Greetings
fellow autists I thought I would do a writeup of all the previews shown today. A one-stop shop for all the models, rule changes, and what to expect for releases. To start this off I shall begin with:
What's in The Box?
The box will be filled to the brim for everything two people (or one if you want a good starter army) need to start playing the third edition of Horus Heresy. This hefty box contains the following:
- 40 Mk2 Space Marines
- 6 Saturnine Terminators
- 1 Saturnine Dreadnought
- 1 Mk2 Centurion
- 1 Saturnine Praetor
- 1 Araknae Quad Accelerator Platform
- The 3rd Edition Rulebook
- 3 Weapon Templates
- 20 D6 and a Scatter Die
- A Ruler
- 40 Tactical Status and Objective Tokens
- A Transfer Sheet With 1,172 Decals
The models themselves will be discussed below, but I thought it was important to explain some of the items that come as well. The rulebook is a wonderful book containing all the general rules of the game, as well as a bunch of background lore and reference images to help you figure out what army you want to play. Keep in mind that datasheets and army rules are not included in this book, and must be purchased separately. The transfer sheet is nice as well, providing not just iconography for Salamanders and Iron Warriors, but unit markings to differentiate your units from each other. 2nd Edition focused primarily on Imperial Fists and Sons of Horus, so keep in mind that most kits will include transfers for those two armies.
Mk2 "Crusade" Pattern Space Marines
With the release of a new edition comes the release of a new set of models.
Crusade Pattern Armor were the first series of suits produced with void capabilities, being barely produced in time for the upcoming battle of Mars. It has been a staple of the Legiones Astartes, and can be built as seen above as Tactical Squads (with bayonets of the normal and chain varieties) as well as with the additional upgrade sprues seen below:
Each 10 Space Marines come with an additional sprue to upgrade the sergeant and to make your Space Marines more pimped out. The box itself comes with some special weapons sprues, but keep in mind that these will be sold in their own box:
As seen here in Salamanders green, the new addition of the game has brought about the return of Disintergrators; a gun that hasn't been seen since 1st edition of Warhammer 40k and for a limited run with the celebration of 40k's 30th Anniversary:
With the two images shown you can notice that these Disintegrators come in more than one type. There is the standard Disintegrator Rifle, or for harder hits one can take a Heavy Disintegrators. There is also new types of combi-weapons, with the choices of a Disintegrator Blaster which fires two Disintegrators, or a standard Combi-Disintegrator for bolter lovers. Not shown but spoken off on Warhammer Community is a Disintegrator Pistol:
One final note before moving on, it is noted that Veteran Marines will be able to takes these weapons in full. In 2nd Edition, only one of every five could take a Special/Heavy weapon. If this is being changed for all Special/Heavies or just a rule for Disintegrators is unknown at this time.
Saturnine Terminators
Saturnine Terminators were a rarely seen Pattern of Tactical Dreadnought Armor. Seen early on, it was fazed out fast due to the complexity the tech conclaves of Saturn put into these suits. Later on Vulkan, Primarch of The Salamanders Legion, decided to crack the secrets of this beast. In his success, he gave his findings to all his brothers, and while they could now be produced, this discovery was found right before the outbreak of the heresy:
Attacking in groups of 3, these Terminators come with three weapons; Plasma Bombards, Disruption Fists, and Heavy Disintegrators. These suits also include the capacity to teleport into battle. The kits come with six of every weapon except the Disruption Fists, which will always be on the left arm.
