Dreadtober 2025: Completed Iron Warriors Contemptor

Dreadtober 2025 is now over and I have completed my pledge of one Iron Warriors contemptor dreadnought. Armed with a las cannon, this dreadnought has a long range battlefield role, but backs that up with the fist so that he can remain a close range threat. 

The final details for the work have included really focussing hard on building the base up into a quality and believable configuration that is in keeping with the rest of my Iron Warriors range. I think this has worked nicely with less being more in this instance. 

Weathering of the model has also been extensively looked at with damage added to the hazard stripes to not only look cool, but disguise the potentially less than perfect diagonals. You are very welcome to steal this idea too - it works for me as a long term painter to say the least. 

Overall then, very happy, and glad to have got another dreadnought painted up thanks to Dreadtober! See you again next year I hope Dreadtober fans!!!

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Fulgrim Transfigured

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/5 stars. The rules are good!

Background.

Driven onward by the whispers within the Laer blade and the fault line within his own expectations of perfection, Fulgrim began to embrace his darker side. Possessed after killing his closest brother, Ferrus Manus, he became a shadow, but learned how to best the possessing entity and emerged on the other side in the full embrace of Slaanesh. He ascended to daemonhood on an eldar crone world after stuffing himself full of soul stones and with a bit of a helping hand from Perturabo. Wings and horns grew and his lower half became serpentine. 

Strengths. 

I'm just going to leave this here as a strength: the resin model is awesome. Hate me all you like, but it is a very strong reason to play Fulgrim Ascended in and of itself (in which case, 5/5 stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️). 

The stat line here is boosted to S=7, T=7, W=7 alongside rapid movement thanks to those wings (antigrav, deepstrike). 

The Blades of the Phoenician represent the myriad of weapons he carried in those later Heresy days and can do critical hits and have duellist edge at AP=2 and 2 damage. This is very reasonable. The sundering blows replace the attacks with 3 lots of S=12 hits at 4 damage each and an initiative penalty. These are very reasonable for flipping over rhinos and similar! But recall that his brothers still have eternal warrior so you might be better off with the usual slashes unless you really want better to-wound rolls. 

You also have to challenge (no surprises) and can undertake heroic interventions without any cost if you feel the need. 

Weaknesses. 

You cannot take Fulgrim in the same army. Obviously. 

Overall.

Fundamentally, Fulgrim ascended is just like Angron ascended. They both are beat sticks and very little else. Fulgrim doesn't do a thing for his army in this form. But so be it: he causes Fear (2) and flies in to duel his targets, smiles about it, and flies off again. I'm not sure you would expect much else!

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Fulgrim

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4.5/5 stars. Rounded down. Arguably a glass cannon, but on the charge and with the help of his special rules, he is deadly. He also is cheap. 

Background.

Loyal to a fault - at least to begin with - and favoured by the Emperor himself to carry the Palatine Aquila. Fulgram was the saviour of his legion and held his troops in a rigid chain of command where his thoughts would filter down effectively as they strove to emulate his excellence in all things. Within that striving lay the trap that chaos would ultimately exploit. Driven onward to ever greater heights and impossible standards, they fell hard, and Fulgrim himself fell hardest as he was seduced by the Laer Blade. 

Strengths. 

In an army of duelists, it is of no surprise that their Primarch is the pinnacle of martial skill as well as a field marshal approaching perfection (at least before his fall). He has both WS=8 and I=8 which gets improved by the Emperor's Children rules on the charge as well. 

His side arm, Firebrand, is a volkite assault weapons at S=6 and AP=2 which is impressive. The Learan Blade itself gives Duellist's Edge alongside AP=2 and Damage=2. The only real downside is it has native S=6. But your weight of attacks coupled with high initiative should carry you through. 

The Sublime Swordsman special rule activates if he has higher initiative than his opponent giving him A+1 for every pip to his advantage when he also has challenge advantage. Undoubtedly this will raise your attacks above your opponent most of the time.  

Sire of the Emperor's Children gives Prime Slots when 4 battlefield roles have assault or tactical squads which will be easy to achieve. He also gives an incredibly valuable +1 combat resolution outside of their deployment zone - this is very strong. 

Weaknesses. 

T=6 is an issue for Fulgrim and the lack of mitigation for anything incoming beyond his armour is something you have to watch out for. He should be able to defeat opponents through both weight of attacks and high initiative - you just need to do it quickly. 

Overall.

An excellent duelist, and so very swift. Play him aggressively and choose your targets wisely. His points cost is low enough to not regret much either which makes him very attractive when compared to other Primarchs. He's not the most amazing of his brothers, but he's no slouch either. 

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Emperor's Children Legion Rules

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/5 stars. The rules are great, and possibly even better when playing Heretics. 

Background.

Another legion that fell from grace. But their fall was hard simply because they started from such a great heady height. Few legions were so honoured by the Emperor and came through adversity to be such a strong legion in the end. And few came down harder simply by being the best that they could be. They become the true slaves to darkness as they transmuted brilliance for excess and desires beyond what ordinary mortals could sustain. Perfection became twisted and their forms followed. 

Armoury. 

Surgical Enhancements. The apothecaries set about enhancing their brothers, and you can do the same by purchasing sonic shriekers and sonic lances for a reasonable points increace for both command and champions so long as they are traitors.

The shriekers are great since they mean an enemy cannot react to being charged until that charge procedure has been completed. This is certainly worth taking. The sonic lance is a template weapons with low S that really is relying on breaching at 6+. Possibly not worth taking unless you hit lots of enemies, so assuming they're tightly packed it might be worthwhile. 

