Horus Heresy Review: Emperor's Children - Rylanor the Unyielding

Hi Heresy Lovers (the Inquisition is watching you)

Today I continue looking at Unique aspects of the Emperor's Children legion. Quick note before that, that my last review of units and wargear is a little out of date as the EC have some rules updated recently. I have very kindly been given the correct details from Argel Tal himself ;) and will have that post updated by the end of the week at latest if you bear with me.

So today we look at a loyalist Emperor's Children Astartes - Rylanor. Interred into a mighty Contemptor sarcophagus, Rylanor remained loyal on Isstvan III and was thus marked for death. He can only be taken in a loyalist army if you are playing post Isstvan. 

Rylanor has a tasty statline as follows:

WS      BS      S      F      S     R     I    A   HP

6         5        7     13     12   10     4    2    3

Holy cow thats a good weapon skill! He will be hitting on 3's most often with his dreadnought close combat weapon, though sadly only 3 attacks on the charge. But on the charge he will be Initiative 5 due to the EC special rules (wait for updates for that to be findable in old posts). 

Additionally he is equipped with a kheres assault cannon which will hit on 2's making it perfect for rinsing bigger blobs as well as concentrating fire on more elite units. In terms of other equipment he also comes with a smoke launcher and a searchlight. 

However its Rylanor's Special Rules where he shines really. He comes stock with the Venerable special rule, allowing you to force re-rolls on the damage table, he also has Fleet AND Crusader so he is a very nippy bastard who can make those long charges more reliably. I would hazard a guess you would want him against tanks rather than infantry as his low attacks will make him prone to tarpitting. He has the standard Atomantic Shielding which gives a 5++ versus shooting attacks and a 6++ in combat. And then he has Mantle of Glory.

Mantle of Glory represents the icon of heroism and loyalty that Rylanor was on Isstvan III, a servant to the Emperor as a true child of his kin. Any friendly EC astartes within 24" can re-roll failed Morale tests AND gain +1 to their combat resolution score. That is a BIG bubble for combat resolution in an army geared towards combat. 

Overview - I really like Rylanor, his rules are fluffy and fun and he can provide a massive boost to a CC army like the Emperor's Children most certainly are. However, he is not optimally loaded for shooting or combat and he can still explode. These wouldn't be major issues, but his cost is just over 250 points... A competitive choice he is not I think, but definitely a fun and fluffy choice regardless with some very nice rules to boot. 

Peace out,

Rob

The Legio Cybernetica Grows - The Forge World Provides

Hey people,

So I am about 70% Done on my two Thanatars with final highlights, black covered by blood effect and blue OSL to do. I still have to assemble the bases though I have all the bits handy ready to do so. Unfortunately I have not made any progress on my HQ so I am going to have to bust a gut to get it done before this Saturday! 

In other news there is an upcoming 30k tournament being put together by my local club (who is also hosting the tournament this weekend). There has been a good expression of interest in this tournament and they are planning on the points limit being 2500 points to allow the big beasts of the age of darkness to be played. 

With that in mind I did a bit of an Easter shopping and bought 2 of each of the following:

 Domitar Battle Automata

Krios Venator

I also bought the updated mechanicum army list book which allowed me to get the free express shipping over £250... A bargain ;) For a little bit of context on the Domitar Battle Automata here's a size comparison with a castellax which is on a 60mm base...

I have some really cool conversion/posing ideas for the Domitar so I'm really looking forward to getting them! The Domitar and The Krios Venator will get their own reviews in time (after I finish the EC reviews) but to summarise, the Venator has a 4 shot ordnance S9 AP2 gun... And the Domitar has S10 at initiative attacks as well as a small blast missile launcher AND he forces everyone to make disorganised charges! In the Legio Cybernetica he will hit at Initiative 4 so two of them will wreck face....

I'm probably going to move straight into these after the tournament is over as I have my eye in and I'm not bored of painting the mechanicum yet! To fill out a 3000 point list I intend to buy a Cerastus Knight Atrapos...

