Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis Review

Last Updated on November 18, 2023 by VoltorRWH

Shrink your favourite Age of Darkness miniatures down and wage battles of unspeakable size on a truly miniature scale in Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis. Check our our full review of this brand new set right here!

Please Note: This site uses affiliate links. Our Affiliate Partners are shown below
(Affiliate links will result in compensation to the site on qualifying purchases)

Click this link & buy your hobby stuff from Element Games for the UK & Europe to support FauxHammer.com – Use Code “FAUX2768” at the checkout for double reward points.

Artus-Opus-FauxHammer-Starter-Set-Banner-3
TAG TTC Kickstarter Advert 1

Our Affiliates / Hobby Stores

FauxHammer – Latest Video on YouTube

Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis Review – Summary

Legions Imperialis promises to deliver the moon but gets blasted apart by a Traitor fleet before it’s even out of the spaceport. Whilst the box boasts a handful of fun and interesting miniatures that will provide a new painting challenge to many hobbyists, and the rejuvenation of Epic Scale will have veteran gamers misty-eyed, there’s an overall lack of quality to a lot of the components in this set that will leave buyers feeling let down. It’s a real shame, but when compared to other new or similar releases – such as Warhammer 40,000: Leviathan, or even the Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Age of Darkness launch box – Legions Imperialis simply does not match up.

Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis Review – Introduction

Warhammer: The Horus Heresy Legions Imperialis is hitting shelves in the next few weeks. Your battles in the Age of Darkness are about to get both much bigger, and much smaller.

Reigniting their tiniest of forges, Games Workshop have brought the world of massive combat on a truly miniature scale back to life with Legions Imperialis. But what is Epic Scale?

Back in the Days of Yore, long before two-thirds of the three-man FauxHammer.com writing team were born (sorry, Ross), when games of Warhammer were played in gaudily-coloured stores with “Games Workshop” written on their front in big, yellow and red font, and you could buy entire models for less than a pound, Warhammer 40,000 players looked at their games and thought: “You know, this is fun and all, but isn’t the whole deal with 40K supposed to be that truly massive armies duke it out over entire cities?

In order to have a truly massive Warhammer 40,000 game like those epic battles you read of in all the novels, you’d need to spend tens of thousands of pounds getting together a colossal army – and then spend tens of thousands of hours painting it all. It’d be a lifetime endeavour, and by the time you’re done most of your friends would have died of old age and you’d have no one to play with anyway.

To give you the same experience of commanding vast armies of soldiers, tanks, dreadnoughts, planes, titans, and whatever else you could possible want, Epic Scale was born. Taking existing (and original) Warhammer products and striking them down to a hitherto unseen scale, players were able to have battles on a whole new level – both in terms of the number of things they could field, but also the size of the models unleashed.

Epic scale has been somewhat forgotten by Games Workshop over the last few years outside of its Aeronautica Imperialis and Adeptus Titanicus ranges, but these are slightly different beasts in and of themselves. Whilst there have been the options to fly tiny planes and walk diddy titans around battlefields blowing stuff up, that massive-battles-on-a-tiny-scale itch has gone unscratched.

Until now.

With the dawn of Legions Imperialis, players can travel back not so far forward to the Age of Darkness, 10,000 years before Warhammer 40,000, and recreate the biggest, most catastrophic conflicts of the Horus Heresy. Let’s dive into this brand-new launch box and see what delights await within.

Many thanks to the guys at Games Workshop for shooting us this copy to review – we really appreciate it!

Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis Review – Contents

Come with us as we take a deep-dive into the new Legions Imperialis box set. We’ll look at all the components and give our honest opinions of what you can expect to find within.

Unboxing

As this is a big, flashy, new edition-style box, I thought we’d go ahead and do an unboxing. We’ve been moving away from doing unboxings of GW products in recent review articles as they tend to be very formulaic – and we’re not sure anyone actually looks at them. But, because this is an exciting new box and everyone’ll be interested to see what’s lurking under the hood, I thought I’d chuck one in for you all.

Legions Imperialis Review Unboxing 1

So, here’s the box – replete in that grimy Age of Darkness artwork we’ve come to know since the new edition of the Horus Heresy dropped last year.

