Starting a Horus Heresy Army: Lords of War

Hi guys it's Tom here.

Today I will discuss how lord of war choices are made in a heresy game and a rundown of the lord of war choices in the crusade army list and their strength and weaknesses.

A few disclaimers first. I will not be talking about primarchs in this article, as that will need a whole article in itself to properly analyse. Also, I will be talking about units that are specifically in the crusade army list book, and not superheavy vehicles that have been introduced after the book's release (such as the stormbird and knights).

To begin, I will outline how lord of war choices work in the Forge World Horus Heresy format.

If you play a battle in the age of darkness you need to follow a 25% rule for lord of war choices. That is that a lord of war choice cannot be more than 25% of your total points. Additionally, you cannot take a lord of war choice in games less than 2000 points. For example in a 2000 points game, you can have a lord of war choice up to 500 points.

There is an optional Leviathan force organisational chart that allows you to take additional lord of war choices, and can represent any percentage of your force, although this organisational chart has different drawbacks and restrictions to take into account. 

Another way to add more superheavy awesomeness to your force is to agree with your opponent that you are playing an unbound army as per the 40k 7th edition rulebook. This allows you to take whatever you want, but is a rather contentious issue with some players as some may think heresy is not balanced for unbound. Therefore seeking approval from an opponent is key.

Now I will discuss the various lord of war choices that are listed in the crusade army list.

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             Legion Stormblade:

Ø  Pro's- 2 different firing modes which adds versatility. Large blast area

Ø  Con's- Needs armoured ceramite or will be susceptible to meltas in drop pods

Ø  Summary- Overall good tank which in my opinion is worth its points. Plus who doesn't like a titan scale plasma cannon on a tank?

·         Cerberus Heavy Tank Destroyer:

Ø  Pro's- Multiple shots at str 10 if you roll well for the amount of shots it has. Shock pulse is great against other superheavies to stop their blast weapons for a turn if you penetrate it.

Ø  Con's- Feedback can be annoying as you could lose a hull point for not penetrating or wounding an enemy unit

Ø  Summary- Compared to the sicaran venator and the new laser destroyer vindicator this tank is not up to standard for its points. Its saving grave is that it's a superheavy and so can keep firing until all its hull points are gone.

·         Typhon Heavy Siege Tank:

Ø  Pro's- Ignores cover strength 10 is awesome! Cheap for the fire output it has

Ø  Con's- short range if you need to reposition and move the tank

Ø  Summary- One of the best lord of wars in the list. Having ignores cover with such high strength and low AP means that you will eradicate most things under the massive blast you place. Great for messing with a gun-line sat in cover

·         Legion Falchion:

Ø  Pro's- Strength D can be useful for targeting an important enemy unit, especially other superheavies

Ø  Con's- Only 1 shot

Ø  Summary- With only 1 shot the tank will struggle to get its points back unless you roll well on the D table and manage to hit with some shots

·         Malcador Assault Tank:

Ø  Pro's- Cheap and is a fast vehicle

Ø  Con's- Relatively low armour and hull points

Ø  Summary- Doesn't really fill an integral function in a heresy list. You can get more firepower for less points

·         Legion Fellblade:

Ø  Pro's- All rounder and can take on multiple enemy units. Lots of hull points. Good range on guns

Ø  Con's- Anti-armour round is only 3 inch blast

Ø  Summary- A versatile and resilient tank that can take on a range of targets. A solid choice.

·         Legion Glaive:

Ø  Pro's- Beam weapon that ignores cover and has haywire

Ø  Con's- Effectiveness dependant on enemy deployment and targets in range. Has to be on the frontline so you don't hit your own units with the beam which can lead to dangerous positions

Ø  Summary- A versatile main weapon that has the potential to destroy a lot of models, but a cleaver opponent will deploy so that you will not get the most out of the beam range. On the plus side, you can use it to alter the opponent's plans, and to potentially deploy in areas they don't want to.

·         Thunderhawk Gunship:

Ø  Pro's- Big transport capacity, including units that otherwise cannot be transported such as bikes

Ø  Con's- Has to come in on reserves, so might not have enough time on the board to be effective. Susceptible to interceptor fire, which is common in heresy armies. Expensive

Ø  Summary- You will have a lot of points of your army in reserves, so you reliant on it coming in turn 2/3 so that occupant can charge out of it and get their points back

·         Thunderhawk Transporter:

Ø  Pro's- Transports units that otherwise wouldn't be able to be transported such as land raiders

Ø  Con's- Needs to come on from reserves. Susceptible to interceptor fire, which is common in heresy armies

Ø  Summary- You will have a lot of points of your army in reserves, so you reliant on it coming in turn 2/3 for it to be effective points back.

Please let me know if you would like me to go into more detail about any of the units I have discussed in this article, or if you want me to cover a superheavy that's missing from this list.

Thank you very much for reading!

Tom