The Horus Heresy is a civil war setting the galaxy aflame, a titanic conflict splitting the Imperium in two, and pitting the might of the entire Legiones Astartes, Solar Auxilia, Knight Households, and Titan Legions against one another. It will create some of the biggest battles ever to have rocked the grim darkness of the far future.
As these vast clashes are almost impossible to properly replicate using miniatures from the Warhammer: The Horus Heresy Age of Darkness range, it’s now time to fight these battles on a new scale.
Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis is an all-new game set at the time of the Horus Heresy. While your standard 3,000-point battle of the larger-scale Age of Darkness constitutes a slice of a larger engagement, Legions Imperialis is that battle in full, with dozens of tanks and hundreds of infantry striving for supremacy and advancing to battle between the legs of Knights and Titans. It's battle on a new scale.
The game deploys in August, with a huge Core Set containing a massive collection of exquisite epic scale miniatures, alongside a rulebook, dice, tokens templates, and measuring sticks.
Warhammer has previously made several games in epic scale, and we’ll be taking a look down memory lane later this month, and this new game system is based on the best bits of previous incarnations of these epic scale games – while adding lots of cool new elements.
We’ll have more on that as we approach release, but today we’re talking about all the fantastic miniatures in the box. So, grab a magnifying glass as we’ll analyse the models you get!
There are a whopping 223 miniatures in the box, split between Space Marines, Solar Auxilia, and Titans. That’s 106 Space Marine infantry and walkers, five Space Marine tanks, 104 Solar Auxilia infantry and walkers, six Solar Auxilia tanks, and two Warhound Titans with brand-new plastic weapon options.
The Space Marine force comprises a mix of infantry, Dreadnoughts, and tanks that represent the standard combined arms deployment for any of the 18 Legions of the Horus Heresy. Two Command Squads with tiny banners and a Centurion-level officer lead eight bases of Tactical Legionaries – each containing five miniature Space Marines.
There are also two squads of Assault Marines for rapid combat manoeuvres, two units of Support Legionaries with plasma guns and two with missile launchers, all backed up by two bases of five Legion Cataphractii Terminators.
For heavy support, the Legiones Astartes have four pleasingly chunky Contemptor Dreadnoughts with a power fist and either twin-linked lascannons or Kheres assault cannons. You also get two Sicaran battle tanks and three Predators to round out the armoured offering, each with a choice of turret and sponson weapons.
Both tanks come with a choice of cupola options – they can be either closed down or feature a Space Marine driver or gunner, just like the full-sized miniatures!
The Solar Auxilia are the well-trained and well-equipped defenders of the Emperor’s interests, who overwhelm their foes with superior numbers and an abundance of armour – though notably, many turned traitor along with Horus. They get two bases that can build either a Solar Axuilia Legate Commander or an Auxilia Tactical Command Section, eight bases worth of lasrifle-toting Auxiliaries, four units of Auxiliaries with flamers, four units of Veletarii shock troops, and four bases of ferocious Charonite Ogryns.
This box introduces a never-before-seen unit for the Solar Auxilia, the Aethon Heavy Sentinel, these walkers patrol ahead of the main body of a force to scout enemies and engage them with multi-lasers and missile launchers.
Four of these accompany four Leman Russ battle tanks and two lumbering Malcador heavy tanks, each with a choice of main battlecannons and hull-mounted weapons. These also come with various cupola options, just like their Space Marine counterparts.
These miniatures are just the beginning – plenty of additional releases are planned for Legions Imperialis, and eventually most of the armoury for both the Space Marine Legions and the Solar Auxilia will be available. Soon you will be able to create vast armies and conduct war on the scale you’re read about in the Horus Heresy books.
As if that weren’t enough, the box also features two Warhound Titans with a new plastic weapons frame, including ursus claws, a natrix shock lance, a volkite eradicator, a missile pod with a choice of swarmer or shudder missiles, and an incisor pattern melta lance. The box also contains two new lower-profile bases that fit with the urban battlefield aesthetic of the rest of the bases in the box.
The inclusion of Warhounds heralds the next bit of good news: all of your Adeptus Titanicus and Heresy-relevant Aeronautica Imperialis miniatures can be used in Legions Imperialis thanks to rules and unit profiles found in the massive Legions Imperialis Rulebook. This means you can recreate the most colossal battles of the Horus Heresy, complete with striding god-engines unleashing salvos from devastating weaponry, soaring aircraft performing strafing runs, and hordes of infantry clashing among columns of tanks.
All of the scenery that was released with Adeptus Titanicus is also returning for use in Legions Imperialis, with more to follow. Everything in this range is epic scale, around a quarter of the height of their larger Horus Heresy counterpart miniatures.
We will have lots of coverage of Warhammer: The Horus Heresy Legions Imperialis as we get closer to launch in August. You can expect plenty of information about units you’ll see on the battlefield, the terrain you use to construct your warzones, and the explanations of the rules that make the game tick.
Discover everything else that was revealed today over at the preview hub.
* If you’re old enough to remember Close Assault Factor… you’re old!