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Agents of the Cults Abominatio

The following comprises the first example of a Cult Operative of the Cults Abominatio, a dark mirror of the loyal Divisio Assassinorum, whose members were created using long forbidden techniques in compact with the corrupting powers of the Warp. It includes an Army List entry for the Infernus Abomination, a terrifying killer fuelled by the pain and suffering of its victims, allowing players to field this Cult Operative alongside their armies. The Army List profile represents a single example of one of various Abominatio Cults that existed at the time of the Age of Darkness during the Horus Heresy.

The true number of cults that existed prior to and during the galaxy-consuming war was undetermined and of the number and manner of the monsters they produced, few have dared to speculate. However, as historical accounts were analysed and compared, the role of these abominable beings and the acts they perpetrated may have been more impactful than any would have imagined. This profile allows players to incorporate the Infernus Abomination into their armies as a ‘Cult Operative’. In addition, material found in further Horus Heresy volumes will add further diverse and unique characters to the Cults Abominatio forces in exciting tabletop battles, and will clearly indicate where such additional units or characters are part of the Cults Abominatio Faction.

Contents
Books
The Cults Abominatio at War: Cult Operatives
• Tactics of the Cults Abominatio
• Abomination Unit Sub-Type

Books

BookKindEditionVersionLast update
  The Siege of Cthonia
  The Siege of CthoniaCampaign21.0August 2023

The Cults Abominatio at War: Cult Operatives

A single Cult Operative from the Cults Abominatio Army List profile detailed in this section may be included in any Primary Detachment. A Cult Operative uses up a Force Organisation slot as normal, but is unaffected by the ‘Levels of Alliance’ rules and all friendly models in the same army treat it as if it was a Distrusted Ally. If an army’s Primary Detachment includes a Cult Operative with the Traitor special rule, the army must also be of the Traitor Allegiance. If the Cult Operative included in a Primary Detachment does not have a special rule that forces it to use either Allegiance, it can be included in an army with either the Loyalist or Traitor Allegiance.

Tactics of the Cults Abominatio

The Cults Abominatio was oft compared to the Divisio Assassinorum as specialised killers but who aligned their cause with Horus, though they were not an entirely parallel organisation. Where the latter would rely on the enhancement of the deadly prowess of individuals through genetic therapy, arduous training, conditioning and the use of much-prized relic weapons and equipment according to the rigid tenets of their various clades, the Cults Abominatio eschewed tradition and trod the path of corruption. Heedless of their own safety, Abominations of the Cults would not hesitate to take any actions, risking the integrity of their own existence and skirting the edge of oblivion to bring about the death of their targets. To represent this in play, any unit composed entirely of models with the Abomination Unit Sub-type may make the Empyreal Shift Advanced Reaction.
ADVANCED REACTION: EMPYREAL SHIFT
Advanced Reactions are available to specific players as noted in their description. Unlike Core Reactions, they are activated in unique and specific circumstances, as noted in their descriptions, and can often have game changing effects. Advanced Reactions use up points of a Reactive player’s Reaction Allotment as normal and obey all other restrictions placed upon Reactions, unless it is specifically noted otherwise in their description.

Empyreal Shift – This Advanced Reaction may be made either in the Movement phase whenever an enemy unit ends its move within 12" of a unit that is composed entirely of models with the Abomination Unit Sub-type, in the Shooting phase whenever an enemy unit targets a unit that is composed entirely of models with the Abomination Unit Sub-type with a Shooting Attack, or in the Assault phase whenever an enemy unit declares a Charge against a unit that is composed entirely of models with the Abomination Unit Sub-type. The controlling player of the Reacting unit must make a Leadership test using the Leadership Characteristic of the Reacting model. If the Leadership test is passed, the Reacting unit may immediately move up to 12". This move may be made in any direction and ignores all terrain or other effects that would limit or modify the distance moved (including allowing models in the Reacting unit to move across Impassable Terrain), as long as the final position of all models in the Reacting unit are at least 1" away from any enemy model and not within an area of Impassable Terrain. If, after moving, any models in the Reacting unit are positioned out of range or line of sight of the unit that caused the Reaction, that unit may not select another target for the Shooting Attack or Charge that triggered the Reaction and no dice are rolled and no Surge moves are made (weapons with the Gets Hot special rule do not need to roll to see if the weapon Gets Hot and weapons with the One Use special rule are not considered to have been expended). If the Leadership test is failed, both the unit making the Reaction and the unit that triggered the Reaction suffer D6 Wounds with no Armour Saves, Invulnerable Saves or Damage Mitigation rolls allowed.

