Assault on Mondus Gamma

Imperial Fists' Assault on Forge Entry of Mondus Gamma

In the early stages of the Heresy, Rogal Dorn was urged by Malcador the Sigillite to secure the Mondus Gamma and Mondus Occulus Forges on Mars. These two mighty forges were the primary production for many of the legions arms and armour so the importance of the mission was paramount.

Rogal Dorn tasked First Captain Sigismund with the mission to land in force and secure the two forges amidst the schism forming in the mechanicums ranks. This battle report tells the short story of Praetor Andreas leading elements of the 52nd Vanguard company to secure a secondary forge entrance to Forge Mondus Gamma. Standing in opposition to him and his forces is a Magos Dominus of the Dark Mechanicum, leading a small host of Castellax Battle Automata with a Thallax cohort in support.

The battle field was dominated by a wide canal, of which the mechanicum had blown the two bridges crossing it. Fortunately for the Imperial Fists, ruined factoriums provided good cover in which to advance behind and launch the attack.. The imperial Fists objective was to take the central building the the Mechanicums deployment zone by turn 6......The mechanicum simply had to prevent this to win.

Imperial Fists Turn 1.

VIIth Legion WIP: Breachers Squad I

Heys guys, spraggy again with another post about the yellow guys from the VIIth legion.

Not so much a work in progress but more of a work finished is my first breacher squad....finally 

Creating A Theme For A List

Wiseman here for my first post, with Act of Heresy coming in January I’ve been busy trying to work out my list for it. Not always the easiest unfortunately to do, finding something that will be competitive, without going too far above or below the power curve. It also needs to be something that will be fun to play with, for both myself and for the opponent to play against. I wanted to do something different as well, instead of my Imperial Fists, I figured it was time to get my Dark Angels done (it may have helped that I had also heard that the next book would have rules).

Unfortunately at this point, I was left with too many choices. One of the really great parts of the Horus Heresy is the construction of an army list. I do like that Games Workshop try to open options up to players, in fact, truth be told, I don’t oppose the idea of formations to create thematic lists, it's just that the execution of it feels rushed and does leave a bitter taste in the mouth when you look at free upgrades for buying certain models.

But Forge World have definitely taken this idea, and pushed it in a direction without stopping you from having to think. Though there is only currently 4 Army Lists (Crusade Army List, Mechanicum, Solar Auxillia, and Imperial Militia and Warp Cults), the options that they have created inside of these really do allow you to run any variety of army you like, with 18 legions, 3 styles of Mechanicum Armies and  9 different Provenances you can mix and match for the Militia list.

If this wasn’t enough the Legions have Rites of War to tailor it even further in the direction that you would like to go, you love the image of falling from the sky to rain down fiery death, Salamanders Orbital Assault has you covered. A shield wall marching down corridors of a ship, clearing it room by room, that's what your Imperial Fist Stone Gauntlet is for.  On top of all this there is then the alternate force organisation charts, Onslaught opens up more heavy support, Leviathan allows you to see how an army would go bringing down a Titan, or you can be the master of your fortress with the Castellan force organisation chart.

While this may seem like the game set in the 41st millennium, Forge World have taken this variety and tempered it with making you think about what you want to do, Pride of the Legion may sound awesome because it allows you to take Terminators and Veterans as troops, but is that so great when you are left with such a small number of models on the table that will not only gift your opponent extra VP if you lose them all, but prevent you from bulking out your army with cheap expendable troops by cutting off your option for allies?

You really need to sit there and plan out your list before you start, and this is what I’ve been enjoying most about preparing for Act of Heresy, I wanted to do a Dark Angels army, and when I read about the discipline of the First Legion making planet fall by Drop Pod onto Macragge, I knew that was how I wanted mine to approach the table. I’ve always enjoyed playing armies that have minimal deployments and this is something i wanted to carry into my new army. Deep Striking all my units on where they were needed.

