As I now have access to the latest rules for all current Legions, this post has now been updated with all relevant changes, including an analysis of the Iron Circle!
Iron Warriors
I've elected to cover Iron Warriors first for numerous reasons; their Legion rules are fairly simple in application compared to many others with obvious advantages and disadvantages, they can be seen as one of the more "generic" Legions in terms of build variety, and most important of all is that they are the army I chose to begin my Horus Heresy adventure with. For those unfamiliar with the 4th Legion, I will share a bit about their back-story; both before and after their Primarch Perturabo took direct control of their military efforts, the Iron Warriors were completely disrespected by all their fellow Legions - and quite unfairly at that. They were tasked with all of the hardest and least "glorious" tasks; digging trenches, garrisoning cities that weren't currently under attack, and conducting month-long assaults and sieges wherein another Legion would almost always arrive after all of the hard work had been done and steal the Iron Warriors' deserved glory by performing the killing blow. Despite such poor treatment, the Iron Warriors were easily among the Emperors' finest warriors in terms of raw accomplishments; few other Legions operated on such a scale as them, nor could others be counted on to perform all the grueling tasks the Iron Warriors were left with.
Their poor treatment at the hands of both their human commanders and other Legions left only an embittered force, one that would further be molded into a tactless weapon by their Primarch. Perturabo studied their extensive combat records and deemed - brutally - that while their record was phenomenal, the losses (including a major recent failed campaign) were a blemish that had to be made an example of. This led Perturabo to conduct the decimation of the Iron Warriors, meaning a full tenth of the Legion was put to death by their fellow brothers-in-arms as their cold master watched on, an act which only served to embitter the Iron Warriors further and alienate The Lord of Iron from his fellow Primarchs. It was not enough for Perturabo that the Iron Warriors were great warriors, they had to be the best of the best, and it was this belief that drove the Iron Warriors ever harder. The disdain and disrespect for the Iron Warriors grew more apparent as other Legions continued to steal their rightfully earned glory and honor, a fact which drove Perturabo to the edge of madness; what would seal his and his Legions' fate would be the horrific purging of his own home planet, Olympia. What had once been a pacified center of the Iron Warriors' recruitment efforts rose up in rebellion against the Imperium, forcing Perturabos' ruthless hand; whereas Konrad Curze obliterated his planet from space, the Iron Warriors went a step further by exterminating the population with their own bloodied fists. It is believed that the countless pyres and mounds of human corpses led Perturabo to believe that there would be no redemption for his Legion in the eyes of the Imperium and that only the traitorous Horus could ever forgive his sin, turning one of the largest and most powerful Legions' to heresy. It is such that the Iron Warriors would never receive the adulation and gratitude that all other Legions were given despite having earned it on countless occasions, and a mixture of jealousy and resentment would forever-more define Perturabo and his sons.
Legion Rules
Wrack and Ruin - There are two aspects to this rule, the first of which deals with Leadership mechanics and the latter that gives the Legion a damage boost against a specific "unit" type. The most important part of the awesomely named Wrack and Ruin rule is that Iron Warriors are completely immune to Morale tests caused by shooting attacks, meaning that unless you charge them they simply will not run away for any reason. Considering that charging Legion units tends to be easier said than done due to their high numbers, extra special rules and so on, this makes Iron Warriors the ultimate objective holders; they can voluntarily go to ground to gain additional defensive bonuses but are otherwise essentially Fearless and thus the leading Legion when it comes to literally capturing victory points. To further emphasize how implacable the Iron Warriors are, they may re-roll all failed Pinning tests so as to not halt their advance when you need them to keep moving or fighting at full effectiveness. The other portion of Wrack and Ruin provides all grenade and melta bombs carried by Iron Warriors with the Wrecker special rule - meaning they re-roll failed armor penetration rolls against buildings and have a +1 bonus to rolls on the building damage chart - to ensure that fortifications are no way to stem the advancing tide of metal and flesh that is the 4th Legion. As far as how useful these are to general lists, they are very balanced in the sense that they don't specifically favor a melee or ranged type of army focus; they provide bonuses that will always be useful in your games, but they aren't quite as incredible as the staunch durability of the Iron Hands or the incredible versatility of the Alpha Legion. They sit firmly in the upper middle ground as far as Legion Tactics are concerned in a competitive sense as they are ideally suited for objective-based games - which comprises most mission types in both 30K and 40K - and you are free to build the list however you want without any restrictions or penalties to the individual Legionnaires themselves. If you are confused about the lack of some kind of shooting bonus to display the Iron Warriors' deadly proficiency in the art of bombardment and ranged warfare, worry not; they get access to some of the nastiest death dealers from afar in the Heresy and can take a fourth Heavy Support choice via their unique Rite of War.
The Bitter End - It is telling that this particular rule is shared between both the Iron Warriors and the Imperial Fists, representing the dogged and stubborn refusal to accept defeat for either Legion; they will fight to the death, no matter the odds. This is represented by manipulating how end-game scenarios play out; instead of rolling to determine if a sixth game turn is taken, the rival Legions' opponent gets to choose whether the next turn happens automatically instead. What is important to note is that the opponent cannot instead decide to end the game without going to turn six, but should they choose not to force the game to go to turn six then the standard method of determining whether a sixth turn occurs must play out as normal. Regardless, this can potentially be a very crippling rule as it means that your opponent can force you to endure another round of punishment; it can mean the difference between your opponent losing or grabbing some game-winning victory points at the close of the match, while it could also see your army completely wiped out rather than surviving with a handful of models. While I find that rolling to see if turn six occurs tends to err in favor of it happening due to only a 3+ being required, removing that random element can often work into an opponents' favor and it is something to keep in mind when playing either the Iron Warriors or Imperial Fists.
Unique Rite of War
The Hammer of Olympia - I've generally found this Rite of War to really play to the Iron Warriors' strengths, but it definitely isn't viable competitively until you reach the larger points limits due to its limitations. Before we get into all that though, let us look at the benefits of the Hammer of Olympia; the first and most obvious one is that you are allowed to take a fourth Heavy Support slot, giving Iron Warriors the capability of taking more heavy firepower than any other Legion given how incredibly contested those choices usually are. If you plan on playing a themed gun-line Iron Warriors build with plenty of artillery, this rule alone is all you need to fulfill that dream. Elsewhere, any Tanks and Walkers in the army gain the Extra Armor upgrade for free which is a big help for Contemptors and transports of all varieties to ensure they can keep moving unless they are destroyed or get Immobilized, though functionally it serves mostly just to save you points. The last bonus gained is specific to models armed with rapid fire weapons - namely your power-armored Space Marines so Tactical Squads, plasma gun toting Support Squads and so on - and it allows them to charge a unit they shot at with their rapid fire weapons in the same turn, essentially granting them one of the major bonuses of the Relentless special rule. However, rapid firing and still being capable of launching an assault doesn't come easy; performing those actions in tandem imposes a disordered charge penalty on the charging unit and no Fury of the Legion attack can be made before assaulting either. Losing out on a bonus attack on the charge is actually inferior to the extra shot with the boltgun in most cases due to usually hitting on 3s with the latter as opposed to 4s with the former, while it also reduces Overwatch potential back at the squad and - depending on the Initiative of the target - how many can strike before the Space Marines as well.
It is handy then that the rule in question exists principally to buff your Troops units seeing as the Rite of War requires you to take a third compulsory choice - usually meaning Tactical Squads - which given the prohibitive cost of just taking multiple small units for the Legiones Astartes army list compared to its far future competitors precludes the Rite of War from being even remotely efficient at low points limits. Additionally, it prevents you from taking more Fast Attack choices than you have Heavy Support choices; of course, this isn't really a restriction if you make use of that fourth Heavy Support slot which would then still allow you to take the usual three Fast Attack units. That it doesn't restrict what specific units you can take is very much appreciated as it means you can still fill up the points with powerful Legion Outriders or even Sky Hunter Jetbikes, but it does make you incapable of allying with any other Space Marine Legion; seeing as the Iron Warriors have close ties to the Mechanicus factions anyway, this too is not much of a downside. What can be rather irritating though to match having to take that third Troops choice is that either a Warsmith or Siege Breaker is a compulsory HQ choice in the army, forcing you to use a (spoiler alert) poor Praetor upgrade or a great Consul type. Taking the latter might seem obvious but the issue then becomes that only Masters of the Legion can unlock the use of Rites of War, meaning you require a Praetor, a Delegatus or Perturabo to use the Hammer of Olympia; this means that unless you shell out for a Delegatus which - in tandem with the Siege Breaker - will be more expensive than a single Warsmith or Perturabo himself, you can't simply take the Siege Breaker on his lone-some and have a legal list. Again, there's no problem here for bigger games but in smaller matches the Hammer of Olympia is quite weak given that its bonuses are more to do with unlocking an extra slot on the Force Organization chart and providing a slight boost to a small list of units. Unless you are playing roughly 2500 points or more, I feel the extra Troops tax and the cost of either having a poor Warsmith or spending extra points on a Delegatus is not at all worth the benefits you attain.
