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Hey guys, i have just come back into the hobby after a 4 or so year break and am wanting to pick up where i left off - i started a Sons Of Horus army just before i packed all my stuff away and now would like to continue it.

THIS IS MEANT TO BE A FLUFFY ARMY BUT ALSO COMPETITIVE ENOUGH TO NOT GET RUN OVER EVERY GAME

What i currently have is as follows;

Horus
Praetor on Jetbike
Moritat
5 Drop Pods
Caestus Assault Ram
5-6 JetBikes (i dont have my models on me so dont know exactly how many i have)

Now my question to you guys is, what units should i add to have some fun ?
I have some ideas of units that i want but once again would like some advice on whats good and what looks cool but is trash

My wish list so far is as follows;

2x Sicaran battle tank
Rhinos
2x 15-20 man tac squad
10 magnetised support marines
1x leviathen
10x Destroyers
10x Justaeran
5+ termies
Abbadon and Loken
Apothecaries
magnetized Contemptor dread/s
FireRaptor
Vets
10x magnetized Heavy support marines
other Tanks ?

SO, great minds of DakkaDakka tell me; Am i on the right track ? what else should i add to my 'to get list' ?

Well, I'd say you're on the right track. It's hard to make bad decisions in 30k.

However, keep in mind that Horus and other Primarchs are LoW and thus cannot be fielded in if they take more than 25% of your list.

One way to know what to get would be to choose a RoW (either legion-centric or vanilla). This would help you sort out what you want and what you don't want.

For example,if you take the Black Reaving RoW, you'll want a lot of CC and fast units. Something like :

Several units of Jetbikes with melta bombs

Master of Signals (compulsory)

Two 20-man tactical squads with CC weapons (to benefit from your legion rule and RoW encirclement rule).

Reavers with Jump Packs. (three troops compulsory).

Justaerin Terminators.

Yeah i understand but i mean this not as a full set army but as different options to bring with different styles of lists. only to the point of having the same-ish core but be able to swap some units in and out here and there for slightly different feels and rights of war.

So essentially what extra stuff would fit into different kinds of fluffy lists / rights of war ? and which units should i stay away from because they sink too many points for what they are worth etc ?

Well your list seems to be kinda light on troops. You either need ROW to move vets/termies to troops or you have just 2x10 tacticals for compulsory choices. I would aim to have AT LEAST 30, preferably 40 tacticals for 2x15 or 2x20 squads. Otherwise you have very little flexibility for compulsory choices.

Justacaerin seems pretty good for terminators. For 80 pts(and 10 pts per additional) you get furious charge, extra wound, WD, stubborn. Also less dependance on sergeant for LD as everybody has LD9. Plus good for keeping nasty characters out from preventing your own character killing enemy guys by taking challenges in return.

Frankly either Burning of prospero or battle of calth depending on which mark you prefer. Even 2 of those(or one of each) could be good. 40 tacticals and 20 either for support squad, heavy support squad or veteran squad(I went with 30 tactical, 10 veteran, 20 heavy support. Plan to get one more for 10 tacticals and 20 support guys that I magnetize)

tneva82 wrote:
Well your list seems to be kinda light on troops. You either need ROW to move vets/termies to troops or you have just 2x10 tacticals for compulsory choices. I would aim to have AT LEAST 30, preferably 40 tacticals for 2x15 or 2x20 squads. Otherwise you have very little flexibility for compulsory choices.

Yeah i was planning on having multiple options for troops so i can be flexible with my RoW, i'd just like to know what everyone reccommends and you've given me some great feedback on that

Justacaerin seems pretty good for terminators. For 80 pts(and 10 pts per additional) you get furious charge, extra wound, WD, stubborn. Also less dependance on sergeant for LD as everybody has LD9. Plus good for keeping nasty characters out from preventing your own character killing enemy guys by taking challenges in return.

I didnt realise they made justaerans 2W each, when they came out they were only 1W but if they are 2W now im definitely gonna get atleast 10

Frankly either Burning of prospero or battle of calth depending on which mark you prefer. Even 2 of those(or one of each) could be good. 40 tacticals and 20 either for support squad, heavy support squad or veteran squad(I went with 30 tactical, 10 veteran, 20 heavy support. Plan to get one more for 10 tacticals and 20 support guys that I magnetize)

Thanks for the recommendation, i was looking at getting a battle of calth box when i can afford one, do you think that should be my first step down this road ?

