Journal Tactica: The Isstvan V Dropsite Massacre Part One is the first of the Journal Tactica volumes dropping for the new 3rd Edition of Warhammer The Horus Heresy.

In this article we’ll be exploring what exactly a Journal Tactica is, what’s inside it and what it adds to your games of Horus Heresy. We’ll also be having a chat about the release cycle and how these new books could change that.

This is just part of our Warhammer The Horus Heresy 3rd Edition coverage! We’ve also checked out the full core Rulebook, the Saturnine box itself and each of the various Liber volumes! You can check it all our over on our Horus Heresy 3rd Edition hub!

Massive thanks to Games Workshop for sending us these over a little early to check out on the site. If you would like to support the site then why not order your Horus Heresy goodies through our affiliate Element Games and save yourself some money too?

So let’s check out what is in this first in a series of Journals…

Journal Tactica – The Isstvan V Dropsite Massacre – Part One

If you’ve played Warhammer The Old World then the term of “Journal” may sound familiar to you, and that’s because this shares a lot with the format of the Arcane Journal books from that game. In Old World these are a series of predominantly narrative based books that contain further background on a specific faction, but then also add some new ways of building your army, new units (some of which are created using conversions) and other little things to add some flavour for your forces. In Old World these are certainly not “required” books in order to play your faction, they instead give you some more flavour and expansion if you so want it.

Previously, Warhammer The Horus Heresy added new rules, missions and narrative through the use of large hardback supplements. Firstly through the “Black Book” series – large £80+ leatherbound hardbacks that contained both lore and gaming content which covered around 10 books over the original edition, followed by the Campaign books of 2nd Edition which were more reasonable standard hardback books priced at around £40.

For 3rd Edition, Games Workshop are following the same pattern as Old World with a series of softback 48 page books with a price tag of £16.50. Yes, this probably means more books will be released over the life of the game – but it does also mean you can pick up just the ones that interest you without having to pick up a £37 hardback just for a new unit or two.

So what’s in the first Journal Tactica?

Well, the first 30 pages in the book (almost 3/4 of the entire contents) is dedicated to the lore of the Dropsite Massacre, which is the setting of this first volume. Inside we get background about the event, detailing all the forces present, maps of the Urgal Depression, and a blow by blow summary of the first 4 hours of the event. A lot happens in those 4 hours, and as we all know it doesn’t go well for the Loyalists. I enjoyed this, and was hoping for a series similar to this for 2nd Edition. We all want to fight through those key narrative moments from the Horus Heresy novel series, and I really hope we continue to follow the beats of the series through these Journal Tactica books.

If you’ve not read the Heresy books before, then this is a great primer into the conflict and has lots of fuel for narrative ideas for your games of Horus Heresy. If you’re an established Horus Heresy fan then you’ll know a lot of this, but I do like the idea of these conflicts being collected into paperbacks that can be read at leisure rather than having to get out the mighty tomes we had in the past.

Arcane Journal 1 also has the first of the “Legendary Missions” that are going to get introduced throughout this series. These are basically narrative missions that let you recreate the events from the book and give you a chance to replay Horus Heresy history. Can you enact the mission perfectly as the forces of the Warmaster? Or maybe even change history and fight off the forces of Horus. These tend to have different deployment maps and scenarios that give you a different flavor of game compared to a standard Matched Play one, and the one in book 1 is very fun representing the initial surge of the Loyalists against the Traitor forces. This has an interesting deployment where different types of units will be in staggered deployment zones for the attacker to represent the different waves of Loyalist forces landing. Presumably, the Second book will have scenarios covering the wave that lands behind them…

The book also introduces rules for Battlefield Assets. These are various battlefield upgrades that are purchased at the start of the game, with a “normal” 3000 point game having 5 Asset Points available to spend on them.

These include Disruption Emitters that reduce the Advanced Characteristics of nearby units, Melta Mines for damaging vehicles, Graviton Snares for pinning units, Frag Mines for hurting infantry, Highly damaging Contingency Devices that erupt viral pathogens, Ammunition Drops that increase the number of shots nearby troops have and Cogitator Arrays that increase how many points an objective is worth. these are all modeled on Legions Imperialis bases to make them distinct, and there’s quite a few images in here suggesting how they can be built using other models.

We also get a couple of new profiles in the back of the book, most of which are made through the use of conversions of other kits.

First up is the Master of Descent, who is essentially a jump Centurion. his main ability is the fact that him and a unit of jump marines he is attached to automatically comes down turn 1 (Usually reserves can only come in from turn 2), on top of this, once he is on the battlefield you can bring a unit down from deep strike each turn without having to make a reserves roll – This makes this guy really reliable if you have a drop force, and actually increases the number of units that can deep strike over a game as normally you’d only be able to deep strike a single unit turns 2, 3 and 4

He also unlocks a new Speartip Detachment which consists of a jump command squad and 2 units of Vet Assault squads (both of which are prime slots)

Next up we have a new Retinue choice, the Augur Command and Control Squad. These are built using the crew from the Rapier Battery kit, and basically allow you to reduce the cost of a reaction once per turn – in effect giving you an extra reaction point. They do have to make an Intelegence test, but if passed (and if they have line of sight and are within 18″ of a unit) then that unit gets to make its reaction at -1 cost. Pretty good, and I can see these being super useful for getting the most out of your reactions.

The final new unit in the back of the box is the good old Whirlwind – the Hyperios Missile Tank. This is put together using a combination of the Scorpious Kit with the Missile Launcher from the Tarantula, and gives you Hyperios launcher on a slightly sturdier Rhino chassis. Pretty fun, especially for Nostalgia.

Finally, the book introduces Interdiction Cadres. These are a new Prime Advantage that can be given to Tactical or Despoiler squads and allows them to start off the board and then pop up next to a unit as part of a reaction. This is pretty cool and represents units that have started concealed ready to pop out at the enemey.

Summary

This is a fun little book with some decent narrative exploring the Dropsite Massacre along with some flavourful new units. The thing to keep in mind though is that this is all optional content and isn’t needed really in order to keep up with competative play. Just like with the Arcane Journals this adds additional fun and narrative content to allow you to set games within those key moments of the narrative. I feel we’re going to see some cool new kitbashes and options here, and of course if GW release any brand new units we’ll also get the rules in these too. I feel the Arcane Journal model works well for Old World and feel GW will be able to do a very similar thing with this series of Journal Tacticas.

While hard core fans will probably want to pick them all up, most casual players probably only need to pick those up with settings or units that particularly interest them, without feeling like they are missing out on core gaming content.

Journal Tactica 1 – The Isstvan Dropsite Massacre Part 1 is up for pre order today and is released Saturday 26th July

Games Workshop provided Sprues & Brews with a free copy for review purposes.

Published by Matt Crowther

View all posts by Matt Crowther