GAME: Beyond the Burning of Prospero - a Horus Heresy Campaign UPDATE

The Dark Angels Force for the Battle

Well, the battle is done, the wounded are being treated, and the slain are honored for their sacrifice.  At the close of turn four we called the game with a clear victory for the Thousand Sons.  The First Legion learned much from the engagement and withdrew to marshal their forces for battles to come.

The "test" game was fun and a good refresher of what games under 7th edition are like.  The MVP on my side was definitely the Deredeo.  The Terran veteran knocked out both a Legion Sicaran Battle Tank and a Whirlwind Scorpious with its main weapons as well as a handful of marines using its Aiolos Missile Launcher.  We'll see it on the table again no doubt.

The Whirlwind Scorpious caused most of the Dark Angels casualties.  I was forced to use cover saves (which I mostly failed) and we mistakenly used the large blast template for half the game. :)  We should have been using the small blast template.  With help from spotters using the nuncio-vox, it hit reliably and my opponent insisted on rolling the maximum shots (d3+1) every time it fired.  In a small game with few options to reach it behind cover, it was the Thousand Sons MVP for certain this game.  It was a small miracle that the Deredeo was able to maneuver to shoot it in cover at all.  Though the heavy weapons squad, with the sergeant and one marine remaining, were also able to make krak missile shots at it, eventually claiming one hull point.

Taking Cover, Turn One

A turning point in the game came when a 5-man Thousand Sons destroyer squad descended right in front of the massed Dark Angels taking cover in the large three story ruin.  Shooting from the Scorpious removed the tactical support squad when the Destroyers opened up on the tactical squad led by Brother Centurion Caphriel.  Taking heavy hits, they were forced to make a moral test due to casualties and failed it.  In the ensuing fall-back, they withdrew from the battle, having fallen back off its edge. This cost the Dark Angels both a tactical squad and their warlord, who was not fearless.  The squad had taken enough casualties to lose their vexilla and did not get a moral re-roll either. Recall that under 7th edition rules, casualties must be removed starting with models closest to the firing unit.  While the vexilla wasn't at the windows, he was close enough to be pulled as the marines in front fell. This was frustrating, since it was the whole point of modelling and taking the option! Oh well.

The remaining tactical squad on the second level retaliated by using Fury of the Legion to double their shooting attacks.  While not every marine in the 10 man squad could see the destroyers, enough could and the destroyers were slain to a man.  In the same phase, the the remaining heavy support squad took a hull point from Scorpious but the Deredeo failed to finish the job. In the next (forth) turn, the Scorpious removed the remaining tactical squad for the ruins. I think the Thousand Sons tactical squads had begun to emerge from cover behind the supply containers and contributed to the squad's demise. Regardless, the Scorpious was finally laid low at the bottom of the turn and we called the game after reviewing the victory points to that point.

The Survivors, Seen here at the end of turn one

It was not worth our time to find out if a Deredeo supported by a 2-man heavy support missile squad were going to turn the tide against two tactical squads and the Thousand Sons Warlord who could easily hang back in cover and avoid them. The remaining Dark Angels instead withdrew to link up with their force commander and plot their next encounter with the Thousand Sons.

We were into the battle enough that I completely forgot to take any pictures at all for the blog.  This is really why I don't do battle reports as a rule.  I'm just not focused enough to play the game and take notes and pictures. It's great that I captured a few good images to remember the game by, at least.

A couple after battle thoughts...

• Hardened armor was no use to the heavy support squad when hit by the Scorpious because they were forced to take a cover saves which are not effected by armor save re-roll.  Since these marines will typically be deployed in cover, and often shot by weapons of AP3 or better, it's not clear if the 25 points for hardened-armor are worth it.  Might choose to spend that on Stasis Shells instead for another game.  Both extras are situational and 25 points is a lot.
• I forgot that version 1.2 of the 7th edition FAQ changed bast markers and templates to affect "all models underneath it, including those on different levels of a piece of scenery."  When the tactical support squad on level three of the ruin was hit by the Scorpius on turn two, the two tactical squads underneath it also should have been hit.  This would have proved devastating, especially since we were using the large blast template at the time for the shots. So...no more stacking up in ruins if it can be avoided! We were playing the original rules that stated these weapons effected only a single level.
• The force will benefit from mobility to maneuver and ferret out indirect fire weapons like the Scorpious.  Skimmers and transports are inbound!