Lifting the lid, you’ll be greeted by a sea of plastic.

Legions Imperialis Review Unboxing 2

And yes, one and all, those are blast templates and whippy sticks. We truly have gone back in time.

Beneath the deluge of sprues (there are 11 in all, discounting the sprue the templates are on), you’ll find a divider.

Legions Imperialis Review Unboxing 3

As always, these make excellent posters (when they’re a bit more exciting than this one, anyway) provided they survive the trip. Mine hasn’t – you can see some of the damage on the image above. But that’s fine, it means it’s kept the good below safe-…

Legions Imperialis Review Unboxing 4

…Well. Sort of.

Legions Imperialis Review Unboxing 5

I can only assume during packing in the factory, this cardboard insert had a fight with one of the workers and came off the loser. Not a great look, it has to be said – but thankfully, nothing is damaged.

Legions Imperialis Review Unboxing 6

Beneath, there are some dice and the bases for the models. We’ll have a look at everything in more detail now.

The Legions Imperialis Rulebook

Things get off to a very poor start. See, dear reader, the rulebook is a disaster.

There’s no nice way to put it: the book is boring. Page after page of tiny black Times New Roman text on blue-grey pages, occasionally stamped with box art-style images of Heresy-era vehicles and soldiers or supplemented with tables of information. In an era where Games Workshop is trying to make its systems more accessible and easier to understand, the Legions Imperialis rulebook takes a great deal of this hard work done and rips it up, simply by being laid out in such a dull manner.

Legions Imperialis Review Rulebook 1
Legions Imperialis Review Rulebook 2

It feels like an academic textbook, with the occasional samey picture of a shoebox-shaped vehicle slipped in here and there in order to prevent the visual interest from completely flatlining. Whilst it is as well-written as you would expect, it is not a fun read by any stretch of the imagination – and extrapolating any data from within the hundreds of pages of eye-torturing columns is about as fun as pulling a thorn out of the bottom of one’s foot.

Credit where credit is due, the book is packed full of diagrams. These are excellent: there’s only so far a rule can be explained in words, and for a lot of people having a visual aid, such as an example diagram, makes grasping rules significantly easier. That so many of the rules are supported with handy diagrams does make crucial concepts significantly easier to grasp.

Legions Imperialis Review Rulebook 3

What is suspicious, though, are the rear few pages. The final section of the book is dedicated to army showcases: lots and lots of pictures of painted miniatures to inspire you to grab some brushes and get painting your own minis, and something that has been surprisingly minimal throughout the rest of the book. In a normal Warhammer rulebook, you’d expect to see the book filled with huge, double-page spreads of battles, of exciting action shots, and of beautifully-painted minis mid-battle. But there is a noticeable lack of this in the Legions Imperialis book – right up until the very last few pages.

It’s almost as if someone reviewed the book, said: “This looks really boring, put more mini pictures in it,” and so a bunch were taken and stuck on at the very end of the book.

If you put this side-by-side with the Leviathan rulebook, you would never believe these were made by the same company. Leviathan is bright, vibrant, bursting with art and pictures and colour. It is inspiring. It makes you want to engage with the universe and the lore. The Legions Imperialis book, however, is uninspiring, bland, and infinitely turgid.

I’m gonna say it. It’s the worst Games Workshop rulebook I’ve ever seen.

Reference Sheets

The pair of Reference Sheets included in the Legions Imperialis book suffer from the same washed-out, blue-grey look as the rulebook.

Legions Imperialis Review Reference Sheets 1

The good news is, these are only two sides long.

Legions Imperialis Review Reference Sheets 3
Legions Imperialis Review Reference Sheets 2

And, again, credit where credit is due, these are pretty useful. Containing the majority of the information you will need to be able to prompt yourself through a battle, whilst they won’t teach you how to play Legions Imperialis, they will ensure that your games go off without too much of a hitch.

Tokens

Now, at risk of sounding like a complete fool, the tokens in the Age of Darkness box confused me.

Legions Imperialis Review Tokens Double-sided
Legions Imperialis Review Tokens Single-sided

Let me explain, because this is weird. First of all, there are two token sheets in the Age of Darkness box: one, which is double-sided (pictured above on the left) was loose in the box. The other, which is single-sided (pictured above on the right) was included in the shrink-wrapped packaging that the book and construction guide were in. Secondly, the tokens’ obverse sides are identical – it’s just the dark reverse on one is blank.

