Wargames Gallery: Sun Killers become Daemon Killers

The Emperor's Children sun killers shelter behind an Aegis line and take shots at the mutated and demonic presence of the Word Bearers on frost rimed world forgotten to time.

Painted: Emperor's Children Assault Squad

One fully painted Emperor's Children Assault Squad!

11 members, 2x power axe, sergeant with twin lightning claws, shields all round for the rest. 

The idea here is to take advantage of the Emperor's Children in build advantages and swing fast whilst getting into position rapidly. They will sit alongside the sun killers and an apothecary with a phoenix warden to make up a small, but capable, allied detachment for any of the main forces that I have. I'm tempted to purchase a second assault squad to make this into a full detachment, but that's a project on the back burner for the moment. Hope you like the squad and the colour scheme!

Wargames Gallery: Former Allies

The Emperor's Children champion soars ahead to confront his former ally in the Iron Hands. The Salamanders are close, but not close enough to join in. Can he defeat his former ally before the Salamanders can join in? 

[Spoilers: yes]

Wargames Gallery: Guerrilla Warfare

The remains of the Raven Guard take on a squad of Emperor's Children who have been dispatched to put an end to the Shattered Legions guerrilla warfare activities. 

I like this image as it really shows off the Emperor's Children iconography that I worked hard on for this squad for both the shields and the shoulder pads. The scratching and weathering is similarly clear and contrasts nicely with the dusty and worn look of the Raven Guard. 

Wargames Gallery: Emperor's Children Betrayed

In the ruins of Isstvan 3, loyalists fight to the last against their erstwhile brothers and cousins.

Half Squad: Emperor's Children

Behold, a half squad of Emperor's Children assault marines bedecked in a whole lot of decals. 

The sergeant has a pair of lightning claws with the body being made of resin, while the other marines all have standard armaments except for a power axe sourced from the Space Wolf range. Although the Space Wolves sound like they wouldn't mesh well with this legion, the ornamentation (jewel in the centre of the axe) remarkably works very well. The accent colour of green on the bases is representative of some of my mechanicus terrain and provides a nice offset to the regal purples, whites, and gold seen across the rest of the miniatures. 

Scratch Testing Emperor's Children

I have been experimenting with some scratch marks and making some elongated scrapes in this latest addition to the Emperor's Children.

On the shield are several long scrapes done by dragging a sponge with black paint across the surface and then filling in some of the interior with silver. The same has been done on the edge of the shoulder pad, but not nearly as streaked. 

I always get a bit confused whether to do black on the outside like I've done here, or whether to have silver on the outside and black inside for a deep scorch. I think that the black exterior looks good though, and it can be seen on multiple places, including the helmet which I think it suggestive of ducking an explosion nearby. This squad is rapidly nearing completion now. 

Emperor's Children Axeman

Thanks for stopping by. The painting of the Emperor's Children assault squad continues, with one of the two axe wielding marines of the assault squad complete.

I think what I like the most here are the scratched and accents in the dabbed black. This was done using the sponge technique and some cuts of silver applied to their very centre to suggest the scratches and markings going quite deep down. I like the decals as well - they really add a sense of the regal to the Emperor's Children and almost show off the legion's inner care about how they look on the battlefield. 

Painted Emperors Children Sunkillers Squad

The final painted Sun killers squad for the Emperor's Children!

The parts are sourced from a variety of places, but the basis is the Mark 7 power armour. Mixed in there are a few resin heads from the Heresy mark era, as well as the newer Forge World alternative heads. The las cannons are from the upgrade set, and the bases are a mixture of resin basing kit, random bits, and plastic bases from the Armageddon range.

Painting follows my standard formulation for Emperor's Children: Phoenician Purple base, Xerxeus purple layer, contrast purple for the recesses, gene stealer purple for the highlights, gold accents, iron belcher for the weapons and plenty of Nuln oil washing over stuff. Decals are sourced directly from the Emperor's Children sheet. 

Pleased with the results here! They will form the long range component of my Emperor's Children allied detachment to provide long range cover for the swifter moving elements. I'm tempted to buy a new defence line for the unit, but not sure just yet!

Designing an Emperor's Children Allied Detachment

My priority for this year was to construct and paint an Allied Detachment of Emperor's Children for Horus Heresy. In order to do this, obviously I had to write down my army list. Here it is, along with my thoughts. 

Conditions. I like my allied detachments to clock in at under 750 points. This is because I tend to play smaller points cost games than most. I still favour way less than 3000 points for a game - 2000, or even 1750 or 1500 is more than enough for an interesting game that can be concluded rapidly which is a key driving factor and a "must" most of the time for me personally - I know there's plenty of people out there who have the same limitations. I save 3000 points for when there's hours to spare. 

