Horus Heresy Tactica: Challenges in Third Edition

One of third edition’s biggest highlights is the dramatic overhaul of the Challenge system. Gone are the days of pointless sergeant duels or chosen warrior bullshit. Challenges are now their own full-blown subsystem, fully utilising the new weapon modifier rules, injecting interesting mechanics and adding a load of drama into these fights. The feel is definitely more in line with the tense cinematic duels from the books, where it’s not always down to who’s strongest or fastest, but your own strategic choices and whether you can out-think your opponent. And with more characters on the table than ever before, it’s definitely a system you’re going to find yourself using.

That all said there’s a staggering amount to get your head around when you first dive in, with heaps of Focus modifiers, loads of unique Gambits and more to consider before you start throwing gauntlets. But fear not, squire! This humble primer will guide you through your first bouts and put you on the path of Glory!

Throwing Down the Gauntlet

The Challenge phase is now a whole new Assault sub-phase. To Challenge you’ll have to have successfully charged (Set-up move, Volley, Charge, etcetera), and declared before the rest of the unit Fights. In this way, Challenges are thematically their own little fight happening in, but external to, the combat your unit is fighting.

It goes without saying but the aim of a Challenge is to kill your opponent. Killing them (or wounding them so much they withdraw) gives you extra Combat Resolution that can tip a fight in your favour. It’s also cool as hell.

Choose Your Fighter

So who can actually do this? Explicitly you can’t use any old sergeant for Challenges anymore; to declare a challenge you and your opponent both need to have a model with either the Command or Champion sub-types.

So for Astartes, that’s:

• Most High Command & Command characters (except Specialists like the Moritat)
• Primarchs and most Unique Characters
• The Champions of Retinues and some Legion-specific Elites (e.g. Templar Brethren)
• Sergeant of units you’ve given the Master Sergeant Prime Advantage
• Units given Legion specific Prime Advantages (e.g. Iron Hands Iron-clad or Sons of Horus Martial Supremacy)

For Solar Auxilia, that’s:

• Legate Marshalls
• Auxillia Captains
• Veletaris First Prime of Veletaris Command sections
• Sergeant of units you’ve given the Master Sergeant Prime Advantage

For the Mechanicum, that’s:

• Arch Magos, Magos, Arcuitors
• Myrmidon Lords

And for Knights, that’s:

• Nobody. Despite their namesake you can’t challenge Knights anymore, which is probably for the best.

Whilst there’s some obvious stuff in here, it’s probably useful etiquette at the start of any game to review with your opponent what stuff can and cannot accept Challenges, especially with Master Sergeant in the mix. It’s definitely helped me make decisions during deployment to try and line up favourable engagements, so don’t forget.

Paragon Blades at Dawn

Before entering the arena of battle, you’re going to want to tool up your prospective Challenger appropriately. Now most of your fights will be against an opponent with a 2+ Armour Save so at a minimum you’re going to want a weapon with either native AP2 or with a decent chance of Breaching. On top of that you’re really looking for a couple of decent modifiers to important stats without too many downsides. Another trait to watch out for is Duellist’s Edge (x) which gives you a solid bump to your Initiative in Challenges, though, outside of Unique Characters, most of the weapons you’ll actually want to take into a duel won’t have this.

The Paragon Blade is really the benchmark for duelling weapons and you can sort of grade everything against it. It’s at Initiative, +1 Strength, AP2 and D1 (with 1 in 6 chance of autowounding at +1D). It’s a solid choice, but one that’s mostly limited to High Command and Astartes Champions. 

Outside of this there’s one other benchmark weapon: the Thunder Hammer. A -2 Initiative Modifier is not something to overlook here; it really puts you at an initial disadvantage if your opponent has something that’s at Initiative. You are, however, in a much better position when your attacks do connect, with +3 Strength meaning you’ll (mostly) be wounding on a 2+ and Damage 2 doubling your impact vs the Paragon Blade. Another candidate might be the Power Fist, but ultimately it’s probably a worse choice; an extra +1 Strength when you’ll likely already be wounding on 2s at the cost of -1 Initiative is not a good trade-off.