Phoenix Power Spear. I+1, S+1 and AP3 make this attractive for sergeants and above to take. Impact for damage and breaching is really nice as well, but the cost does come on top of a power weapon. Overall worth it I think. 

Phoenix Rapier. For legion sergeants and above you can get a power sword with breaching and Impact for damage for a slight points cost increase. This is worth taking in my opinion if you are wanting to save the points versus the power spear. [Legacies here - NB] 

Phoenix Warden. Tartaros Centurions on a prime slot who gain a phoenix power spear for free and the skill unmatched rule [the whole perfect strike and perfect guard rule exchange that the terminator squad has. 

Emperor's Children are really two legions in one. When selecting Traitors you can select a different bunch of tacticas (etc) which we note below. 

Tactica. 

Flawless Execution gives I+1 in combat in the turn you charged. This is really strong and calls for a close combat orientated legion force that insists on an alpha strike. 

Lords of Profligacy lets you become stupefied when suffering a ranged attack. This is surprisingly good as you drop all tactical statuses (permanently - no more worrying about being pinned in the game!) thanks to the stims. You also get feel no pain, and S+1. The price is snap shots herein, and no reactions and you must make a Cool check to remove stupefied, so it won't last forever potentially. . 

Gambit.  

Paragon of Excellence gives focus+2 in the first round. This is great!

The Broken Mirror lets you show off to your subordinates and you get double the support from Outside Support which is increased further by stupefaction. Slaanesh approves. 

Additional Detachements. 

Primacy Wing adds a useful set of 4 units including retinues and fast support elements - well worth having. 

Brotherhood of the Phoenix is instead of a warlord detachment and means you don't bring a warlord either. It is the legion's warrior lodge come to show how elite they all are, and you must also bring Fulgrim Transfigured at >3000 points. 

Advanced Reaction. 
Perfect Counter is a counter charge by your men to being charged in effect. This is very nice!

Twisted Desire lets you become stupefied when charged for the assault phase and you also gain feel no pain at an impressive 5+ level. 

Overall, the rules for the Emperor's Children are really solid. You just need to get into combat as quickly as you can. The stand out is the stupefy rule for the traitors which is a really interesting mechanic to be aware of. 

First Saturnine Terminator Built.

I have completed building my first Saturnine Terminator from the Saturnine boxed set. And I hated it. 

Look, I am hardly a newbie. I'm fairly old. I've been in the hobby decades. And this is one miniature that I genuinely did not enjoy building. It was not that it was too hard, but I found myself thinking that "these parts should have just been a single one on the sprue". There were many instances of this. 

Some of the parts are outright fiddly. Positioning all the legs ball-and-socket joints was a challenge. One that I can cope with, but also one that I ended up not being impressed by. I think I build a very static looking Saturnine next rather than one with a bent knee. The cork I used was too high for the miniature in hindsight, but the glue held it tight already by the time I realised it wasn't going to work out very well. So this one is caught mid-stride in a natural swing (left arm behind, right leg behind) looking like the plasma is about to be unleashed. 

The shoulder pads were also a pain. I found it better to glue the big two sections together first, and then add the support underneath, followed by the piping over the top. I also did not like the feet. 

What I did like was that the weapons were snug enough to be interchangeable (but I don't think I will be changing them). Choice of heads was nice to have as well. 

I would actually have liked more range of weapons to be honest. It feels like the two ranged weapons and the fist just isn't really enough options for a terminator. 

Five more to build, but I might leave them till I get rid of the glue from my fingertips caused by this one at least!!!

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Breacher Squad

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/5 stars. They need to see more use in my opinion, and I hope the forthcoming plastic set will achieve that. 

Background.

Breach! For those marines charged with some of the most dangerous actions, there are the breacher formations. Whether this is void craft boarding, or fortress storming, all of the legions stock breacher squads to do the dirty work. 

Strengths. 

As the basis, the squad is kitted out with a bolt gun, bolt pistol, and boarding shield. The latter gives a 5+ invulnerable save, and access to the Shield trait (which I encourage players to remember to use!). 

Beyond this, there is mild customization available in the form of graviton guns and las cutters, both of which have their place. 

Weaknesses. 

The 3+ save is somewhat mitigated by the 5+ invulnerable save. But regardless, the squad is cheap enough to be totally viable. 

What is lacking here in my opinion is the customization afforded in previous editions (e.g., flamers and the like have now been removed). They're also not fast, but maybe you don't need them to be quite honestly. You could, in theory, just objective sit with them as they have Line (1) as standard which, whilst not as good as the despoilers or tacticals, it remains viable for objective based game setups. 

Builds.

10 Marines, Vexilla, Nuncio Vox, Sergeant with Thunder Hammer (175 points). 

A baseline build. A hand flamer on the sergeant might provide a counter if objective sitting, but otherwise leave it out. 

20 Marines, Vexilla, Nuncio Vox, Sergeant with Thunder Hammer, 4 Las Cutters (335 points).

Fully upgraded and you can take melta bombs to taste. The unit retains very short range shooting and enhanced close combat thanks to the las cutters. This is a squad that demands to be dealt with as it is a close combat threat. 

10 Marines, Vexilla, Nuncio Vox, 2 Graviton Guns, Sergeant with Thunder Hammer (195 points).

Ranged variant. The graviton guns cover a similar range to bolt guns (slightly shorter range only) and therefore are well paired for a more shooting orientated build. Take melta bombs to taste and build up to 20 marines (as per the previous example) if needed. A plasma pistol on the sergeant is viable for ranged squads like this to pack extra punch.