Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Space Marine Legion List (30k)

There is only war in the grim darkness of Warhammer...30,000?

This list can be found in Forge World's Horus Heresy Book One: Betrayal. Of course, unless you have a few thousand to drop on the army, there's little chance you'll play it outside of proxy, and it'll likely never be tournament legal.

But fuck that, the Legion list is Awesome.

Why Play A Space Marine Legion

Do you want to go back to the glory days when the Emperor wasn't bound to the Golden Throne? When even the smallest legion was the size of ten or more chapters? Do you want to collect re-built, revamped Rogue Trader models? Do you want these armies to be lead by a force no less than the Primarchs themselves?

Well Forge World have heard your pleas, and have finally delivered thanks to their new Horus Heresy line. Now you can refight the greatest event in the history of the Imperium and wield the might of the Legions of old (at great expense).

A Space Marine Legion force works in a very different from the chapters which superseded them:

• All the normal units you can take as compulsory troops in a Legion List have minimum unit sizes of 10, so MSU spam is impossible with this list. With the Heresy, you go big or go home.
• Units are pretty expensive initially, but adding more guys is much cheaper than it would be normally. So if the first 10 guys cost you 150 points the next 10 are only 10 points apiece. So you have an incentive to field big units. Additionally, upgrades like melta bombs and jump packs are sometimes bought for a set price for the squad, not per model, so bigger squads effectively get the extra ones for free. If you go for units of 20, you will have a substantial numerical advantage on the field, but also be less tactically flexible, unable to get inside most transport vehicles and potentially vulnerable to getting swept up by Angron or other Primarchs.
• "And They Shall Know No Fear" doesn't exist, so your forces aren't as likely to linger.
• Heresy Armies can have tanks, lots and lots of tanks. Land Raiders, Predators and artillery tanks come in squadrons of three. Dreadnought talons are 1-3 dreads or Contemptors that deploy together but then wander off separately and aren't a unit. The Spartan Assault Tank is a nasty heavy support choice, and just above that you get into the lords of war, and things get really silly and titan-shaped. You have the option of going for an "armoured spearhead" rite of war, if you think Rhinos are for wimps and want all your guys riding to war in Land Raider dedicated transports. Most of these tanks can have armoured ceramite, so melta weapons won't work against them, leaving Fire Dragons and Melta vets crying.

The Legions may be less flexible than their Chapter descendants, but a Legion can soak up more damage than a Chapter and has the numbers to take a beating and still come on top, supported with with all their advanced pre-heresy tech like Volkite weaponry, Graviton weaponry and other esoteric systems allowing them to triumph against any foe, pre or post heresy. Plus ripping apart space pansies, retcrons and Tau with motherfucking Angron. Seriously, Angron vs Tau in close combat is the ultimate in rape.

Unit Analysis

HQ Units

• Legion Praetor - the Chapter Masters of the Pre-Heresy and Heresy eras. They can take "Rites of War" which change how their army functions. For example, an Armoured Spearhead allows all your troops to take Land Raiders as Transports, Orbital Assault means all troops Deep Strike or take Drop Pods, Angels Wrath means an all flyer list in Storm Eagle Gunships and Pride of the Legion gives you a Deathwing or all Veteran force. The Praetor’s stats are very strong, and they can be customised with a large list of wargear and weapons, including the nasty Paragon Blade (A sword that gives +1 to STR and has AP 2, and causes Instant Death on Wound roll of 6), and you’ll want to put him into combat and get him into the think of things, but he may not fair well against Special Characters and a Primarch. You’ll want to out fit him and put him into a squad with that in mind.