This again smacks of a rush job. It is as if the single-sided tokens included in the shrink-wrapped package were meant to be double sided, but it was then realised after they had all been packaged up that there had been an error printing these and that they should have been double-sided. The double-sided token sheets were then chucked in loose afterwards, as it would cost a fortune unpackaging and re-packaging the book and build guide with the correct token sheet.

But, that we might have a dodgy token sheet is not the biggest issue with the Legions Imperialis tokens. Oh no. These tokens are crap.

Having recently reviewed the new Warcry: Crypt of Blood Starter Set (and just about every other major GW boxed release from the last few years before it), I know as well as you do that GW can create really nice tokens. Sturdy, hardwearing, with fun, vivid art on them. So what the hell are these?

Legions Imperialis Review Tokens Quality 2
Legions Imperialis Review Tokens Quality 1

Made of thin paper that snags and tears as you’re trying to remove it from the punchboard punchsheet, these tokens are as visually unimpressive as the rulebook with which they (may or may not…) have been packaged. Their designs also leaves a lot to be desired: all the tokens are remarkably similar to look at, using the exact same washed-out, blue-grey colour scheme and some very similar symbols to direct play. Telling them apart from one-another mid-game, when you have them in a pile before you, is going to be a nightmare.

These are not the one, I’m afraid.

Measuring Tools

I’d be more excited about the measuring tools if they weren’t the exact same ones that appeared in the Age of Darkness launch box.

Legions Imperialis Review Range Rulers

People love the old fashioned whippy sticks and fire-orange measuring templates. It’s a shame, then, that some more effort wasn’t made with these to make them stand out in this new box – even being in different colours might have just helped them feel even a whiff more exclusive.

Maybe it’s the rushed feeling given off by all the other parts of this box tainting my view of the measuring tools, but these do also feel very feel slung in.

Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis Review – Miniatures

So, there is something I need to get out of the way first so I don’t bring them up time and again in the analysis following.

The build guide.

The instruction booklet for building the Legions Imperialis miniatures is one of the worst and most confusing I’ve ever had to use. Instructions urge you to build up to a certain number of units, then instructs you to build multiples of these (…what?), the total tallies of which don’t max the number of units pictured on the box. What’s more, in the case of some models, there are so many pieces left on the sprue you’re first left feeling first confused that perhaps you should be able to build more units, then, when you realise you’re missing one or two crucial bits, short-changed that you’ve been left with heaps of spares you can’t use.

And that’s not all. There are numerous, significant errors throughout the instructions – such as directing you to build four Sicarian tanks and six Predators when there are only two and three in the kit respectively. Or, when the guide instructs you to build only the chassis for one of the two Warhound Titans. The labelling for the tiny drivers peeking out of the tanks is also often the wrong way round, and there’s yet more mislabelling amongst the tiny infantry squad components which is maddening.

GW cannot be making mistakes when dealing with models and components this tiny – because unless you’re particularly eagle-eyed, the likelihood is that you’ll find yourself misplacing and losing parts, or building things wrong entirely.

Sheesh. Anyway, that aside, let’s look at the miniatures.

Legiones Astartes Infantry

First up we have the Legiones Astartes Infantry. This comprises of all those classic Horus Heresy-era space marine ground units – chaps with bolters, plasma guns, power swords, and a bunch of dreadnoughts.

Command Squad

Kicking things off is the Space Marine Command Squad. Some of these miniatures – particularly the bloke front-and-centre on each base – will look familiar. This is a relatively faithful rendition of the Space Marine Commander with Power Sword who came in the Age of Darkness box.

Legions Imperialis Command Squads

They are, however, somewhat underwhelming. There is a certain definite blobby-ness to the models – impressive details in some places, such as the insignia on the Commander’s pack – undermined by a general lack of similar details elsewhere.

I’m caught between, on the one hand, wanting to be more critical but also, on the other, understanding the limitations of sculpting at this scale. It’s a tough balance to strike, but I can’t help but feel some of the edges on these guys could be just a touch sharper.

