Introduction

The rules haven’t even been formally released yet, and the community is in uproar. I’ve heard it all this past week – the age old “Heresy is dead”, “I’m quitting the game”, “why is a large portion of my army invalid” all the way through to sycophantic, disgusting jeers of “It’s just a game” and “Cry harder”. We’ve even had a public melt-down resulting in individuals being targeted and had racial slurs and slurs pertaining to protected characteristics chucked about. Not cool.

The truth is, it’s all a bit shit.

The core rules that were leaked the other day are largely the same as 2.0. In fact, there are several break out boxes throughout the rules that declare “If you are a veteran player of Horus Heresy, you should read these rules as some are marginally different” – but they aren’t really that different.

They’ve added in additional rules for challenges and morale interactions that I doubt anyone asked for and appear to add very little other than slowing the pacing of the game down. I’m sure there will be more use of these rules by EO/TO when they add objectives that better employ them narratively.

They’ve also changed the way that scattering works, seemingly for no reason too. The Force Organisation Chart is now exceptionally complicated in the pursuit of “greater freedom for army construction”.

So aside from the fairly benign, unneeded and unwanted changes – why the angst and rage? Why the divide in the community?

Lies. That’s why.

The Community – You totally can use your existing army

Some of you might get to a point in this post and think “He’s really mad” or “Over-reacting much?” and you’re right to your opinion is unaffected by this post or me. But don’t think of this as a singular point of view. Some of this content is drawing from very real conversations across a multitude of communities, with different people in with differing mindsets.

These are gamers and hobbyists who put major time and effort into the Heresy setting through lore, box modelling, conversions, kitbashes, experimenting with painting schemes and styles. They pour hours a week into their hobby and consume a lot of products from a lot of suppliers as a result. This equates to a hefty portion of their functional resources, primarily time and money, in a world that places both of those things at immense premium. This is why it isn’t a small issue to have these effects occur to them. It’s why there’s such negativity bounding about in such numbers.

The Box Set Question

Part of this angst in the community is subjectively down to the Edition launch box set. You know how Saturnine, a previously unknown and unreferenced armour mark (one small novella and the odd mention in a Black Book aside out of 55 books) has always been here? You do now – harken to the Drop Site Massacre where it was prevalent! It doesn’t really fit aesthetically with the rest of the Heresy line, so even if you forgive the brutal retcon, it’s all scale-creep on crack, an a dystopian world where a shoe-horned in Praetor in Saturnine armour is only two wounds and a toughness less than a Primarch and getting on to rivalling a Leviathan Dreadnought in size.

We’ve already seen metrics to show that it’s not selling quite as intended, with some shops still rocking full complements of boxes, which was unheard of when 2.0’s boxset was released. It’s going for around £159 currently at FLGS, which is still good value when considering the retail cost of individual units – but it clearly isn’t for everyone.

Heresy stock has been intermittently non-existent for almost a year in most regions. In reality, it’s because they’ve focused on something from someone’s wish list, etheric and of no real substance in lore instead of making logistics work for the game now. Whilst evolution and adding new units into the game is good, it’s not when it flies in the face of everything people want or more importantly, need. Actual stock for actual lore-based units and plastics of those units we have in resin.

Corporate Confusion

The community was seemingly asking for 2.0 with a comprehensive FAQ applied to simplify the system and add balance between unit choices. The main offenders were Thunderhammers, Contemptor Dreadnoughts, Lascannon Heavy Support Squads and Reactions. Not to mention the chaotic laydown of rules across books, pages and sections – many of which bearing no relevance to how they could be found, or being outright missing or incorrect.

The Force Organisation Chart didn’t really need changing. In 1.0 and 2.0, you took an HQ and two Troops choices that were classed as Compulsory. These were often Tactical Squads, because they were cheap and used to score objectives (Take note Games Workshop – they’ve always done this role since 1.0). In both Editions, Rites of War enabled narrative choices to be taken as Troops, but in 2.0 only the minority gained Line and enabled a genuine narrative build containing all thematic units only.

