Legacies of the Age of Darkness

Fortunately, as I thought, most of the supposedly "cut" units are in the Legacies of the Age of Darkness. Warhammer Community has announced this yesterday, but I worked until midnight yesterday, so I didn't have time to write about it. It also seems like some wargear options might be put back there, so you have stuff like "Veteran" Breachers who are those with volkite chargers and meltaguns and Inner Circle Knights Cenobium from the Order of the Broken Claws (probably your Thunder Hammer Knights Cenobium). And additional wargear options. Or exotic wargear, so your characters still have bikes, jump packs and Terminator armor no matter what Consul they are. Cool!

Destroyers are in the Legacies PDF, as I told everyone on Facebook and Reddit. Despite this, people didn't believe me, with one guy insinuating something by asking if I was bullied in school, and The Outer Circle posting a photo of a printer to push his 3D printing and anti-Horus Heresy 3.0 agendas. Sigh.

I was wrong about Tartaros Terminators, though. Seems like the power fists being missing is not an error - they're on the Legacies Tartaros Siege Terminators now, which confirms a new plastic kit for them coming. Yay. I might actually rebuild an Imperial Fists force with the Tartaros Praetor, a bunch of Tartaros Terminators with storm shields, and the new Breachers because they're coming out in plastic. Cool! I can't wait!

I also told people the Aurox transport and Tarantulas for Solar Auxilia will be in the Legacies PDF and I was downvoted to oblivion in Reddit and called a shill and some nonsense. Look, I already anticipated that because my Carnodon was relegated to Legacies in Horus Heresy 2.0. Instead of panicking, I looked at my Carnodon and was confident the Aurox and Tarantulas will be getting the same Legacies treatment.

One thing I disliked, though. The Ordinatus is missing for Mechanicum. That's an expensive Lord of War model, and to pretty much write it out of the game completely is...painful, especially for the owners. C'mon.

Anyway, I look forward to the Imperial Militia rules next month. I can't wait! Till then!

Horus Heresy Thousand Sons leaks

The leaks are coming in full force now! I won't go through all of them because I'm sure there are far better websites for that, and I suspect Youtube will be full of influencers covering them. That 4chan leaker or whoever has a grudge against Pardo, and I suspect his remarks border on harassment, but that's the responsibility of a moderator, I can't do anything about it.

Still, even if you have a grudge against somebody, insulting him across dozens of screenshot images seems immature, petty and, well, it's harassment. You can be sued if you get caught, though I think in an Internet of anonymity, it's more likely you'll get your account shut down by a moderator and your images deleted. My advice is: don't.

Anyway, back to leaks. I'll focus mostly on the Thousand Sons, but not on the named characters because, y'know, I'm all about my dudes and I don't really want Ahzek Ahriman or Magnus running around with Ignatius (my dude). I'm sure they have better things to do during the Heresy than follow Ignatius around. So what changes do we have in 3.0?

First, the Armory of the Thousand Sons. We no longer have aetherfire blasters. So our special plasma guns are now back to being ordinary plasma guns. Also, plasma guns simply have Breaching 6+ now, with Breaching 5+ in maximal fire mode, but Overload (which means 1 wound if we roll a 1, the old Gets Hot! rule). We retain Achea Force Swords, which are swords only, and is a 5-point upgrade for a power sword, but only for Characters with the Command or Champion sub-type. So my Sergeants' Achea kopeshes are now normal power swords, not Achea force swords. No big deal. It gets Breaching (5+) but is otherwise base AP3, and gives +1 Strength. Also has the psychic trait, but that does nothing. No bonuses, nothing.

We get a Prime Advantage for Troops (the special sun-ring thing in the new Force Organization Chart) called Telekine Shift, which means when we rush, we make a Willpower check, and passing it gives us Antigrav and Move Through Cover. Fail, and the unit can't move.