Also what other units do you think would be good additions to the force other than troops ?

Calth or Prospero depending which mark you prefer. I went for mix of both. Calth does have advantage of giving you HQ's you can use(Prospero's are less generic) since that's also another section you are light on and dread instead sisters of silence and custodes though dread model isn't particulary interesting looking.

For others well Justacaerin is obviously good place

Then maybe some armoured support? You seem kinda light on that. Sicaerin is popular for being so flexible. Have 1 myself. For anti-tank you could consider the laser destroyers. I find them nice looking. Less sure how good in game I suppose. They do feel kinda soft targets for enemy to shoot and a lot depends on how much clear line of sight you can get so you don't have to move thus having just 1 shot rather than 3.

But I'm very much newbie myself so don't listen that closely. I'm still in process of painting my army for the first game...

I think i'll probably go for Calth, id love some Custodes too but theres alot in the Prospero box that i dont think id have use for sadly

However, in regards to RoW im liking the look of 'The Long March' and maybe add some HS squads which would get relentless in my Deployment zone, sounds pretty perfect to me hahah. Although i don't have access to the most current book for the Legion specific rules therefore if SoH have any other RoW i havent seen it yet, but this is what i mean by keeping options open

To be honest though i kinda have my heart set on 2 sicaran battle tanks and a leviathen dread for my HS slots, i just absolutely love those models (i have a dread addiction too )

 Warp Angels wrote:
I think i'll probably go for Calth, id love some Custodes too but theres alot in the Prospero box that i dont think id have use for sadly

However, in regards to RoW im liking the look of 'The Long March' and maybe add some HS squads which would get relentless in my Deployment zone, sounds pretty perfect to me hahah. Although i don't have access to the most current book for the Legion specific rules therefore if SoH have any other RoW i havent seen it yet, but this is what i mean by keeping options open

To be honest though i kinda have my heart set on 2 sicaran battle tanks and a leviathen dread for my HS slots, i just absolutely love those models (i have a dread addiction too )

Black reaping and long march are the two ROW's SoH have as far as I know as well based on newest version of red books.

Long march is nice though lack of allied is bad sometimes(knights are nice for bigger games) and I'm on camp of terminators on foot were supposed to be restricted on that ROW so I'm limiting myself there.

But yeah relentless heavy support squads sounds funny.

tneva82 wrote:

Black reaping and long march are the two ROW's SoH have as far as I know as well based on newest version of red books.

Long march is nice though lack of allied is bad sometimes(knights are nice for bigger games) and I'm on camp of terminators on foot were supposed to be restricted on that ROW so I'm limiting myself there.

But yeah relentless heavy support squads sounds funny.

Terminators arent completely out, it says 'models with slow and purposeful cannot be in unless they are deepstriking or in transports' which means that IIRC i could take abbadon and some justaeran and abbadon allows them to deepstrike ? i could be wrong there because i havent read his rules in a while but as i say IIRC hahaha

 Warp Angels wrote:

tneva82 wrote:

Black reaping and long march are the two ROW's SoH have as far as I know as well based on newest version of red books.

Long march is nice though lack of allied is bad sometimes(knights are nice for bigger games) and I'm on camp of terminators on foot were supposed to be restricted on that ROW so I'm limiting myself there.

But yeah relentless heavy support squads sounds funny.

Terminators arent completely out, it says 'models with slow and purposeful cannot be in unless they are deepstriking or in transports' which means that IIRC i could take abbadon and some justaeran and abbadon allows them to deepstrike ? i could be wrong there because i havent read his rules in a while but as i say IIRC hahaha

Oh yes that's possible. And technically by RAW you can take them on foot as 30k terminators got the S&P removed and replaced with other rules that have basically same thing except doesn't port relentless to members(so no termi HQ joining heavy support to give them relentless. Works in 40k, doesn't in 30k). However I'm on camp that this was glitch by FW who forgot to update the ROW.