It is handy then that the rule in question exists principally to buff your Troops units seeing as the Rite of War requires you to take a third compulsory choice - usually meaning Tactical Squads - which given the prohibitive cost of just taking multiple small units for the Legiones Astartes army list compared to its far future competitors precludes the Rite of War from being even remotely efficient at low points limits. Additionally, it prevents you from taking more Fast Attack choices than you have Heavy Support choices; of course, this isn't really a restriction if you make use of that fourth Heavy Support slot which would then still allow you to take the usual three Fast Attack units. That it doesn't restrict what specific units you can take is very much appreciated as it means you can still fill up the points with powerful Legion Outriders or even Sky Hunter Jetbikes, but it does make you incapable of allying with any other Space Marine Legion; seeing as the Iron Warriors have close ties to the Mechanicus factions anyway, this too is not much of a downside. What can be rather irritating though to match having to take that third Troops choice is that either a Warsmith or Siege Breaker is a compulsory HQ choice in the army, forcing you to use a (spoiler alert) poor Praetor upgrade or a great Consul type. Taking the latter might seem obvious but the issue then becomes that only Masters of the Legion can unlock the use of Rites of War, meaning you require a Praetor, a Delegatus or Perturabo to use the Hammer of Olympia; this means that unless you shell out for a Delegatus which - in tandem with the Siege Breaker - will be more expensive than a single Warsmith or Perturabo himself, you can't simply take the Siege Breaker on his lone-some and have a legal list. Again, there's no problem here for bigger games but in smaller matches the Hammer of Olympia is quite weak given that its bonuses are more to do with unlocking an extra slot on the Force Organization chart and providing a slight boost to a small list of units. Unless you are playing roughly 2500 points or more, I feel the extra Troops tax and the cost of either having a poor Warsmith or spending extra points on a Delegatus is not at all worth the benefits you attain.
Characters, Units and Wargear
Warsmiths - This is the Iron Warriors equivalent of the Iron Hands' Forge Lord and as such can be seen as a Consul-type upgrade for a Praetor, granting them additional abilities with some rather hefty drawbacks. The Warsmith represents the technologically-adept battle commanders of the 4th Legion, granting them access to Servo-Arms for emergency vehicle repairs and boosted melee capabilities, but it is otherwise a free extra for any Praetor that opts to take it even if only per detachment is eligible. They gain the ever useful Stubborn special rule which can combine so darned well with Legion Vexillas to ensure a given unit absolutely never runs away, while they also replace any standard Warlord Trait with the preset Shatter Defences trait. This functions much like the similarly titled Warpsmith characters' ability of the same name, reducing the cover save of a single non-purchased terrain piece in the opponents' deployment zone. Of course, the Warsmith has some obvious drawbacks that I've found are rather severe and often discourage the use of the character type in competitive play.
The first of these is that replacing any random Warlord Trait with the preset Shatter Defences can often be a poor exchange when compared to the incredible Strategic Warlord Traits, while the Warsmith has to be the army Warlord unless Perturabo is also present. What really hammers this disadvantage home is that losing the Warsmith as a casualty confers a victory point to your opponent regardless of whether they are the Warlord or not; given that First Blood can so often be the decider between a victory (or loss) and a draw, handing your opponent another potential victory point for killing your probable Warlord can be a soul-crushing downside. Additionally, Warsmiths are further limited on the choice of wargear to employ; they cannot make use of Jump Packs, Bikes or Jetbikes, meaning their only real avenue for increased durability or mobility is Terminator Armor when paired up with some form of Deep Strike provision. Besides being one of the two mandatory choices for a compulsory HQ slot in the Hammer of Olympia Rite of War, skipping the Warsmith is generally a good idea as it offers little of real value to a Praetor and has potentially game-losing weaknesses. As an aside, one particular use of a Warsmith is the purchasable Cortex Controller that is normally incredibly rare in the Legiones Astartes list; this gives you great incentive to ally with Mechanicus forces which are incredibly powerful in the 30K setting.
The first of these is that replacing any random Warlord Trait with the preset Shatter Defences can often be a poor exchange when compared to the incredible Strategic Warlord Traits, while the Warsmith has to be the army Warlord unless Perturabo is also present. What really hammers this disadvantage home is that losing the Warsmith as a casualty confers a victory point to your opponent regardless of whether they are the Warlord or not; given that First Blood can so often be the decider between a victory (or loss) and a draw, handing your opponent another potential victory point for killing your probable Warlord can be a soul-crushing downside. Additionally, Warsmiths are further limited on the choice of wargear to employ; they cannot make use of Jump Packs, Bikes or Jetbikes, meaning their only real avenue for increased durability or mobility is Terminator Armor when paired up with some form of Deep Strike provision. Besides being one of the two mandatory choices for a compulsory HQ slot in the Hammer of Olympia Rite of War, skipping the Warsmith is generally a good idea as it offers little of real value to a Praetor and has potentially game-losing weaknesses. As an aside, one particular use of a Warsmith is the purchasable Cortex Controller that is normally incredibly rare in the Legiones Astartes list; this gives you great incentive to ally with Mechanicus forces which are incredibly powerful in the 30K setting.
Erasmus Golg - As the first of two unique characters in the HQ slot available to the Iron Warriors, Erasmus Golg embodies the brutal and merciless advance of the Legion upon the battlefield, leading a crush of human flesh that systematically obliterates all opposition. What is striking about this heretical Captain is that he is equipped identically to the Praetor in Betrayal at Calth, meaning he is covered by Cataphractii Terminator Armor providing 2+ armor and 4+ invulnerable saves in addition to a mighty chainfist and combi-melta to sell him as a tank hunting extraordinaire. Completing his wargear is an ever useful Nuncio Vox, allowing fellow Iron Warriors wielding Barrage weapons to use Golg in place of their own for line of sight purposes and thus ensuring highly accurate bombardment strikes upon the foe. Perhaps the best aspect of Golg is that he allows Legion Terminators to be taken as Troops choices provided he is the army Warlord, ignoring the potential drawbacks of Pride of the Legion and allowing you to make use of another Rites of War with Terminators as a spearhead should you wish it. This not only allows you to theme your force around the mighty elites of the Legiones Astartes, it also theoretically combines exceptionally well with their Primarchs' many seemingly Terminator-specific buffs; being able to Deep Strike, gaining Furious Charge in the opponents' deployment zone and having the capability to arrive from Reserves on the first turn. Of course, there is one problem with that that necessitates the "theoretically" terminology; Golg has to be the Warlord to unlock Terminators as Troops whereas Perturabo has to be your Warlord when present in an army, meaning you still need to use Pride of the Legion to mix Troop Terminators and Perturabo together with Golg as a still worthy leader.
To represent the terrifying relentlessness of Golg, he and his warriors benefit from the Fear special rule provided he is the Warlord in place of randomly determining a specific trait; this is an acceptable ability in Horus Heresy games given Golgs' melee focus, but it isn't really as generally useful as another trait might have been. As a Legion Praetor, Golg has many of the stats you would expect albeit with two potentially crucial differences; he only has three base Attacks and his Leadership score is reduced to nine, meaning he does have some drawbacks compared to a generic version. However, this is counter-balanced by all friendly Iron Warriors being able to substitute their own Leadership value for Golgs' to even further emphasize their morale-based advantages, while Golg also improves himself and his own unit - provided they bear Terminator armor - with the Hammer of Wrath special rule to slightly boost their effective melee damage output. Ultimately, Golg has mediocre equipment and stats for a Praetor given that his chainfist wastes the potential combination of his Initiative and a nasty Paragon Blade and he possesses those minor stat reductions, but his value for making Terminators Troops to drastically change your list-building options makes him phenomenal provided you build the army in that way. He favors aggressive builds and teams up naturally with Perturabo to mold the Iron Warriors into a devastating melee force.
To represent the terrifying relentlessness of Golg, he and his warriors benefit from the Fear special rule provided he is the Warlord in place of randomly determining a specific trait; this is an acceptable ability in Horus Heresy games given Golgs' melee focus, but it isn't really as generally useful as another trait might have been. As a Legion Praetor, Golg has many of the stats you would expect albeit with two potentially crucial differences; he only has three base Attacks and his Leadership score is reduced to nine, meaning he does have some drawbacks compared to a generic version. However, this is counter-balanced by all friendly Iron Warriors being able to substitute their own Leadership value for Golgs' to even further emphasize their morale-based advantages, while Golg also improves himself and his own unit - provided they bear Terminator armor - with the Hammer of Wrath special rule to slightly boost their effective melee damage output. Ultimately, Golg has mediocre equipment and stats for a Praetor given that his chainfist wastes the potential combination of his Initiative and a nasty Paragon Blade and he possesses those minor stat reductions, but his value for making Terminators Troops to drastically change your list-building options makes him phenomenal provided you build the army in that way. He favors aggressive builds and teams up naturally with Perturabo to mold the Iron Warriors into a devastating melee force.
