Hello everyone I'm not a frequent visitor here, and I don't know if there have been similar posts here before. I just want to share some ideas for a potential Total War Horus Heresy. I don't pretend to be original. I am giving these ideas to the Creative Assembly Studio for free use.
Below is a list of lords, numbered by legion numbers. Ideally, for the main 18 factions I would like to see 6 lords each, including the primarch. When creating the list, I tried to rely equally on the scale of the characters' personalities, as well as on their potential mechanics and unique location on the galactic map (hello, Imperial Fists, Blood Angels and White Scars).

I hope such a game is really in development now. And soon the Horus Heresy will get its share of justice and finally get its first big-budget game.

1) Dark Angels. The first legion on the list and immediately among the lords there are both loyalists and traitors. Luther and Corswain first of all. I think that two traitor lords will be enough, so Merir Astellan will fill the second slot. Farith Redloss and Holguin are also candidates for the lords. Zahariel and Cypher look more like heroes. It would be nice to see the mechanics of the Hexagrammaton.
3) The Emperor's Children. Eidolon, Tarvitz, Kaesoron and Vairosean. I think Lucius is more suitable to be a hero, but you can write it off as a game convention and make him a lord. Fabius Bile can also optionally be both a lord or a hero. You can make him the mechanics of the genetic market. Additional characters: Ravasch Kario, Telemachon Lyras and many others actually.
4) Iron Warriors. I believe that the Trident of Perturabo, with all this race for reputation and influence, and internal competition within the legion, is very similar to the mechanics of the Chaos Dwarves from TTW3. I would really like to see Dantioch and Narik Dreygur because of their uniqueness. But there are enough other worthy characters in the legion: Barban Falk, Toramino, Soltarn Vull Bronn, Berossus (dreadnaught?), Idriss Krendl (dreadnaught?), Erasmus Golg, Harkor, Kyr Vhalen, Annovuldi, Auric Saxton. Volk Sa'ra'ram is a hero, the first obliterator.
5) White Scars (a joke about horde mechanics). Of course, Qin Xa and Targutai Yesugei! Although the latter should probably be made a hero. Shiban Khan and Jubal Khan are good candidates. Hibou Khan is a must. I would also like to have one traitor lord: Torghun Khan, Hasik or Hakeem.
6) I'm not a fan of Space Wolves and I don't know much about them. But they don't seem to have a shortage of characters.
7) Imperial Fists. Sigismund and Fafnir Rann of course. Next are two more lords with a unique location on the map. Alexis Polux and Evander Garrius. Garrius has a potential mechanic already sewn into the backstory. The cruel and disgraced captain is desperately trying to earn the primarch's lost favor.
8) Night Lords. Sevatar and Skraivok are primarily like two opposites of the same legion. One for the blind justice that legion once embodied. The other became the architect of what the legion has become. I would even make Sevatar a psyker, canonically against his will haha. For Sevatar, a unique mechanic can be made to assemble your own Kyroptera, in the manner of gathering Tamurkhan's officers. It doesn't have to be other legendary NL lords that can be confederated, but you can also add randomly generated ones. On the other hand, gathering of Kyroptera can be made the mechanics of all legion lords except Curze. I would add Krukesh the Pale next. Additional characters: Nakrid Thole, Malcharion.
9) Blood Angels. If the mechanics of the game allow, it would be nice to add the opportunity for the entire legion to roll back into the Revenant Legion. Raldoron and Nassir Amit of course. Bel Sepatus, the fastest space marine in Tartaros armor. Azkaellon seems to be more like a hero due to the specifics of managing only the Sanguinary Guard, but you can again refer to the game mechanics. Zephon is a hero.
