Drop the Steel Hammer!

Warhammer Community has posted about the Astra Militarum armored detachments in the upcoming Return of Yarrick! I'll be preordering this, for sure! Not for the rules and armored detachment, but because Yarrick is a legend, and my guys are fighting on Armageddon against the Orks. Hopefully, the Ryuusei Katanas' volkite weaponry will be lethal against the Orks.

We have the Armored Infantry detachment, which is a callback to Armageddon Steel Legion, though I'm pretty sure they've already been represented by the Mechanized Assault detachment. Oh, well. Anyway, Squadron Command allows your infantry command squads and infantry officers (e.g. Cadian Castellan or Commissar) to issue orders to squadron units. I.e. your tanks. Not only that, you have a new, additional order, On My Signal, for non-artillery vehicles and vehicles smaller than a Leman Russ tank, which allows them to run away whenever an enemy unit moves within 9" of them. Cool?

But I'm more interested in the STEEL HAMMER!

I don't know how competitive it is, but it allows your tanks to shoot in close combat without suffering the -1 penalty, and you can shoot blast weapons at pointblank range. Including my plasma executioner cannon and Stormblade plasma cannon. Woohoo!

Also, you can select a Baneblade or super-heavy tank variant to be a Character, meaning they get enhancements and can be your Warlord! I doubt they get the Officer keyword and can give orders, though, unless there's an enhancement for that. But I would love to pop Engine of Wrath and crush my enemies under my Stormblade's titanic treads.

I still remember that game in Minneapolis, years ago, when my Shadowsword charged an enemy unit and crushed them. Fun times. Now I can do it again! If I ever find an opponent...

Anyway, this will be fun! I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the Return of Yarrick! And when I do, I'll do a lore spoiler summary, as usual!

Establishing a Knight Household

As I said in a previous post, I saw this article about establishing my own Knight Household in White Dwarf Issue 523 and I wanted to do my own set of answers! So let's begin!

Where do your Knights hail from?

The Loyalist Knight World of Ryuusei in the Segmentum Solar, a planet covered mostly in dense forests and oceans teeming with colossal creatures known to the inhabitants as Ayakashi. House Yato has constructed fortress-cities across the landmasses, linked with titanic transitways and dotted with agriplexes and massive manufactorums that produce Knight suits, ancient weaponry dating to the Dark Age of Technology, and armored vehicles for House Yato's Household Militia. Each fortress-city has its own spaceport, mass conveyors landing from orbit or launching into the heavens to ferry Knights, their Noble pilots, and regiments of Household Militia to ongoing crusades, or to ship immense quantities of war materiel, which includes both weapons and armored vehicles.

Their alliance with the neighboring Forge World of Draconis IV allows House Yato to be constantly equipped, supplied, repaired and maintained, and consequently, they are one of the largest Knight Houses in the Imperium, having fought during the Horus Heresy as entire Knight formations sizeable enough to threaten even Titan Legions. This also grants them access to rare Knight chassis such as the Cerastus class, and even the rare Cerastus Knight Atrapos. Only the Acastus Knights Porphyrion are tightly locked within the vaults of their fortress-cities, deemed to precious to lose to the Archenemy. And quite frankly, the Dominus Knights Castellan do their job better anyway. Formerly known as Koya, Shogun Yato Yoshinobu had given the world to the Mechanicum as part of a shrewd deal to gain their support and services, and this bond has remained intact even through the dark days of the Horus Heresy and persist 10,000 years latter, having mutually benefited both parties.

The Nobles of House Yato are known as Bushi, the equivalent of Scions of other Knight Houses. The land continents of Ryuusei are split into feudal domains known as provinces, each ruled over by a Daimyo - the equivalent of Barons - who guard their territories zealously. War would often break out if a Daimyo were to trespass into a rival's province. Despite each Daimyo being the lord of their own fiefdoms, they all answer to a single Shogun - House Yato's equivalent of High King. The Shogun derives his authority from the God-Emperor of Mankind, who the residents of Ryuusei worship as the son of the Sun-Goddess ever since their world was folded into the Imperium during the Great Crusade.

The people of Ryuusei entrust their safety to the Bushi, who protect them from the Ayakashi that infested their world. From the titanic serpentine Orochi and their kings, the Yamata no Orochi, to the leviathan Bake-Kujira that dwelled beneath the ocean depths to the gargantuan, amphibious Ryuu, these fearsome Ayakashi are hunted by the valorous Bushi and their indomitable Knight suits.