There were some units I knew I needed to field in the list, because they’re just too cool not to: Jetbikes; Dreadnoughts; Deathstorm Drop Pods; a Caestus and a unit of Javelins. Though fitting all these in together while still getting troops was not going to be easy.

The first place i looked was the Orbital Assault Rite of War

Effects

*All units in the army eligible to take a Rhino as a Dedicated Transport may instead select a Legion or Dreadclaw Drop Pod as a Dedicated Transport

*Legion Dreadnoughts may take Legion Drop Pods as Dedicated Transports (on a 1:1 ratio) and Contemptor Dreadnoughts may take Dreadclaw Drop Pods as Dedicated Transports

*Units and models in Terminator Armour gain the Deep Strike special rule

*legion Rapier Weapon Batteries may selection Legion Drop Pods as Dedicated Transports

Limitations

*Units that cannot be deployed via Deep strike either by having access to the rule themselves or because they cannot be carried in a transport vehicle that has it (Infantry in Drop Pod for example)may not be chosen as part of the army.

*You may not take a Fortification Allied Detachment

*All units purchased Dedicated Transport must begin the game within them.

For a deep striking army, this is always going to be the most obvious option, Drop Pods for Infantry and Dreadnoughts, nothing allowed to start on the table. The limitations for it aren’t massive limitations if you’re going for that style of theme.

As I looked at the though it didn’t quite give me what I wanted for my list, I couldn’t get enough onto the table in turn one without running the risk of losing it all if I went first (this has happened to me in the past in 40k when I’ve tried running Drop Pod armies before). Deathstorm pods and Dreadnoughts aren’t the most resilient when there is an army's worth of firepower coming their way. Also Deathstorm Drop Pods are an option as Fast attack in this style of list instead of being a Heavy Support Choice.

There were options to minimise this risk, Kharybdis Assault Claws with 20 Marines inside being the biggest of these, a large Terminator Squad teleporting in could also be an option but runs the issue of having the unit land in an area where they won’t mishap, and also being susceptible to blast weaponry, and while Cataphractii are more durable, they can’t run to make themselves more resistant to templates hitting them.

In the end I decided that Drop Pods for tactical squads while a nice option, wasn’t as great as the possibility of being guaranteed not going first. For this reason, I actually opted for the Onslaught Force Organisation chart, instead of the Orbital Assault.

Compulsory

*1 HQ

*1 Troop

*1 Heavy

Optional

1 HQ

3 Troops

4 Elites

2 Fast Attack

3 Heavy Support

2 lords of war

Rolling thunder:

Thanks to the thunder of their approach, the attack of an onslaught army is usually more then easy to predict. As a result, in any mission where the first turn is the result of a dice roll and unless the enemy force is also an Onslaught Force Organisation Chart this army never has first turn unless it can Seize the Initiative.

This would allow me to take just one Tactical Squad, and then instead add in extra Tactical Support Squads if i needed them.The Tactical Squad would be able to arrive in a storm eagle coming in later in the game, and a Tactical Support squad with Plasma Guns coming in via Caestus to go where i need them most.

The lack of a 3rd Fast attack left me with a conundrum for the trio of Jetbikes, Storm Eagle and Javelins that i wanted to run. But adding a Jetbike to my Praetor allows me to give them to his Command Squad as well (the Legion Banner is also a nice addition), and a unit of Knights flying in from the sky is definitely a cool image, each one a hero about to issue Challenges as befits them.

This is exactly what i like about the heresy, is that with a theme in mind for how you wish to build your list, there's many different ways to go about executing it. If you think outside of the box, you can come up with some great combinations for your armies and create a really interesting list. The Rites of War are a great basis for this, but with a bit of thought you can tailor your list to get different effects and gaming styles.

VIIth Legion WIP: Sicarian

Hello again guys and another finished Item for the VIIth Legion. The work horse of the armoured contingent for my company, the trusty Sicarian. I find these tanks so good, i'm thinking of getting a second to add to the company.