When it comes to Legion-specific weapons there’s a few really decent Challenge choices, and a lot of more mid-tier to bad ones:

For Paragon Blade-like stats, I think the Ultramarines Legatine Axe (with its Breaching 4+), the Space Wolves Frost Claw (Breaching 4+, Critical Hit 6+) and the White Scars Power Glaive (Impact (AP), Breaching 5+) are decent choices for Command units without access to the big sword.

For Thunder Hammer-like stats, the Iron Warrior’s Graviton Crusher (extra strength), the Night Lord’s Headman’s Axe (Critical Hit 6+), Space Wolves Great Frost Blade (utility outside of Challenges), Imperial Fist Solarite Power Gauntlet (Critical Hit 6+) and any of the bigger Salamander’s weapons are all solid choices. That’s not to say all other Legion-specific weapons are bad – they’ll just tend to be less flexible than Paragon Blades or Thunder Hammers; they can do work for you, you’ll just need to pick the right Gambits.

En Garde!

Whoever’s turn it is can declare challenges (unless you spend a reaction to declare one in your opponent’s turn). You can either accept or refuse a challenge, but let me tell you, you really don’t want to refuse; if you do, your character gets the Disgraced status. Bar the ridiculous honorific, this is a horrible debuff, not only halving your cowardly leader’s WS and Ld for this phase but also applying all the standard Status debuffs to their entire unit (i.e. No objective control, Initiative 1 attacks etc). Refusing a duel will easily lose you a combat, so this is a system you’re going to have to interact with whether you want to or not.

Once you’ve accepted, it’s suggested you artfully arrange your two models whilst the challenge continues, ideally in the most dramatic way possible (on a cliff edge, on the wings of a Storm Eagle, on a river of molten lava).

I Have the High Ground!

Now we enter Face Off, where both players will pick Gambits. These are strategic modifiers to the coming Strike phase that can grant you extra attacks, help you go first, or completely alter the Challenge in some interesting way. Some of these can only be used in the first round, and some can only be used once per Challenge, so remember that before you start picking.

In the first round the person who declared the challenge picks their Gambit first, but in subsequent rounds the player with ‘Challenge Advantage’ goes first (normally the player who struck first in the previous challenge round), or if those are equal, whoever’s turn it is.

Once the first player has picked, we resolve their chosen Gambit’s modifiers. Then the second player resolves theirs. You can never choose the same Gambit, so choose wisely. Sometimes there might be a conflict (both Gambits might alter a players Outside Support value for instance), if so, we always resolve them in favour of the player with ‘Challenge Advantage’.

We’ll cover what Gambits you can pick and what they actually do later. Right now we need to Focus.

Of Dice and Men

 With Gambits revealed, each challenger makes a Focus roll (a flat d6 that you’ll be adding a bunch of modifiers to). These modifiers are:

• Combat Initiative (aka Your Model’s Initiative + the IM stat from their chosen weapon)
• Sub-types (For Heavy, -1, For Light, +1)
• -1 for each lost wound
• +X for any Duellist’s Edge (X) weapon rules
• Outside support:
  • +1 per five guys engaged in that combat that don’t have Status. 
  • If you’ve got no friends, your opponent gets +2 per five in that unit (including fractions) – TL;DR don’t try to solo the whole unit.
  • Automata doesn’t count towards this which sucks for Mech Retinues.
  • Big Legion Retinue Banners count as extra guys (Company Standard = 5, Legion Standard = 6). 

N.B. Heralds now have Icons of Allegiance, not Legion Standards, which grant no extra support and weirdly want them fighting in Challenges to get extra end game VP. Bizarre.

Now you compare your Focus score with your opponent. Whosever is higher:

• Strikes first
• Gains an extra +1 attack
• Gains Challenge Advantage (i.e. picks Gambits first next round and can decide when the Challenge is over)

If your Focus scores are tied, you both just re-roll your Focus die until they’re not, which honestly is my least favourite part of the system. On a tie I think you should Rock, Paper, Scissors for it.

Hello. My Name Is Shadrak Meduson. You Killed My Father. Prepare to Die.

