Legiones Astartes

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Warlords of the Legiones Astartes

Core Warlord Traits

Unique Sub-type

Among the warriors and war machines of the Horus Heresy there are many whose names are known throughout the galaxy. Such heroes, prototypes and icons are rare, and though their power can tip any battle in their favour, they can only be in one place at a time.

• An army may not include more than a single instance of a unit with this Sub-type. For example, if Unit A and Unit B both have the Unique Sub-type then a single army could include one of Unit A and one of Unit B, but no more than one of either unit.
• A model or unit composed entirely of models with the Unique Sub-type may not select any options other than those included on its Army List Profile (this includes Legion specific Wargear for models with the Legiones Astartes (X) special rule).

Skirmish Sub-type

Intended to scout enemy positions and screen the advance of heavier units. Skirmishers rely on speed and use of cover to survive rather than heavy armour, rarely faring well when pitted in open battle against true shock infantry.

• A unit that includes only models with the Skirmish Sub-type has a unit coherency range of 3" rather than 2".
• A unit that includes only models with the Skirmish Sub-type increases all Cover Saves granted by terrain by one (i.e., from 6+ to 5+). This only increases existing Cover Saves and does not grant one when in terrain that does not normally grant a Cover Save. This rule cannot increase a Cover Save to better than 2+.

Bombard Sub-type

Certain vehicles are designed to mount one or more large and cumbersome weapons, most often long ranged artillery cannon. Such vehicles are large and heavy enough, or designed with specialised systems to stabilise them whilst they are moving, to allow for the continuous firing of their primary weapons.

• When a model with the Vehicle Unit Type and Bombard Sub-type moves at Combat Speed it may fire any number of Ordnance weapons and may also fire any non-Ordnance weapons normally, ignoring the restrictions of Combat Speed. However, when moving at Cruising Speed it may only fire a single Defensive weapon.

Reinforced Sub-type

The mightiest armoured vehicles of the Horus Heresy featured multiple back-up systems, armoured internal bulwarks and reinforced armour plating. These imposing defences allowed these vehicles to shrug off anything but the most catastrophic damage and survive where lesser vehicles would be crippled and left impotent by enemy fire.

• A model with the Reinforced Sub-type ignores the effects of any Crew Shaken result on the Vehicle Damage table.
• A model with the Reinforced Sub-type does not have to make Snap Shots due to the effects of the Crew Stunned result on the Vehicle Damage table (but still cannot move or pivot until the end of its next turn).

Gaining Access to Rites of War

• The Detachment includes at least one model with both the Legiones Astartes (X) special rule and the Master of the Legion special rule (such as a Legion Praetor or Legion Centurion with the Delegatus Consul upgrade).
• The Detachment can upgrade at least one model from the Detachment to have the Master of the Legion special rule as noted in a specific Rite of War that allows this (see the Armoured Spearhead and Fury of the Ancients Rites of War that follow).

Rite of War: Legion Recon Company

All of the Legions maintained bodies of warriors dedicated to the vital battlefield duty of reconnaissance. When the Legion went to war en masse, it was often preceded by such a body, serving as pathfinders and scouts for the main force.

• Legion Reconnaissance Squads and Legion Scout Squads in a Detachment using this Rite of War do not have the Support Squad special rule.
• Legion Seeker Squads may be taken as non-Compulsory Troops choices in a Detachment using this Rite of War.
• A player whose army includes at least one Detachment using this Rite of War may re-roll any dice they roll to see which player takes the first turn or when attempting to Seize the Initiative.

• No unit in a Detachment using this Rite of War that includes any models with the Heavy Sub-type may be deployed onto the battlefield during deployment, and must instead be placed into Reserves.
• A Detachment using this Rite of War may not select any Fortification choices.
• All Compulsory Troops choices in a Detachment using this Rite of War must be Legion Reconnaissance Squads or Legion Scout Squads.

Rite of War: Angel’s Wrath

Although the strength of the Legiones Astartes ranged into the tens of thousands in each Legion, often they were confronted with enemies in the hundreds of thousands, even millions strong in open battle. The answer often to this imbalance was to ensure mobility and air supremacy, allowing the Legion’s force to rapidly redeploy to strike and strike again without becoming mired amid a sea of foes.

