Legion Herald
The Legion Herald was a type of informal command rank given to Space Marines during the Horus Heresy. They are the forerunners of the Company Standard-Bearers and Primaris Ancients of the 41st Millennium.
Overview[edit]
Legion Heralds were Space Marines who were tasked with carrying the official banner of their lords, be they Primarch or otherwise. They often represented the interests of their Legions in key missions and frequently acted as emissaries to other Legions or units.
Some in /tg/ have speculated that they must have had one of the easiest jobs in the Legiones Astartes during the Great Crusade, which sounds accurate until you remember that they were often separated them from their Legions for extended periods of time, meaning that they would have to exercise a great deal of independent judgment while trying to balance their orders from home against whatever their allies were doing. A key example of this is Herald Kinor Argonis of the Sons of Horus, who was sent as an emissary to the Iron Warriors during the Battle of Tallarn and spent most of it yelling at Perturabo to stop fucking the planet up while also dealing with Alpha Legion bullshit on the side. Moreover, those fuckhueg banners they toted around made them a very noticeable target on the battlefield. Said banners had often been awarded to them personally by a senior officer, their primarch, or in a few rare cases the Emperor himself, meaning that they were treasured relics whose loss would represent great shame and dishonour for the Legion in general and the herald in particular. To compensate for their visibility and the fact that they could only carry one weapon into battle, they usually wore Artificer Armour, which doubled as an indicator of the symbolic importance of their role.
Crunch[edit]
Horus Heresy 1.0[edit]
Whilst not much has been put into their fluff, the same can't be said of their crunch. Heralds are a 40pt Consul upgrade which grant some pretty sizable buffs to your army depending on which Faction you are (looks like in Book 6 they are really hammering down on picking a Faction rather than having Loyalists and Traitors a campaign thing). Now the limitations: cannot be the compulsory HQ (so no Herald for allies, kinda unfluffy IMO), and can take a Rite of War, your enemy scores an additional VP if the Herald dies, cannot benefit from additional CCW (as he's holding a MF banner), may not take a jump pack/jetbike/bike/terminator armour, may not take any weapon which is Two-Handed. Always best giving the Herald Artificer Armour and possibly a power fist since the Specialist Weapon downside makes zero difference. Now time for banners; all banners affect the Herald and all units within 12" (which meet the restrictions).
- Blackshields - Dark Banner: All LA(Blackshields) gain Fear and +1 Leadership. All-round solid banner.
- Loyalists - Banner of the Aquila: All models with LA (including the Herald) who are part of a Loyalist force gain +1 WS to a maximum of 5. Solid banner that can be used for either defensive or offensive purposes, as most things are when comparing Loyalists to Chaos.
- Traitors - Banner of the Eye: All models with LA (including the Herald) who are part of a Traitor force add +1" to both charge and run distances AND may re-roll 1's to HIT on the turn they successfully charged, World Eater-style. An extremely aggressive banner, which is usually the case for Traitors. Now go dig the loyalist scum out of their hovels!!! DEATH TO THE FALSE EMPEROR.
- The Herald bizarrely gets both the Rite of Command AND the Support Officer rules, so if you take a Herald he cannot fill your compulsory HQ slot but he HAS to be your warlord (and can't be taken along any other model that also has to be your warlord) unless you also take your Primarch, meaning that extra victory point he concedes for killing him likely doubles due to "Slay the Warlord" objectives. Rite of Command also grants you the Master of the Legion rule meaning you can take a Rite of War with a Herald.
- Playtest Rules: FAQ Feb 19 Do remember that these rules can only be used if both players agree to use them, as they're not official yet. Heralds get Implacable Advance (which is quite good on an Independent Character if you attach him to a non-scoring unit) and Fearless, in addition as of these rules Heralds can take Terminator Armour. Now that this has been made a thing, consider the Herald to be a super-sized version of the Ancient from a Command Squad, and actually a viable HQ choice now. If you're looking for inspiration, consider putting him in squads that aren't normally scoring that you want to be (Tyrant Siege Terminators, Fulmentarus, Quad Mortars, you get the idea) and enjoy a 12" bubble of whatever bonus you're getting based on your loyalty and a fearless pseudo-scoring unit now. Engage maximum troll-face if you throw them in a unit of Iron Circle just to really capitalize on keeping that flag safe...
Horus Heresy 2.0[edit]
Things have changed for the banner-waving boys in this edition. The Herald gains both Fearless and Fear, but must exchange a piece of wargear for his Legion Standard. Interestingly, there are otherwise no restrictions on their wargear, meaning you can now have a jump pack or biker Herald. He has lost Master of the Legion, meaning those funny fellas who enjoyed making their non-Compulsory HQ their Warlord in HH 1.0 now need to find a new trick.
The Legion Standard has lost its many variants and is now the same as the one found in the Command Squad, granting any unit within 6" LD10 for everything but Psychic checks and giving an attached unit the Line sub-type, allowing them to take objectives. This last bit is something to look out for, as it lets you create some potent combinations by attaching your Herald to a Legion elite squad.