Games Workshop has delayed the release of their new Horus Heresy Age of Darkness rulebook. More on the delay and our new rules summary below.
According to GW the Horus Heresy Age of Darkness rulebook has been delayed:
Following a print quality check, the decision has been made to delay the rulebook in order to make sure it meets the exacting standards you expect from all Forge World products.
It wasn’t all tricks this week, as they did leave hobbyists with a bit of a treat; a set several desktop versions of art from the Battle of Prospero
Since the internet will be quick to mention the fact that on Monday a glaring typo was spotted declaring this book part of Age of Sigmar (which has since been corrected) one has to wonder exactly why the book was delayed in the first place.
The internet will probably also remember the famous series of Prosperian tourists that were present in Book VII, which were not properly photo-shopped out of the reference images GW used to make the overleaf images.
There has been no official cause announced for the delay, and unfortunately no new order date revealed for ordering this book. Don’t let that stop you from checking out our rules preview below from the new Age of Darkness book kindly transcribed by our friends at Radio Free Isstvan from Forge World Lead Andy Hoare’s appearance on stream, and GW’s own remarks earlier in the week.
Here’s the studio’s Q&A followed by a summary of the changes from last weeks Live Stream on Twitch:
What can you tell us about the upcoming Horus Heresy Age of Sigmar Rulebook? (I hope that is a typo…)
It is a rulebook for use with the Horus Heresy range of miniatures using the 7th edition ruleset.
The core of the rules will be familiar to those playing the Horus Heresy today, but there have been some changes. Can you tell us about any?
The previous FAQs for 7th edition have been incorporated and the army construction section uses the Horus Heresy rules instead of the 7th edition standard. We’ve also made some balance changes based on community feedback. Invisibility has been replaced, while the usage of melta-bombs has been changed.
Does the new book work with the current range of Horus Heresy books and expansions?
Yes – all your red and black books still work!
What is in the book apart from the core rules themselves?
The rulebook just contains the core rules and useful reference material – you’ll find all the lore and specific rules for your chosen Legion (or the Mechanicum, or Crusade Imperialis) in the various Horus Heresy supplements.
The book is fully complete and Tony was happy to hold up the final copy. He quickly flipped through it stating that it was complete, he doesn’t have a hard cover of it yet, but it is at the printers, and we should be seeing it sometime next month.
Our friends at Radio Free Isstvan were busy taking notes of the stream, and we have the highlights right here for you. Let’s jump right in and see what’s going to change, and take a look at a couple pictures from the new book.
Multi-bombing in the rulebook? Yes.
Has haywire been changed? No.
Are we ever going to see the FAQ cakes addressed for the Legions books? Yes, however it will be at a later date.
Will Horus heresy lose armour facing? No.
Will Horus Heresy Continue to use templates? Yes.
Has D weapons changed? No.
Is invisibility still in the book? No. (It’s Mind Howl now)
And a heart felt tribute to the man that made all of this possible with his narrative, Alan Bligh:
Out is Invisibility, and in is Mind Howl. This new power is going to be a great way to severely weaken your opponent’s attack, and with a Warp Charge value of 2 it’s going to be pretty easy to get it off. It’s a malediction that let’s you pick and enemy unit, and while it’s in effect it reduces the BS and WS to 1 for all models in the target unit.
Don’t throw those templates away just yet, they’re still included in the new rulebook! Grenades are getting a nice little change to the rules. some grenades can be used to make shooting attacks or attacks in the Fight sub-phase, but only one grenade (of any type) can be thrown by a unit in the Shooting phase.
But, during the Fight sub-phase, there are some grenades who’s rules allow them to be used as weapons in the Assault Phase, and have a weapons profile for that phase. Some examples given are krak grenades, haywire grenades, or melta bombs.
You can make a single attack with any or all models equipped with those grenades, though only a single type of grenade may be employed by a given squad in the Fight sub-phase.
Multi-bombing and Armour Facing will be included in the new rulebook, D weapons and Haywire haven’t changed, but Invisibility is no longer in there. Also, there will be an FAQ released at a later date addressing the Legion books.
What do you think about the latest preview, and delay? Are you happy to start knocking the dust off your templates?
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About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
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Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
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About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
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