Now the model with Challenge Advantage attacks their opponent (basically resolved as a normal combat round between the two). If their opponent is still standing afterwards, they attack back.

If both models are still standing after this, the model with Challenge Advantage can decide whether combat continues. If yes, you start another challenge round at Face Off (picking Gambits). Effectively there’s no cap on the number of Challenge rounds within single combat. This can get pretty intense in a Primarch vs Primarch fight, so don’t forget you’ve got to finish the rest of the game afterwards; the player with Challenge advantage can always withdraw, effectively ending the challenge for that turn.

To the Victor, the Spoils

If you won the challenge by killing your opponent you gain your opponent’s max wounds as Combat Resolution Points (+1 if they had the Paragon or Command sub-types)

If both models are still alive, the winner is the one that inflicted the most wounds and they gain that many Combat Resolution Points. Losing and drawing gets you nothing. This means there’s some tactical gameplay here in Withdrawing after a lucky first turn and banking the Combat Res from a technical victory.

With the challenge over, your Challenger(s) will now bask/commiserate on the sidelines until the Fight phase is resolved at which point you pop them back in coherency with their unit. Importantly even if the enemy squad overkills your unit, your challenger won’t take any excess wounds; they are effectively fighting their own little sub-fight until it’s time to calculate who won.

I Studied the Blade

Now we’ve got the overall shape of combat down, let’s talk Gambits. In Face Off you can pick any of the seven universal gambits, or any character or Legion-specific ones available to you. These will dramatically impact how your fighter fights. They can also interact with each other in interesting ways. Having Challenge Advantage allows you to pick first, either picking your best Gambit or denying it to your opponent. However going second allows you to try actively counter your opponent’s move as you can see what their strategy is (if they’re using Flurry of Blows, Guard Up can be a solid counter, if they Seize the Initiative then Grandstand or Finishing Blow suddenly becomes more enticing)

Most Gambits only affect the round they’re taken in. Assume that’s the case for all Gambits below unless it explicitly says otherwise.

Universal Gambits

Seize the Initiative: Roll two focus dice, pick the highest.

Always a solid choice; both going first and gaining Challenge Advantage can’t be underestimated. I think this is probably the default choice unless you think you’re very unlikely to beat your opponent’s Focus score. Rating: A+

Flurry of Blows: +D3 attacks but all your attacks have an unmodifiable Damage of 1.

Great for more poorly-armed Master Sergeants when trying to maximise their effectiveness, fighting models with Eternal Warrior or useful if you really only need to get one wound through to win. Rating: B+

Test the Foe: Gain Challenge Advantage next round

A gambit so powerfully mid that I forgot it in the initial publication of this article. You’re basically guaranteed first pick of Gambits next round, but you’ll have to survive with no benefit this round. It doesn’t even guarantee you’ll go first, so you’d better have something special planned. Feels like an incredibly niche one. Rating D

Guard Up: Get +1WS but only attack once. Each enemy attack that misses gives you +1 to your next Focus Roll this turn.

An interesting defensive tactic; a boost to Weapon Skill will make you harder to hit whilst buffing your chances of going first next round. This can be a decent defensive option when you know your opponent is likely to go first, but just remember that any wounds you take might completely negate this bonus. Rating: C

Taunt and Bait: Reduce your WS and A to the same value as your opponents (if it’s already the same, it’s now -1). If you win the Challenge, you get +1 Combat Res for each time you use this. 

This seems really situational. I can only imagine using it for really critical fights where you really think you’ll need the Combat Res, otherwise you’re risking taking wounds when you could simply finish your opponent off quickly. Rating: D

Grandstand: Roll two focus dice, pick the lowest, and get no bonus from outside support. Instead gain your outside support bonus in attacks.

This is great if you’ve got a decent retinue or a squad or two at your back. It all but forces you to go last, but guarantees more attacks without impacting your Damage (like Flurry). Just make sure it’s at least a +2 modifier because just winning the Focus roll is going to give you +1 attack anyway. Rating: C

Feint and Riposte: Can only be selected by the Challenger going first. You can now pick another Gambit and your opponent can’t use it.