10) Iron Hands. The Shattered Legions and Black Shields will not exist as separate factions. Shadrak Meduson. Autek Mor as the legion's most famous living commander. Gabriel Santar with the mechanics of constantly implanting new augments and improving them. Ulrach Branthan as a dreadnought. If the legion's mechanics allow, I would like to see the implementation of the Keys of Hel, including the creation of cyber zombies. If not, then we need a separate lord specializing in cyber zombies. At first, I wanted to canonically suggest Kastigan Ulok, but I have a better idea for the last slot, more on that below. Since Branthan was also resurrected with the help of strange technologies, I propose to mechanically give cyber zombies to him.Since the release of Heresy 2.0, we have known that almost every legion had defectors, including the Iron Hands, who even had a separate marking in the form of the Eye of Horus in the gear, but I always thought that these were some kind of survivors from Isstvan V. It turned out that the whole Ayreas clan had gone over to Horus' side. Considering that their ship helped with the brawl on Mars, they defected even before the purge on Isstvan V. There is no mention of any commanders of this clan anywhere, but this omission should be filled in. The last slot of the lord is taken by a traitor from the Ayreas clan.
12) World Eaters. If the game mechanics allow it, it will be interesting to have the reverse mechanics of Blood Angels, so that they never turn into monsters and do not implant Butcher Nails for the entire legion, or otherwise neutralize them. Kharn. Lhorke is like a dreadnought, an echo of the War Hounds. Endryd Haar. Perhaps Mago, who died on the eve of the Heresy. The situation with Delvarus is complicated, similar to Azkaellon. Maybe he should be made a hero. Additional characters: Dreagher, Jareg, Lheorvine Ukris, Gahlan Surlak, Arrian Zorzi.
13) Ultramarines. I don't know them very well, like the Wolves, but there's clearly no shortage of characters.
14) Death Guard. Mortarion must have the mechanics of a numerology obsession! Kalas Typhon of course. It would be nice to make a Dusk Raiders sub-faction for Garro. Additional characters: Morarg, Gremus Kalgaro, Crysos Morturg, Malig Laestygon, Hadrabulus Vioss, Kadus Brekkar, Ignatius Grulgor.
15) Thousand Sons. Magnus must have the mechanics to collect his shards! There are many Psyker characters. I would like to single out the loyalist Sul Kontep separately. His guys wore the M symbol, which was the Legion's badge before Magnus. If you add Garrius and Ashuraddon to it, you get a solid 3-lord dlc about the Siege of Chthonia.
16) Sons of Horus. By analogy with Garro, it would be great to make a Luna Wolves unique sub-faction for Loken. Abaddon, Aximand, Tybalt Marr of course. Maloghurst or Sergar Targost as a warlock. Grael Noctua as a Tormageddon bearer who could specialize in luperci.
17) Word Bearers. Another legion, where they do a lot of magic but in a slightly different way. Erebus, Kor Phaeron, Argel Tal, Zardu Layak, Sor Talgron with a potential dreadnought entombment.
18) Salamanders. Artellus Numeon, Cassian Dracos (dreadnought), T'kell, Nomus Rhy'tan. Legion has problems with the characters, and they could use a defector or something.
19) Raven Guard. There are 2 unusual legion characters that I would like to see among the lords first. Nerat Kirine and his Ashen Claws gang. And Arkhas Fal, who would return with his exile fleet on Horus' side, inheriting some of his tactics. There is a rumor about this in the RG codex supplement, we should not miss this opportunity to add a such a unique character. Together with the IH traitor from the Ayreas clan and the potential Salamander character, another 3-lord dlc can be made.
20) Alpha Legion. First, I wanted to suggest a mechanic similar to the von Carstein couple from TTW. But later I realized that the unique feature of the legion should still be the presence of two separate primarchs instead of one. After all, there was also a split within the legion, the two parts of the legion regularly sabotaged each other's operations. So Omegon! Ingo Pech, Sheed Ranko, Mathias Herzog. Additional characters: Kel Silonius (the real one), Armillus Dynat.