It was a simple starting block, easy to refer to, easy to intuit and, if they’d simply FAQ’d “Units that can be selected as Troops choices in a Rite of War gain LINE”, it would have provided some balance.

Atop of that you applied Legion rules and Legion Specific Rites of War to really dig into those narrative and fun builds. There were benefits, and negatives to try to balance things out. Some were successful, others were not.

The new Force Organisation Chart provides “enhanced customisability” and “greater potential for narrative play” by forcing you to purchase specific HQs to unlock specific detachments to take specific units, all whilst restricting the number of those units you can take in each detachment. All from your current army which you “can totally use in the new edition” (lie).

Want to take a dreadnought? Take a Centurion, then take a War-Engine Detachment for one Dreadnought, as Dreadnought Talons are now a thing of the past. Want more, take more HQs (that you likely don’t own, or aren’t legal due to wargear).

Want to run Terminators as Troops? Take a “High Command” choice, unlock an Apex Detachment to get that option.

Whilst I commend Games Workshop for attempting something new, why on earth do I need multiple C2 elements to Command and Control a singular combat entity? Is it perchance because you’ve just released a metric tonne of Consul models?

It doesn’t really add flexibility at all – because in effect it achieves no more than a Rite of War would alongside an old Force Organisation Chart, but it does add a lot of complexity and makes it less intuitive – and in some instances, more restrictive.

A lot of the things people might want to take more of, are limited to one per detachment in the chart, so artificially limited unless you start taking loads of Consuls to unlock more of the same detachments. Sure there might be some edge cases to this, but largely you’re now adding HQs and jumping through hoops to take things you could just take before without even thinking about it to build narratively.

It’s not only the Force Org Chart in general that seems to be a bit of a miss. The iconography is absolutely fucking terrible. Gone are the HQ, TROOPS icons with clear delineation, replaced with icons that are similar to each other and having no descriptive text on them at all. It’s like asking someone to explain how to boil an egg in layman’s terms, and having it described in hieroglyphics. It’s not intuitive, and in various WhatsApp groups across the community I’ve seen conversations going on for thirty minutes or more trying to work out how to build armies. I’m sure this will improve in time, but it’s not a great start.

The no nonsense 1.0 and 2.0 FOC.

3.0’s smorgasbord of too similar icons and HQ limited “flexibility”.

Rites of War are no longer individually selectable themes per Legion, but the core theme behind an Legion – because what better way to confuse the consumer than changing something that has been extant for a decade and make it do something else. It’s also removed a level of narrative flexibility based on a singular theme pertinent to the lore of that Legion.

Also, where the sweet fuck is Drop Pod Assault?

This, is commercialism, manifest

The Libers themselves are the majority of this editions problems. I could accept the changes to the Force Organisation Chart if the Libers didn’t take your current army, and invalidate swathes of it.

The amount of stripping is plainly offensive.

“Oh I can finally build that Destroyer Company I always wanted to do with the new FOC” except you can’t, as Destroyers are suspiciously absent from the Libers.

You know those Tartaros Terminators you’ve had with Power Fists for nearly 10 years? Start pulling arms off as they’re illegal now.

Those Night Raptors you’ve lovingly crafted and painted with Lightning Claws? Get resin snipping and whilst you’re at it, try to find the original arms that you likely parted ways with 10 years ago. Or you know, buy more at £60 a pop for five, then spend more on additional weapons packs.

You can’t even take some of the characters you’ve likely had since 1.0, because of arbitrary changes to what armour or wargear they can take, and in some instances, they don’t exist at all. But remember the tag line “The game hasn’t changed” it’s “improvements over large-scale changes”.

It’s an absolute, pants down, anal assault to players and collectors. Especially those who were about in the dark days of the latter half of 1.0, where support was a mere whisper of the odd FAQ, a hastily written (but hideously expensive) Black Book and general neglect. Those were the days where players rallied against the cried of “Heresy is a dead game” and where “Narrative” and “Fun” was the underpinning ethos behind the game. Those players built huge armies, even larger collections, encompassing several armies – and ultimately convinced Games Workshop through their dedication to purchasing that Heresy was profitable enough to pursue for another edition. This resulted in the production of plastics to support 2.0, and the influx of new players again showed how successful it could be.