Our new Legion Trait, or Legion Tactica as they call it, gives all our non-vehicle models (so our Walkers and automata get it too!) a bonus +1 to our base Willpower, giving our basic infantry 8, and the Psyker Trait. Gambit allows us to swap a Focus Roll with the model's Willpower characteristic. We get a Prosperine Convocation detachment that gives us a single Troops slot with Prime Advantage, a Fast Attack, an Elites and a Heavy Transport. Our Advanced Reaction is the same as before, as far as I can tell, us making a Willpower check during shooting to get a 3++ invulnerable save if we pass or 5++ if we fail, but also Perils of the Warp. Warp Rupture, which means suffer 13 minus Willpower wounds (most of the time, it'll mean 5 wounds on your basic infantry, which you can only make invulnerable saves for).

Castellax-Achea Automata are now 80 points, but you can only take one per slot. No more maniples. Bro, what?! I have 4 of these guys and the Tactical Support detachment only lets me field 2. So I need 2 Tactical Support detachments to field both. And apparently, they use the same slot as my plasma tactical support squads now. Uh, that's not good.

I won't lie, though. Plasma now sucks so bad I'm not sure I'll be running my plasma squads anyway. Might as well stick to my Castellax-Achea Automata. Their Achea force claws are 2 damage and have Breaching 5+, which is cool, and the Aether-fire cannon is also 2 damage but Breaching 6+. Not many changes. Their Psychic Conduit rule allows them to tank Perils of the Warp for your Thousand Sons psykers using Prosperine Arcana, which means they take a single wound (Mortal Wound) instead of Tactical Status.

Khenetai Occult Cabal has 3 attacks each, are WS5, and have paired Achea force swords that give +1 attack, but otherwise are the same as above. They get a psychic reaction that gives them a 5++ invulnerable save if they pass Willpower, a Blessing during the Assault phase that gives their Achea Force Swords Precision (5+)

The Contemptor-Osiron Dreadnought is 200 points, retains his gravis force blade, which is now Damage 2 (but still Strength 9) and can upgrade the Damage if you use Force. Has Reaping Blow (2) too, whatever that is. He can also select one psychic discipline - Biomancy, Pyromancy, Telekinesis, Divination, Thaumaturgy or Telepathy, for a set number of points. I think he gets access to Prosperine Arcana so there's no stopping you from doubling on them? So you can take Biomancy and Pavoni to give him +2 Toughness during Shooting Reactions and +2 Strength and +2 Toughness when he charges. It will cost you points, though.

We now have a "Prosperine Sorcerer" and he's different from a Librarian Consul, which still exists, by the way. He gets a Prosperine spirestave and gets bonuses to his psychic weapons (+1 Strength for ranged and melee), and instead of getting psychic disciplines like a Librarian does, he gets Biomantic Slam from Biomancy, Wildfire from Pyromancy and Immovable Force from Telekinesis. They are specific psychic weapons, though, which you'll see below. No Prosperine Arcana, though.

Sekhmet Terminators have Achea force swords that they can replace with lightning claws, power fists, chainfists and thunder hammers. Suck it, Cenobite Knights! Hah! Our special Terminators get to keep all their options! Take note, unlike other Terminators, Sekhmet Terminators are Elites and not Heavy Assault, for some reason. Yes, and they can swap their combi-bolters for volkite chargers or a combi-weapon from the Legion Combi-weapons list. 1 in 5 can swap for a plasma blaster (mine), reaper autocannon or heavy flamer. Cataphractii Terminators and Tartaros Terminators have the same options! My army isn't invalidated at all! My Terminators keep their volkite chargers! WOOHOO! What was that about my army being invalidated or shelved? Okay, never mind, I still feel kind of bad for the Blood Angels, Dark Angels and Space Wolves players. Hopefully they get their options back in Legacies PDF. The only difference is that Terminators are now Toughness 5. They keep their 2 wounds, and Sekhmet Terminators are WS5, but now they're Toughness 5, which is really cool. No need to worry about Instant Death now that we have multi-damage weapons, while it makes them slightly impervious to small arms. Not bad! 

Speaking of which, Tartaros Terminators now cannot take power fists. I'm pretty sure that's an error that will be corrected soon. It's weird because that's how you primarily build them from the kit (unless you kitbashed them like me), but yeah, selling power fists plastic Tartaros Terminators and telling us, nope, they can't take them in the rules, seems...dumb. Hopefully that gets errata-ed. Doubt we'll even need the Legacies PDF for that.

Anyway, back to Thousand Sons rules. Prosperine Arcana.

