Heresy-Era Iron Warriors Contemptor Dreadnought

The stand-out star of my 500 point list I'm using for the Zone Mortalis Horus Heresy list is the Contemptor Dreadnought. When we first started playing test 500 point games, it soon became clear that Dreadnoughts could be absolutely devastating. For our first game someone even managed to squeeze two regular Dreads into their 500 point list!

When composing my own list for the campaign, I really wanted to squeeze a Contemptor in, their front armour of 13 and 5+ invulnerable save against shooting attacks would ensure they were hard to destroy at range, and their wide range of weapon options would ensure that it was able to take on just about anything.

Horus Heresy Zone Mortalis Campaign Army List

Towards the end of last year, a friend of mine finished building his own Zone Mortalis board, since then we've been playing small multiplayer games using the Great Crusade lists from Forge World's Horus Heresy book series.

These games have proven to be very entertaining indeed, and have spawned a narrative-driven Horus Heresy campaign. Personally, I've been interested in getting in to 30k-era gaming for a long time, but I've always been put off by the cost. For this campaign each player would be building a 500 point army that would won't grow massively over the course of the campaign, so it's the perfect opportunity to build a force using some tasty Forge World kits without breaking the bank.

Wayward Sons of Olympia

For some time now, I've been neglecting the Flames of War scene, for I fear I have been bitten by Horus Heresy bug. I've not played Warhammer 40k in a number of years, but the combination of the Black Library's Horus Heresy novels and Forgeworld's excellent miniatures and gaming supplements have thoroughly engaged me. 40k as a ruleset can be a bit messy (especially compared with Flames of War), but I love the narrative aspect of the game.

After much deliberation I've opted to collect elements of the IV Legion Astartes, the Iron Warriors. They are engineers at war, lacking the flashiness of other Legions and relying on cold, hard logic to win their fights. What really drew me to them was reading the excellent Tallarn Executioner by John French. It depicts an armoured invasion of Tallarn by the Iron Warriors, viewed from the perspective of an Imperial tank crew. The book features plenty of WW2-style tank-on-tank action and accurately depicts the claustrophobia of being inside an armoured vehicle while all hell is breaking loose around you. Perfect for a WW2 armour nut!