Custodes can be made an analogue of the ogres from TTW, elite small units. I would not like to copy the daemon Lords from the trilogy, so it will be great to see Ka'Bandha, Samus, Madail, Lord of the Flies, Manushya-Rakshsasi, Kyriss the Perverse.

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VikingHuscarl1066#3718 wrote:

Honestly, I think that the Horus Heresy would probably feel too limited, as with how powerful the astartes legions got, it just makes most of the other races and factions seem pretty weak. And even if they did the Great Crusade, with all the powerful alien races and such, how could they possibly do a galactic map right?

I just think that a 40k TW could work out a fair bit better, and even then, CA needs to be allowed to design it right.

There will be no playable alien races here. The Horus Heresy is an internal conflict of the Imperium, a civil war between the legions, the Mechanicum, and their allies.

I don't think the 40K will be any better, there are too many space marine orders. Once again, only guys like the Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Ultramarines, and the most popular orders of subsequent foundations like the Black Templars will receive attention. White Scars, Salamanders, Raven Guard will be overboard again. There is also a limit of 1,000 people in most orders, which will not allow you to create a large army with which most players travel on the map.

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Harragath#2954 wrote:

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VikingHuscarl1066#3718 wrote:

Honestly, I think that the Horus Heresy would probably feel too limited, as with how powerful the astartes legions got, it just makes most of the other races and factions seem pretty weak. And even if they did the Great Crusade, with all the powerful alien races and such, how could they possibly do a galactic map right?

I just think that a 40k TW could work out a fair bit better, and even then, CA needs to be allowed to design it right.

There will be no playable alien races here. The Horus Heresy is an internal conflict of the Imperium, a civil war between the legions, the Mechanicum, and their allies.

I don't think the 40K will be any better, there are too many space marine orders. Once again, only guys like the Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Ultramarines, and the most popular orders of subsequent foundations like the Black Templars will receive attention. White Scars, Salamanders, Raven Guard will be overboard again. There is also a limit of 1,000 people in most orders, which will not allow you to create a large army with which most players travel on the map.

WH40K will have many more races than the HH. Tyranids, Tau, Aldari, Drukhari, GS, LOV, Necrons, Geanstealers etc.

The limits on modern Space Marines can and will be ignored in 40KTW, the rules can be broken under certain circumstances. Also, the lore is stating that Gulliman is becoming a lot more easy going within his 10000 year old rules. 

I imagine it will be 40KTW that gets selected.

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davedave1124#4773 wrote:

WH40K will have many more races than the HH. Tyranids, Tau, Aldari, Drukhari, GS, LOV, Necrons, Geanstealers etc.

The limits on modern Space Marines can and will be ignored in 40KTW, the rules can be broken under certain circumstances. Also, the lore is stating that Gulliman is becoming a lot more easy going within his 10000 year old rules. 

I imagine it will be 40KTW that gets selected.

While I do agree with you on the 40k era having a lot more variety, I somewhat disagree with the idea that the astartes having regular numbers, as they should really be kept as more elite forces and all.

I would say that they should be somewhat akin to the ogre kingdoms in that they're almost like monstrous infantry army numbers but with more tactical variety and all.

Because I think that most space marine squad units could be like 10 or 12 marines per unit at most, but they have some customization options that almost no other race has, which expand the more elite the units get. Though I would say that the Space Wolves and maybe Black Templars could have like 16 marines per unit for their more basic marines, and 12 for their other squads, since they're already known to not fully follow  the rules about numbers and all.

But I do think that they could probably balance out the power of the astartes with them still having fairly low numbers and slower recruitment and replenishment rates.

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VikingHuscarl1066#3718 wrote:

Because while the Heresy was a giant civil war in a lot of ways, it doesn't really leave tons of room for faction variety, which is something most TW fans kind of expect by this point, and while I know that there are some basic tactical differences and personalities between the various astartes legions, they're all still a bunch of astartes, which would probably get a fair bit boring after a while, which would be pretty bad.

At least the 40k era has a lot more variety to it and not just space marines alone. And it could be placed in a more manageable sector instead of trying to go for a insanely large galactic scale map.

In previous Total War games, both historical and semi-historical, we constantly played for different factions of just one race - humans, and everyone was happy with everything, everyone liked it. I think the problem is far-fetched.
Fans of orcs, Chaos, and daemons can play TTW or any other Warhammer 40K strategy or tactical game at any time. Fans of the Horus Heresy have nowhere to go, they just don't have big-budget games.

I also saw your suggestion to make Space Marines the equivalent of ogres. In my concept Custodes would be the equivalent of them. How would you like to make a very popular Custodes faction for WH40K then?

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Harragath#2954 wrote:

In previous Total War games, both historical and semi-historical, we constantly played for different factions of just one race - humans, and everyone was happy with everything, everyone liked it. I think the problem is far-fetched.

Fans of orcs, Chaos, and daemons can play TTW or any other Warhammer 40K strategy or tactical game at any time. Fans of the Horus Heresy have nowhere to go, they just don't have big-budget games.

