Games Workshop - Warhammer - Horus Heresy - Sky-Hunter Squadron

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Jaghatai Khan (Mounted)– It can’t be stated how much of a boon Jaghatai is to a White Scars bike list. The synergy he brings ties together all of the other fantastic things the army has going for it with the Legion Trait, Warlord Trait, Golden Keshig, Advanced Reaction, etc. Not only is he lethal in close combat, but he is a force multiplier for your list. His Warlord trait, Sire of the White Scars, grants Infantry and Cavalry Furious Charge (1) but also an additional reaction during the movement phase. Beyond that, he allows any unit that he is a part of to automatically come in from reserves without a roll…or any Flanking Assault that he is a part of to come on without rolling along with the other included units. Let’s be honest with ourselves, who wants to drive around the battlefield when you can fly? The new Sky-hunters will let you do just that!

The Horus Heresy minis are being revealed much faster than the other games, as we have also seen the new Alpha Legion Sniper! That means we’ve already seen two of the shadowed minis from GW’s New Year preview . Either way, getting new miniatures for any game is always good, so we’re not complaining! New Horus Heresy Sky-hunter Squadron Revealed By GW! Mounted on Imperial Jetbikes, Sky Hunters were feared strike units boasting considerable firepower on their mounts in addition to their superb speed and maneuvering capabilities. The Jetbike patterns in service with the Sky Hunter Squadrons of the Legiones Astartes are modifications of designs which considerably predated the Imperium and given the materials required to make and maintain them (such as iridium-calicite alloys and repulsor plates), demand for them by the Legions has largely been outstripped. So much so that sometime after the Heresy, Sky Hunter squadrons largely ceased to exist. [1] Before talking about individual flyers I wanted to say that I think the jury’s out on whether they’ll be useful. The interceptor reaction, and particularly the quad-las Contemptor with helical array, might mean they just die before firing. I don’t know if serious AA firepower will be something everyone takes but it could stop planes working unless they’re taken in very large numbers to overwhelm defences. There are things you can do to prevent things from intercepting (e.g. killing them or having a telepath tell them not to) so you might be able to build your army to make flyers work.

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Basilisk • Medusa • Whirlwind ( Scorpius • Hyperios) • Vindicator ( Laser Destroyer) • Arquitor ( Graviton • Spicula • Morbus) • Rapier • Heavy Quad Launcher • Tarantula This is a straightforwardly good unit, comprising 1-3 chonky “cavalry”. Javelins are surprisingly tough thanks to being T6 (so difficult to instakill and almost immune to bolters) with 4 wounds. Harbinger of the Legion means that shrouding will negate more than half the damage you suffer if you evade or you can return fire very effectively. Just hope you don’t meet a Typhon. This kit comprises 161 plastic components, and is supplied with three Citadel 60mm Round Bases and three Citadel 50mm Ball Top Flying Stems. Also included is a Legiones Astartes Vehicle Transfer Sheet, containing 44 optional markings and icons for the Sons of Horus and Imperial Fists Legions. These miniatures are supplied unpainted and requires assembly – we recommend using Citadel Plastic Glue and Citadel Colour paints.

The big news here is the Talons of the Legion rule which lets it enter a special “Combat Air Patrol” reserves. There it waits for an enemy plane to arrive, sets up straight after it and sprays fire in its general direction. This all happens in the enemy movement phase before the plane can shoot and they can’t use reactions against you because it’s their turn. Sounds cool, right? As a legion that prides itself on its mobility and lightning strikes, White Scars utilize the same Mongolian cavalry tactics that their Primarch, Jaghatai Khan mastered on his homeworld of Chongoris. In nearly all of their lore, White Scars are depicted as skilled riders and hit-and-run specialists. Analogous to their real-world Mongolian counterparts, White Scars bike lists are both fluffy and potent. I dare say that the White Scars bike list might be one of the most competitive theme-lists as their Legion Trait, Rite of War – Chogorian Brotherhood, Advanced Reaction, Golden Keshig (WS Only Bike Unit) and Primarch all enhance the effectiveness of the Bike Scars list. If screaming across the stars Lobo style with your power-armored Mongolian cavalry army in tow is your jam, White Scars are going to be hard to top.

Assembly:

These are just fun models, and jetbikes are just always cool! It appears they will have a decent number of weapons options in the kit to boot!

I- Deathwing ( Companions) • Dreadwing ( Interemptors • Naufragia) • Firewing ( Enigmatii) • Ironwing ( Forge-wrights • Excindio Class Robot) • Ravenwing • Stormwing • Paladin • Knights Cenobium • Here’s a unit of 3-10 speedy Marines who can Scout, armed with combi-bolters, pistols, chainswords and no grenades. Options include swapping the twin bolters for twin special weapons, swapping chainswords for expensive power weapons or free shotguns and getting hand flamers or volkite serpentas, both pretty cheaply. They’ve got Hit and Run, though it’ll probably be quite rare for them to live long enough to use it. Use these to hit targets nice and hard from a tough, fast-moving platform for a reasonable price. Great stuff. They can charge things, which may occasionally be a good idea. They might tie up a unit for a turn and then hit and run away but…Overall the storm eagle is a useful unit to have in your army. I wouldn’t put anything too expensive inside but it will let you deliver a scoring unit somewhere now and then, while just shooting things up in most games. And if you want to have five of these roar on in turn 1 to launch a hundred world eater despoilers at the enemy with the Angel’s Wrath RoW, go right ahead because that’s awesome. But the more fun thing is to give them combi-meltas, which Seekers use better than anyone. They can infiltrate and hit a Spartan with a few melta shots before it and the 10 Cataphractii inside leave their deployment zone. No Spartan to melt? Cool, just use your precision shots to melt holes right through the enemy Praetor. They only get one shot with their meltas but given that they’re likely to be standing on their own in front of a whole army that’s not exactly a big issue. Cast: Li Chen, Fan Bingbing, Li Jianhang, Wang Qianyuan, Tomer Oz, Zhao Da, Li Chenhao, Guo Mingyu, Ye Liu, Wu Xiubo, Wang Xueqi

Here’s a slightly cheaper and generally much worse type of land speeder. At base they’re only 2/3 the price of a Javelin but that’s a bit deceptive because they only come with a heavy bolter, while the Javelin is fully-loaded. The weapons for a proteus speeder cost a little bit too much – such as paying 20 points to upgrade its heavy bolter to a melta when the Javelin only pays 10. A Proteus with two multimeltas costs as much as a javelin with two lascannon and a multimelta. Having one less wound and only T5 makes them far less durable.The Lightning is the worst of the three extended fighters. It has weak armour and only two lascannons, which are centreline-mounted. For some reason the Lightning gets to carry slightly better missiles than the others… at vastly greater cost. A volley of six S8 armourbane Kraken Penetrator missiles will cause enormous damage but then your Lightning will cost nearly 300 points, which is madness. Way too much to pay for a flyer that’s effectively a one-shot weapon. Legion Tarantula Sentry Gun Battery (Extended) The Scimitar Jetbikes of the Age of Darkness are modifications of complex pre-Imperium designs. Essentially compact aircraft with the addition of grav-impellors, they rush your Space Marines into combat at great speed. And soon you’ll be able to add them to your army in plastic.