Apart from Ryuusei, House Yato reigns over its own stellar realm in the Draconis Sector. Spanning several systems, their stellar territory includes the famous "bread basket trio," the three agri-worlds known for their bountiful macro agri-complexes - Inari, Beisei and Nouzen. Within the Draconis system, the mountain world of Yamahodo has been transformed into a staging facility for void vessel assets, including an academy for training naval officers, which provides House Yato its own personal fleet to transport them across the galaxy, enabling them to reach farflung warzones and aid the Imperium in its battles if necessary, or expand its frontiers. The ocean world of Namikai is famed for its seafood, and also vast promethium reserves in its seabed. The jungle world of Aomori several systems away is also a protectorate of House Yato, who sometimes uses its verdant forests as training grounds for both Knight aspirants and Household Militia.

How do they fight?

Given the history where House Yato emerged supreme over rival Houses such as House Takeda, House Uesugi and House Kiyomori, subsuming them to become the preeminent Great House in Ryuusei, the Bushi of House Yato are pragmatic and strategic. House Yato was known for striking in the dead of night, the black of their Knight suits allowing them to blend into the darkness almost unseen. This is what leads to them being known as the Night Blades. They have used that cunning to their advantage, attaining many victories through camouflage and attacking at the most unexpected timing.

Due to their version of Code Chivalric, which they call Bushido, they favor close-ranged blade and polearm weapons - such as the reaper chainsword or the Tempest Warblade, and the Cerastus shock lance or thundershock spear. However, they will not eschew ranged weapons because they also value the strategic advantage of annihilating a foe from a distance. House Yato nobles will primarily choose energy weapons over those requiring solid munitions for logistical reasons. Often, when on a hunt for Ayakashi in the dense forests, it is difficult for them to rearm and resupply, and as such, energy weapons that draw power from the Knight suits' plasma reactor instead of requiring rearmament of solid ammunition prove to be more practical and better suited to their fighting style.

A lance primarily consists of Questoris Knights Errant, whose close-ranged thermal cannons complement their brutal melee weapons, and their vassal Armigers Warglaive and Armigers Moirax equipped with exotic armaments, along with rapid-moving Bellatus Knights Destrier, supported by the ranged firepower of domineering Dominus Knights Castellan and Questoris Knights Defender. Due to their preference for close combat, House Yato prizes Cerastus chassis and is among the few Knight Houses to consistently field Cerastus Knights Lancer and Cerastus Knights Castigator. As mentioned above, the Knights Errant and Armigers Warglaive would normally be equipped with meltaguns rather than heavy stubbers, as these derive power from the suits' plasma reactor rather than requiring solid ammunition. That is also why they favor Armigers Moirax over Armigers Helverin, for lightning locks and volkite veuglaires draw power from plasma reactors instead of requiring solid shot ammunition. However, in cases such as the Knight Castigator or the Questoris Knights Crusader being fielded, they will not hesitate to use the advantage derived from possessing many manufactorums throughout Ryuusei to resupply.

The Knights of House Yato rarely fight alone, usually supported by armored cohorts of their Household Militia, known as the Ryuusei Katanas. So effective are the Ryuusei Katanas that they often go on to serve as Astra Militarum regiments in their own right, foraying into the stars to defend embattled worlds of the Imperium, or participating in crusades such as the Indomitus Crusade. Though technically not obligated to offer a Tithe, the Ryuusei Katanas are authorized by the Shogun or - if he is absent due to long distance and beyond astropathic range - the highest-ranked Daimyo present to deploy to new warzones or answer the call for reinforcements. An example is when several Ryuusei Katana regiments  decide to answer House Hawkshroud's call for assistance against an Ork Waaagh!, and due to Imperium Nihilus being cut off from Segmentum Solar (and Imperium Sanctus as a whole), the Daimyo - Lord Uesugi - permits them to head to Krastellan while his lance continues to hunt Tyranid Bio-Titans across the Red Scar. Another is when a dozen Ryuusei Katana regiments divert toward Armageddon to answer the legendary Commissar Yarrick's call to head off Wazdakka Gutsmek's incoming SpeedWaaagh! while their Knightly masters remain embroiled in the Pariah Nexus.

