Horus Heresy Army List for the Big Game

The Big Game is coming up in February and that means its time to finalize my army list.

Not every year do I make a brand new army from scratch but this year I have decided to go all-in with a new army.  I am building a 30k Iron Warriors army.

Now it may seem odd to those who have known me for awhile, only because I already have a 40k Iron Warrior army, but I have been upset with GW ever since the old 3.5 ed Chaos Codex was replaced with the lousy 4th ed codex so when Forgeworld started the Horus Heresy series I was excited.

I finally have rules for the Iron Warriors again, and I am going to use them.

Without further ado, here is the army list that I am basing my Big Game army around:


Lord Of War -

Perturabo with Forgebreaker
in The Tormentor Shadowsword
990 points

NOTES -
Forgebreaker is Ferrus Manus' hammer which is given to Perturabo after Manus' death.  Perturabo has modified the hammer, giving it the unwieldy, blind and concussive special rules.
The Tormentor is Perturabo's personal transport; a modified Shadowsword.  It has a void shield and a transport capacity of 15.  It is a dedicated transport for Perturabo and doesn't take up an extra LOW slot.


Headquarters - 

Praetor with Warsmith upgrade, servo arm, master-crafted Paragon Blade, plasma pistol, meltabombs, iron halo, digital lasers
235 points

Master of Signal with artificer armour, refractor field, meltabombs
120 points

Siege Breaker with artificer armour, refractor field, 3 phosphex bombs, meltabombs, thunderhammer.
175 points

Legion Command Squad
3 Chosen Cataphracti Terminators 2 with chainfists, 1 powerfist
1 Standard Bearer with combi-melta and powerfist
in Landraider Phobos with Armored Ceramite and Auxiliary Drive
497 points

NOTES -
The Warsmith model is a conversion from the Forgeworld special event Legion Praevian model.  In 30k, digital lasers give you +1 attack, so this Warsmith has 7 attacks on the charge.
The Master of Signal model is based off of the old metal Iron Warriors models.  Master of Signal allows one artillery strike a game.  He also gives +1 BS to any squad he joins.  He will be with the Iron Havocs.
The Siege Breaker is a conversion of the Chaplain model from the Betrayal at Calth boxset.  He gives Medusas Phosphex shells.
The Legion Command Squad is using the Terminator models from the Betrayal at Calth boxset. It is the first way for me to get additional vehicles into one fore organization chart.


Elites - 

Legion Destroyer Squad
9 Destroyers 2 with hand flamers all with meltabombs
1 sargent with power sword, artificer armour and 3 phosphex bombs
in Landraider Proteus with armoured ceramite, auxiliary drive and twin-linked heavy bolter
605 points

Apothecarion detachment
2 Apothecaries with augury scanners, combi-weapons, power swords and artificer armour
160 points

Legion Dreadnought Talon
2 Legion Dreadnoughts each with a twin-linked Lascannon
300 points

Contemptor Dreadnought Talon
1 Contemptor with Kheres assault cannon
1 Contemptor with multimelta
365 point

NOTES -
The Destroyers are a squad that allows me another vehicle just like the command squad, plus I've always wanted to run a squad with hand flamers even if they are underwhelming.
The Apothecaries will be attached to two 20-man tactical squads.


Troops - 

Legion Tactical Squad A
19 marines with one Legion Vexilla
1 sargent with powerfist, artificer armour, meltabombs
290 points

Legion Tactical Squad B
19 marines with one Legion Vexilla
1 sargent with powersword, artificer armour, meltabombs
285 points

Legion Tactical Squad C
9 marines
1 sargent with powerfist
in Rhino with havoc missile launcher
215 points

Legion Tactical Squad D
9 marines
1 sargent with powerfist
in Rhino with havoc missile launcher
215 points

Legion Tactical Support Squad
5 marines with 5 plasmaguns
1 sargent with augury scanner, power sword meltabombs
in rhino with havoc launcher
180 points

NOTES -
I am a little light on troops but at the moment this is all I have.  I would need to buy more marines to expand my troops, which I may do at some point but probably not before the Big Game.


