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!