Wargames Gallery: Iron Warriors (Bitter) End Game!

It isn't looking good for the Iron Warriors. 

This is near the end of the game. The Iron Warriors have an un-wounded dreadnought comtemptor with las cannon and a fist, along with 4 tyrant siege terminators left. 

The Alpha Legion meanwhile has a crashed (out of action) eagle, from which the remains of a tactical squad (4 members) and centurion have emerged. They are supported by a tartaros terminator squad closing in (axes and one thunder hammer, one plasma the rest with combi-bolters), and a squad of recon marines with counts-as nemesis bolt guns on a gantry up above the rest. 

What is the target priority for the Iron Warriors? Where is their fire to be directed, and where do they charge in?

Warhammer World: The Fall of Outpost Sigma-12

One of the newer displays (to me at least) at Warhammer World was the fall of Sigma-12. This is Cthonia. And it is also one of the last battles of the Heresy since immediately afterward the Siege of Terra began. Traitor forces of the Sons of Horus undermine (literally) the defensive positions of the Imperial Fists as their subterranean forces emerge. The loyalists fight on to extract as high a toll as possible and make the traitors victory Pyrrhic. 

The whole scene (above) is a rather incredibly put together diorama. I liked the assault being conducted by the Sons of Horus - it looks exactly like the tip of an armoured spear as I might envisage it. 

The Imperial Fists won't like the holes in those walls!

Nor will they like the termites that are coming!

But the loyalists are clearly making the traitors pay across the board and backline!

Warhammer World: Isstvan 5 Drop Site

I was recently able to visit Warhammer World again for the first time in years. It has changed a lot since I last went, and there are lots of new exhibits. 

One of the newer ones is the Isstvan 5 drop site diorama featuring the Salamanders retreating back to what they thought would be friendly legions only to be betrayed. The Iron Warriors have opened fire on them having already sided with Horus in his civil war. 

The sheer scale of the diorama is impressive from the wide angle shot above. Given the crowds, this was the best angle I could get on the total diorama. To the right are the entrenched positions of the Iron Warriors. To the left are the retreating and dying forces of the Salamanders. Some have made it very close to the traitor lines and are engaging thoroughly. Other Salamanders are trying to rally survivors as best as possible. 

The view above gives the Salamanders view looking upward to the hills where the Iron Warriors have dropped in their walls from orbit. 

And here is the opposite view from the Iron Warriors line looking downward into the depression. 

The detail is insane. 

And the layers of dust and wreckage tell their own stories. 

I spent ages at the diorama looking at all the little details and the smaller stories that they are telling where there are brave survivors looking for a way out, and those determined to still take the fight forward. 

Incredible!

Wargames Gallery: Iron Warriors Attack

Sprinting out of the land raider spartan, the Iron Warriors terminators prepare to attack the decimated forces of the World Eaters! But who should they target first?

More internecine battles between these two forces in future weeks! 

Praetor Challenge: World Eaters Jungle

Welcome Praetors! 

It is the start of the World Eaters turn on a jungle planet replete with Eldar ruins and hostile native flora, and dead megafauna. Once thought to be worthy of joining the Imperium, it is now fought over for scarce resources. 

The loyalist World Eaters need to optimize this turn. What should they do?

World Eaters Force:

Despoiler Squad: 8 strong, sergeant with power sword, vexilla.

Praetor (unwounded): Power fist, archeotech pistol.

Veteran Assault Squad x8, sergeant with falax blades, 1 power maul.

Iron Warriors Force:

(right of frame) Tactical Squad x10 (sergeant with power fist and plasma pistol), bayonets, vexilla.

(left of frame, north of rhino) Tactical Squad x10 (sergeant with power fist), chain bayonets, vexilla.

Rhino (full hull points) with havoc launcher.

Heavy support squad in terrain, 5x las cannons, augury scanner. 

Where are the World Eaters moving to, shooting at, and charging into? Are they worried about reactions? Are they going to deploy (advanced) reactions of their own? Over to you, Praetor. 