Either way since I now self-impose limit that termies need to have some form of deep strike ability or transport I'm somewhat stuck for now. I don't have yet any land raider to transport for them, dont' have dreadclaw drop pod nor Abaddon. Only way I thus can take them is with Horus which a) bigger game b) still just one squad(and I have 3 squads. Justacaerin, cataphracti and tartaros).

But hey that's point of limitations in ROW. Can't have everything.

Exactly, can't have everything, but thats why i made this thread to see what options i should have available to myself, so i can use a couple of different builds but still feel fluffy etc.

Anyone else have any ideas / advice they could lend me on this ?

Justarien are some of the best Terminators in 30K. I'd just take them over regular Terminators every time, though there could be something to be said about a unit of Tartarus with lightning claws/power weapons sweeping in close combat for the Sons of Horus.

Apothecaries- I keep mine cheap (maybe Artificer Armor), and have one for every foot slogging squad (I run a foot slogging army).

Tanks- the Sicarian Battle Tank is the best all around Legion tank in the game. The Sicarian Venerator is one of the best tank hunters in the game. Something to consider.

I avoid Reavers simply because they are over priced Veterans- and Veterans actually have more options and are better on the table. The only thing Reavers have going for them is Outflank- and having a small, points dense unit randomly walk onto the table from a random table edge has never worked for me. Precision Shots is useless in 30K when all the squads have the same weapons except characters, and they can use "Look Out, Sir!". If you place the Reavers in a transport, then you might as well make them Veterans so you can select the tactics and have better options for Wargear. I got the Reavers from Forge World, and just use them as Command Squads/Veterans.

1-2 Contemptor Dreads are great- I use a Mortis pattern with two Kheres Assault Cannons for AA.

I don't have much experience with the Leviathan Dread. It seems really overpriced to me for what you get, and when I could field a Justarian Terminator Squad for similar points that are more resilient and scoring... I don't see a place for a Leviathan dread in a SoH army.

One thing I would recommend is the Deredeo Dread. OMG, that thing is AWESOME! I use the double Lascannon variant, and being able to get up to four Penetrating hits... wow. I've been thinking of getting the Plasma variant, using the Pavise and walking it with my Justarians giving them a 3++.

The Fire Raptor is a solid choice for a flyer. I've been thinking about adding one to my forces.

Seeker squads- I have no use for them, simply because Veterans.

Destroyer Squads- now we are talking! A small suicide squad of these guys with jump packs and Rad Missile Launcher make for a great late game hunter unit of enemy squads camped on objectives.

Support Squads- up to you. They get really expensive, really fast. Melta is dicey, as most vehicles take Armored Ceremite (I take it whenever I can). Plasma means overheats. Rotor Cannons are kind of a joke- but if you had enough of them, maybe a threat. That leaves Volkite which is pretty much considered the standard weapon for Support Squads.

Heavy Support squads- This all depends on what you want to do. I prefer using Sicarians and Deredeo's in my Heavy Support slots, though I have used 10 models with Autocannons to good effect. Players laugh when I show them the unit. They stop laughing when I toss 20 S7 shots at something. Combined with the RoW The Long March and the long range of the autocannons makes them awesome deployment zone campers. I have faced off against a 10 model Lascannon squad and it was brutal, if a bit overkill. At 400+ points though, I would hope it was total overkill and brutal (I just kept hitting the unit every turn with a Rapier Quad Artillary until it was gone). If you are running the Long March RoW, you can relentless on your squads in your deployment zone. That makes heavy support squads with anything much more attractive.

Other Tanks- I talked about the Sicarian above. If you want to run a lot of Terminators, then I'd suggest looking at Proteus Land Raiders. If you want to run Horus and a bodyguard, then get a Spartan. Just about everyone that runs a Primarch uses a Spartan- the "Chariot of the Primarchs". A good alternative to the Sicarian is the Vindicator Laser Destroyer. If you are feeling really froggy, and have a lot of money to spend, you can look at Malcador tanks. It's about equal to the Spartan in my book (without the transport capacity), but it's the only Super Heavy tank in the Heavy Support section.

