End of 2nd Wargames Gallery: Alpha Legion Surprises the Salamanders

Coming out of nowhere, the Alpha Legion exploit gaps in the Salamanders formation despite taking heavy losses themselves to break up their lines and try to force them away. 

Taking surprisingly heavy losses for declaring a charge, the terminators close in on the tactical squad after Exodus (sneaking in at the background / top left) takes out their leader with some precise shooting. 

But all is not lost for the Salamanders. Their praetor in terminator armour stands firm against a champion from the Alpha Legion and the remnant of their command squad. His thunder hammer really does the job whilst the invulnerable save keeps him alive. This sub-battle is won by the Salamanders. 

Overall though, the picture is bleak for the Salamanders. After the turn pictured, there's really only the Praetor and the Contemptor left for the Salamanders, and the Alpha Legion have their terminators, Exodus, and their sniper squad (top right) still going. Victory ultimately goes to the Alpha Legion in a well executed plan despite losing their own HQ early on. 

Horus Heresy 3rd Edition Reveals: Allies and Missions

This week in Heresy Land, we have been treated to 1980's adverts for JoyToys along with the Heresy in general. Whilst amazing, what I'm going to write about today are the reveals about allies and missions for the third edition. 

The Allied Detachment follows broad brush strokes that long term players will be familiar with. Choose another faction and add your favourite models from them. Two main differences stand out at this point. Firstly that no force organisation chart entry is deemed to be mandatory. And secondly that there remains a strong emphasis on HQs - or to be more accurate for the new edition - command slots. Only by filling command slots can you open up further auxiliary detachments. You want terminators in you allied detachment? Add a command slot. You want skyhunters? Add a command slot. And so forth.

Lords of war remain as a special choice with the restriction of only being one quarter of your total points cost - but you can have 2 of them in the new edition. There are all sorts of buried opportunities here I think. It would be very easy, for instance, to include a command slot amongst your skyhunters if that was the way you wanted to undertake allies for (e.g.) White Scars or Emperor's Children. The stand out oddity is dreadnoughts which still have to have a command slot. I wonder if any dreadnought could also be a commander? Traditionally not, but I am thinking of Cassian Dracos from the Salamanders explicitly here.

Missions on the other hand seems to be all about victory points (although I am assuming that a traditional clean wipe will also win you the entire game overall). Control of objectives is now done on sheer numbers, and the Line(X) rule adds to the victory points such objectives are worth per turn as well as adds to the worth of the models holding it for the purposes of determining control - labelled tactical strength.  

More rules overlay this with Last Man Standing at the end of the game (nice, somewhat traditional); Slay the Warlord (very traditional); Giant Killer (somewhat traditional as well - applies to primarchs and the like); First Strike (interesting and promises armies will focus fire in their first turn - nasty). 

Vanguard and Expendable round out these basics by providing a strong counter attack against units holding objectives (former) and denying points for first strike (latter). I hope expendable is expanded beyond this to be honest - no victory points for killing those Khorne Cultists helping the Word Bearers. No one cares about those lost souls. 

Its shaping up to be interesting and I remain cautiously optimistic for the main part. 

 

Size of the Legions Prior to the Heresy?

Just how big are the Legions supposed to be?

Following yesterday's posting on Warhammer Community, I thought I would tabulate what the Black Books (in other words: first edition) had to say about the matter! There are, of course, other sources, such as the black library book series. But the canon in them is arguably less reliable. And besides, our liege lord Alan Bligh wrote quite a number of the old First Edition black books and frankly they're still amazing for the lore that who am I to go beyond them! These numbers mainly reflect the strength prior to the Isstvan battles. 

Dark Angels: Slightly under 200,000. 
Emperor's Children: 110,000.
Iron Warriors: 150,000 to 180,000.
White Scars: 95,000.
Space Wolves: 95,000 to 100,000 (note as well probably lower numbers after Prospero).
Imperial Fists: 100,000 (assumed from Black Library).
Night Lords: 90,000 to 120,000.
Blood Angels: 120,000.
Iron Hands: 113,000.