• Legion Centurion - The Captains of the Heresy Era, but the real trick is that using the Consul rule they can be upgraded to one of NINE different specialisations. He’s not particular a grand and sweeping command unit like the Legion Praetor, but more of a surgical knife that is pick to do a particular job, and accompany a particular unit. The Consul options are:
  • Chaplain - Vanilla, but no Rosarius so no invulnerable save. Use him like a normal Chaplain.
  • Master of Signals - This model can really beef up a gunline. It has the Night Vision ability, granted to himself and any unit he joins, a once per game ordinance D3 large blast nasty orbital bombardment, and most importantly the ability to grant +1BS to a single friendly unit within 6" if he doesn't shoot (Which with his limited weapons options, he won't). Good for a shooty list.
  • Legion Champion - The Emperor's/Chaos gods Champion of the Legions. He has a Master Crafted close combat weapon, WS 6, and must re-roll failed attempts at Heroic Intervention. If you want someone to go around curb-stomping all the ubiquitous veteran sergeants out there, he's your expensive resin guy - just keep him away from the named characters.
  • Vigilator - A Captain-sized spy-scout. This guy grants scout and infiltrate to his attached unit, and gets a mid strength pre-game demo charge to mess with a single enemy unit.
  • Librarian - A pricey choice, but interesting as you can purchase him up to level 3 mastery, and he can choose a single psychic discipline from ANY of the rule book ones. That opens up a lot of interesting options that marines are not used to. Stick him on a Dick Bike Jet Bike for unheard of mobility previously only the Eldar enjoyed, ha-ha, disc of Tzeench Sorcerer!
  • Forge Lord - A Captain-sized Techmarine, with some decent weapon and servitor options from both the Centurion wargear options as well as the Techmarine wargear options. He can be armed with a Conversion Beamer/Graviton gun for ranged support. Best use of him is cataphractii armour, cyber familiar, graviton gun, power fist. 150 points for a 2+/3++ model with a gravtion gun (always handy, they're better in 40k though) who gets 4 power fist attacks base, and can repair your land raider while it drives towards enemy lines. Complements regular cataphractii very well, and is an excellent duellist.
  • Primus Medicae - A super sized Apothecary granting both Feel No Pain to his unit, and the ability to recover lost victory points from friendly infantry units killed near him.
  • Siege Breaker - Here's the guy for you Imperial Fists and Iron Warriors players. He grants Tank Hunters and the new "Wrecker" ability to his unit. Wrecker lets you reroll failed penetrations and gain +1 on the damage chart versus fortifications and buildings. This rule is also given to any heavy weapon unit he joins. Much like the Master of Signal, barrage weapons can draw line of sight from him. Finally, he can take up to 3 Phosphex bombs, and he is also the only way to upgrade your Medusa artillery batteries to use the dreaded Phosphex bio-chem shells for extra rape. If it’s a building and it absolutely needed to come down yesterday, use this guy.
  • Moritat - Potentially broken. A dual-pistol-wielding cold-blooded killer, the Moritat can only join Legion Destroyer squads, so mostly he will go it alone. He is BS5, uses the standard Gunslinger rule (dual pistols remember), has rad grenades and can activate his special Chain Fire ability, which grants each successful pistol hit an additional shot, continually until both pistols have missed. And I mean both pistols; the recent FAQ has clarified that if one pistol misses he still fires with the other one until that one misses as well. He can't assault, or fire the next turn, but I'll let you run the math on how many hits he should do on average with his BS5. And he can be upgraded to dual wield Plasma Pistols or Volkite Serpentas for extra rage. Cast Prescience on a plasma pistol Moritat, if you want to average 70 plasma pistol hits a turn (and you really, really do).
• It’s best to think of the Legion Centurion/Consul as a support HQ choice. This unit works best when linked with another unit or with the Legion Praetor. The Centurion/Consul is a good choice because it will help to focus the tactics of the overall army. If your army is going for a more stand off approach and just shooting, then take the Siege Breaker or Master of Signal to boost your firepower. If your army more close combat oriented, then take a Legion Champion or Moritat to up your close-in ability.

Elites

• Veteran Tactical Squad - Not as good as their 40k Sternguard equivalents. Up to ten strong only, organised the same as post heresy tactical squads with two weapons, special or heavy. The squad can add one of a list of special rules: fearless, sniper, furious charge, outflank or tank hunters. This is a tooled up Tactical Squad, and the Veteran Tactics special rule makes them a bit better at a single particular job. It is best to keep these guys cheap and simple. They will survive and kill in close combat, but it is best to have these guys shooting. Increasing the squad to a 10 man squad is a most since you will then be able to have 2 special weapons. It will then be best to choose a special veteran rule and weapons that will aid them in killing infantry and Troop choice units.
• Legion Destroyer Squad - the bastards who give the middle finger to the Geneva Convention. They use the nasty proscribed weapons like Rad missiles and Rad Grenades (which can screw with the enemies toughness), as well as the deadly phosphex bombs (which linger and continue to kill enemies and taint the ground they land on). In short, the Legion Destroyer squad is a more expensive assault squad with a little bit better shooting ability and some unique weapons like Missile Launcher with Suspensor wed & Rad missiles, and Phospex bombs. However they are very expensive for what they do, and there are other units in the army list that can do the job just as well or sometimes better than the Destroyer Squad and cost half as much.
• Legion Terminator Squad - It's Terminators, what's not to like about them? Expensive, but good. Note they can't Deep Strike in 30k, nor can they be built into the god unit of 6th edition, thunder hammer/storm shield terminators (as the Storm Shield hasn't been invented yet). But they do count as scoring units, so they can footslog onto points and hold them. They can be outfitted with Cataphractii type terminator armour for a 4++ save and Slow and Purposeful. Terminators are like tactical squads, don’t over complicate them, or they will struggle to earn back their points. They’re a good solid unit that will get the job done.
• Techmarine Covenant - 1-3 Techmarines as a single elite choice, each can have up to 4 servitors with them. Good for Vehicle heavy lists.
• Apothecarion Detatchment 1-3 Apothecaries, as a single elites choice, each MUST be attached to a squad. Though FNP has been nerfed in 6e, it can still come in handy. A good and cheap choice.
• Legion Dreadnought Talon - Squads of Dreads, rejoice. Up to 3 for a single Elites choice.
• Contemptor Dreadnought Talon - Squads of Contemptors. Up to 3 for a single Elites choice. With 13 12 10 armour, a weapon skill of 5, 'fleet', and atomantic shielding (5+ inv. against shooting, 6+ inv. against close combat, and +1" to explosion if it suffers a 'vehicle explodes' result) the Contemptor is a powerful dreadnought that every legion army should probably have at lest one of. Like the regular dreadnought it has the capability to fill a number of roles, but unlike the regular dreadnought, players should see better results with its better armour and weapons.
• Legion Rapier Battery - 1-3 Rapier Laser Destroyers which can be upgraded to Thudd Guns or Graviton Cannons. Sadly the weakest of the available elites choices, go with Dreadnoughts or Terminators instead if you need Anti-Tank or Legion Artillery Batteries for fire support. which ever dipshit wrote that is fucking retarded rapiers are FUCKING amazing str 9 ap 1 twin linked this hoe will rape anything and I mean ANYTHING that is armoured and comes close also they only cost 90pts with the destroyer array