As a consequence of their technologically advanced manufactorums, the elite of the Ryuusei Katanas - known as Ryuusei Grenadiers - are equipped with volkite weaponry from their vaunted Armory of Old Night. They field Solar Auxilia-grade Leman Russ tanks - including Leman Russ Incinerator variants, which are thought to be lost to the modern Imperium - and Valdor tank destroyers, and even super-heavy tanks such as Stormblades and Shadowswords, a tradition that continues from as far back as the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. Entire regiments of Ryuusei Katanas, primarily composed of armored squadrons and mechanized Grenadiers, mobilize alongside the Nobles of House Yato when called to war. Their volkite weaponry will provide tremendous advantage as they employ them against the marauding Orks who are poised to invade both Armageddon and Krastellan.

Do they have any notable characters?

The protagonist I center on is Sir Tanaka, who first began his career as a Bondsman, piloting an Armiger Warglaive, before he rises through the ranks and is rewarded with a Dominus Knight Castellan, Kazan. His buddy is Suzuki, who pilots the Armiger Warglaive, Hebi. They serve under the Daimyo, Lord Takeda, who pilots the Cerastus Knight Lancer, Naginata.

Other comrades who Tanaka has fought alongside include:

Sato - the pilot of the Armiger Warglaive, Kaen

Watanabe - the pilot of the Armiger Warglaive, Tsurugi

Iwatani - the pilot of the Armiger Warglaive, Kame

Chiba - the pilot of an Armiger Moirax

Sendo - the pilot of an Armiger Moirax

Sir Amano - the pilot of the Cerastus Knight Castigator, Ama no Habakiri

Sir Kanda - the pilot of the Questoris Knight Errant, Engetsu

Sir Minamoto - the pilot of the Questoris Knight Preceptor, Yoichi (Sir Oogami was killed in action, and Ookami was salvaged and refitted, and the name was changed to Yoichi)

Sir Kaji - the pilot of the Cerastus Knight Atrapos, Yami

Sir Hayashi - the pilot of the Bellatus Knight Destrier, Kaminari

Sir Mamoru - the pilot of the Questoris Knight Defender (coming soon, I haven't gotten the parts to assemble the plasma executor and conversion beam obliterator yet)

Whoa, I actually have a lot of Knights. That's 14 characters in my collection, all with their own names. I can't believe it. And I haven't even counted my Mechanicus Knights from House Kanda yet. Though that can count as House Taranis...eventually. That's enough to make a small Household in itself.

Create their livery.

Night black armor panels framed with gold. Yato means Night Blades, and that's their cognomen, something they have retained since the Horus Heresy.

Create their heraldry.

A single yellow moon. The heraldry of moon suits a Knight House who's known as the Night Blades perfectly. The origins of the simple heraldry stem from House Yato and its subsumed Houses having endured the horrors of Old Night and emerged triumphant. When Yato Yasutaka, the first Shogun, united all of the warring Knight Houses under a single banner, he imposed his House's heraldry upon the whole of Ryuusei. As a result of their pragmatism, and often because House Yato prefers to camouflage themselves in darkness, striking at the most unexpected moments, they keep their heraldry simple and unostentatious. It was too troublesome for the artisans to keep redrawing and repainting the heraldry after every battle, and the pragmatic Shogun wanted them to focus on repairs, not decoration. So he dictated that the heraldry be a simple full moon against the endless black of a night sky.

Yato Yasutaka is also known as the Great Moon, and those of his lineage who succeed him inherit the title of Shogun. When Yato Yoshinobu, the Shogun during the Great Crusade, complied with Imperial authority, the Great Moon was said to be a reflection of the God-Emperor, who descended from the Sun Goddess, a shadow of the Emperor's divinity. And thus, those of his bloodline continue to be revered so.

Honestly, it started as a joke, but I'm keeping the smiley face. You're not supposed to take Warhammer 40,000 seriously, and in the grim darkness of the far future, you need a sense of humor. I'm amazed it evolved from a smiling face into a full moon. I wouldn't be surprised if that's how most of Warhammer 40,000 lore began - first, as a joke, then evolved into something that makes perfect sense (at least in the context). Also, it was also somewhat inspired by the Japanese flag, which has a single round red sun against a white background. Also, the Great Moon is a reference to Raising Villains the Right Way, also known as I became the patron of villains. It's a manhwa series I recommend!

March to War! Imperial Knights lore in White Dwarf

I didn't get Reign of Iron (I'm saving up for Return of Yarrick and the new Imperial Guard vehicles), but when I saw the Knight on the cover of White Dwarf Issue 523, I just had to get it.