As you can see, our rules got overhauled. Nice. In addition to getting a bonus +1 to our Willpower and our whole army (except vehicles) becoming Psykers, we can upgrade each non-vehicle and non-automata unit with one of five Prosperine Arcana. Also, we don't suffer Perils of the Warp like normal if we do normal psychic powers - instead, we suffer D3 wounds at AP2 that we can only use invulnerable saves. Or 1 if we pass them off to our poor Castellax-Achea automata.

Also, only one model per unit can use a psychic weapon when shooting with a Prosperine Arcana.

Raptora has Crushing Force, which is a one-shot 12" Strength 9 AP4 D2 Armorbane Force (D) shooting attack, and a Kine Shield Blessing Reaction that gives the unit 4+ Shrouded Damage Mitigation if you pass Willpower.

Pyrae gives an Inferno Shield blessing that smacks each enemy unit in melee (after they hit you) with D6 Strength 4 AP- D1 hits. We also get Burning Grasp, which is melee psychic weapon that's Strength 8 AP3 D2 Critical Hit (6+) Breaching 5+ and Armorbane. Only a single hit, though.

Pavoni is Stoneform, a reaction blessing that gives +2 to Toughness if you pass the Willpower. We also get Bloodboil, which is 12" Strength 4 AP2 D2 Poisoned 2+. Only one shot, though.

Corvidae fires Fated Shots, a Blessing that gives the unit 5+ Rending for their non-blast ranged weapons if they pass their Willpower check. Path of Consequence is a curse that gives an enemy unit -2" to their Movement and force them to take a Dangerous Terrain test if they move.

Athanaean gives them Clarity, a Blessing that removes all Tactical Statuses from any unit within 18". They also get Emanation of Dread, which is 24" 3 shots Strength 4 AP- D1, but causes Panic (1).

Nice glowup and upgrades! I think this might be better. Maybe? I like the psychic weapons now, they are cooler, and Corvidae with 5+ Rending on tactical squads might be insane. Whoa. Just make everyone Corvidae now, and the Dreadnoughts Pavoni. Heh.

Oh, right. Speaking of psychic powers, I might as well throw them here because Thousand Sons.

Let's start with Biomancy. You get Impact (Strength), Biomantic Slam - a psychic melee weapon that is -3 Initiative, Strength 12 AP2 D2 Force (D) Armorbane, but only one attack, and Biomantic Rage, which gives you +2 Strength and +2 Toughness when you charge if you pass your Willpower.

Pyromancy gives you Explodes (4+). Hah! Go out with a bang. You also get Wildfire, which is 18" Strength 4 AP4 D1, but one shot Blast 5", with Panic (1) and Force (S). For melee dudes, you have conflagration that's -1 Initiative, 6+D3 attacks, Strength 5 AP4 D1 Deflagrate (5) for close combat.

Telekinesis is a Reaction Blessing that gives a 3+ Shrouded Damage Mitigation against shooting. Immovable Force is 18" 3 shots Strength 6 AP4 D1 with Pinning (2) and Force (shots) psychic weapon. You also gain 4+ Shrouded by default.

Divination gives you Duellist's Edge (2) and Every Strike Foreseen Gambit. That means you can hit your enemy on a 2+ regardless of your WS if you pass Willpower, and you don't suffer Perils of the Warp. Foresight's Blessing gives you 5+ Precision.

Telepathy gives Fear (1). Mind-burst is a curse that forces an enemy unit to Fall Back after removing Tactical Statuses from them, force them to make a Leadership check after that, which if they fail, they become Routed. But you can't Move or Rush. Cursed Whispers are psychic weapon that's 18" 2D6 shots Strength 3 AP- D1 Stun.

Thaumaturgy gives Hatred (Psykers)...wait, what!? Hey! Don't hate my Thousand Sons! You can Resurrect through Resurrection, a Blessing Reaction that brings back slain models after they get shot if you roll a 4+ for each of them. If you pass Willpower, of course. Oh, and Perils of the Warp occur after you resurrect your dudes, so no trying to revive them after you eat like 5 wounds from Perils of the Warp. Tranquility is a Curse (oh man, it's funny if you take this out of context) that gives a -2 penalty to Willpower of an enemy unit when manifesting psychic powers or psychic reactions, and weakens Strength of psychic weapons by 1.