World Eaters: 150,000.
Ultramarines: 250,000.
Death Guard: 95,000.
Thousand Sons: 89,000-90,000 (note disagreement with literature after Prospero Burnt). 
Sons of Horus: 130,000 to 170,000.
Word Bearers: 150,000 up to Ultramarines levels according to some sources. 
Salamanders: 89,000.
Raven Guard: 80,000.
Alpha Legion: Conflicting Sources in Book 3 (naturally): 90,000 to 180,000. 

[Image - an older pic of my Iron Warriors]

End of 2nd Wargames Gallery: Gal Vorbak charge the Loyal World Eaters

With the mantle of loyalty resting firmly on their shoulders, the World Eaters brace the charging and twisted forms of the Gal Vorbak Word Bearers. 

In the image above, the Gal Vorbak have successfully charged the World Eaters assault squad. The ensuing battle is filled with warp laden gore and mutated bodies striking human berserker who regret having the nails hammered into them. Most of the squad are wiped out in the charge, but several remain and whittle the Word Bearers down to two remaining models. 

Meanwhile, the other Gal Vorbak squad fails to make the charge distance and triggers a shooting reaction from the Leviathan. The Leviathan kills several with contemptuous ease and finishes off the rest in its own shooting phase next turn. 

Overall, this eventually results in a victory for the Loyalists over the Word Bearers. And with plenty of thanks to a lot of lucky dice rolling, it has to be said. 

Horus Heresy 3rd Edition: Weekend Thoughts on Saturnine and Disintegrator Reveals

It has been yet another week of reveals from the Warhammer Community about the new rules for third edition Horus Heresy. 

We have now seen the plastic frames for the Saturnine Dreadnought, the Terminators, and the Araknae weapons platform. All of these look "crisp" and highly modern as we have come to expect in recent times of new plastic releases. 

The Saturnine Terminators are - in their own way - beautiful. They are not quite what I was expecting for this model (cross reference a weapon mounted on the top). Regardless, the power that they are packing is staggering. They have the option of plasma bombards, twin heavy disintegrators, or the disruption fist. The only thing that they cannot have is a double fist configuration. Key here is to note that the weapons all have the same range of 24inches which makes most configurations viable. The plasma is very nice for large pie plates everywhere and there's certainly a nice tactic available to rain down support fire everywhere for this unit (and teleporting them in to place to be able to do so). The disintegrators are very nice with the AP=2 and double shots. What is surprising perhaps is that plasma is locked at AP=4. I feel this is a bit of a change. They have breaching to help, but even so, that is not so good any longer. The fists remain very good for close combat purposes and I can see any combination of configuration working here. Although the points cost is obviously high. Yet they are probably - just about - worth taking. 

The Dreadnought is simply immense. There are other weapon options coming out distinctly from the boxed set to make more options. Obviously from the stat line, dreadnoughts are retaining the wound characteristic and toughness, rather than returning to armour values. This is not great. However, there are now reasonable options to deal with things like this via disintegration. The weapons for the beast are all viable here as well. I like the plasma and inversion beamer myself. But again all of them are very viable. The points cost is eye watering, but worth it. 

On the disintegration weapons, these are obviously very new for this edition to be seen in such numbers. I like the mysterious hints in the lore that no one really knows why they fell out of favour, and that only Leetu is a notable marine carrying one these days. Clearly the drawbacks might be severe, but they do look like they are worth taking. The remaining question is what the points cost is likely to be for a full squad of these (and presumably a support squad and heavy support squad variation, plus perhaps squads like veterans I would imagine as well). 

We are also continuing to see a multitude of leaks from various sources. I never post them directly, but I am certainly aware of them. Plenty of folks appear to have advanced copies and are now painting up those miniatures prior to the release date. I suspect it cannot be far around the proverbial corner. 

End of 2nd Wargames Gallery: Emperor's Children and Iron Warriors Reckoning

Unsure of who is a traitor and who is a loyalist (sounds like an Alpha Legion plot if you ask me), the Iron Warriors might takes on the Emperor's Children elegance and arrogance.  

A group of Iron Warriors terminators is attacked by the Emperor's Children assault squad. Swinging slower than the Emperor's Children, the terminators suffer massive wounds - more than enough to see the end of their days. 

In return, the Iron Warriors Siege Tyrants rain down a fire storm on the assault squad to wipe them off the board through a very rapid rout above the remains of a dead rhino. 