So what new Imperial Knights lore is in April 2026's issue? Let's dig in and find out!

We begin with what we already know: the Code Chivalric, the set of doctrines that all Knight households and Freeblades cleave to, and how Questor Imperialis households are those who vowed fealty directly to the Emperor of Mankind of Holy Terra. I think what's new and not in the codex is additional information regarding the heraldry, such as the uniformity of the design of household crests - usually, they have a shield in the center of their crest, which is usually halved. On the left, you have the household emblem, and the right half will bear the Imperial aquila.

The rank insignia: the stripes across a Knight's carapace denotes his rank, and you can have different colored stripes or even have stripes that employ pigments only visible to the specialized suites of vid-feeds, multispectral fliters and auspexes integrated into Knight suits, because they consider non-Nobles unworthy of viewing such heraldic conventions.

This is already in the codex, but I was delighted to see some of the Household's lore summarized here. We have House Terryn, and they follow the evolution of their crest, from the horse's head stemming from visions of white stallions by the house's founder, Maximilian Terryn. Cool!

Same thing with Questor Mechanicus households, whose design features a cog instead of a shield. Interesting. We also have a nice repeat of Ulantor and the Red Doom, who is from the codex. Actually, they just copied the whole entry of Ulantor and the Red Doom over from the codex. Huh. Well, whatever.

Now this is what's new. Unlike House Terryn, where the codex actually mentions Maximilian Terryn, Brutus Terryn and Seuitonius Thucidies Terryn, we don't have any mentioned characters for House Taranis in the codex, aside from Ulantor and Archimaxes (who pilots the Knight Castellan, Devastation Unbridled). So this is new! And it's for House Taranis, one of my favorites! I...actually have a small lance of House Taranis Knights (which I just deploy as House Kanda), but yeah, if I were to ever take a Knight House from the codex instead of my homebrewed one, it would be House Taranis.

Anyway, we have Cheops Taranis - the founder of Hosue Taranis - uniting the two largest Knight spearhead formations on Mars by besting his rivals. Chefren Taranis then led a charge against an invading Ork horde in the early 32nd Millennium, and then Ahkenaten Taranis ruled the House in M35, forging a new alliance with the Fabricator General that saw House Taranis gain autonomy rights within the armies of Mars. Cool!

We also have a mention of Freeblades, but it's basically draw whatever heraldry you want. Ha ha.

We also have a much fuller account of the featured Questoris Knight Defender on the box art of the kit. So the Knight Defender, if you've noticed, is named Aereus. Here's the background for her! She is piloted by Baroness Prime Klydia Irosta. She hailed from House Irostus Xo, which was a Questor Mechanicus Household - and you'll notice my use of past tense here because the House was destroyed.

Basically, House Irostus Xo was from the world of Wrath's Fall, and they are loyal to Mars. They have ancient technologies - weapon systems, cogitator arrays, neuroempathic circuitry and other devices guarded in their citadel since before the horrors of Old NIght.

Klydia has access to the house's relic artifacts, but unfortunately, after the opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum, Wrath's Fall was overwhelmed by an armada of heretics and mutants. House Irostus Xo couldn't get reinforcements, so the Tech-Magi petitioned the Princeps to safeguard the Knight's most valuable artifacts. After getting the Princeps's permission, the Tech-priests for some reason embedded all the house's technological relics into Kyldia's Knight, Opus Gatekeeper. Yeah, they integrated all the ancient artifacts into Opus Gatekeeper's power relays, plasma core and manifold systems, turning the whispers of her Throne Mechanicum into roars and screams. Ugh.

Before House Irostus Xo's citadel fell, Klydia, Opus Gatekeeper, a company of serf soldiery, her cabals of Sacristans and the most senior Tech-priests escaped aboard a Mechanicus orbital conveyor to Mars. Upon reaching Mars, the Tech-priests found themselves unable to retrieve the Irostus Xo artifacts because strange binharic pathways had threaded through her Throne Mechanicum. New voices emerged, and Klydia renamed her Knight Aereus, and the technohistoritors of Olympus Mon recognized the title as an ancient name of the Machine God in its manifestation as the Divine Disassembler.

Now, Klydia fights as a Freeblade in service to Mars and the Adeptus Mechanicus. Aereus is empowered by the technological relics of House Irostus Xo, and Klydia often accompanies lances of Nobles from other Households to protect holy technologies of their Knights, or leads entire Freeblade companies, often those aligned with the Mechanicus. Apparently, she's going insane because of her obsession with safeguarding technological relics, but hey, whatever.