I hope this has whetted your appetite some. Also I WILL be answering all comments tomorrow on my work break as I have quite the back log, which is good I suppose but sorry for taking so long!

Peace out,

Rob

Horus Heresy Review: Emperor's Children - Legion specific Wargear and Units (updated)

How do,

EDIT: Updated entries in this post will be in extra bits of red to draw your attention to them

Today I will be going over the units and special wargear that are unique to the Emperor's Children Legion in 30k. They have some fantastic pieces of wargear and units that really show of the artisan nature of the EC in pursuit of perfection of all things in war, but most notably the honour of close combat.

Legion Specific Wargear

Sonic Shriekers: This wargear is the prelude to the entirely slannesh devoted EC of the 41st millennium. Experimental psycho sonic weaponry was developed during the Age of Darkness which boosts the combat potential of the wielder to unknown levels for the standard Astartes. 

A sonic shrieker gives -1 WS to your opponents

Phoenix Power Spear: This is an amazing piece of wargear in mu opinion. Any EC Astartes with access to a power fist can take one of these instead for the same price. They have the following profile.

Phoenix Power Spear - S +1/User  AP 2/3 Melee, Two Handed

The first side of the profile (i.e. S+1 and AP2) is only in place on the turn that you charge, Thus making it imperative that you make the charge! As then you will be hitting at initiative with a S5 AP2 weapon. This is an excellent counter for artificer armour wearing sergeants with power fists that might try to challenge out your better characters, you will hit before them and wound on 3's still. I would really recommend you give these to your sergeants instead of power fists and then just slap a melta bomb on them to take care of tanks!

Legion Specific Units

The Emperor's Children have 3 unit choices that are unique to them.

Phoenix Terminator Squad: The EC's specific terminator squad. Basely comprised of 4 Phoenix terminators and a Phoenix Champion (the sergeant). Terminators with phoenix power spears, implacable advance, stubborn, Living Icon and Sudden Strike.

Living Icon - This unit count drawn combats as a victory! As does any unit with at least one friendly model within 6 inches of this unit. Bloody brilliant for breaking a deadlock combat!

Sudden Strike - This unit gains +1 initiative on the charge. As I said in my intro article, the EC have many many ways, like this, to augment their combat ability. And this gets even better... see below.

The entire squad may taken Sonic Shriekers for a measly 15 points. Now this makes the squad closer to 300 points than you would like, especially when you give the Champion a grenade harness as well (need those). BUT what this means is that on the charge you will have 4 terminators at I6!!! Putting out 12 attacks total at WS4 and then the champion putting out 4 attacks at WS5. ALL strength 5 and AP2. 

This will rinse through a lot of 2+ units like you wouldn't believe, AND importantly because you are striking before all of them apart from maybe an IC then you will drastically reduce the incoming wounds to you as well!

This unit can also take a proteus, phobos or spartan tank as a transport, but personally I would go cheaper and stick them in a dreadclaw...

Overview: Expensive but hells tits they are a great break in the counter/counter counter moves of 30k with a low strength but high initiative low AP option to make a decapitating strike on key units in the opponents army. I really like these guys and in any high points game they should definitely be taken! Also beautiful models.

Palatine Blade Squad: An elite force of close combat specialist with 4 warriors plus a a prefector (sergeant) as standard. These guys have much the same profile as the terminators above except a 3+ save and EVERYONE has WS5 standard. Very tasty indeed. The prefector has artificer armour as well. As chosen warriors they can all accept challenges.

Standard wargear is a bolt pistol and a charnarbal sabre, which just doesn't cut it for me personally, it fine, but just not dependable enough. However these guys have the option of swapping their weapons out for either power swords, power lance or Phoenix Spears! Additionally they can also take sonic shriekers for 2 points a pop each AND can take jump packs. 

I really like the full flavour of this squad with jump packs and sonic shriekers for a fast pace an high initiative attack. The weapon swaps are per member not as a whole squad, so would a put 2-3 of the phoenix spears in and leave the rest as is so that the expense doesn't become prohibitive.

