Horus Heresy 2e Review: Pursuer Cadre

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️

2/5 stars. Doesn't quite hit the mark for me.

Background.

These are the ladies that you call when you want someone sniffed out and hunted down. With beasts. And orders to kill on sight. Without remorse. 

Strengths.

If you want to play a fluffy unit, or are playing a very small points level game with a strong narrative, or similar campaign, then this is a really nice unit to have. Otherwise, I feel its too "out there" to use. 

There's nothing particularly wrong with the sisters here. They are rather standard and come with the Chamber of Oblivion. The rules as stated mean they can take one animal per pursuer and mistress, and you get the choice of mastiffs, felidae, caiman, or raptors. The feel no pain on the caiman is nice enough I suppose and along with the T=5 and S=5 with 2 wounds, it is likely the best pick of the menagerie. The mastiff is a distant second pick for me thanks to furious charge. Although rage on the felidae feels good, the 6+ save isn't. And the raptor can just stay at home to be candid. 

Weaknesses.

Truthfully not so playable in large points games which is a pity given how flavorful the unit is.

Builds.

Pursuer x6, Caiman x6, all with execution blades (215 points).
Probably the optimal unit? Take a transport. 

Pursuer x3, Mastiff x3, Augury Scanner, Nuncio Vox, Mistress with power sword (110 points).

I don't have any point to make with this unit. It is simply an illustration of an alternative build that I would simply not play in games above (say) 1000 points. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Kharon Pattern Acquisitor

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

5/5 stars. A rare full 5/5 stars from me - I genuinely love this dedicated transport.

Background.

The background states that this transport is not truthfully a battlefield vehicle. It is more of a paramilitary design. It is easy to see why. With sleek sides, and a bunch of special rules, they can easily sneak up on targets unawares!

Strengths.

AV=13 on the front, coupled with an impressive movement rate of 16 and a similar transport capacity. This transport is very special, but not for the stat line alone.

It is an assault vehicle with deep strike and outflank for starters. Add on some night vision and the same Chamber as the unit it is carrying and it is already fairly good. 

I will single out the spectra distort shield here. This makes it 8 inches further away for the purposes of shooting. In effect, this nullifies melta guns. Hence you are going to have to expend las cannon shots and similar to get the better of it from long range - they really should be shooting at other things. Of course, it is not immune to close combat, but with a movement of 16, can your army do much about it?

The weaponry it carries is very reasonable as well: a pair of missile launchers coupled with a heavy cannon array will certainly do some damage. But the real strength is delivery of its cargo with solid confidence. I think this is almost the best dedicated transport in the game for the above reasons and is also why I'm giving it my very rare 5/5 stars. The rule of cool also applies here, and I simply like the way the vehicle looks and appears! [This may or may not have influenced the award of 5/5 as well!]

Weaknesses.

Rear armour of 11. But honestly, if you are positioning well, this should not be a problem. 

Builds.

The only option here is to swap the cannon for a twin linked multi melta. This is down to your personal taste and I can certainly see both options being useful in game!

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Vigilator Cadre

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

3.5/5 stars. Rounded down - but only just.The rules are reasonably good, but the points cost is slightly high.

Background.

The more senior members of the mainstay of the Sisters of Silence can be found on the battlefield with big swords! They hunt down their targets systematically, up close and personal. 

Strengths.

These Sisters are kitted out for close combat thanks to the Execution Blade and the Oblivion Chamber rules help this through against daemons very nicely. There is some nice flexibility on builds here as well with hand flamers and needle pistols possible. I also really still like the compression tanks here. 

Weaknesses.

As with the other troops, they are expensive (compared to space marine troops) given the T=3 issue. But they wealth of extra rules does make up some ground here. Take a transport to help. 

Builds.

Vigilators x5, 5 hand flamers with compression tanks, Mistress with Neuro Lash (120 points).

I have a thing for the flamers with compression tanks. Can't lie. The Neuro Lash clocks in with S+3, which is the same as Sx2 in the case of the power fist - they are interchangable for S purposes, so it comes down to the AP, or deflagrate. 

Vigilators x10, Mistress with Power Fist (135 points).

The base line build in my opinion. Take a transport and go do your thing. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Prosecutor Cadre

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

3/5 stars.The rules are average on balance given the points cost. 

Background.

The mainstay of the Sisters of Silence. Foot soldiers of the black ships and used in open battle wherever and whenever required.

Strengths.

There is some nice customization that is possible here. Although they come as standard with bolt guns, there's a good case to be made for having some snare guns and other special weapons in the squad. I'd also be tempted by the dedicated transport most of the time as well. 

Weaknesses.

For the price tag, I think that this squad is a touch on the expensive side - even for T=3 troops. The price hike is due to all those special rules that they come bound up with. Of these, stubborn stands out along with fleet as being very useful. 

Builds.

Prosecutor x10, 2 Snare Guns, Mistress with Power Weapon (125 points).

I regard this as the baseline build. I really like the snare guns for what they do on the battlefield - they are fluffy and acceptable to all players. A power axe or similar is a good idea here, but given their stat line weaknesses, I'd opt for a power sword most of the time as a threat to space marine standard saves. Take an augury scanner and nuncio vox to taste. 

Prosecutor x15, all with Assault Needlers, nuncio-vox, augury scanner, Mistress with hand flamer and power sword (275 points).

Ouch at the points cost here! The needlers are hilarious with poisoned at 3+ and assault 3. You will be causing wounds here. The hand flamer has some obvious uses too and the power sword is the icing on the cake that you will hopefully not need to make too much use of. 

eBay: Ancient Striking Scorpions

Anyone care for some very old Striking Scorpions? 

If so, you're in luck on eBay this week! And they come with the era-defining goblin green painted slotta bases - what more could you want. 

Still got some stuff up from previous weeks including a Zombie Dragon, a Dornian Heresy Iron Hands test model, and a Great Unclean One from Realms of Chaos era!

Emperor's Children Commander

Painting up this command for the Emperor's Children was a good exploration of how to use (and not use) purple colours. Originally I thought about going for a bit more of a metallic sheen, but in the end the purple that came out was not metallic whatsoever. I'm comfy with that. 

The contrast paint was used more as a shade for the phoenix purple base colour in the end which proved a good move. The gene stealer purple was then freed up to use as an accent. The gold and the white on the marine provides a really good accent colour to the deeper purple and this has come out really well overall. Coupled with a steady hand to get the eyeballs looking right and I'm more than happy with this miniature. It will serve as either a Praetor or consul for the Emperor's Children allied detachment that I have constructed - more on that in a later post.