The Horus Heresy New Missions significantly expand how standard Age of Darkness games can play.
Instead of repeating familiar objective layouts, armies now face several fundamentally different victory conditions. Meanwhile, vehicles and cavalry finally interact more naturally with mission scoring. Better still, several returning army archetypes receive dedicated Primary Detachments to support them.
Horus Heresy New Missions Bring More Variety to Army Building and Scoring
The new Core Mission Pack builds on the missions found in the main Age of Darkness rulebook. However, it adds three different Primary Objective styles to change what players actually fight over. One rewards controlling objective markers, while another focuses on dominating sectors of the battlefield.
Meanwhile, the third simply rewards destroying enemy units, giving more aggressive armies a straightforward path toward victory. Two objective types also support Escalation and Hammerblow variants. Escalation scores victory points throughout the battle, which forces players to contest ground continually. By comparison, Hammerblow waits until the battle ends before calculating those points.
Consequently, players familiar with older editions can recreate that classic late-game objective scramble. Deployment also gains considerably more variety through additional maps. Moreover, these games generally last longer than missions from many previous packs. That extra time should help slower armies develop their battle plans instead of immediately racing toward scoring positions. One particularly welcome change lets Vehicle and Cavalry units score objectives.
Therefore, armies built around tanks, jetbikes, or other unusual units can participate properly in mission play. That ties directly into several new Legiones Astartes Primary Detachments. Pride of the Legion returns for Veteran and Terminator-heavy armies. Likewise, Fury of the Ancients supports lists packed with Dreadnoughts. Sky-Hunter Phalanx focuses on fast antigrav forces, while Armoured Spearhead brings tank-heavy Legions back into focus.
Each detachment includes thematic benefits alongside restrictions, so these are more than simple unit unlocks. Most intriguingly, Orbital Assault is entirely new. It recreates Legion drop assaults through a special deployment system built around both devastating impact and inherent risk.
That should give Drop Pod and deep-striking forces considerably more personality than simply appearing near the enemy. Altogether, the Horus Heresy New Missions encourage players to build armies around distinctive Legion warfare instead of one universal template. The Core Mission Pack and new Primary Detachments are available as free downloads now.
Final Thoughts on the New Horus Heresy Missions
Overall, the Horus Heresy New Missions look like a meaningful improvement rather than another small mission refresh. More scoring styles should make army construction less predictable. Meanwhile, the new detachments bring several classic Legion archetypes back with proper support. Most importantly, vehicles and cavalry can finally contribute more directly to winning missions.
