The aphorism ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ is a bit chauvinist and old hat in our books – but it suits Games Workshop’s fearsome new Warhammer 40k model for deposed Necromundan ruler Lady Haera Helmawr down to the ground.
Shown off in GW’s latest model reveal via the Warhammer Community site on Monday, Lady Haera in Sthenian-pattern Hunting Rig is quite a rare thing for Warhammer 40k, and even for its more narrative and character-led variant Necromunda: a new, transformed variant of an existing, modern character model.
Lady Haera first showed up in November 2022 – ahead of the game’s expansion Cinderak Burning – as an extravagantly dressed aristocrat and heir apparent of Necromunda’s planetary governor. This newer, angrier, and even more badass version of Haera shows her emerging, steadfast and vengeful, from enforced exile in Hive Secundus, clad in what WarCom calls “the legendary Sthenian-Pattern Hunting Rig – a rare and potent suit lost long ago”.
It cements her place as one of the main characters in the upcoming Necromunda: Hive Secundus expansion. She’s not included in the Hive Secundus box set coming later this year, however; GW confirms this is a Forge World resin model that’ll be released afterwards.
While GW has not given a price for the new kit, we’d estimate it’ll cost something similar to the previous version, which retails at $38 (£24).
We don’t yet know the full rules for this new version of Haera, of course – crucially, we don’t have a clue how deadly her two powerful-looking servo-arms will be in battle – but GW has shared two of her in-game rules in advance.
Per Monday’s Warhammer Community article, Haera’s shiny new Sthenian Hunting Rig mech-suit grants her a decent 4+ armor save, and a very tasty 5+ field armor save (that’s an invulnerable save, in regular 40k terms – something that’s far rarer in Necromunda’s hive gangs than it is among the Warhammer 40k factions). Defensively, then, she’s looking tough.
Meanwhile, on the offense, Haera’s Sibling Rivalry rule is going to make her something of a liability when played close to the other Spyre Hunter characters leading this expansion. Unless you keep her more than nine inches away from other Spyrers, all her weapons get the Reckless trait, meaning your attacks will be just as likely to hit your allies as your enemy.
It’s a nice rules implementation of the fact that, in the current Necromunda lore, there’s no love lost between Haera and the other noble-borns of the planet currently spelunking for tech-relics in the Hive Secundus ruins – given her ruling family has just been supplanted by House Aranthus in a big civil war. We’re pretty sure the Sthenian suit’s “neural needles” plunging into her head aren’t doing anything for Haera’s sense of calm, either.
We don’t know if she’ll keep her Dodge skill from the previous model’s rules (which granted the equivalent of a 6+ Feel No Pain save) – but we’d guess not; it seems like this new Haera is trading the ‘shielded aristo’ vibe for something more like an armored pain train, and we’re here for it, honestly.
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Source: Wargamer