Kyr Vhalen - The latter of the unique character HQ choices and the only one that remained loyal to the Emperor, Kyr Vhalen ranks as possibly one of the most versatile and valuable characters in the Horus Heresy game system - at least once you address some rules disputes and check the most recent downloadable erratas. Like Golg, he is also a Praetor equivalent but he improves on this by having a fourth Wound, making him so much harder to kill against anything that cannot inflict Instant Death; considering 40K Space Marines pay roughly 20-30 points for this, it is quite the improvement indeed. He has a 2+ armor save and a 4+ invulnerable save, but he does not require Cataphractii Terminator Armor to do so and thus is not a recipient of the Slow and Purposeful special rule. He is absolutely armed to the teeth though and this is what one should expect of a true Warsmith (we'll get to that later); he wields a Paragon Blade via the errata which makes him at least the equivalent of any standard Praetor in a melee, while his Servo Arm allows him to potentially repair vehicles and add a single Strength 8 AP2 Unwieldy attack to his close combat arsenal. He carries a Volkite Charger, all of the three standard grenade types - frag, krak and melta - while he even bears a Cortex Controller to further assist the Iron Warriors' strong alliance potential with Mechanicum-aligned forces.
From there, Vhalen has a host of special rules both generic and unique which Praetors normally don't possess; he has Feel No Pain (6+) to even further emphasize his resilience, but amusingly he functions as the opposite of a regular Warsmith with an awesome +1 cover save improvement or +1 armor value boost to any single friendly fortification choice. As a Warsmith, he is Stubborn and is supposed to use the Shatter Defences Warlord Trait - something that would hilariously work in tandem with the fortification-boosting rule - but Vhalen has his own preset Warlord Trait which per the rules as intended overrides the usual Warsmith restriction. The Battle Logistician trait allows Vhalen to bless a single unit of any type - even a vehicle squadron - provided it begins the game on the battlefield; it can re-roll ones on any to-hit rolls it makes for shooting attacks as long as it doesn't leave its' own deployment zone, though it does not work for any weapon with the Gets Hot special rule. The interesting thing to note here is that technically it can function on any unit - friend or foe - which means you could boost the accuracy of an allied Cerastus Knight or any other adequate recipient you can think of. Overall, Vhalen is best suited to a traditional gun-line style Iron Warriors army; he can beef up a single units' close combat worthiness significantly but otherwise doles out useful buffs to the rest of the force as well as having some situational compatibility with Mechanicus units should you choose to side with them. Perhaps his only negative trait is that he must be the army Warlord unless Perturabo is also present which further circumvents the Warsmith rules, but considering that a Praetor equipped just like Vhalen would amazingly be twenty points more expensive and lack all of the unique special rules he gains plus the extra Wound, this is a bare footnote at best in the face of an incredible character.
From there, Vhalen has a host of special rules both generic and unique which Praetors normally don't possess; he has Feel No Pain (6+) to even further emphasize his resilience, but amusingly he functions as the opposite of a regular Warsmith with an awesome +1 cover save improvement or +1 armor value boost to any single friendly fortification choice. As a Warsmith, he is Stubborn and is supposed to use the Shatter Defences Warlord Trait - something that would hilariously work in tandem with the fortification-boosting rule - but Vhalen has his own preset Warlord Trait which per the rules as intended overrides the usual Warsmith restriction. The Battle Logistician trait allows Vhalen to bless a single unit of any type - even a vehicle squadron - provided it begins the game on the battlefield; it can re-roll ones on any to-hit rolls it makes for shooting attacks as long as it doesn't leave its' own deployment zone, though it does not work for any weapon with the Gets Hot special rule. The interesting thing to note here is that technically it can function on any unit - friend or foe - which means you could boost the accuracy of an allied Cerastus Knight or any other adequate recipient you can think of. Overall, Vhalen is best suited to a traditional gun-line style Iron Warriors army; he can beef up a single units' close combat worthiness significantly but otherwise doles out useful buffs to the rest of the force as well as having some situational compatibility with Mechanicus units should you choose to side with them. Perhaps his only negative trait is that he must be the army Warlord unless Perturabo is also present which further circumvents the Warsmith rules, but considering that a Praetor equipped just like Vhalen would amazingly be twenty points more expensive and lack all of the unique special rules he gains plus the extra Wound, this is a bare footnote at best in the face of an incredible character.
Siege Tyrants - If you haven't read about this unit before, consider yourself lucky that you haven't been on the receiving end of a volley from the indomitable elite of the 4th Legion. Siege Tyrants are widely considered one of the most powerful units in the Horus Heresy due to being Cataphractii-armored Terminators that each individually bear Cyclone Missile Launchers, allowing them to devastate enemy forces of all types with such efficiency that no other Terminator unit in all of 30K or 40K could ever hope to match. The most recent errata even allows them to employ their combi-bolters alongside their primary weapons, firing a wealth of twin-linked bolter shots into the foe as the missiles do their dirty work; as an aside, with the Wrecker rule applied to all their melee and ranged attacks, buildings may as well cease to exist in the presence of Siege Tyrants. They are no slouches in close combat either unlike many other unique Terminator squads from the various Legions, innately equipped with power fists as they are; 2+ armor saves, 4+ invulnerable saves, two attacks base with a Strength 8 AP2 Unwieldy profile and all the usual Space Marine stats as a buffer make for an all purpose battering ram that gives no quarter in any phase of the game. Their squad leader - the Siege Master - even possesses an Omni-Scope ripped straight out of the Centurion Sergeants' repertoire, granting himself the option to Split Fire as well as unit-wide Night Vision; those poor, poor Night Lords.
With the various Iron Warrior Legion rules they will never break from shooting and their melee capabilities are above average even by Horus Heresy era Terminator standards, making them one tough nut to crack. Of course, they will still fall to any kind of sustained attack just as their similarly equipped brethren tend to and they lack an extra wound or point of Toughness to address this. They are also horrendously expensive on a per model basis at exactly half a century worth of points for each Siege Tyrant, meaning a fully-sized squad can eat up a jaw-dropping percentage of an army list despite being just a regular infantry unit. However, once you realize that a standard Cataphractii Terminator armed with a Power Fist and an inferior Reaper Autocannon is just as many points as a Siege Breaker while also lacking building-specific damage bonuses and actually keeping their combi-bolter rather than replacing it, the points cost of the unit is evidently perfectly justified. If you pair them up with a Siege Breaker to grant them pseudo Tank Hunters, they will annihilate anything short of other 2+ armored units and Spartans equipped with Flare Shields; yes, even standard Land Raiders are mere prey to this unit once they start benefiting from re-rolls on armor penetration attempts. Even so, a Terminator unit that comes into rapid-fire range of a fully bedecked Siege Tyrant squad will rapidly wish it hadn't taken to the field of battle; a sheer mass of armor saves followed by a meaty charge of power fists backed by 4+ invulnerable wards is not something even most elite units can stand through. While the Ultramarines do have their own form of Siege Tyrants now that gain a host of extra special rules which the Olympians can't replicate outside of using attached characters like a Siege Breaker, the Iron Warriors' version is far more efficient for the points and sits at an acceptable points cost for a full unit by being several hundred points cheaper with similar overall damage output anyway. The 4th Legion is famed for heavy firepower and no other unique unit even comes close to matching the Siege Tyrants for raw potential devastation.
The updated campaign legions book swapped the Siege Tyrants from Elites to Heavy Support, an unfortunate change for many reasons. The most glaring of these is that they now compete with the most powerful units that the Iron Warriors have access to - their artillery - and even the other unique unit, the Iron Havocs. It has forced myself and a multitude of other Iron Warriors players to change our standard army lists to accommodate them or remove them altogether to fit the three slot Heavy Support restriction, though I guess it can be seen as a way of justifying the use of the Hammer of Olympia Rite of War. They also now cannot be selected as Troops choices in a Pride of the Legion force as those rules only allow unique Terminators in the Elites slots to be shifted to Troops, meaning you can no longer make them fully fledged scoring units in Horus Heresy games. The fact that they now compete with the Iron Havocs in particular is a darned shame as most other Legions don't suffer the problem of having their only two unique units vie for the same slots. Still, Siege Tyrants are arguably deserving of a place in the Heavy Support slot given their battlefield role and pedigree so it's not all bad news; they are still among the deadliest infantry in the Horus Heresy and can devastate all manner of foes with little difficulty.
With the various Iron Warrior Legion rules they will never break from shooting and their melee capabilities are above average even by Horus Heresy era Terminator standards, making them one tough nut to crack. Of course, they will still fall to any kind of sustained attack just as their similarly equipped brethren tend to and they lack an extra wound or point of Toughness to address this. They are also horrendously expensive on a per model basis at exactly half a century worth of points for each Siege Tyrant, meaning a fully-sized squad can eat up a jaw-dropping percentage of an army list despite being just a regular infantry unit. However, once you realize that a standard Cataphractii Terminator armed with a Power Fist and an inferior Reaper Autocannon is just as many points as a Siege Breaker while also lacking building-specific damage bonuses and actually keeping their combi-bolter rather than replacing it, the points cost of the unit is evidently perfectly justified. If you pair them up with a Siege Breaker to grant them pseudo Tank Hunters, they will annihilate anything short of other 2+ armored units and Spartans equipped with Flare Shields; yes, even standard Land Raiders are mere prey to this unit once they start benefiting from re-rolls on armor penetration attempts. Even so, a Terminator unit that comes into rapid-fire range of a fully bedecked Siege Tyrant squad will rapidly wish it hadn't taken to the field of battle; a sheer mass of armor saves followed by a meaty charge of power fists backed by 4+ invulnerable wards is not something even most elite units can stand through. While the Ultramarines do have their own form of Siege Tyrants now that gain a host of extra special rules which the Olympians can't replicate outside of using attached characters like a Siege Breaker, the Iron Warriors' version is far more efficient for the points and sits at an acceptable points cost for a full unit by being several hundred points cheaper with similar overall damage output anyway. The 4th Legion is famed for heavy firepower and no other unique unit even comes close to matching the Siege Tyrants for raw potential devastation.