The studio knew this. Who can forget Andy Hoare stroking an Astraeus on video and saying “Heresy will be treated as one of the big three games in Games Workshop”. Who can forget Anuj Malhotra on Vox Cast saying “big things are coming for Heresy”. Both of those are paraphrased, but the sentiment is there – Heresy was not dead. Not by a long shot. It certainly isn’t now and in most cases, those who supported Heresy through the dark ages, are still here now with major collections.

So why now force players to butcher their armies? Why force players to effectively have nullified large portions of armies – either because they don’t have enough consuls or because their units either don’t exist or need major modification? Why force people to spend significantly more money on a game they’ve supported all this time out of love and enjoyment during what is swiftly becoming one of the worlds worst economic conditions where cost of living is increasing exponentially?

It’s fairly obvious that these “Journals” they keep going on about in their media releases will effectively contain content that was stripped from the Libers. It’ll be paid content, and even if it is £20 a book, it’s still a disgusting precedent and exceptionally predatory practice.

Worse, if we consider the Tartaros Terminators as an example, it seems to point to a new kit coming, which clearly has been redesigned in opposition to the current box, which is still on sale, with contents tailored for this editions rules. So they’ve actively decided to invalidate the older plastic kit for an arbitrary reason. Except it isn’t arbitrary, it’s the same reason they split Mechanicum and Knights and Titans books. The two things that are intrinsically tied to each other in lore and hence why they’ve been packaged in one book in 1.0 and 2.0 respectively. So instead of paying £30 for a single book, you now pay £45 for two.

That’s not simplification, that’s adding in something the community didn’t want; more books to cross reference from. Sure, you’re going to make some money from people in the community who buy direct or through FLGS to get these kits, just so they can make their army legal again, after it being made arbitrarily illegal by a £40 book, but you’re going to lose money to people who have become disenfranchised and either ignore the WYSIWYG requirement, 3D print, or simply stop playing.

That’s before we get to rules that are 3,000 words (+/- 10%) to explain A does B to do C. This is why there was a two hour discussion about the way the narthecium rule works. What was wrong with granting a Feel No Pain?

There’s no counter-argument to this. It’s not a discussion. What we are seeing here is blatant obfuscation within Warhammer Community posts of “the game is similar to before” and “It’s just improvements, not a totally new version”. That’s fair enough when considered with regards to the core rules. However the Libers are a totally different proposition, and they are clearly geared towards bleeding the community dry of finances by forcing elements of armies and army construction into planned obsolescence. All without a shred (which is another rule that’s changed pointlessly by the way) of communication as to what is occurring. This is 40K-ism in 30K.

That’s why the community is in uproar. This is why you have a major split of people saying they’ve rather play older editions, stop playing wholesale or simply create their own homebrew rules. Because Games Workshop communicates like they’re in the political sphere. Badly, and with poorly obfuscated lies, often on the back foot and clearly guilty.

The Right Business Model

The odd thing is, Games Workshop had a really successful game in 2.0, even with it’s problems. They didn’t need to do this to the core rules or libers to validate the new edition.

The right way to do this, in my opinion, would be to rod off the Saturnine shite, and to focus on the production and delivery of stock and conversion from resin to plastic. To put product on the shelves and legitimise supply of the system again.

Rules wise, they take what has been learned from 1.0 and 2.0 and work towards delivering a ruleset (core and libers) which is simplified by removing verbose descriptions of rules that require a panel of peer-reviewed assessors to interpret and commute into layman’s terms, and pack it into a tome of core rules that contains all of the Unique Special Rules as keywords. This makes it simpler to refer and cross reference.

They add weapons to the Libers in a similar vein, but you add the same archive of weapons to each book, so you aren’t referencing across three of four books to find the one that has either the actual weapon stat, or the one that wasn’t totally fucked up in editing.