• Any unit in a Detachment using this Rite of War eligible to take a Legion Rhino Transport as a Dedicated Transport may instead take a Legion Storm Eagle Gunship as a Dedicated Transport.
• For any model with the Vehicle Unit Type and both the Flyer and Transport Sub-types from a Detachment that is using this Rite of War, and that is in Reserve, the controlling player may choose to automatically have them enter play at the start of their first turn without making a Reserves roll. If they are not brought into play on Turn One then Reserves rolls are made for the models normally from Turn Two onwards.

• All models with the Infantry Unit Type in a Detachment using this Rite of War that do not have jump packs of any kind must begin the battle Embarked upon a model with the Vehicle Unit Type and both the Flyer and Transport Sub-types.
• All models with both the Infantry Unit Type and a jump pack of any kind in a Detachment using this Rite of War must begin the battle in Reserves, but may be assigned to a Deep Strike Assault as normal.
• A Detachment using this Rite of War may not include any models with the Vehicle Unit Type that do not also have the Flyer Sub-type.
• A Detachment using this Rite of War may not select any Fortification choices.

Rite of War: Sky-hunter Phalanx

A Sky-hunter Phalanx represents a mustering of large numbers of a Legion’s fastest antigrav units, or a specialised chapter consisting entirely of such assets. Sky-hunter Phalanxes are employed to range ahead of large Legion deployments and to engage forward enemy units before they can react, embarking on wide flanking manoeuvres that isolate and then decapitate the foe.

• Legion Sky-hunter Squadrons and Legion Proteus Land Speeder Squadrons may be taken as Troops choices in a Detachment using this Rite of War.
• Any Legion Sky-hunter Squadrons selected as Troops choices in a Detachment using this Rite of War gain the Line Sub-type.

• Models with the Vehicle Unit Type included in a Detachment using this Rite of War must have one of the following Unit Sub-types: Flyer, Fast, or Skimmer.
• All units in a Detachment using this Rite of War composed entirely of models with the Infantry Unit Type must begin the battle Embarked upon a model with both the Flyer and Transport Sub-types.
• A Detachment using this Rite of War may not include any models with the Dreadnought Unit Type.
• An Allied Detachment may not use this Rite of War.
• A Detachment using this Rite of War may not select any Fortification choices.

Rite of War: Drop Pod Assault

One theatre of warfare in which the Space Marine Legions were without peer was the orbital assault. With a sudden, calamitous strike from the void, were hundreds of worlds brought into Compliance during the Great Crusade, their leadership decapitated and their centres of power taken over at a bloody stroke, without the need for a protracted war of conquest.

• All units in a Detachment using this Rite of War eligible to take a Legion Rhino Transport or Legion Land Raider Proteus Carrier Dedicated Transport may instead select Legion Drop Pods or Legion Dreadclaw Drop Pods as Dedicated Transports.
• When taken as part of a Detachment using this Rite of War, any units composed of models with the Dreadnought Unit Type must be given either Legion Dreadclaw Drop Pods or Legion Dreadnought Drop Pods as Dedicated Transports and may not be selected in units of more than one model.

• All units in a Detachment using this Rite of War selected with Legion Drop Pods, Legion Dreadnought Drop Pods or Legion Dreadclaw Drop Pods as Dedicated Transports must deploy by means of a Drop Pod Assault.
• A Detachment using this Rite of War may not select any Fortification choices.
• Any models selected as part of a Detachment that do not have a Legion Drop Pod, Legion Dreadnought Drop Pod or Legion Dreadclaw Drop Pod as a Dedicated Transport, or are Embarked on a Legion Kharybdis Assault Claw, must be placed into Reserve and cannot take part in any alternative deployments (such as Deep Strike Assaults or Flanking Assaults).

Rite of War: Pride of the Legion

Each Space Marine Legion had its elite, a core of veterans with experience of countless wars on worlds unnumbered. In battle these veterans, armed and armoured with the finest wargear the Legion possessed, could be deployed together like a clenched fist, focusing and maximising their killing power to destroy the most terrible enemies the Great Crusade faced.