The updated campaign legions book swapped the Siege Tyrants from Elites to Heavy Support, an unfortunate change for many reasons. The most glaring of these is that they now compete with the most powerful units that the Iron Warriors have access to - their artillery - and even the other unique unit, the Iron Havocs. It has forced myself and a multitude of other Iron Warriors players to change our standard army lists to accommodate them or remove them altogether to fit the three slot Heavy Support restriction, though I guess it can be seen as a way of justifying the use of the Hammer of Olympia Rite of War. They also now cannot be selected as Troops choices in a Pride of the Legion force as those rules only allow unique Terminators in the Elites slots to be shifted to Troops, meaning you can no longer make them fully fledged scoring units in Horus Heresy games. The fact that they now compete with the Iron Havocs in particular is a darned shame as most other Legions don't suffer the problem of having their only two unique units vie for the same slots. Still, Siege Tyrants are arguably deserving of a place in the Heavy Support slot given their battlefield role and pedigree so it's not all bad news; they are still among the deadliest infantry in the Horus Heresy and can devastate all manner of foes with little difficulty.
Iron Havocs - On the off chance that you have ever wondered how Chaos Space Marine Havocs earned the name as opposed to just being standard Devastators, the reason has now been exposed. The Iron Havocs amount to an Iron Warriors specific alternative to Heavy Support Squads and may as well outright replace them given that they are superior in virtually every way imaginable, though this does deserve some explanation. The base squads of both rival units are separated by a cost of fifty points to the detriment of the Iron Havocs while each individual Iron Havoc is a handful of points more expensive than his generic equivalent despite both being natively equipped with heavy bolters, leading to a far costlier unique squad. However, the price gap quickly closes once the other superior weapon options are taken into account which is important to note given that Heavy Bolter armed Heavy Support Squads aren't considered a competitive choice, though I must note that the Havocs do gain Pinning and a reduced AP5 on their Heavy Bolters due to the mandatory Shrapnel Bolts. If Autocannons or Missile Launchers armed with all three missile types are the tool of choice, the distance closes to twenty-five points assuming full squad sizes are employed.
While Iron Havocs are undeniably more points intensive which can be a grievance against threats such as Whirlwind Scorpii, the advantages they gain are superb indeed; the addition of Tank Hunters without having to pay far more for a Siege Breaker is well worth the trade-off alone, tremendously multiplying the units' anti-tank capabilities and allowing a missile launcher equipped unit to feasibly take down anything that is less durable than a Land Raider with no issue whatsoever. They also excel at bypassing the saving throws of enemies by reducing any possible cover save of their target by -1, meaning that cover-camping or Jinking opponents will be in for quite a rude shock against these impressive warriors. Lastly, Iron Havocs benefit from Hardened Armor which principally allows them to re-roll failed armor saves against weapons that use blast markers, meaning they benefit from a 3+ re-rollable save against things such as Quad Mortars or (in 40K) Thunderfire Cannons. Though this won't work against AP3 blast weapons which are rather frequent in the Heresy period and they also suffer from minor mobility penalties (though why would this squad want to move?) the positives far outweigh the negatives with Iron Havocs and they make for an ideal replacement to Heavy Support Squads. However, keep in mind that they are still a fragile unit given that sizable points cost and protecting them through smart deployment and intervening units will be necessary to keep them alive.
In an effort to stem the outcry against moving Siege Tyrants to the Heavy Support slot given that some would logically think of the Iron Havocs as the inferior choice in many situations, the rules designers opted to grant the veteran Devastators an incredible boost - they are now natively Ballistic Skill 5! For the price of zero additional points, the accuracy of Iron Havocs increased significantly with their newest iteration and this easily cements their place as the best heavy weapon team equivalent unit available to any Legion, so much so that they can realistically compete with Siege Tyrants on the value scale seeing as they don't really need any additional support unlike the horrendously costly Terminators. Choosing between the two units is now both a necessity due to sharing a slot and a difficult choice at that with this crucial buff and I can't wait to put it to good use.
While Iron Havocs are undeniably more points intensive which can be a grievance against threats such as Whirlwind Scorpii, the advantages they gain are superb indeed; the addition of Tank Hunters without having to pay far more for a Siege Breaker is well worth the trade-off alone, tremendously multiplying the units' anti-tank capabilities and allowing a missile launcher equipped unit to feasibly take down anything that is less durable than a Land Raider with no issue whatsoever. They also excel at bypassing the saving throws of enemies by reducing any possible cover save of their target by -1, meaning that cover-camping or Jinking opponents will be in for quite a rude shock against these impressive warriors. Lastly, Iron Havocs benefit from Hardened Armor which principally allows them to re-roll failed armor saves against weapons that use blast markers, meaning they benefit from a 3+ re-rollable save against things such as Quad Mortars or (in 40K) Thunderfire Cannons. Though this won't work against AP3 blast weapons which are rather frequent in the Heresy period and they also suffer from minor mobility penalties (though why would this squad want to move?) the positives far outweigh the negatives with Iron Havocs and they make for an ideal replacement to Heavy Support Squads. However, keep in mind that they are still a fragile unit given that sizable points cost and protecting them through smart deployment and intervening units will be necessary to keep them alive.
In an effort to stem the outcry against moving Siege Tyrants to the Heavy Support slot given that some would logically think of the Iron Havocs as the inferior choice in many situations, the rules designers opted to grant the veteran Devastators an incredible boost - they are now natively Ballistic Skill 5! For the price of zero additional points, the accuracy of Iron Havocs increased significantly with their newest iteration and this easily cements their place as the best heavy weapon team equivalent unit available to any Legion, so much so that they can realistically compete with Siege Tyrants on the value scale seeing as they don't really need any additional support unlike the horrendously costly Terminators. Choosing between the two units is now both a necessity due to sharing a slot and a difficult choice at that with this crucial buff and I can't wait to put it to good use.
Iron Circle - An Elites choice that is neither Unique or dependent on taking the Primarch that commissioned them, the Iron Circle are undeniably the most striking unit exclusive to any Legion - ask yourself if any other Legion has access to their own squads of monstrous creatures to form the bodyguards for Primarchs and lesser characters. It's almost unfair to think that the Iron Warriors get all the "goodies" with regards to their legion-specific unit selections in terms of either raw destructive capabilities or visual splendor, but rest assured that the Iron Circle aren't quite as terrifying or over-powering as their background would suggest. Yes, a unit of between one and six Domitar-Ferrum class Battle Automata is always going to be scary no matter what they are equipped with and, yes, there are only a handful of more imposing sights to face on a battlefield set during the Horus Heresy. However, a smattering of core weaknesses coupled with their incredibly high cost does relegate these to thematic armies more-so than competitive ones, but that doesn't mean they aren't without some incredible abilities.
First up, the Iron Circle is a unit of monstrous creatures that can be joined by any single Iron Warriors Independent Character or Perturabo himself; they are the largest and most imposing bodyguards imaginable. This leads to all sorts of crazy effects when mixed units are in play per the recent Warhammer 40,000 core rulebook FAQs, but principally you need to look at the Iron Circle for what they are - an escort for your Warlord that can "ferry" them across the battlefield safely and allow them to either survive or strike at the foe. They are Fearless and thus immune to any kind of Morale shenanigans while they possess Adamantium Will for some added defence against Witchfire and Malediction type psychic powers. Short of a Warlord Titan, there's almost nothing that can hold a candle to the Iron Circle for raw durability in a maxed out unit of six-strong; with four Toughness 7 wounds per model, a 3+ armor save and 5+ invulnerable save, there's little that the Iron Circle can't withstand. Of course, that's before you account for all of their crazy defensive special rules; if two or more models from the Iron Circle are in base contact with each other then they gain a 4+ invulnerable save and get to re-roll failed armor and invulnerable saves against all Blast and Template weapons.
That particular ability is utterly insane as it means that a pair of Domitar-Ferrum models can, assuming average rolls and rounding up where necessary, withstand ten Wraithguard firing their D-Scythes and landing maximum hits per template with one of the Iron Circle surviving the attack - how many units in the game can lay claim to that? However, for the Horus Heresy in particular, it makes the unit all but invulnerable to the increasingly common Typhon and Medusa Siege Batteries and allows them to withstand almost all punishment. Additionally, enemies that charge the Iron Circle when the Domitar-Ferrum Automata aren't locked in combat already will be forced to make a disordered charge and thus lose the bonus attacks for charging, cutting out much of the punch needed to take the vigilant monsters down. Even more incredulous is the fact that any Independent Character joined to the Iron Circle benefits from all of their defensive abilities, including the free 5+ or 4+ invulnerable save and re-rolling failed armor and invulnerable saves against blast and template weapons - who needs to pay for an Iron Halo when your bodyguard holds it above your head free of charge? With the change to grenades in close combat allowing only one such model to strike out of an entire unit at a time, Space Marines in the Horus Heresy have almost no answer to the Iron Circle in a melee - they must rely on Power Fists, Thunder Hammers and so on to save the day. Lastly, as Battle-Automata, the Iron Circle force successful to-wound rolls caused by both Poisoned and Fleshbane attacks to be re-rolled against them which only adds to the tormenting prospect of trying to kill the mechanical monstrosities.
