Horus Heresy New Edition, or Just Horus Hearsay?

[Joe]

2 hours ago, Petitioner's City said:

Again I really agree, but it's also that we forget Kinrade so much, as well as everyone else who worked on and established what IA was in its first decade. 

 

I should've mentioned Kinrade really - Talima Fox as well! Plus the dozens of supporting artists over the years.

[Astartes Consul]

11 hours ago, BitsHammer said:

Getting back to 3.0 I can get why Night Fighting might have been canned (though I argue it was one of the best tools the game had to ensure people didn't commit to a ranged alpha strike army, or at least meant they had to pay extra to do so), but the article going "don't worry Night Lords you're still scary" tells me that they might have done them dirty by over simplifying the faction. 

 

I could be wrong, but I really hope the army has more going for it than a penalty to other people's mental checks.

It did strike me as a bit of a cop out that the article essentially then just a lister a load of normal rules interactions as examples of where the Night Lords could still be ‘super scary’. But then, the War Comm preview articles are written for the most general audience possible so who knows. 

[jaxom]

@Petitioner's City, thank you! I mostly playtested the LotR card game starting around 2010. so I just got the FFG/GW stories second hand. If I recall correctly, a large chunk of Rogue Trader had been developed at Industries prior to the license going to FFG. The folks I knew made it sound like they were doing all the original writing which then had to be approved by Rees and Merritt; and they were allowed to include snippets from previously published works, hence the 'special thanks.' Most of Rogue Trader and a lot of the lore for Deathwatch came out of Black Industries; most of the rules came from Corey and then Kat after Corey got put on Arkham. 

[CommissarXin]

Seems the SN Battle Report team is set to release a lot of 3.0 content soon.

[Marshal Rohr]

Announcement is Sunday, so they’ll start doing content the Saturday after next. 

[Brother Sutek]

On 6/30/2025 at 10:01 PM, TheTrans said:

Plonked this on FB but I generally find convesations are generally a bit more reasonable over here! 

So spotted the new Space Wolves 'Tactica'... and like, wow... it looks pretty anemic, so though I better go back and look at what 1 and two looked like in regards to Legion Traits etc for the Wolves.. and god damn, if GW keeps thinning stuff out at this rate, their trait..sorry..tactica... in the next edition will be 'paint them grey and stick a wolf helmet on them'

So, just going off of wolves, just as we know their trait.

So in 1.0 we had the following for Wolves overall rules.

Legiones Astartes (Space Wolves)
Legiones Astartes: Can Always Regroup
Bestial Savagery: +1 WS when they charge. Gain Counter attack, must always Sweeping advance if able
Hunter's Gait: +1" to Run and Consolidation moves if not equipped with TDA and Jump Pack.
Preternatural Senses: Ignore Night Fight, Can re-roll which board edge they come on with Outflank. No Infiltrators within 18"

Specific Build Requirements:
-Compulsory HQ must be a Praetor or Cent
-1 HQ per 1000 points, allowing it to go over normal force org.
-Primus Medicae, Chaplain and Librarian replaced with the Priest of Fenris.
-Grey Slaers must be your Compulsory Troop Choices

6 Different Warlord Traits
-The Get of the Wyrm
-The Howl of the Death Wolf
-The Hunger of the Void
-The Waster of the Land
-The Crown Breaker
-The Shield of the Wolf King

2 ROWS:
The Pale Hunters
- The Circling Wolves: +1 to Reserve Rolls
- Bleed & Harry: All non TDA infantry gain Hit & Run, roll 2d6 instead of 3d6 for it.
- The Fury of the Pack: If charge an already engaged unit, +1 attack per charging model.