Our next game looks to be a Zone Mortalis conflict.  This will mean that lists can change to suit the conflict, which will be set at 1000 points per side again.  I'm looking at some new units which means more painting projects. At the moment, I have in mind running with a cataphractii terminator Praetor w/command squad, a veteran tactical squad, a Contemptor with a pair of twin-linked heavy bolters, and a breacher squad. These would all be new units so I have my work cut out for me!  Also, the breachers are out-of-stock in the Forge World US store, so I might not even be able to get them before the game. In which case, I'll just use something form my existing units most likely.

CORRECTION:  The Breachers are back in stock!

So...that's it for my first foray into 30K games.  It's back to the AT Warhound Titans for my next post.  But no worries, expect more Heresy era Dark Angels coming soon to the blog, starting with whats on the workbench in June!

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

GAME: Beyond the Burning of Prospero - a Horus Heresy Campaign

Greetings and welcome to a new addition to the blog - sporadic gaming posts! I'm not going to run full battle reports, may others do that, and better than I will.  However, it enriches the hobby to see the hard hobby hours used in glory on the field of battle.  So here we are, this time in the setting of the Horus Heresy.

Prospero Burns, and Magnus has sent his fleets into the aether to spare them from the wolves of Leman Russ, dispatched to bring the wayward Crimson King to heel. One small splinter of which encounters pickets from a First Legion expeditionary force on a nameless death world, just one more among millions in the void. Aware of the Emperor's sanction on the Thousand Sons, The First Legion battle captain directs his ships to move in. Among the remnants of a forgotten Imperial outpost, the battle is joined.

In our campaign, both Legions consider themselves loyal to the Imperium.  The Thousands Sons reel from recent events and are still trying to understand why they have been treated so by the Imprium they believe they still serve.  We started with a hobby goal to paint and deploy 1000  points each for the first game.  A small amount in Horus Heresy games, but more than enough to keep us busy painting through the past Winter.  For the battle, we rolled up Blood Feud with a Search and Destroy deployment map.

I lost the roll to decide who sets up first and my opponent asked me to set up.  Once both forces were set up, I chose to go first as was my right.  My warlord for the battle, Brother Centurion Caphriel, rolled the warlord trait Strategic Genius, as fits a son of the Lion. Yet the Thousand Sons, no doubt through warp-craft, foresaw this and seized the initiative at once. Fortuantely, the Dark Angels were arrayed in cover as seen here in a shot from the end of turn one.

Turn one was a fairly typical game turn for two small forces with no Alpha strike strategy. The Thousand Sons advanced quickly using their Sicaran battle tank to shield advancing Tactical squads, supported by a Whirlwind Scorpius in cover behind the ruins.  The Scorpius claimed three members of squad Gathael who had deployed to the roof of an abandoned bunker to eliminate the incoming Sicaran.

Undaunted, Sergeant Gathael kept his aim true and struck the leading Sicaran a glancing blow with a krak missile. His remaining brother had been last through the top hatch of the bunker and had not yet sighted his launcher in on the tank.  The veteran Brother Validus stomped out from behind the bunker and let loose a furious barrage from his Hellfire Plasma Cannonade.  While not enough to fully destroy the venerable Sicaran, it was silenced all the same by two more glancing hits. First blood would be the honor of his Legion.  Using is Aiolos launcher to track the incoming tactical squads advancing behind the burning Sicaran, a barrage of missiles claimed a son of Magnus while a lucky plasma shot from high a top the neighboring ruins claim a second.

The legions bled on both sides and the battle was joined in earnest.   Having spent most of the evening discussing the campaign to come and generally carrying on, we called it quits at the end of turn one.  The game left "in situ", we'll wrap it up Friday evening, a side benefit of the basement beats lab.

The heroes of turn one wait for judgement in the top of turn two when the Thousand Sons respond to the loss of the Sicaran. Brother Validus will no doubt have to ferret out the Scorpius or watch it claim large numbers of his battle brothers.  Neither the stout walls of the bunker, nor the hardened armor of the Heavy Support Squad was proof against its fury.

 
The bulk of the First Legion probing force holes up in a ruin waiting to strike. With a near equal force of Legionaries advancing on their position, will Brother Caphriel lead them forth with the Emperor's vengeance or bide his time and draw the enemy ever closer? Will the Sons even take the bait?

Check back next week to find out.

For now,
Cheers and Happy Gaming!