Hello Bunnies!
Welcome to perfection! Today I will be taking a look at the Emperors Children Legion rules for Horus Heresy 2.0. These are my initial thoughts on what they may look like on the tabletop in the new edition.
I do like the look of the how the EC have come out this time around. It has been a long time since they had any love and this feels like the update they needed. After all they have a beautiful model range and now some rules to make those models shine to perfection! The thing that I like the most from the rule set is how they feel like they will be able to play nicely as pre and post heresy force.
Legion Trait - Flawless Execution:
When you charge you get +1 initiative and tanks get +1 to hit with defensive weapons when shot as part of reaction.
The +1 initiative is the main thing you will be aiming to make use of and it feels very EC. It is basically the same as what the EC had access to in 1.0.The Legion specific units are going to really like this trait, as is any unit you charge with. Main downside is that it definitely leads you towards creating armies that like to assault, if you don’t assault you don’t get much from this.
Advanced reaction - The Prefect Counter:
This look like it could be a lot of fun! Once per game Reaction to use in the Assault phase, when an enemy unit declares a charge against you, you can choose to counter by rolling a charge distance roll against your opponent, if you roll higher you get to charge instead and cancel your opponents charge. If you roll less you get to overwatch instead.
I am loving how this could play out, don’t forgot your legion trait will kick in if you make the charge! Plus all those extra attacks! If it doesn’t work you still get to shoot, so not a huge downside.
Warlord Traits:
The Broken Mirror - For traitors only, lets you suffer a wound instead of falling back when you fail a morale check. Reminds me of the Guard rule of shooting some one to keep from running. Not really sure about this one, situational but could be useful at points.
Martyrs of Isstvan - Loyalist only, Gives you plus 1 to hit against all traitor legions. This is cool and fluffy and fits well with wanting to be in combat from the legion trait.
Paragon of Excellence - Can be traitor or loyalist. I think this is interesting and possibly the most useful for the legion but maybe too situational to really shine. When you pass a morale check 12” of warlord you can give that unit +1 weapon skill. It sounds great but would only trigger if you need a morale check, which would suggest you’ve just been shot at and lost some models potentially. It will help fighting back though. Playing games will show the real worth of this trait.
Rites of War:
The Maru Skara - I always loved the idea of this in 1.0 but ultimately just wouldn’t work. It has been given a new lease of life in 2.0. You select 4 units from elites, troops or fast attack (no heavy, slow or bombard). Those units gain outflank. Units on the board get plus 1 move whilst these units are in reserve. Those units that you have assigned to a flanking assault don’t need to make a reserve roll and you choose what turn! This just flat out sounds fun and new rules for Flanking Assault really make this shine as you can guarantee everything turning up together and when you want.
Third Company Elite - Similar to the 1.0 version. Makes Kakophoni troops. However it doesn’t give them the Line Sub-type. I’m not sure how usual it is to make units troops but not score, I suppose it means you can take even more of them. The other benefit is a 30 point per unit upgrade to give a Surgical Augment. Fluffy and cool extra for those wanting to run the EC deep into the heresy.
Armoury:
Surgical Augments - Sonic shriekers seem to be the best option here, it imposes a -1 to hit in rolls in combat. Again this stacks nicely with the other rules, legion traits and warlord traits. The other 2 are interesting but probably situational, one is for night fighting, the other is a low strength template weapon.
Phoenix Pattern Power Weapons - The spear is joined by a rapier. Both are AP3 with Murderous strike. Rapier has rending. Spear gives +1 initiative on charge and breaching and is now +2 strength. Both is these look good and the spear is now so much better than the 1.0 version! Real win here!
Phoenix Warden - a unique Tartarus centurion upgrade. Gives the Skill Unmatched and Living Icons special rules. Skill Unmatched giving you a few different options around how you fight in combat. Living Icons is +1 to combat resolution. It also gets a Phoenix Power weapon and Iron Halo included, which seems like a good deal for +30 points.
Fulgrim:
To me Primarch’s feel a bit more like beat sticks and not the army wide buffers of before. With that said Fulgrim looks great and has retained much of what he had in 1.0. He is a beast in combat and will be hard to deal with once there. He can still choose between the Lear blade and the Fireblade. I like both and 1 isn’t an obvious choice over the other, which is better than 1.0. Fireblade hasn’t changed but the Lear blade gains fleshbane and Duellist’s Edge. His warlord trait give all EC models that can see him access to his leadership for leadership and morale checks. The whole army also gains +1 to combat res. The first Reaction used byt Fulgrim and unit doesn’t use up any of your allocation. His invun is +3 up in combat and +4 elsewhere. He still gains attacks in combat based on the difference between his initiative and his opponent. He is has a once per game ability that requires the opponent to pass a leadership check to do reactions against Fulgrim as his unit.
Overall he feel better than before but still seems an individual all about him. That is probably as it should be!
Phoenix Terminators:
These used to suck. The no longer do! As with all termies they have an extra wound (Yay!!) The are cheaper in points, gain the same rules as the Phoenix Warden mention above. They have also gained stubborn. You can take them as a Retinue command squad now, and even give one of them a legion standard. These guys have finally seen the update they sorely needed for 10 years! I expect to see them in a lot of EC lists.
Palatine Blades:
They gained a wound as well! However they can no longer take jump packs. Phoenix Weapons can be taken by all and are only +5 points. They have counter attack and the new Skill Unmatched rule as well. Overall these too feel like an upgrade over 1.0. It will be great to see these guys on the tabletop.
Kakophoni:
Rightly so the Kakophoni are limited to traitors only. The are now fearless rather than stubborn. The Cacophony weapon is also much improved. First up it’s an assault 3 pinning and gains the new shell shock rule (-1 to leadership on pinning). It still Gets Hot but does now have Deflagrate. I’ve never been a fan of this side of the EC however if you’re going down the later heresy route these guys are going to be very useful.
Lord Commander Eidolon:
Gone up in points and no longer has the option to add the jump pack, it is just part of him. He mostly retains much of the same rules as before. His warlord trait is all about him! You nominate a Rival in your opponents army and get a bunch of buffs around wounding and Reactions of the Rival and his unit. He looks like a solid choice to lead your army and will beat up basically anything you put in front of him!
Saul Travitz:
Many people love Travitz from the original trilogy of the Black Library books and rightly so as he is an awesome character. He finally received his model as well! He is a well priced leader for your loyalist army. His warlord trait makes him and any unit within 12’ fearless, if you meet one of 4 different criteria. Looks good and very fluffy as well. He gains a big bunch of buffs for fighting EC traitors, super situational but again very fluffy. Finally his sword is really good and a big improvement over the previous version, +2 strength, Rending on a +4 and Duellist edge (2). Love the look of his rule set, especially for the point costs!
Captain Lucius:
The new kid on the block, at least in terms of rules and model! He is the definition of a character killing machine, all his rules are designed to show off his true skill in combat, and he will very much be a very scary opponent to face down with any other character or unit. He will definitely be cutting big holes in your opponents army. He is armed with 2 swords, one is Fulgrim’s Lear blade and the other is called Nineteen. Nineteen looks like it will be great for cutting people with Rending on a 3+ however the downside is no AP basic on the weapon. His rule set is very much as you would want and hope for from someone so infamous in the lore as Lucius.
Overall I really like the look of the EC’s rule set! It is even tempting me start them again and get them playing how I wanted to all those years ago! Of course I would run them as loyalist and set before the legions fall and I am thankful that approach still looks possible in 2.0
P.S Notice the likely new plastic Land Raider on the painted miniature page! Looks great!
Happy gaming!
Andy
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