Limitations:
-No Artillery, Fortifications or Drop Pods
-Only a Single HS Slot

The Bloodied Claws
-Oath of the Bloodied Claw: All Grey Slayers and Assault squads gain Furious Charge, but must charge a unit if able
-Overwhelming Assault: +1 to combat res in enemy deployment
-Gains the Howls of the Death Wolf Rules from Warlord Traits (All run and charges can be re-rolled for a turn, one per game)

Limitations:
-No Immobile, Artillery or Slow and Purposeful Units
-May not take an Allied Space Marine Detachment

Equipment and Wargear
-Frost Weapons
-Fenrisian Wolves 
-Aetherune Armour

Units
-Deathsworn
-Varagyr Wolf Guard Terminators 
-Grey Slayer pack
-Geigor Fell-Hand
-Hvarl Red-Blade
-Speaker
-Wolf Priest
-Leman Russ
-Freki and Geri

2.0
Legion Trait:
Bestial Savagry: Run and Shoot and Charge. Or +1 WS if Can't Run When Charging/Charged. Vehicle Ram Attacks +1S.

Specific Build Requirements:

None

3 Different Warlord Traits
-Howl of Morkai
-Hunger of the Void
-Crown Breaker

3 ROWS:
Black Watch
-Hatred (Traitor), PE (Primarch)
-Fearless when getting stomped by Primarch
-+2" When Charging A Primarch
Limitations:
- Only Allied
- No Vehicles or Primarch
- Loyalist Only

The Pale Hunters:
-Special Hit & Run
-Fleet (2), Rage (2) When Flanking Assualt
-Up to 3 Inf or Cav gain Outfalnk for free
Limitations
-Single HS Choice
-At least one unit must be Flanking Assault

The Bloodied Claw:
-Once Per game +1 to combat res. Fleet (2), Furious Charge (1), Stubborn, or upgrade from Stubborn to Fearless.
Limitations
-When Kicking off the One Per Game benefit, must charge if able. 

Equipment and Wargear
-Fenrisian Axe
-Frost Weapons
-Aether Rune Armour

Units
-Jarl Praetor Upgrade
-Consuls: Pack Thegn, Speaker, Caster
-Deathsworn
-Varagyr Wolf Guard Terminators 
-Grey Slayer pack
-Grey Hunter pack
-Geigor Fell-Hand
-Hvarl Red-Blade
-Leman Russ
-Freki and Geri

3.0 (only going off what we know, but lets try and not glug too much cope, or spill too much salt!).
Space Wolves 'Rite of War'
Legion Tactica: +2" to 'charge setup'.
Gambit: 1 I imagine
Warlord Trait: 3.. maybe?
Detachments: Who knows, but presume it, much like the new 'FoC' will allow you to take more SP special units or something with no downsides.
Wargear: Probably the Same given they have models.
Units: Same, given they all have models

So, like... as much as people will want to reee and say that 30k isn't going the way of 40k... like I think there is a clear direction of rules thinning and removal of restrictions.

I get it seems a lot of the player base is very restriction adverse for whatever reason, but I feel restrictions generally helped players at least be guided into the vibe of a legion. Like with list building in 3.0 we're really not far off just 'take whatever you want'... like a 60 point Cent 'tax' at 3k is a drop in the bucket... 

But yeah, thougths on the constant degradation of flavour and abilities?
 

I was reading this fast and missed that the first part of this was talking about 1st edition.  I felt dumb as I was reading it and thinking why would people complain about this? That sounds awesome. Reading comprehension is hard apparently.

[Lord Marshal]

Mechanicum Faction Focus. Solar Auxilia tomorrow.

 

Quote

Mechanicum armies in this edition embrace the ‘masters of puppets’ theme so prevalent in the Horus Heresy novels. At its core, your Primary Detachment will be entirely composed of Archmagos, Magos, and Tech Priest units, with each belonging to a High Tech Arcana – from the unbreakable automata of the Cybernetica and the sinister priests of the Myrmidax cult to the endless hordes of the Lacrymaerta and the massed armour of the Macrotek. Your Auxiliary and Apex Detachments comprise the bulk of your forces, and all units in each must share the same High Tech Arcana* – your magi are bringing their own personal retinues to battle with them!