One thing you didn't mention was artillery. In 30K, the Legions do have access to Medeusa, Bassilisk, Whirlwinds, and Scorpious tanks. You can also field the Legion Rapier Weapon Batteries. Take a Siege Consul and you can upgrade the Rapier Quad Cannons to Phoshex rounds which kill all infantry and is very, very brutal.

A note about Drop Pods- the Anvilius Pattern Drop Pod is unique in that it's a Drop Pod, but it's a flyer with Assault. Load it up with a close combat unit of your choice (my favorites are Justarians or Veterans), have it deepstrike in, keep the guys inside, and jink your butt off for one turn. Next turn, drop the unit out and have them assault, while the Anvilius flies over the squad you want to assault causing wounds with its Heat Blast attack. I'm about 50/50 with this tactic. If my opponent has any good AAA, it fails dramatically, comes crashing and burning into the ground killing most of the passengers. If my opponent doesn't have AA, it works like a charm.

Sons of Horus are a pretty good all around army with some good tricks in close combat. Keep your squads of infantry large to outnumber your opponent for Merciless Fighters, and remember your +1 BS at 12". Also, Horus is a Beast. As he should be- Warmaster and True Emperor of Mankind and all that.

Have fun, good luck!

 Tamwulf wrote:
Justarien are some of the best Terminators in 30K. I'd just take them over regular Terminators every time, though there could be something to be said about a unit of Tartarus with lightning claws/power weapons sweeping in close combat for the Sons of Horus.

Awesome, good to know ! ill definately get some Justaerans then

Apothecaries- I keep mine cheap (maybe Artificer Armor), and have one for every foot slogging squad (I run a foot slogging army).

Also good to know, ill be sure to add them to any footsloggers too

Tanks- the Sicarian Battle Tank is the best all around Legion tank in the game. The Sicarian Venerator is one of the best tank hunters in the game. Something to consider.

Best looking tanks aswell

I avoid Reavers simply because they are over priced Veterans- and Veterans actually have more options and are better on the table. The only thing Reavers have going for them is Outflank- and having a small, points dense unit randomly walk onto the table from a random table edge has never worked for me. Precision Shots is useless in 30K when all the squads have the same weapons except characters, and they can use "Look Out, Sir!". If you place the Reavers in a transport, then you might as well make them Veterans so you can select the tactics and have better options for Wargear. I got the Reavers from Forge World, and just use them as Command Squads/Veterans.

Damn i was hoping they weren't terrible, the models are sooo cool, i guess i could use them as vets or something

1-2 Contemptor Dreads are great- I use a Mortis pattern with two Kheres Assault Cannons for AA.

Magnets will be my friend here.

I don't have much experience with the Leviathan Dread. It seems really overpriced to me for what you get, and when I could field a Justarian Terminator Squad for similar points that are more resilient and scoring... I don't see a place for a Leviathan dread in a SoH army.

I just want one because i love the model.

One thing I would recommend is the Deredeo Dread. OMG, that thing is AWESOME! I use the double Lascannon variant, and being able to get up to four Penetrating hits... wow. I've been thinking of getting the Plasma variant, using the Pavise and walking it with my Justarians giving them a 3++.

I just really do not like the model, it may be good but for me i wouldnt field it coz it is ugly IMO

The Fire Raptor is a solid choice for a flyer. I've been thinking about adding one to my forces.

On the list it goes !

Seeker squads- I have no use for them, simply because Veterans.

Fair enough, ill do the same.

Destroyer Squads- now we are talking! A small suicide squad of these guys with jump packs and Rad Missile Launcher make for a great late game hunter unit of enemy squads camped on objectives.

My thoughts exactly!

Support Squads- up to you. They get really expensive, really fast. Melta is dicey, as most vehicles take Armored Ceremite (I take it whenever I can). Plasma means overheats. Rotor Cannons are kind of a joke- but if you had enough of them, maybe a threat. That leaves Volkite which is pretty much considered the standard weapon for Support Squads.

Yeah i agree, ill probably magnetize 10ish so i have the option but i wont go all out.

