Contents • Bunker | ||
| Book | Kind | Edition | Version | Last update |
Legacies of the Age of Darkness | ||||
Legacies of the Age of Darkness | Expansion | 3 | 1.1 | October 2025 |
Military buildings are often vital to defensive operations, serving to shelter vulnerable troops, mount heavy guns or deploy other technological defences. During the Horus Heresy almost every force made use of such defences, though they were rarely considered a decisive element in any order of battle.
The following Rules apply to all Models with the Fortification Type:The Fortification Type has a number of unique Sub-Types that represent the more common variations of defensive structures found on the Battlefield. These largely serve to add key additional Rules to the base Fortification Type and often add or remove Characteristics to that Sub-Type of Fortification. The most common of these Sub-Types are presented here.
Emplacements are either purpose built military structures or civilian buildings hastily converted to mount ranged weapon batteries. Given the limited nature of the systems that control these structures they cannot be relied upon to fight a battle alone, but can serve as a useful means of delaying or corralling the foe while more traditional troops act elsewhere on the battlefield.
The following Rules apply to all Models with the Emplacement Sub-Type:Bunkers are fortified shelters for infantry, allowing them to find temporary respite on the battlefield. Some such structures also boast fixed weapons batteries, allowing troops to continue to fight even as they take cover.
The following Rules apply to all Models with the Bunker Sub-Type:Structures are specialised fortifications that carry no weapons, nor allow troops to shelter within, but instead allow the deployment of rare technological devices. From communications platforms to void shield generators, these platforms may seem irrelevant in the face of armoured gun turrets, but when wisely used can be equally as powerful.
The following Rules apply to all Models with the Structure Sub-Type:The term breacher charge applies to a wide variety of explosive devices intended to break through the armour of static fortifications. They are powerful but often unwieldy devices – of little use against a mobile opponent, but devastating to vulnerable structures.
Breacher charges can be used in Close Combat to deal heavy damage to Fortifications.| HIGH COMMAND – The highest ranked officers of an Army. |
| COMMAND – The line officers of an Army. |
| WARLORD – The eighteen Primarchs and a few other powerful warlords. No Army may spend more than 25% of its Points Limit on Units with either the Warlord or Lord of War Battlefield Role. |
| LORD OF WAR – The largest and most powerful Units available to any Army. No Army may spend more than 25% of its Points Limit on Units with either the Lord of War or Warlord Battlefield Role. |
The Cybertheurgist Trait is used in the following Forces of the Taghmata datasheets:
The most basic of the Cybertheurgist’s arts allowed them to boost the output of the reactors that powered the various machines in their charge. While such manipulation ran the risk of burning out actuators, voiding cortex chips or crippling electrical relays, it also proved a significant boost to combat prowess.
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In the terrible darkness of the Horus Heresy many among the ranks of the Mechancum swiftly found ways to use their arcane knowledge to undo the works of those of their kin they now called enemy. The subtle data-djinn used to empower a machine could also be turned against it, forcing servos past their tolerance, burning out circuitry and overcharging weapons systems.
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Some tech-priests focussed their skills not on the manipulation of technology on a grand scale, but on the subtle control of hand cogitator and optic relay. In war, such adepts could confound the enemy by debilitating key wargear mid-battle, leaving the foe shorn of the technology they relied on.
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The most powerful cybertheurgists were capable not only of boosting the prowess of their charges, but also of implanting temporary programming shunts. These were intended to allow even simple automata to react with more haste to the changing nature of the battlefield, though at the risk of damage to their internal systems.
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The Lacrymaerta Trait is used in the following Forces of the Taghmata datasheets:
While the vast majority of the servants of the Lacrymaerta are flesh rather than steel, the complex web of implants and augmetics that enslaves them allows their masters to employ Cybertheurgy on them. Though it is more difficult to coax the same performance from sinew and bone, the effect in battle can be worth the difficulty. Sadly, the flesh of servitors and thralls rarely survives the ministrations of their masters, fortunately it is considered easily replaceable.
