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.