Secondly, I want my allied detachments to do something that perhaps the primary cannot -- and to generally be fluffy. This usually means taking advantage of the Legion rules in question or its special units. For the Emperor's Children, I interpret this to mean quickly moving units, taking advantage of the quick melee weapons, and for this one: a Sun Killers squad. I also wanted to show off something very Emperor's Children by taking at least one Phoenix Power Spear! 

Army List.
HQ:
Phoenix Warden, Iron Halo and Phoenix Pattern Power Spear, Artificer Armour, Jump Pack (110 points). This HQ is to show off the power spear and to be a strong threat in game. I might add a melta bomb here too.

Elites:
Apothecary, Jump Pack, Artificer Armour (70 points). The purpose of the Apothecary is obvious, and is probably a bit rude in this allied detachment, but it fits so well. That, and the Emperor's Children do like their Apothecaries, so it maintains my fluffy direction.

Troops:
Assault Squad x11; Combat Shields, 2 Power Axes, Sergeant with Two Lightning Claws and Artificer Armour (214 points). I have to take troops, and an assault squad is the obvious selection here. Again, melta bombs to taste.

Heavy Support:
Sun Killer Squad x5, Lascannons, Novaetor with Augury Scanner (205 points). This is the unit that I could not get otherwise. Yes, I could have chosen Palatine Blades, or Terminators, but this is such a unique and strong unit that really fits with the theme of what I'm going for here: long range cover coupled with up close and personal elements. 

Total points cost = 599 points.

Analysis.
This allied detachment combines two very interesting elements. First we have a "standard" Sun Killer squad which is arguably one of the best in the game for lascannon slaughter that provides the long range cover. Then we have a blob of jump pack troops backed up by an Apothecary and the HQ selection. In principle, I could turn the HQ into a Praetor to add extra flexibility, but there's not much benefit to that arguably. All three warlord traits are valid for this set up, and I can see myself using any depending on loyalty. The main blob is to tear through enemy troops formations. Whether they'd want to tackle terminators is a different decision - their primary purpose is anti-troops and potentially a HQ killing element. 

Set up is typically with the Sun Killers taking a back line position of defence to fire from, whilst the rest of the detachment flies or deep strikes (or even flanks) into play as quickly as possible. 

Given that  I have some 150 points "spare" compared to my goal, I would consider adding a Sky Hunter squadron or Xihphon Interceptor to round the list out by incorporating another fast attack element, or making the assault squad larger still (it has 11 members largely because I had a spare resin body that I glued a jump pack to in order to model the sergeant - no real reason beyond that!). There's also room to add in a second assault squad if needed to create a primary detachment too, but that's not currently a priority for me. Perhaps a defence line for the Sun killers instead?

Work in Progress: Emperor's Children Jump Pack Marine Test Model

Today's update is a work in progress. In this instance: a jump pack marine test model belonging to the Emperor's Children legion.

The colour scheme follows the standard approach I've developed for this legion including Phoenician purple base layer, Xereus purple layer, contrast paint for the recesses and then gene stealer purple for the highlighting. I've got a lot of white on this particular test model as well which I've done in an off-white colour with edgings of Nuln oil into the recesses which help give a bit of a grime accent to it. 

Standard decals have already been applied, but what I've not yet accomplish are the weathering steps. I need to put some dents, hacks, and slashes across the shield and key components of the armour to suggest further wear and tear. Similar is yet to be done on the base wherein the aim is to complement the green forge world scenery that I have in the collection. Overall, I quite like the direction this paint scheme has since is eschews the ordinary gold accents in favour of white, whilst still retaining enough gold to keep the marine in fitting with the rest of the legion. 

Emperor's Children Apothecary Painted

An Emperor's Children Apothecary with jump pack, fully painted up!

As usual, white is a tricky colour to get right when painting. Here I have gone for an off-white colour with shading to help bring out the muted white nature of the apothecary. The purple is not so much of a problem to get looking right, and the other colours are generally fine. I did use a bit of blood technical paint for some of the vials, and this has also turned out very nicely. 

This miniature will accompany the assault squad and the praetor / consul for the detachment that I'm building. 

Emperor's Children Commander

Painting up this command for the Emperor's Children was a good exploration of how to use (and not use) purple colours. Originally I thought about going for a bit more of a metallic sheen, but in the end the purple that came out was not metallic whatsoever. I'm comfy with that. 

The contrast paint was used more as a shade for the phoenix purple base colour in the end which proved a good move. The gene stealer purple was then freed up to use as an accent. The gold and the white on the marine provides a really good accent colour to the deeper purple and this has come out really well overall. Coupled with a steady hand to get the eyeballs looking right and I'm more than happy with this miniature. It will serve as either a Praetor or consul for the Emperor's Children allied detachment that I have constructed - more on that in a later post. 

