Welcome to the latest Horus Heresy Exemplary Battles article, a regular series in which we provide new rules and missions to play through in the Age of Darkness. This month it’s time to join Lion El’Jonson as he takes on the forces of First Captain Calas Typhon.
Last month, we met the deadly Red Hand Destroyer Squad from the World Eaters Legion. Now, we’re diving into the pages of The Lion* where the Dark Angels face off against the Death Guard. We’re introducing two new units – the Inner Circle Knights Cenobium’s Order of the Broken Claws, and the Mortus Poisoner Squad. Here’s Horus Heresy head honcho Andy Hoare with more on the new squads.
Andy Hoare: It's been great reading the Horus Heresy community's reaction to the first few articles, especially the ideas people have had about future special units. So, I thought I'd take the chance to expound a little on how we've decided on which units to include.
Our first stop when planning these articles was the Black Library Horus Heresy novels, which contain plenty of named units that, while being representative of standard unit types, are more than that – the Night Lords Atramantar being a great example. Another source of inspiration is the Horus Heresy gaming supplements, particularly the Legion background descriptions, as these sometimes mention named examples of familiar unit types created at the time to provide inspiration and depth down the line.
Lastly, we scoured the pages of the old Horus Heresy – Collected Visions book. This mighty and beloved tome compiled artwork from the Horus Heresy collectable card game published in the early 2000s. The game included a wide range of named units, some of which feature in Black Library novels, while a few even ended up as miniatures. And that leads us to the Death Guard Mortus Poisoners, who were inspired by just such an entry. I hope you enjoy this article, there's plenty more to come – in fact, I'm just putting the finishing touches on my contributions to a future one!
Thanks, Andy! The Inner Knights Cenobium from the Order of the Broken Claws are just as tough and deadly as the Inner Knights Cenobium in the rest of the Legion, but these guys are especially good at fighting monsters, earning +1 on their to hit rolls against Monstrous and Gargantuan Creatures. On the other side of the battlefield, the Mortus Poisoner Squad brings the usual horrific weaponry of a Destroyer Squad to the table, but they can each wield a flamer with chem-munitions. For free! Get up close and personal with your enemies and watch the skin peel from their face.
Along with rules for the two new units, there’s also a new mission so that you can play out the Sacking of Umbral-51, but where exactly is Perditus?
Aha! That’s where we are. Now you can download the new rules and get fighting.
Why not grab yourself a squad of Inner Circle Knights Cenobium and some Destroyers to form these new units, and sign up for our newsletter so you never miss a dispatch from the front lines of the Horus Heresy?
* If you prefer real pages to digital pages, the story is also available in the Horus Heresy anthology The Primarchs.