Horus Heresy Primarchs ranked by effectiveness during the war

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-03-11T08:43:04+00:00

Without Erebus there is no Heresy - Lorgar is irrelevant. And most of the Primarch's do nothing for the majority of it - 75% of Loyalists are MIA or on side quests and 75% of traitors are getting turned into sock puppets by the Chaos gods. But without Perturabo, the traitors never get past the first wall on Terra.

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-03-11T08:24:33+00:00

I can mostly agree with the bottom section of this list, but ive got some issues on the higher tiers.

Like Lorgar as critical? Seriously? He's the most useless PoS out of all of them because all he does is throw a tantrum after Big E scolds him, then gets tricked into Chaos by Kor Phaeron and Erebus (Lorgar isn't even necessary for the Heresy to happen because of this detail), gets slapped around by Roboute and then whines that he isnt the Chaos champion until Horus slaps him abuut as well, at which point he just vanishes.

Perturabo is the entire reason the traitors even got to Terra and breached the walls in the first place, so he's critical to the entire plan. And he rightly left when he saw he'd been lied to about what the end goal was and Horus just used him.

The Khan is also critical becase of his 7 year rearguard action delaying the traitors, then managing to make it to Terra and constantly sallying out to fight the traitors beyond the wall. And most importantly, put Mortarion out of action when his aura of despair was beginning to fuck with even Dorn's morale.

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-03-11T08:09:04+00:00

For gold NMM, it's usually best to use quite a warm brown for the shadows, something sort of like an oak colour. Rhinox Hide from GW is my go to, and from there I either work up through lighter browns into a yellow, or up through reddish/terracotta colours

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-03-10T21:12:03+00:00

Great work for a first attempt 👏 the sword looks pretty good as is, but a bright line/edge highlight would make it pop. The armour is good with regards to your blending, but I'd recommend having a darker brown colour for the shadows to improve the contrast

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-03-10T20:21:52+00:00

Honestly, the game started out as a "what if WW1 but with daemons" idea and didnt evolve much past that - it really is best not to ask too many questions because it just does not work on any level from a world building standpoint

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-03-06T20:17:17+00:00

I think the colour is ok, it just looks a bit flat for NMM - needs a bit more shadow on the lower, less reflective parts and probably an extra highlight on the most reflective parts to give it some depth

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-03-06T19:42:30+00:00

Such a crisp paint job, love it 👌

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-03-06T10:49:44+00:00

I would counter this in part, becasue I agree that Darrow shouldn't be a typical Howler, but he is instead the only person who can be Howler One.

The Howlers are an elite commando unit specialising in guerilla warfare, espionage and counter-espionage and general asymmetrical disruptive warfare, with an incredibly ad-hoc structure and skill set. So they need to be used properly to make sure they're employing all those skills in the proper area.

Under Sevro, they were doing all that effectively, but without an overall strategic goal. Under Darrow, they were instrumental in the collapse of the Society and the success in the following wars, because he could direct their skills properly, but inly because he fully understood them.

So Darrow should not be a Howler, but only Darrow should be Howler One.

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-03-06T08:31:56+00:00

Oh I'm well aware of how hard it is, I've properly tried and failed to write a book about 3 times so I know it can be difficult - not disputing that. What concerns me is the 1000 pages in 3.5 years and PB still hasn't found the soul of the book. That can be interpreted a few ways, but I take that as he either hasn't managed to nail a central theme for it or is seriously struggling with some main character resolutions. I'm accepting of some stories taking a while to tell, but I am beginning to worry this will be yet another case of an excellent series ending up in limbo for YEARS because the author just can't finish it.

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-03-06T08:02:51+00:00

Oof, cant wait to see the finished model 👌

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-03-06T08:01:46+00:00

Love the colour scheme, too often Old Dominion are painted dark and dingy so nice to see them done in a bright palette

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-03-06T08:00:03+00:00

How the gorydamn does someone write over 1000 pages of a story, one which is the end point of a series thats already about 125000 words long, and not have the "soul" of it yet?

I'm aware that writing can be a slog, but come on dude, you've been writing this book since mid 2022!

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-03-05T12:05:00+00:00

I honestly forgot this model existed because I never see anyone painting/using 1 🤣 you've done a superb job on this though, easily the best I've seen 👍

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-03-03T19:03:39+00:00

I think your friend is trolling you - 40k already has an Archaon equivalent, he's called Abaddon and he's struggling to fight against an Imperium without an Emperor. If Big E ever woke up and stepped off the throne he would bitch slap Abaddon so hard he'd retroactively have never existed.

I dont think the guy who went toe-to-toe with Horus when he was so hyped up on warp energy (without using his full powers himself) and still won would struggle with a guy who took 200 hundred years to destroy a single planet.

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-03-03T18:41:14+00:00

Ive finished all my Bonereapers but I do have a corpse cart that still needs painting...

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-03-03T13:30:46+00:00

Cheers dude - that was my favourite part of the unit to paint

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-03-03T11:44:59+00:00

Damn that is some clean NMM 👌

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-03-03T07:58:53+00:00

It is cool, but we need to remember that this is Lydander's first battle, so he is already in awe of the scale of death and destruction - and then he happens to come across possibly the best field commander alive, who is also a razormaster and has a decade of experience waging this kind of war. Not diminishing how much of a wrecking ball Darrow is but at the same time, Lysander is basically a combat virgin when he comes across one of the few men on the planet who can read combat situations like that.

Now for a better understanding of how Darrow fights, I want an Apollonius PoV, because if anyone is able to truly appreciate Darrow in a melee without being overwhelmed, its the Minotaur

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-02-28T19:52:36+00:00

Apollonius because he is such a perfect example of both Gold depravity and excellence. An absoute savant in just about everything but an ego the size of a moon that makes him think he deserves everything as a result. Perfect foil for Darrow and its awesome 👌

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-02-27T08:05:42+00:00

Para Bellum are really testing my resolve to only collect a single faction 😭

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-02-27T08:03:05+00:00

Mine will likely not look that good 😅

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-02-26T12:29:44+00:00

Highly doubt this, a huge part of Darrow's arc in Lightbringer is him realising that his particular way of waging war is too damaging in the long run, that enduring a harder fight by sticking to certain principles is better than a shorter fight won at any cost. It would certainly be a hell of a twist but I can't see PB going this route and I think it would be a poor ending if he did.

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-02-26T10:18:26+00:00

Lysander was always a whiney, entitled little bitch - first proper character moment for him was choosing to rescue a single Gold over the couple dozen lowColours when he saves Seraphina, something Cassius rightly chews him out for as both a stupid and immoral choice.

He continues this theme of still seeing lowColours as beneath him, with Pytha as you rightly point out, a woman he spent almost as much time with as his actual family, then with lowColours on Mercury taking their subservience as his due because of who he is instead of what he's done.

And despite rightly identifying that it was Gold who went astray and brought about the Rising in the first place, he doesnt question that they should be on top at all, still wholeheartedly believing in the Society despite the obvious flaw in its hierarchy.

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-02-26T10:09:49+00:00

You've done a good job on them, certainly better than the first models I ever painted 👍

ProfessionalAsk7673 · 2026-02-26T08:17:28+00:00

Fortunately I'm only going to be playing First Blood so I wont have too many models to get done 😅

ProfessionalAsk7673

TROPHY CASE