Additionally they have COUNTER ATTACK. And as the sonic shriekers gives +1 initiative when you charge I presume this works when you count as charging too! Makes sense to me and makes these even more brutal than the Terminators as you don't have to guarantee the charge. Though if you can use your jet packs for the charge you will be getting all of your attacks plus hammer of wrath before the opponent has even raised his sword...

Overview: Another wonderful example of brutal and fast close combat efficiency. I love both these and the terminator squad, But if I were to take a big pimped out squad I would go for the Blades. The jump packs give them mobility without a big points sink on a transport and they can still wreck absolute face in combat, hitting and wounding on 3's against any T4 WS4 models and even if you just give them power swords they ignore power armour!

Kakophoni of the Emperor's Children: A heavy support choice that can become troops using the Rite of War I described in the last post. These are the first that fell hard and fast to the temptations of the Dark Prince and their experimentation led them to become devastating yet unpredictable engines of war. 

The squad consists of 4 chora and an orchestrator (sarge). They come with bolt pistol and power armour as standard, though the orchestrator can also take artificer armour as well as a power fist (so phoenix spear) and they also all come equipped with sonic shriekers! So +1 initiative on the charge. These guys are also stubborn and can take a rhino as dedicated transport, and you are going to want a form of transport to make use of their main weapon. The Cacophony.

The Cacophony - 36 inch, S6, AP5, Heavy 2, Gets Hot, Pinning, Bio-psychic Shock.

The Bio-psychic Shock special rule makes any unit that has lost at least 1 wound from The Cacophony take a leadership test at the end of the shooting phase UNLESS they are fearless. They have a negative modifier to their test equal to the number of wounds lost. So 3 wounds lost would equal a modifier of -3. 

If the test is failed then the squad immediately suffers D6 AP2 instant death wounds with no cover save allowed. The controlling player of the unit picks the casualties. Holy fuck shit this is an awesome rule. You can target incredibly tough squads and if they lose even one wound you have the potential to truly decimate them. This is however mitigated by the AP5 as well as the gets hot roll, so lets not think you can win a war with this squad. 

Overview - the Kakophoni have the potential to be brilliant, but they will work much better in a troop selection than their current heavy support which you can achieve with The Third Company Elite rite of war, an excellent start to any EC army.

I hope you guys enjoyed the second post in this series, I am looking forward to writing the rest up soon!

Peace out,

Rob

Legio Cybernetica - The end is close

Hi Everyone,

Here are a few pictures of my undercoated Thanatars, my floating HQ model and also some better pictures of the painted and based models to view. Though I realised whilst taking pictures that I need to go over some super glue frosting, damn it! I have the next 2 days off work exclusively to finish painting this army, so I hope to have a nice update for you on Tuesday afternoon!

Tomorrow will be the second installment of my Emperor's children reviews for 30k and then hopefully these guys completed on Tuesday!

Peace out,

Rob

Deathwatch Marines as 30k BlackShields - A side Project

Hi everyone,

I just thought I'd touch upon a new side project (to add to my many) that I'm going to be starting in the coming month. This is to make a Deathwatch themed force but make use of actual rules so that I can play them in games without using the characters from the box set.

This stemmed from the boxset rekindling my love of the Deathwatch look. Though I have to say the models in the game are far to chapter unique for me. I have always envisaged the Deathwatch as removing every notable mark of your chapter from you on induction apart from the chapter emblem on your right shoulder. Whereas the board games miniatures are all very identifiable as their own chapters. They look great but not Deathwatch enough for me!

Anyway I impulse bought one of the metal Deathwatch upgrade kits and have been pondering what to do with it. I've now decided to make a small Black Shields force from Horus Heresy Retribution book. For those that don't know the Blackshields were Astartes during the Horus Heresy that rebelled against their legion, either through disgust, such as traitor legon marines that remained loyal, but also just astartes that hated both sides equally with disdain for how they sunk to great lows to win. 