On the flip side, the Iron Circle somewhat falls a bit flat for raw damage output depending on what they engage; each is armed with a melee Graviton Maul and a ranged Olympia Bolt Cannon, each suited to killing different targets. A single member of the Iron Circle fires five Strength 5 AP4 shots at a range of 36" with the Pinning special rule, essentially working as over-worked Heavy Bolters with the benefit of Shrapnel Bolts but not the downside. With Ballistic Skill 4 these are decent enough at putting pressure on light vehicles and Space Marines when the Iron Circle are fielded in significant numbers, but they certainly aren't that impressive given the price tag associated with the unit - still, anything with a 4+ or worse save will be absolutely obliterated by these weapons and as such they can be seen as a strong tool to use against Solar Auxilia and other less armored forces. Searchlights handily allow the Iron Circle to circumvent the rules for Night Fighting, a handy trick given that illuminating targets normally comes with a drawback - there is no such issue for the nigh-on indestructible Iron Circle.
Melee is an altogether different beast and one that you need to utilize specific characters to really maximize; each model strikes with two Strength 10 AP2 attacks that have both the Concussive and Wrecker special rules, mauling any multiple-wound model with Toughness 5 or less and largely weakening others. These are backed by sadly mediocre stats of Weapon Skill 4 and Initiative 3 making them less ideal for hunting Space Marines and more suited to crushing vehicles or monstrous creatures, solidifying their role as elite hunters up close and infantry suppressors at range; a mere two attacks each renders them rather pitiful at dealing with massed numbers up close. However, there are ways around this deficiency; any sixes to-hit with the Graviton Mauls inflict additional automatic hits on the target which partially alleviates the problem, while the Iron Circle also inflict D3 Strength 7 Hammer of Wrath hits per model on the charge - in that sense, the best way to tarpit them effectively is to assault them rather than be assaulted. In any case, if you send them against anything from Terminators to Hierodules you can expect them to emerge victorious short of some incredibly dicey luck on your opponents' behalf - just don't expect them to cut down swarms of Hormagaunts in quick fashion up close. Frag Grenades do at least allow the Iron Circle to charge into cover with no fear of being slowed down in any ways thanks also to the Move Through Cover special rule courtesy of their Monstrous Creature status.
The Iron Circle can also be substituted for Command Squads specifically assigned to Perturabo in your army list provided the Domitar-Ferrum Battle Automata number four or more models - a hefty investment indeed - and are forced to begin the game in the company of the mighty Primarch. The price of freeing up such a slot is that this particular Iron Circle unit can never be joined by any other Independent Character, but there is a rather significant upside to be gained; this sole unit can choose to freely gain one out of four bonuses, including Weapon Skill 5, Leadership 9, Initiative 4 and Feel No Pain (6+). The only one of these that seems nigh-on useless is the Leadership buff seeing as you should have the Leadership 10 Perturabo with them anyway, while Feel No Pain (6+) offers the barest of improvements to the defensive capabilities of the unit. Initiative 4 Domitar machines can strike simultaneously with Space Marines and many other units but if there is any unit that doesn't need to strike before or at the same time as their opponents, the Iron Circle is one of them - you are best served improving their effective damage output by granting them Weapon Skill 5 and thus the ability to hit most units in the game on a 3+ rather than a 4+.
All that aside, there are several pertinent disadvantages to fielding the Iron Circle that need addressing and the first of these is their position as Battle-Automata. Haywire weapons gain an additional to-wound roll made separately to the standard attack against the Iron Circle while you will lose total control of the unit if there is no model with a Cortex Controller within 12" of them (thankfully Perturabo, Warsmiths, Kyr Vhalen and other such characters all use these). Next, they are tied for the slowest bodyguard in Warhammer 40,000 because they are foot-slogging monstrous creatures with no means of transportation short of attaching a Librarian to them and praying for the Gate of Infinity psychic power. While they aren't slowed much by terrain and they can either Run or pepper enemy forces with their guns, the huge footprint imposed by the unit and the fact that opponents will be scared to death of them will force you to endure multiple turns of advancing before combat can be reached. In the case of Perturabo, why bother with never dying if you can risk his life a little more but have him inside the enemy deployment zone on the first turn via Drop Pod - more of a rhetorical question but an important one nonetheless. Now, as a Tyranid veteran, this unit should theoretically make it into the enemy deployment zone within three turns in most cases provided you Run them at every available opportunity and don't roll badly for that and moving through cover, hopefully setting up a subsequent charge on the third or fourth turns.
In the Horus Heresy specifically, armies tend not to be quite as mobile as you might expect of a Warhammer 40,000 force due to the nature of the Legion list and the focus more on Eternal War missions rather than Maelstrom of War scenarios. Plus, the aforementioned footprint of an Iron Circle unit is large enough that you can easily set up multi-charges into numerous units at a time - with the new grenade rules for close combat, six of the Iron Circle will best forty bare Tactical Marines in close combat without breaking a sweat as an example of why multi-charges don't scare them - and reduce the number of potential escape routes an opponent can utilize. Still, that is a lot of turns featuring the Iron Circle not contributing much to a match - ditto whoever they escort - and what really drives this home is the insane points cost of the unit; at just over two hundred points per model, the Iron Circle are potentially the single most points-intensive multiple-model unit in the game on their own merits, both in the Horus Heresy and Warhammer 40,000. While they can endure several magnitudes above their price the firepower offered by the opposing army, they simply cannot justify that cost in the damage department considering how long it takes them to get to do anything of significant use.
You also have to wonder why you would spend so many points on what is ultimately a bodyguard for a single Iron Warriors character when a squad of Terminators can perform the same role at a much lower cost per model and offer more as scoring units while freeing up points to be invested elsewhere. Crucially, if you want a bodyguard for a character that generally means you want them to get into close combat safely where they can tear enemy forces to shreds; if you need this, speed and durability are your best friends and either a Spartan Assault Tank or some form of Deep Striking are most suited to meeting those criteria. Ultimately, the Iron Circle might be impossibly durable and rather scary in a melee but it matters little when they cost so much and move so slowly that it is almost impossible to ever justify the titanic investment required to use them. They are suited for much larger scale games where their durability will actually matter against the Destroyer weapons being toted by Titans which would normally render your Primarchs' bodyguards utterly worthless, and they aren't devouring a major share of your points limit so that you can still have other supporting elements to an army list. Still, on rule of cool alone, no other Legion has anything on the Iron Circle and that alone is reason enough to use them for more thematic purposes - remember, games set in the Horus Heresy are intended more for narrative-driven games and rewarding the hobbyists that play to the strengths of their Legions. If that is the mantra that your local gaming area follows then the Iron Circle will doubtless work just fine for you and will earn the dual ire and awe of your opponents, but otherwise be sure to extensively study whether they are right for your army list before you include them as they guzzle points like nobody's business.
Shrapnel Bolts - An option exclusive to heavy bolters that come in the standard, twin-linked and quad configurations, Shrapnel Bolts function as a free upgrade to these weapons and alter the over-arching purpose of the guns themselves. When armed with Shrapnel Bolts, Heavy Bolters gain the Pinning special rule which is quite useful in Horus Heresy games, albeit at the cost of reducing their AP value from four to five; in the context of Xenos and the various non Space Marine human factions, this can be a significant detriment to their effective damage output in any given match-up. As such, the upgrade should be carefully considered before you take it and this is doubly so because the use of Shrapnel Bolts must be marked down on any applicable army list for each specific weapon that you want it for, meaning you cannot simply change it up before a match to "tailor" to your opponents' force. Generally speaking I rarely bother with Shrapnel Bolts as there are usually too many situations where having AP4 would be preferable to Pinning, though if your local area only deals in actual Space Marines then losing out on AP4 is no loss whatsoever save for some very specific and rare circumstances.
The Primarch
Perturabo - "You don't know the things I dream," said Perturabo. "No one does, no one ever cared enough to find out." It is these simple words that enlightened me of the tragedy that was the Primarch of the Iron Warriors, a super-human man that was as phenomenal an artist as he was supreme in the arts of warfare and strategy. He was one of a few Primarchs that was fully aware of his place in the forthcoming Imperium, he served the Emperor out of honor and duty, and his wondrous inventions and blueprints could have kept humanity on its golden path of dominance. But alas, as Perturabo wielded a fearsome panoply of war, so too did he come to realize that he was no more than a blunt tool, a hammer hurled into the greatest foes of the Greatest Crusade wherein his Legionnaires would never receive the adulation and respect they deserved. The cold, brutal psyche of a man torn from his creative pursuits to endure the endless calculus of war was twisted beyond recognition as he witnessed countless slaughter after slaughter, the unending torrent of death only embittering a soul already long fallen to discord and paranoia. He was a man that fought countless battles out of duty rather than any personal vindication, cared little for the trappings of diplomatic or courtly intrigue, and was never given the credit he and his Legion deserved for their many triumphs. Though the seeds of rage and resentment had long been festering in the emotionless Iron Warriors, it was on Olympia that they finally realized the terrible truth; that they had not only exterminated the horrors of the Great Crusade, but had taken their place as executioners and tormentors. By their own bare hands did the Iron Warriors and their Primarch raze their home-world to naught but ashes, leaving mounds of corpses in their wake; it was the last straw in a descending spiral of self-loathing that would push Perturabo to commit to the side of Horus, refusing to believe the Emperor could ever forgive him for his sins. It was thus that the Imperium lost what many believe to have been the greatest scientific and technological genius among the Primarchs, their most renowned siege specialist Legion and a fighting force that could have turned the final encounter of the Heresy into a total victory for the Loyalists. Even as an avowed Traitor, Perturabo saw no glory to be had among those aligned to Chaos; he despised their abhorrent acts and the self-defeating path they followed, though whereas the others had fallen because of hubris or hatred for their father, the Lord of Iron had contempt only for himself. He had broken a vow of duty to the Emperor, he had lost all traces of his own humanity and became nothing more than a relentless force of nature; an embodiment of death and destruction.