Praetor Challenge: Iron Warriors vs World Eaters

Today's Praetor's Challenge is brought to you by the Iron Warriors and the World Eaters legions. It is the Worlds Eaters to play and the question is as usual: what is the optimal (or most characterful) choice/s possible?

Iron Warriors:
10x Tactical Squad (sat on an objective). Sergeant with power fist.
3x Cataphractii Terminators (2x twin lightning claws, 1 with reaper autocannon and chain fist).
1x Cataphractii Terminator Praetor (1 wound remains, twin lightning claws).
1x Contemptor Dreadnought with las cannon and power fist (2 wounds remain). 

World Eaters:
5x Tartaros Terminators (all with twin lightning claws); two of them have 1 wound remaining. 
1x Tartaros Terminator Praetor (paragon blade); two wounds remaining. 
5x Tartaros Terminators (3 with chain fists, 2 with power mauls); two of them have 1 wound remaining. 

What are the world eaters going to chase: a praetor kill? the objective under the tactical squad? finish the dreadnought? And why?

Internet kudos points (worth nothing but bragging rights!) await!

Praetor Challenge: Word Bearers vs World Eaters

On a near airless moon, Lorgar leads his mutated followers against Angron and his crazed World Eaters! But what should they do?

It is the Word Bearers to play. The set up is as see at the start of the Word Bearers movement phase. 

Word Bearers:

1x Angron. [He has a summoning reading for a unit of 5x daemons - NB]. Unwounded. 
5x Gal Vorbak. 1 of them is down to 1 wound remaining. 

World Eaters:
1x Leviathan Dreadnought with grav flux bombard and storm cannon. 2 wounds remaining. 

1x Angron. 4 wounds remaining. 

6x Tartaros terminators. 5x Lightning Claws [1 has 1 wound remaining], and 1x Praetor with Paragon Blade (counts as) with 2 wounds remaining.  

The dreadnought LITERALLY is sat on top of an objective. Not that many of the participants seem to care!

What is the best play for the Word Bearers?

Internet kudos points await! (Only redeemable with your own friends when you boast to them about Warpstone Flux's Praetor Challenge ;).

Praetor Challenge: Alpha Legion vs Emperor's Children

Today's Praetor Challenge / Wargames Gallery! 

Here is the situation top down, and bit more side on. 

It is the Emperor's Children's turn and you are viewing the situation just after the movement phase. 

The units involved are (Left to Right).

Emperor's Children:

Sunkillers x4 with las cannons (positioned on the scenery at the top left). 

Assault Squad x11. Sargent with twin lightning claws. Combat shields all round 

Apothecary x1 embedded in the assault squad. 

Praetor with phoenix spear embedded in the assault squad. Unwounded. 

Alpha Legion:

Veteran Assault squad x5, all with power swords. 

Heavy support squad x5. Missile launchers. 

Termite - undamaged.

You are not playing for objectives. This is a straight forward wipe-them-out style game with the winner decided by sheer number of units left standard. 

The Alpha Legion has 1 reaction in hand. 

What do the Emperor's Children do for shooting, charging, and so on?

Praetor Challenge: Iron Hands vs Iron Warriors

Praetors assemble! This week's challenge is one of iron: Iron Hands against Iron Warriors to be specific. They are fighting over an ancient world for mineral resources to advance their way across the galaxy. There is nothing left other than mutual annihilation to be had here though. This turn will likely decide the winner of the game. The Iron Hands are to play and the Iron Warriors have 1 reaction in hand. The Iron Hands need 2 unit kills for the game. Here is how the board looks:

[And yes - those are computer fans mounted upon some styrene - a great bit of scenery in case any one wants to copy the concept!]

Left to Right:

Iron Warriors:
1 Rhino. All hull points intact.
Tactical Support Squad: 5x Plasma Guns. 
3x Siege Tyrants (1 with 1wound remaining, the others at full strength). 
1 Contemptor dreadnought with las cannon and gravis fist. 3 Wounds remaining. 