So how does this affect my listbuilding? Is my Thousand Sons army from 2.0 invalidated? Aside from Numerologist Cabal, who has yet to get any rules (probably in Legacies PDF or a future Journal Tactica), certainly not. I can build around them.

Let's start off with the Crusade Primary Detachment. I have a Praetor in Cataphractii Terminator, a Librarian Consul, a Praevian Consul (though I have no idea if he can unlock Castellax-Achea automata or if we are forced to take a Castellax battle-automata from Liber Mechanicum with him), and I'll buy a new Centurion and kitbash him into a Thousand Sons one. That gives me 5 auxiliary detachments. For the Troops, I'll take two Tactical squads, because why not? The Logistical Benefit from Prime Advantage for one of the two, I'll use it to bring an Contemptor-Osiron Dreadnought.

My first auxiliary detachment will be a Heavy Support for my second Contemptor-Osiron Dreadnought. Next would be Shock Assault for my Cataphractii Terminators. 3rd and 4th would be the Tactical Support for 4 Castellax-Achea automata. The last would be an Armored Support for my 2 Predators with plasma executioner cannons.

That's pretty much about it! Sure, I can't take plasma tactical support squads anymore, but that's fine because 1) plasma sucks and 2) I'd rather take Castellax-Achea automata anyway. I also don't know if I have enough points. Worst case scenario, I'd swap my Praevian Consul for a second Centurion (because quite frankly, if he does absolutely nothing for my Castellax-Achea automata, I don't see a reason to take him) and take a 3rd Tactical Support detachment for my plasma tactical support squads instead. There you go. I'm fielding the exact same army as before, minus the Techmarine, Praevian and Numerologist Cabal.

Frankly speaking, it's all about playing around with what you have. Aside from invalid weapons options (which I desperately hope they'll provide in Legacies), you should most likely be able to play around and field almost the same exact army as before, just that you'll need more Command Characters, Consuls, Centurions, etc.

A Titanic Legacy

So we have a preview of Titans today. Cool. Apparently, you have to shoot specific body sections after bringing down their void shields - a whooping 8 for a Warlord Titan! - and then bring each section down to 0 hull points to force the Titan to roll on some critical damage table.

Basically, roll high enough and you might destroy a Titan, though the chances of that are slim. There's nothing about melee, and I don't know how knights fare in melee. Will melee bypass void shields? I guess we'll find out, but I'm not sure.

There are also specific Engine Kill missions for Titans, such as Giant Killer, or preventing them from destroying a command post. Very cool. Swarm Assault also sounds really awesome, with infantry climbing all over the Titan, presumably to bring it down. Nice.

However, today, I think I should address the whinging, doomposting and inane whining that's all over Reddit and social media. Actually, I don't care about Reddit. They can whine and doompost there, and I think it's totally justified, I just am not going to participate in it. Right...what are they whining about? About units and wargear options being "invalidated" and entire armies being "invalidated" or some BS. Despite "promises that there will be no sweeping changes and you can still play your armies," apparently "entire armies have been invalidated" because they removed wargear options from the libers.

Personally, I believe it's better to wait for the Legacy PDFs before we go nuclear, but that's just me. The wargear options might be in the Legacies of the Age of Darkness PDF. They might not. But it's like a little over 2 weeks away. Can't we be a bit more patient and wait for the Legacies PDF or something instead of throwing a tantrum over...leaks in the Internet? Yes, I know they are "authentic" photos or snapshots of the Libers or whatever, but you're only seeing the Libers. We haven't seen the Legacies PDFs yet. I do agree it's dismaying if they lock units like Destroyers behind Journal Tactica. But claiming that your entire armies have been invalidated and raging with hyperbolic remarks seem...premature.

Also, can we not attack or harass the Horus Heresy social media team on Facebook? Like, c'mon. Stop being immature, entitled brats. You want to rage or whine about it, let's keep it to forums and Reddit and whatnot. If I disagree, I won't engage with you, simple as that. I actually don't want to dip my toes into the toxic cesspool of doomposting it has become, but I don't think it's right to stop people from venting and being furious either. But why harass the social media team and demand answers from them? Why whine to them about wargear options and invalidation of armies (which I'm skeptical until I see the Legacies PDFs)? What do you expect the social media team to do, other than stay silent? They aren't the ones who write the rules.