 

Bringing an Archmagos unlocks one of six unique Apex Detachments focused around their particular High Tech Arcana, which further improves the units in that Detachment through Prime Advantages. For example, an Archmagos from the Macrotek can bring up to three Armour units and three Heavy Transports in an Iron Phalanx Apex Detachment, which all benefit from the Macrotek’s Prime Conveyor – blessing them with increased armour, hull points, and transport capacity!

 

Edited July 2 by Lord Marshal

[Astartes Consul]

Apex Detachments for each Tech Arcana, interesting. 

[Nephaston]

This reads a bit like Archmagos are High Command, Magos are Command, and Tech Priests are Troops, while everything else is assigned to anything but troops.

 

Reposting these for reference

[jaxom]

My biggest takeaway is Apex Detachments and unique faction Prime Advantages have a lot of heavy lifting to do for flavor.

[Lord Marshal]

BEHOLD, a PDF roadmap. Also confirms the end of Heresy Thursdays (go figure). This presumably also soft-confirms the new edition will released this month?

 

Edited July 2 by Lord Marshal

[jaxom]

Inductii get a whole list? Interesting.

[Naryn]

What do you think the odds are I get rules for the Tormentor back in the Legacy pdf?

[Marshal Rohr]

Re-reading the rules today, this jumped out at me. The tank owner decides which facing is hit when two facings are visible. That’s actually huge, it means most of the game the big heavy weapons squads and vehicles will always be hitting front armor unless they are entirely behind the vehicle with no other facings in line of sight. 

 

 

Off the top of my head this mean things like Autocannons, Volkites, Missiles will be much less effective unless they have a clean perpendicular shot to the side or rear of a Russ or Predator. 

Edited July 2 by Marshal Rohr

[Astartes Consul]

ZM done dirty I feel. 
 

Good to have some confirmation / rough dates for things.

[Doobles57]

Last few articles have had me a little worried, however today's two have been a boost. The Mechanicum rules shown seem fun - forcing Emergency Disembarkation just seems like something I'll enjoy doing.

 

PDF roadmap looks better that the pdf rollout for 2nd Edition. And the Inductii list is very intriguing.

 

Everything points to announcement this weekend and pre-orders next. Already on the expression of interest list for my go-to FLGS so looking forward to it now.

[Marshal Rohr]

57 minutes ago, Nephaston said:

This reads a bit like Archmagos are High Command, Magos are Command, and Tech Priests are Troops, while everything else is assigned to anything but troops.

 

Reposting these for reference

They really need a Heresy specific Abeyant and Regular Magos kit to drop soon. The Datasmith is stuck in a box with 2 Baymax Bots and the Enginseer and Archaeologist are cool, but doubling them up won’t look or feel fun. 

[MoriyaSchism]

29 minutes ago, Lord Marshal said:

BEHOLD, a PDF roadmap. Also confirms the end of Heresy Thursdays (go figure). This presumably also soft-confirms the new edition will released this month?

 

Inductii army list? That's interesting. Will they do Legion specific stuff? I would love to see both versions of the Raven Guard Raptors. Would be fun to run the first successful batch along with all the mutants. 

[Matcap86]

9 minutes ago, Astartes Consul said:

ZM done dirty I feel. 
 

Good to have some confirmation / rough dates for things.

 

They could've easily thrown those in one of the dlc books, so getting them as a download is a positive I think.

[jaxom]

4 minutes ago, Matcap86 said:

 

They could've easily thrown those in one of the dlc books, so getting them as a download is a positive I think.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Advanced ZM rules, more ZM missions, etc end up in a Journal.

[Robbienw]

I really, really cannot wait to get a fellblade!!

[Lord Marshal]

Looks like they've updated the wording so that it's Inductii rules, rather than a list. Shame, I was curious how a list would work out.

 

Interesting that so far there's not been any mention of Assassins.

 

Edited July 2 by Lord Marshal

[Redcomet]

Sooo preorder on the 12th? 

[Nephaston]

16 minutes ago, Redcomet said:

Sooo preorder on the 12th? 

Would line up with this form

[Redcomet]

28 minutes ago, Nephaston said:

Would line up with this form

195£… ouch