The Great Slaughter is the first expansion for Legions Imperialis, and it’s a good one, packed with a swathe of new content ranging from in-depth lore, to new unit profiles, to improved Titan rules, and a suite of tools for organising campaigns.
Half of the book is given over to background, explaining the conflict in the Garmon cluster. It’s is one of the largest warfronts in the Horus Heresy, but it’s had remarkably little coverage in previous Horus Heresy books – the third battle for Nyrcon city shows up in Titandeath, and the battle for Theta Garmon appears in Wolfsbane – so this is a much-needed deep dive into an under-explored part of the setting.
The book has the statlines for the many Legions Imperialis miniatures already revealed by Games Workshop, including Space Marine hover cavalry and Solar Auxilia artillery vehicles. There’s nothing unexpected about that, but it fleshes out the two army lists to the point that they feel well rounded.
There are also new Formations that allow you to field things like a Space Marine drop pod assault or a Solar Auxilia super heavy tank company – again, not surprising, but very nice.
The Titandeath rules, which allow you to field whole armies of Warhammer Titans, are very neat. A few simple nips and tucks to the rules make Titan on Titan fights function better inside the Legions Imperialis rules system.
Titan shields can resist hits on a 5+; Titans pay a points cost premium for ranged Engine Killer weapons; it’s not possible to split fire except between lances of Knights; Titans can fire their weapons one at a time, letting them strip shields with light armaments before scoring hits with their big guns; and bigger Titans have higher Tactical Strength scores, making them better at claiming objectives.
Nothing revolutionary, but a clutch of sensible adjustments that adapt the system for massed Titan warfare. Though they’re written on the assumption that you’ll only use them in games with just Titans and Knights, with accompanying missions, I suspect that playgroups who love their Titans will house rule in at least some of these tweaks to regular games of LI.
The book also features two campaign systems, plus suggestions for variants, and a pre-written campaign setup to refight the second battle for Nyrcon city. How useful campaign content is depends on whether or not your game store or friend group has someone willing to don the mantle of campaign arbiter, but the inclusion of a very simple campaign mode as well as a more involved map campaign makes the barrier pretty low
All told, the Great Slaughter is a well-rounded expansion that plugs gaps in the base game like an Imperial Fist pouring plascrete into a wall breach.
It’s a very good time to be a fan of small scale sci-fi wargames. In the indie sphere, Horizon Wars: Midnight Dark and Full Spectrum Dominance both have new rulebooks, while Mantic Games has just launched the Warpath Kickstarter campaign, offering scads of minis at budget prices. Check out our interview with designers Matt Gilbert and Alessio Cavatore for more details!