Saturnine Dreadnought
Because the Leviathan was not enough, we needed another BIG dreadnought. The Saturnine is the biggest walker in the Space Marine line, coming with a Heavy Plasma Bombard, a Disintegrator Cannon, and two types of nipple guns (Photonic Incinerators and Concussive guns):
I was going to say this in the Terminator section, but I felt it better to say it here. I am personally disappointed in the designs for the Saturnine suits. I feel that they were trying a bit to one up previous variations of Terminators and Dreadnoughts, but they come off as a bit pigeon-holed. I'm hoping at the vary least the full release of the Dreadnought will give it more options, but I really don't know. I think previous versions of the Saturnine suit looked better, with the simple design of the suit serving it far better:
Saturnine Praetor
Unlike the previous edition, this box gives two HQs with entirely different armors. For the first of these two we see the Praetor in Saturnine Praetor. This kit comes with two Disruption Fists with Plasma Blasters, a Concussion Hammer, and a Saturnine War Axe. It also includes a bunch of extra bits to make your Praetor his own special little man:
Mk2 Centurion
Our second HQ option in the box is a Legion Centurion in Mk2 Artificer Armor. This kit comes with a Combi-Melta, Power Maul, and a Cyber-Familiar. This kit also comes with some extra bits for customization:
Araknae Quad Accelerator Platform
This new piece of automated sentry is designed to lie in wait, allowing it to surprise it's enemies. It can Deep Strike into battle, making hell for your opponent:
This weapons platform comes with four Accelerator Autocannons, a gun seen previously on the Sicarian Battle Tank:
New Rules
With the new edition of the game comes with a plethora of new and updated rules. While we won't see all of them till release, we were able to get a sneak peak of some of the big updates. The first is a new addition to the game, Tactical Status:
These statuses come into play when facing the more unique weapons of the 30th Millennium. The box itself comes with tokens to mark your units with these status effects. There are some updates to the unit and weapon profiles of the armies of Horus Heresy:
Leadership, Cool, Willpower, and Intelligence all come from 40k 1st Edition, and give units more nuance to different unit types when it comes to saves and skill tests. Tests involving these require the use of 2D6, seeking to get equal or lower. Weapons also gain a set of new stat profiles. These effects give damage characteristics to ranged weapons, giving better feel to the difference in a gun for light infantry, and one for taking on tanks. Melee weapons gain Strength, Attacks, and Initiative, giving more feel to the thick of melee and the danger of personal challenges:
Book Releases and Errata
With the release of the box set comes the release of new army rule books, or Libers. There will be five books upon release, two for the Legions, Solar Auxilia, Mechanicum, and Knights/Titans. Talons of the Emperor are instead gaining a downloadable errata. The reason for this is their own update in the upcoming future (there have always been female Custodes):
Later down the timeline will be the release of the first of 3rd edition's campaign books (or Journal Tactica as they are calling them now), the first part of the Dropsite Massacre:
Reinforcements Inbound!!
As with every big release, they come with a series of previews for what will be released later down the line. This is Heresy though, so these will probably be all that we will get in plastic, until the release of the campaign book. To start off, as this is the one that will be released first is the Fellblade Super-Heavy Battle Tank. Built on the chassis of the humble Baneblade, the Fellblade was designed for use by the Space Marine Legions:
The main cannon of this beauty is the Accelerator Cannon, a massive twin-linked gun that can shred even Titans. In addition to this wonderful gun is a Demolisher Cannon, Quad Heavy Bolters/Lascannons, a forth choice of a combi-bolter, dual-flamer, or dual-lascannon:
This model is in full plastic now, as was seen on the livestream, and will hopefully pave the way for other Legion Super-Heavies coming to plastic:
A few weeks ago we saw Missile Battery Tarantulas for Solar Auxilia. These younger brothers of the Araknae are perfect for deep-strikes and ambush attacks. These are also available for Legiones Astartes. Unlike for SA these Tarantulas will come with a variety of Special and Heavy weapons:
Another addition to these weapon platforms sees the plastic release of the Rapier Armored Carrier. This treaded weapon platform will be split between a Heavy Weapon piece for the Quad Heavy Bolter and Graviton Cannon, and a light artillery piece for the Quad-Launcher and Laser-Destroyer:
Each Rapier is controlled by two members of the Legiones Astartes, setting each kit to a total of two Rapiers and four Space Marines. These kits are shown in IF and SoH colors, implying that they may have been made before the Legion choices for HH3:
Shown above is a set of Space Marines in specialty Mk4 "Imperial Maximus" Power Armor. Keep in mind that nu-Mk4 has only really been seen on a few resin models, and to have an idea what they will look like in plastic is a nice surprise:
In addition to these models, we are seeing a glimpse of two new infantry sets. One is and Assault Squad in Mk2 Armor, as and the long awaited Breacher Squad in Mk3 "Iron" Armor:
To finalize this extremely long post, a set of images have been released, showing teasers for models in the Space Marines, Mechanicum, and Custodes lines. While the focus is on the Volkite Charger, it is important to recognize what is holding it. This could be either a new Cataphractii HQ, or an entirely new Cataphractii Terminator Squad:
If you would like to read in more detail the articles attached to these images, you can look at them
here.
