Heavy support squads provide the Legions’ infantry with mobile, Space Marine-portable firepower sufficient to bring down hordes of enemy troops or smash armoured vehicles apart in withering hails of weapons fire. Although tanks and field artillery outrange and outgun heavy support squads in most cases — as well as of course often being much more heavily protected by armour plate, heavy support squads have all the flexibility of the infantryman to their advantage, and are able to disperse in terrain, climb heights to attain better fields of fire, and go where a battle tank or even a Dreadnought cannot.
| LD | CL | WP | IN | |||||||||||
| M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | LD | CL | WP | IN | SAV | INV | |
| Legionary (⌀32mm) | 7 | - | - | - | ||||||||||
| Legionary (⌀32mm) | 7 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 7 | - | - | - | 3+ | - |
| Legion Support Sergeant (⌀32mm) | 8 | - | - | - | ||||||||||
| Legion Support Sergeant (⌀32mm) | 7 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 8 | - | - | - | 3+ | - |
The Space Marines of the Emperor’s Legions are genetically engineered, psycho-indoctrinated warriors with superhuman abilities, and minds and souls tempered for war. Each of the Legions has its own idiosyncrasies and character – the product of their gene-seed and the unique warrior cultures fostered by their masters.
Any unit with this special rule will have a number of additional special rules and abilities specific to their ‘named’ Legion, all of which will be defined in other Horus Heresy – Age of Darkness publications. A Space Marine unit may only have one such ‘named’ rule, e.g., Legiones Astartes (Sons of Horus). Space Marine units from a different Legion may only be included in an army using an Allied Detachment and in conjunction with the Allies in the Age of Darkness chart.The humble vexilla displays the heraldry of a particular squad, proclaiming not only its designation in the Legion but also its proud legacy in the annals of the Great Crusade.
A unit that includes at least one model with a Legion vexilla adds +1 to the Wounds score used to determine if they win a Combat in the Assault phase. In addition, a unit that includes at least one model with a Legion vexilla may, before any dice are rolled to determine Fall Back distance, choose to Fall Back only a distance equal to the roll of a D6 instead of 2D6 (or 3D6 if a Cavalry unit), and if forced to move off the edge of the battlefield will instead stop moving, with any model that would have moved off of the battlefield ending its Fall Back move prematurely when it reaches 1" from the edge of the battlefield.This energy scanning device has the effect of alerting the user to the concealed presence or imminent arrival of enemy troops in the vicinity.
A unit that includes at least one model with an augury scanner gains all of the following benefits:A nuncio-vox is a beacon and communications array that allows constant co-ordination with other elements of an army – be they in a neighbouring region or in orbit high overhead. This allows precision reinforcements to be deployed nearby and strikes to be targeted with deadly accuracy.
While at least one model with a nuncio-vox is present on the battlefield and not Embarked in a Vehicle or Building, the controlling player may re-roll any Scatter rolls made (whether as part of a weapon attack or the deployment of a model or unit), as long as the model with the nuncio-vox has line of sight to the unit targeted by the attack or the point chosen as the target of the deployment. In addition, a unit that includes at least one model with a nuncio-vox ignores the -1 penalty to Leadership imposed by the Night Fighting rules.Some weapons are capable of breaching armour with a terrifying ease, whether by specially designed munitions, careful targeting or sheer brute power.
When rolling To Wound for a model that has the Breaching (X) special rule, or is attacking with a weapon that has the Breaching (X) special rule, for each To Wound roll equal to or higher than the value listed in brackets, the controlling player must resolve these wounds at AP 2 instead of the weapon’s normal AP value. This rule has no effect on models that do not have Wounds, such as models with the Vehicle Unit Type.This class of grenade contains only a small explosive charge, and is intended primarily to disorientate and distract the foe while closing on a fixed position.
A unit that includes at least one model with frag grenades makes attacks at its normal Initiative Step during an Assault after it has successfully Charged through Difficult Terrain or Dangerous Terrain, but still suffers any penalties to Charge rolls imposed by Difficult Terrain or Dangerous Terrain when resolving a Charge through Difficult Terrain or Dangerous Terrain.This class of grenade encompasses a variety of shaped charges, plasma detonators and crude bombs, all intended to disable armoured vehicles.
The controlling player may choose to have a model with krak grenades that is Engaged or otherwise in base contact during the Assault phase with a Building or Fortification, or a model with the Vehicle, Dreadnought or Automata Unit Type, inflict one automatic Str 6, AP 3 Hit on the target in Initiative Step 1 instead of attacking normally. Any model in a unit that is chosen to inflict Hits using krak grenades may not otherwise attack or make use of any other special rule or item of Wargear that inflicts Hits or Wounds on a model in the same Assault phase (but may participate in Sweeping Advances as normal).Made from high grade composite armour plating over an augmenting musculature of electro-fibre bundles, power armour features its own energy systems, sensors and environmental seals. Legiones Astartes power armour is the signature wargear of the Space Marine Legions and subject to an on-going evolution in design stretching back to the Thunder Warriors of the Unification Wars of Old Earth, fused with the wisdom of the Mechanicum of Mars and technological relics recovered over the years of the Great Crusade. At the outset of the Horus Heresy, the most common patterns employed by the Legions are the ‘Crusade’ and ‘Maximus’ types, with the ‘Iron’ pattern favoured for siege and close assault work, although there are considerable customised panoplies and many other Legion-specific sub-patterns in service.
Power armour provides a 3+ Armour Save.Forged by the master craftsmen of the Mechanicum, these superior variations of power armour are often highly embellished with ciphers of strength and durability, while some of wildly differing designs are far older than the present age and owe their origins to the forgotten zenith of human technological might.
Artificer armour confers a 2+ Armour Save.This datasheet has Heavy Support Battlefield Role. Full list of Legiones Astartes units sharing same Battlefield Role follows: