IHF's Archive: Sketching the Heresy - The Manufactorum

[Doctor Perils]

Could also look at other Landsknecht weapons, like the Katzbalger ("renowned for its sturdy build" according to Wikipedia)

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

So a while back I floated the idea of a Legion "Imperator" unit, representing enhanced humans from a Primarch's homeworld who were too old to become a full Legionary/ outside of the typical Legionary selection criteria (e.g the Dark Angels' Saulus Maegon, Mistress of the Angelicasta) as a HQ choice, with a selection of statlines/ rules to represent advisors/ champions/ full commanders. 

 

As part of this, I've been pondering creating the option to have full units of 'demi-Legionaries' given that a few Primarchs seem to have uplifted entire bodies of warriors upon unification with their Legion (e.g the Knights of the Order, the Varagyr etc.) and I also figured that it might be a practice that returned during the Heresy due to the need for new recruits - e.g warriors who passed a Legion's trials but failed geneseed compatibility tests. This'd also hopefully be a really easy way to integrate women Legionaries without generating a wave of vitriol from certain parts of the fanbase.

 

*Anyway*, the basic idea was to allow any detachment that included a Legion Imperator HQ to field Legion Veteran squads as troops choices, with their Initiative and Toughness reduced to 3 and gaining the Support Unit special rule - I think this represents the elite nature of those warriors uplifted by their Primarch pretty nicely and non-compulsory troops vets with lower stats creates an interesting list option without being categorically worse than competing unit choices.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Okay I've taken a break from working on the unit outlines for Legion specific stuff given I'll need to complete 3 Legion-agnostic supplements as foundational works before I can start on Legion specific stuff proper - those supplements being for Legion Line Units, Terminators & Skimmers respectively. However, the other day I did nail down my ideas for a Death Guard unit so thought I might as well share:

 

AKHLYS SIEGE SQUAD:

 

• They're specialised breachers, which work as area-denial units and counter-assault troops to help anchor the Death Guard advance
• Probably equipped with modified hardened MkIII, their shields will look pretty different to the standard boarding shield given their weapons & integrated tech so you can easily distinguish them from normal breachers  
• Elites choice
• 10-20 Akhlys Breachers, they all have Ld 9 & Hardened Power Armour, Bolt Pistols, Frag & Krak Grenades, Rotor Cannon with Bio-Corrosive Ammo & Akhlys Assault Shields 
• The Rotor Cannon will be based off the current resin version which is a bit less unwieldy, with the rear section removed (presumably containing a battery to power the barrels) and the trigger hand grip moved up to where the other grip is and modified into an enclosed brace like the terminator heavy weapons - the ammo feed to the backpack will also incorporate a power cable for the rotary motor (ref below)
  •  

  

• The Akhlys Assault Shield has standard boarding shield rules but additionally makes any model assaulting the unit take a dangerous terrain test due to the chem-mist dispensers they incorporate that shroud the unit in toxic fog
• 1 in 5 Akhyls Breachers can swap their Rotor Cannon for a Toxiferran Flamer/ Meltagun /Graviton Gun
• The sergeant (Akhlys Stalwart?) can swap their Bolt Pistol for a Power Weapon/ Thunder Hammer/ Plasma Pistol/ Hand Flamer/ Volkite Serpenta, as well as being able to take Artificer Armour and a single Breaching Charge/ Phosphex Bomb
• The whole squad has Implacable Advance & Relentless as well as Lumbering Advance (from Myrmidons - can't run or sweep)

Edited November 23, 2020 by Iron Hands Fanatic

[bluntblade]

What's the naming convention there? Dig the unit, the name feels a bit unusual.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Achlys/Akhlys is an ancient Greek goddess whose name literally means 'death-mist', associated with poisons & misery

[bluntblade]

Achlys/Akhlys is an ancient Greek goddess whose name literally means 'death-mist', associated with poisons & misery

Ah, I see. Neat, and Breachers make a ton of sense for the DG.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Turns out I never actually posted the fully-formated knight yeomanry concepts so * gestures vaguely *

[Lucerne]

 

Okay I've taken a break from working on the unit outlines for Legion specific stuff given I'll need to complete 3 Legion-agnostic supplements as foundational works before I can start on Legion specific stuff proper - those supplements being for Legion Line Units, Terminators & Skimmers respectively. However, the other day I did nail down my ideas for a Death Guard unit so thought I might as well share:

 

AKHLYS SIEGE SQUAD:

 

• They're specialised breachers, which work as area-denial units and counter-assault troops to help anchor the Death Guard advance
• Probably equipped with modified hardened MkIII, their shields will look pretty different to the standard boarding shield given their weapons & integrated tech so you can easily distinguish them from normal breachers  
• Elites choice
• 10-20 Akhlys Breachers, they all have Ld 9 & Hardened Power Armour, Bolt Pistols, Frag & Krak Grenades, Rotor Cannon with Bio-Corrosive Ammo & Akhlys Assault Shields 
• The Rotor Cannon will be based off the current resin version which is a bit less unwieldy, with the rear section removed (presumably containing a battery to power the barrels) and the trigger hand grip moved up to where the other grip is and modified into an enclosed brace like the terminator heavy weapons - the ammo feed to the backpack will also incorporate a power cable for the rotary motor (ref below)
  •  

