Horus Heresythe Warhammer 40K spinoff set during the civil war that shattered the Imperium of Man, is getting a brand-new edition with a Dreadnought-sized launch box. However, while the rules of Horus Heresy have received several tweaks, this game is hardly for newcomers to the wargamer genre. Instead, this is a dense game made for old school fans of Warhammer 40K. It is also for those who are looking to celebrate the most memorable moments of the Imperium of Man’s fall from ascendency.
The Horus Heresy is the defining event of Warhammer 40Ka civil war that saw half of the Imperium of Man’s Space Marine Legions declare for the forces of chaos and turn on their brothers-in-arms. The Horus Heresy culminated in a terrible siege on Terra and the mortal wounding of the Emperor of Mankind, leading to his interment on the Golden Throne. The Imperium never recovered from the Horus Heresy, and the civil war directly led to the stagnation and decay that now defines mankind’s place amongst the stars.
The war was defined by the machinations and maneuverings of the Primarchs, the gene-fathers of the Space Marines and demigods in their own right. A 50+ novel series detailed the Horus Heresy in its entirety, painting a grim and overly dramatic space opera that showed just how close Chaos came to consuming mankind. And while most of mankind has forgotten the truth of the Horus Heresy within the Warhammer 40K universe, the civil war seems to hold a sway over parts of the Warhammer 40K fandom, to the point that the Primarchs are making their slow return to the modern day, one after another.
Back in 2011, Games Workshop released the first version of Horus Heresyor Warhammer 30K as its often called by its fanbase given that it’s set 10,000 years before the events of Warhammer 40K. The game was based on Warhammer 40K’s 7th Edition and quickly became a refuge of sorts for players who longed for an old-school version of Warhammer instead of the more streamlined and modern versions of Warhammer 40K.
Horus Heresy is notably different from its modern cousin in a few distinct ways. For one, all the playable armies in Horus Heresy are human. There are no xenos factions to choose from, only loyalist or heretic forces.
Another big difference is that Horus Heresy is intended to be a narrative-focused game. Instead of building lists for competitive play, players opt for a certain style of army that they want to play as, usually pulled from some snippet of lore from the games. Army building remains a major part of the Horus Heresy, but it’s often about finding a balance between finding an army that’s legal and syncs up with the story you want to tell.
Later this month, Games Workshop will release a brand-new Starter Box for the Horus Heresycontaining a whopping 50 miniatures. While Warhammer 40K starter boxes are split into two factions, the miniatures in the new Saturnine box can technically be combined to form the foundation of a full 3,000-point army. (Another difference between Horus Heresy and Warhammer 40K is that the standard army size is a whopping 3,000 points instead of 2,000 points.)
The miniatures in the Saturnine box are technically brand new, either totally new to the game or printed in plastic as opposed to resin for the first time. The bulk of the miniatures are Space Marine Legionnaires, all in MKII Crusade Armor. The highlight of the box are the brand-new Saturnine Terminator armies, a refresh of old-school design for Terminator armor from the 1980s. With massive shoulder pads and massive weapons, these Terminators look awesome and dangerous, a highlight for the box.
Also included in the Saturnine box are a Araknae Quad Accelerator Platform and a Saturnine Dreadnought, which resembles a jumbo-sized Saturnine Terminator. There are also two ranked Space Marines in the set: a Legion Centurion and a Terminator Praetor. All four are intended to serve as centerpieces of sorts for an army, providing some visual pop and some unique options when building the army.
As a Warhammer 40K dabbler, someone who enjoys building miniatures but rarely gets to build an army list or play a game, Horus Heresy is especially intimidating. The new edition allows for more room for army builds, meant to allow players to create a thematic army with fewer restrictions. Combined with plastic model kits that are mostly based on older designs, opening the Starter Set and seeing the sheer amount of possibility is enough to make you take a deep breath to try to figure out exactly what you want to do with a full box of minis.
Even with a Starter Set meant to serve as an entry point, the game feels just different enough from Warhammer 40K to make it feel pretty intimidating. Morale plays much more of a factor in Horus Heresy. The new edition adds several advanced characteristics like Willpower and Cool to mix up different morale tests during battle. One way Horus Heresy has skewed towards its more popular cousin is that all weapons now have a base damage characteristic, with melee weapons getting modifiers based on a unit’s individual melee stats.
Another concern is that Horus Heresy seems to be settling into a familiar three-year cycle for new editions. Games Workshop waited over a decade to update Horus Heresy from first to second edition, but it only waited three years to update the game again. While players can continue to use their old miniatures in the new edition, Horus Heresy previously had a reputation of being the place to go if you wanted to avoid edition churn and it appears that’s no longer the case. Personally, I liked the idea of Games Workshop making a game that could be enjoyed at a slower pace, but it seems that the game no longer is immune to its company’s capitalistic tendencies.
If you’re looking to dive into the world of Warhammer for the very first time, the new Horus Heresy box probably isn’t the place to take your first steps. There are far more inviting spots for newcomers to try to dive into and at the end of the day Warhammer 40K is just easier and less fiddly than Horus Heresy. However, for Warhammer veterans that are ready for the challenge that Horus Heresy presents, the Saturnine box is a ton of plastic waiting to be built and players won’t have to make much more of an investment to have a full army to play with. Of course, the nature of Horus Heresy means that players will likely want to start customizing their army immediately, pulling in new miniatures to create a custom army that fits their narrative bent.
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