Alpha Legion Rite of War: The Coils of the Hydra

G'day guys, Macca here and today I am bringing you a look at the most complex and difficult to use Legion and Rite of War so far: The Alpha Legion and the Coils of the Hydra. The Alpha Legion is one of the few forces that aren't just a 'pick up and play' army. They require a deft touch and a sly general to get the most out of them... just like the real deal.

The Alpha Legion lacks a lot of the style that other Legions do. There are no specialist melee units, no Palantine Blades, no Gal Vorback and no Suzerin. The units they have are in fact an unorthodox combination of Recon Squads meet Veteran Tacticals on one hand, and Terminators meet Tactical Support Squads. Their units are nothing special, and in a one vs one fight they won't hold out for long, but...

The Killing Cut

Hey guys, Wadey here! In recent times we have seen some of the other AGIF authors talk about the Rites of War that are applicable to their respective legions so today I'd like to follow suit and talk about the Emperor's Children ROW 'The Maru Skara'.

Death Guard

Greetings greetings, yes the resident Dice Wizard Brado here to have a small chat about the Death Guard legion.  Going to dabble into the Special Rules they get as a legion, their Rite of War and also the special units.

A tale of two Sicarans.

Greetings all Wadey here! It's definitely been a long time between posts but I'm certainly happy to be back! My normal posts are usually about the mighty III Legion but today I thought I'd mix it up a little bit and talk about what IMHO are two of the most potent units and are definite inclusions for ANY Legion, the Sicaran Battle Tank and Sicaran Venator Tank Destroyer.

Fear the Reaver!!!

Gday Guys, Keepy here.

In recent times some of our other authors have written about legion specific Rites of War or units, and a few of you have requested something on Sons of Horus. As the resident player of the mighty XVI, I am more than happy to give you some thoughts of mine.

I am still play testing and getting my head around a competitive army for the Sons of Horus Rite of War, The Black Reaving, so I will leave this for now. What I have been playing with much success are the Reaver Attack Squads. I have never really used them much until recently, and I think I have found a few guidelines (albeit expensive ones) on how to use them.

Reaver Attack Squad Basics

To start with, lets have a look at the unit itself. A Reaver Attack Squad costs 135pts base for a unit of 5 models, including a Chieftain (Sergeant) with the option of taking up to ten more models for 15pts each, taking up a Fast Attack slot. The stat lines are nothing to write home about, fours across the board with the exception of attacks, two base for a Reaver and three base for a Chieftain. These stats are pretty much on par with a Legion Veteran Tactical Squad, again with exception to the Chieftain. They come equiped with Power Armour, Bolt Pistols, Chainswords / Combat Blades, Frag and Krak Grenades.


The Reavers also come with some pretty handy special rules, Assassin's Eye and Outflank, on top of the usual Legion Astartes (Sons of Horus). Assassin's Eye gives the entire unit Precision Shot and Precision Strike despite not being characters, very handy for getting rid of that Sergeant or Apothecary before laying into your target unit. As long as the Reaver unit is not equipped with Jump Packs, it may also take a Rhino or an Anvillus Pattern Dreadclaw as a dedicated transport.

So we have some handy rules and a couple of transport options for an otherwise mediocre stat-lined unit. What makes these guys any good?

Iron Warriors Rite of War: Hammer of Olympia

Macca here, and today I want to talk about the Iron Warriors and their Rite of War, The Hammer of Olympia. I will preface this by saying that this is one of the BEST Rites of War, as the negatives are almost all positives.

So, where do I begin?

Legion Special Rules

• The Bitter End: Your opponent (not you) may force full 6 game turns rather than rolling for random length. Just like the Imperial Fists.
• Wrack and Ruin: Iron Warriors do not suffer morale tests from shooting attacks and may re-roll failed Pinning tests. All grenades and melta bombs gain Wrecker.