There was one guy on Reddit saying he's writing an email to tell Games Workshop customer service off and that they've lost a customer forever. Having worked in customer service, I can tell you, they'll probably think good riddance. On a cold, clinical level, there will always be other customers to replace you. I'm not saying your rage is not justified, but venting it on customer service is...just silly and doesn't benefit any party at all. They aren't the ones who make the decisions for rules in the first place. And no, telling them you're upset and believing they'll pass the message for you doesn't tell the rules people what they don't already know. As much as people might claim they're idiots, they are aware that gamers will be upset if their models are "invalidated" or removing options will cause a blowback. It's a calculated move to perhaps persuade people to buy new models to rebuild a "valid" army, or they think they'll bring in enough new customers to replace the angry ones who leave, or they've already anticipated the unhappiness and have put them in the Legacies PDFs.

Let's just pray it's the last option, and that we'll get what we want in Legacies. I won't lie, I do have a kitbashed Cataphractii Terminator squad armed with nothing but volkite chargers (and a couple of plasma blasters) for both my Dark Angels and Thousand Sons. And they all have power swords, not power fists. If they get invalidated, it will hurt. I also have a Numerologist Cabal from an Exemplary Battle, which I know won't be in the Liber for sure, but I believe will return in a future Journal Tactica. So it's not like I'm unaffected. But I'm not panicking because I'll patiently wait for the Legacies PDF first.

If the rules and wargear options aren't there, then...yeah, it's time to send feedback. But do it in a polite and firm manner, not a whiny, hyerbolic message where you threaten them with "you'll lose a customer forever." Like, if I'm losing you as a customer anyway, then why should I do anything? Customer service officers are still people, and being polite and firm will go a long way in communication, rather than them simply dismissing your raging rant.

Quite frankly, if they get "invalidated," then just proxy them or use them as counts as. My volkite chargers are now cool-looking combi-bolters. Whatever. If Games Workshop doesn't care enough and take away wargear options despite people kitbashing them over the years while investing tons of time, effort and money, then I don't care enough to adhere to what you see is what you get.

Questoris Familia

And today we have Knights! WOOHOO! As a Knight player, I was looking forward to this the most!

The Questoris and Cerastus Knights have Vanguard, which helps us score Victory Points even if we don't have Line. Cool! But to score VP, we'll need to rout or destroy enemy units on Objectives. Which is what Knights are made to do.

Also, it seems we can further customize our Knight Household and how they play. Also, great news - we no longer have to include 2 Armigers for every Titanic Knight, so I can include as many Super-heavy Knights as I want without having to worry about the Armigers now! YAY!

We have three Household types: Imperialis, Mechanicum and Medicant (which basically means nomadic). Each has a unique set of bonuses, such as Tactica, Advanced Reaction and Vow.

As usual, we get our own unique Primary Detachment that allows more Lord of War slots while granting them Prime bonuses. Holy Terra, yeah! So stuff like Lord Scion, which gives us 2 repair rolls at the end of their turn. Unfortunately, we no longer get access to allies. But we do get ranks that unlock our personal Household Militia! For example, the Lord Scion unlocks the Yeomanry Mesnie (which basically means Household Militia) detachment. Basically, Solar Auxilia or Imperialis Militia allies, who get their Traits replaced by the Questoris Trait! Awesome!

Yeomanry is a designation used by military units in the British army reserve, and have historical roots in volunteer cavalry regiments from the 18th and 19th centuries. Mensie (or mense) is British slang for a large quantity of military forces, so...yeah, a large quantity of military reserves for Knight Households. Really cool to see this for Knights and them making it official/canon!

Even better, the Preceptor Rank now gives us an automata talon!

Oh, and they get Battlesmith (2) and counts as Intelligence 8 when making Repair tests, which helps us with the Tactical Statuses stuff.

We also get vows, which is...a thing. Apparently, gives us ways to score bonus Victory Points, but they seem very difficult.