Fast Attack - 

Legion Seeker Squad
5 Seekers with 5 combi-plasma guns and one nuncio-vox
1 strike leader with meltabombs and artificer armour
in Land Raider Proteus with armoured ceramite auxiliary drive and twin-linked heavy bolter
515 points

Legion Landspeeder Squadron
2 Land Speeders with 2 heavy bolters each
130 points

NOTES -
The seeker squad also provides a Land Raider as an additional tank.  The two Land Raider Proteus' are actually the old plastic original land raider models.  I was able to acquire them several years ago second hand for cheap.


Heavy Support - 

Legion Artillery Tank Squadron
2 Legion Basilisks
280 points

Legion Artillery Tank Squadron
2 Legion Medusas
310 points

Legion Vindicator with dozer blade armoured ceramite and auxiliary drive
155 points

Iron Havoc Support Squad
5 Iron Havocs with 5 lascannons
1 Sargent with lascannon, augury Scanner and meltabombs
310 points

NOTES -
The Iron Havoc squad uses the old metal shoulder-mounted lascannons from second edition, which look almost identical to the new forgeworld resin lascannons.


Fortifications - 

Firestorm Redoubt with Magos Machine Spirit, 3 Tangle Wires, , 5 tank traps, escape hatch, void shield
370 points

NOTES -
The Iron Havocs will deploy inside the Firestorm Redoubt along with the Master of Signal.  The Master of Signal will give them +1 BS.



So this is the list I made and now I simply need to finish building the Siegemaster, the two apothecaries and then paint everything.

I will be posting my progress here, until then...

Perturabo and Fulgrim say Happy Thanksgiving!!

I figured I'd do an update on my progress with my Horus Heresy Iron Warriors.  I am also including pics of my fiance's Emperor's Children.

Perturabo

Fulgrim

A couple of Emperor's Children Rhinos 

Lucius (Legion Champion) and Apothecary Fabius (Primus Medicae)

Ancient Rylanor 

The Kakophoni 

A finished Tactical Marine.

 (He is sprayed with Purity Seal, this is after using Ard Coat)

 The Legion Champion.

 Saul Tarvitz

Lord Commander Eidolon and the Palatine Blades with jump packs. 

A Tactical Squad. 

 Another Tactical Squad.

The Phoenix Guard Terminators.

The Iron Warriors.

Legion Tactical Support Squad with Plasma Guns. 

The last of the plastic marines from the Betrayal at Calth box set yet to be put together. 

Two ten-man Tactical Squads made with old plastic and metal beakies. 

A Legion Destroyer Squad made from Betrayal at Calth marines and extra bits.

The Betrayal at Calth plastic Contemptor.

The Betrayal at Calth terminators with the Praetor converted to a Command Squad Standard Bearer. 

A resin Forgeworld Contemptor Dreadnought, finished except for the base.

Finished (except for the bases) Iron Warrior tactical marines.

A large squad of tactical marines.

Six Iron Havocs converted from Betrayal at Calth plastic marines and old metal shoulder-mounted lascannons. 

A Legion Seeker squad with combi-plasmas.  

The sargent is an old metal captain with a bionic leg.

I am gearing up for this year's D-Company Big Game and I intend to play 30k Iron Warriors.  In a future post I will go into more detail by posting the actual army list.  I have only 2 more models to purchase, a Shadowsword and a Firestorm Redoubt.

After these two purchases I will have 6700points.

The biggest issue will be finishing the painting on these models by February 19th, the date of this year's Big Game.

Next time I will post the army list or possibly a battle report.  

This weekend I will be playing two games one with my 30k army and one with my 40k army.

Until then....

Horus Heresy Battle Report: Iron Warriors Vs Salamanders Part 2

Now for the exciting conclusion...


Perturabo and one lone Iron Warrior finally clear the rest of the Salamanders squad and their Praetor off the map.  The loss of the Praetor gives the Iron Warriors a second victory point.  The first being from killing the two drop pods in turn one.

Now the Salamanders move in to counter attack and they hope that they can get the better of a Primarch this day.

On the Iron Warriors' left flank the Salamanders make their big push.  They need to capture the lone objective in the Iron Warriors' deployment zone since it is worth 5 points and they are already down 2 points.