  

• The Akhlys Assault Shield has standard boarding shield rules but additionally makes any model assaulting the unit take a dangerous terrain test due to the chem-mist dispensers they incorporate that shroud the unit in toxic fog
• 1 in 5 Akhyls Breachers can swap their Rotor Cannon for a Toxiferran Flamer/ Meltagun /Graviton Gun
• The sergeant (Akhlys Stalwart?) can swap their Bolt Pistol for a Power Weapon/ Thunder Hammer/ Plasma Pistol/ Hand Flamer/ Volkite Serpenta, as well as being able to take Artificer Armour and a single Breaching Charge/ Phosphex Bomb
• The whole squad has Implacable Advance & Relentless as well as Lumbering Advance (from Myrmidons - can't run or sweep)

 

Would that brace look like the grey knight strike squad psilencer?

[bluntblade]

Have you thought about doing any rules for the Catulan Reavers in particular? I seem to recall them being jump infantry in Horus Rising and haven't seen many SoH jumpers.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

 

 

Okay I've taken a break from working on the unit outlines for Legion specific stuff given I'll need to complete 3 Legion-agnostic supplements as foundational works before I can start on Legion specific stuff proper - those supplements being for Legion Line Units, Terminators & Skimmers respectively. However, the other day I did nail down my ideas for a Death Guard unit so thought I might as well share:

 

AKHLYS SIEGE SQUAD:

 

• They're specialised breachers, which work as area-denial units and counter-assault troops to help anchor the Death Guard advance
• Probably equipped with modified hardened MkIII, their shields will look pretty different to the standard boarding shield given their weapons & integrated tech so you can easily distinguish them from normal breachers  
• Elites choice
• 10-20 Akhlys Breachers, they all have Ld 9 & Hardened Power Armour, Bolt Pistols, Frag & Krak Grenades, Rotor Cannon with Bio-Corrosive Ammo & Akhlys Assault Shields 
• The Rotor Cannon will be based off the current resin version which is a bit less unwieldy, with the rear section removed (presumably containing a battery to power the barrels) and the trigger hand grip moved up to where the other grip is and modified into an enclosed brace like the terminator heavy weapons - the ammo feed to the backpack will also incorporate a power cable for the rotary motor (ref below)
  •  

  

• The Akhlys Assault Shield has standard boarding shield rules but additionally makes any model assaulting the unit take a dangerous terrain test due to the chem-mist dispensers they incorporate that shroud the unit in toxic fog
• 1 in 5 Akhyls Breachers can swap their Rotor Cannon for a Toxiferran Flamer/ Meltagun /Graviton Gun
• The sergeant (Akhlys Stalwart?) can swap their Bolt Pistol for a Power Weapon/ Thunder Hammer/ Plasma Pistol/ Hand Flamer/ Volkite Serpenta, as well as being able to take Artificer Armour and a single Breaching Charge/ Phosphex Bomb
• The whole squad has Implacable Advance & Relentless as well as Lumbering Advance (from Myrmidons - can't run or sweep)

 

Would that brace look like the grey knight strike squad psilencer?

 

 

Yeah, pretty much!

 

Have you thought about doing any rules for the Catulan Reavers in particular? I seem to recall them being jump infantry in Horus Rising and haven't seen many SoH jumpers.

 

SoH Reaver squads already have rules, including the ability to take jump packs?

[bluntblade]

 

Have you thought about doing any rules for the Catulan Reavers in particular? I seem to recall them being jump infantry in Horus Rising and haven't seen many SoH jumpers.

 

SoH Reaver squads already have rules, including the ability to take jump packs?

 

Ah, I missed the jump-packs detail. Daft me.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

some of the belter tattoo designs from The Expanse got me in the mindset to design some more Iron Hands circuitry-styled tattoos so I chucked together some Clan Brannsar command legionary studies:

[malika666]

I love those!!!

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Okay so the revived chat about Contekar vs Atramentar rules got me thinking about ways to represent certain Legion Terminator formations outside of special units, specifically in the context of the Morlocks being pretty much wiped out in the 2nd battle of the Heresy, and I think I've figured out a way to add some neat rules without encroaching on the territory of the Gorgon Terminators:

 

Morlock Blades:

 

Any character or Independent Character with the Legiones Astartes: Iron Hands special rule equipped with Terminator Armour (of any type) may exchange a single Lightning Claw for Morlock Blades for +7 points, or a Pair of Lightning Claws for Paired Morlock Blades for +10 points. In an Army that includes Ferrus Manus, this option extends to any model with Legiones Astartes: Iron Hands wearing Terminator Armour, not just characters and Independent Characters.