Cerastus Knight Atropos is 600 points now. Yikes. You can take 5 of them in a 3,000-point list, but not much else. Hopefully the Questoris Knights don't cost that much...they are the "cheapest" but I have no idea how much is "cheapest." Will the new Knight Defender be included? Would love the plasma weapon and conversion beamer for the Knights, but I won't hold my breath.

The Asterius Knights also get a mention, but...we'll see. Anyway, I can't wait to get Liber Questoris. Glad to see that I can still take Imperial Militia or Solar Auxilia or Automata allies, even if we no longer have access to Allies! My Imperialis Militia is meant to be a Yeomanry Mensie anyway, and I would be sad if I couldn't field them alongside my Knights!

Solar Auxilia

Today is Solar Auxilia.

Tercios are now Auxiliary detachments. I'm not sure how it will work, but I assume I can unlock a Veletaris Tercio with a Lord Marshal or something. I hope. And maybe a Tank Commander will unlock an Armored Tercio, which will allow me to field my Solar Auxilia as this elite Veletaris dudes wielding volkite weaponry riding in Dracosan Armored Transports alongside Leman Russ tanks, a Valdor tank hunter and a Stormblade. We shall see...

We also retain Cohort Doctrines, though they seem to have changed significantly. How much? I can't tell.

At least battle cannons are now AP3 if your Leman Russ tanks are stationary. Cool, I guess?

I wonder what else we're getting. I can't wait!

Mechanicum Taghmata and future of Horus Heresy

Rejoice, we have Imperial Militia coming! YAY!

I'm just lookng at Imperial Militia because I have a bunch of guys wielding volkite weapons from Armory of Old Night as my Knights' Household Militia, but there are more information here. Take your time, but long story short, new miniatures are on the way, Talons of the Emperor are getting more stuff and their own Liber in time, and Journal Tactica series will be a steady release.

We also get a peek at Mechanicum rules, and unlike the Legiones Astartes Crusade detachments, it seems we get our own unique Mechanicum detachments. So our Primary Detachment will be entirely composed of Archmagos, Magi and Tech-priest Units, which will unlock their own Auxiliary or Apex detachments belonging to their High Tech Arcana.

So I can still build a Legio Cybernetica force by choosing the Cybernetica High Tech Arcana, which will unlock Auxiliary and Apex detachments for automata. Yay.

There are a few hints, like a Macrotek Archmagos getting the Iron Phalanx Apex detachment for three Armor units (Krios tanks or Krios Venators) and three Heavy Transports (the Triaros Armored Conveyor).

Mechanicum units are also cheaper now. Yay?

I don't know how my Mechanicum army will look with the new rules, but I guess we'll find out!

Death Riders assembled

It took me a very long while, but I finally assembled my Death Riders and Marshal Dreir!

Sorry for the lack of updates. It has been a terrible June for me, to say the least. I was severely sick for 2 weeks (infection, fever, etc., had to take antibiotics), I lost my relief teaching job, there was a relative's funeral to attend, and I had been frantically searching for a new job. Suffice to say, no income means no hobby, which is why I haven't been updating for a while. Dreir and my Death Riders were actually purchased back in May, but I was obviously in no mood to assemble them because I was immersed in job-hunting. I'm sure those of you who have been unemployed before will know the feeling.

It's not...good.

Anyway, I got another teaching job for now, just waiting for assignments at the moment. We'll see. I can finally take a breather and start saving for the Saturnine Horus Heresy boxset and whatever Horus Heresy stuff I want to buy, such as Sekhmet Terminators or something. Or Mechanicum stuff. We'll see. For now, though, Krieg. I still need to get that Krieg heavy weapons squad, but again, I'll wait until I receive my salary first. Until then...I probably won't be doing much hobby stuff. Sigh.

Oh, and Horus Heresy 3.0 seems to be slated for a July 26th release date. I can't afford the Saturnine boxset, so I'll wait until December or next year, I guess. Sigh. We'll see.

Anyway, at least I'll have my Krieg Death Riders to play with for now. Dreir leading them on a charge to deal Devastating Wounds! Might even get a second box because I want to assemble more Death Riders with power swords and lasguns. We'll see. Again, it depends on how much income I actually get.

Till then...