Troops

• Legion Tactical Squad - - Your bread-and-butter scoring units. 10-20 marines in a squad with the Fury of the Legion special rule (Forgo moving to fire Bolters twice, can't shoot next turn). However they can have no special or heavy weapons, it's all bolters in the 31st Millennium.
• Legion Assault Squad - yes, up to 20 Assault marines as a troops choice. 1 in every 5 can take a power weapon or hand flamer/plasma pistol
• Legion Siege Breaker Squad - 10-20 marines with boarding shields for a 5++ save. 1 in every 5 can take a special weapon like the freaky deaky graviton gun, lascutters, breaching charges etc, and all have void hardened armour (may re-roll their saves against template and blast weapons but can't sweeping advance)
• Legion Tactical Support Squad - 5-10 marines, all marines except the sergeant, yes all 9, have flamers and can be upgraded to carry different special weapons like Meltas (making them a Fire Dragon Wannabe squad), Plasmas or the deadly Volkite weapons (30k Ray Guns).Note: If the weapon is changed from the flamer, all legionaries must exchange their weapon for the newly picked weapon, and pay the points cost as per marine being equipped; this can quickly escalate the points cost of the unit. Keeping the original unit size is probably the best option for Meltagun toting squads. Otherwise enjoy your plasma/volkite spam.
  • Keep in mind that these guys can not fulfill your minimum troops requirement, you will have to bring the other troops choices to meet that.
• Legion Recon Squad - Power Armoured scouts with the Scout, Outflank and Acute Senses special rules. They can have sniper rifles to really fuck your opponents over. They can also remove their power armour for scout armour and gain Move Through Cover and Infiltrate.
  • Keep in mind that these guys can not fulfill your minimum troops requirement, you will have to bring the other troops choices to meet that.

Dedicated Transports

• Legion Rhino - Same as their future descendants but they can take pintle mounted heavy bolters, heavy flamers or Havoc Launchers for more dakka.
• Legion Drop Pod - Again, same as in the far future.

Fast Attack

• Legion Seeker Squad - headhunters designed to take out enemy command elements, they are a fusion of Sternguard and Scout squads, 5-10 strong with special issue ammo and the 'marked for death' special rule which gives them Preferred Enemy against one enemy unit or Independent Character (their target). A one trick pony.
• Legion Outrider Squad - your bikers with a few buffs. The scout special rule, all bikes marines can swap their bikes twin bolters out for twin linked flamers, melta guns or plasma guns. 1 in 3 can have a power weapon, hand flamer or plasma pistol.
• Legion Attack Bike Squadron - 1-5 strong with heavy bolters which can be swapped out for heavy flamers, autocannons or multi-meltas.
• Legion Jetbike Sky-Hunter Squadron - Dickbikes. 3-10 strong, 1 in 3 can replace Dickbike Jetbike mounted heavy bolter with multi-melta, volkite cannon or plasma cannon, and they have the deep strike special rule. Aim them at the enemies anus and let them fly.
• Legion Land Speeder Squadron - These little buggers are very fragile, but also very underrated. at 1-5 strong, they can come very cheap with a heavy bolter, and can bring a heavy flamer for infantry hunting or a multi-melta for tank busting. But the real icing is that any speeder can add an additional havoc launcher, heavy bolter, Plasma Cannon or graviton gun as well, and in addition any speeder can also take up to 2 Hunter-Killer Missiles on top of all that for vehicle hunting at range. Deep striking, they are excellent tank or infantry hunters.
• Legion Storm Eagle Gunship - Your main transport Flyer, as only it can carry your big 20 man squads which make up the bulk of a Legion list. Impressive arsenal of weaponry, with as its standard armament a Hull-mounted twin-linked Heavy Bolter, a Hull-mounted Vengeance Launcher (Range:48"|Str:5|AP:4|Heavy 2, Large Blast) and 4 Tempest Rockets under the wings. Optional armament includes: Switching Heavy bolters for Multi-meltas or a single missile launcher, and replacing the Tempest Rockets with 4 Hellstrike Missiles or 2 Twin-linked Lascannons. Also get ceramite shielding, and the 'Power of the Machine Spirit' special rule, along with 12|12|12 armour. Can also deep strike, and disembarking infantry can assault in the same turn, which with your big squads can be nasty.