Great if you want to deny your opponent a powerful Legion-specific Gambit, but otherwise is very niche. I think you’re generally better off picking something more proactive, outside of very specific circumstances. Rating: C-

Withdraw: You can only make one attack. If you live, the Challenge is over and it counts as a Draw.

If you’ve got a character in combat that really doesn’t want to be there, this is the way to get them out. It’s still risky as you’ll still have to weather attacks from your opponent. If there’s no way you’ll survive the first round, pick something where you can actually make them pay for bullying you in the first place. Rating: D for depends

Finishing Blow: Roll two focus dice, pick the lowest. Gain +1 Strength and Damage

A really solid pick to bump up your damage, with only a small drawback. This is probably another good candidate for default pick, especially if you can already see a big difference between Focus modifiers; if you’re way ahead, it’s not really a risk – if you’re way behind, you maximise your backswing. Rating: A

Now those aren’t the only Gambits available to you. Each Legion/non-Legion Faction has, at least, one extra Gambit. Some Unique Characters and Primarch’s also get their own specific ones (though we won’t be covering those today). Let’s dive in:

Legion-Specific Gambits

Dark Angels – Sword of the Order. If you’re fighting with a sword, reduce your attacks by 1 and gain Critical Hit (6+) or +1 if it has it already.

Critical Hits can be really powerful; Auto-wounding with +1 Damage is great. But despite doubling your chance to do this with Paragon blades, losing the attack makes the maths on it only a little better than normal (about +12% with Paragon Blades, +33% with Terranic Greatswords). It’s not nothing, but if you’re after a significant damage boost you should probably pick something like Finishing Blow instead. Rating: C

White Scars – The Path of the Warrior. Try to guess your Focus roll results (Strike Low 1-3, Strike High 4-6). If right, ignore all negative modifiers (being wounded, heavy etc) 

Gambling is always fun. Especially if you’re already on a losing streak. If your Saturnine Praetor has already lost 4 wounds why not bet it all on Red. It’s super strong is those specific circumstances but you’ll probably struggle to get good use out of this otherwise. Rating: C-

Space Wolves – No Prey Escapes. The Challenge now can’t be voluntarily ended by your opponent.

A wonderfully thematic Gambit. Deny your opponent’s escape. If you’re in full-on bully mode this is the Gambit for you. Currently I think it’s a little ambiguous as to whether this only lasts for that round of the Challenge (like a normal Gambit), or the entire Challenge, so I think we might need to get some clarity from the Studio. Probably agree with your opponent how it’s played before starting the challenge. Rating: C

Space Wolves – A Saga of Glory. If you win the Challenge with this Gambit, the rest of your unit gets +1 Attack in the following Fight phase.

Sacrificing any advantage to buff your unit is interesting and again something you’d really only want to bring out when you’re certain to win a Challenge, but not the following combat. Very useful if you have the ‘Sight’ and can predict your own Victory. Rating: C-

Imperial Fists – A Wall Unyielding. Don’t add your Combat Initiative (Models I  + Weapon IM) to your Focus roll to gain Eternal Warrior (1).

Camba Dias flashbacks. I think this is a really decent defensive boost, denying multi-damage can be pretty powerful, but can be a little reactive, almost guaranteeing your opponent strikes first and gets Challenge Advantage. I think it’s an ok pick going second but I’d be a little more cautious choosing this first as it makes things like Flurry of Blows (and other attack modifiers) a great pick for your opponent. Rating: B-

Blood Angels – Thrall of the Red Thirst. Lose your Outside Support bonus to Focus to ignore negative wound modifiers and gain +1 Damage.

A little situational, like the White Scars trait, this a great gambit to have in the chamber when you’ve been fighting a drawn out combat and both you and your retinue have taken a few wounds. Rating: C

Iron Hands – Legion of One. Double your Outside Support bonus. Your opponent only can gain a max bonus of +2 from Outside Support.

