The new edition of Warhammer: The Horus Heresy has been on shelves for a month or so now, and battle is raging across the world, as Legiones Astartes, Solar Auxilia, and Mechanicum armies clash on tabletops everywhere. If you’re looking to join in the action, or to expand your existing collection, three new Combat Force boxes, which will be coming soon, are the ideal way to get going.
Legiones Astartes Combat Force
Loyalist or Traitor, your Space Marine army is likely built around a core of infantry supported by war engines and vehicles… and that’s just what you’ll find in the Legiones Astartes Combat Force.
In this box, you’ll find 20 Legionaries in MkVI power armour. You can choose to equip all of these as Tactical Legionaries with bolters, or outfit ten of them with missile launchers or heavy bolters to form a Heavy Support Squad. The box includes two Tactical Marine accessory sprues, giving you the parts for two Sergeants, vexillas, and vox units to lead your squads into battle.
One of your squads can be carried in the included Deimos pattern Rhino. This versatile transport is armed with twin-linked bolters and comes with an exhaustive array of additional options, including a choice of nine Pintle Mounted weapons, searchlight, dozer blade, hunter-killer missile, towing hooks, and various hatch options with and without Space Marine crew.
Long-ranged support comes in the form of a Leviathan Dreadnought. This mighty war machine can shrug off all but the heaviest weapon fire, and comes with a choice of three arm-mounted weapons to devastate your foes – a cyclonic melta lance, grav-flux bombard, and storm cannon. You can add heavy flamers or twin-linked volkite calivers to the hull, along with an optional phosphex discharger. An array of cosmetic options including chestplates, cowls, groin armour plates, and even different feet let you customise this versatile kit to suit your tastes.
A Legiones Astartes infantry transfer sheet with 293 decals, and two Legiones Astartes vehicle transfer sheets – each boasting 44 decals – round out the set.
Mechanicum Combat Force
The Mechanicum Combat Force leans in to the cyborg and robotic servants of the Tech-Priests, providing a force of tough, lumbering automata to march into enemy fire and return it in kind.
Six Thallax form the heart of the force. These cyborg warriors – each little more than a brain, organs, and nervous system wired into a hulking mechanical monstrosity – are carried into battle on Incunabulum jet packs, and are armed with lightning guns, which can be supplemented with a choice of phased plasma fusils, photon thrusters, or multi-meltas. The kit includes optional chain bayonets and melta bombs, as well as a plethora of cosmetic options to make the unit your own.
A pair of Castellax Battle-automata add some mid-sized punch. These combat robots stand much taller than a man, and are armed with a pair of claw-like shock chargers. One can have circular power blades, and there’s a choice of in-built bolters or flamers for either weapon. For shoulder-mounted weapon options, you'll find two mauler bolt cannons, as well as a darkfire cannon and a multi-melta. A selection of arm joints and the option to have claws open or closed adds customisability.
Towering over them all is a Thanatar Cavas Siege-automata. This mobile artillery platform is armed with a Hellex pattern plasma mortar, plus shock chargers and a wrist-mounted twin mauler bolt cannon. A host of posing options ensures that your Thanatar will look unique.
Four transfer sheets finish the box – two Mechanicum macro-constructs transfer sheets, each containing 394 decals, and two Mechanicum constructs transfer sheets with 558 transfers each.
Solar Auxilia Combat Force
In a war defined by superhuman warriors and terrifying war engines, the humble humans of the Solar Auxilia trust in numbers, lasrifles, and support from their own tanks and walkers. The Solar Auxilia Combat Force includes all of the above, in the form of a Lasrifle Section, Tactical Command Section, Hermes Sentinels, and a Leman Russ Strike Tank.
The Lasrifle Section comprises 20 Solar Auxiliaries armed with lasrifles. They can be outfitted with all manner of accessories, including bayonets, grenades, pouches, flasks, charge-packs, and an array of options to mark out Sergeants, vexillaries and vox operators. Bodies, heads, and arms can be mixed and matched across models to create boundless variety within your squads.
The Tactical Command Section comprises an Auxilia Captain and four Auxilia Companions. Armed with lasrifles, the Captain can replace his with a wide choice of weapons, and the Companions can be upgraded with a command vox, vexilla, and augury scanner. The squad can alternatively be built as a Line Command Section, or a Legate Marshal with four Lifewards, which allows for even more customisation.
Hermes Sentinels are light scout walkers used by the Solar Auxilia to strike and retreat, luring foes into ambushes, or to support infantry advances with some heavier firepower. The kit can be built as Hermes Light Sentinels, or Hermes Veletaris Sentinels. Light Sentinels are armed with either a grenade launcher or multi-laser, while the more heavily armoured Veletaris Sentinels can carry a heavy flamer or volkite caliver. Both have a choice of heads for the pilot, and various posing options for the legs.
The Leman Russ is a robust battle tank that combines heavy armour with even heavier weapons, offering a moving firepoint that will give your enemies a headache. The kit can build your choice of a Leman Russ Strike Tank or a Leman Russ Command Tank. Either can be armed with a choice of four primary weapons – a battle cannon, twin heavy lascannons or autocannons, or a vanquisher battle cannon with a Co-axial autocannon. A heavy bolter, lascannon, autocannon, heavy flamer, or multi-laser fits in the hull, and you can also add a hunter-killer missile and dozer blade, and customise the hatch with Pintle Mounted weapons and crew. The Command variant adds an electromagnetic flare shield and a Cognis-signum array for battlefield communication and co-ordination.
The box also includes two Solar Auxilia infantry transfer sheets, each containing 152 transfers, and two Solar Auxilia vehicle transfer sheets with 180 transfers each.
Each of these Combat Forces will be available to pre-order soon – keep an eye out on Warhammer Community to find out when.