• Legion Veteran Squads, Legion Terminator Cataphractii Squads and Legion Terminator Tartaros Squads may be selected as Troops choices in a Detachment using this Rite of War.
• Any Legion Terminator Cataphractii Squads, Legion Terminator Tartaros Squads and Legion Veteran Squads taken as Compulsory Troops choices in a Detachment using this Rite of War gain the Line Sub-type.
• Any unit composed entirely of models with either Cataphractii Terminator armour, Tartaros Terminator armour or any other pattern of Terminator armour and that is normally selected as an Elites choice may be included in a Detachment using this Rite of War as a Troops choice.

• An army whose Primary Detachment is using this Rite of War may not select an Allied Detachment.
• A Detachment using this Rite of War may only select a single Heavy Support choice and a single Fast Attack choice.
• An Allied Detachment may not use this Rite of War.
• An army using this Rite of War may not select any Fortification choices.
• An army using this Rite of War may not include more non-Infantry units than it does Infantry units.

Rite of War: Underworld Assault

The Legiones Astartes were masters of unconventional and dangerous assaults, and massed attack by subterranean assault drills was a strategy that few other forces could prosecute. Most such assaults called for a small diversionary force on the surface to hold the enemy in place while the main body approached the field from below, emerging amid the enemy’s lines to cause havoc and bypass any fortifications or obstacles that might have slowed a conventional attack.

• All units in this Detachment eligible to take a Legion Rhino Transport as a Dedicated Transport may instead select a Legion Termite Assault Drill as a Dedicated Transport.
• Legion Termite Assault Drills may be selected as Fast Attack choices and Heavy Support choices in a Detachment with this Rite of War.
• All units in a Detachment using this Rite of War that begin play on the battlefield and not in Reserve, gain the Stubborn special rule until the end of the turn in which any units assigned to a Subterranean Assault are deployed onto the battlefield.

• All Infantry units that do not have a version of the Bulky (X) special rule in a Detachment using this Rite of War must begin the battle Embarked on a Legion Termite Assault Drill.
• A Detachment using this Rite of War may not select any Fortification choices.
• Any models selected as part of a Detachment using this Rite of War that are not Legion Termite Assault Drills, or Embarked on a Legion Termite Assault Drill, may not be placed into Reserve and cannot take part in any alternative deployments (such as Deep Strike Assaults or Flanking Assaults).

Rite of War: Armoured Spearhead

A common assault formation, the armoured spearhead was designed to deliver the Legion’s main strength into combat while shielding it from the predations of hostile shot and shell.

• All units in a Detachment using this Rite of War eligible to take a Legion Rhino Transport as a Dedicated Transport may instead select a Legion Land Raider Proteus Carrier as a Dedicated Transport if they number ten models or less.
• Legion Predator Squadrons in a Detachment using this Rite of War may be selected as Troops choices.
• Legion Sicaran Squadrons in a Detachment using this Rite of War may be selected as Elites choices.
• In a Detachment using this Rite of War, a single Legion Sicaran Squadron or Legion Predator Squadron, composed of only a single model, must be selected as a HQ choice. This model gains the Master of the Legion special rule and must be selected as the army’s Warlord and must use the Master of Armour Warlord Trait (as follows). In this case, the model must be selected as the Warlord despite having the Vehicle Unit Type, and regardless of any other rules that would require another model to be selected as the Warlord (note this means that some units and Characters cannot be selected as part of this army, such as Primarchs).

• All units in a Detachment using this Rite of War with the Infantry Type must begin the battle Embarked upon a model with the Transport Sub-type; any Infantry models in a Detachment using this Rite of War, both those deployed on the battlefield and in Reserves, that are not Embarked upon a model with the Transport Sub-type at the beginning of the battle must be removed as casualties.
• A Detachment using this Rite of War may not select any Fortification choices.
• A Detachment using this Rite of War may not include any models with a Movement Characteristic of 0 or ‘-’.
• This Rite of War may only be selected for an army’s Primary Detachment.