Heavy Support squads- This all depends on what you want to do. I prefer using Sicarians and Deredeo's in my Heavy Support slots, though I have used 10 models with Autocannons to good effect. Players laugh when I show them the unit. They stop laughing when I toss 20 S7 shots at something. Combined with the RoW The Long March and the long range of the autocannons makes them awesome deployment zone campers. I have faced off against a 10 model Lascannon squad and it was brutal, if a bit overkill. At 400+ points though, I would hope it was total overkill and brutal (I just kept hitting the unit every turn with a Rapier Quad Artillary until it was gone). If you are running the Long March RoW, you can relentless on your squads in your deployment zone. That makes heavy support squads with anything much more attractive.

Once again my thoughts exactly, AC or HB guys at the back with relentless to just put fire down on whatever needs to be hit, probably will magnetize aswell so i have options.

Other Tanks- I talked about the Sicarian above. If you want to run a lot of Terminators, then I'd suggest looking at Proteus Land Raiders. If you want to run Horus and a bodyguard, then get a Spartan. Just about everyone that runs a Primarch uses a Spartan- the "Chariot of the Primarchs". A good alternative to the Sicarian is the Vindicator Laser Destroyer. If you are feeling really froggy, and have a lot of money to spend, you can look at Malcador tanks. It's about equal to the Spartan in my book (without the transport capacity), but it's the only Super Heavy tank in the Heavy Support section.

I would absolutely love a spartan but the model is very expensive and i could always just DS Horus and the Justaerans. i'll keep the idea there but i think id rather buy bodies for now rather than very large tanks, on the subject of other tanks though i think ill just stick to sicarian chassis for the most part until i can afford to add a spartan

One thing you didn't mention was artillery. In 30K, the Legions do have access to Medeusa, Bassilisk, Whirlwinds, and Scorpious tanks. You can also field the Legion Rapier Weapon Batteries. Take a Siege Consul and you can upgrade the Rapier Quad Cannons to Phoshex rounds which kill all infantry and is very, very brutal.

My personal opinion on arty support is to leave it at home, just coz im an aggressive player or a passive player and i like my army sticking together to some degree, the rapiers are probably the only ones i would opt for coz they are cheaper (money and points)

A note about Drop Pods- the Anvilius Pattern Drop Pod is unique in that it's a Drop Pod, but it's a flyer with Assault. Load it up with a close combat unit of your choice (my favorites are Justarians or Veterans), have it deepstrike in, keep the guys inside, and jink your butt off for one turn. Next turn, drop the unit out and have them assault, while the Anvilius flies over the squad you want to assault causing wounds with its Heat Blast attack. I'm about 50/50 with this tactic. If my opponent has any good AAA, it fails dramatically, comes crashing and burning into the ground killing most of the passengers. If my opponent doesn't have AA, it works like a charm.

Good advice ill also keep that in mind

Sons of Horus are a pretty good all around army with some good tricks in close combat. Keep your squads of infantry large to outnumber your opponent for Merciless Fighters, and remember your +1 BS at 12". Also, Horus is a Beast. As he should be- Warmaster and True Emperor of Mankind and all that.

Have fun, good luck!

Thanks for all the help bro, ill PM you if i have any other questions, you seem like a Veteran Son of the Warmaster !

 Warp Angels wrote:

 Tamwulf wrote:
Justarien are some of the best Terminators in 30K. I'd just take them over regular Terminators every time, though there could be something to be said about a unit of Tartarus with lightning claws/power weapons sweeping in close combat for the Sons of Horus.

Awesome, good to know ! ill definately get some Justaerans then ...

...Really? I've never been that impressed with them on paper, they look like they're just an expensive Terminator squad (by comparison to most Legion-specific Terminators that do things ordinary Terminator squads can't). Though since I've never seen them live on the table I'm totally prepared to be told I'm wrong about this.

 AnomanderRake wrote:
...Really? I've never been that impressed with them on paper, they look like they're just an expensive Terminator squad (by comparison to most Legion-specific Terminators that do things ordinary Terminator squads can't). Though since I've never seen them live on the table I'm totally prepared to be told I'm wrong about this.

Compared to regular termies lot more durable(well except S8+ weapons). WS5, furious charge, stubborn.

Fight better, take twice as much S7- hits to take down and less suspectable for getting sweeped. Doesn't seem that bad to me.

I also just went and double-checked, and they've dropped 10pts/model since Betrayal, so they're less horrendously expensive than my first impression of them.