If you wish to read something decidedly less heart-breaking, you can be assured that the rules for Perturabo will bring a smile to your face - or a sinking grimace if you count him among your enemies. What you will immediately notice about Perturabo is that he is the equal second most expensive Primarch alongside Ferrus Manus, becoming the outright leader of those trailing behind Horus if he is equipped with the legendary Forgebreaker. Given that Perturabo has long been one of the most mysterious Primarchs in terms of what he is capable of and what his personality is like, some might be surprised that he ranks as among the most powerful Primarchs if we use his points cost as a measuring stick; as it turns out, his in-game performance is also highly representative of this. There isn't an existing Primarch that is nearly as versatile as Perturabo and combines so many army-buffing abilities and wargear, with the latter list in particular being the most extensive of any Primarch due to his personally designed suit of armor, the Logos. Before we get ahead of ourselves though, let us look at his stat-line; his can be seen as slightly above average overall with a high Weapon Skill 8 and base Strength 7 countered out by a lowly 4 Attacks. This usually means that he is more than a match for anyone in a challenge but must be careful not to engage large squads by himself as he simply lacks the number of attacks to cut through them in an efficient manner. Otherwise, all the usual traits of a Primarch are here; an infantry model with a profile more fitting of a monstrous creature, a glut of special rules tied to his designation as a Legion Progenitor - notably Eternal Warrior, Fleet, Fearless and It Will Not Die - and some awesome unique attributes. Like any other Primarch, you don't take Perturabo and expect a Typhon's level of contribution to the shooting phase, but instead overall bonuses and capabilities added to the army that justify the exorbitant price tag and usage of the supremely valuable Lord of War slot.
With my aforementioned claim that Perturabo has more to offer than any other Primarch in terms of what his wargear is capable of, let us return to the Logos now that we have his stats for context. He has the equal best saves among his brothers with 2+ armor and 3+ invulnerable saving throws combined with Toughness 6, 6 Wounds, Eternal Warrior and It Will Not Die making Perturabo one of the most resilient Independent Character models in either the 30K or 40K game systems. He is not without other defences however as he is also immune to both the Concussive and Blind special rules - a trait which you will learn is ironically well suited to Perturabo's interactions with his brethren - and has the Adamantium Will special rule typical of all Primarchs. His armor also incorporates a wealth of individual wargear choices, including a Teleport Homer for scatter-less Deep Strike, a Cortex Controller to improve certain Mechanicus units, a Nuncio Vox for allowing friendly Barrage weapons to use Perturabo for line-of-sight purposes, and a Cognis Signum which not only incorporates an Augury Scanner - preventing close-range Infiltration and allowing his unit to Intercept with Rapid Fire or Heavy weapons - but also allows him to sacrifice his own shooting attacks to improve a nearby units' Ballistic Skill by +1 and grants him the Night Vision special rule. Breathe in, breathe out. Each of these items of wargear is perfectly suited to all types of Iron Warriors forces; a Teleport Homer is an excellent addition to a reserve-based list which Perturabo uniquely allows (more on that later), a Cortex Controller allows your army to include a single incredibly powerful Battle Automata unit without actually having to take a full Allied detachment, while the Nuncio Vox and Cognis Signum both line up perfectly with the various gun-line builds the Iron Warriors are famous for as well as their proliferation of Barrage weaponry; giving Ballistic Skill bonuses to a squad of Siege Tyrants is just nasty! Speaking of shooting, Perturabo has one of the strongest ranged weapons of any Primarch in the form of his Wrist Cannon; this fires three Strength 6 AP3 Rending shots that are Twin-Linked, have a medium 24" range and bear the Assault profile meaning there are no downsides to using it. Being able to strip a few wounds or hull points off of theoretically any enemy is always nice to have for such an expensive model, and he can potentially do it for a number of turns before he engages in a melee.
Perhaps the most obvious sign of how powerful the Primarchs are comes in the form of their usually exceptional melee capabilities, and Perturabo is truly no exception. Though his un-upgraded profile does not strictly come with a melee weapon, Perturabo instead uses his bare hands to pulverize foes; the Logos grants him with AP2 close combat attacks, immediately sparking visions of a man punching a gargantuan monster to death. Four Strength 7 AP2 attacks at Initiative 5 and Weapon Skill 8 are certainly a match for a 40K Chapter Master armed with the Burning Blade albeit lacking any of the risks attached to that weapon, but as far as Primarchs are concerned the raw stats are rather lacking. Even Alpharius is arguably a better damage dealer here with his extra Attack and point of Initiative (albeit being reduced to Weapon Skill 7) with an AP1 Armorbane melee weapon that has the Instant Death special rule. However, the devil is in the details; you can upgrade Perturabo to wield Forgebreaker, Ferrus Manus' legendary warhammer that was crafted by his close friend turned murderer, Fulgrim. This doubles Perturabos' Strength value to 10 and confers AP1, Blind, Concussive, Strikedown and Unwieldy on his attacks. While this obviously makes Toughness 5 enemies or vehicles visibly shake in fear, the true value lies in engaging other incredibly powerful models; the combination of Blind and Concussive to perpetually make an opponent Weapon Skill 1 and Initiative 1 the moment they fail a saving throw on top of the wealth of Strength 10 AP1 attacks is what leads to Perturabo utterly dominating in the Primarch one-versus-one challenge department. In fact, he ranks as the fourth best Primarch out of thirteen currently in this category in terms of raw number of victories, utterly hammering his opponents into submission by virtue of them being incapable of harming him due to almost perpetually being reduced to a lowly Weapon Skill 1 and losing any chance at striking first because of the Concussive rule. While Primarch duels aren't really viable tactically if you want to make full use of each respective model, they can happen and being safe in the knowledge that Perturabo can reliably beat down almost all of them can be crucial to determining whether an engagement deemed mandatory at any given point should end in victory or defeat. It also allows Perturabo to engage Gargantuan Creatures and many other masters of combat with little fear, being able to tank wounds with his incredible stats and saving throws and then bludgeoning anyone foolish enough to step in his way. However, outside of engaging other super powered models, Perturabo still ranks as one of the weaker melee combatants even with the assistance of Forgebreaker; he simply lacks the attacks to meaningfully deal with large concentrations of enemies and this can be his downfall.
It is telling then that Lord of Iron is not without his own method of dealing with scores of light, medium or elite infantry alike through his one-use-only Precision Bombardment. As one of only two Primarchs that can call down an Orbital Strike - the other being the Warmaster himself - Perturabo can theoretically deal more damage in a single shooting phase than most Primarchs are capable of throughout entire games once you factor in actually getting in range to deal death in their own way. The bombardments themselves are mostly similar; both are AP2 Ordnance Large Blasts that are highly accurate with the Twin-Linked special rule and prevent either Primarch from moving or charging to fire them - unless they are joined to a Cataphractii Terminator unit due to unit-conferring Slow and Purposeful - though there are some telling differences. Horus' is Strength 10 and has the Lance special rule, meaning it inflicts Instant Death on Toughness 5 opponents and is much better at penetrating high armor values, though a single AP2 shot with a high chance to penetrate doesn't exactly count as great or even good anti-tank; no, Horus' one is best for killing Toughness 5 death-star units. Perturabo, on the other hand, sees his bombardment reduced to Strength 9 to lose that Instant Death potential against Toughness 5 models, as well as the Lance rule to boost the situational anti-tank use of the bombardment, but his manifests as D3 shots rather than just one and it even has the Barrage special rule thrown in. This functionally means that Perturabo has the better bombardment overall against anything that isn't Toughness 5 assuming you get at least two shots; the chance to strip an additional hull point off is preferable to a single more powerful shot with the same AP value, while against non-vehicle units the plethora of potential extra hits will lead to more carnage in virtually any scenario. The addition of Barrage also reduces the potential cover-claims for the target, allows it to snipe out important models in a unit and can be granted line of sight by other models with their own Nuncio Voxes (and Cortex Controllers, oddly) to give you even more options. It is quite the brutal shooting attack that sees Perturabo suffer no penalties for the Ordnance rule provided he is joined to a unit with at least one Slow and Purposeful model - namely any individual equipped with Cataphractii Terminator Armor - and it is generally far superior to Horus' equivalent, allowing Perturabo to feasibly exceed the standard casualty rates inflicted by most other Primarchs fairly reliably.
