Cry Havoc

My stable of figures for my Havocs

Chaos Space Marines Havocs are the heavy weapon squads of the army.  5-10 figures, of which 4 can be armed with one of a set of seven different weapons - three "special" weapons and four true "heavy" weapons.  They've got game utility because you can squeeze an awful lot of firepower into just a few guys - and it's the only non-flyer unit in the codex with any anti-flyer capability.

As with a few units in my army I've painted up way mroe figures than I can use in one squad so as to allow me to play various different units.  The above photo shows, from left to right - three Lascannons; an Autocannon; a Plasma Gun; two missile launchers; and two heavy bolters.

Three Lascannons and an Autocannon for an Anti-Armour squad.

This means I can mix and match the various heavy weapons as required - Lascannons for punching heavy armour, autocannons for light armour and heavy infantry, missile launchers for generalist work (including flyers) and heavy bolters for anti-infantry fire.  However, all those excess bolters can also turn the unit into.....

Missile launcher and Plasma Gun, for an old school tactical squad kind of unit

...a ten man normal Chaos Space Marine unit with one heavy and one special weapon, able to slot into a troops unit. 

Unfortunately, Troops is a problem for converting my army to Horus Heresy.  My Emperor's Children are heavy on sonic blaster-armed Noise Marines for Troops but that isn't allowed in a Horus Heresy army.  My basic troops can only come from one of three units - basic bolter marines, jump pack marines or bolter and riot shield marines.  In order to get a Horus Heresy game, I need to address this. 

To make matters worse, the Havocs can't be played in Horus Heresy as it stands either - that army doesn't take a mix-and-match approach to heavy weapon squads, instead all models in the unit must have the same heavy weapon.  You would need at least four of any heavy weapon, plus a sergeant, to make a legal unit.

This leads us onto my next painting project - kill two birds with one stone and make both troops and heavy support choices for my M31 Emperor's Children

Sprayed Alien Purple and with some Snakebite Leather already painted on.

Ten figures total: two bolters, three Heavy Bolters, two Missile Launchers, a Lascannon and an Autocannon.  This can be mixed into the existing models to create:

• A ten man regular Marine unit for Troops
• A five man Heavy Bolter unit
• A four man Lascannon unit (just add a Sergeant model from my chosen unit)
• A four man Missile Launcher unit (again, Chosen for Sergeant and it's done)

And even in regular 40K, the new heavy weapons will give me more possible load-outs for Havoc squads.

The Havocs are a mixture of figures I picked up on eBay.  The Rhino accompanying them is because, while I have four Rhinos, they're all painted differently - I'll want two matching purple ones for an Emperor's Children force.  

Once this is painted I can play a Horus Heresy game with a legal army and Fulgrim can have his game debut.