So that's the background behind Aereus and House Irostus Xo, and her pilot, Kyldia Irosta!

We also have a page on how to establish a Knightly Household, and I'll write a separate article on it, probably using it for my own House Yato. I know I've written a lot of posts covering my own homebrewed Knight House, but it'll be fun to run it through this framework and see what kind of output is produced! Will also make an easy post for my own reference so that I can more conveniently find where I named my characters, etc. I look forward to writing it!

Oh, there's also a bunch of both homebrewed Knights and Knights from exiting canon sources. I think House Gottenheim is a homebrewed Household by Ben, but it has been destroyed. Only Morgana Zosma survives, and she pilots the Questoris Knight Defender, Pavise Maxima, and is a Freeblade.

But what catches my attention is House Zavora! If you're a huge Horus Heresy fan like me, you'll know of House Zavora - and I've actually mentioned them in my past articles, though they're passing sentences without much substance. What happened to House Zavora after the Horus Heresy? Turns out they survived! Woohoo! So House Zavora almost got destroyed during the Horus Heresy, but allied to Loyalist Mechanicum forces, they persevered and survived! Now they have few Knight suits remaining, and one of them is a Knight Errant named Forger! No, he has nothing to do with Loid Forger or the Forger family from Spy X Family.

If you are a fan of Knights, I encourage you to pick up this month's White Dwarf! It's awesome and filled with new lore that's not in the codex! It's also a fun reference for creating your own Knight Household! Which I've already done, but I still find value in this!

Knight Destrier assembled

I have assembled my Knight Destrier! The Reign of Iron has begun, and my Knight World, Ryuusei, and Forge World, Draconis IV, are among those resisting Perturabo's incoming siege...or at least that was the plan, but my Knights ended up being diverted elsewhere in the Segmentum Solar instead of Obscurus. We aren't heading to the Cadian sector, but toward both the Armageddon Sector and the Pariah Nexus instead. Oh, well.

I have not glued the arms yet because I intend to magnetize them. I'm delighted the Knight Destrier kit has enough otpions for me to build complete arms, so I can build all options and magnetize them, unlike the Questoris Knight kit where a few of the weapons use the same parts, and there's only one set of arm joints, so it's more difficult to magnetize them. Oh, well.

Always good to have more options! I can equip my Knight Destrier in a varierty of ways. Bellatus reaper chainsword and thundershock spear? Sure! Chastiser gatling cannon and frag bombard? Certainly! Bellatus reaper chainsword and frag bombard? Here you go! Chastiser gatling cannon and thundershock spear! Definitely! Even if not ideal, I can still go frag bombard and thundershock spear if necessary. Magnets everywhere!

Now all I need to do is wait for my superglue and magnets to arrive...I'll snap another picture then, but I think we'll have new resin models joining my Knight Destrier.

Speaking of which, I think the pilot will be Hayashi.

So Sir Tanaka (basically my in-game protagonist) is the pilot of Kazan, which - depending on which point in the story, is either a Questoris Knight Errant or a Dominus Knight Castellan, after he gets promoted when achieving a great feat. Sometimes he gets to pilot a Cerastus Knight Lancer...or at least his ancestor did during the Horus Heresy. If Tanaka's Kazan is a Dominus Knight Castellan, and there's also a Questoris Knight Errant, then that's most likely Engetsu, piloted by Sir Kanda.

Otherwise, Lord Takeda is the one piloting the Cerastus Knight Lancer, Naginata. Sir Minamoto pilots the Questoris Knight Preceptor, Yoichi, and Sir Hayashi gets the Bellatus Knight Destrier, Kaminari. Sato pilots the Armiger Warglaive, Kaen, and Chiba pilots an Armiger Moirax. Suzuki pilots the Armiger Warglaive, Hebi, Watanabe also has an Armiger Warglaive, Tsurugi, and Iwatani pilots the Armiger Warglaive, Kame. Sendo also pilots an Armiger Moirax. Sometimes Chiba and Sendo switch to Armiger Helverins instead, depending on the edition (e.g. during the 2nd edition of Horus Heresy, Knight Household armies couldn't use Armiger Moirax...what the hell? At least we can add them now, in 3rd edition...).

Welcome, Sir Hayashi! I'm sure his Bellatus Knight Destrier, Kaminari, would be a great addition to my House Yato lance!

