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.