Contemptor Kevin's Combat Patrol Issue 37 Review

Welcome back, Combat Patrol readers!

Having finished the first Chaos Space Marine "elite" unit, Havocs, we turn to the second elite unit: a Helbrute! This issue and the next issue thus complete the base Chaos Space Marine Combat Patrol, allowing someone to start their first CSM army and go all the way to battling Rob at the LVO Team Tournament. We also get some fun narrative materials, and even more rules for other Combat Patrols to go along with it. So let's dive in.

Narrative Materials

With the majority of the magazine given over to the Helbrute instructions and gaming rules, we have a much smaller narrative section this time around. First, we get "Path to Glory", which explains the goals of your average Chaos Warband member. See, while Chaos warband members fight alongside others, they're really all about themselves and their own personal journeys. That personal journey (also described as "selfish ambition") is the "Path to Glory", which is designed to attract the dubious attentions of the Chaos Powers. The lucky ones get gifts, boons, and powers; a tiny majority will ascend to daemonhood, while everyone else who fails turns into a Chaos Spawn. The next page features the Path to Glory of a Chaos Legionnaire and a Chaos Cultist. The Legionnaire fell to Chaos during the Heresy, and spent thousands of years working his way to getting a promotion. They can then become a Possessed, or if they were great Chaos Lords with enough victories would get promoted to a Daemon Prince! However, if the Chaos Legionnaire is too greedy or unlucky, they can be entombed in a Helbrute or degenerate into a Chaos Spawn. Meanwhile, the Cultist gets turned into a Torment which is just not fun.

Word Bearers Chaos Cultists - Credit: RichyP

We get Part 2 of "The Dark Descent", a story of the Black Legionnaire Arkiel (a veteran of the Siege of Terra) smashing up the Aeldari. We see an ex-World Eater (now Black Legionnaire) smashing his way through Guardians until the Support Platform vaporizes him. After waiting for it to fire again, the Black Legionnaires use their experience and abilities to blow it up and wipe out the Aeldari. They find a Chaos obelisk, where Arkiel's former commander has been bound within. A Farseer appears, but Arkiel calls upon the Chaos Gods for their aid. Making his Dark Pacts roll, Arkiel is able to score a [LETHAL HIT] on the Farseer. He then proceeds to begin to unbind the Daemon Prince.

My Possessed bravely face the Aeldari horde

Hobby Materials

Issues 37 and 38 are for the final unit in the "base" Chaos Space Marine Combat Patrol, the Helbrute. This is the second "elite" choice in the Combat Patrol and has both the statline and complexity to match. This kit comes with the multipart plastic kit version of the Helbrute as opposed to the Dark Vengeance Helbrute, because the latter was on a sprue with a bunch of other Chaos models. Of note: You will require both Issues 37 and 38 to build this model. I was able to complete Step #1 (putting the model's face into the front plate) before I had to get the sprue from part #38.

Credit: Dan "Swiftblade" Richardson

The Combat Patrol Helbrute has a fixed loadout: Plasma Cannon and Hammer. Accordingly, the instructions only tell you how to build the Plasma Cannon and Hammer options and do not tell you how to build anything else. This presented a problem for me, as I find the default pose of the Thunder Hammer to be a bit too static for my taste. So I built mine with a power fist. I left off some of the armor plates and cords, so for eventual ease of painting.

Assembling this model was not too difficult, but it's clear that it's a model from an earlier time. The torso of the Helbrute is assembled as a shell, and the connection points are not quite as clear as they could be. It's also very small, barely standing taller than the more modern minis. The pose is also extremely static, and does not match the far more dynamic posing of the other three units in this Combat Patrol. I do not suspect this model will survive through 11th Edition, considering that GW is apparently keen on updating old Daemon Engines. While the Heldrake and Forgefiend/Maulerfiend are still pretty awesome models, the Helbrute is not.

After we finish assembling the model, the issue indulges in some narrative commentary: "Inside the Helbrute is a Chaos Space Marine trapped in Torment".

Gaming Materials

We get the Helbrute's datasheet, in which it has weapons heavy enough to wound basically everything else released in Combat Patrol on no worse than a 3+. Defeating the Helbrute causes it to blow up.

Nul-Gurraq, the Shackled, king of all Helbrutes and killer of three things

We get more Core Rules, this time with the various deployment abilities (Deep Strike, Scouts, Leader, and Infiltrators), which are rules that mostly have appeared in the gaming scenarios already. The issue then tells us about the Core Rules we'll be getting in future issues, with stratagems and strategic reserves, terrain features, and aircraft rules. Instead of getting those rules in this issue, we get a list of the Space Marine and Tyranid Combat Patrol's secondary objectives, enhancements, and stratagems.

The Final Verdict

Unlike some of the other issues, this issue doesn't work unless you have the next issue. You get the instructions and two sprues, but you won't be able to really build the Helbrute unless you have both issues. So we're looking at $30 for a mini that sells for $65 MSRP. Not bad, but considering this is not exactly a modern kit and a replacement appears to be on the horizon, I'm not sure this is as good a value as it could have been. The spare bits in this box also aren't very compatible with other kits, so you just have a bunch of extra plastic.

But in Combat Patrol, the Helbrute is a powerful and brutal unit and the ComPat is much more powerful because of it.

Until next time Combat Patrolers!

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Tags: reviews | combat patrol | Hachette