Horus Heresy: Digging into the Warhammer Fest 2023 Heresy Reveals
Let’s dig into the Warhammer Fest Horus Heresy reveals and start speculating. Build, Paint, Play, Collect, Complain, Speculate… it’s the Warhammer way.
Warhammer Fest came and went and if you’re a a Horus Heresy player like me, you’re probably salivating at all of the new goodness headed our way over the next 12 months. If you were away from your electronic last week, out in the wilderness, stranded 1000 miles from a cell tower and out of reach from carrier pigeons the Horus Heresy world was floored with the announcements from Warhammer Fest due to what GW has in store over the next 12 months. Not only did we get amazing reveals on releases but we got the full year roadmap for the game system.
While I’m a massive fan of Adepticon and LVO and many other games conventions, I think going forward, Warhammer Fest will likely be the largest sneak peak that GW offers annually. It’s their convention, their staff, and their turf. It only makes sense that the big releases will likely be coming out of that convention, especially the addition of the annual roadmaps. Monji was fortunate enough this year to be able to attend in person, play a trial version of 10th Edition, and sit in on the Horus Heresy reveals. We’ll likely be doing some videos to cover all that occurred on his trip and gush over our favorite tidbits of news so look for those on the BoLS channel in the near future.
To Say I’m Ecstatic Would Be An Understatement…
While the Horus Heresy releases from Adepticon left me worried, the Warhammer Fest Heresy reveals left me elated. While the Knights release was awesome, and the reveals for the two primary characters for the Cthonian Campaign book were a nice touch, I think the best reveal was the roadmap. After Adepticon, there was some worry among Monji, Dan, and myself that GW was sidelining Horus Heresy for Warhammer 40k, 10th edition. There was some notable uncertainty on our part about whether the game system could stand as the 3rd pillar along with Warhammer 40k and Age of Sigmar. The roadmap confirms for Heresy fans that the game system is alive and well, and GW must be feeling confident about the sales numbers and enthusiasm for the system. If you missed it, the road map is below.
We Got Models…
The Warhammer Fest reveals showed us a plethora of upcoming releases, including the main hero characters from the Cthonian Campaign Black Book.
Vheren Ashurhaddon – this is the overall commander of the defense of of Cthonia for the traitor legions. According to blurbs he’s assembled a force of Space Marines, titans, and Dark Mechanicum to repel the invasion of loyalists. This gives me hope we’ll see some Mechanicum love in the new blackbook.
Lord-Castellan Evander Garrius – Arguably one of the most misplaced Space Marines in all the legions, Garrius is known for his brutality and ruthlessness, two traits not often associated with Imperial Fists. He is indeed a fish out of water, however even Rogal Dorn has the occasional use for a butcher; why not let him loose on Cthonia? I’m excited to see what lore accompanies him because it’s not often you get to see Space Marines embody traits and actions out of sync with the whole of their legion. For lore junkies, this may be a turning point in campaign books that reflects the gray nature of space marines more so than ever before. I’m looking forward not only to the lore excerpts from the black book, but the model is truly gorgeous.
Cerastus Knight Lancer – This was definitely an interesting choice for the first Cerastus Knight. I would have honestly expected a Castigator, Atrapos or Archeron, all of those offer ranged weapons and close combat capabilities, which would have been nice for balance in lists. But I highly suspect we’ll be getting upgrade sprues or stand-alone boxes for them all over the next couple of years. I think GW has a vested interest in getting plastic production runs of many of the Heresy vehicles and units underway so they can make the jump to Warhammer 40k as well. Once in plastic production, I think GW will be more comfortable releasing actual rules within codices instead of slapping together a PDF appendix for playability purposes.
Assault Squads – This was high on every marine player’s list. Not only will they probably come with sought-after close combat weapons, but the plastic version beats messing around with the resin fiddly bits. Beyond that, they will be rescaled to the larger MKVI armor variant. I’m guessing this will be a dual kit with the potential to make assault squads of Despoilers. Either way…good news for our close combat-oriented marine players looking to get some further punch in their armies.
What We’re All Here For…the Speculation
A Primarch – I think my money for this is going to be Ascended Lorgar. GW has expressed an interest in Primarchs as late and I certainly believe that they will follow up Ascended Horus with the Ascended Lorgar. Firstly, the Lorgar model was one of the first primarchs released almost a decade ago; the model is definitely showing its age, not only in scale but aesthetics. Many people have screamed for a bike-mounted Khan. James Workshop just released Jaghatai on foot within the last couple of years. It’s a relatively new model that is truly an excellent sculpt and captures the Khan of Khan’s to a T. While I love White Scars and desperately want to see a Primarch on a Jetbike…I think in my caffeinated heart of hearts, its going to be Ascended Lorgar.
More Lords of War – I badly want to see the super heavy tanks or even a Mastodon release in plastic. I think those hopes are a fool’s errand, personally. I’m leaning toward GW building on the Cerastus Knight Lancer release with a plastic kit for the, Castigator, Atrapos or Archeron to coincide with Warhammer 10th Edition and the eventual release of the Imperial Knights Codex.
Dreadnought – Unless it’s something totally new or out of left field, like a new Custodes Dred, I believe this will be a Deredeo Dreadnought. It’s the only one left out of the existing Horus Hersey resin range that hasn’t made its way to plastic. So by process of elimination, we’re probably getting this backline shooty boy come summer.
Armour MK Update – I’m hoping for Mk.II and Mk.V armor, but artwork released with announcement appears to be Mk.III armor variant. My bet is that we’ll be getting Breachers in 2024, and they wanted to build the upgrades on the larger scale models for future-proofing. I wouldn’t surprise me at all to see this kind of move more from GW going forward. If there is an iconic unit with specific armor marks expect a Mk. upgrade.
Mystery Armor Release – For me, this has to be the Sister of Silence. Their range currently consists of around 6 models, 2 characters, a dual unit box, FW upgrades for the plastic sisters, and the Kharon Pattern Acquisitor. On the other hand their Index presence is quite large, they have a big army with a dozen or more units that don’t have models. I think we’ll be seeing an army box released just in time for the Christmas season.
New Characters and Upgrades – These will most likely be released to coincide with whatever is in the Cthonian Campaign Black Book. Thus far Games Workshop has been more than willing to release unsupported lore characters, and I fully expect that many factions and legions will be getting a character and an upgrade sprue. We’ve already seen a tank commander for the Legions, so I’d expect some kind of consul as well. My only real hope is that they don’t forget Custodes, Mechanicum and Solar Auxillia.
Horus Heresy Final Thoughts
With a cemented plan in place, I’m excited to see the releases as they come up in the next few months. I’m also quite excited about the mystery army. As a die-hard Custodes player, I’ve been itching to supplement my force with Sisters of Silence. I think as far as Horus Heresy is concerned we’re not the forgotten toe-headed step child even with the upcoming juggernaut that will be Warhammer 10th edition. It seems to this author, that GW has finally acknowledged Heresy as a viable 3rd pillar to its business model. Seeing the pictures of the amazing armies and jam-packed, full tables at Adepticon and Warhammer Fest, enthusiasm for Horus Heresy appears to be alive and well.
What are your thoughts the releases? What are you most looking forward to? What would you like to see from Heresy?