Abomination Unit Sub-Type

Unaware and uncaring of their own provenance, some beings stalk the galaxy with only a singular desire to satisfy an ingrained desire to kill. Heedless of any sensations beyond those associated with the extermination of life and driven by a murderous instinct, they take no joy in companionship or even camaraderie, spending their existence in a perpetual cycle of stalking, hunting and killing those they are drawn to destroy.

  • Models with the Abomination Sub-type ignore all movement penalties when moving or Charging through terrain of any kind and automatically pass all Dangerous Terrain tests they are called upon to make.
  • Models with the Abomination Sub-type may never join or be joined by a unit made up of models with any type.
  • Models with the Abomination Sub-type may not Embark on any model with the Transport Sub-type.
  • Models with the Abomination Sub-type may never be selected as an army’s Warlord.

HQ


  • Infernus Abomination 130 Points
UNIT COMPOSITION: 1 INFERNUS ABOMINATION

In the latter years of the Horus Heresy, isolated reports, collated by Imperial scribes from war zones throughout the galaxy, began to describe a horrifying new threat to Loyalist forces. The fragmentary reports, teased from incoherent, nearinsane individuals, survivors wracked and broken by the horrors of what they had witnessed, told of an apparition that haunted the fields of battle – a being of sheer terror. Blacker than the deepest void but with a form that shifted and rebuilt as it prowled, the abomination was unaffected by the physical restraints of reality and seemed to hunt with an extrasensory perception of its prey and surroundings. It would dissolve and reform into the very thing that those it hunted feared most, spawning armaments of nightmarish aspect to tear its victims apart in a tailored agony. Such a being – a weapon given animus – was originally suspected to have been a product of the clandestine temples of the Officio Assassinorum, but even investigation at the highest level of access priority yielded no information of a clade of killers of this form.

LD CL WP IN
M WS BS S T W I A LD CL WP IN SAV INV
Infernus (⌀32mm) 10 - - -
Infernus (⌀32mm) 7 5 4 4 4 3 5 4 10 - - - 4+ -
WARGEAR
  • Transmutative armaments
  • Wraithskin
  • Boneshard Spitter
SPECIAL RULES
  • Infiltrate
  • Scout
  • Fear (2)
  • Adamantium Will (3+)
  • Osmeotic Regeneration
  • Traitor
TYPE
WARGEAR

Transmutative armaments

To look upon an Infernus Abomination is to observe a thing of utter darkness, less simply black and more the absolute antithesis of light itself. Even at rest, the Infernus is said to be of a constantly shifting form, both growing and contracting like the ceaseless billowing of a thunderhead before the breaking of a storm; its skin visibly crawling with a barely-restrained yearning to butcher and flay all living things. The tools with which it indulges its base desires can seemingly be conjured at will, its human-like limbs transmuting in a horrifying contortion of bone and sinew to form savagely barbed blades, viscous flailing tentacles or fans of razor talons dripping with poisons, in the blink of an eye.

Before any To Hit rolls are made during the Assault phase, the controlling player must select which weapon profile to use.
Ranged Weapon
Ranged Weapon
R
FP
RS
AP
D
Special Rules
Traits
Transmutative armaments
Transmutative armaments
- Transmutative armaments
- Transmutative armaments
-
-
- (Hammerblade)
- (Hammerblade)
-
8
2
Melee, Murderous Strike (6+), Brutal (2), Two-handed
-
- (Spinelash)
- (Spinelash)
-
5
4
Melee, Reach (2), Breaching (6+), Two-handed
-
- (Talon-rakes)
- (Talon-rakes)
-
4
5
Melee, Shred, Rending (6+), Rampage (2), Specialist Weapon
-

Wraithskin

Unlike the synthetic suits used by operatives of the Assassin Clades that wraithskin appears to mimic, it is not a closely guarded technological treasure. They are an abhorrent fusion of forbidden craft networked with a psy-conductive matrix that draws power from the negative emotions of its wearer, selectively amplifying and concentrating them. Instead of working in harmony with the anatomy of the wearer to enhance their capabilities, a wraithskin effectively overrides the neural impulses controlling motor functions. The resulting effect is continuous agony as tendons are ripped, muscles are torn and bones fractured as the body is pushed beyond the thresholds of its normal capabilities. For the Infernus Abomination, this vicious cycle of self-destruction and regeneration must be sustained by continuous hunting and killing.