These rules are HUGE. The ability to ignore morale from shooting casualties and re-roll pinning makes the Iron Warriors formidable at holding objectives. Nothing short of their annihilation will move them off an objective. At Inferno III, one tactical squad suffered the sustained firepower of half a mechanicum force and endured for 3 turns on top of an objective in cover, scoring me precious Victory Points.

Legion Unique HQ

Warsmith: A free Praetor upgrade that forces him to be the Warlord if Perturabo isn't around and gives an extra VP if slain. In exchange, it gains Stubborn and gives up a Warlord trait for Shatter Defenses (lower a chosen terrain piece's cover save by 1). Can't use a Jump pack, Bike or Jetbike, but can be upgraded with Battlesmith + Servo-arm combo for 35 points.

Rite of War: The Hammer of Olympia - Masters of siege warfare and attrition tactics, the Iron Warriors favour the use of murderous firepower as their principal agency of war, and are renowned for their use of heavy armour and fortifications, spurning vainglorious ideals of personal combat and valour for the brutal determiation to achieve victory by any means necessary. this culminated in tactical formations such as that which became known as the Hammer of Olympia; designed to carry out an unyielding close range attack and shatter the strongest enemy defence line under a weight of armoured warriors and hurricane of fire.

• Hail Of Fire: After firing a Rapid Fire weapon, a unit with the Legiones Astartes (Iron Warriors) rule may declare an assault as long as they haven't used Fury of the Legion, counting as a Disorganized Charge. I love this tactic, you can shoot a unit, hitting them on 3's and wounding (generally) on 4+ whilst if you charged, you would only get 4's to hit. Also, 2 bolter shots is better than 1 bonus charging attack, and if you can wear your enemy down before charging them, you'll do better in the long run (especially against Raptors or Reavers who gain bonuses for outnumbering in assault). Bonus points if you rapid fire plasma guns from a tactical support squad and then charge...
• Sheathed in Steel: All Tanks and Walkers gain Extra Armor for free. Not only does this save points, but since some walkers can't take extra armour, it's even better. The best thing here is that you're getting an upgrade which is normally seen as "a good choice but maybe a waste of points", but since it's free it's excellent.
• Siege Engineers: Can take an additional Heavy Support choice, which is freaking fantastic. Seriously, 4 heavy support options? In a big game, that's a Basilisk/Medusa Squadron, a Deredeo and a pair of Sicarians, just waiting to fire ALL THE DAKKA.
  
  Restrictions:
  
• A Warsmith or Siege Breaker must be used as compulsory HQ choice - A Warsmith is awesome if the enemy is taking fortifications, and the option of a cortex controller opens up Castellax, Thallax, Vorax etc. as an optional Heavy Support option. Yes, you want to have a unit of darkfire cannon armed Castellax manning your Aegis line. Also, a Warsmith shattering enemy defences is always desireable.
  The Siege Breaker is a great option as he allows your Medusa Squadron to take phosphex shells, and he grants Wrecker and Tank Hunter to the ranged attacks of any unit he joins. I suggest attaching him to Siege Tyrants.
• Must take more Heavy Support units than Fast Attack units. As they say on 1D4Chan: "If you think this is a penalty then you shouldn't be playing Iron Warriors. Also, doesn't matter since you get 4 heavy slots. If you wanted lots of flyers remember Caestii, Fire Raptors and Kharybdii are HS too. If you took a normal Praetor, mount him in a jetbike along his Command squad (who use 0 slots), take Shrapnel Bolts and go make up for the lost Fast Attack choice."
• Must take an additional compulsory Troops choice. If you have Erasmus Golg in your force, this could be a Terminator squad, freeing up precious elite slots for more Siege Tyrants, Rapiers and Contemptors.
• Cannot take an allied SPACE MARINE LEGION detachment. Meh. You don't need them, worst case, take some Mechanicum allies, and laugh because you have cortex controllers, a Praevian and your army is now more machine than man, twisted and evil.

