Marshal Loss

Cool. Even more of a reason to do them then.

I'm hoping for Sonic Cult Terminators - they've been around in the rules since the original Index Astartes in 3rd edition and were playable for quite some time but we've never had models for them. The Legiones Hereticus rules note that after Fulgrim's ascension many of the Phoenix Terminators go a little bonkers as there's little point being a bodyguard for an immortal flying danger snake, but they could explore other aspects of the Phoenix Guard (as Terminators weren't the only way they fought) or show what 10,000 years has done to what remains of the formation. So much potential! Honestly I wouldn't complain about either Sonic Terms or 40k-era Phoenix Terms if the models look great. But I suspect GW will look to differentiate their 40k EC range from 30k era material rather than transplanting things straight across.

Not fussed about the index rules as I'm not interested in 10th edition, but after all these years of waiting it's nice to be getting close to a 40k Emperor's Children range, even if the article makes me suspect we'll be waiting for a year or more. I hope they've done my boys justice.

I remember ADB saying that he'd wanted to introduce female Custodians in Master of Mankind as there was no reason why they couldn't be, but GW knocked him back as the recently created models were male. Interesting that GW has decided to backflip on that close to a decade on, but I have no issues at all with the change

Appreciate the share as above, but this doesn't look plausible and outright contradicts itself in numerous places (e.g. TOW underperforming because of lack of 'big villain draw', yet TK sell far better than Brets), as well as contradicting extremely reliable rumours from well-attested sources (e.g. 'Chaos Dwarfs not happening')

Yeah Aximand's rules are unfortunately a bit pants. It's weird given that he's consistently described across both the earlier Abnett and later (e.g. French's Solar War) material as a strategic genius. I get that they wanted to play up his parallels with Loken but leaning into that tactician aspect would have made more sense to me than yet another 'gets back up' SoH ability and helped to differentiate him from the many other XVI characters. I was also surprised to see that Aximand doesn't appear in the Beta-Garmon campaign book's narrative at all - he's listed as a name under the traitor host, but that's it.

I'd forgotten that Aximand had ever used a shield in the books as recent memories of him were in Slaves to Darkness and Solar War - I think I'd have preferred him wielding his blade two-handed like the art as an homage to the epic scene where he starts stalking towards Sigismund aboard the Persephone. Brilliant model overall, there's so much to love about it, and the first purchase I'll add to my Sons of Horus since I stopped playing them in 2017. Awesome job by the sculptor. Now that we've cleared all the Beta-Garmon campaign book releases, I hope they show us the melee weapons pack(s) asap.

Yes I do know that thank you, but I was referring to generic legion-agnostic helmets (like what we've got in the set, just more variety - why not a couple of helms each inspired by Mark II, III, IV, V, VI?) and generic legion-agnostic weapons that are currently not available in other 30k kits as opposed to seven more power swords. A little more variety than the style of grill would have been nice, that's all.

It's not perfect but I'm pretty happy with this. I had been hoping for an upgrade kit because there were always going to be complaints if it was done in a single armour mark. The modularity of the new 30k range is one of its greatest strengths and now people will be able to use this kit to make command squads in any armour pattern they want once more sets are released. I'm also a fan of the "less is more" part of 30k's aesthetic so the minimalist look suits me and my armies. The two banners and the interchangeable icons are fantastic. That being said I would have liked them to provide a bit more in the way of options - more of those ornate shoulder pads, more variety in helmet design, a mix of melee weapons rather than just swords, and maybe some capes. The shields I don't mind as they've often been associated with command squads since 1.0 but it's a pity they take up space that could have been used for more interesting bits. And can't say I'm impressed by the single bolt pistol. I'm also disappointed by the pre-order 'later in the year'. I hope that just means a couple of months but given their inability to keep things in stock and the upcoming AOS launch I wouldn't bet on it. At least it isn't "sooner than you think"? We really need to see the melee weapons set/sets soon as well. This kit (and the assault marine kit) would be much more appealing if we had chainswords, chain axes, power swords, axes, lances, mauls, charnabal glaives sabres and tabars, lightning claws and power fists etc more easily accessible and affordable in plastic. It's such a gaping hole in the 30k range and we're nearly two years into 2.0 which just isn't good enough.

