Digging Up the Trash: Horus Heresy

Read more...

Nice job dude. I like reading about older games, especially to get an alternate viewpoint on something that most people didn't like... Doc Mabuse is the only other person I know of who said something positive about this game.

It's super interesting how games get rehabilitated in hindsight but then some depreciate. It comes to mind because everyone was selling off their Pathfinder copies, a game which I think has depreciated quite a bit since its release which was very warm here (and not just Barnes, all over our forums).

JonJacob wrote: Nice job dude. I like reading about older games, especially to get an alternate viewpoint on something that most people didn't like... Doc Mabuse is the only other person I know of who said something positive about this game.

I like it. I've always liked it. My only beef is that it's way too long for what it is, and it's ultra-swingy because of several reasons, not the least of which was the free-wheeling initial setup and the movement mechanic which is kind of opaque.

I've played a few games recently, having picked it up last year, and I think it is a very clever game but I think they did not quite get the mechanics and rule mix right.
The Initiative track as a timer (a-la Middle Earth Quest) is fine but then restricting units to either move or attack before they become activated and then having to wait to be refreshed (as opposed to move and attack a-la Runewars or TI3, or even Tide of Iron) makes a very difficult and/or frustrating game (considering the Refresh phases means there are only 6 turns) for all but experienced/hardened war or minis gamers. The card combat is very good (not as good as to what it has evolved to in Forbidden Stars), but then the restricted Orders (randomly found in the deck, as opposed to say the order system in Runewars and Forbidden Stars) brings too much luck into a game of 6 turns max plus it doesn't quite gel with the interesting Strategy board mechanic (the Imperial player burying orders to use up time and maybe removing a good order that you finally drew seems to be a negative to this mechanic).

But hey ho, it's a board game and they will always be liked by some and not by others - I'm still on the fence with it at the moment (I do like the look of it when in play) but it may hit the trade/sell pile when Star Wars: Rebellion comes out as I don't have enough time or opponents to have too many long 2-player games (War of the Ring and Tide of Iron already get very little table time).

Horus Heresy was probably never worth £70 or whatever MSRP was where ever you are in the world, neither did it really justify a coffinbox, but I consider Horus Heresy to be one of FFGs best in house designs, and the second best game* set in the 40k universe.

I was a fan of the original Battle for Armageddon boardgame back in the 90s. That and its sequel Horus Heresy were neat light board wargames, just the right weight. FFG's Horus Heresy is a bloated mess by comparison I'm afraid. It became a shelf toad after a half-game at my table, a real disappointment.

A good review though. You're right about Space Hulk being the original lightning in the bottle of GW's 40K boardgames, a true masterpiece demonstrating all that was best about GW's late 80s halcyon days.

I always hope that some game savant will take a good looking game like this and revise the rules to the point where it becomes a masterpiece. Sadly, I am not that person.

craniac wrote: I always hope that some game savant will take a good looking game like this and revise the rules to the point where it becomes a masterpiece. Sadly, I am not that person.

For the activation issue I didn't like (units couldn't attack, in most cases, after they moved until the refresh phase) we have trialled that when using a Move order you can spend 1 extra initiative to have a 4 round Attack, too few games to say if it makes us feel any happier.
We also tried changing the Routed rules from when units retreat they become routed in the area they retreat to as well as routing all other units there to only the units moved are routed (a-la Runewars), plus routed units refresh with all other units rather than taking two refresh phases.