Horus Heresy Review: Terrax Pattern Termite Assault Drill

Background.

I keenly remember having some Termites when I played Epic scale back in its hey day. The Termite method of assaulting from beneath the surface has stayed with me, and always struck me as a great alternative, and even complement, to deep striking. 

In the background, the Termite these days is stated to travel at speeds similar to surface transport craft. That's really good!

Strengths.

Subterranean assault is an amazing rule. It functions very much like deep strike does, except it comes up from beneath the ground. Importantly, it does NOT interact with the deep strike rule for determining how many units come on to the board: it uses its own pool. Hence for smaller points games, a player could take 1 Termite and 1 regular deep strike and have BOTH come in to play on the same turn. This is really good and will no doubt appeal to legions such as Raven Guard and Alpha Legion to name but two. Heck, most legions could make good use out of such pairings. 

The Death From Below rule combines with this to describe how the Termite arrives on the board. It is very similar to deep striking in the sense of the distance it might move if there's an impassable feature it winds up on top of, but as an added extra it can displace units, cause wounds, and a S10 hit to vehicles on their side armour. Using this rule aggressively is highly encouraged. 

Ignoring difficult and dangerous terrain is just icing on the cake.

Weaknesses.

Candidly, the Termite is not so great once it has emerged. It is more expensive than a rhino, but is fairly exposed once on the surface. Therefore there is a small calculation to be made by the potential controlling player: is the extra price compared to other transport vehicles worth it (along with chewing up a fast attack slot)?

Builds.

There are several builds, each with their own prices according to whether they are taken in the legions, mechanicum, solar auxilia, or Imperial militia. 

To my mind, I think keeping the points cost at its raw level is probably a good idea as the extra armour and armoured ceramite are not quite worth it once the termite has done its job. Pay 80 points for the Legion version and be happy with it; and don't stress if it gets blown up on the next turn. Its job is to deliver a squad, and hopefully that squad will supply the firepower to make the transport cost worth it. 

Legacy of the Soul Flame

We have a new RPG on Kickstarter that we wanted to let you all know about!

Legacy of the Soul Flame is a noble-dark roleplaying game campaign setting of undead, snow & ice, exploration, and blood-ties. 

This is a 420-page full-colour deluxe roleplaying game of exploration and survival that takes place on a frozen-over continent filled with undead. It fuses concepts found in traditional fantasy settings with modern and technological twists, a touch of horror, a dash of genealogy, and a small pinch of archaeology for taste. 

Explore a vast continent of stark beauty filled with detail and lore. Use the magic of your birth right – your soul flame – to combat the undead that riddle the lands and that humanity barely holds in check. Dig beneath the snow and ice to find remnants of a lost technological age, and determine what happened to the elves and the fey.

The product has already been featured on Geek Native, and over this weekend there will be a Q&A open session with Randomworlds (To join: www.tinyurl.com/randomworlds-discord) (Saturday 1/May at 3pm Central // 9pm UK time), and a recorded interview for Mildra's YouTube Channel on Sunday. 

Hope that you like this one and will consider backing it: much of what you see here on Warpstone Flux is supported through our hobby business and we would gratefully appreciate any and all pledges that our readers can make. 

Happy for additional reviews (feel free to get in contact) and would appreciate amplification of this one too if you are able. 

Horus Heresy Review: Legion Sabre Strike Tank

Background.

The Sabre is portrayed as a strike tank. Rather than being a gun line tank of the early great crusade, these tanks represent a new form of warfare seen later on: strike, keep the enemy big guns suppressed, fade, and form up again elsewhere very quickly. 

This mode of operation will clearly suit some of the faster legions, and those who favour flexible deployment and rapid repositioning when required. I think they should see a reasonable amount of play (and potentially more had they been released at the same time as the Sicaran). 

Strengths.

I think we are getting what we are paying for here. A mobile big weapon on a moderate quality tank. It can have multiple battlefield roles depending on its load out, ranging from anti-tank, to anti-infantry, without competing against predators and vindicators for the same force organization slot. 

Weaknesses.