The Salamanders elite terminator squad the FireDrakes launch an assault against Perturabo.

The attack bikes, after firing into the Iron Warrior tactical squad charge into the marines.

After one round of combat, Perturabo had killed their Sargent and they had done one wound to the Primarch.

As the tactical squad and attack bike remain locked in combat, the Warsmith and his terminators advance, ready to charge in if necessary.

After another round of combat Perturabo is reduced to 2 wounds but has now killed 2 more Fire Drakes.

The Salamanders Tactical Support squad advances in their rhino, they disembark and unleash a volley of melta gun shots at the Warsmith and his squad.  They fell two terminators but the Iron Warriors stand strong unfazed by the hail of fire.

The battle is ended.  Neither side has an objective, but the Iron Warriors win the day.

Perturabo is still standing facing off against the Fire Drakes.  Their 3+ invulnerable is incredibly powerful against a primarch who only has 4 attacks base.

The Iron Warriors killed two units on turn one to gain 1 victory points, they killed the enemy warlord for another victory point and also ended up destroying more units than the Salamanders did earning them one additional victory point.

The final tally:
IW - 3 points
Salamanders - 0

This was a very interesting battle.  The deployment zone is unique and hasn't been seen since the Spearhead expansion in 5th edition.  The mission is one that has very difficult to accomplish primary objectives so it encourages castling and protecting your assets especially in my case where I was heavily out numbered.

There were two combats that lasted forever and it shows that in 30k a lotof combats will grind to a halt if the units are very tough or just not suited to close combat.  Tar-pitting can be a very effective tactic in 30k because everyone is playing marines for the most part.

Next time I will show some new pics of my in progress 30k Iron Warriors.  I will also talk about the new Horus Heresy Betrayal at Calth box set.

Until then,

Horus Heresy Battle Report: Iron Warriors Vs Salamanders Part 1

At What-Khan 2015 (Formerly Rock-Con) I played my first full Horus Heresy game.  Both armies were Horus Heresy lists and we played a Horus Heresy (HH) Mission.

This was both of ours first Horus Heresy game where we both used HH army lists and we played a HH mission.  I recently purchased the Forgeworld red HH book, "Mechanicum Taghmata Army List" and in this book is 6 deployment types and 6 missions for use in HH games.

I had 2000 points of Iron Warriors using the Hammer Of Olympia Rite of War.

These are basically the special rules I had:

The Iron Warriors get specific rules for their legion:
- Do not take moral tests from shooting
- Re-roll pinning tests
- Opponent may force a turn 6 without having to roll for it
Because Perturabo was on the table I also got:
- All marines are Stubborn (there is no And They Shall Know No Fear in 30k)
My Rite of War gave me:
- Can charge after rapid firing but counts as disordered
- All Tanks and Walkers have extra armour for free
- Can take an additional Heavy Support
- Must take a Warsmith or Siege breaker an compulsory HQ
- Must take more Heavy Support than Fast Attack
- Must take an additional compulsory troop choice

My army list is as follows:


Lord Of War -

Perturabo with ForgeBreaker
490pts.

HQ -

Praetor - Warsmith upgrade with servo arm, Master Crafted Paragon Blade, Iron Halo, Meltabombs, Plasma Pistol, Digital Lasers.
235pts.

Troops - 

19 Tactical Marines
1 Sargent powerfist and artificer armour
275pts.

9 Tactical Marines
1 Sargent power sword and meltabombs
in Rhino with Havoc Missile Launcher
215pts

9 Tactical Marines
1 Sargent power sword and meltabombs
in Rhino with Havoc Missile Launcher
215pts

Elites - 

4 Terminators - 1 powerfist, 1 Reaper Autocannon
1 Sargent with power sword and combi-bolter
195pts.

Heavy Support -

Vindicator with armoured ceramite
140pts

Predator with Autocannon and 2 heavy bolter sponsons and armoured ceramite
115pts

Predator with Autocannon and 2 lascannon sponsons
115pts

The Salamanders were using their Rite of War: The Covenant of Fire.