Rite of War: Brethren of Iron

As the relentless wars of the Horus Heresy ground ever on, few of the Legions were spared suffering losses on an apocalyptic scale. Most found some means of bolstering their ranks, some conventional, others arcane and proscribed. One fairly common method of temporarily filling depleted ranks was to induct allied Cybernetica maniples directly into line units, and some fought with such implacable ferocity that they were granted Legion heraldry and afforded a permanent place in the ranks. Few of these ‘iron brethren’ survived long, however, for they were often used as expendable assault waves attacking ahead of the more valuable and hard to replace Legionaries.

• Castellax Battle-automata Maniples* may be taken as non-Compulsory Troops choices, Vorax Battle-automata Maniples* may be taken as non-Compulsory Fast Attack choices and Domitar Battle-automata Maniples* may be taken as non-Compulsory Elites choices in a Detachment using this Rite of War. In addition, a single Thanatar Siege-automata Maniple* of no more than one model may be taken as a non-Compulsory Heavy Support choice in a Detachment using this Rite of War.
• Any Legion Techmarine in a Detachment using this Rite of War may be upgraded to have a cortex controller at +20 points.

• A Detachment using this Rite of War may not have more units that include one or more models with the Automata Unit Type than the total number of units it includes that do not include any models with the Automata Unit Type.
• At least one model with a cortex controller must be included in the Detachment for every three models with the Automata Unit Type in the Detachment.
• No models or units in the Detachment may be given the Paragon of Metal special rule (see Liber Mechanicum).
• A model with the Forge Lord Legiones Consularis upgrade must be taken as the Compulsory HQ choice for an army using this Rite of War (but need not be chosen as the army Warlord). Note that this will preclude certain other characters from being included in the Detachment, and means in most cases that both a Legion Praetor and a Legion Forge Lord must be taken.

Legion Librarian

For many years the Legions maintained cadres of battle-psykers in their ranks, warriors who fused these esoteric powers with a Space Marine’s superhuman physical power. But there were many within the Imperium’s hierarchy who were troubled by such dangerous and unstable potential, and after dark events in the Great Crusade’s later period, such adepts were forbidden from the use of their arts and arcane lore.

Legion Master of Signals

A vital link between those desperately fighting and support elements of the Legion in battle, the Master of Signals is a strategic and communications specialist capable of interpreting and directing the flow of battle around them, and calling in support strikes from distant batteries and orbiting vessels.

Legion Champion

Chosen from the best blades of the Legion, a Champion bears the honour of their chapter or company in battle, and is armed and armoured in the finest panoply of war. Their sworn task is to seek out the foe’s mightiest warriors, and slay them as an object lesson in the Imperium’s superiority.

Legion Delegatus

A Legion Delegatus is a mid-ranking Legion officer, such as a centurion, tasked with a specific mission by a Legion’s High Command and formally deputised to act in all matters with the full weight of their commander’s authority. As such, they can mobilise the Legion’s resources to the full, deploy its assets and, if performing a mission of vital strategic worth, assemble a strike force of chosen warriors.

Legion Chaplain

The Chaplain Order, established towards the end of the Great Crusade, was intended to create a cadre of fearsome veteran warriors who would enforce a cohesion of doctrine and belief in the scattered and increasingly idiosyncratic Legions, far from Terra. Theirs was a mortuary symbol of sacrifice graven in the form of an ornate staff, mace or axe: the Crozius Arcanum, which served as both a badge of office and a deadly weapon.

Legion Vigilator

Highly skilled as watchers and hunters among their brethren, Vigilators are the eyes of their Legion on the ground, their wisdom paramount in scouting out the foe’s disposition and strength, and determining the best place to strike. Theirs also are the arts of sabotage and assassination, and while some Legions are more inclined to such subtleties than others, all see their military value.

Legion Pathfinder

Within the ranks of the Legions at the time of the outbreak of the Horus Heresy there were few remaining Scout cohorts, with most companies equipped with the scout armour long since reassigned to Recon detachments. Those few that remain are often veterans of over a century of war in the most hostile terrain known to humanity, and the last Pathfinders are the unchallenged experts on combat within such dangerous ground.