For the faster legions (e.g., White Scars), the fast attack slot is probably already spent before you get thinking about these tanks. As such, it may favour other legions whose builds might not be so pressured on this slot in the force organization chart, but still like flexibility and more tanks (e.g., Alpha Legion, Iron Hands).

Fundamentally, they are also 12 armour on the front, and 10 at the back. This isn't a tough tank, but it should do a good job for the points cost.

Builds.

Sabre with Neutron Blaster and multi-melta (110 points).

Does the anti-tank job very nicely. Add a pintle combi-melta if you're feeling lucky?

Sabre with Volkite Saker and havoc launcher (80 points).

The anti-infantry option. Take a Volkite Culverin to taste.

Sabre with Anvilus Snub Cannon and 4x Sabre Missiles (85 points).

Monster hunter tank.

All of the above can also select extra armour and armoured ceramite to taste as well. 

Why did the Primarchs favour a Second Founding?

Why did the Primarchs favour a second founding?

The simple and honest answer is that it would prevent a mass civil war like the Horus Heresy from ever coming to fruition again. No one should command that many troops. And no primarch could then corrupt that many again. In that regard at least, the subsequent foundings have worked out rather well with only a few chapters turning traitor over the centuries. 

But let's have a quick look at some other motives.

Obviously Guilliman set the proverbial wheels in motion on this, and so was in favour of it. 

Corax is stated to have agreed with him and consented whole heartedly, despite rebuilding his legion in earnest in a certain, more dubious, manner. Perhaps he didn't want the limelight shone on the monstrous horde that he had built up and consented to prevent this coming to light.

Vulkan reportedly didn't like the Codex, but nonetheless, the low numbers of marines he had at the time meant that the Salamanders would not get a Second Founding chapter regardless. So it didn't matter presumably. 

Sanguinius was no longer around, so what else would the Blood Angels actually do anyway? Besides, they had to cope with all that Black Rage going around, so were hardly in a position to decline the order.

Ferrus Manus was similarly gone. The Iron Hands were shattered. They had presumably already had their own "Tempering" event wherein they independently agreed no one should command all the Iron Hands ever again. Thus setting them in lock step with Guilliman. 

Dorn was outraged. He really did not want to see the legions sundered. He was also in grief about the Emperor and blamed himself. Thus he set the stage for the Iron Cage incident. The survivors of that cleansing were rendered then in to chapters, having earned their forgiveness. 

Russ sided with Dorn and hated the idea. But then again, the Space Wolves are hardly the most codex-compliant chapter in existence in the first place anyway. Probably wouldn't make any difference!

Not much is known or written about what the Khan thought of it all. But it seems he agreed regardless. 

And as for The Lion. Well. Obviously he agreed. Better that than questions about you-know-who on you-know-where and searching for Fallen. 

Successor Chapters of Traitor Legions

This will be a controversial post, and contain mere opinions backed up by little more than knee-jerk reactions in some parts. The topic: which space marine Chapters are plausibly successor chapters from the traitor legions?

The gem of a topic is one that I've been wanting to tackle on the blog for a little while now, and today is about as opportune a moment as I've had for a time. At the heart of the question is whether any loyalist element of traitor legions survived the Horus Heresy and still exist in more "modern" times in Warhammer 40,000. 

I will start with some non-controversial statements. There are at least 2 main elements of traitor forces that are plausibly still around. 

Grey Knights.

The first the the Grey Knights. It is not controversial in the slightest that the original nucleus of the Grey Knights contained traitor legion elements. Take for example, Revuel Arvida, former member of the Thousand Sons, who became Janus. It is probable that the likes of Night Lord, Fel Zharost, also became part of the original core of the Grey Knights. There is no controversy here, other than they are probably no longer living in 40k. 

Black Shields.

Also of zero controversy at all is the existence of the Black Shields. These marines date from the Horus Heresy and contain elements of most legions who decided to forge different paths to their parent legions. Whether they are still around in 40k is another question entirely. 

Let's turn to the more controversial chapters then.

World Eaters.

Almost the only chapter that I could scour that bears hints of lineage from the World Eaters are the Minotaurs Chapter. It is supposed that the original Minotaurs (the red and yellow heraldry ones) were formed from World Eaters. The later lineage would be from elsewhere (Iron Warriors), or be at least described as chimeric. There are descriptions of this 21st founding cursed chapter as being basically berserkers.  I'd give this a plausible rating overall. 