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With calculated disregard for terror and pain inflicted on their own charges, the priests of the Lacrymaerta have been known to intentionally push their servants past tolerance when battle threatens to overwhelm them. The explosive demise of units whose end was inevitable may yet take some few of the enemy with them - a worthy trade in the eyes of the flesh-smiths of the Lacrymaerta.
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The Reductor Trait is used in the following Forces of the Taghmata datasheets:
The cybernetic creations of the Ordo Reductor had always been more complex engines than simple automata, blending the nervous system of a living being with a cold skeleton of metal. When the priests of the Ordo Reductor let slip the limiters of the Thallax’s reactors it boosted the output of their metal frames, but tormented the living nerves with searing pain, often seeing them loose terrible screams as they were driven into a frenzy.
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The priests of the Ordo Reductor know well the arts of lock and bolt, there are few doors or portals whose mechanisms they cannot subvert. If they can force a passage to any fortress’ gate then they have no need of cannon or drill to pierce its protections, and those that cower inside must face their wrath without the protection of the tall walls or tank’s gullet.
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The Myrmidax Trait is used in the following Forces of the Taghmata datasheets:
The adepts of the Myrmidax have always been some of the most ancient of the creeds of Mars, and within the data-engrams of their remote storage was kept the centuries of accumulated wisdom, the bitterness of defeat and the glory of victory. The tech-priests of that order could loose that ancient data to boost the prowess of their warriors and suffuse their augmetics with the fury of warriors long dead.
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Designed to be carefully attached to a target and blast precise holes in the thickest armour, these cumbersome devices are ill-suited to open war. However, when a vulnerable target can be isolated in battle, there are no better tools for piercing its protection.
Weapons with this Special Rule can only attack Vehicles and immobile Models.Military buildings are often vital to defensive operations, serving to shelter vulnerable troops, mount heavy guns or deploy other technological defences. During the Horus Heresy almost every force made use of such defences, though they were rarely considered a decisive element in any order of battle.
The following Rules apply to all Models with the Fortification Type:Heavy beams and armour-piercing cannon rarely inflict superficial damage, but always blast and break the hull of their target. Such weapons are superior tank killers, their sheer power prized over lesser weapons when the objective is to apply maximum damage without concern for finesse.
A Weapon with the Armourbane Special Rule counts Glancing Hits as Penetrating Hits.| Melee Weapon | |||||||
Melee Weapon | IM | AM | SM | AP | D | Special Rules | Traits |
| Melta bombs | |||||||
| Melta bombs | -3 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 4 | Armourbane, Detonation | - |
Infantry units include all types of foot soldiers. Infantry are fairly slow moving, but can cross almost any terrain and make the best use of cover to avoid enemy fire.
Infantry is the most basic Type, and is applied to most Models in the game. A Model with the Infantry Type uses the Core Rules without modification, gaining neither benefit nor penalty. Models with the Infantry Type may Embark and Disembark upon Models with the Transport Sub-Type.Transport vehicles are designed to balance armour and capacity, attempting to mount the most protection without compromising how many warriors they can carry. Yet, some warriors are plated in such imposing armour or even spawned in such an aberrant nature that they occupy far more space than any regular fighter. Such warriors are mighty in both power and stature, but prove more difficult to ferry into battle.
Models with the Bulky (X) Special Rule take up more space on Transport Models.
The [Legiones Astartes] Trait is used in the following Legiones Astartes datasheets:
Representing the elite of any army, commanders oversee the disposition of their troops, set strategy for the coming battle and often stand at the forefront of the conflict. The actions of such heroes can change the tide of battle in an instant.
The following Rules apply to all Models with the Command Sub-Type:The humble sergeant stands as one of the greatest weapons in the arsenals of any army. Skilled in war and in leadership, each sergeant is the beating heart of their unit and the cornerstone upon which victory is built.
The following Rules apply to all Models with the Sergeant Sub-Type:Utilised primarily in boarding actions and Zone Mortalis operations, hoarding shields are bulkier than the similar combat shield, offering a measure of additional protection to the hearer and allowing them to form a formidable bulwark against enemy assault.
Boarding shields grant a 5+ Invulnerable Save, the Shield Trait and the Heavy Sub-Type.