Iron Hands:
Medusan Immortals x10. 2x Flamers. 
1 Praetor embedded in the Immortals Squad (could be detached). Thunder hammer. No wounds taken. 
5x Heavy support squad (auto cannons). 

The Iron Hands have already moved and are entering the shooting phase. 
What move gives them the best option to delete 2 Iron Warriors units from the board without losing a unit themselves? (If they lose a unit, then they will need to remove 3 Iron Warriors Units for the win instead!). 

This might seem like an obvious solution, but I'm actually not so sure the more that I look at it. 

Praetor Challenge: Iron Warriors vs Shattered Legions

Happy New Year!

A new feature for Warpstone Flux this year is the Praetor Challenge! This will largely supersede the Wargames Gallery (but I will keep the tag going all the same). The core idea of the Praetor Challenges is to suggest what you would do in a given tactical situation on (a segment of) the game board. Sounds simple enough right? But you would not believe the disagreements that arise. Not merely from pure mathematics or statistics, but also from fluff (what would Angron do, after all?), duty, honour, or anything else combined. There's no right answer to Praetor Challenges, but there might be optimal plays, and most fluffy plays, and those are the kinds of comments we'd like to see and talk about!

So here is the first of 2026's Praetor Challenges: Iron Warriors facing off against the Shattered Legions!

Iron Warriors:

Tactical squad x7 (Sergeant with Power fist and plasma pistol, bayonets all round, 1 vexilla)
Iron Havocs x3 (all with Lascannons);
Cataphractii Terminators x4 (2 with chain fists and combi bolters, 1 with heavy flamer and power fist, 1 with thunder hammer and combi bolter);

Praetor in Cataphractii Armour (Thunder hammer and combi bolter - unwounded). 

Shattered Legions:
Mor Deythan x3 (2 melta guns, 1 combi melta - spent already);

Salamanders Praetor in Cataphractii Armour (2 wounds remaining; thunder hammer and combi melta - spent);

Salamanders contemptor (twin meltas - 3 wounds remaining);
Salamanders tactical squad x4 (sergeant with power fist; standard marines otherwise);

Iron Hands Heavy Support Squad x3 (Auto cannons x3). 

The Iron Warriors have finished their movement phase. What should they do next for shooting and charging / close combat? The Shattered Legions have 2 reactions in hand. Critically, the tactical squad is already sat on an objective (the necron scenery). What is the right play? The optimal play? The fluffy play? Or just a mad play?

Over to you in the comments, Praetors!

Wargames Gallery: Loyalist Emperor's Children vs Traitors Word Bearers melee

A loyalist element of the Emperor's Children charges against the traitorous Word Bearers from the Gal Vorbak! 

The praetor and the Gal Vorbak leader have been set to one side for their own challenge. This leaves 10 assault squad members with chain swords and combat shields, the assault squad sergeant with twin lightning claws, and an apothecary to fight against 5 Gal Vorbak. 

Which side do the dice favour?!

Wargames Gallery: Target Priority?

What would you do? What are your target priorities?

Here's the situation:

Left to Right Status:

(1) Alpha Legion Heavy Support Squad. 5x Missile Launchers. [No wounds taken all game long].

1x Master of Signals. [No wounds taken all game long].

(2) World Eaters Tartaros Terminators:
2x combi-bolter and chainfist [No wounds taken]

1x combi-bolter and power maul [1 wound remains]

1x Sergeant with thunder hammer (counts as). [1 wound remains]

[This squad started at 10 strong]

(3) World Eaters Leviathan Dreadnought with storm cannon and grav-flux bombard. [5 wounds remain]. The Leviathan is sat (literally) on top of an objective. 

(4) Alpha Legion Tactical Support Squad. 2x Melta Guns [Squad was 5 strong at the start of the game]

1x Alpha Legion Centurion with Power Fist and bolt pistol [No wounds taken all game long]

It is the Alpha Legion's turn. They are at the start of the shooting phase. No World Eaters reactions remain having used them up in the movement phase at the approach of the melta gun squad. The missile launchers have not moved. 