Heavy Support

• Legion Heavy Support Squad - When Devastators were good. ALL marines in the squad (including the sergeant!) have a heavy bolter as standard, and all may upgrade to carry the same heavy weapon (no no mix-matching within the squad). Heavy flamers, autocannons, missile launchers which may be further upgraded to carry flakk for AA coverage, multi-meltas, plasma cannons, volkite culverins or lascannons may be taken. The entire squad may have hardened armour for added protection. They can lay down an ungodly amount of fire support.
• Legion Predator Strike Squadron Squadrons of 1-3 predators which includes all the Forge World options except twin-linked lascannons (which haven't been invented yet). What's more, the Predator's turret autocannon is now heavy 4. Though you are unable to create Annihilators predators, it can take many other interesting weapons. The heavy conversion beamer can be extremely useful when used at long ranges, when it acquires S10 AP1 with a sizeable blast make it hilariously effective against everything whilst minimizing the Predators relatively weak armor for a battle-tank, at shorter ranges the vehicle may become less effective as it drops to AP4/- and S8/6 (So it will score many wounds, but is prone to failing to save against marine units.) also the unit must be stationary in order to fire. The Executioner Plasma Cannon allows it to blast MEQ and TEQ from the table, but its shorter range means the Predator is more at risk. The Flamestorm Cannon makes it into a slow version of the Baal Predator, while the Magna-Melta turns the Predator into a wannabe-Vindicator, in both cases exposing itself to counter-fire.
• Legion Land Raider Battle Squadron - 1-3 landraiders in a squadron, any of which may be a Phobos or Proteus, but only one of which may be an Achilles.
• 0-1 Legion Artillery Tank Squadron - 1-3 of a Whirlwind, Basilisk or Medusa. Now Marines can throw pie plates around like the Guard. The Whirlwind may be upgraded to have anti-air missiles. Of these, the Medusa is probably the best due to its Strength 10 and AP 2, and its ability to take nasty Phospex Shells if you take a Siege Breaker in your force as well.
• Legion Vindicator Sadly not in squadrons. Can take a pintle mounted heavy bolter, heavy flamer or havoc launcher.
• Legion Spartan Assault Tank A nasty bastard, made even more so in the pre-Heresy/Heresy environment, where there are more big squads to fit inside its 25 man capacity. Five hull points, two twin-linked two-shot lascannons which can be swapped for rapier destroyers makes it a priority target for the foe.
• Legion Caestus Assault Ram - As before. Ideal for punching a hole in the enemy battle lines and disgorging troops into the heart of the enemy. One should use the Caestus to ram straight through the strongest point in your enemies force, in most battles you'll be there on turn one, thanks to the 36" afterburner. Ram a tank with this (Generally given the colossal afterburner you'll give them a S10 hit) and then deploy the men inside (preferably dedicated H2H troops like Legion Terminators), and charge straight in against the nearest infantry, or if you feel like it, shove a grenade up a nearby tank's tailpipe.

Lords of War

• Legion Fellblade Super Heavy Tank - This is your THIRTEEN BARRELS OF HELL, + 1BS (with a points upgrade).The Fellblade mounts a turret mounted twin 'accelerator cannon' which can fire either high explosive rounds (100" range, S8 AP3 ord1 7" blast) or armour piercing shells (100" range, heavy 1, S9 AP2, Armourbane, 3" blast). Add to that 2 quad lascannons, a twin heavy bolter and a hull demolisher cannon and you have an absolutely rapetastic monster. Plus it's only 25 points more then a Baneblade.
• Legion Typhon Heavy Siege Tank - basically a fuckhuge vindicator on steroids (much like the Spartan is a Land Raider on steroids), with a dreadhammer siege cannon. Range of 24" if moving or 48" if stationary, S10 AP1, ord 1, 7" blast and no cover saves. Has the crushing weight special rule which auto passes difficult or dangerous terrain tests for rubble, barricades, walls, ruined buildings or wreckage. And it auto inflicts strength 10 ap 2 ram damage on any enemy tank NO MATTER HOW FAR IT HAS MOVED!
• Legion Thunderhawk Gunship - you know it, you love it. The best way to use this vehicle is to get Terminators or your Primarch right into the middle of the enemies most dangerous shooting formation, then use the fearsome weapons on the gunship to destroy enemy vehicles that can insta-kill your guys, allowing your Terminators to destroy the shooty infantry and keep your grunts alive.
• Legion Thunderhawk Transporter - the Gunship's weaker and derpier brother. Useful for carrying Rhinos or Landraiders around, and not much else.
• Legion Cerberus Heavy Tank Destroyer - A Destroyer Tank hunter on crack armed with a twin linked neutron destroyer laser battery.
• Legion Malcador Assault Tank - Stolen from the Imperial Army, may only take the battlecannon and twin linked lascannon turret options, but can take a hull demolisher cannon and act as a wannabe vindicator which can throw TWO pieplates out.