Then you communicate the changes, in a well articulated release that advises of any major changes up front and forthwith, including why they’re occurring. This serves to prepare, calm and reassure the community that despite these major changes, they – as the customer, are high in the thoughts of the producers.

When leaks occur, you communicate proactively with clarity what the rules mean so you don’t get fracturing and disillusionment occurring in the first place. You step up the media campaign to calm the swells of emotion over major changes and the uncertainty. You assess the communities concerns, triage them and release articles explaining in detail how they work and why they were changed – giving examples.

We’ve seen virtually no genuinely insightful content like this – not even for the FOC, which mostly seems to have left the community with more questions than anything. No one cares what the design team think of their own game – that’s self marking homework with insider knowledge, so cut it from the articles.

You create a roadmap based on SMART Objectives. Specific targets, Measurable success rates, Appropriate releases, Realistic releases and Timely ones. This should see the game grow, adding profit through releases that actually make sense instead of wasting time, resources and profit margins by giving the community a 2nd Ascended Fulgrim or Angron, both of which pale in comparison to their 40K models in almost all regards. All whilst there’s plenty of other unit choices that are better for the entire community to release in plastic.

You amp up the releases post the main release. You talk about journals that will be expansions to the game that adds new scenarios and units (not adding in ones you intentionally stripped). You ensure the stock remains high and the conversion rates from resin to plastic continue.

Then you hold the games and logistics teams to account for their actions, outcomes and metrics. You use SMART objectives to hold them to their terms of service, and thus ensure the support of the game.

Accountability

Somewhere, this went tragically wrong.

Someone is responsible. Most likely a few individuals across a multitude of teams. Get the RACI matrix out and assess it. Who fucked up? Formally warn or get rid of them. Appoint someone who can do the job well and provide them with the functional resources to be successful. Have them responsible only for Heresy, give Heresy the respect as a system it needs.

Focus on what the consumer wants – consider AMAs to gauge the current and future direction of models and the system. Consider their opinions, you don’t need to produce a Plastic Thunderhawk, but you do need to avoid invalidating swathes of armies.

Shareholders are not the target audience, the consumer is. Get the communication, releases, schedule and support right, and the Shareholders will be looked after by the community regardless. You don’t need to encourage purchases by predatory processes as we are seeing in 3.0 rules, just be a decent company and provide a decent system with decent support.

A Personal Take on the Libers

Looking at the Liber leaks and how they’ve affected my armies has been mixed. Well, to call upon Meatloaf, Two outta three ain’t bad.

Sons of Horus

Through 2.0, the Sons of Horus felt like they were from an Alpha version of the game – always on the back foot. Although there are negatives, I can genuinely say I’m looking forward to playing a legion that reflects its lore somewhat. Death Dealers is back with a vengeance, offering volleys at full BS. There’s a custom detachment to take a First Company style force called Supremacy Cadre, loaded with Justaerin, and Justaerin themselves seem like a standout choice amongst their peers. Reavers are still a bit shit for their cost, despite the addition of Vanguard (3). Hey ho, win some, lose some. Horus Ascended is down in points to 850 and feels about right for his cost now. Abaddon actually has Eternal Warrior (1) and provides Justaerin deep strike, although Horus doesn’t – bit of an odd decision there.

Mechanicum

The Mechanicum seem to have had a partial return to 1.0 form which is terrifying in some regards, with some choices and rules getting dangerously close to oppressive seeming. I expect to see “I’ve always loved Mechanicum” from the excessively sweaty competitive crowd in the community as a result. Thallax are now effectively Special Weapon Troops, and there have been a number of improvements to WS across the board – finally giving the Mechanicum back some melee thump. Thanatars look particularly strong with their Plasma Mortar – even though the efficacy of plasma has decreased overall. Best news of all, Reductor seems to be quite a nice choice, so here’s to hoping all of the High Orders are pretty good, to enable a bit of variety in lists.