I also saw your suggestion to make Space Marines the equivalent of ogres. In my concept Custodes would be the equivalent of them. How would you like to make a very popular Custodes faction for WH40K then?

Well, while I feel bad for Horus Heresy fans, the problem with that argument is that in 40k, there's so much more than just space marines and if almost all the factions are just space marines, with the Mechanicum on the side, it'll get pretty boring pretty quickly.

And I would say that it would depend on just how they might implement the different major factions/races within 40k. Are we talking like the Imperium as a playable race or its various sub factions and all as the playable races?

While I would like to be able to run around with separate armies of the Lamenters or Salamanders, I do kind of like the idea of possibly playing as a combined Imperium faction that can request aid from or basically "hire" the help of various other sub factions within the Imperium, such as the Adepta Sororitas, Adeptus Astartes, the Mechanicus, and even the super rare Adeptus Custodes as "mercenaries" of sorts.

As for how the Custodes could work.

I would say that they could probably be in similar numbers to the astartes they'd be more like super powerful and temporary mercenaries, but in gameplay terms, they should probably be like astartes but to the next level, able to tear through just about anything they face. And to be honest, I feel like trying to put the custodes in a TW game would be really hard, mainly just because of how powerful they are suppose to be compared to astartes.

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Harragath#2954 wrote:

The main feature of potential TW Horus Heresy would be the same as in Troy and Three Kingdoms. People didn't complain about the monotony of the factions in these games, because the main feature of TWHH would be the ability to lead armies into battle for famous characters from literature. Play as primarchs and other famous commanders. And the Romance mode from Three Kingdoms would come in just right here.

Besides the Horus Heresy video game will attract a lot of new mass audiences and will allow them to get acquainted with the story and characters bypassing dozens of books. Or maybe on the contrary it will encourage them to read some!

Well, let's not forget that 3K and Troy weren't exactly highly praised for only have so many types of factions either.

And I understand that appeal of the Heresy and all, but that doesn't change the fact that they're all mostly just astartes factions, with only really the Mechanicum as the only other possible playable faction. 

Not to mention the incredibly massive task of trying to somehow translate the near galactic scale of the Heresy. Because at least in 40k, you could probably focus the campaign down to a sector or two of maybe 12 planets that each have a decent number of provinces and such to them.

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Harragath#2954 wrote:

​The absence of other "races" besides humans does not mean that this is a disadvantage. This has always been the case in the Total War series.

And yeah, my favorite Warhammer game move. Almost all known races SUDDENLY find themselves in the same sector and start an ultra massacre. I understand that this is a gaming convention, but I am so tired of how cheaply it is played out from every single time.
Creative Assembly has created a phenomenon with the global map of the TWW trilogy right before our eyes. Would they be able to handle something similar for a cosmic Warhammer? Only time will tell.

Except for the fact that all the factions in all those historical TW games are not all the same exact types of units and all, which absolutely would be a problem in designing different playable factions. It's the same thing as trying to make the rosters of medieval England, France, and Spain nothing but knights and men at arms and that's it.

And like it or not, differences between playable factions matters more than you think, and I'm sure that that would be something that would be criticized about a TW game, just like what happened with Shogun 2.

Now, I won't get too into this in this thread, but I will say that how the factions feel to play matters far more than you may think. Because in a possible Empire 2 playing as one of the various Native American factions would certainly feel very different from playing as a European faction like Great Britain or Prussia, despite all of them being just humans.

But the problem the Heresy faces is that it's literally mostly just the astartes legions, who would probably just have bonuses for the things they were known for, with only a few unique units among them, which would still just be some form of astartes troops or vehicles. And aside from the Mechanicum and maybe the Custodes, there's not really that much in terms of stand out factions to play around with, and the more regular human units from the Imperial Army and all would probably just feel like auxiliary troops more than anything. And the same could be said about the chaos units for the traitor forces.

And just so you know, I don't mention giant things like titans because of just how powerful they can be, which would be a mess to try to balance.

And as far as the scale goes.

I would say say that you could place a 40k TW game in a "smaller" sector where you have all the various playable races show up at some point, but in the Heresy, it'd be considerably harder to do that because of just how colossal the scale of that war was supposed to be, that trying to restrict the whole game to even a pretty good sized sector of 24 planets might not work out in having all of the legions show up there and all.