Legion Heroes and Special Units

Emperor's Children

• Legion Special Rules
  • All Emperor's Children Squads have the Crusader Special Rule
  • Martial Pride:must issue/accept challenges. If they fail, their unit suffers -1 to their Ld if they have to take a morale test for loosing combat this turn.
  • Sonic Shriekers: for 5pts Independent characters can take this. Gives them +1 Initiative in first round of assault.
• Palatine Blades - Elite swordsmen who operated outside the Legion's command structure, serving as an example of the Emperor's Children's perfection. Sadly their base Charnabal sabres have a 'sucktastic' AP5 AP-, rending, +1I, but they can be replaced with beefier Power Swords and Lances.
• Ancient Rylanor - A Contemptor-Pattern Dreadnought responsible for overseeing the progression of the Legion's new recruits; as a loyalist, he was sent to Istvaan III in the hopes that he and the other loyalists would be killed in the virus bombings. He disappeared right before Horus got bored and blew the loyalists off Isstvan III. He can inspire his fellow Emperor's Children giving them +1 to combat resolution and re-rolls to morale, and as a Venerable Dread can re-roll results on the damage table.
• Saul Tarvitz -Captain of the 10th Company and de facto leader of the loyalist Emperor's Children who survived the virus bombings on Istvaan III- until Lucius screwed him over.

World Eaters

• Legion Special Rules
  • Incarnate Violence: WE's that destroy an enemy in assault or make them flee gain Furious Charge.
  • Bloodlust:must consolidate after assault towards something they can hurt. If they fail a morale check in assault, roll a d6. On a 1 they count as passing and gain Rage.
  • any model with access to a chainsword can exchange it for a chainaxe for free, provided the model actually has one.
  • Caedere Weapons:
    • Any World Eater Independent Character can exchange their chainsword or combat blade for a Caedere weapon for 15pts:
    • Meteor Hammer (+2S, AP5, Melee, Specialist, Two-handed, Concussion, +1 Initiative)
    • Excoriator Chainaxe (+1S, AP3, 2-handed, Specialist, Shred, Unwieldy)
    • Twin Falax Blades (S as user, AP5, Melee, Specialist, +1 Attack, Rending)
    • Barb-Hook Lash (S as user, AP5, Melee, Specialist, Fleshbane)
• Rampager Squads - Berserkers before they cool, Rampagers are elite Assault Squads who were violent and bloodthirsty before they fell to Khorne. The most destructive were known as Butchers, and had to physically restrained in between battles.
• Centurion Shabran Darr - Badass officer of the World Eaters who rose quickly through the ranks but was slated to die in the Isstvan Massacre. Managed to kill hundreds of his former battle-brothers before he was corned and killed, but not before taking several of them with him.

Sons of Horus

• Legion Special Rules
  • The Edge of the Spear: units in reserve can reroll 1's on reserve rolls.
  • Merciless Fighters: If there are more SoH in an assault than enemies, all SoH get an extra attack at Initiative step 1, provided they have already fought. (bulky count at 2, very bulky count as 3)
  • Bitter Pride: cannot benefit from an ally's Warlord trait, or use an ally's Ld.
• Justaerin Terminators - The black clad shock troopers of the Sons of Horus Legion, the Justaerin were the pride of the XVI Legion Astartes. Tasked with forming the ‘point of the spear’, their attacks were directed at the heart of an opposing target or a decapitation strike against an enemy force. In game terms, they are Terminators with the Furious Charge Rule, scoring and an enhanced WS. They can also be chosen as an HQ Bodyguard for Abaddon or Horus. Last but not least, they can take a MOTHERFUCKING multi-melta as a heavy weapon.
• Dreadclaw Drop Pods -
• Ezekyle Abaddon - Before he was Failbaddon the Armless, he was First Captain of the Sons of Horus Legion.
• Garviel Loken - Captain of the 10th Company and later the leader of the loyalist Sons of Horus forces on Istvaan III, which he renamed the Luna Wolves. He was thought to have been killed by Abaddon there, but he survived and was later brought to Terra at the orders of Malcador the Sigillite, presumably so he could become one of the founding members of the Grey Knights. On the tabletop he is a decent leader who can come back from the dead - but only once.