Assault Squad and the Rule of Cool

I've been itching to get my hands on the new assault squad for a while now and invested in two boxes worth - one for the Emperor's Children, and one for the World Eaters. This particular build is for the Emperor's Children. 

Before anyone accuses me of not building a super-optimal squad I feel the need to defend myself and say "Rule Of Cool". I trust this will fully and completely explain the presence of the combat shields! Yes, I know they're not points cost efficient and that an extra warm body would be much better for the points. But just look at those shields! They are wickedly awesome! How could I go past them? And yes: I've added some Space Wolves power axes in there for extra chopping. Looking forward to getting these painted up!

Emperor's Children Phoenix Warden / Praetor

The second post in one day? Certainly! As noted in my plans for the months ahead, my top priority is to explore the Emperor's Children range and build a small detachment. I have long been intrigued by the loyalist aspect of the legion. After reading Fulgrim and the other novels surrounding the Isstvan campaign, I can see myself tilting nicely toward having a loyalist third legion element to complement my (obviously also loyal) Alpha Legion. It will also sit nicely with the Iron Hands forces that I have: either for friendly shattered legions purposes, pre-heresy, or serve as a traitor counter point!

I have gone out of my way to source the parts for this one. The main body is most obviously from the Palatine Blades. The spear is a phoenix spear, and the resin shoulder pad is one of the Emperor's Children. The jet pack is also from the resin range that I specifically bought for this miniature. Although not obvious from the image, the bolt pistol is from the vanguard veterans range and features filigree along the main body. Arms and plastic shoulder pad are obvious enough. The head is from the new heads range released by Games Workshop - I intend the hair to be painted platinum white, but I really liked the dynamism here. It is not a strong as with Eidolon, but really suits the Third Legion aesthetic. The head is also positioned very carefully to be looking square down the barrel of the bolt pistol. The pose is intended to communicate a fluidity of movement with the bolt pistol leader, and the spear positioned behind his back ready for striking at the opportune moment!

Meanwhile the base consists of four lengths of plastic pipework buried underneath a plastic door that I had lying around. I've glued a lot of debris around this to suggest a ruined battlescape where this character has landed. He will provide a beautiful and elegant counter point to the otherwise hard edged Iron Hands siege breaker posted earlier today.

Overall, I am more than pleased with how this conversion and kit bash has turned out! Really flexing some creative muscles now! 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Phoenix Warden

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

3/5 stars. Good, but arguably better consuls to spend points on?

Background.

Phoenix Wardens are personal guards of Fulgrim himself and much like him, strove for excellence. Here the excellence is not only in combat efficiency and aptitude, but also self-preening. Got to look your best whilst doing the job, after all. 

Strengths.

The list of special rules is nice: the skill unmatched rule gives these characters a way to buff themselves in one of three ways at initiative step 10, varying between guard, strike, and fury. For the sake of copyright, I won't list all the buffs individually, save to save that they're very nice and when executed at the right moment can turn a combat around. 

The Living Icons rule grant a bonus to combat outcome determination in a small bubble, which stacks with Fulgrim's "Sire" rule, but nothing else. 

Weaknesses.

I like them, quite genuinely. But with so many other HQ choices on offer, and juicy consul alternatives, I have my doubts many players will opt for the Phoenix Wardens as these slots are very competitive. 

Builds.

Phoenix Warden, Phoenix Power Spear, Iron Halo, Tartaros Armour, Grenade Harness (110 points).

A very standard build. Honestly, there are not too many other builds to consider here. If you're going to buy a thunder hammer, then might as well have a different consul. Arguably a chain fist is attractive, so I can see that working. Whether a combi-melta might be attractive as well is a different argument, but it doesn't speak to me as much as this baseline build as I see Phoenix Wardens as wanting to be in combat rather than shooting or being a utility squad leader. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Captain Lucius

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4/5 stars. The rules are great if you want a character killing duellist.

Background.

Before he was Eternal, Lucius was a promising Captain of the Emperor's Children and was fairly un-matched with his blade skills. During the heresy, he found himself on the loyalist side thanks to working with Saul Tarvitz. He later betrayed Saul and re-took he place among the IIIrd Legion as it descended into madness. 

Strengths.

Fundamentally, Lucius is a close combat character killer. His rules all back this up along with an outrageous WS=7 and I=6 (making him better in the WS department than Lorgar, for instance, and rising to WS=8 when using Nineteen, his blade, in a challenge). Mind blown. 

The Supreme Duellist rule grants him a bonus attack so long as his initiative is greater than his opponent's. The blade called Nineteen is powerful indeed with both murderous strike and Rending at 3+ which is just supreme. 

Weaknesses.

Traitor only. Not very speedy unlike Eidolon and his jump pack. He also has the option of swapping out the Blade of the Laer from Fulgrim to make him cheaper. In general, Nineteen is probably superior and therefore not much of a concern either with I would think, but the Laer blade does have AP=2 as standard. He can also take sonic shriekers for a very small points cost increase. Probably not strictly needed, but it is amazingly powerful, so just take it. 

