Horus Heresy: Word Bearers Legion Rules Preview
The Word Bearers spread the good word of the Emperor…until they didn’t. Come see how they will play on the tabletop!
Starting off as the Imperial Heralds, the Word Bearers used to be the Emperor’s personal messengers. They would travel the galaxy and deliver his ultimatums to …pretty much whoever needed to hear it. Often accompanied with bolter blasts. They spread the Imperial Truth as needed — and there would be no heretics when they were around.
Until they became the things they were sent to stomp out.
After receiving a very harsh lesson from the Emperor, courtesy of the Ultramarines, Lorgar led his Legion down a new path of worship. And so the Word Bearers turned to Chaos to worship new “gods” from the warp. You could point to them as the first true heretics and traitors of the Grimdark.
So how does that play out on the tabletop? Games Workshop has a few rules for us to preview. Check these out.
“Their iron-clad faith gives the XVII Legion an unshakeable bravery in battle – faced with the most terrifying foes, these True Believers trust that a higher power will deliver them from doom. This infectious belief is hard to resist even for their opponents, who find themselves shouted down by Legionaries bellowing bellicose battle sermons. That’s diplomacy for you.”
Word Bearers Legion Rules Preview
The Word Bearer’s True Believers rule allows them to have a floor to their leadership penalties. From what we’ve gather from other previews from GW, the Heresy Era is going to make leadership more of a “thing” during the game so this seems like a good rule to have around. On top of that, if you have a draw during the Fight sub-phase, models with this rule count as having won the drawn combat by 1 point. Turning draws into a win is a big tipping point for battles as well.
Being a Heretic has it’s advantages sometimes. Specifically in the form of some specialized wargear. What better way to “convert” people besides showing off your really cool Hellfire abilities.
Personally, I’m curious to see how the Psychic abilities are going to work in new the Horus Heresy rules. It seems like most of the previews of the psychic abilities just require a check and can happen in different phases — not during a specific Psyker Phase like in other versions of the 40k rules. That’s kind of nice.
Spread the Word. The Horus Heresy boxed set is going up for pre-order this weekend! Get ready for war in during the 30k setting.