Death Guard

• Legion Special Rules
  • Remorseless: immune to Fear, automatically pass pinning tests.
  • Sons of Barbarus: re-roll Dangerous Terrain tests in swamps, mud, and toxic sludge
  • Intractable: -1 to Sweeping Advance Rolls
  • Chem-Munitions: any unit/vehicle w/ a flame-weapon can take this for free. All flame weapons in the unit/vehicle now have Shred and Gets Hot!
  • Any character or Independent Character that can take a power weapon can take a Power Scythe instead. (+1 S, AP2, Melee, Unwieldy, Two-handed, Sweep Attacks [exchange Attacks profile w/ number of enemies in base to base])
• Deathshroud - Mortarion's bodyguard of Terminators, who were personally selected by the Primarch and later listed as killed in action. They carried Manreapers, the only others inside the Legion who could use them beside First Captain Calas Typhon and Mortarion himself. They were never further from Mortarion than 49 paces (the square root of which is 7, the sacred number of Nurgle). Rules wise they are two-wound Terminators with Manreapers and hand flamers.
• Crysos Morturg - Former Death Guard Lieutenant and Librarian in a Legion which utterly loathed Psykers, it was no surprise why he was selected to be killed. During the Isstvan campaign he proved to be a true son of Mortarion as he. Would. Not. Fucking. Die. He even survived the Orbital Bombardment after Horus got bored and along with Garviel Loken, became the only survivors of the massacre. He has the Endurance Psychic power to boost your squads in combat, and is best used to support your main squad. He is also the "narrator" of Betrayal.
• Durak Rask - Death Guard Master of Ordnance, who fanatically supported Mortarion and volunteered to lead a vanguard assault on the Loyalists. Ironically, he was killed in that attempt by Morturg.

The Primarchs

Yes, they have rules now. Your opponent is now shitting bricks. Seriously, Primarchs are powerful - VERY powerful, but also very killable if you make mistakes. Properly supported, they can rape anything they come up against.

All Primarchs have the Primarch rule, which acts as a combination of Independent Character, Eternal Warrior, Fear, Adamantium Will, Fearless, Fleet, and It Will Not Die. Each one also has the Master of the Legion rule.

• Fulgrim - The cheapest of the Primarchs at "only" 380 points, Fulgrim specializes in speed and grace. Although his 5+ invulnerable save from the Gilded Panoply may seem laughable, his Sublime Swordman rule upgrades it to 3+ when in combat while also giving the Phoenician bonus attacks equal to the difference between his Initiative (a whopping 8) and the opponent's Initiative. His Sire of the Emperor's Children rule gives all Emperor's Children units with the Legiones Astartes rule an extra +2 to combat res and the ability to reroll reserves while allowing Fulgrim to use the Crusader rule, but also forces Fulgrim to issue and accept challenges if anyone in combat has a WS greater than 5. His main draw is the ability to choose any of the Warlord Traits for the duration of the battle, making him fairly adaptable (albeit not on the same level as Horus). Fulgrim can use the following Wargear:
  • The Blade of Laer- The daemonic blade that caused Fulgrim's fall to Chaos uses his Strength score and combines it with an AP of 2. It also has the Rending, Two-Handed, and Specialist Weapon rules. It may not be as good as the other Primarchs' melee weapons, but it gets the job done pretty well anyhow.
  • Fire Brand- A Master Crafted Volkite Charger with the Shred rule, for your shooting needs.
  • Krak and Plasma Grenades- When you need to deal with vehicles and the like.
  • Gilded Panoply- This armor grants Fulgrim a 2+ Armor save and a 5+ invulnerable save (which becomes a 3+ per his Sublime Swordsman rule). It is also quite flashy- so flashy that if Fulgrim passes his Armor or Invulnerable save on a 6, the unit that tried to wound him must pass an Initiative test or be blinded.

• Angron - 400 points is a bargain for the Primarch who was nicknamed the Red Angel. Hatred (Everything) is both appropriate and useful, while his Red Sands rule lets him call and fight as many Challenges as there are ICs and enemy units in combat with him up to the number of his attacks, dedicating at least one to each of the Challenges. His Sire of the World Eaters rule gives him the benefits of FnP (6+) and Furious Charge, and also gives all World Eaters unit with the Legio Astartes rule Fearless as long as they remain 12' of him. It also forces Angron to move towards the nearest enemy when making consolidation moves, which can be risky if the nearest enemy is too far away for him to engage but otherwise lets him kill things even faster. He only has 5 Wounds, so try not to go too far in over your head and if you're facing a shooty army, make sure there's a transport he can ride in so he doesn't get shot up charging at someone on the other side of the battlefield. Angron can use the following Wargear:
  • Armour of Mars: Grants a 3+ Armor save and a 4+ Invulnerable save. Could be better, but defense isn't really that important when you can annihilate everything in melee range anyway.
  • Gorefather and Gorechild: Angron's signature chainaxes grant an extra +1 to his already outrageous Attack and Strength and also possess the Armorbane and Murderous Strike rule (a roll of 6 to wound is instant death, no saves and ignores Eternal Warrior). Good luck trying to survive against that.
  • The Spite Furnace-A Master Crafted Plasma Pistol. If you are using this instead of rushing into the enemy's face and tearing them limb from limb, you're doing it wrong.
  • The Butcher's Nails-This is what makes Angron go from being just plain deadly into an unstoppable force on the battlefield. For each IC or Infantry (of any type) Angron kills in close combat (or at least makes the killing blow/remove the last model), he gets a +1 to attack for the rest of the game. And it stacks up to 10 times.