Tactical Legionaires

Things begin to come unstuck rather rapidly with the Tactical Legionaries. Again, fairly faithful renditions of their full-sized miniatures, that soft-edged, blobby feeling still pervades these figures.

Legions Imperialis Tactical Legionaires

What’s more, some of these are extremely easy to damage: the power swords on the unit captains were all bent straight out of the box, and several of the figures had completely broken off the sprue before they were even out of the packaging.

They are also a bit fiddly to assemble. Each marine is one piece and just needs to be stuck onto the base, but trying to fit five of these tiny terrors onto each is a fiddly job (especially if you’ve got big fingers). Now might be a moment to break out some tweezers if you’ve got them.

Legions Imperialis Tactical Legionaires Details

They are – and this is an issue we’ll encounter again and again through this box – ugly from a lot of angles. The tiny minis in this box are clearly designed to only be seen from the distant above, so from straight-on or slightly below, some seriously ghastly design choices become very apparent. Guns, hands and bodies are all fused together into one hideous amalgam of stretched plastic. It’s not a good look, and considering some of the units in the box – such as the Auxiliaries – are nowhere near as guilty of this as these minis, it’s not an easy thing to forgive, and again suggests a general lack of care and attention taken towards this box.

Assault Marines

As far as the marines go, the Assault Marines downsize the best of the bunch (albeit that their chainswords are very liable to be bent straight off the sprue).

Legions Imperialis Assault Marines

They seem a little less blobby than their counterparts – perhaps an illusion given the detail on their chainswords and the sharper edges on their jump packs. Still, these chaps show that modeling at this scale is possible.

Support Legionaries with Plasma Guns

Again, as with the Assault Marines above, the Support Legionaries are saved by some instantly recognisable details: they are most definitely carrying plasma guns.

Legions Imperialis Support Legionaires with Plasma Guns

They do, however, suffer from the same weapon-arm-body fusion as the Tactical Legionaires – if anything to a far worse degree, as it also encompasses the legs of some of the miniatures. You can’t see it so clearly in the images above, but boy-oh-boy is it ugly.

Legion Terminators

In the ever-upping and downing rollercoaster that is the miniatures in this box, the Legion Terminators look spectacular.

Legions Imperialis Legion Terminators

The detail achieved on these chaps is brilliant, and they are near-flawless recreations of their full-sized models – right down to the missile launchers on the shoulders of some of the models.

Support Legionaries with Missile Launchers

…And then we hit yet another low.

On the whole, the sculpts for the Support Legionaries with Missile Launchers isn’t so bad. The issue with these models is that all of their weapon arms are detached.

Legions Imperialis Support Legionaries with Missile Launchers

Yes, so all those tiny rocket launchers and arms, which are about the size of half a fingernail, need to be attached. It’s an arduous, frustrating task – particularly given that there’s not a great contact point on the shoulder and on the left wrist of the miniature. You’ll have to be really careful or else you’ll find your space marines’ left wrist won’t be matching up with the hand sculpted onto the weapon itself.

Contemptor Dreadnoughts

The space marine infantry side of the box does end on something of a high. The Contemptor Dreadnoughts in the Legions Imperialis box look great at epic scale.

Legions Imperialis Contemptor Dreadnoughts

They are not the easiest of builds: aside from being made of a surprisingly large number of components for figures their side, on each dreadnought you’ll need to attach part of the left-hand “palm” and “thumb” to the rest of the arm. It’s a miniscule, fiddly operation, and again may be one you wish to carry out with tweezers.

Solar Auxilia Infantry

Next up, we have the Solar Auxilia. When Legions Imperialis was first teased, the inclusion of Solar Auxilia was something that had many fans jumping for joy. Rarely seen outside of the Forge World catalogue, for many this box will be their first chance to get their hands on some non-resin Auxilia.

Auxilia Commander

Kicking things off for the Solar Auxilia is the Auxilia Commander with his squad of chunky buddies and his enormous foam sword.

Legions Imperialis Auxilia Commander

…That’s a power sword? Nah, that’s an oversized foam sword. I won’t hear it any other way.