What would you do??!!??

Kudos and Honour to the best answer/s...

Wargames Gallery: Lorgar Summons

Acting on instinct as much as tactics, Lorgar summons forth daemons bound to his adamantium will to do his bidding as loyalist elements of the Alpha Legion bear down on him. It doesn't go well for the Alpha Legion here -- Lorgar by himself is more than a match for these space marines. 

Wargames Gallery: Red Tide

The World Eaters charge across the surface of an icy world toward their next target. The nails thrum in their skulls. Maybe they can find some peace - sleep even - if they cause enough destruction?

I'll have to post about constructing Angron and his painting in the near future - but that's a job for another day!

Wargames Gallery: Alpha Legion Snipers against World Eater Fury

The Alpha Legion snipers have already sapped the World Eaters terminators at this point in the game. As the terminators get closer, they have a few final volleys left before contact. They'd better make the most of it - those lightning claws look sharp to say the least. 

Outcome: World Eaters victory, but by a much narrower than expected margin. 

Wargames Gallery: Lord of the Red Sands

Uh oh. It isn't looking good for the Iron Hands. 

Angron and some of his World Eaters terminator escort have reached the shield wall of the Iron Hands and are ready to charge in.

I have three perspectives of this: one from each side, and top down.

Want to know the outcome?

Spoilers ahead.

Angron and the World Eaters won. By a large margin. 

Wargames Gallery: Primarch Duel

Corax and Alpharius (maybe Omegon) face off against each other on a bridge that somehow holds both of their weight.

For those wanting spoilers: Alpharius wins. 

End of 2nd Wargames Gallery: Strike and Fade

Tacking the traitor elements of the Alpha Legion, the Raven Guard fall back on their tried and tested assault methodology and capabilities: Strike and Fade. 

Although the Alpha Legion went hard with their drop pods and terminator assaults, the Raven Guard were rapidly in position to counter them with their Mor Deythan and a tactical squad led by a consul. The Alpha Legion sorcerer meanwhile readied his next "spell" to use. 

The terminators were ultimately very formidable even if the Raven Guard made them pay heavily. 

There's one more pic from this battle that you can just make out in the top left of the second image here - I'll post a zoom in of that later in the week I think! Then we will be well and truly ready for Third Edition. 

End of 2nd Wargames Gallery: Illegal Armies on Parade?

I was going to entitle this post something like Terminator Grudge Match. But given the rumours and leaks we have been hearing, it seems like the hashtag "IllegalArmiesOnParade" has been gaining momentum and traction. If borne out, this is not great for the game, or the fan base. I hope Games Workshop / Warhammer Horus Heresy Team are ready for the on-going backlash if it is true and come up with a quick solution. 

Anyway, here are the Alpha Legion engaging the World Eaters in a terminator grudge match! Spot the power fists, chain fists, power maul, and other conversions in my armies (and I'm sure: your armies too). 

This game was ultimately fought to a standstill and was a draw. i.e., time ran out. But what an epic terminator versus terminator match it was overall! 

End of 2nd Wargames Gallery: Garrison Breach

On a lonely colony world, the World Eaters traitors assault an unassuming Iron Warriors garrison that they've kept held for a decade, unaware of the wider conflict like many of their garrisoned legion brethren. 

With the element of surprise, and needing to capture precious resourced, the World Eaters press their surprise attack against the Iron Warriors. The Iron Warriors hold the objective (the agate slice that looks mysteriously like a warp portal behind the tactical squad here!), but suffer a charge which wipes them out to a man.

Nearby, the lac cannons of the Iron Warriors make short work of the leviathan dreadnought which explodes in spectacular fashion as the lasers slice apart its critical components. 

Sadly, it is not enough for the Iron Warriors in the end. The World Eaters over-run their positions and destroy them all. Victory to the World Eaters by tabling their opponents. The narrative rolls ever onward!