Horus Heresy: How to Build a Legion – Boxed Set Starter Legion

Pre-orders having gone live and thousands of gamers across the World have ordered the new Horus Heresy boxed set. For many of those gamers, this will be their first adventure into the 31st Millennium. There’s a question that I keep seeing pop up in the comments – “How do I build out my Legion after I get the boxed set”.

That is a BIG question and one that is dependent on a complex range of variables. It’s also unique to each Legion, and often each Rite of War. At first, I tried to cover every single angle but the video was just going to be too big. So I’m going to break this up into a number of parts. In this video, I will cover the most basic of ways to build a Horus Heresy army, what I like to call the ‘Starter Legion’, beginning with the boxed set and rounding out your collection to be a balanced force on the tabletop.

[KaajTheDuck]

Im waiting for gw to make some new assault marines or assault marine upgrades before i make most of my army... But i need a leviathan i care not for his function

[volcano]

A sensible approach would be to do the following: Collect over time enough models which enable you to play DIFFERENT play styles. Why is this important? Well, if you always play for example a gunline IF force with the same models things get boring fast and even your buddy will be able to recall your own list flawlessly. This doesn´t need to be. Instead of making a mistake such as starting another legion altogether in order to play in a different manner just expand your IF force with other units which allow you to play more aggressively.
This obviously applies to all other legions as well. Remember these are space marines and not Orks from 40K. You can do melee, ranged or a mix. The fun thing is you can catch your opponent off-guard, if he expects a traditional legion force.
Another method to make an army is to choose a specific scenario and build the list accordingly. You have a couple of bunkers, minefields, razor wire, fortifications in your terrain collection? Fine. Now you are able to field artillery pieces which profit from proper cover saves from the getgo and the opponent can unleash all models suitable for breaching fortifications.

[trevorbettencourt]

Nice video, info is appreciated. there are many of us who have no idea of where to start.

[creepinethyn]

good to see a quality warhammer and horus heresy channel in Australia

[warmasterraven]

This has been such an incredibly useful video thank you so much! Can't wait to expand my AOD box!
-A clueless 40k player

[dw]

Great video! I’d love to see a future series maybe where you can give list suggestions for each of the legions that are more thematically fluffy, as opposed to hyper competitive. As a lore enjoyer and non-player I like your rules discussions and how you relate them in simple terms, I love the illusion of having a playable legion thats authentic to the fluff even if theyll probably spend their entire life on my display shelf.

[_lewtz]

This is a great video thanks. I havent played an army game since 3rd/4th edition, and have been strugglign with just "what sort of overall basic units i need"

[simonjackson]

Thanks for this. Helping to change my 40k mindset.

[jochenhendrickx]

something fun eh? Always wanted the Blood Angels unique Dreadnought (the one with the jump pack), now is a good time

[grahamroden]

Fantastic video bud. My box is being split between my Salamanders and a new imperial Fist force

[robertblack]

Planning on Imperial Fists, gonna see how deep striking Melta Termies can do in the new edition. Probably overcosted and better used with other fun stuff, but it's a thought

[Ghost]

First question for Horus Heresy: What Legion do I want to play?

If it's a Legion that prefers fast and/or melee heavy than this set wouldn't be the best choice.
If you want to go without much investments, then I think Death Guard or Iron Hands could work decent with it.

Or use some of those sweet Christmas battleforce to start Mechanicus, Knights, Talons of the Emperor or my favorite army: Daemons of the Ruinstorm. The 40k Start Collecting are still great if you can get them, but the new (Khorne) Daemons Vanguard box can be a good start. Even more since it fits great with Ka'bandha.

[bullman]

I am thinking of splitting the box in two armies. one as sons of horus and the other as spacewolves. I still have not painted the betrayal of calth boxset from a couple of years back. And I have kitbashed a legion command unit aswell. I think that will be a good start for both armies.

[KATASZSPL]

I ve bought 3 boxes, really thank for video, now i can start apocalypse army :)

[jacksonstanford]

For the most part this is fine and good for a starting point, although I think it's a bit fixated on the box terminators staying in the spartan while also having a second major combat unit. But really, there should be some substantial mention of a Consul. I think finding a consul you think is cool and then building it is one of the more fun things you can do to start an army. Praetors are *good, * but they're also *boring.* They're melee beatstick units that are good at that but don't introduce any fun ideas beyond point and click. Masters of Signal, Librarians, Chaplains, Heralds, they all open up interesting new options with what you can do or what your units are capable of.

[thebaron]

I'm going to go ultramarines. Using mostly mk4 armor for their roman feal and use mk3s for my heavy weapons. I'm most likely going to do 2 squads of mk 6 all armed with volkite and the other 2 I will probably try to convert into praetorian breachers via 3d printing. Definitely getting the Kratos and a rhino (might get more later) will definitely get a leviathan and sicairan as well in the future I might get some invictarus Suzerians and maybe Rowboat Girlyman himself

[Paulus]

I'm new to HH. Planning on doing some space wolves. This is very helpful, thank you. Liked and subscribed

[KingPrincess]

I'm new to HH and already preordered a special weapon box, but I'm having trouble deciding if I should make 5 man or 10 man squads, and which weapons to chose. At the moment I'm thinking a 5 man melta squad and a 10 man plasma or rotor canon squad, but I'm really not sure. I'm going to play Emperor's Children. For my normal bolter marines I also preordered some MKIV marines.

[tobiasdageforde]

Awesome guide, thanks a lot. I am going to field the Alpha Legion. But i am unsure where to set my focus, and which 'borrowed' unit to choose.

[nicksurename]

Planning sons of Horus pride of the legion list, seems super cool!