 

Macca's evil ideas:

So, you know you want to take an army big on firepower. Naturally, since you lack in melee, (except against buildings, seriously, melta bombs with wrecker is PLUS THREE to damage against fortifications!) you want to exploit your superior firepower to Tau like levels. I suggest using a unit of Siege Tyrants with a Siege Breaker attached, for maximum effectiveness, and two units of rapiers; one with graviton cannons and one with heavy bolters running shrapnel bolts. the idea here is simple, Grav Rapiers will screw any vehicle, and the leftover difficult/dangerous patch will bog down heavy infantry (especially Cataphractii type units who cannot run), the Tyrants will mince anything weaker than a Knight Titan, and the Heavy Bolters will fire 24 twin-linked S5 AP5 shots per turn with PINNING. You're a fool if you don't use that in an era with little pinning defence. (not good against Mechanicum or Death Guard, but, meh, chose your battles my young grasshopper, that's why you have Tyrants and 4 heavy choices...)

Which brings me to my next point... Heavy Support. I have suggestions, and they are:

-Predator Squadron with plasma exterminators, for killing heavy infantry,
-Sicarian Battle Tanks, for modest anti-air and excellent anti-skimmer and light armour destruction,
-Sicarian Venators, for when you really REALLY want to kill enemy armour (do note, don't use lascannon sponsons, since the main gun is ordnance, you're better off taking heavy bolters, which instead of two snap-fire lascannons will give you 3 separate heavy bolters if enemy infantry are too close. Bonus points for selecting Shrapnel Bolts for pinning),
-Deredeo, because there is NOTHING better for Anti-Air. (In a pinch, take one with an Atomantic Pavise and stick him with your Siege Tyrants giving them a 2+3++ invul save. Sure, you lose the missiles, which do wreck Rhinos and Fliers, but 2+3++ Tyrants is just pure evil);
-Legion Basilisk/Medusa Squadron. You only get one, so choose wisely.

I hear the voices in my head, "kill them all.."
Uh, no, not those voices, these ones: "Why no spartans for rushing Golg and Terminators up the table?"

Well, because our terminators aren't as strong as enemy terminators in many cases, and due to all the points you have spent on Heavy slots already, you won't be sending much up the battlefield. Instead, I suggest focusing on using your excellent firepower to get the job done. As for actually sending units up the table, Tactical Squads in Rhinos (with their free extra armour) are a great choice, and if the Primarch Perturabo is in the army, you can deep strike terminators anyway, and if your game is big enough, you can take the Tormentor, and you can add all that firepower plus the transport ability to the force.

Fortifications:

If you are taking Kyr Vhalen, you will WANT to take fortifications (he is also a Warsmith, so automatically fulfills two criteria for the Rite of War, as a Master of the Legion and a Warsmith). Kyr will give +1 ballistic skill to a unit of your choice and/or give you +1 to your cover save for one fortification. I suggest a Bastion, Bunker, Aegis Defence Line, or if you're a true bastard, a Plasma Obliterator or Void Shield array.

Really, fortifications are quite optional, but an Aegis line with +1 cover save in front of all your armour is going to make people weep, especially when they realise that they need to kill whole units off for them to no longer threaten objectives. Gotta love that 'no morale against shooting'.

In summary, this is how to use the Rite of War: BUCKETS OF BULLETS!!!

If you want more information on the Iron Warriors in general, check out the episode I guest appeared on of the Eye of Horus Podcast here.

~Macca

Imperial Fists Tactics Rite of War: Stone Gauntlet

Hey guys, Spraggy here to talk about the ins and outs of the Stone Gauntlet Rite of War for the imperial fists. The VIIth legion is reknown for its skill at assaulting, and defending static positions in a variety of different theaters. The Stone Gauntlet rite of war certainly provides a rules set that brings this trait of the Imperial Fists to light on the table.