The Salamanders were using the following Special Rules:

Legion Rules:
- Auto-pass Fear Tests
- Must re-roll a single d6 when pinning and morale tests are failed
- All flamer weapons are at +1 strength and flamer attacks against them are at -1 strength
- Do not add their Initiative to their sweeping advance roll
- Reduce run and charge distances by -1"
Rite of War rules:
- All vehicles have a 5+ invulnerable save against melta, flamer, plasma, volkite and meltabombs
- All melta weapons are master-crafted
- All units gain Move Through Cover
- Units may not deep strike (We messed this up)
- Cannot take more Heavy or Fast Attack than they have Troops
- May not take fortifications
- May only take one Consul, with the exception of Legion Champion type

His army consisted roughly of:

- Praetor with Thunderhammer, and Mantle of the Elder Drake (gains Eternal Warrior)

- 3 Attack Bikes with Multimeltas

- Dreadnought with Twin-Linked Lascannon and Twin-Linked Autocannon

- 2 15-man Tactical Squads

- Rapier Laser Destroyer

- Rhino with Tactical Support squad with 6 Meltaguns

- Rhino with Tactical Support Squad with 5 Flamers

- Rhino with Tactical Support squad with 5 Meltaguns

- 6 FireDrake Terminators (Thunderhammers and 3+ Invo Saves)

- 6 Heavy Support Troops with 6 Missile Launchers

- 2 Deathstorm Drop Pods

This deployment zone we used was called "Clash Of The Line"
Basically this deployment is triangles on the short board edges. See the deployment photos below.

The mission we played was called Onslaught.
The mission rules were:
- Lasts 6 turns
- After deployment each player places one Objective in the opponents deployment zone. That objective they placed is worth 5 Victory points to them only.
- Deployment alternates with each player placing one unit at a time until their whole army is deployed. The order of deployment was: Fortifications, Lords Of War, Heavy, Troops, Elites, HQ, Fast
- Any enemy unit destroyed in the first turn is worth 1 Victory point.
- Slay the Warlord
- Whoever destroyed the most units at the end of the game gains 1 additional Victory point.
- Reserves
- Night Fight


Here is a pic of turn 1 right after his Deathstorm Drop Pods deep struck (I forgot to take a pic of the deployment):

Note the triangle deployment zones. 

The Deathstorms drop in and kill some marines, but do no serious damage. 

The Salamanders advance and take some pot shots but again no serious 

damage is taken by the Iron Warriors. 

During the Iron Warriors first turn, they move to destroy the pods and the Predator, 

Vindicator and 2 Rhinos move to block the Objective from the Salamanders. 

After Perturabo, the Tactical squad, the Warsmith and terminators assault the pods, 

there remains nothing but smoking wreckage.

Perturabo had calculated the distances before the battle and had determined the proper distance that his Iron Warriors would need to remain at to minimize damage which was necessary because the Salamanders outnumbered the Iron Warriors significantly.

The Salamanders advance, and the Iron Warriors take minimal damage from their 

shooting because of the ranges involved.  

The Support Squad opens up on the Tactical squad killing all but one 

marine and Perturabo.

Perturabo charges into the Support Squad and the Praetor, he kills all but one and 

is locked in combat with the Praetor and one marine. 

The Salamanders again advance and prepare a counter-strike at Perturabo.

The Salamanders strike at the Iron Warriors destroying a Predator and a Vindicator.

Part 2 coming soon...

Heresy Era Iron Warriors Part 4

This past weekend I went to What-Khan, a local miniatures gaming con.

My friend Chris and I wanted to play some Horus Heresy so I had to get some more Iron Warriors painted up.

The Warsmith's base is not fully done and I think I am still working on Perturabo, but they are all tabletop worthy!


Here is my Warsmith:

Here is my Master of Signal:

And here is the Lord of Iron himself, Perturabo:

Turns out this November 7th is preorders for the new Horus Heresy boxed set.

I started a 30k army just in time!

I also picked up some more figs from the Bits Guy at What-Khan for use in my 30k IW:

Here are some vehicle bits

 I also found some great Rogue Trader Era marines and accessories!

That's all for now, next time I will have my first Horus Heresy Battle Report!