Models with wraithskin have a 4+ Armour Save and a 4+ Invulnerable Save.

Boneshard Spitter

The horrifying, gore-soaked appendages of an Infernus Abomination morph and distend into an almost limitless number of biological forms but often take the shape of a cluster of orifices, each lined with rows of tooth-like spikes or shards of splintered bone, coated in a gloss-black bio-toxic ichor. With a sharp contraction the Abomination is able to launch these growths in a hail of shredding projectiles that cause the blood in the veins of their targets to thicken and clot in a dark spider web that rapidly spreads from the site of even the slightest puncture wound.

Ranged Weapon
Ranged Weapon
R
FP
RS
AP
D
Special Rules
Traits
Boneshard Spitter
Boneshard Spitter
6"
1
-
Assault 2D6, Fleshbane
-

SPECIAL RULES

Osmeotic Regeneration

To an Infernus Abomination the briefest physical contact with the flesh of living, or even recently deceased, acts as if it were a narcotic substance, invigorating a powerful and overwhelming bloodlust. Simple blood or muscle cells are consumed to fuel the murder-instinct of the Infernus but of particular potency are the tissues of the brain and nervous system. With the ingestion of cerebral matter, saturated with the darkest thoughts and deepest fears of the being it once constituted, an Infernus Abomination nourishes its physical form, its sundered flesh and torn musculature knitting together anew.

