I was half-expecting Goonhammer to write a more detailed analysis of these free PDF army lists, but aside from Imperialis Militia, they skipped Daemons of the Ruinstorm (I'm not touching that, mostly because I don't have anything to say and they're planning to expand them further in future publications devoted to one of the four major Chaos gods) and Inductii. I already wrote Inductii, but I notice it's almost the same as in 2nd edition, so I didn't say much, except for my Dark Angels and Thousand Sons Inductii (I think I'll only be doing Dark Angels Inductii in the near future, to add a 2nd squad to my already existing single squad).
But when they said nothing about Blackshields, I was stunned. Surely, they will write something about Blackshields, right? Is Jellymuppet busy, or did he lose interest in Horus Heresy?
Oh, well. Anyway, I'll just write a brief one. Don't expect in-depth analysis and competitive analysis like in Goonhammer. I lack the skills, tactical nous and intelligence to do all that. Instead, I'll focus on an overview.
So, Blackshields. They are basically all those small warbands of Legiones Astartes who quit their Legion and became Legion-less. They can be either Loyalist or Traitor - entirely up to you! - or neither (if you recall the Blackshield Titan Legions from Adeptus Titanicus), though I don't know how that third allegiance will be reflected in the rules. I guess all non-Loyalist counts as Traitors for gameplay purposes?
What do you get for abandoning the colors of your Legion? Well, your dudes get +1 Strength and Toughness whenever they're Pinned, Suppressed or Stunned...but if they're affected by more than one of these statuses, then they get +2 Strength and Toughness instead.
You also gain Oaths of Moment...no, not the one from 10th edition Space Marines. Nope, you do not reroll hit rolls or add +1 to your wound roll against your Oath of Moment target. It's not the same.
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| You get Oath of Moment for playing 40K Space Marines. I get Oaths of Moments for playing Horus Heresy Blackshields. We are not the same. |
If your Blackshields are your primary army, you get 2 Oaths of Moment, otherwise you only receive a single Oath of Moment if you're bringing them as allies. Obviously, whatever Auxiliary or Apex Detachments attached to your Primary/Allied detachment must use the same as their parent detachment.
Oaths of Moment
We have a bunch, and I'll just summarize them. If you want to read in detail, just head to the PDF. Mine is just an easy-to-read list.
The Eternal Vendetta gives you Hatred (Legiones Astartes), and if your opponent has Legiones Astartes as his primary army, then you also get +1 to hit in melee. But your dudes must always charge an enemy within 12", unless they're a vehicle or a unit that can't charge.
Panoply of Old lets you take wargear from a single Legion of your choice (e.g. aetherfire blasters and achean force swords from Thousand Sons). Nothing else, so no Legion-specific detachments or Advanced Reactions!
Only in Death does Duty End discards the Routed status from your dudes, in exchange for taking 1D3+1 wounds with Damage 1 and AP-.
The Spoils of Victory removes Line and Vanguard from your guys, and they score with Loot the Dead instead, which means you need to destroy an enemy in combat, force them to fall back or they choose to disengage (the enemy doesn't have to be on an Objective), and then you can Loot and Pillage them. But your dudes are Stunned because they're too busily looting and pillaging. By the way, Line (X) is replaced by Loot the Dead (X), and Vanguard (X) is replaced by Loot the Dead (X/2).
An Eternity of War means that whenever your guys Fall Back, they can move in any direction, including moving in base contact to engage an enemy unit in combat. In exchange, whenever your guys aren't in combat, they need to make a Cool check during the End Phase after Battle Turn 1, failing which, they become Routed.
The Flesh is Weak makes your dudes pseudo Iron Hands, turning all infantry into automata. They lose the +1/+2 Strength and Toughness whenever stunned/suppressed/pinned, lose Line because of Linked Cogitator Units, and instead score one less Victory Point when controlling an objective if your unit has 4 or less guys. But, if your unit has 10 or more guys, then they score an extra Victory Point. Nice.
They also get an Augmetic Transport Bay that allows their transports to ferry automata, and get a bonus +3 Transport capacity. Neat.