Oh – Scoria had a fairly hefty price hike, but he actually has his Arcana this time around – so here’s to hoping our boy from Xana is good on the table.

Titans look phenomenal, with AT style rules to make interactions with them genuinely great. I’m really looking forward to testing them out.

Night Lords

The Night Lords are a little damp unfortunately. Their detachments to add Terror Squads or to make Terminators Atramentar are ok. Thematic? Sure, but feel like they’re lacking that something special. Basically, for Atramentar Hunt Detachment (silly name) you get Deep Strike and Impact (1) on the Terminators you select to be Atramentar. Not particularly enthralling for what is supposed to be the 8th Legion’s best and brightest Warriors. We shall see how that pans out. The good news is that they have lost the ridiculous benefit to shooting they had in 2.0 – which never felt right to me, as a long term Night Lords player and fan.

The downside is A Talent For Murder, which gives you +1WS this edition, is only triggered by Statuses, not by outnumbering now so you’re more reliant on the enemy rolling poorly – never a good thing to be in the thrall of. The Night Lords gambit is hilarious, with you being able to swap out a model to take a challenge – feed Sergeants to Centurion or Praetor level models whilst your leader butchers his way through their supporting squad. Seems fun, and will definitely have a thematic impact on the table. Finally, their armoury is somewhat stunted with Chainblades and Power Fist being available only to Contekar (as modelled) and with the loss of Instant Death in the old format, the price of a Headsman’s Axe will definitely put it in competition with more efficient choices.

Curze isn’t bad – buffing the army by allowing Terror Squads to Infiltrate (12) but again, feels a little flat considering his lore. Not to mention that he shouldn’t give any buffs because he hated his sons. Sev is still a bit of a bully, and all the better for it. Raptors lost a load of options – as already mentioned, which is irritating. Terror Squads still feel “meh”. Overall, I guess aside from the shooting, the Night Lords haven’t really changed. You’ll still struggle against 2+ Saves. Only now it’ll be harder to wound because A Talent For Murder relies entirely on dice rolls, and not even your own.

Even the Thunderhawk got a glow up, with a Turbolaser Destructor as stock now!

Summary

The core rules are good, because they’re largely 2.0’s rules, optimised and improved, with Necromunda stuff shoved into one phase (subjectively needlessly). I’ll buy the Rulebook and the Libers I need and that’ll cost me around £150 alone. I’ll read them, adapt what can’t be used in my armies – however miserable that makes me whilst doing so. I’ll likely end up enjoying the edition in the main – because of my love for game setting and the community, despite the actions of Games Workshop.

Everything else (Libers) is a train smash hitherto unseen in Heresy prior.

People need to be held accountable for what has occurred and there needs to be some clear, concise communication from Games Workshop to the customers. However that starts with them saying “Yes – we made a mistake” and that unfortunately will not occur – it takes big Company mentality to stand up like CDPR did with Cyberpunk 2077 and say “we’ve fucked it, we will fix it, here’s how”. Look how successful that game was in the end – Game of the Year, still going strong with a huge fanbase worldwide and more DLC on the way – DLC that no one minds paying for because it isn’t bits that were wholesale stripped from the pre-existing editions. Whilst people within the teams should have the moral courage to stand up for their product, the board and subsequent Shareholders seriously need to have a minute to take their head for a substantial shit.

There is opportunity in this edition. Forced though it may be. Convert, Kitbash, let your imagination and irritation flow against the tide of poor decisions on Games Workshop’s part. Do what you can within your budget to get yourself back on the board – maintain that important part of Heresy that has always existed. Use the forced hand to paint and try different styles or schemes. Engage with Discord and WhatsApp groups to help each other learn the complexities and unintuitive aspects of the edition.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. If a PDF comes, it might not have the answers you need. Prepare yourself for that as well.

The community is suffering, and fracturing. A community that was heavily Games Workshop is silent. Come to terms with the rightful angst you feel at this editions arbitrary and impactful changes, make the best you can of it, of the opportunities it presents. Not for Games Workshop, for the community and the love of the setting.