Blitz assault on the village of Talwasa, Parvana Mahrukh System. Horus Heresy campaing game 9

 

This is part 9 in our campaign of Parvana Mahrukh, set in the world of Horus Heresy, 30k
http://kampgruppe-engel.blogspot.com/search/label/Campaign%20-%20Parvana%20Mahrukh

 

 

In the last game of the campaign we saw an armoured convoy of the Eastern Trade Company come under attack from the Expeditional Protection Force.

The armed forces of the Solar Auxilia has massed a large number of Leman Russes and giving them the order to smash through the fortified positions of the Expeditional Protection Force that have fortified was is left of the village of Talwasa.

The wisdom of using Leman Russ battle tanks for destroying an enemy fortified position might be questionable at best but the ideas seems to be that the tanks will after the enemy is smashed use the large rural areas and the large open planes for fast movement were the armoured tanks will be more useful.
So by having the tanks making this blitz they would be in an excellent position to use the open areas to the fullest as quickly as possible.

The mission we played was a old 3ed mission with limitation on what special rules allowed and such.

The first tanks starts to be seen out of the fog of war.

The dug in defenders prepare to face the armoured might.

The armoured artillery using the Leman Russ chassi, making it easier for logistics to supply the armoured company with spare parts and such.

The Commander of the Solar Auxilia force have dismounted from his Aurox apc to gate a better overview of the task ahead.

 

 

 

Under some artillery fire the armour moves out.

The Leman Russ assault tank have pressed its engine to the fullest in an plan to stress the defenders and sacrifice itself, forcing the enemy to act against in instead of engaging its comrades.

Auroxes pops smoke in an attempt  protect there advance.

The "space Cossack" take a last look at the map, reassuring that they have found the planned weak spot for this armoured push.

Veletaris dismount readying their martian choom-guns

Armoured might follow up.

 

Militia tankhunter tries to fix its sights on the moving targets.

Militia grenadiers charges out of their ruins, taking the fight to their enemy.

Pushing through with krak grenades at the ready. This could be dangerous for the Solar Auxilia tanks.

Milita lands behind the assaulting force

Dismounting infantry with small arms fire and meltaguns targets the artillery weak rear armour and takes both artillery pieces out.

Grenadiers takes out a Leman Russ

Having mounted in their air transport again the militia infantry moves to another area looking for their next targets.

Solar Auxilia pushes through militia defences but are met by the militia force commander in his terminator armour and his closest bodyguards.

Militia forces tries to push out Solar Auxilia troops that had taken control of a ruin.

Milita forces pushes back

The Solar Auxilia Veletaris Prime are the winner of a small duel, the charnabal sabre giving him the edge.

Solar Auxilia armoured casualties starts to mount up...

More armour pushes forward. 

The Solar Auxilia Commander mount on his Aurox, getting desperate to push through the enemy line.

Behind it we can see the result of the attention given by the Leman Russes with demiculverin Volkites...
And the transport and all its infantry goes down after a hail of deadly martian heavy choom weaponry...

Militia apc:s tries to stop the Veletaris to no avail.

With the slightest of margin the Solar Auxilia forces under the Eastern Fringe Trading Company manages to push through the Expeditional Protection Force but with heavy heavy armoured casualties.

Only the future will tell if it was a wise idea to push through the defences with armour instead of wait for dedicated siege specialists.
Are enough armour operational to follow up on this breakthrough?
Are the breakthrough secured to move further troops through the breach, or are more operations necessary to secure the land grab?

Only future games will tell...

Big thanks to Håkan for another intense match.

The main reason for my army choice in this game was that I had made an biiiig batchpaint of Leman Russes. And now with the `new model syndrome´ out of the way they are ready to dominate the games ahead...
Pictures on the Leman Russes can be found here:
http://kampgruppe-engel.blogspot.com/2022/04/leman-russ-tank-company.html