Rather like the Space Marine Commanders before it, there are some impressive levels of detail reached on the Auxilia Commander, such as the banner and some of the details on their armour and clothing. But, again, the overall blobby-ness of other aspects of the design undermines the parts that are really good.

Tactical Command

More or less the exact same model as the Auxilia Commander, the Tactical Command swaps the bloke with his huge foam sword out for a chap leaning on a pile of what appear to be books and taking a long drink from a wine bottle looking through a spyglass.

Legions Imperialis Auxilia Tactical Command

Again, as with the above, there are some impressive bits of detail on a few of these models, but also some far uglier bits when you get up close. I guess you need to consider what you want these figures for: painters will be disappointed, but gamers will likely not care half as much.

Auxiliaries

In stark contrast to the run-of-the-mill space marine infantry, the Auxiliaries are pretty much bang-on.

Legions Imperialis Auxilia Auxiliaries

The overall quality and attention to detail – as well as the absence of some severe blobby bits – sets these miniatures ranks above their chunky allies. There is hope, it seems.

Veletarii

…And then it’s promptly snatched away.

Of all the things in the box, the Veletarii have downscaled the worst.

Legions Imperialis Auxilia Veletarii

They bear painfully little resemblance to the infantry upon which they are based, instead of veering towards looking more like Roblox characters.

Legions Imperialis Auxilia Veletarii Detail

Whilst on the space marines units, the places where weapons and other details are sculpted onto limbs and bodies are largely hidden from certain angles, with the Veletarii, they are visible from just about everywhere. It’s a crying shame, as when this box was announced and the contents revealed, the Veletarii were one of the units a lot of fans were most looking forward to seeing. Unfortunately, I think there’s going to be a lot of disappointment.

Auxiliaries with Flamers

Like the standard Auxiliaries before them, the Auxiliaries with Flamers do alright for the most part in terms of their sculpts.

Legions Imperialis Auxilia Auxiliaries with Flamers

However, the tips of their flamers are very liable to get bent on the sprue, so do be extremely careful when removing them and gluing these tiny figures to their bases.

Charonite Ogryns

Clocking in at larger than infantry but shorter than a Contemptor Dreadnought, the Charonite Ogryns are actually pretty good little miniatures.

Legions Imperialis Auxilia Charonite Ogryns

Again, proving that it is possible to have a detailed, accurate rendition of these units at this scale, the Ogryns’ only shortcoming is that they don’t fit on their bases together very comfortably. Each Ogryn is quite broad, and trying to get them two to a base can be a little bit of a challenge.

Aethon Heavy Sentinels

Things in the box begin to perk up again as the units start getting slightly bigger. The Aethon Heavy Sentinel is both a relatively easy miniature to build and also looks pretty nice.

Legions Imperialis Auxilia Aethon Heavy Sentinels

Thanks to their larger feet, they are also very easy to attach to their bases, and are quite well-balanced so you shouldn’t have any issues with them toppling over as the glue beneath them dries.

The Heavy Stuff

After the general disappointment of the Legiones Astartes and the Solar Auxilia, I’ll save you the wondering: the tanks and other vehicles in the Legions Imperialis box are, by and large, miles ahead of everything else. The vehicles have downscaled very well, and retain all the charm (and a significant amount of the detail) of their full-sized counterparts.

It’s a shame, then, that the build guide is convinced you’ve got twice as many of these units than you actually have.

Sicarian Squadron

At a glance, these two models could very easily be their full-sized counterparts.

Legions Imperialis Sicarian Squadron

The level of detail retained on the Sicarian Squadron is seriously impressive – and there are a few weapon options available too, so you’re not confined to building the exact models you see here.

Predator Squadron

Again, the Predator Squadron in the Legions Imperialis box is made up of some really fantastic models.

Legions Imperialis Predator Squadron

There are tons of weapon options available, as well as customisation to have a chap popping out of the top of the tank or to have the hatch closed.

Malcador Suqadron

Perhaps my favourite of the tanks in the set, the Malcador Squadron is an eye wateringly-impressive recreation of the Forge World model.

Legions Imperialis Malcador Squadron

As with all the tanks, there are a bunch of options for different main and side weapons, as well as the option to have the hatch closed or open, with a gunner in-situ or otherwise.