But the Emperor's Children are not yet done. A las cannon heavy support squad sits at the apex of a ruined tower and fires back at the siege tyrants. It isn't enough though - the tyrants are able to take them down at range and force enough unsaved wounds to wipe them clean off the board. Victory to the Iron Warriors!

End of 2nd Wargames Gallery: Salamanders test the Iron Without

Continuing the End of 2nd Wargames Gallery, this is the turn of the Iron Warriors against the Salamanders (in an apparent prelude to third edition perhaps?!). 

The Iron Warriors pour out of the Land Raider and make ready to charge into the Salamanders Praetor and assorted Isstvan survivors. The Salamanders have a handy reaction on their side though and will shoot back at full strength before the Iron Warriors make their lines.

Whittled down by one terminator, the Iron Warriors make quick work of the squad, but the Praetor stands firm and counters with his thunder hammer and (after more than this turn) is the sole survivor of this encounter. 

A larger scale overview of the situation can be seen in this second image. There's an Iron Warriors plasma support squad pumping volleys into a dreadnought which is about to exchange fire with an ordinary tactical squad. 

The tactical squad doesn't stand a chance and is readily partially eliminated and routed. 

Toward the end of the game the Iron Warriors support squad is the only one remaining whilst (a very burned and battered) dreadnought and the (rather sliced up) Praetor remains for the Salamanders after destroying the Land Raider. The game ends up a tie overall. 

End of 2nd Wargames Gallery: Corax Smashes World Eaters

Corax smashes into the World Eaters ranks to deliver a severe blow to those who would think the Raven Guard a spent and dead force. 

[I kept the scenic base on Corax here at it fitted so beautifully well!]

The second image shows a slightly wider angle, including the scene from last week, here. 

Victory in this battle went to the Raven Guard who were able to overpower both the long range firepower from the World Eaters dreadnought and dealt with the close combat threat via their Primarch moving very swiftly across the field of play. 

More Leaks Than Fishnets: Horus Heresy 3rd Edition

Yes, I saw the leaks before they were removed from Reddit. 

Its clear that some people already have the goods and are perfectly willing to post such things. I don't have a copy, nor would I post if I did. I don't have to either: there's more leaks than fishnets. 

But then some of the information was duplicated on Warhammer Community. Including the Force Organization Chart. 

On the one hand, I am rather disappointed by the fundamental changes that they have wrought. There won't be any more division of HQ-Elites-Troops-Fast Attack-Heavy Support. This has been with us for an exceptionally long time and the introduction of newer categories certainly feels very strange and unfamiliar at this particular point. 

Yet on the other hand, there certainly seems to be possibilities for new forces to be constructed without losing too much about current armies. If anything, more HQ selections (champions!) will need to be included in order to field certain arrangements. For myself, it probably won't make too much difference for my established armies and I'm grateful for that. But for the more specialised armies that I know friends have collected, I am antagonised on their behalf. 

As for the lack of glancing hits stripping hull points any longer, its certainly an interesting move. I can see how it isn't so bad though as we can still strip the hull points with repeated negatives for vehicles. The option of removing vehicles entirely instead of leaving wrecks is not in keeping with how anyone really plays the game, so I can see everyone agreeing (and tournaments ensuring) that wrecked vehicles will always become cover. 

Its shaping up to be a very fundamental re-write of the rules, not merely the "version 2.1" that the community was really hoping for. 

Warhammer Store: Metro Centre (Gateshead)

It has been a very long while since I wrote one of these pieces. Largely because my travels have slowed down a bit in recent years, coupled with the fact that I seem to visit the same old places all of the time! But lo and behold - a new place was visited recently! This time, my travels took me in the direction of Newcastle, UK. 

The Metro Centre is not even ten minutes by train away from Newcastle train station. It is a large out of town shopping mall containing lots of common UK high street stores, all under one very large (and multi-level) roof. The Centre is physically well served by rail and very regular bus connections, alongside masses of car parking space. It is a wonder more people don't come here instead of going through Newcastle itself - although I think this is at least in part the main attraction for many of the customers. 

The Warhammer store here is in the blue zone, on the upper level, and is located in "The Village" part of the centre. Handily, the Blue Zone is also where the rail and bus interchange are which makes it very accessible to those using public transport. The Village in turn is a rather salubrious part of the mall and very well appointed. 

