Scrying the Betrayal: Horus Heresy from Forge World

Saturday Potpourri

Well good god damn! That is some amazing stuff on its way out from those lovely chaps at Forge World. As if my wallet didn't already have a spending complex they start showing off some of the lovely things in store for us with this release:
The Fellblade super heavy tank!
The Sabre/Thunderer tank
A Recon Marine (my personal favorite from what we've been shown... Now i can stop searching for the old rogue trader edition one on ebay! [unless someone has one they're willing to send my way of course!!!!!])
Jet Bikes!
CATAPHRACT TERMINATOR ARMOUR (my most anticipated release)

But what else can we glean from this lovely video by looking a little closer? 

Image Courtesy of WarLlama 40k (stolen without permission... but I've linked you to make up for it!)

Image Courtesy of WarLlama 40k (stolen without permission... but I've linked you to make up for it!)

Answer: Some of the new rules we'll be seeing, in addition to some older forge world rules in play and an idea of what we'll be seeing going forward. So let us delve deeper into these mysteries and see what we can see shall we?

Right out of the gate I want to say this:

DISCLAIMER: The following is all educated conjecture on my part and is in no way the truth. I just spend too much time thinking about these things and spend far too much time on rumor sites. I claim Educated conjecture based on over 20 years of playing GW games, and my various connections to people real and imaginary in the design teams from my years working for GW and just meeting a surprising number of people. No I do not work for GW anymore. No I will not tell who my sources are. No I haven't actually spoken to them at any length other than to say "oooooh look at that! that's cool huh? right? It's important right?" and hear.read their responses. I also am well aware of GW's termination policy and Non-Disclosure paperworks so I won't mention a word of who I hear things from.
So there! NYAH!



First of all, the standout rule in my mind is the Legiones Astartes rule. This is going to be common across all marine armies going forward (obviously) and will have a slight difference for each legion as well (again... obviously), as noted by the bracketed legion names. We can safely assume this will be a modified and personalized version of ATSKNF (And They Shall Know No Fear) which will have expanded abilities for each legion. This is a pretty awesome thing in my mind (If it's true, and I'm correct) because it opens up a precedent in 40k for differing space marine CHAPTERS to have alternate versions of the ATSKNF rule for their individual armies giving them even more character, going forward with 6th edition and the inevitable new edition codex updates.
We can only assume that it will be along the lines of the space wolves having counter-attack amongst the entire army and Blood Angels having Red Thirst, etc., giving the CODEX  Marine chapters something more to play with, something more... individual to them than just a replacement for Chapter Tactics. Hopefully it will also mean not every modified codex chapter (and it's grandmother) replacing Chapter Tactics with Stubborn... cause seriously... F*** Stubborn.

Secondly, we see specific WARLORD TRAITS. It's a safe bet to say we'll be seeing this on almost ALL upcoming chapter master/captains, and even ALL upcoming 6th edition General type personalities for ALL 6th edition Codecii. It's a simple enough rules tweak and it makes bucket-loads of sense if you think about it. Dante of the Blood Angels is known and respected by everyone, even such personalities as Marneus Calgar, Tu'Shaan of the Salamanders, Creed, Eldrad Ulthuan,  and even a frikkin NECRON Tomb Lord (or whatever they're called). It only stands to reason that he would always have the Strategic Genius and/or Inspiring Presence Warlord Traits... I mean seriously, other than Bjorn the Fellhanded and a few Chaos guys, He's the oldest living human-based life form in the game (over 1200 years as a CHAPTER MASTER... that's a damned long time). Going forward I can totally see this happening as it makes far too much sense to not see in upcoming codecii on their famous "Generals".

Third, we see the release of specialized pre-heresy specific gear (which were inevitable) such as Hardened Power Armor, which can mean one of two things: either the pre-heresy version of Artificer Armor... Or a new version of something we've seen before from forge world: Void-Hardened Armor. Void-Hardened Armor provides a bonus against harsh environmental  effect, specifically the icy depths of space (in space/the void rending weapons get stronger and basic weapons gain rending... a terrifying prospect). As Mr. Bligh states in the video, we'll be seeing a lot of special gear that just isn't available to Marines "now-a-days", so this very well could be the case, since it would be a bit of a waste of ink really, to just go through the codecii and just rename equipment for the sake of renaming it.

So that's what we can see from the video so far. Some new rules, and just maybe, a look into the forthcoming 6th edition codecii design-teams mind in regards to rules.

Of course This could be all wrong, WRONG, WRONG, and I could have missed the point completely. Time will tell.
What do you guys think?

Until next time,
Keep your eyes on the skies (there be drop pods incoming!)
Bean out~