Leman Russ Strike Squadron

For the last group of tanks, the torch is passed to the iconic Leman Russ – of which there are four included in the Legions Imperialis box.

Legions Imperialis Leman Russ Strike Squadron

They do not disappoint, either. Again, there are options for weapons, pilots, lookouts and gunners, so you’ll be able to build these however your heart so desires.

Warhound Titans

I was going to introduce the Warhound Titans as the pièce de résistance of this set – but I’m not going to. GW has been making downsized titans for its Adeptus Titanicus range for years, so the Warhound Titans in the Legions Imperialis should be good.

Legions Imperialis Warhound Titans

Heave a sigh of relief, then: they are.

The most complex build in the box by a country mile, each titan is made up of a surprisingly high number of components. You are also given a selection of armour panels (allowing you to declare your allegiance to the Traitor Legions, the Emperor, or neither as you see fit) and a ton of different weapon options to choose from.

The models, then, end on something of a high – but I’m not sure if the quality of the tanks and titans can completely make up for the disappointment felt with a great deal of the infantry models.

Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis Review – Price, Value & Savings

The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis will be available from Games Workshop for £120.00.

We would have liked to have done some predictive prices for some of the units in the box based on the currently-available Adeptus Titanicus and Aeronautica Imperialis models listed on Games Workshop’s webstore, but for the most part these ranges have all-but disappeared in their entirety from the catalogue. At the time of writing, the only thing listed on GW’s webstore catalogue for Aeronautica Imperialis is the rulebook.

As such, it’s really difficult to say with any kind of certainty how much we expect to see the contents of this box go for when they are released as individual components. Of course, Legions Imperialis will be a saving – buying a box like this instead of all the components individually always is – but just how much of a saving (and whether or not these miniatures are actually worth it) is another matter entirely.

I must say, approach Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis with caution. If epic scale is completely new to you, steer clear from this box: it is not the one. If you’re a die-hard fan of epic scale, give this set some real consideration. The box is a rough ride, and given the number of issues across the entire set (from dodgy infantry miniatures, a terrible construction guide, bodged book and cheap-as-chips tokens) I don’t feel like I can say this is worth the price it is going to retail for.

Save your cash for Warhammer: The Old World.

Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis Review – Final Thoughts

The GoodThe Bad
Breathing life into an old scale of Warhammer
Vehicle miniatures look great
Cheap tokens that snag and tear, as well as mysterious double-versus-single-sided sheets
Some of the miniature sculpts are simply not up to standard
Truly, utterly horrific build guide
Horrendous, poorly-formatted rulebook
The whole box feel very rushed and cheap

Instead of blasting onto the market with all the power of a Warhound Titan’s Volkite Destructor, Legions Imperialis enters with all the bluster of a wet fart.

I wanted to like this set. I really, really wanted to like this set. But I don’t.

It’s strange to write that: every Games Workshop product review I’ve done over the last few months has been a pleasure, and most have been nothing short of spectacular. And there are some nice bits in Legions Imperialis – the tiny tanks are super, as are the diddy Titans; I can’t wait to have a go at painting these. But these victories are few and far between with this set. There’s a lot to be annoyed about.

First, I’m miffed our copy turned up looking like someone stamped on it – but I’m not going to let that colour the review too much. These things happen with products, and it’s likely just an isolated incident that not many other people will have. At least it wasn’t the outer packaging – but, if this copy had gone to a Regular Buyer(TM), such as you dear reader, instead of us here at FauxHammer Towers, you’d be annoyed about this. And rightly so. More care should be taken.

But I do have a bit of an axe to grind about the tokens, the book, the build guide, and some of the miniatures. The tokens are woefully poor quality. GW has a history of creating nice, hard-wearing cardboard tokens – look at just about every Underworlds set ever. So what are these thin, papery, tears-too-easily tokens doing in this box? They feel very, very cheap, and certainly don’t belong in an exciting new edition/new system launch box. Also, why are there two sheets – and why is one of them single-sided? It screams of oversight.