 

Morlock Blades: 

Range: -, S: +1, AP: 3, Type: Melee, Deflagrate, Rending, Specialist Weapon

Paired Morlock Blades: 

Range: -, S: +1, AP: 3, Type: Melee, Deflagrate, Rending, Specialist Weapon, Paired Weapons

 

 

The idea behind this is that it can be used to represent the handful of surviving Morlocks as squad leaders and HQs, as well as the idea that disparate Iron Hands forces raided their reserve arsenals in the aftermath of the Dropsite Massacre, with the  background for the weapons being that they utilise more powerful but less stable disruption fields that require the larger power plant of terminator armour to function.

 

 

I love those!!!

 

Thank you! It was a cool lil' exercise

Edited January 13, 2021 by Iron Hands Fanatic

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Hey folks, it's been a while, I've been thinking about my own version of the Saturnine TDA design and the various Legion-specific units that'll use it (I'm probably just gonna ditch my bugbear that what folks insist is saturnine is actually arkonak 'cause dealing with the 'that's saturnine!' would be incredibly tedious).

 

Saturnine Pattern Terminator Armour:

 

Current plan is for saturnine to have the same no running restriction as cataphractii, with an additional -1 to charge roll distance, but you get a carapace weapon that can fire in the shooting phase in additional to any other weapon the model fires, and can fire overwatch at BS2 (but otherwise can't make snap shots). The base carapace weapon for saturnine is either a snub rotor cannon or volkite caliver, but units with saturnine specifically listed in their wargear (read: legion specific units) will have extra options. As I'm gonna write it up as a more specialised suit of TDA, it'll only be available to Terminator Support Squads (a Heavy Support termie unit I'll cook up), independent characters and any command squad they take.

 

Background wise, I'm gonna base the movement restrictions on the idea that the suits incorporate gravitic stabilisers (which make them ideal as weapon platforms) but which reduce their manoeuvrability - the armour itself being derived from saturnine void suits that used gravitic technology to make operating in negligible gravity/ tectonically unstable environs much easier.

 

Salamanders Pyre Warden Terminators:

 

 

The image that started it all, the direction I'm taking the Pyre Wardens is that they're actually experimental wargear divisions within the Salamanders Legion, and this unit entry represents them equipped with a new variant of Saturnine being trialled by the XVIIIth just prior to the Heresy. In terms of what the variant does, I'm thinking of giving it an effect similar to a flare shield, but maybe reduced to just -1 Str against Blast and Templates. Otherwise, this unit's basically a platform for a bunch of unusual guns - I'm gonna be downsizing the carapace weapons from their descriptions in Deeds Endure just because I've set the standard for the carapace guns as special-weapon sized and honestly some of the heavy weapons are so large they'd look absurd up there even on bulky TDA (lascannon for example).

 

Current wargear plan is for them each to be equipped with a power weapon that can be swapped for a fist/ claw/ chainfist as usual, their main guns starting as volkite chargers that can be swapped for combi-weapons/ plasma blasters/ drakespite pattern assault cannon, which is the triple-barreled rotor cannon above, as a salamanders-specific assault cannon prototype. Carapace guns start as combi-bolters with ignis rounds (a salamanders dragonfire round precursor), can be swapped for a havoc pod (havoc missile launcher without the twin-linked)/ meltagun / lasblaster (smaller, slightly less powerful + shorter ranged Gets Hot! lascannon using blast charger tech from the Solar Auxlia). In addition to this, one per five can take one of the following options: swap their main gun for a volkite culverin/ swap their main gun for a missile launcher/ swap their carapace gun for a conversion beamer.

 

Dark Angels Dreadwing Naufragia Terminators:

 

These get a throwaway mention in Crusade, and it's too tempting for me to not use, especially given the Dark Angels got so many units so fixed leads for them are pretty sparse. I figured giving the Ist Legion a Mk1 Terminator unit would make sense and tie nicely to their Terran side. Melee weapon is an aether-shock maul (can be swapped for a calibanite warblade), main gun is a heavy bolter with molecular acid shells and carapace is a toxiferran flamer. They can swap their heavy bolters for the interemptors' plasma incinerators or missile launchers with stasis and rad missiles only. Carapace options are plasma repeaters or phosphex charges (same profile as the leviathan's phosphex discharger but only heavy 1 (still one use).

 

Iron Warriors Archon Terminators:

 

My concept for these isn't that blocked out, but the idea is that post-Phall Perturabo ordered a Legion-wide rearmament to tailor their loadout to better dealing with fellow Legionaries. The Archon Terminators are a result of that, and use modified versions of older wargear including saturnine TDA and terminator-issued boarding shields, based off this art. The shape of the shield's cutout kinda necessitates their main guns are the standard combi-bolters, which can be swapped for combi-weapons and both come with banestrike rounds as standard. The shields count as defensive grenades and add +1 to the bearers invul saves against ranged attacks, and they've also been outfitted with frag assault plating so the 1st time they're charged in a game the assaulting unit has to immediately take a blind test before combat starts. In addition to the standard carapace snub-rotor and volkite caliver, I'm probably gonna give them options to swap for grenade launchers with a special ammo type as well.

Edited October 23, 2022 by Iron Hands Fanatic

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

[edited]

Edited October 23, 2022 by Iron Hands Fanatic