As with all TCG/CCG, the main appeal of this type of games (beside the collection aspect) is in the Battle system. The "fast-paced", strategic combat of The Horus Heresy: Legions brings you relative seen before mechanics (like in Hearthstone), while adding its own unique ones to make it stand out from the others.
Centered around one of the richest settings of Warhammer 40k, Players will have the chance to use some of the most famous characters from that time period (Warlords or Troops) to battle with.
While simple in execution, and easy to get into, experienced Players will understand the better intricacies of the Battle system, and how to manipulate the more complex aspects of such (be it from how to build their Decks or how to correctly play certain Cards).
A Player can Battle in six different modes: Ranked, Legacy Ranked, Practice, Friendly, Event and Campaign. But, beside the rewards each one might give you, or the entry fee needed, they all share the same game mechanics (when in the Battle itself).
Some might give rewards straight up (unique ones in some cases), add to your Ranking rating, help you achieve Daily Missions, or just be for trying your new Decks.
Battles are the only way for a Player to gain Experience, and thus, level up his account. Ranked wins will also award 5 Gold (to a max of 10 wins per day).
If an opponent Player isn't found (during the "searching" window), then a Bot Opponent will be chosen. These "Bots" will have pre-programmed Decks (which might change according to the Expansions released) and usually play in the same way (see below). In any mode, battling against a human Player or a Bot, you will still receive the same rewards said mode gives nonetheless.
If a Player forfeits the Battle before turn 5, haven't receive damage or played any card, then said Battle won't count towards the Daily Missions track ("Win 3 Games"/"Play 5 Games" ones).
While all of the Battle Modes are played in the same way, only the Decks, and how they're build, change.
Battle Gameplay[]
How a Battle might develop will depend on the Players battling, the Decks they have, and their overall insight of the game (with a pseudo Poker-like approach to how the opponent will react). This development will be unique to each match, but all follow the same basic gameplay.
- Both Players Battle with a 30 card Deck, and a pre-chosen playable Faction Warlord as their avatar (this card is always at the center of the board).
- Which Player will start the match is tied to the initiative of the chosen Warlord (from last to first: Slow, Medium, High, Very High). If both Warlords share the same initiative, a coin is toss to choose which will go first (RNG based).
- Both use Energy as their main resource. They start with [1], and gain [1] Energy each turn that starts, to a maximum of [10] (some cards might manipulate how much you have at any giving moment, but it can never be more than 10).
- Both draw 3 cards when the match begins. The "first to play" Player can have up to 4 cards in hand when starting (if the Warlord have a Special Card), and the "second to play" Player receives an extra card, plus a "Counterattack" card, up to a maximum of 6 cards when starting (if the Warlord have a Special Card). This is to mitigate the second Player Energy disadvantage [See Resources]
- Both Players draw 1 card every time their turn start (unless stated otherwise). When all cards from a Deck have been drawn, the Player will receive [1] cumulative damage for every card they draw after.
- Even if cards are added to an empty Deck after the cumulative damage begin, it will continue where it stopped (if it was 3, the next time you draw "no cards", the damage will be 4)
- After the previous has been sorted, the actual play can begin.
During a turn a player can:[]
- Play a card from hand, if it has the available Energy, to place Troops or use Tactics (drag said card to the board or target Unit)
- Use Activated Abilities of Units, if it has the amount of Energy required, or Attack with them (a green circle below the image will indicate that an action is available).
- When using an Activated Ability, click in the Unit and a pop-up square will appear in the lower right corner for you to choose to use (and from there the target/s), and can only be done so once per turn (unless stated otherwise).
- When attacking, the enemy Unit must be targetable for attacks (drag your card to said target), and can only do so once per turn (unless stated otherwise).
- Tap on any card (in your hand or the board) to get additional information of that card.
- Check the Battle-Log, where you can see the last ten actions of both Players (cards played or moves).
- Hover over the Decks to see the amount of cards left. You can also hover over the enemy Avatar to see the Player's Ranking, Lodge (if in one) and Warcry.
- "Chat" with the Quotes options available for their Warlord (the three doted bubble button).