Legion Herald

As the wars of the Horus Heresy spread to consume the galaxy, billions fought and died under the banners of warlords they had never seen or heard first-hand, and even among those such as the Legiones Astartes, near-religious fervour became common for those artefacts touched by Primarch, Warmaster or Regent, and given to a chosen emissary as a sign of authority and favour.

Legion Forge Lord

Masters of the machine and foundry, Forge Lords are the most experienced and skilful of the Legion’s Techmarines. These warrior-smiths are skilled battle-leaders as much as they are artisans of war, and are often appointed to the command of Legion detachments comprised largely of tanks and armoured vehicles or battle-automata, as well as serving as stewards to a Legion’s Dreadnoughts.

Legion Primus Medicae

High officers of the Legion Apothecarion, the primus medicae of a Legion hold the onerous duties of both ensuring the battle-readiness and physical wellbeing of their battle-brothers. This is an authority which none but a Primarch or his chosen deputy can overrule, and such warriors are dedicated to preserving the gene-seed of the Legion from loss or contamination at any cost, even that of their lives.

Legion Siege Breaker

The wreckers of cities, the bringers-down of fortress walls and the shatterers of strongholds, Siege Breakers are officers of the Legion whose speciality is precisely applied destruction against strategic targets. Placed often in command of armoured spearhead assaults and frontline artillery units, they prefer to closely observe their work, rather than sit back behind the lines, and so are deadly efficient in adapting their force’s attack patterns from moment to moment.

Legion Armistos

Few individuals are capable of the unending operation of maintaining, categorising, requisitioning and dispensing the vast arsenals of an entire Space Marine Legion. Beyond this, many such officers of the Legions work to improve the weaponry at their disposal, running simulations and field tests of augmented weaponry. The skills required of an Armistos are much sought after by the Legion’s Master of Arsenal, particularly in those Legionaries of level temperament who are not apt to charge into the fray but are capable of supporting and supplying their battle brothers without desire for aggrandisement.

• - Master-crafted heavy bolter
  5 points

• - Master-crafted volkite culverin
  10 points

• - Master-crafted lascannon
  15 points

• - Master-crafted plasma cannon
  15 points

• - Master-crafted multi-melta
  10 points

• - Master-crafted autocannon
  5 points

• - Twin-linked heavy flamer
  5 points

• - Master-crafted missile launcher (with frag, krak and flak missiles)
  10 points

Legion Moritat

Said by some to be no less than death incarnate, and by others to be dishonourable murderers with no place in the Imperium’s order of battle, moritats are lone killers operating outside the Legion’s usual command structures at the behest, or at least sufferance of its high commanders. Regarded usually as dangerously unstable outcasts —perhaps created by some seldom-exposed flaw of gene-seed or indoctrination— they are also savage and proficient warriors, however, having become one with the act of killing, honing their superhuman reflexes to gun down the foe at close quarters to a preternatural degree.

• To Hit rolls for Chain Fire attacks may never be re-rolled, and weapons which do not roll To Hit may not make Chain Fire attacks (including any weapons with the Template or Blast special rules).
• When making a Chain Fire attack for weapons with the Gets Hot or Armourbane (Melta) special rules, roll each Hit individually; if a 1 is rolled, stop rolling To Hit for that weapon immediately. No further To Hit rolls may be made with that weapon for the remainder of the Phase.
• After making a Chain Fire attack, a model with this special rule and any unit he has joined may not declare a Charge in the following Assault phase.
• When making a Chain Fire attack a model with more than two appropriate weapons must select and use the same one or two weapons for all 6 attacks made as part of the Chain Fire attack (unless the Gets Hot or Armourbane (Melta) rules noted above force the controlling player to stop using one of the weapons, in which case another appropriate weapon may be used if available).
• A Chain Fire attack may never be made as part of any Reaction.

Legion Mortificator

A specialised subset of Techmarines, mortificators are ultimately responsible for the Legion’s honoured dead, the furious Ancients entombed within cyborganic sarcophagi slumbering in the Legion’s sepulchres, and show a near-fanatical devotion to their charges, in some cases going so far as to contravene the tenets of the Martian Cult adopted by the Legion’s Forge Lords. A mortificator’s primary duties include the protection during slumber and rousing during war of the Legion’s complement of Dreadnoughts, and when necessary, extends to the controlling of those Dreadnoughts too long asleep or too choleric to be considered wholly sane.