At the end of the controlling player’s turn, if the Infernus Abomination has not been removed as a casualty, the controlling player rolls a D6 for every unsaved Wound inflicted on an enemy model during that turn. For each result of a 5+, the Infernus Abomination regains a lost Wound. Note that Wounds regained in this way may not increase the amount of Wounds to more than the starting amount shown on the Infernus Abomination unit profile.
Leadership (LD) – The Leadership Characteristic is primarily used to resolve Checks to determine when a Unit will stand its ground or flee. For more details see the Combat Resolution Rules. When a Model’s Leadership Characteristic reaches 0, any Check it is used to determine the Target Number for automatically fails with no Dice rolled. However, a Unit that includes one or more Models with a Leadership of 0 but uses a Model with a higher value to make a Panic or Leadership Check suffers no penalties.
Cool (CL) – The Cool Characteristic is primarily used to resist Statuses. For more details see the Rules for Tactical Statuses. When a Model’s Cool reaches 0, any Check it is used to determine the Target Number for automatically fails with no Dice rolled. However, a Unit that includes one or more Models with a Cool of 0 but uses a Model with a higher value to make a Cool Check suffers no penalties.
Willpower (WP) – The Willpower Characteristic is primarily used for Checks made for Psychic Attacks or Powers. For more details see the Rules for Psychic Powers. When a Model’s Willpower Characteristic reaches 0, any Check it is used to determine the Target Number for, automatically fails with no Dice rolled. However, a Unit that includes one or more Models with a Willpower of 0 but uses a Model with a higher value to make a Willpower Check suffers no penalties.
Intelligence (IN) – The Intelligence Characteristic is primarily used for Checks to activate certain Wargear items and Rules. When a Model’s Intelligence Characteristic reaches 0, any Check it is used to determine the Target Number for automatically fails with no Dice rolled. However, a Unit that includes one or more Models with an Intelligence of 0 but uses a Model with a higher value to make an Intelligence Check suffers no penalties.
Movement (M) – The Movement Characteristic is primarily used to determine how far a Model can move during the Movement Phase, with higher values denoting an ability to move further (see Moving Units). If a Model’s Movement Characteristic is reduced to 0, then the Controlling Player may not move, Rush or otherwise change the Model’s position on the Battlefield regardless of any other Rules that may affect it until its Movement is changed to a value greater than 0.
Weapon Skill (WS) – The Weapon Skill Characteristic is primarily used to determine a Model’s ability to attack during a Combat in the Assault Phase, with a higher value making it both easier for the Model to make attacks and more difficult for opponents to do so (see Melee Hit Tests). If a Model’s Weapon Skill is reduced to 0 then that Model cannot make attacks in a Combat (if the Hit Test could have triggered a variable Special Rule, then that Rule is considered to automatically fail to activate as part of the Test). Enemy Models whose attacks target a Model with Weapon Skill 0, or a Unit whose majority Weapon Skill is 0, treat the Target Model as though it had a Weapon Skill of T to determine the Target Number for any Hit Tests required.
Ballistic Skill (BS) – The Ballistic Skill Characteristic is primarily used to determine a Model’s ability to make attacks during a Shooting Attack, with a higher value making it easier to succeed at attacks (see Ranged Hit Tests). If a Model’s Ballistic Skill is reduced to 0 then that Model cannot make Shooting Attacks, even if no Hit Test is required or it would have otherwise automatically succeeded due to the use of a Special Rule.
Strength (S) – The Strength Characteristic is primarily used to determine the effectiveness of Wound Tests inflicted by Melee Weapons, with a higher value making it easier to inflict wounds. If a Model’s Strength Characteristic is reduced to 0 then any Wound Tests made that would use that Characteristic or for any Melee Weapon automatically fails and no Dice are rolled for it (if the Wound Test could have triggered a variable Special Rule, then that Rule is considered to automatically fail to activate as part of the Test).
Toughness (T) – The Toughness Characteristic is primarily used as part of Wound Tests, with a higher value making it harder for attacks to inflict wounds on a Target Unit or Model. If a Model is reduced to 0 Toughness then all Wound Tests made targeting it are automatically successful and no Dice are rolled (if the Wound Test could have triggered a variable Special Rule, then that Rule is considered to have been automatically activated as part of the Test).
Wounds (W) – The Wounds Characteristic is primarily used to determine a Model’s capacity for receiving Damage during a Battle, with a higher value allowing a Model to sustain more damage before it is removed from play. When a Model’s Wounds Characteristic is reduced to 0 that Model is Removed as a Casualty, see the Rules for Casualties here.
Initiative (I) – The Initiative Characteristic is primarily used to determine the order in which Models make attacks during Combat, with Models with a higher Initiative Value making attacks before those with lower values. For more details, see the Set-up Move Distance for the Assault Phase. When a Model’s Initiative Characteristic is reduced to 0, then that Model will generally be forced to attack after other Models, but suffers no other penalty.
Attacks (A) – The Attacks Characteristic is primarily used to determine the number of attacks a Model may make in a Combat, with the value of the Characteristic indicating the number of attacks that can be made (see Melee Hit Tests). When a Model’s Attacks Characteristic is reduced to 0 then that Model may not make any attacks as part of a Combat.
Armour Save (SAV) – An Armour Save is used to attempt to negate wounds suffered by a Model. When a Model’s Armour Save is at its minimum value of ‘-’, that Model may not make Armour Tests.
Invulnerable Save (INV) – An Invulnerable Save is used to negate wounds that would normally ignore or bypass an Armour Save. When a Model’s Invulnerable Save is at its minimum value of ‘-’, that Model may not make Invulnerable Tests.
Range (R) – This Characteristic determines the maximum distance, in inches ("), at which attacks may be made with a Weapon. A Weapon with Range 0 or ‘-’ may not make attacks as part of a Shooting Attack.
Firepower (FP) – This Characteristic is used to determine how many Dice are rolled when making attacks with this Weapon. A Weapon with a Firepower Characteristic of 0 may not be used to make attacks of any kind.
Ranged Strength (RS) – This Characteristic is used only during Wound Tests or Armour Penetration Tests for attacks made using ranged Weapons. If a Weapon has a Strength Characteristic of ‘0’ or then any Wound Tests made for it automatically fail and no Dice are rolled (if the Wound Test could have triggered a variable Special Rule, then that Rule is considered to automatically fail to activate as part of the Test).
Armour Penetration (AP) – This Characteristic is used to determine if a Model Hit by attacks made with a Weapon may make an Armour Test. Like Saving Throws, lower values are more valuable for this Characteristic. When modifying the Armour Penetration Characteristic the same Rules are used as those for modifying Saving Throws.
Damage (D) – This Characteristic determines how the Wounds or Hull Points Characteristic of a Target Model that fails a Saving Throw after sustaining a wound from a Weapon is modified. A Weapon with a Damage Characteristic of 0 cannot inflict Damage on a Model, regardless of the Weapon’s other Characteristics or Special Rules.
Rules and Special Rules
The term Rule refers to any instructions that allow Players to resolve game actions as part of a Battle, covering all of the interactions between Models and Units (such as moving, Shooting and making Assaults). All of the material in the Principles of Combat, Rules of Battle and Battles in the Age of Darkness sections of this book are considered to be Rules. Special Rules modify how a Rule works, but do not present new basic game instructions, and in this book are mostly found in the Armoury of the Age of Darkness section. In all cases, Special Rules take precedence over Rules where the two present differing instructions.
Traits
Traits are a special kind of Characteristic, one which all Models have but which confers no inherent Rules or benefit on its own. Instead, Traits are used by other Special Rules and effects to target specific Models and apply benefits or penalties. The most common Traits are those for Allegiance and Faction, which are possessed by almost all Models. Allegiance requires that each Model have either the Loyalist or Traitor Trait, and most Models will gain one or more Traits based on the Army List from which they were selected.