Physically, the store is not the smallest known to humankind, but is not much bigger. The stock has a range of exactly what you might expect including paints and the basics. The staff here are very friendly and attentive and I rather enjoyed visiting and talking about Horus Heresy and 40k. Highly recommended - a very nice store, well appointed, and in a great location. Not much not to like overall!

Wargames Gallery: Targets Acquired

The World Eaters leviathan made a bit of a mess of a previous squad that tried to crack open its shell. These Raven Guard are all armed with melta weapons though and are in a suitably short range to hope to do something about the target that they've acquired. 

[Part of "Goodbye to Second Edition" -- a recurring Wargames Gallery over the next few weeks!]

Horus Heresy 3rd Edition Weapon Stats

More updates via the Warhammer community came out about the third edition this week, including today's focus on the array of modifiers that weapon stats are getting. 

The new weapon stats do away with Brutal as a rule. I see this as very good stream lining. However, what they also seem to be doing is adding some extra crunch with rules like Heavy. Instead of not moving but firing at full ballistic skill, they now get added bonuses for not moving. Such as a bonus on the number of attacks a weapon gets for staying still (like the heavy bolt gun getting 4 attacks for being stationary instead of 3). Does this mean full ballistic skill at all times? I'm deeply unclear, but it seems so. 

The modifiers to initiative and strength are nice enough, but I need to remember the acronyms which are curiously hard for me to grasp! One thing that stands out is that the power fist is now S+4 rather than Sx2 as the multiplier. That feels very peculiar!

Finally the "Gets Hot" rule now seems to be "overloaded" unless I'm reading things incorrectly. So the disintegration rifle risks disintegrating your own troops on a misfire. Bit of a risk, but I think the AP=3 and D=2 stat more than makes up for this risk. I don't quite like power axes as much as I once did though since they are just getting breaching 5+. I will need to run the math hammer on that unless someone has already beaten me to it. 

We also had the tactical statuses examined earlier in the week. In short, it looks like Routing and Running Away are all still under Leadership. But the rest of them are basically Cool tests (Pinned, Suppressed, and Stunned). Interesting here is that flamers are explicitly getting Panic which can cause routs. 

Buried in all of this is a bit of a give away that Reactions will still exist in third edition since "Stunned hampers your reactions" - or at least I have interpreted it this way. It could, alternatively, mean that you get some kind of initiative penalty. Who know. 

Crunchy Stats for Third Edition Horus Heresy

Here in June 2025, we have an article on the Warhammer Community about the new additions to the stat line for Horus Heresy. In short, Rogue Trader stats are making a return.

Direct from the text:

Leadership shows how receptive your troops are to following orders, and is used to gauge panic and rally fleeing units. Cool shows how calm your troops are under pressure and incoming fire, and it is used to avoid debuffs – such as penalties from suppressive fire.

Willpower is a more metaphysical stat, used primarily for manifesting – or resisting – psychic powers. Higher Willpower makes powers more likely to work, and you’ll take less damage from the Perils of the Warp.

Intelligence is used when interacting with technology. This could mean a Techmarine trying to fix a vehicle, or a specialist using an augur to track enemy units.

Tests are taken against the lowest characteristic in a unit, with two key exceptions. Models that have the Sergeant rule can always test on behalf of their unit, while Commanders who join units may also lend their stats to any check – an important role for middleweight characters.

The reality is that this level of complexity will certainly add more crunch to the game overall. Maybe it isn't such a bad thing. But as an old timer (I am old), I can put my hand on my heart and say that the reason that Rogue Trader stat lines were eventually abandoned was due to the complexity of the crunch and the slowing down of the game. This is maybe not ideal, but it does promise to be a little bit better perhaps. Certainly if they can make every stat a bit different rather than 7's or 8's across the board. 

The Sergeant is a good example of this with a higher Ld, but lower by one for the other entries. At least they haven't opted for the same across the board. I remain optimistic that it can and should do well. Psykers are going to have high WP - which again is good, and Ogryns low Int. All good. And crunchy. But please don't slow the game down. Speaking of which. I am concerned about the challenge sub-phase that is being introduced. Not sure what that will contain and how it is different from regular combat yet. Worried that it'll be another slowing down factor. Equally, challenges were always a bit distinct, so maybe formalising what has been is actually not going to be too bad either. Looking forward to hearing more soon!