Apothecarion Detachment

The apothecarion of the Space Marine Legions stands outside the organisation of chapter and company, with small detachments of its warriors assigned to an army as necessity demands. Only on the longest campaigns would an apothecary find themselves going to war amongst the same warriors time and time again.

Area Denial Drop

An area denial drop is a co-ordinated attempt to close off an area of the battlefield to the enemy by seeding it with automated weapons systems and hunter seeker units.

Auxiliary Vehicle Bay

The largest of transports are so vast that they can carry smaller vehicles into battle. Such huge engines of war are rarely deployed, save to the most dangerous of conflicts where an army must bring the maximum possible force to bear upon the foe or must traverse the most dangerous of terrain.

Bitter Duty

Some warriors are marked by the dire weaponry they bear or the grim tactics in which they are trained. These dour cohorts are shunned by their brethren, whether out of respect for their burden or from fear of their rage.

Breaching (X)

Some weapons are capable of breaching armour with a terrifying ease, whether by specially designed munitions, careful targeting or sheer brute power.

Brutal (X)

Some weapons strike with such force that they cause terrible wounds that can lay low even the most formidable combatant.

Containment Breach

Some of the more powerful reactors in use by the vehicles of the Imperium are so potent as to cause terrible damage to those nearby should they be breached by enemy fire. Yet, the engines of war they feed are so vital that such risks are considered worthwhile.

Crushing Weight

While the impact of any war machine can cripple an ordinary warrior, some vehicles are so massive that they can crush infantry like ants. Such engines of destruction can even cripple lesser vehicles, serving as battering rams of unequalled effectiveness when called upon.

Deathstorm

Some weapons make no attempt to target individual warriors, but instead saturate the target zone with such a torrent of gunfire that few can escape their wrath. Such weapons are capable of causing high casualty numbers in a short space of time, but require vast stores of ammunition to maintain their attack.

Detonation

A carefully placed explosive charge can easily doom even the most heavily armoured vehicle, but are difficult to attach accurately in the heat of combat.

Dreadnought Talon

The towering Dreadnoughts of the Legiones Astartes were often organised into informal warbands, waiting only for the start of battle to advance and bring death to the foe.

Dreadnought Transport

Some transports are specially designed to allow the massive frames of Dreadnoughts to be transported into battle; from drop pods intended purely for the delivery of these armoured behemoths from orbit, to more versatile transports that can either ferry warriors or Dreadnoughts into the fires of war.

Feedback

Some weapons emit projectiles or energy beams of such terrible potency that, if fired, they can have terrible consequences for those that dare unleash their power. Whether due to energy surges in coherent energy beams, or failure in the arming systems of shells or warheads, a failure to properly arm the weapon and fully penetrate the enemy’s armour can cause lethal feedback.

Fury of the Legion

The tactical Legionaries that form the core of every Space Marine Legion drill endlessly with the boltgun that is their hallmark. As a result, these warriors are capable of unleashing a torrent of gunfire that can halt any foe in its tracks.

Graviton Collapse

These weapons emit an unstable stream of gravitons that causes a catastrophic implosion at the target point. Such is the power of these weapons that even the strongest of targets is dragged in and torn apart by the forces unleashed, the sheer mass of their armour serving only to increase the power of the detonation.

Harbingers of the Legion

Running ahead of the heavy infantry that was the closed fist of the Space Marine Legions, these warriors harry and pursue the enemy. They strike at the foe’s most vulnerable points, depriving them of shelter and succour and leaving them at the mercy of the warriors that follow in their wake.

Heart of the Legion

Though often overshadowed in the annals of history by other more prestigious warriors, it is the courage and tenacity of the humble tactical Legionary that carried the Legions to victory after victory. It would be by the blood of these warriors that the course of the Horus Heresy would be decided, and by their sacrifice that the fate of the Imperium determined.

Heat Blast

Serving primarily to slow the descent of orbital strike craft, the thrusters of some such vehicles can also be used to scorch and burn enemy infantry. The most desperate or sadistic crews assigned to such craft often made use of this capability to reap a toll of the enemy, even after releasing their passengers into the heart of battle.