Next comes the many army-oriented special rules of the aptly named Hammer of Olympia, and I would say these are fairly strong overall when compared to what his fellow Primarchs are capable of - however, these come with the disclaimer that they are mostly oriented around the Terminator-centric build that both he and Erasmus Golg seemingly favor. Adding both Wrecker and Tank Hunters to all of Perturabos' ranged and melee attacks - including those made with Forgebreaker, the Wrist Cannon and his Precision Bombardment - gives some impressive boosts to the anti-building and anti-vehicle potential of each of those weapons, but the main benefit of his Sire of the Iron Warriors special rule is that he confers Stubborn upon all Iron Warriors in the army. When you consider that Iron Warriors are already virtually immune to all shooting-based Leadership tests, Stubborn provides the melee component to allow Iron Warriors to all but ignore the entire Leadership mechanic; arm your squads with Legion Vexillas and laugh as armies built around manipulating morale see their prized tactic rendered useless against the unrelenting warriors of the 4th Legion. While it is arguable that some other Legions have better rules centered around the Leadership mechanics, it nonetheless turns the Iron Warriors into a near Fearless force that lacks the particular downsides of that special rule. Elsewhere, Perturabo grants another close combat oriented buff with all Iron Warriors gaining Furious Charge provided they are in the opponents' deployment zone; the synergy between this and Terminators should be obvious, while it grants even the basic Tactical Squads some much needed oomph in a close quarters engagement to gain the advantage over other Legionnaires. Provided Perturabo is the Warlord - which he should be - you can also start rolling for Reserves from the first game turn rather than the second, allowing you to easily construct a null deployment list based around alpha strikes without requiring the use of a particular Rites of War. This is such a powerful ability as having alpha strike capabilities often comes with a huge penalty to army list construction freedom or simply points costs, but making it so free form can lead to some insane builds few other Legions could replicate. A bonus point here is that this stacks with the rules for Drop Pods; you can conduct a Drop Pod Assault and then roll for the remaining Drop Pods to arrive on turn one with Perturabo's ability! The final gift from the Lord of Iron to his sons is that both he and all Terminator models of any type in the army gain the Deep Strike special rule, naturally combining with his first turn reserve rolls to give Iron Warriors arguably the most functional, versatile and competitive all Terminator army build. As a useful aside, you must keep in mind that as a Master of the Legion with no preset Warlord Trait, Perturabo can roll two dice on any available Warlord Traits table - preferably Strategic - and pick whichever trait suits him best.
Lastly, we have one of the more intriguing additions to a Primarchs' repertoire, something that Perturabo shares with his hated brother Rogal Dorn; you can purchase a unique Dedicated Transport for him that does not count towards any of the Lord of War restrictions, but it is only available in games of 3000 points or more. This manifests as the Tormentor, a Shadowsword - the Baneblade variant that bears a Volcano Cannon if you somehow forgot - that impressively gains a fifteen-model transport capacity, a rear access point, a single void shield identical to those found on Imperial Titans and the useful Command Tank upgrade which grants re-rolls on failed Morale checks to all friendly units within 24" (useful mostly for close combat purposes and saving your Legion the trouble of purchasing Vexillas). Once you factor in the 30K-specific Command Tank upgrade which has a rough analogy in the Commisariat Crew option for a regular Shadowsword, all of the bonuses to the model are essentially free and thus make it a very valuable choice; being able to take the powerful Perturabo and still get a nasty Volcano Cannon added into your list on top of having a durable transport for your most elite assault unit is an awesome option to have. Overall, Perturabo ends up being just below Horus in terms of raw points cost but is easily worth every point in comparison to his brother Primarchs; he has impressive army-wide buffs that stack up naturally with an assault-oriented Iron Warriors force to diversify your list building tactics, some incredible ranged presence due to his Precision Bombardment, a wealth of wargear to assist you in any potential situation, a dominant presence in duels or when fighting vehicles and other similarly tough opponents, and the profile to be a true anchor and wade through a battle-line with no fear whatsoever. He is a fantastic choice for an Iron Warriors army provided you build the list around him - common themes to a Perturabo list include masses of Terminators, Erasmus Golg, various other Deep Striking elements and hidden Barrage weapons - and he can definitely be considered as one of the most fearsome and powerful Primarchs on the tabletop.
If you wish to read something decidedly less heart-breaking, you can be assured that the rules for Perturabo will bring a smile to your face - or a sinking grimace if you count him among your enemies. What you will immediately notice about Perturabo is that he is the equal second most expensive Primarch alongside Ferrus Manus, becoming the outright leader of those trailing behind Horus if he is equipped with the legendary Forgebreaker. Given that Perturabo has long been one of the most mysterious Primarchs in terms of what he is capable of and what his personality is like, some might be surprised that he ranks as among the most powerful Primarchs if we use his points cost as a measuring stick; as it turns out, his in-game performance is also highly representative of this. There isn't an existing Primarch that is nearly as versatile as Perturabo and combines so many army-buffing abilities and wargear, with the latter list in particular being the most extensive of any Primarch due to his personally designed suit of armor, the Logos. Before we get ahead of ourselves though, let us look at his stat-line; his can be seen as slightly above average overall with a high Weapon Skill 8 and base Strength 7 countered out by a lowly 4 Attacks. This usually means that he is more than a match for anyone in a challenge but must be careful not to engage large squads by himself as he simply lacks the number of attacks to cut through them in an efficient manner. Otherwise, all the usual traits of a Primarch are here; an infantry model with a profile more fitting of a monstrous creature, a glut of special rules tied to his designation as a Legion Progenitor - notably Eternal Warrior, Fleet, Fearless and It Will Not Die - and some awesome unique attributes. Like any other Primarch, you don't take Perturabo and expect a Typhon's level of contribution to the shooting phase, but instead overall bonuses and capabilities added to the army that justify the exorbitant price tag and usage of the supremely valuable Lord of War slot.
With my aforementioned claim that Perturabo has more to offer than any other Primarch in terms of what his wargear is capable of, let us return to the Logos now that we have his stats for context. He has the equal best saves among his brothers with 2+ armor and 3+ invulnerable saving throws combined with Toughness 6, 6 Wounds, Eternal Warrior and It Will Not Die making Perturabo one of the most resilient Independent Character models in either the 30K or 40K game systems. He is not without other defences however as he is also immune to both the Concussive and Blind special rules - a trait which you will learn is ironically well suited to Perturabo's interactions with his brethren - and has the Adamantium Will special rule typical of all Primarchs. His armor also incorporates a wealth of individual wargear choices, including a Teleport Homer for scatter-less Deep Strike, a Cortex Controller to improve certain Mechanicus units, a Nuncio Vox for allowing friendly Barrage weapons to use Perturabo for line-of-sight purposes, and a Cognis Signum which not only incorporates an Augury Scanner - preventing close-range Infiltration and allowing his unit to Intercept with Rapid Fire or Heavy weapons - but also allows him to sacrifice his own shooting attacks to improve a nearby units' Ballistic Skill by +1 and grants him the Night Vision special rule. Breathe in, breathe out. Each of these items of wargear is perfectly suited to all types of Iron Warriors forces; a Teleport Homer is an excellent addition to a reserve-based list which Perturabo uniquely allows (more on that later), a Cortex Controller allows your army to include a single incredibly powerful Battle Automata unit without actually having to take a full Allied detachment, while the Nuncio Vox and Cognis Signum both line up perfectly with the various gun-line builds the Iron Warriors are famous for as well as their proliferation of Barrage weaponry; giving Ballistic Skill bonuses to a squad of Siege Tyrants is just nasty! Speaking of shooting, Perturabo has one of the strongest ranged weapons of any Primarch in the form of his Wrist Cannon; this fires three Strength 6 AP3 Rending shots that are Twin-Linked, have a medium 24" range and bear the Assault profile meaning there are no downsides to using it. Being able to strip a few wounds or hull points off of theoretically any enemy is always nice to have for such an expensive model, and he can potentially do it for a number of turns before he engages in a melee.