Overall.

If you like a duelling character killer, then Lucius will work great for you. Just get him into combat to do his job. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Captain Saul Tarvitz

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4/5 stars. The rules are great. The point cost even better.

Background.

As Eidolon is to the traitor faction of the Emperor's Children, so Saul is to the Loyalists. Indeed, the one major difference between the two of them is that Saul did not have the sheer drive and relentless tilt toward ascending the ranks - which surely he would have easily been able to do given the inclination. Instead, he liked his station as a line officer and this is the singular reason why Fulgrim sent him to die. But he didn't. He mounted a most magnificent defence on Isstvan and is likely the reason that the civil war was not over as it began. 

Strengths.

Saul's stat line is a reflection of Eidolon's, even down to having an iron halo in place. 

His warlord trait is able to grant him fearless when certain conditions are met (such as having less victory points and the opponent) in tight situations. This is nifty, as fearless is hard to come by in the game. 

His weapons are not quite as good as Eidolons as he only has a charnabal broadsword for close combat, but he does possess a nemesis bolter which can be excellent when the situation arises. His special rule, A Brother Betrayed, gives him bonuses to S, T, and WS against enemy Emperor's Children which although situational is excellent. Bonus victory points follow for being victorious, and even more if he kills Lucius!

Weaknesses.

Loyalist only. Not very speedy unlike Eidolon and his jump pack. 

Difference to First Edition.

Nicely cleaned up. Otherwise largely the same I think. And for the points cost, he's excellent.

Overall.

Worth the investment if you're after a loyal Emperor's Children praetor character, but not a force multiplier. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Lord Commander Eidolon

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4/5 stars. The rules are great.

Background.

An example of the perfection that Fulgrim strove for, and favoured by his gene sire in turn. The only problem with Eidolon was his arrogance. This in turn would be the key that the canker would turn as the rot spread through the Emperor's Children. Giving himself over to Fabius Bile was perhaps the point of no return, and from there his fate flowed. 

Strengths.

A strong stat line combines with a slew of special rules and armaments to create a bit of a close combat beast. His warlord trait line him up directly with a "rival" against whom he receives bonuses to hit or/and wound depending on the circumstances. 

His hammer is tremendous with Brutal (2) along with ignoring unwieldy when charging successfully. The Death Scream provides a template rending and pinning weapon thank to his recent surgery which is similarly nice.

Weaknesses.

Traitor only. Not that anyone expected anything other. The other restriction worth considering is the reactions: Eidolon can only declare reactions against the rival unit and therefore thought needs to be injected about how to place him and best exploit his abilities on the battlefield. This shouldn't be too difficult though as the jump pack will help. 

Difference to First Edition.

Slightly improved. A bit of a clean up here arguably, but I really like the Prideful Onslaught warlord trait which is why he gets 4/5 stars from me. Used well, Eidolon is a character killer where Primarchs are not in play, and he should be used in this fashion.

Overall.

I like Eidolon perhaps more than I should. Don't underestimate him - playing against him in first edition hurt badly, and he will also hurt in second edition. 

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Kakophoni Squad

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
3.5/5 stars, rounded up. The rules are very good.

Background.

As they slipped toward damnation, new formations arose within the Emperor's Children. Besides the surgical augmentations that some opted for, the Kakophoni were not only an embodiment of the rapidly degenerating legion, but also the precursors to the noise marines later on. They wielded psycho-sonic weapons fused of xenos technology, imperial know how, and daemonic taint. Their total damnation to Slaanesh would follow. 

Strengths.

The cacophony weapons are assault 3 and give the user a good range at S=6 while also giving pinning and deflagrate (and shell shock to boot). This weapon is formidable.

They also get the sonic shrieker upgrade for free which is nice. 

Weaknesses.

Nothing special to report in the stat line here save for the Ld=10 (but they are already fearless), so the conundrum to consider here is whether they do it better than regular heavy support squads. I am going to contend that they are worth the points increase, but it is a judgement call, and one which assumes that the player wants a mass infantry killing squad rather than a tank killer. 

Difference to First Edition.

Slightly improved. They have got fearless now which is good to see and the cacophony rules have got an update. Naturally they are traitor only selections, but that's to be expected. They do, however, still compete against other heavy support options they are fundamentally not tank killers. 

Builds.

5 Chora, Orcestrator with power fist (170 points).

The base line unit. Whittle down your opponent's troops.

10 Chora, Orchestrator with Power Fist, Artificer Armour (305 points).

This sort of build will also likely be common and should be taking a rhino as a troop transport. Unload and then use the psychic sonic weapons to kill all before them. Remember reactions though.