Heavy Beam

Emitting a devastating beam of coherent energy, these weapons can engulf multiple targets in a single blast. Sweeping across the battlefield in a continuous beam of ravening destruction, the destructive power of such a burst can only be halted by the sturdiest of obstructions or most mighty of war machines.

• All models (friend and enemy) caught in the beam area (excepting the firing model) suffer a Hit with the listed profile of the weapon, except models with the Flyer Sub-type which cannot be affected or targeted.
• Units with any models in the beam area receive a number of Hits equal to the number of their models caught in the path of the beam; casualties are removed from affected units using the normal rules for removing casualties.
• If a Terrain piece, Building, model with the Vehicle Unit Type or any model with 6 or more Wounds is in the beam area, the attack is blocked and its line of effect will go no further than that model. The blocking model will, however, suffer 1+D3 separate Hits, rather than just 1.
• If a model with the Vehicle Unit Type and the Transport Sub-type suffers a Penetrating Hit from a weapon with this special rule, each unit Embarked on it suffers D6 Str 4 AP - Hits with the Deflagrate special rule, in addition to any other effects. Any Wounds caused are allocated by the controller of the target unit.

Impact-reactive Doors

Many assault vehicles have doors designed to release via explosive bolts, allowing their passengers to disembark as swiftly as possible.

Inertial Guidance System

Orbital strike vehicles often mount sophisticated sensors to aid them in avoiding obstacles as they streak towards the battlefield. Those assigned to orbital assaults must rely on these systems to see them to the surface, for, given the sheer speed of their descent, no human pilot could hope to bring them safely down.

Inexorable

Whether due to intense training, indomitable armour or blind madness, some warriors will keep advancing no matter the firepower directed at them.

Infantry Transport

The most common transport vehicles are those dedicated to carrying the infantry that form the core of Mankind’s armies. Such bulk transports lack the specialised equipment to accommodate more unique warriors.

Legion Artillerists

Skilled beyond the arts of mortal warriors in the employment of artillery to its most deadly effect, these artists of shot and shell know best how to place each strike from their guns.

Legiones Consularis

Among the many officers of the Legiones Astartes, there are those with unique talents and hard-won skills that are honoured with the title and rank of consul. These warriors lead the Legion into battle and conduct the most arduous of missions, called upon by their lords when the specialised knowledge they guard is required in the struggle for victory and demise of the foe.

Limited Ammunition

Some weapons, either due to a restricted capacity to store shells, a terrifying rate of fire or a complex loading mechanism, are prone to running out of ammunition in the heat of battle. Once drained of their reserves, these weapons become little more than burdens to their wielders, impotent until the battle is concluded and specialised equipment can be used to replenish their stores.

Loyalist

Whether pledged to the Emperor himself as the rightful leader of Mankind or to the dream of the Imperium that he intended to create, some warriors swore to fight and die for the Loyalist cause and no other.

Marked for Death

Trained to identify and slaughter specific targets, certain cadres of warriors make an art of stalking and assassination. These warriors are singular in their focus, and, when unleashed upon the foe, are a decree of certain death.

Master of Automata

Some warriors are trained to operate alongside the towering automata of the Mechanicum, well accustomed to the limitations of those war machines and how to best fight at their side.

Master of the Legion

The greatest commanders of the Space Marine Legions are all but peerless in their strategic and tactical abilities. The genecraft of the Emperor that created them, honed by individual talent and the experience of countless battles, has sharpened their acumen to a preternatural degree.

• Rites of War: If a Detachment with the Legiones Astartes Faction includes at least one model with the Master of the Legion special rule then that Detachment may select a single Rite of War. Rites of War are presented in the Legiones Astartes Rites of War section.
• The Few and the Proud: An army may only include a maximum of one model with this special rule per 1,000 points. This counts across all Detachments of an army. Thus, an army that totals at least 1,000 points may include only a single model with the Master of the Legion special rule, and an army that totals at least 2,000 points may include up to two models with the Master of the Legion special rule, etc.
• Retinue: A model with this special rule may also include a Legion Command Squad, Legion Cataphractii Command Squad or Legion Tartaros Command Squad as part of the same Force Organisation slot as the model with the Master of the Legion special rule.

