Everything we Know About Horus Heresy: Betrayal at Calth

Horus Heresy: Betrayal at Calth is the latest board game from games workshop, and basically a taster set that acts as a gateway into Warhammer 40K.


Published: November 8, 2015 8:36 PM /

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Horus Heresy Betrayal at Calth Cover Art

Hello, TechRaptor readers. As I’m sure you’re well aware by now, pre-orders for the new 30K board game Horus Heresy: Betrayal at Calth went live today. Games Workshop stores currently have display copies available for people to drool over, including plastic Horus Heresy miniatures. This week’s copy of White Dwarf also comes with a free 30K-era Ultramarine pin badge and promises of a Word Bearers pin badge to follow in the upcoming Warhammer Visions edition being released on December 5th. A full review of the game will come in the not-too-distant future once my copy arrives.

Horus Heresy: Betrayal at Calth - What's included?

As far as minis go, the game will come with the following:

-A Captain in Terminator Armor and a Dark Apostle

-A Contemptor Dreadnought, armed with a choice of multi-melta or twin assault cannon

-Five Cataphractii Terminators, with weapon options including combi bolters, power fists, lightning claws, chain fists, power swords, heavy flamers, and grenade harnesses

-Thirty Legion Tactical Space Marines in MK4 armor, each with a variety of weapon options

As the game currently has not been released, I can’t say for sure just how well the game plays. However, I believe that the majority of people who purchase the game will do so primarily for the miniatures themselves either as a way to bolster an already existing Heresy-era army or as a way to cheaply start one. While the game itself focuses on brutal underground tunnel fights between the Ultramarines and Word Bearers on Calth at the outset of the Horus Heresy, all Legion iconography is on transfer sheets and not modeled on the miniatures themselves.

An Army To Go Please

And if this wasn’t enough to illustrate the “this is a gateway drug into 40K” point, Forge World has decided to ram it home with all the subtlety of a power fist to the face with their Betrayal at Calth bundles. For the price of £225, you can get not only the board game in its entirety but enough resin components to upgrade all 30 tactical marines to the Legion of your choice. Other bundles include the board game and various vehicles ranging from Rhino transports to Techmarines, tanks, and even a Storm Eagle gunship. The vehicle bundles obviously have a different price point than the Legion upgrades, due to the larger models available in them.

And if even that isn’t enough to get your attention, Forge World is also giving away five Fire Raptor gunships! Simply purchase one of the bundles between now and November 30th, and you’ll automatically be entered to win one of the five £100 models.

The release of Betrayal at Calth and the Forge World support hint at some future changes in Games Workshop’s product lineup. With the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movie franchises finally coming to a close (provided someone can keep Peter Jackson away from a copy of “The Silmarillion”, of course), so too does Games Workshop’s contractually obligated support for the movie tie-in games. The prospect of a great deal of shelf space opening up in their stores combined with the runaway success of Horus Heresy-era games and models leads to speculation about the possibility of more plastic 30K kits and Forge World resin being available in stores. While this is only speculation at the moment, it seems like an absolute slam-dunk business decision on GW’s part.

Are you planning on picking up the game? Do you just want the minis, or does the game itself intrigue you? Let us know in the comments below!

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


tye
| Former Staff Writer

Former Staff Writer