invulnerable saves when not upgraded.

Speaking of HQ choices, this choice occupies an entire slot on the force organisation chart that even the special rules here (strength of the legion, relentless) won't particularly make up for. You will want something different for your HQ once you go over (e.g.) 750 points, or outside of Zone Mortalis style skirmishes. 

Builds.

Optae, Nemesis Bolt Gun (50 points).

I really like this build as a back field rally-caller. 

Optae, Power Fist (65 points).

Front line. But you are rapidly entering the fuzzy area of "wouldn't a consul be better?". Fluffy for small points value games all the same.

Optae, Thunder Hammer, Boarding Shield (75 points).

Illustration of "too expensive" and "wouldn't a consul be better?".

Optae, Jump Pack, Power Weapon (75 points).

Similar to the above comments really. Combat Bikes and Jet Bikes are in a similar range. 

Second Half: Painted World Eaters Terminator Squad

Following on from the first half (which is more ranged and chain fist orientated), the second half of this World Eaters terminator squad is all about the lightning claws!

I like the choice of the claws here in combination with the lighter terminator armour for their sweeping potential. Of course, the paint work follows my standard pattern for the World Eaters with a good splash and dash of grime and red blood for the blood god!

The bases lighter sand colour contrasts nicely with the whites and blues, whilst allowing any (ahem) running liquids to have a good stain where these marines tread. I think the overall key with the red paint is to try to not overdo it - which is hard because it is such a nice medium to work with!

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Endryd Haar

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

5/5 stars. Excellent!

Background.

A World Eater presumed dead. Haar came back from the outer reaches to discover the depth of the betrayal and went a little bit crazy. Lacking the butcher's nails, his fury is more cold and numbing, yet somehow righteous in my head canon. Everything a World Eater praetor could have evolved to if the nails and Angron and the betrayal had not got in the way. He's now a Blackshield, and a very good one at that. 

Strengths. 

His stat line is a praetor's, yet he also somehow gets T=5 which is amazing. 

Let's talk about his power fist though - the Terrawatt pattern power gauntlet. It comes with brutal (2) as the baseline, but also the Charged Attacks special rule which allows him to gain Sx3 at a price of halving his attacks (rounded up). This is going to slay a lot of enemies in a straight up fight and be outright dangerous to vehicles as well. 

His Warlord Trait is Fangs of the Emperor which grants Scouts to 3 infantry units that also lack bulky. This will enable early deployment board control when played correctly and hopefully line up some early charges where needed. The extra assault reaction is okay. 

He also gets relentless along with hatred of the World Eaters and battle hardened which makes him an incredibly attractive praetor for any Black Shields force. 

Weaknesses. 

Very few realistically beyond not being able to be taken by other forces I suppose. 

Overall.

Love this character! Superb praetor for the Black Shields and a near "must include" if you're playing them.