Rite of War Special Rules:

Effects

• Warder squads may be taken as troops
• Resolve of Stone: Essentially any marine model with the Imperial Fists Astartes rule that is equipped with a boarding shield or Storm shield and within a squad of at least 3 similarly equipped models gains +1T so long as they do not run charge or perform a sweeping advance in that current player turn. (that means you can perform a sweeping advance in your opponents turn and still be good!! you can also run in your turn and then form up with your +1T in your opponents turn)
• Shield Charge: Essentially any marine model with the Imperial Fists Astartes rule that is equipped with a boarding shield or Storm shield and within a squad of at least 3 similarly equipped models gains the Hammer of Wrath special rule. (this isn't so much of a good thing and will only come handy if you need to charge on that last turn to get onto an objective)

Limitations:

• Compulsory troops must be breacher squads....Duh
• No deep strike whatsoever
• You may not take more Elites and Fast Attack choices combined than you have Troops choices. That means if you take 2 troops choices that means 2 elites/fast total. (In 2000 points i usually run 2 breachers squads and a support squad. Means 3 elites as i typically don't use much fast attack)
• With the exception of legion champions, you may only take a single Consul for your HQ selections

IVth Legion Terminators WIP

So, a quick update today,

Here is where the Terminators are at for the IVth Legion. Obviously, Perturabo and the Tyrants aren't pictured, but they do exist, trust me!

Obviously, there are the 3 HQ's I made a few weeks back, Erasmus Golg, Forge Lord and Primus Medicae

There is gold squad, who are painted in the same scheme as the existing terminators in the army. Gold squad is mostly armed with combi-plasma.

Silver squad is painted similar to the Cataphractii Terminator pictured in Book III (also, I put a copy of him below. Note the dark silver armour with bright silver trim. Fun times making that look right...

There is also grey squad... who shouldn't be grey, but I can only paint so fast. There is also a wip banner bearer for a command squad option, his banner is the 40k Grey Knight one where I have filed all the detail off and smoothed it over with putty. Took forever for the record.

I'm digging the colour palette for the plasma blast gun, with burnished barrel and glowing coils.

I heavily weathered the chevrons on the silver squad, which is all hand painted (as you'll see in the close ups). For me, it helps the look.

Yes, that's ALL hand painted, and it is kind of a pain in the ass painting symetrical stripes of black and yellow.

So there you have it, the work in progress shots of the Iron Warrior Cataphractii Terminators, an army I am hoping to debut at Inferno IV with their Primarch at their side.

~Macca

AGIF Viewer Mailbag: Who is the biggest Primarch?

Hey guys, Macca here and today I'm answer some viewer questions.... such as how big certain Primarchs are, and who is the biggest so far?

I will preface this with a disclaimer *I don't have all the Primarchs*. I have seen them all, and compared them, but on hand, I only have 5 in my personal collection, so those are the ones I will show you.

Primarch vs Marine size:

To start with, here is the MK III armoured Ultramarine Commander we are giving away soon, and he is our scale model, a nice 32mm marble base is beneath his feet.

Lorgar and Angron, Shadow Crusading their way to Terra....

Ferrus Manus and Horus Lupercal, modelling this years Summer and Winter Cataphractii range respectively.

Perturabo, modelling Cataphractii Plus-Size.

Primarch vs Primarch size:

Perturabo is of course, the largest. Vulkan is huge himself, in fact, he is Horus' size and only wearing power armour. However, for total size, it's the guy riding part of a Knight Titan into battle. There is an optical illusion however....

The Illusion?

Perturabo hunches forward on his base, in much the way Angron is sprinting and hunched, so is Perturabo. When I lay him down at the right angle, his scale becomes very apparent.

Yes, Perturabo is about a head taller than Ferrus Manus, comfortably, and that's not including the little cogitators and such on top of his giant suit of Plus-Size armour.

For more on Perturabo, or Horus, our videos can be found here.

So who do you think should be the biggest? My money is on Magnus the Red, who is the biggest and the best Primarch. Space Wolves players, your opinions aren't valid on that one....

~Macca