Perhaps the most obvious sign of how powerful the Primarchs are comes in the form of their usually exceptional melee capabilities, and Perturabo is truly no exception. Though his un-upgraded profile does not strictly come with a melee weapon, Perturabo instead uses his bare hands to pulverize foes; the Logos grants him with AP2 close combat attacks, immediately sparking visions of a man punching a gargantuan monster to death. Four Strength 7 AP2 attacks at Initiative 5 and Weapon Skill 8 are certainly a match for a 40K Chapter Master armed with the Burning Blade albeit lacking any of the risks attached to that weapon, but as far as Primarchs are concerned the raw stats are rather lacking. Even Alpharius is arguably a better damage dealer here with his extra Attack and point of Initiative (albeit being reduced to Weapon Skill 7) with an AP1 Armorbane melee weapon that has the Instant Death special rule. However, the devil is in the details; you can upgrade Perturabo to wield Forgebreaker, Ferrus Manus' legendary warhammer that was crafted by his close friend turned murderer, Fulgrim. This doubles Perturabos' Strength value to 10 and confers AP1, Blind, Concussive, Strikedown and Unwieldy on his attacks. While this obviously makes Toughness 5 enemies or vehicles visibly shake in fear, the true value lies in engaging other incredibly powerful models; the combination of Blind and Concussive to perpetually make an opponent Weapon Skill 1 and Initiative 1 the moment they fail a saving throw on top of the wealth of Strength 10 AP1 attacks is what leads to Perturabo utterly dominating in the Primarch one-versus-one challenge department. In fact, he ranks as the fourth best Primarch out of thirteen currently in this category in terms of raw number of victories, utterly hammering his opponents into submission by virtue of them being incapable of harming him due to almost perpetually being reduced to a lowly Weapon Skill 1 and losing any chance at striking first because of the Concussive rule. While Primarch duels aren't really viable tactically if you want to make full use of each respective model, they can happen and being safe in the knowledge that Perturabo can reliably beat down almost all of them can be crucial to determining whether an engagement deemed mandatory at any given point should end in victory or defeat. It also allows Perturabo to engage Gargantuan Creatures and many other masters of combat with little fear, being able to tank wounds with his incredible stats and saving throws and then bludgeoning anyone foolish enough to step in his way. However, outside of engaging other super powered models, Perturabo still ranks as one of the weaker melee combatants even with the assistance of Forgebreaker; he simply lacks the attacks to meaningfully deal with large concentrations of enemies and this can be his downfall.
It is telling then that Lord of Iron is not without his own method of dealing with scores of light, medium or elite infantry alike through his one-use-only Precision Bombardment. As one of only two Primarchs that can call down an Orbital Strike - the other being the Warmaster himself - Perturabo can theoretically deal more damage in a single shooting phase than most Primarchs are capable of throughout entire games once you factor in actually getting in range to deal death in their own way. The bombardments themselves are mostly similar; both are AP2 Ordnance Large Blasts that are highly accurate with the Twin-Linked special rule and prevent either Primarch from moving or charging to fire them - unless they are joined to a Cataphractii Terminator unit due to unit-conferring Slow and Purposeful - though there are some telling differences. Horus' is Strength 10 and has the Lance special rule, meaning it inflicts Instant Death on Toughness 5 opponents and is much better at penetrating high armor values, though a single AP2 shot with a high chance to penetrate doesn't exactly count as great or even good anti-tank; no, Horus' one is best for killing Toughness 5 death-star units. Perturabo, on the other hand, sees his bombardment reduced to Strength 9 to lose that Instant Death potential against Toughness 5 models, as well as the Lance rule to boost the situational anti-tank use of the bombardment, but his manifests as D3 shots rather than just one and it even has the Barrage special rule thrown in. This functionally means that Perturabo has the better bombardment overall against anything that isn't Toughness 5 assuming you get at least two shots; the chance to strip an additional hull point off is preferable to a single more powerful shot with the same AP value, while against non-vehicle units the plethora of potential extra hits will lead to more carnage in virtually any scenario. The addition of Barrage also reduces the potential cover-claims for the target, allows it to snipe out important models in a unit and can be granted line of sight by other models with their own Nuncio Voxes (and Cortex Controllers, oddly) to give you even more options. It is quite the brutal shooting attack that sees Perturabo suffer no penalties for the Ordnance rule provided he is joined to a unit with at least one Slow and Purposeful model - namely any individual equipped with Cataphractii Terminator Armor - and it is generally far superior to Horus' equivalent, allowing Perturabo to feasibly exceed the standard casualty rates inflicted by most other Primarchs fairly reliably.
Next comes the many army-oriented special rules of the aptly named Hammer of Olympia, and I would say these are fairly strong overall when compared to what his fellow Primarchs are capable of - however, these come with the disclaimer that they are mostly oriented around the Terminator-centric build that both he and Erasmus Golg seemingly favor. Adding both Wrecker and Tank Hunters to all of Perturabos' ranged and melee attacks - including those made with Forgebreaker, the Wrist Cannon and his Precision Bombardment - gives some impressive boosts to the anti-building and anti-vehicle potential of each of those weapons, but the main benefit of his Sire of the Iron Warriors special rule is that he confers Stubborn upon all Iron Warriors in the army. When you consider that Iron Warriors are already virtually immune to all shooting-based Leadership tests, Stubborn provides the melee component to allow Iron Warriors to all but ignore the entire Leadership mechanic; arm your squads with Legion Vexillas and laugh as armies built around manipulating morale see their prized tactic rendered useless against the unrelenting warriors of the 4th Legion. While it is arguable that some other Legions have better rules centered around the Leadership mechanics, it nonetheless turns the Iron Warriors into a near Fearless force that lacks the particular downsides of that special rule. Elsewhere, Perturabo grants another close combat oriented buff with all Iron Warriors gaining Furious Charge provided they are in the opponents' deployment zone; the synergy between this and Terminators should be obvious, while it grants even the basic Tactical Squads some much needed oomph in a close quarters engagement to gain the advantage over other Legionnaires. Provided Perturabo is the Warlord - which he should be - you can also start rolling for Reserves from the first game turn rather than the second, allowing you to easily construct a null deployment list based around alpha strikes without requiring the use of a particular Rites of War. This is such a powerful ability as having alpha strike capabilities often comes with a huge penalty to army list construction freedom or simply points costs, but making it so free form can lead to some insane builds few other Legions could replicate. A bonus point here is that this stacks with the rules for Drop Pods; you can conduct a Drop Pod Assault and then roll for the remaining Drop Pods to arrive on turn one with Perturabo's ability! The final gift from the Lord of Iron to his sons is that both he and all Terminator models of any type in the army gain the Deep Strike special rule, naturally combining with his first turn reserve rolls to give Iron Warriors arguably the most functional, versatile and competitive all Terminator army build. As a useful aside, you must keep in mind that as a Master of the Legion with no preset Warlord Trait, Perturabo can roll two dice on any available Warlord Traits table - preferably Strategic - and pick whichever trait suits him best.
Lastly, we have one of the more intriguing additions to a Primarchs' repertoire, something that Perturabo shares with his hated brother Rogal Dorn; you can purchase a unique Dedicated Transport for him that does not count towards any of the Lord of War restrictions, but it is only available in games of 3000 points or more. This manifests as the Tormentor, a Shadowsword - the Baneblade variant that bears a Volcano Cannon if you somehow forgot - that impressively gains a fifteen-model transport capacity, a rear access point, a single void shield identical to those found on Imperial Titans and the useful Command Tank upgrade which grants re-rolls on failed Morale checks to all friendly units within 24" (useful mostly for close combat purposes and saving your Legion the trouble of purchasing Vexillas). Once you factor in the 30K-specific Command Tank upgrade which has a rough analogy in the Commisariat Crew option for a regular Shadowsword, all of the bonuses to the model are essentially free and thus make it a very valuable choice; being able to take the powerful Perturabo and still get a nasty Volcano Cannon added into your list on top of having a durable transport for your most elite assault unit is an awesome option to have. Overall, Perturabo ends up being just below Horus in terms of raw points cost but is easily worth every point in comparison to his brother Primarchs; he has impressive army-wide buffs that stack up naturally with an assault-oriented Iron Warriors force to diversify your list building tactics, some incredible ranged presence due to his Precision Bombardment, a wealth of wargear to assist you in any potential situation, a dominant presence in duels or when fighting vehicles and other similarly tough opponents, and the profile to be a true anchor and wade through a battle-line with no fear whatsoever. He is a fantastic choice for an Iron Warriors army provided you build the list around him - common themes to a Perturabo list include masses of Terminators, Erasmus Golg, various other Deep Striking elements and hidden Barrage weapons - and he can definitely be considered as one of the most fearsome and powerful Primarchs on the tabletop.
Thank you all for reading this first entry into the darkest era in fictional human history, I hope you enjoyed it! I've grown to love the Iron Warriors despite never really understanding their motivations and back-story before; I count learning the truth behind the tragic tale of Perturabo to be one of my greatest hobby-related experiences. I'm eager to hear your thoughts on the 4th Legion and what you think of their rules, as well as any feedback you might have for this first entry into my 30K Tactica series. Thanks again!
Iron Within, Iron Without!
Very thorough! I came to similar conclusions regarding the Hammer of Olympia, I haven't yet found an occasion where being able to charge after rapid firing is worth the limitations.
ReplyDeleteI'd be interested to hear your thoughts on Narik Dreygur, as I'm running him in my 2k list
Dammit Jack! Just when I thought I'd settled on Night Lords. I was going to customise Talos and Urza and everyone! Now I'm thinking how awesome a siege army would be! Hang your head in shame good sir!
ReplyDeleteReally nice write up, I enjoyed going through it. 2 corrections that I noticed however:
ReplyDelete1)Perturabo (indeed all primarchs) do not roll for Warlord Traits. Their unique abilities are considered to be their warlord traits. This is part of the Primarch rule.
2)Perturabo is allowed to move and/or charge after using his Precision Bombardment. His rule for the bombardment specifically says that using it does not count as him firing a weapon.
I was looking for a breakdown of Iron Warriors when I found this from so long ago. Not sure you will ever read this but thank you for a great read.
ReplyDeleteWell writen man, u'r efforts wont go unnoticed. ☺
ReplyDelete