This will only be 11 models with 2 basic troops and a HQ but I want to put lots of effort into making them look very cool with a tonne of special weapons! The fluff for these guys is that they were from traitor legions and they turned black shield to defend humanity. Following on from the horus heresy they were stripped of all previous heraldry and inducted into the deathwatch for life. These 11 are the only few who have remained, hidden from the imperium, with no record of their existence known except by the highest level of the inqusition. 

They exists only to serve and to die.

Anyway, just thought I'd let you on in the whirring and clicking of the cogs in my mind :)

Peace out,

Rob

Legio Cybernetica Based - Preliminary Photos before gluing!

Hey Gang,

Today I've got photos of my Painted Legio Cybernetica models posed on their painted bases before I make and rash moves of gluing them in place. I wanted to make the bases very dark and creepily industrial to contrast with the bright yellow power loader scheme of the models themselves. I will admit to not being good with bases compared to many other people. So feedback on the look of these guys as a horde would be very much appreciated! Apologies for the flash also, daylight has not been kind today and I didn't fancy moving these guys into the light box after I'd balanced them all unglued!

Any comments or critiques would be welcome. Though due to the tournament coming up a week tomorrow any major changes that you lovely people think are needed will have to wait. But I will only stick them on with one foot and weak glue in that case... So still good to know!!

Peace out,

Rob

Horus Heresy Review: Emperor's Children - Legion specific rules and Rites of War

How do,

Today I am going to run through the Legion specific rules for the Emperor's Children in 30k. Much like my Alpha Legion review I will cover all different aspects of their rules in 30k, including unique wargear and unit options as well as all special characters before ending with their Primarch Fulgrim. So today will look at legion specific rules as well as legion specific rites of war. I am taking these rules from the crusade compendium red book and the Istavaan book, so I apologise if the rules have been altered in other books or an FAQ I have missed! Please correct me! Onward!

Legion Specific Rules

These are basically the chapter tactics of the Horus heresy, but whizzing around the room pumped full of cocaine and caffeine. These rules really do give you a great feel for how the legions operate in distinct and different styles. This is the flavour which is really drawing people into to 30k I think when coupled with the beautiful models and relatively balanced and communicative design teams.

Legiones Astartes - This is the basic space marines rule in 30k much like ATSKNF except they do now fear! But they can always regroup as normal regardless of casualties, so no waiting for that double 1 to show up.

Exemplars of War - This rule highlights the fact that the Emperor's children pursue the perfection of war as an art form with all the grace and speed they can muster. All Astartes with the Emperor's Children rule gain Crusader and also +1 initiative on the charge. Additionally characters gain +1 initiative in a challenge.

This is an absolutely devastating special rule for a legion that has some absolutely fantastic combat options, as you will see in the unique units and wargear post. I run a Baal Strike force in 40k because despite losing objective secured, striking at initiative before regular marines is pivotal in breaking that marine vs marine deadlock. This is even more apparent in 30k when space marine are the dominant faction, even more so than 40k.

Additionally, unlike in 40k, space marines can be swept an destroyed if they break in combat. This rule counts towards your sweeping advance so you have a better chance of running down your opponent if you break them in combat! As you will see going through the Emperor's Children, this concept of winning combat as a mechanism, is pivotal to using this legion successfully.

Martial Pride - Characters, much like chaos champions (foreboding!), must issue and accept challenges. Losing in the combat that a challenge is part of causes an additional -1 Ld debuff on top of negative modifiers for more wounds lost.

This is the single biggest reason for bothering to really kit out any characters you have to have that edge in challenges, as well as being far more careful in picking and choosing your fights. Remember, you can get run down from a lost combat too!

Rite of War: 

As before I'll just quickly run over what a Rite of War is for those that don't know. A Rite of War is basically akin to codex specific detachments in 40k such as the real space raiders detachment, the champions of fenris and the Baal Strike Force etc. Its NOT like a formation. You can only take a rite of war if you have a Master of the Legion in your army. This will either be a Praetor (read chapter master), a Delegatus (a special type of captain) or a named special character including the Primarchs.