And there are some ugly bits on the miniatures – primarily on the infantry units. I get it: they’re tiny. Sculpting these things to the same level of detail as a regular-sized Space Marine is literally impossible, but some of the figures – principally where their sculpts necessitate their hands, arms and weapons are fused to their bodies – are really obvious from all but one angle, and are really, really ugly. It could perhaps be overlooked if there were less infantry models in the box, but instead, these ugly minis cheapen the overall look of the models included – which is a travesty given just how good some of the tanks are. I want to be super excited about my teeny tiny space marines, but instead I’ve got to figure out how to paint their undersides to hide the weird amalgam of weapon, arm and stomach that’s come through on the sculpt.

The rulebook, whilst impressive at first glance, quickly turns into a mess. The contents of the book are a turgid trawl of blue-grey pages, uninspired artwork, and hundreds of thousands of words of tiny text. As a player’s resource, it has some plus-points: rules are illustrated with diagrams, and everything is signposted with a relatively good contents page – but it lacks an index. As a swanky, hardback rulebook celebrating the launch of a new line, its absolutely rubbish. There are some artistic showcases tacked on at the end, but the majority of the book is a dreary churn of tables, text, and artwork you’d expect to be in the background of something else.

And the build guide. Heavens above, does no one actually check these things before they’re printed? Is there no one anywhere in GW’s development cycle who sits down with the sprues and the build guide and tries to follow the instructions? If there were, the numerous errors stamped throughout this booklet would be caught – and there really are numerous errors: significant, confusing mistakes on near enough every single side of the 18-page document.

I’ve not finished a review on a negative note for some time – especially not a Games Workshop product review. Over the last year, GW have produced some truly superb products – but the new Legions Imperialis launch box does not sit amongst those other releases. There is a pervasive sense that this box is rushed. There’s a complete absence of care and attention paid to a lot of the components. The whole thing feels like a bodge job – and also feels very, very cheap. I can’t believe this is the next big release after Leviathan, because Legions Imperialis can’t hold a candle to it.

Whilst Legions Imperialis might re-launch epic scale for Games Workshop, it is most certainly not an epic release.

Please Note: This site uses affiliate links. Our Affiliate Partners are shown below
(Affiliate links will result in compensation to the site on qualifying purchases)

Click this link & buy your hobby stuff from Element Games for the UK & Europe to support FauxHammer.com – Use Code “FAUX2768” at the checkout for double reward points.

Artus-Opus-FauxHammer-Starter-Set-Banner-3
TAG TTC Kickstarter Advert 1

Our Affiliates / Hobby Stores

FauxHammer – Latest Video on YouTube

Author

  • FauxHammer.com - Voltor Profile Pic

    Rob has spent most of the last 20 years playing World of Warcraft and writing stories set in made-up worlds. At some point, he also managed to get a Master's degree by writing about Medieval zombies.

    View all posts
Summary
recipe image
Review Date
Reviewed Item
Legions Imperialis
Author Rating
31star1star1stargraygray
Product Name
Legions Imperialis

VoltorRWH

Rob has spent most of the last 20 years playing World of Warcraft and writing stories set in made-up worlds. At some point, he also managed to get a Master's degree by writing about Medieval zombies.

3 thoughts on “Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis Review

  • December 11, 2023 at 1:05 pm
    Permalink

    Thank you for this review. I’m an old player of the original epic range and was looking forward to a reboot with the current quality that GW has done with their sets. I’ll pass on this and look for folks selling the older epic sets. I’m shocked at the quality that they have on with this set. Thank you again for this thorough review.

    Reply
  • February 21, 2024 at 10:18 pm
    Permalink

    Well, I played the Game and it’s fun. It feels like playing at the HH.

    But everything you say is true. Not a bad Game, but a poor product. I don’t even think that the armies shown in the book fit the recommended 2500 points to play.

    We should mention that the extreme shortage of stock makes almost impossible to have a full army, unless you dive into the 3d sculpts pirate markets.

    Thank you for this accurate review.

    Reply
  • June 16, 2024 at 9:05 am
    Permalink

    This review is a bunch of whining. The quality and substance of the game and it’s rules are barely touched upon; the issues the reviewer maunders on about are trivialities.

    The rules are solid, the minis are really cool and they look sweet painted up. The game rewards effective use of combined arms tactics and gives one a super enjoyable experience unique to the scale. I had a blast playing my first game today with a thousand points of Auxilia.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

en_GBEnglish (UK)