For example, a Legionary selected from the Imperial Fists Faction and selected as part of a Loyalist Army would have the Loyalist and Imperial Fists Traits. On their own these Traits have no effect on the Model’s Characteristics, Points cost or other features, but Rules that target Imperial Fists or Loyalist Models will apply their effects to the Model.

In addition to Models, Weapons can also have Traits. These are usually different to those possessed by Models, but are used for the same purposes. Weapons will commonly have Traits that define the type of Weapon it is or a specific type of usage. For example, a bolt pistol has the following Traits: Assault, Bolt. These identify which ‘family’ of Weapons it belongs to for any Rules that might only affect ‘Bolt’ Weapons and notes that it can be used for attacks where only ‘Assault’ Weapons may be used.

While they appear similar to Characteristics, it is important to note that Traits never have a ‘value’ attached to them. Furthermore, Traits cannot be modified in any way by another Special Rule or effect during a Battle, unless a Rule specifically states it affects a Trait.

Transmutative armaments

To look upon an Infernus Abomination is to observe a thing of utter darkness, less simply black and more the absolute antithesis of light itself. Even at rest, the Infernus is said to be of a constantly shifting form, both growing and contracting like the ceaseless billowing of a thunderhead before the breaking of a storm; its skin visibly crawling with a barely-restrained yearning to butcher and flay all living things. The tools with which it indulges its base desires can seemingly be conjured at will, its human-like limbs transmuting in a horrifying contortion of bone and sinew to form savagely barbed blades, viscous flailing tentacles or fans of razor talons dripping with poisons, in the blink of an eye.

Before any To Hit rolls are made during the Assault phase, the controlling player must select which weapon profile to use.
Ranged Weapon
Ranged Weapon
R
FP
RS
AP
D
Special Rules
Traits
Transmutative armaments
Transmutative armaments
- Transmutative armaments
- Transmutative armaments
-
-
- (Hammerblade)
- (Hammerblade)
-
8
2
Melee, Murderous Strike (6+), Brutal (2), Two-handed
-
- (Spinelash)
- (Spinelash)
-
5
4
Melee, Reach (2), Breaching (6+), Two-handed
-
- (Talon-rakes)
- (Talon-rakes)
-
4
5
Melee, Shred, Rending (6+), Rampage (2), Specialist Weapon
-

Wraithskin

Unlike the synthetic suits used by operatives of the Assassin Clades that wraithskin appears to mimic, it is not a closely guarded technological treasure. They are an abhorrent fusion of forbidden craft networked with a psy-conductive matrix that draws power from the negative emotions of its wearer, selectively amplifying and concentrating them. Instead of working in harmony with the anatomy of the wearer to enhance their capabilities, a wraithskin effectively overrides the neural impulses controlling motor functions. The resulting effect is continuous agony as tendons are ripped, muscles are torn and bones fractured as the body is pushed beyond the thresholds of its normal capabilities. For the Infernus Abomination, this vicious cycle of self-destruction and regeneration must be sustained by continuous hunting and killing.