I need to decide who pilots the Cerastus Knight Castigator and the Cerastus Knight Atrapos. Whoops. I realized I haven't designated any pilots to them yet. Maybe Sir Kaji gets the Atrapos after a promotion from piloting an Armiger Moirax. The Knight Castigator, Ama no Habakiri, will be piloted by Amano. Okay, it's decided then!

I need to remember this list of Knight pilots and their Knight suits! Since I'm crafting a story around them and all that. But man, that is a long list. Wow.

Cool tanks

Warhammer Community has released rules on the new Astra Militarum vehicles!

I haven't played Warhammer 40,000 for almost 2 years now, so...uh, I have no idea if they're strong or not. I'm still getting them, though. Because I love tanks. They appear to have really cool rules. The Centaur RSV can transport up to 12 dudes, and they can all fire out thanks to Firing Deck 12. Warhammer Community also recommends you load up to 6 Cadian heavy weapons teams with lascannons or missile launchers to zoom them around shooting lots of heavy firepower. If you ask me, though, I'll be loading up with 6 Krieg heavy weapons teams with heavy flamers and incinerate a bunch of heretics and xenos. Heh. However, I just checked the Imperial Guard codex (Astra Milliwhat? You're in the Guard, son), and I realize Krieg heavy weapons squad is composed of 4 models, not 3. So they take up 7 slots in transport capacity. Yikes. No doubling up on them then. Sigh.

The interesting thing about the Hippogriff is that all its main weapons are assault. Interesting. Very interesting. He comes packed with a standard battle cannon, which they call Vigilator for some reason. Only Strength 8. You can pair that or a Chiron gatling cannon - which shoots 12 Strength 5 shots - with a heavy stubber. Or you can go all in on anti-tank with a heavy lascannon that shoots a single Strengh 12 AP -3 Damage D6+1 shot, or a double-shot melta cannon with a meltagun. And they all have assault. Cool.

I'll be getting the tanks, for sure. The Centaur, I'll be using as an explorator rig or something for Horus Heresy, to cart my Imperial Militia Ryuusei grenadiers around. And since I'm getting Krieg heavy weapons eventually (for heavy flamers), I'll stick the twin heavy stubbers and any spare heavy flamers I have from Heresy-era tanks onto the Centaur to make him a rig! I can't wait to see how it goes!

Knight Destrier Stomp

 

For context:

That's my Ryuusei Katana grenadier, my very own homebrewed regiment. He's not a Kasrkin. The Ryuusei Katanas also serve as the Household Militia for my Knight Household, House Yato. Having served the Imperium since the Great Crusade, they have access to volkite weaponry, thanks to the Armory of Old Night provenance...basically, lore-wise, they have preserved the technology to manufacture and utilize volkite weapons because they own the STC on their world, and also because of their alliance with the neighboring Forge World of Draconis IV.

And yeah, that Knight is from House Yato, hence the heraldry being that familiar smiley face that has been on my blog since I first started a Knight army. Anyway, enjoy.

Horus Heresy Leviathan Missions

No, this has nothing to do with Hive Fleet Leviathan from Warhammer 40,000 10th edition, and nothing to do with Tyranids. Tyranids don't show up in the Horus Heresy, after all. So what exactly is Leviathan? Well, we might need to delve a bit into the past to find out. First, though, let's establish that Leviathan here doesn't refer to any Tyranid Hive Fleet, but rather super-heavy vehicles that dominated the battlefields of the Horus Heresy.

In the first edition of Horus Heresy, we had something called a Leviathan Force Organization Chart. I don't think it carried over to 2nd edition, but fret not, for it has returned in another form in the third edition!

First, what is Leviathan Force Organization Chart? As you can see, it's built around a single Lord of War, with the option to take two more! Or you can take an optional allied detachment, or both! It's meant to allow you to use your huge centerpiece models like Titans, or super-heavy tanks. Knights had their own Questoris Force Organization Chart, so they didn't use this.

Obviously, this was meant for narrative play, and you had to ask your opponent for permission to field this. So it wasn't something you could cheese. Anyway, you'll notice some similiarities here, especially the option to take up to three Lords of War.

Enter Leviathan missions from the Journal Tactica Mailed Fist.

Leviathan missions are ideal for multiplayer battles, but you'll need to form teams, and each team is treated as a single player for Rules purposes, such as sharing a single pool of Reaction Points. You have 3 different Leviathan missions (I'm not covering the Legendary mission), which are: Clash of Behemoths, Rolling Bastions and Break the Lines.