While you seem to be paraphrasing the person in question, if somebody argues that people who disagree with them 'don't know how to play core EC' then they seem more than a little childish. Whether or not Hereticus is underrated is a matter of opinion. Being able to guarantee that a unit won't run when shot at is useful, but it does not mean you are running an army that is functionally immune to psychology. It hasn't come up as a deciding factor in games very often for me in contrast with Flawless Execution's consistent benefits game after game, but it absolutely has utility. The problem is that we trade a wide range of significant combat bonuses to get that benefit, and there are already various characters items and traits that help to mitigate morale problems which everybody has access to. What the person who believes that 'Legiones Hereticus is Broken Mirror on crack' omits is that while being Stupefied will keep us on an objective when we're shot at, it makes it a lot harder for us to actually defend objectives when enemies come to push us off them. If we're Stupefied then we can't react to a charge with overwatch or hold the line, we still have to make morale checks in the assault phase, and enemies charging us don't take an initiative penalty for charging us through difficult terrain. So we're often still relying on things we already had access to from the old ruleset like Broken Mirror to "move where we want to and stay there", and now we're worse at actually winning fights and pushing enemies off objectives ourselves. Would be very interested in what experiences fellow EC players on this forum have had with the rules, if they've used Hereticus since it came out. It's late now, but I'll type one of my lists up later. I don't think the trait is a great reflection of late heresy EC lore, but give us access to a couple of (non-Fulgrim) corrupted rites, a Hereticus EC consul, and more widespread access to Kakophoni and augments to across an army to compensate for the loss of 3CE, and I'd be a lot happier regardless of how strong those options are. My hope is that what we have now was basically just something they whipped up to accompany Fulgrim Transfigured's release (seeing as e.g. they took the Phoenix Warden and the ability to take Phoenix Command Squads away from us but didn't replace them with anything) and the intent is to flesh it out when they get around to more Legiones Hereticus releases, but I guess we'll see with time.

Yeah I agree, and I suspect the people making that argument either don't actually play the game or are overreacting to others themselves incorrectly claiming that the rule has no merits whatsoever. It's not some hidden gem - Lords of Profligacy/Stupefied is exactly what it looks like. There are going to be occasions where it's incredibly impactful and a scoring unit avoids being pinned and wins you the game, or a charging unit is able to make it into combat with a disordered charge instead of getting pinned by overwatch. When that kind of thing happens, it's great. But in my experience most games end up feeling like you're playing without a trait. If you were going to be pinned/blinded/concussed in the first place, then it's good, because you often weren't going to be able to react anyway and getting some bonuses rather than none or making a disordered charge rather than not charging at all is a no-brainer. The problem is that you pretty much never want to be Stupefied and it ends up feeling like a not-so-great insurance policy. The 6+++ activates after you get shot, and doesn't stack with bonuses from Apothecaries (disincenvitising their use in a legion known for them...) or rules like Heart of the Legion. The unique reaction is great but it's once per game. Yes Stupefied can be useful on Dreadnoughts for the 5+++/ignoring debuffs...but they are already one of the best units in the game, and our Dreads were already great with the old trait. +1S is almost always worse than +1A. Not being able to react is a massive impediment in a game where reactions are so powerful. You obviously don't want to snapshot if you're a shooting unit. And then there's all the other issues that come with the Legiones Hereticus rules, like no rites, no corrupted rites without Fulgrim, lack of widespread access to new augments, loss of the old augments, etc, but that's a separate issue to the trait. Ideally I think the rule needs to be tweaked so that it's a tougher decision whether to stupefy a unit (or not) outside of the occasions where you're being pinned/blinded/concussed. Unless you're a Dreadnought/a unit with fearless that desperately needs the 5+++/an absurdly rare hypothetical, the answer to "stupefy?" will always be "no".

Blackshield rules sound really well done. The 'Twisted Helix' Blackshield Oath sounds like a better version of what the Corrupted EC rules were trying to accomplish... Also nice to see that they've done a reasonable array of plates. They're always a highlight for me. The mortals took one look at the wall of text for Lords of Profligacy/Stupefy and decided they'd rather chill with the Iron Warriors.

Really like the Company Command option (would have been nice if the kit dropped with the book though...). And the Optae as an EO type role to a more senior officer sounds very cool. Hopefully Aximand's rules are shown in one of the reviews that drop later tonight.

Hope it's Mechanicum and not just more knights.

Not a character I would have thought it was worth turning into a sculpt (would have preferred Torghun Khan to fill the Terran + former traitor White Scars niche), but this is an absolutely gorgeous model. I love it. Now show us Aximand!