Iron Warriors.

Carrying on from the above, the newer iteration of the Minotaurs chapter might plausibly contain some element of the Iron Warriors geneseed. Or be a hybrid with World Eaters. Regardless, the change in livery is suspect at best. I'd give this a plausible rating again. 

Secondly, there are historic rumours that old timers like me heard that the Silver Skulls chapter were from the Iron Warriors. This is almost entirely based on their emblem. In Universe, the Silver Skulls are no longer thought to be of Iron Warriors descent -- they are Ultramarines, but there was a time when they might have been. This therefore gets a rating of nope. 

Thousand Sons.

Who doesn't suspect that the Blood Ravens might be descended from the Thousand Sons? Knowledge is Power! This one has to get a rating of plausible simply from the sheer level of interest in the subject! Don't flame me. 

Death Guard.

The Sons of Antaeus seem to be a great fit for a Death Guard descended chapter thanks to their sheer resilience. Officially they are Ultramarines, but they are also part of the cursed 21st founding. I'd give this rumour a rating of possible. 

Night Lords.

The Carcharodons might or might not be descended from the Raven Guard. They might also have an element of Night Lords in them too. We're not sure on this one, but there are hints in the canon books that they might have at least some Night Lords descendants amongst their number, or are chimeric. This gets a plausible rating from me. 

Emperor's Children.

The Red Scorpions have a focus on purity and pride in their livery that is very similar to the Emperor's Children legion. Whilst I'm unclear where this rumour came from, I don't think it is entirely true and thus this one only gets a rating of possible from me. On a bad day, I'd just say nope. 

The Death Eagles have purposefully obscured their background and colours from Imperial records, and it might be with due reason. It might be the case that they are indeed descended from the traitors. I'd give this a rating of possible to plausible -- seems more likely than the Red Scorpions at least. 

Sons of the Phoenix. Officially they are Imperial Fist successors. But that name. And the colour scheme. Plus the iconography. I mean. Seriously. Rating of nope due to the official word on the matter. Rating of plausible due to everything else. I hope Cawl created these ones behind Guilliman's back. 

Sons of Horus / Luna Wolves, and Word Bearers.

I could not locate any loyalist successor rumour for these two traitor chapters. Let me know in the comments if you are aware of any. 

Dark Angels.

Yes, I know the Dark Angels are not traitors to most. Sorry. But wait. What about the Fallen? I couldn't find any loyalist Fallen. But there's Cypher. So I include them here for sake of completeness only. 

Alpha Legion.

Returning to my own favourites now, and again as a long timer in the hobby, there are two chapters that stand out to me. The first is the Sons of Orar. They have an Omega for their symbol and date back to the Heresy with an unclear background. Officially they are Ultramarines. So this gets a rating of nope from me sadly.

Then there are the Iron Snakes. I have no idea where this rumour started up to be honest with you (maybe similar modes of operation?), but I've heard it from multiple sources. However, the official canon is that the Iron Snakes are Ultramarine successors from the second founding. Hence this is also a nope rating. 

However. 

Aren't the Alpha Legion loyal anyway? For the Emperor!

Convergence of Dominion, Element 3

The final component in this series is the piece that has had most of its stonework fall away from its surface, revealing the strange alien metal beneath. 

In some ways, this is the one that I feel least comfortable with. The main reason for this is the sheer extent of the hard metal surface on display here. Lots of plank and smooth surface makes for a tough painting challenge regardless of what miniature it is placed upon. I've taken a dry brush and weathering approach to the large black areas here, and tried to suggest worn metal that has been scraped over years of exposure, likely due to the stonework chipping away.

The green power nodes have been picked out with the air brush to create a glowing effect over the top of the flat areas. This provides contrast and takes the eye away from the extensive black areas. Otherwise, the remaining stonework has been picked out in the same manner as the other elements. 

This finishes the trio of necron terrain for the collection and although it has had its challenges, I'm happy with the painting approach taken overall and how it fits on to the battlefield.