- Turn off sounds, mute chat or remove the particle effects from the settings button. In there, they can also resign the battle.
- End the turn. This can be done in any moment, but when all actions are exhausted the "End Turn" button will glow to indicate that such is the case.
- After ending the turn, the opponent Player will start their turn.
- When a Player turn start, the available Energy recharges to full (and gain [1] if the max hasn't been reached).
- To win, a Player must lower the life of the opponent Warlord to -0- (by whichever means).
- If both Warlords reach -0- Life at the same time, then the match ends in a tie.
These are the "set" rules in which any Battle will play. All specific caveats and variations will come from the cards played, and thus, only getting experience with them will make you understand the game better.
Battle Modes[]
All these modes, except for the Friendly Battles, give Experience to the Player (around 80 points from a win, and 20 for a loss).
Ranked[]
The "main" Battle scenario, this is what most players will play regularly. Every victory adds to the Ranking of the Player, and every loss deducts from it (around 60~30 points, respectably). This mode is also called "Standard Play" (as long as the Player only uses cards from the Standard Sets), and you can only play against other "Standard" Players. To access it, click the "Battle" button in the main HUD.
Legacy Ranked[]
The same as "regular" Ranked play, but with its own Ranking. Also called "Legacy Play", for entering this game mode a Player must add at least 1 card, or use a Warlord, from the Legacy Sets. You can only battle against other "Legacy" Players. To access it, click the "Battle" button in the main HUD.
Practice[]
As the name implies, this mode is for helping try new, or modified, Decks you don't feel "confident" using, or even for just completing Daily Missions without worrying about your Ranking. Thus, winning or loosing won't change the amount of points you have. To access it, click "Practice" below the "Battle" button in the main HUD, this will change the background to let you know you're in that mode, and then click Battle.
Note: There's a common "misinformation" in the community regarding Practice Battles, from which you only battle Bots in this mode. While that is the most common occurrence, the game will still match you against Players (if it founds one of the relative same level as you), and they can be of the "Standard" or "Legacy" game modes.
Friendly[]
This mode comes in two forms:
Against a Friend- You can choose one from your Friend List (click the 
symbol next to their names), or by typing their name in the search box, and select if you go first when the match begins. This uses your current equipped Deck to battle. You can also fight Lodge companions this way.
Against a Bot- Click the "Friendly" button in the Settings, and you'll be able to battle a Bot with a selected difficulty (easy, normal or hard). You can also choose to have the Bot use one of your Decks.
This Battle mode won't change your Ranking rating, and it won't count for your Missions.
Event[]
Events are a unique category in the Battle mode. Unlike the others, in which you can play individually from the get go, you must be in a Lodge first and spend Tickets to participate. The rewards (beside the individual and Lodge Crates) change depending on the Event (could be new cards, Cosmetics or Warlords). Sometimes called "Draft Battles", this mode haves its own unique systems:
- You choose first how many Tickets to use, 1 or 10. This only changes the amount of Crates and points you receive when the run is over (x1 or x10).
- Choose a Warlord from 4 options (two for the "Loyalist" side and two for the "Chaos" side). These Warlords are random, tied to the Event history, and could be from the regular game or "Event unique" ones (thus, you can't play them normally).
- Choose a set of 3 cards from 3 choices, 10 times, till you have 30 cards in your Deck. These cards come in different rarities, and are from the Warlord original Faction or the Neutral Factions. You can change all the sets you get at any time with Gems (the cost increase each time till a set is chosen).
After these steps, regular play will follow (Battle wise), and you have a maximum of 3 defeats, or 12 wins, before you have to repeat the process.
Campaign[]
The Campaigns are the most unique of the Battle modes, while using systems from the others. They're based on a major event from The Horus Heresy (lore wise) with only Astartes Legions being available, can only be played one Faction a month for free, or bought to unlock permanently, and replayed as much as a Player wants. They all follow the same rules:
- You start with a fix (Rare) Warlord and 15 cards (of the Faction the Campaign is set).
- You fight six battles against IA controlled opponents.
- After the first run of six are won, a new Warlord unlocks (Epic) and doing so again, the last one (Legendary) becomes available. Each one adds to your Campaign progress (of four) and you can choose any of the three before the run begins.