This is pretty reliant on what each Challengers retinues look like, but even gaining +1 Focus whilst denying your opponent their full Support bonus can be enough to get you the first strike. Rating: B-

Ultramarines – Aegis of Wisdom. Gain no Outside Support bonus, instead gain +1 for each Ultramarines model with a Command sub-type on the battlefield.

Theoretical: The idea of a Centurion getting constructive criticism on his duelling technique over the vox is a very Ultramarines bit and I’m here for it. 

Practical: You’re already incentivised to run loads of Optae through the Ultramarines unique auxiliary detachment so this is probably a decent pick unless you’ve brought 20 guys and their favourite flag, or later in the game when your command structure’s been thinned out a bit. Rating: B+

Salamanders – Duty is Sacrifice. Gain 1,2 or 3 Focus, taking that amount as extra AP5 wounds in your opponents Strike phase. Armour saves allowed.

A common theme through these is that reliable focus modifiers are good. Reliably getting +3 Focus is incredibly good. If the only downside is having to make three 2+ saves I think you’ll be picking this one a lot. Rating: A+

Raven Guard – Decapitation Strike. Once per Challenge. Don’t roll focus instead make one attack in the Focus Step. If it hits and wounds, make the remainder of your attacks now. If either fails, you make no attacks now or in the following Strike phase.

On paper this is super-thematic, representing the shadowy assassin skills of the Legion, but in practice it really incentivises you to bring something that’s definitely going to wound (like the Saturnine Hammer) so you can alpha-strike your opponent to death. Sounds incredible but the majority of the time you’re statistically more likely to whiff it than not; handing a free round of attacks to your opponent is not the way to go. Probably best used as in do or die situations. Rating: C-

Emperor’s Children – Paragon of Excellence. First round only. Gain +2 to Focus.

A really solid choice. It’s an even more reliable buff than Seize the Initiative, so it’s very hard not to recommend picking this in every First Round. Rating: A+

Emperor’s Children (Hereticus) – The Broken Mirror. Double your Outside Support. If they’re Stupefied (a status that procs on being shot or charged) get an extra +1.

The dark mirror to the Iron Hands Gambit (how droll). Again, reliable Focus modifiers are great, even getting +1 is not bad, but really you’re reliant on how good a retinue you’ve got backing you up. Rating: C+

Iron Warriors – Spiteful Demise. If your model dies under this gambit, make one auto hit attack with Str6 AP4 D2, Breaching 5+.

Being fatalistic enough to guess the round you’re going to die, then blowing yourself up to spite your enemy is very funny. Damage 2 is great. Shame it’s only Breaching 5+. Rating: C-

Night Lords – Nostraman Courage. Once per Challenge. Swap your Challenger with another model in the unit (even if they couldn’t normally fight).

They were really cooking with this one. Forcing your opponent to fight a random mook whilst your Champion goes to town on their retinue is not only very thematic for the VIIIth Legion, but incredibly powerful. Feeding your opponent a 2 wound model can only net them max 2 Combat Resolution, something you’re very likely to beat by simply attacking into their retinue. Rating: A+

World Eaters – Violent Overkill. If you kill your opponent, any remaining unsaved wounds can be allocated to their unit.

Winner of best Gambit name, this is only worth picking if you know you’re going to absolutely massacre your opponent. A lot of strategic play in Challenges comes down to picking the right buff at the right time. Ignoring that system completely and just trying to murder your opponent, whilst it might be very thematic, isn’t going to help you win Challenges. Rating: C- 

World Eaters (Hereticus) – Brutal Dismemberment. If you kill your opponent, gain an extra +2 Combat Resolution.

Another amazing name. Another boring “if you’re winning, win more” Gambit. Very sad this doesn’t just give you a buff to Shred or Rending. I can’t really see it being used. Rating: D-

Death Guard – Steadfast Resilience. Use your opponent’s Weapon Skill as your Toughness.

Become large and deny your opponent wound rolls. Frustratingly strong when combined with Unnatural Resilience, allowing you tank silly amounts of damage before casually retaliating. Obviously better for your power armoured Challengers and when fighting anything Primarch-shaped where the Toughness boost can be sizeable. Rating: B

Thousand Sons – Prophetic Duellist. Swap your total Focus score with your Willpower.