So if you have two players or two teams, one has to be the Attacker and one is the Defender. The Attacker has a new Apex Detachment called Leviathan Armored Fist, which gives you three Lord of War units, and don't count toward the 25% of total points limit restriction. I'm not sure, but it seems you can potentially take up to four Lords of War if you want. The Defender, on the other hand, has the Leviathan Bastion of Fire, which is also an Apex Detachment, but gives you three support slots.

Everything else seems the same, from deployment, terrain, etc., so I won't cover them. Instead, I'll look at the Leviathan Mission Objectives that's specific to this game mode. Apparently, we divide the battlefield into Sectors, and we have something called Armored Dominance, which you calculate by totalling the remaining Hull Points of each Vehicle you control within that Sector. So let's say I have a single Questoris Knight and Cerastus Knight standing in a Sector (a quarter of the battlefield), and they haven't been damaged yet, I have 22 Armored Dominance value. If my opponent has an undamaged Spartan with 10 Hull points, a Predator with 6 Hull points, and an Araknae Quad Accelerator Platform with 3 Hull points, that's a total of 19 Armored Dominance value, which means I control the sector with my Knights!

The Secondary Objectives are Break Their Strength, which requires you to destroy every vehicle in your opponent's army to score the points, Last Man Standing, which requires you to have more units that aren't Routed than your opponents to score the points, Overrun, which requires you to have your guys in your opponent's deployment zone to score the points - and if any of your guys is a Super-heavy, you double the points you score - and finally, Slay the Warlord, which obviously requires you to kill your enemy High Command choice.

For Clash of Behemoths, both players must include at least one Lord of War unit in their army, and you fight over four Sectors. This alone makes it my favorite mission, because I love to see super-heavies clash against other super-heavies! The attacker's goal is to get into the sector, which allows you to score a number of points equal to the sector number - the sectors are conveniently labeled 1, 2, 3 and 4, so if you get into Sector 4, you score 4 points. If your guy in that sector is a super-heavy, than you get 2 extra Victory Points. But you only choose one sector you have units in, you can't select all the sectors...and I think Armored Dominance comes into play here.

The defender, on the other hand, has to hold objectives. The attacker doesn't appear to score any points by capturing the objective marker - that's for the defender. The secondary mission objectives are Last Man standing and Slay the Warlord, and Overrun for Attacker and Defender for Break their Strength. Which makes sense.

Honestly, this is an ideal mission for massed super-heavy tanks versus an army of Knights! I would love to play as the Defender and bring my Knights against three or four super-heavy tanks! This would be so cool!

Rolling Bastions is similar in that the Attacker also seizes and controls sectors while the Defender hold objective markers across four equal sectors. The objective markers' points vary depending on who controls it - if the player scoring controls it, it's 3, if neither player controls it (equal Armored Dominance value), it's 2, and if your opponent controls the sector, the objective marker is only worth 1 victory point. Ouch.

Attacker also scores 2 Victory points for each sector they control at the end of each of their turn. Defender, on the other hand, scores Victory points for each objective marker they control, as described earlier. Secondary Mission Objectives are Break their Strength and Slay the Warlord, while Attacker gets Overrun again, but the Defender gets Last Man Standing this time.

This one seems more balanced, and technically, there's nothing stopping the defender from bringing a Knight army or a single Lord of War like in Clash of Behemoths, so you can still do this. I was considering more from a thematic point of view.

The final mission, Break the Lines, again involves the Attacker controlling Sectors while Defender holds objective markers. Four Sectors again, and the Attacker scores 2 Victory points for each Sector they control. Defender scores Victory points for each objective marker they control, but take note - each objective marker has a value equal to the sector they're located, Sectors 1, 2, 3 and 4. That's the number of Victory points you'll score accordingly.

The Secondary Mission Objectives are Last Man Standing and Overrun, while Attacker has Break their Strength and Defender Slay the Warlord. I kind of feel like you can do a thematic battle where three Legiones Astartes super-heavy tanks roll forward to break the lines of a defending Imperial Knight army. Would be cool to see, too!

There's also a bunch of Battlefield Assets, but those are like...whatever. It's reminiscent of Adeptus Titanicus, and adds a complex new layer to the game, so I'm feeling iffy about it. I would rather focus on fielding super-heavies versus super-heavies! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this and will play a few games of Leviathan Missions!