- The opponents might use normal or unique Warlords, with unique stats and abilities, but the cards they use come from the normal game.
- These Warlords get progressively harder, with the "Epic Boss" (final Warlord) being the hardest.
- Between battles, you get offer the choice of 3 cards from 3 sets (and can't change them). These are from your Warlord original Faction, or the Neutral ones.
- After 3 consecutive wins, you get offer 1 option (from 3) to gain a "Power Up" ability. This buff applies by itself when the following battles start, and can give the Player extra life, a Trait, lower the amount of Energy the enemy gets, lower the cost of all your cards, etc.
- The "Epic Boss" unlocks after three runs have been won (18 consecutive wins), and always is a Primarch-tier Warlord with his Reckoning/Whisper activated from the start (making it really powerful and thus harder).
- If you lose in any moment, you can choose to restart from where you fail (paying Gold or viewing an Ad), or restart the run from the beginning. If you do the latter after unlocking the "Epic Boss", you'll receive a second Power Up to use after the six battle is won.
The Campaigns reward 1 Crate (of the Faction Crate quality) for each successful run completed, and beating the "Epic Boss" will give you a unique Card Back and a "Faction Deck Offer" for buying. However, after getting all of these for the first time, beating the Campaign again will only give you the Deck Offer.
Bots Battle[]
Or "IA" Battles, is something all Players will encounter to various degrees. Because the match-making system searches for Players that are around your Ranking level, and sometimes there isn't one to be found (they might be off higher level, but putting a 1500 Ranking one against a 3500 points Player would be unfair), or perhaps there's not enough Players in a particular time of day, the game will match you against Bots. These IA controlled opponents are usually very simple (not necessarily easier), and some Player prefer to fight against them, specially for Daily Missions farming.
If you want to learn more in depth about Bots, check this page HERE, but for a resumed version, all Bots follow this pattern when in combat:
- Will play the "best" card available, and if spare Energy is left, use the next "best" one and so on. This "best" card usually is: the strongest Troop-a hard removal- some type of card advantage- soft removal- any other, in that order.
- Use an ability if the Energy is available and ONLY if it will remove a threat, or deal high amount of damage to your warlord (will usually act as the first point mention, playing a card first). Otherwise, it will attack the biggest threat and/or your Warlord with all available units (except with Troops with Front Line).
- This will happen even if it make it lose a Troop they shouldn't use for attacks.
- The "biggest" threat in any scenario isn't a precise -confirmed- thing, and would come down to experience fighting them (when trying to protect certain Troops). Usually, it will be something like: a Troop with a powerful Ability-a high stats Troop (target for hard removal)-a card/Energy advantage Troop-a Troop that is certain to die in the next attack/damage dealt. Your Warlord will always be the main target, after those have been eliminated. This makes situations where some of your Troops are left alone to do as they please.
- The enemy Warlord will attack you, or Troops that it can kill, till his life reaches 1, but won't do it to you if your attack is bigger than his, or if the Troop's attack is 6+ (even if it can kill it).
This is the general "behavior" of Bots, but of course, the system varies in how it plays, making, for lack of a better word, "weird" or unexpected decisions. That being said, after a Player has had enough experience with them, it shouldn't have problems defeating Bots.
Battle Report[]
After any battle mode finishes, you'll get a Battle Report window with all the info of the match (image below). Be it "Victory" or "Defeat", you (if against a Bot) or both Players will get to see the damage dealt, tactics used, etc. Paying attention to this window could help you understand your Deck better, what to change if not happy with the result/output, and generally get an idea on how you're playing.
Notes[]
When playing a Practice Battle, the game main HUD background will display "Friendly", and the match result will count towards your Warlord stats. This could be considered an "error", as the "Friendly" Battles, correctly separated from the others, are the stated in the list above (against Bots or Friends).
For more info on how to play, and recommended ways to do so, you can check our Guides:
- New Player Guide -For the basics of the game.
- Advance Guide -For more complex mechanics.
- Deck Building Guide -Tips on how to build Decks.
- Community Decks -See the Decks made by the Player's base.
- How to Play: X -For each Faction specific play style.