In the main 30k rulebook you are presented with several rites of war that your Master of the Legioon can take. An example of this is Pride of the Legion. Pride of the Legion allows you to take terminators and veterans as troop choice and you HAVE to use them to fulfil your compulsory slots. However this comes with restrictions, you are not allowed an allied detachment and if all your veterans and terminators die you grant the enemy an additional victory point. 

The rites are supposed to allow you to play your legion with awesome fluffy rules but also represent the flaws that a legions particular style of engagement exposes, either physically or mentally.

The Maru Skara

This rite of war is excellent if you are a player that enjoys a fast paced attack and doesn't rely on heavy immobile gun lines to play. And since you are running the Emperor's Children I will assume that this is the case! The Maru Skara is entirely geared to getting you up close and personal as soon as possible with the enemy. That said it also offers you an olive branch to make your Emperor's Children the surgical scalpel to an allied anvil as I will mention below in their special rules:

Open Blade - Emperor's Children gain +1 to move run and charge distances in the first turn giving you a maximum threat range of 27 inches instead of the usual 24.

Hidden Blade - Select 1-3 elite units and these units can outflank (including any attached independent characters) in THE TURN YOU CHOOSE, But you need to select and write this down before the game starts. These units don't count to your reserve limit either.

Wow. This is fantastic for getting right up in your opponents face in a way that is absolutely reliable and can really mess with your opponent. You can do some disgusting things when you take all upgrade options like dedicated transport land raiders into account, but really I feel this is designed to encourage the use of properly fast units with jump packs or bike for example. They can zoom on and lay down some serious fire power but with other Emperor's Children shenanigans (such as excellent sergeant wargear) you can still bite the turn after.

I will come back to this Rite of War when I cover the unique units and wargear and give you some possible builds that are mostly fluffy but should also pack a whallop. This Rite of War works better at higher points values where the ability to reserve more stuff than normal becomes very helpful whilst not leaving you with two few bodies on the table. If you are playing at 1750 points plus it should be fine but any lower I wouldn't recommend.

Limitations

- Must take a Legion Champion as a compulsory second HQ - Not really a massive deal unless you're in lower points games in which case I wouldn't recommend you take this Rite anyway.

- No Space marine Allies for you or even fortifications. HOWEVER you now become fellow warriors with the Mechanicus and the Solar Auxilia. This allows you to take a very minimal force which takes full advantage of your outflanking units and use them in a hammer vs anvil situation. This will push you're enemy in between the guns of your allies and the blade you reveal.

- Immobile, heavy and slow and purposeful units are disallowed for you in this Rite.

- If you fail to slay the enemy Warlord then your enemy is awarded 1 VP. I really like this rule as it forces you play the aggressive style that you would expect from the Emperor's Children.

The 3rd Company Elite

This is a nice little additional Rite that basically plays on the fact that we love noise marines! And in 30k these are called Kakophonie Marines and I will cover them in the next post.

Essentially this Rite of War does a couple of important things:

-Kakophonie Marines become troops and gain relentless - this is awesome both for the models and the rules but also smaller minimum squads if you want to max out other areas of your army or collection without needing 20 marines at least!

-Your independent characters can take sonic shriekers - grants -1 WS to opponents models that are in base to base contact. Brilliant for challenges and making you more survivable.

Other than that it comes with a few limitations:

-No allied space marines or fortifications.

-All other Allies count as 1 ally rank lower

-Can only take traitor allies - important in terms of other special characters in imperial army and mechanicum.

This is a very simple Rite of War and I think its a great way to build your Emperor's Children force to begin with. If you haven't seen the Kakophonie models then here's a link. They are beautiful!

That's all for now but expect more of the Emperor's Children and more Legion Reviews in general :)

Peace out,

Rob