Horus Heresy: Retribution - White Scars Special Rules and Wargear Overview

"Those who are skilled in the arts of war do not allow anger to rule them; those who have faith in their prowess are not guided by fear. Thus the wise have won before they fight, and only the fool must fight to win" - Excerpt from The Wisdom of Qin Xa

Good evening bunnies and welcome to another Saturday. Tonight I will be having a look at my second favourite legion (although it is very close lol) - the White Scars. First I thought I would tell you about my history with this legion/chapter. The first Space Marine force I ever completed was the Ultramarines, when I was about 11-12 years old but, as with so many things in life, my priorities changed and my models gathered dust before being sold (I like to think they still fight on ^^). When I finished my education and mived to full time employment I decided to start 40k again, as it was actually a pretty cool setting back then lol. Instead of going back and doing the Smurfs again, I made the brave decision of tackling the dreaded white paint scheme. Here is where the horror story happens...eventually I finished my 2500pt army and I was pretty happy with the outcome. My friend was painting Blood Angels at the time and one day he had got red paint all over his hands (can you see where this is going? Lol). He washed his hands - what he thought was thoroughly - and preceeded to inspect my army, unconciously painting them pink with beautiful finger prints. Nothing I tried could take away the pink tint...the army swiftly gathered dust and was thrown away lol.

Scars is also probably my favourite Horus Heresy book so far and I thoroughly enjoy Chris Wraights depiction of The Khan. It expanded on Targutai Yesugei, my favourite Heresy character (other than Guilliman lol) 

So, enough about my past. Lets look at the awesome 30k flavoured future:

The White Scars are reknowned for their lightning strikes and savage brutality. Unfairly, they are often compared to the Vlka Fenrika, something that angers the legion. To show the speed of the legion, warriors with the Legiones Astartes (White Scar) special rule can do the following:

Swift Action: If the unit finishes their move the full 6" or 12" (if it is a vehicle or bike) then they can re-roll any failed to wound rolls of 1! This brilliantly reflects their speed, savagery and desire to get forward! Furthermore, they gain a 6+ cover save or improve their cover save by + 1 - you can't hit lightning lol!

The Eye of the Storm: The army can + 1 to its seize the initiative roll and the first reserve roll each turn. Awesome! This shows the unpredictable nature of the legion and its ability to hit when not expected. Great stuff!

To Laugh in Deaths Face: Aside from being the coolest name for what is essentially a restriction to an army - this is actually not that bad! It merely states you must take a Fast Attack choice before taking any Heavy Support. Surely jet bikes are literally the first thing on the roster when playing White Scars...

Born in the Saddle: They all have the skilled rider special rule. Standard!

So next up lets have a look at the legions exclusive wargear:

Power Glaive: This comes in one or two handed flavours and each has different bonuses. In one hand it is basically a power sword...and by basically I mean it is a power sword lol. When it is wielded in 2 hands though it has a strength bonus and becomes ap2. These will look so cool in an army...

Cyber-hawk: I am sure I remember a similar bit of wargear from 40k in days gone by (Njarl Stormcaller?). Basically it is a counter/model which can be placed anywhere on the board and can not be fired upon. Any White Scar infantry unit firing at an enemy within 6" of the Cyber-hawk gets a bonus to its to hit roll. This will be a nice tactical touch and further expands upon the legions reputation as pathfinders.

In all I think that the rules are very fluffy and lend themselves exceptionally well to a nice themed army when used in conjunction with the rites of war (which I will go over one day this week in a quick post). I just wanted to say also that I know some of the rules above have intentionally been writen a bit vague. This is not only because I have the utmost respect for the Forge World writers and team, but I also fear reprisal from angry GW lol. I would rather give a brief review than ruin our relationship with our hobby provider. I hope you understand. If anyone wants to discuss the rules further then hit us up on Facebook where we love to talk to you all. 

Thanks for reading, I hope you have enjoyed it.

Kaelo