Models with wraithskin have a 4+ Armour Save and a 4+ Invulnerable Save.

Boneshard Spitter

The horrifying, gore-soaked appendages of an Infernus Abomination morph and distend into an almost limitless number of biological forms but often take the shape of a cluster of orifices, each lined with rows of tooth-like spikes or shards of splintered bone, coated in a gloss-black bio-toxic ichor. With a sharp contraction the Abomination is able to launch these growths in a hail of shredding projectiles that cause the blood in the veins of their targets to thicken and clot in a dark spider web that rapidly spreads from the site of even the slightest puncture wound.

Ranged Weapon
Ranged Weapon
R
FP
RS
AP
D
Special Rules
Traits
Boneshard Spitter
Boneshard Spitter
6"
1
-
Assault 2D6, Fleshbane
-
Infiltrate

Many armies employ reconnaissance troops who sit concealed for days, just waiting for the right moment in which to strike.

You may choose to deploy units that contain at least one model with this special rule last, after all other units (friend and foe) have been deployed. If both players have such units and choose to do so, the players roll off and the winner decides who goes first,then alternate deploying these units.

Units that Infiltrate in this way can be set up anywhere on the battlefield that is more than 9" from any enemy unit, as long as no deployed enemy unit can draw line of sight to them. This includes in a Building, as long as the Building is more than 9" from any enemy unit. Alternatively, they can be set up anywhere on the battlefield more than 12" from any enemy unit, even in plain sight.

If a unit with Infiltrate deploys inside a Dedicated Transport, the same rules apply when deploying their Transport.

A unit that deploys using these rules cannot Charge in their first turn.

Having Infiltrate also confers the Outflank special rule to units of Infiltrators that are kept as Reserves.
Scout

Scouts are always in the vanguard of the army. Unnoticed by the enemy, they range ahead of the main force.

After both sides have deployed (including Infiltrators), but before the first player begins their first turn, a unit containing at least one model with this special rule can choose to redeploy. If the unit is Infantry, Artillery, Dreadnought or Automata, each model can redeploy anywhere entirely within 6" of its current position. If it is any other Unit Type, each model can instead redeploy anywhere entirely within 12" of its current position. During this redeployment, Scouts can move outside the owning player’s Deployment Zone, but must remain more than 9" away from any enemy unit. A unit that makes a Scout redeployment cannot Charge in the first Game Turn. A unit cannot Embark or Disembark as part of a Scout redeployment.

If both sides have Scouts, roll off; the winner decides who redeploys first. Then alternate redeploying Scout units one at a time. If a unit with this special rule is deployed inside a Dedicated Transport, it confers the Scout special rule to the Transport (though a Disembarkation cannot be performed as part of the redeployment). Note that a Transport with this special rule does not lose it if a unit without this special rule is Embarked upon it. Having Scout also confers the Outflank special rule to units of Scouts that are kept as Reserves.
Osmeotic Regeneration

To an Infernus Abomination the briefest physical contact with the flesh of living, or even recently deceased, acts as if it were a narcotic substance, invigorating a powerful and overwhelming bloodlust. Simple blood or muscle cells are consumed to fuel the murder-instinct of the Infernus but of particular potency are the tissues of the brain and nervous system. With the ingestion of cerebral matter, saturated with the darkest thoughts and deepest fears of the being it once constituted, an Infernus Abomination nourishes its physical form, its sundered flesh and torn musculature knitting together anew.

At the end of the controlling player’s turn, if the Infernus Abomination has not been removed as a casualty, the controlling player rolls a D6 for every unsaved Wound inflicted on an enemy model during that turn. For each result of a 5+, the Infernus Abomination regains a lost Wound. Note that Wounds regained in this way may not increase the amount of Wounds to more than the starting amount shown on the Infernus Abomination unit profile.
Army List
Contents
Books
The Cults Abominatio at War: Cult Operatives
• Tactics of the Cults Abominatio
• Abomination Unit Sub-Type

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