Horus Heresy Models in 40K

Legions and Legends - Warhammer: The Horus Heresy Models in Games of Warhammer 40,000

Before we get to our big article for today, GW appears to have decided its time to talk about Horus Heresy variants in 40K.  For a while now, players have been enjoying using the Horus Heresy versions of specific models in the game.  Dreadnought variants in particular are very popular, and in some cases have even been more powerful than their 40K counterparts.  In 9th Edition, GW seemed to want to limit this at least somewhat, charging a CP tax for many Heresy era patterns.  But that didn't stop players from running them.  With many of these models having plastic kits now, it does seem like this will only become a more popular option.

But at the same time, more models means more datasheets and more things that have to be balanced.  The Space Marine Codex is already extremely bloated.  We've already had the classic dreadnaught removed to be used now as a "counts as" model.  Still, I can't imagine GW would want to discourage players from buying these new kits.  Let's see what the design team has to say.

LEGENDS OF THE HORUS HERESY

And there it is!  The title should say all you need to know!  Horus Heresy patterns are now Legends models.  Their datasheets will be free, but will not be updated or kept balanced with the rest of the game.  They will thus not be useable in competitive play.

Gotta say I'm surprised by this.  As I said above, this does mean more models to balance.  But GW just released many of these kits and there are more on the way.  Between Heresy and 40K, it's not even a contest for which is the more popular game.  Yet GW has decided that they'd prefer Heresy kits remain firmly in the hobby side of the game for their largest player base.

As an example, they show us a Datacard for the Kratos.  They note that this is the Datacard that both Imperium and Chaos players will use, and that there will be rules for switching Keywords as necessary.

They again emphasize that you're still welcome to use these datasheets and models as long as it's not in a competitive environment.  What effect this will have on the player base as a whole, with competitive play growing in popularity, remains to be seen.  They emphasize that balance was their main concern (and even note about all the datasheets Space Marines of both sides already have) and do point out that in many cases you'll be able to use existing datasheets.

EXCEPTIONS TO THE TEST OF TIME

However, it looks like this will mostly just apply to the primary flavors of Space Marines and maybe Guard players.  Knights, on the other hand, will get to keep their Heresy patterns.  This is important, as Knights already have a pretty limited range.  As part of this, they reveal the recently leaked Cerastus Knight Lancer.

Custodes will also get to keep their variants, again for both lore appropriate and model range reasons.  To finish clarifying things they give a specific list of all the Heresy patterns that will be going to this special category of Legends.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I'm honestly surprised.  It's genuinely nice to see GW making a change like this with interest to the health of the game over profit.  They could have just released a bunch of underpowered datasheets and then never updated them, leaving players who like these models waiting in vain for an balance pass that would never come.  I think most players will probably be happy with this.  The ones who will probably be most impacted are Marine and CSM players who've recently purchased the new kits with plans on using them in official events.  Even then, they're probably still welcome to use generic datasheets.

I think on the whole this is a good thing.