• Mortarion - At 425 points, Mortarion seems a little costly, but if you want a Primarch who can survive absolutely ANYTHING, the Death Lord is the one you should pick. Although his Ballistic Skill, Initiative, and Attack are only 5 each, his Toughness and wounds are a whopping 7 apiece. His Preternatural Resistance rule not only allows him to reroll failed Toughness tests and IWND rolls, it also lets him pass dangerous terrain automatically and lets him ignore any weapon that wounds on a flat dice roll if it rolls less than 6, essentially making him all but immune to poison. (Speaking of poison, his Sire of the Death Guard rule grants all Death Guard units with the Legiones Astartes rule Poison (4+) to Frag Grenades, Frag Missiles, and Havoc Launchers while also granting them the Stubborn rule.) Psykers will be hard-pressed to do anything to him thanks to his Witch Spite rule (Deny the Witch on a 4+), and his Shadow of the Reaper rule allows him to redeploy whenever he isn't in combat as long as he passes a Leadership test and ends up no further than 10" from his starting position (but no closer than 3" to the nearest enemy), while also granting a -1 penalty to all enemies attempting to make a Leadership test against his Fear rating. Mortarion can take the following wargear:
  • Silencer-A big scythe with +1 strength and AP2. It suffers from the Two-Handed and Unwieldy rules, but makes up for it with Sunder (reroll armor pen rolls), Instant Death, and Sweep Attack (exchanges all attacks to hit every model in base contact). Great when you're surrounded by MEQs and the like.
  • The Lantern- Mortarion's custom energy pistol. With S8, AP2, and the Assault (1) and Sunder rules, it's one of the better ranged weapons the Primarchs get.
  • The Barberean Plate- A +2 Armor save and a +4 Invulnerable save. Just in case you need him to be even more indestructible.
  • Frag Grenades- Same as any other frags.
  • Phosphex Bombs- Mortarion's Phosphex Bombs have a range of 12", and he carries an infinite number of them.

• Horus Lupercal - The Warmaster. The Arch-Traitor. The one responsible for the grimdarkness of 40k. At 500 points, the most expensive of the Primarchs, but he can easily earn all of it back and more. His stats may appear surprisingly low at first, but his real value comes from his powerful wargear and assortment of buffs that he can provide. Weapon Mastery allows him to distribute attacks between his two weapons at will. Scions of the Sons of Horus grants him d3 extra attacks against enemies of WS4 or lower and also allows him (along with any Terminator unit he has joined to join at any time after the second turn if he is placed in reserves. God of War allows all of Horus's reserves to use the Outflank rule, grants Sons of Horus units with the Legiones Astartes rule +1 leadership if Horus is in the same force, and allows his forces to seize Initiative on a roll of 4+. The buffs are topped off with The Point of The Spear, which allows Horus to use Veteran Tactical Squads and Justaerin Terminator squads as troops and lets him call down an orbital bombardment once per game when in the shooting phase and not in close combat or reserve. The orbital strike has infinite range, a strength of 10, an AP of 2, and has the types Ordnance 1, Large Blast (5'), Lance, and Twin-Linked. Save it for Titans or other extremely dangerous threats. Horus can use the following Wargear:
  • The Serpent's Scale- A specially enhanced set of Terminator armor with a +2 Armor save and a +3 Invulnerable save, and it nullifies psychic powers on a 3+. It also ignores effects that would adversely modify his characteristic profile on a 3+. Use against psykers for best results.
  • Worldbreaker- A Master Crafted power maul said to have been made by the Emperor himself, and it shows. Although it has the Unwieldy quality, the Concussive rule can easily nullify its effects if hitting a foe at S10 and AP1 doesn't just kill them outright.
  • The Warmaster's Talon- The custom-made lightning claws wielded by Horus (and later Failbaddon) lack the sheer force of the Worldbreaker, but they compensate with the twin-linked bolter built into them for use at long range as well as the Shred rule. But their most dangerous quality is the special rule Disabling Strike. Any unit who is wounded but not killed by the Talon in an Assault phase suffers a -1 to WS and Strength for the rest of the game. And it stacks.
  • Teleportation Matrix- Horus and any attached Terminator units can Deep Strike, and will not scatter when doing so. Since Legion Terminators don't get to Deep Strike like their post-Heresy counterparts, this is a big help for them.
  • Frag Grenades- Do we really need to explain what a frag grenade does?
  • Cognis Signum- Gives him the night vision special rule, prevents infiltrators from dropping near him and gives him +1 BS (which he can pass on to another unit within 6" if he doesn't shoot).

Ordo Reductor Mechanicum Detatchment

Yes, not only do the Primarchs have rules, but now the Adeptus Mechanicus can finally take to the field with an official (but minimal) list, plus Titans.

