With the starter arriving soon, let’s check out the top 4 rules changes coming to Horus Heresy with the new edition!
We’ve been seeing leaks for a couple of months now and GW has actually confirmed a lot of the rules as well, so we have a pretty good idea of what to expect with the edition. They are keeping some of the stuff the same, but also changing up a decent amount of the rules.
Warhammer Community posted an article with some of the big changes, but we also have all the leaks to go along with them as well! Let’s check out what’s changing!
Rules Changes Coming to Horus Heresy: #1 Reactions
The battlefields of the Horus Heresy are a fast-paced frenzy of back-and-forth fighting. This is represented by Reactions, which allow players to respond to – and hopefully, thwart – the enemy’s plans, even when it’s not their turn. You can make one Reaction during each Phase of your opponent’s turn – though specific special rules can give you extra Reactions, up to a limit of three per Phase.
There are six Core Reactions, available to everyone and anyone, which are divided up by Phase.
They only showed Advance, but below we have all the core reactions:
The Withdraw Reaction can be really annoying when you’re trying to get off your charges and all of the sudden they get way further away. The Shooting reactions are both really strong. One lets you shoot back and the other helps you survive. So we expect to see plenty of both!
Both Hold the Line and Overwatch are also pretty strong, so reactions will play quite the big role in the new edition! However, we also know how they will work in the game:
It looks like a vast majority of characters add to how many reactions you can have, so expect most people to be doing more than one per phase, which could slow things down some, but really adds a layer of control.
The limit being thrown in there is good. As it stops someone from going full power on one reaction phase with traits and has like 5.
#2 Tougher Elites and Dreadnoughts
The Age of Darkness saw the 18 Legions deploy some of the most devastating weapons the Imperium had ever developed – so it’s no surprise they also donned the mightiest armour available. Legion Veterans, Terminators of all flavours, and certain Legion-specific Elites now sport two Wounds to represent their robustness in the face of withering fire.
Dreadnoughts moving to wounds is a big thing, and most of the elite units we’ve seen also have more wounds. Plus, the Dreadnought above is actually not the one in the starter, and we’ve got some more info on how the kit will most likely work.
Here is the original picture of the new kit, and right away you can see some big differences between the previous plastic monopose model and the Forge World kits.
Click Here To Get Your Eternus Assault Armor!
The first main difference is the chest plate. Generally, GW doesn’t put converted models on box pictures. It has all the iconography of a relic contempt or with what looks to be the Aquila on it.
So besides those chest bits, on the same sprue could be all the extra weapons that don’t come in the original box (like the Kheres Assault Cannon pictured), thus either making you buy a new kit to get all the upgrades or maybe later they will release just the upgrade sprue itself.
Here’s a look at the sprue to see the actual differences via GW influencer Tale of Painters
Here you can see the chest is bare and there are unfortunately not all the weapon options were accustomed to for the Contemtpor. So maybe it would make sense for the relic kit to have exactly everything above, but just one extra sprue, which probably also means it will be more expensive.
Some people were wondering if it’s just the one from the Calth box, however, the chest looks different, the knees aren’t right, and neither are the angles. Not to mention the old one is monopose.
#3 Universal Special Rules Updates
Each unit in the Horus Heresy has access to a range of weapons, wargear, and innate abilities. To make it easy to understand these varied traits, the Age of Darkness Rulebook contains a full list of universal Special Rules you can reference in the heat of battle.
Some have been overhauled and rebalanced, but a key change comes from the added granularity afforded by a suffix value. Older rules such as Bulky, Very Bulky, and Extremely Bulky are now simply to Bulky (2), Bulky (3), and Bulky (5). This simple tweak makes it much easier to work out how many Terminators you can squeeze into your Spartan Assault Tank.
We’ve actually seen a ton of rules on how vehicles will work, which you can check out below:
Some clarifications for all the Squadrons, and we’ll look closer at transports below.
They are keeping access points and getting the whole unit within 2″ to embark. They are also not letting units charge from the transports unless they have the Assualt Vehicle special rule.
Rules Changes Horus Heresy: #4 A Whole Lot More
That isn’t everything – Deep Strike is changing, Transport Capacity has been tweaked, and the Psychic Phase is gone entirely! Rules have been tweaked in every phase of the game, to streamline where helpful and add complexity where needed. This isn’t your dad’s Heresy! …it’s Horus’s Heresy. We assumed that was clear.
While the Psychic Phase is gone, there are now just psychic tests for everything:
Looks like Psychic Powers is still a thing in the new edition, just much different.
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Here’s the most up-to-date list of new Horus Heresy Rules & Product Leaks. Click on the gallery above to see new Horus Heresy models and rules rumors!
- 4 New Plastic Horus Heresy Starter Box Sets
- All the Horus Heresy New Models & Rules
- Horus Heresy Legion Rules
- Horus Heresy Weapon & Unit Rules
All the Newest GW Model & Rules Previews
What do you think about all the changes?
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
