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Warhammer: The Horus Heresy - Age of Darkness 3rd Edition
Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Age of Darkness Rulebook
The Imperium stretches across countless worlds, a newborn empire on the brink of ultimate victory. Yet at the peak of this golden age of conquest, the galaxy has been plunged into an Age of Darkness. Horus Lupercal, Warmaster of the Emperor's armies, has turned against his gene-father, and the eighteen Space Marine Legions, once united in a Great Crusade to consolidate all Humanity beneath the Emperor’s banner, are riven by betrayal. This is the Horus Heresy – the bloodiest conflict Humanity has ever known. Civil war on a galactic scale, in which superhuman soldiers clad in advanced armour turn devastating weapons upon those they called brothers. Where do your loyalties lie?
Warhammer: The Horus Heresy is a miniatures wargame that pits mighty armies against each other in apocalyptic tabletop battles. Choose your favoured Loyalist or Traitor faction – from the knightly Dark Angels to the duplicitous Alpha Legion – or from the massed ranks of the Solar Auxilia and the war machines of the Legio Titanicus. Build your army from a range of spectacular miniatures, and clash with fellow players in wargames of staggering tactical depth.
This 352-page hardback book contains:
– Background and lore: Extensive information about the Age of Darkness, the Legiones Astartes, other factions, a timeline, inspiring artwork, and miniatures photography.
– Basic principles: The Core Rules for Warhammer: The Horus Heresy.
– Advanced principles: Rules for Tactical Statuses, Reactions, Psychic Abilities, Vehicles, and Battlefield Terrain.
– Rules of battle: A guide to the phases of the game.
– Battles in the Age of Darkness: Instructions on how to build your army.
– Core Mission Pack: Three Core Missions, three Deployment Maps, and a variety of Secondary Objectives for your games.
– Armouries of the Age of Darkness: Special Rules for Warhammer: The Horus Heresy and Psychic Powers for the six Psychic Disciplines.
Warhammer: The Horus Heresy is a miniatures wargame that pits mighty armies against each other in apocalyptic tabletop battles. Choose your favoured Loyalist or Traitor faction – from the knightly Dark Angels to the duplicitous Alpha Legion – or from the massed ranks of the Solar Auxilia and the war machines of the Legio Titanicus. Build your army from a range of spectacular miniatures, and clash with fellow players in wargames of staggering tactical depth.
This 352-page hardback book contains:
– Background and lore: Extensive information about the Age of Darkness, the Legiones Astartes, other factions, a timeline, inspiring artwork, and miniatures photography.
– Basic principles: The Core Rules for Warhammer: The Horus Heresy.
– Advanced principles: Rules for Tactical Statuses, Reactions, Psychic Abilities, Vehicles, and Battlefield Terrain.
– Rules of battle: A guide to the phases of the game.
– Battles in the Age of Darkness: Instructions on how to build your army.
– Core Mission Pack: Three Core Missions, three Deployment Maps, and a variety of Secondary Objectives for your games.
– Armouries of the Age of Darkness: Special Rules for Warhammer: The Horus Heresy and Psychic Powers for the six Psychic Disciplines.
352 pages, Hardcover
Published July 26, 2025
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Games Workshop
1,019 books110 followersGames Workshop Group PLC (often abbreviated as GW) is a British miniature wargaming manufacturing company. Games Workshop is best known as developer and publisher of the tabletop wargames Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000 and The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 5, 2025
As usual, this Rulebook for the third edition of the Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Age of Darkness tabletop wargame includes the background and core rules players need to get involved in the game.
The background section of the book is pretty much the same as the one from the previous edition of the game, giving a good overview of the history and timeline of the era the game takes place in. There are some new and updated bits as well, mostly surrounding the Saternine armour and technology, that I found interesting.
The artwork and model photography were as good as they always are in a rulebook, but while some of the more technical pictures have been changed, some images were again some reused in exactly the same place as the previous book, which while not bad does lead to an unfortunate lack of variation (there are many pieces of artwork for most of the Primarchs so changing some of them wouldn’t have taken too much).
The rules themselves are set out a little differently than they have been in the past, explaining a lot more of the core rules first before moving on to the game’s turn sequence rather than explaining them when they come up during the turn sequence. It could just be because I am used to the previous style, but I had a bit of trouble getting used to the new one. As for the rules themselves, I haven’t played them so I cannot comment, but they seem reasonable enough , particularly the new method of army building which seems quite fun.
The background section of the book is pretty much the same as the one from the previous edition of the game, giving a good overview of the history and timeline of the era the game takes place in. There are some new and updated bits as well, mostly surrounding the Saternine armour and technology, that I found interesting.
The artwork and model photography were as good as they always are in a rulebook, but while some of the more technical pictures have been changed, some images were again some reused in exactly the same place as the previous book, which while not bad does lead to an unfortunate lack of variation (there are many pieces of artwork for most of the Primarchs so changing some of them wouldn’t have taken too much).
The rules themselves are set out a little differently than they have been in the past, explaining a lot more of the core rules first before moving on to the game’s turn sequence rather than explaining them when they come up during the turn sequence. It could just be because I am used to the previous style, but I had a bit of trouble getting used to the new one. As for the rules themselves, I haven’t played them so I cannot comment, but they seem reasonable enough , particularly the new method of army building which seems quite fun.
Displaying 1 of 1 review