The Legacy of Nikaea is for Thousand Sons wannabes, or other Astartes Legionaries who are miffed by the Edict of Nikaea that forbade the use of psychic powers, so they break away from the Imperium. This gives your Sergeants, Champions, Specialists and Commanders the Psyker Trait and the Malignant discipline - essentially, a Warp Torrent psychic attack that has Assault and Overload (1) if you use the torrent version (S5 AP4 D1 Deflagrate 5, 4 shots at 12" that increases to 5 with Force) or Overload (2) if you use the Malignant variant (S5 that increases to S6 with Force, AP2 D2 Deflagrate 5, one shot at 12"). The tradeoff is that if you suffer Perils of the Warp, they count their Willpower as 5. Meaning you take 8 wounds. Ouch.
The Broken Helix is the other side of the coin, removing Line, Vanguard and Fury of the Legion. Instead, you have two options.
Clone, which gives you a Damage Mitigation 5+ because of Cloned Resilience while reducing your non-Command, Champion/Specialist/Sergeant guys' Leadership, Willpower, Intelligence and Cool by 1.
Aberrant, which has the same debuffs as above, but instead of Damage Mitigation, you get +1 Strength and Attack. However, just like the Eternal Vendetta, you must always charge an enemy within 12".
In Disgrace All are Equal deprives you of Command and High Command choices, but all slots become Prime Slots (this applies to all attached Auxiliary Detachments as well). Hang on, they only get a single Prime Advantage, though - Petty Warlord, which gives your Sergeant +1 Attack, WS, Leadership and Champion (if your dude is already a Champion, then he simply gains +2 Leadership instead). Also, you can take auxiliary detachments for each prime slot as if they're command.
Pride is our Armor replaces all Troops slots with Elites slots for Primary and Allied detachments, and you're not allowed to take Troops choices in any attached Auxiliary or Apex Detachments. Essentially, your Elites-only army (in 2nd edition, you take Veterans as Troops, this is pretty much it).
The Taint of the Xenos simply gives xenos weapons. Deathlock and Doomlock, which are both 2 shots S6 AP2 D1 with Shred 6+ and Overload (2), but while the former has 18" range, the latter is a pistol with 9" range. You also get a Halo blade that's +2 Strength, AP2, D1 and Shred 5+.
The Weapons of Desperation refer to autoguns, autopistols, lasguns, laspistols being wielded as pistols, while shotguns retain Stun and Heavy Stubber gets Suppressive. Autoguns and autopistols have one more shot than lasguns and laspistols, while the las weapons have better range (6"/3"), but otherwise they're both Strength 3 D1. Las weapons have AP6, though. Oh, and heavy stubbers are 5 shots. Whoa. Can only take one heavy stubber for every 3 models in a unit, though. So no spamming heavy stubbers.
The Blade of the Just replaces Line and Vanguard with Doomed Heroics (Xx2), and those units without Line and Vanguard gain Doomed Heroics (3). This allows you to score Victory Points whenever you win combat, provided you began the fight with your guys outnumbered 2 to 1 or more, or your guys bravely charged a Commander or Paragon, or the enemy has a better WS. Can't take this Oath of Moment if you already selected Reapers of Lives or Spoils of Victory.
Reapers of Lives replaces Line and Vanguard with scoring D3 Victory Points whenever your guys shoot or wipe out an enemy unit. Expendable enemies means you deduct their X from the D3 Victory Points scored (to a minimum of 0). Can't take it with Spoils of Victory.
Alone and Forgotten is an all-Centurion army. Replace all Troops Slots in Primary, Allied and attached Auxiliary Detachments with Command slots, you can't take High Command or Transports, and you can only take Centurions (both power and Terminator armor). In exchange, your Centurions get +1 to your choice of 2 Characteristics - WS, BS, Strength, Toughness, Initiative or Wounds. They can't join any units, but in exchange, they get +4 to their combat resolution, plus +1 for each wound they lose, as long as they survive. If they fall in melee combat, you gain D6+1 Victory Points. So suicide Centurions.
Endyrd Haar looks cool. An ex-World Eater (or War Hound), his warband are pissed at Angron for betraying the Emperor, so he casts off all World Eaters insignia and Legion Tactica to become a Blackshield with his own special rules. He gives his Primary detachment Infiltrate (12) and sports a special power fist.
Have fun creating your Blackshields!
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