• Magos Caleb Decima - Tough motherfucker, he is most useful for one-shoting any non-superheavy vehicle with his hywire-spamming one-use gun. Due to he is the only available HQ, you didn't have the choice anyway.
• Mechanicum Thallax Cohort - Shock Troops of the Ordo Reductor, Thallax are Ogryn sized Jet Troops. You can only have a special weapon for every 3 thallax, so keep the units in multiples of 3. Their standard lightning gun (18" S7 AP5, heavy 1, shred, rending) is best used at short range against light vehicles, so a good option is a simple multi-melta and destructor augments. The photon thruster is really the best weapon option - sadly you have to take 2 expensive ablative thallax for each one. Oh and meltabombs, to deal with enemy armour.
• Mechanicum Land Raider - "Build Your Land Raider" construction kit. You can make any and all type of pre- and post-heresy LR's, except Terminus Ultra and Ares, and even some homebrew beast that does not exist on any sacred blueprints (disregard the fact, that this is techno-heresy) - like mixing melta-imunity with heavy flamers all around to burn shit and does not afraid anything (cause railguns does not exist yet)
• Imperial Avenger Strike Fighter - Ground Attack support plane which looks like the results of a one night stand between an A-10 and a Stuka. It has a tasty Strafing Run rule, an absolutely useless defensive rear-mounted Heavy Stubber, two Lascannons for armour busting, and the AVENGER BOLT CANNON, which is basically half of a VULCAN MEGABOLTER. This means it packs SEVEN Megabolter and two Lascannon shots at BS4 for only 150 pts, to ruin the day of anything with less than AV14 or a 2+ armour save (which in the all Marine environment of 30k, is almost everything). Plus it can be upgraded with Battle Servitor Control, giving it the Tank Hunter rule to better kill enemy armour.
• Warhound Scout Titan - Do you remember this is 30K, where Imperium tech was not a tale of slow degradation? Well, pre-heresy Warhound comes with one extra void shield and night vision for the same price as post-heresy one. Even though 6-th edition nerfed D-strength a lot (no more +1 on damage chart), pair of DB TLD's is still a go-to load-out, but due to all-marine environment choosing megabolter or inferno cannon actually start to make some sense, especially with huge blobs of said marines.
• Reaver Battle Titan - Bigger, tougher, meaner and slower titan. As with Warhound, destroyer blast spam is still preferable weapon loadout, but nothing wrong with choosing gatling blaster or melta cannon. Vortex missile for carapace weapon is an interesting choice, capable of one-shoting any other lord of war with removing D3 SP from super-heavies or just instakilling any other model (yes, even primarch) with no saves of any kind allowed, but it is one use only, so use it wise.

Pre-Heresy Technology

The Legions had a lot of toys which were lost after the Heresy, which are subsequently not available for 40k games.

• Volkite Weapons Ancient ray guns that date back to the Age of Strife, they were in the process of being replaced by the bolter as the preferred weapon of the Space Marines due to difficulties in production and maintenance. Volkite weapons have the 'Deflagrate' special rule, which means each unsaved wound caused inflicts another automatic hit. They come in four flavours, Serpenta (pistol), Charger (Assault 2), Caliver (Heavy 2) and Culverin (Heavy 4). However, they suffer from a short range and only have AP5.
• Conversion Beam Weapons Could be seen as inverse Melta; Longer range, Greater damage. The only two difference between the heavy and regular version is the former has a large blast radius but requires the unit to remain stationary in order to fire.
• Graviton Weapons These possess no strength, but possess both concussion and haywire effects. They also have a curious way of causing wounds by forcing the enemy to roll D6; if the result is above their unit strength they take a wound - a result of 6 always causes a wound. Annoyingly this makes it large ineffective against infantry blobs (seriously guardsmen have a 1 in 2 chance to survive this arcane weapon). However it also creates difficult and dangerous terrain in its blast radius, so it can at least severely impede their movement.
• Phospex Weapons Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore's preferred fragrance. As if S5/AP2 wasn't going to ruin some Jungle space weeaboos day quite horribly enough it also possess poison 3+ and acts like napalm; Lingering fire causes the blast radius to become dangerous terrain and each turn the marker can be moved 2" in any direction the firer wishes, making it incredibly effective against units that are going to charge you; and with a lowly 6" range for the bomb version that's all it may be useful for. Fortunately the Legion Medusa is capable of firing Phosphex shells at a much greater range.
• Paragon Blade AP2 melee weapon without unwieldy. There is nothing to say besides "take it".
• Charnabal Sabre Absolute and complete garbage. Don't even look at it.
• Suspensor Web turns your heavy weapons into assault weapons, but halves their range.

Building Your Army

Hoo Boy. This is literally the most expensive army to collect in all of 40k (or should we call it 30k?) Yessir. Every model is Forge World, so you'd have to be a drug dealer to afford to make even a moderately sized army.

Unless you come from Australia/New Zealand, where a FW army is CHEAPER than a plastic GW army. Fuck you GW.

However there are guides out there on how to convert plastic Space Marines into Pre-Heresy marines, so if you're serious about making a pre-heresy army, that is where you should start. Note you need a LOT of bodies to make a pre-heresy army, so plan accordingly.