Leaks and reviews of Warhammer: The Horus Heresy third edition, have revealed a substantial reduction in unit variety and customisation in the game’s new Liber army books. The specifics of these changes mean that the more time and effort someone has invested in their army, the more likely they are to find parts of their model collection no longer legal for play – a perfect recipe for fan backlash.
My Horus Heresy Saturnine review covered the core rules of third edition as well as the contents of the box set, but I don’t have access to review samples of the Liber army books. I gave the set a positive review overall – I think the changes to the core rules mean the game will deliver on the fantasy of the Horus Heresy books better than ever – but I noted that without the Liber army lists, I couldn’t say whether that promise will actually be realised.
When I wrote that I was thinking purely in terms of game balance. But now that other reviews of Horus Heresy 3rd edition are out, it’s clear that I’d overlooked another risk – that army list changes would render some players’ favorite units, or even whole armies, unusable. As SN Battle Report’s headline review shows, for some players, that’s going to be a big issue:
Some units have completely disappeared, such as Destroyers and Recon Marines, as have certain Consul types, including the Primus Medicae and Forge Lord. I agree with the prediction the guys at Goonhammer have made that the missing units will probably reappear in the free Legacy PDF or in upcoming Tactica Journals – but that is a hope rather than a fact at this point.
Then there’s the reduction in unit customization. Many unit entries are now limited to the stock weaponry and wargear supplied with their model kit. SN gives the example of the Landspeeder Javelin, which no longer has an option to be equipped with a multi-melta, despite this being the most popular loadout for the craft, and an easy conversion using a part available in every Space Marine Legion tank kit.
SN also points to their extensive collection of miniatures with niche loadouts, most of them conversions that combine more than one set of (already expensive) Forge World resin. This is why I say that these changes affect the most invested players the most – conversions that required lots of time, care, and money, are very likely to have been rendered unplayable.
I find it hard to judge accurately how much impact this will have across the player base. The people most affected by the changes are likely to be very active in the community, making them more visible than less-invested players – their frustration is very real, but I’m hesitant to make judgments about what proportion of players this will affect, and how significantly.
However, highly invested players can also be very important individuals for the health and profile of a game – even if the changes only affect a minority of players, affected players will include event organizers, YouTubers, and the kind of player who organises demo games and narrative campaigns at your FLGS.
If this change to the rules was a conscious decision – perhaps to make the game quicker to play, simpler to onboard players, to make playtesting feasible within the resources available to the design team, or because of some corporate dictat – I have to wonder how the risk of pissing off super-fans, and losing all the free marketing they provide, factored into GW’s decision-making process.
However this shakes out, I predict a much worse fan reception for the new Journal Tactica supplements. Like Spike! Magazine for Blood Bowl, or Fanatic Magazine in the ’00s, these are small booklets that will add new rules and narrative more regularly than if the content was published as hardback books.
The first time one is published with a unit listing that was removed from the Liber books, GW will be accused of selling back to players something it consciously took from them, like sequels to videogame franchises that hive off popular features into DLC packs.
Brand new players without collections won’t be affected by the changes to model legality at all – but this could still affect them. I ended my review of Saturnine by recommending that potential new players considering buying it should first go and find a community to learn more about the game – the community is the game. Right at the moment, the level of dissatisfaction in the online community is not a good advertisement for this $315 box set.
If you’ve got a beautifully converted Heresy army, I’d love to see your photos and hear their story – come and share them in the dedicated Share Your army channel in the official Wargamer Discord community. I’ll be keeping my auspex scanning for fan made Horus Heresy 3.0 expansion content as well, and if you’re working on some, let me know in there.
If you’re burnt out on the Heresy wargame but love the setting, make sure you check out my interview with the designers of the upcoming Horus Heresy TTRPG!