As befitting of a studious legion, this Gambit really requires you to think before you commit and ‘Just as Planned’ your opponent to death. An ‘average’ Focus roll (a Praetor with a Thunder Hammer and a retinue of 10 flagless dudes) will be between 6-11. Your average Willpower will likely be a 10. If you can quickly calculate your opponents Focus roll range, and your Willpower is above that average roll (or yours is well below that), choose this strat. And if you can’t do that, why are you even playing Thousand Sons? Rating: C+

Sons of Horus – Merciless Strike. First round only. Your weapon gains Phage (T).

A bit naff. Pointless if you’re running a Thunder Hammer or Power Fist, but could potentially have a place when used with a Paragon Blade into Terminator characters. The real downside here is that Phage only affects subsequent rounds, so your first round will just be flat. Rating: D

Word Bearers – Beseech the Gods. First round only. Make a WP check. On a pass get +1 Strength and +1 Attack until the end of the Challenge. On a fail take an unsavable wound.

It’s a tiny gamble with the massive payout of a permanent buff in every single round of combat. At WP 9 it only fails 1 in 12 times, so embrace the Dark Pantheon and use this in every single challenge. Given how good this is I also think you (the player) should be forced to actually beseech the gods aloud and annoy everyone else in the room (very on brand for Word Bearers). Rating: A

Alpha Legion – “I am Alpharius!” First round only. Set your opponent’s Initiative to 1.

Stun your opponent by using your Legion’s one joke. Honestly, this is great. No downsides and gives your opponent a horrible debuff to their first Focus Roll. Easy first pick every time. Please do not roleplay this one. Rating: A+

Solar Auxillia – Contemptuous Volley. Immediately shoot your opponent with a pistol. If this kills them, you win the Challenge. If not, you don’t get a Focus roll and your opponent gains Challenge Advantage.

Allow your Legate Marshall to embrace their inner Indiana Jones and simply blast your opponent before the duel even begins. Realistically an Archeotech pistol isn’t going to finish a Challenge before it starts, but it’s a decent way of putting some damage through before you get fully squashed by your Astartes Challenger. Definitely worth doing if you know they’re striking first. Rating: C+

Mechanicum (Myrmidax) – The Myrmidon’s Path. Roll two focus dice, pick the lowest. Before either model strikes, you can shoot your opponent with one weapon (as long as it’s not a Blast or Template).

I don’t think you need to say much with this one. You get to make a non-volley shooting attack with your BS5 champion before anyone strikes (and with an effective I:1, you’ll probably always be striking last). Both flavours of Myrmidon’s have some decent weapon options so this can be pretty powerful. Just make sure you’re never giving your Lord’s blast weapons. Rating: A

Mechanicum (Malagra) – Power of the Machine Spirit. Do an Int check. If passed buff (x) combat stats by 1 (or 1 by (x)) based on your Battlesmith (x) for this round. After this round your model takes Cybertheurgic Feedback.

This is both really strong and really flexible. Being able to situationally increase your WS to make yourself harder to hit, your Int to go faster or your Attacks to boost your damage output is so so good. This combined with the Arcuitor Magisterium’s already strong profile (probably the only thing you’ll see using this Gambit), makes Mech in combat scary. And the only cost is having to make a single 2+ Armour save. Bargain. Rating: A+

 

Duelling in the Age of Darkness

There you have it, squire. This humble primer should fare you well in all your bouts to come, guiding you from raw neophyte to master duellist in no time. May your Focus rolls be high, your Support plentiful, and may your opponents always choose “Taunt and Bait”.

But seriously, I do think Challenges really are one of the best additions to the game we’ve seen. Whilst I think some of the universal Gambits (not to mention Legion specific ones) could afford to be rebalanced a little, I think you get a really interesting array of choices in this system. It fundamentally encourages the sort of “theatre of the mind” style play that’s supposed to typify narrative focused games and feels like the type of thing most Heresy players are looking for in this system. For me, it’s definitely something I’ll look forward to engaging with in every game. And I hope you do too.

Check out the rest of our Heresy 3rd Edition content here

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