Neutron-flux

Designed specifically to degrade the complex neural circuitry and cogitators of the Mechanicum’s automata, these weapons are considered an affront to their Order. The exotic radiation emitted by such devices is the bane of the otherwise indefatigable steel warriors of the Mechanicum, leaving them as motionless, lifeless husks.

Orbital Assault Vehicle

Drop pods and other dedicated orbital assault vehicles are intended for one purpose only – to deliver warriors and equipment from orbiting spacecraft to battlefields on a planet’s surface. Once deployed they play little further part in the battle, serving only to support the onslaught of their passengers.

Plasma Burn

Certain plasma weapons are designed not just to break the target with the sheer power of its initial strike, but also to burn and short-circuit the internal workings exposed. The superheated matter emitted by plasma cannons serves ideally for this purpose, continuing to sear and burn long after impact.

Reach (X)

Some weapons rely not on the speed of their wielder, but on their sheer length or cunning design to inflict harm upon the foe before they can react.

Reactor Blast

Certain powerful reactors, when destroyed, erupt in a devastating blast capable of destroying other engines of war.

Reaping Blow (X)

Only when outnumbered in the press of the melee, can these weapons be wielded to the greatest effect.

Repair

Some vehicles are robust enough or simple enough in their construction that the crew can conduct minor repairs in the field.

Retinue

Many of the most famous and powerful commanders went to war with a dedicated cadre of bodyguards and adjutants. These guardians served both to protect their master in the heat of battle, preserving his life against all threats, and as a vital reserve of skilled warriors to press the attack at the most crucial moment.

Rocket Barrage

Some weapons require a stable firing platform in order to deliver their payload with maximum destructive force. When forced to fire without the proper preparations their effect is greatly reduced, but when firing from prepared positions they can unleash such a devastating torrent of fire that few enemies can survive their wrath.

Spite of the Legion

The warriors of the Space Marine Legions knew full well that to leave any foe alive was to compromise the Great Crusade, to endanger the long march of humanity across the galaxy. So in war, they deployed warriors specifically to harry those that attempted to flee or that haunted the edges of the battlefield.

Sudden Strike (X)

Some warriors are skilled in the swift and deadly arts of guerilla warfare, relying on ambush and surprise to take their opponents unaware. These warriors are deadly on the attack, but must press this advantage to overcome more heavily equipped foes.

Talons of the Legion

Employed to cover the advance of the infantry companies below, those who pilot the aircraft of the Space Marine Legions are masters of the interception and destruction of enemy aircraft and airborne xenos beasts.

Techmarine Covenant

With most Legions boasting only a small cadre of Techmarines, those that are available are a vital resource for any Legion task force. These warriors are assigned only as is necessary, placed in the units and formations that can best benefit from their unique skills.

Torsion Crusher

Driven by technology little understood, even by the initiates of the Mechanicum, these weapons are the bane of the complex war machines of the Horus Heresy. Once such weapons have cut through the target’s armour, their exotic energies and sheer destructive power wreak havoc on the delicate internal machinery of the target.

Traitor

In the name of the Warmaster Horus, a vast host took up arms against those they had once called brothers – some driven by a lust for power and others by a misguided desire for justice. Regardless of the cause they held dear, there could be no turning back for these warriors, only victory or damnation.

Transport Bay

Some of the largest transport vehicles are specially designed to carry both infantry and engines of war into battle, allowing versatile battle groups to be deployed to the battlefield at once. These rare war machines are often restricted to the most elite of an army, and used to tackle the most perilous of missions.

Void Shields (X)

Some vehicles are equipped with almost impenetrable shields of energy, relics from ancient times known as void shields.

Volatile Plasma Containment

Even at the height of the Imperium’s power, plasma weapons were poorly understood and often dangerous to put into use. The most destructive of these weapons required large and volatile tanks of super-heated gas, which would often detonate should a vehicle carrying them suffer catastrophic damage, scattering plasma on any nearby.