Kampfgruppe Engel: Avarii XI, part 5 Horus Heresy 30k

Wednesday 7 November 2018

Avarii XI, part 5 Horus Heresy 30k

This is the fifth and last report from Avarii XI, an Horus Heresy event in Malmö, Sweden.

I would be pitted against an Mechanicum army. This was also an Loyalist army and had taken in Custodes support from the "reinforcement table". So I would be fighting uphill.

So I guess I had filled in the wrong paperwork for something and fought to be a traitor. Or maybe it was just so simple that it was all just a case of friendly fire, a blue on blue accident.
In the turmoil time of the heresy this must have been a common sight.

The enemy Mechanicum army would be assisted by a Custodes Shieldcaptain and two units of Custodes...

An unit of tech-tralls feels the wrath of the Medusas... The plan was to take out the troop choices and leave me greater room for manoeuvre.

Troopmaster Natalia Kolochev holds the centre with an AA quad gun and a Dracosan with a Veletaris squad inside for close support.

Sergeant Seraphim Uvarovs troops starts to move up against the enemy supported by three Thallaxes on my own and my Malcador Infernus on its flank.

Enemy battle robots skulks the ruined city...
These were some of all the big robots that really scared me, Im guessing they could shred my troops in seconds.
This forced me to have take a slower advance then I really would have liked.

Excellent paintjob on this huge robot.

Enemy Custodes tries to deepstrike behind my lines... Scatters of the table and are back in his reserve.

Another squad of Custodes tries to deepstrike behind my lines... but scatters of the table.

A unit of enemy Thallaxes tries to deepstrike behind my lines.... and you guessed it... scatters of the table.

First rank fire, second rank fire... Sergeant Seraphim Uvarovs prepairs to face a unit of tech-tralls and those big insectoid robots.

Unfortunately that massed formation is not a good idea if the enemy shells your troops with barrage...

You can almost here the laughter from the huge robot...

A lone tech-thrall was all that was left after my Veletaris had dismounted to clean up enemy infantry. Unfortunately, leaving the safety of their transport had left them open for enemy retaliation... and they were all taken out...
The lone fearless tech-thrall could stroll along unopposed.

Enemy HQ with two close combat kitted Castellaxes bodyguard had taken out my Magos Biologus (Engineseer) and his squad of servo-automatas that had ventured far to close to the front in the search for rare or valuable objects for my trade company.
As this was the last game in the event I wanted to try out a little thing...
Lord Marshal Alexandre gave the order to Troopmaster Natalia Kolochev and her squad to leave the protection and ready grenades...
It was time to see if you can take out an Mechanicum lord and his bodyguards with mere mortals...
I tried to soften them up and instead of rushing his lines (that probobly would have been smarter purely tactically) I held the Dracosan and other big guns back and fired allmost all that I got at them.
This did little to damage them so it was time for the humans to try to tackle this problem up close and personal...

My Marshal was not able to inflict a single wound on the massive enemy HQ and troops was seen cut down in droves by his bodyguards...
I lost the combat and rolled an 11 on the leadership roll... this in the combination with the combat result was far more then my leadership value and my troops was forced to retreat.
His robots had initiative of 4 and this was far to quick for my troops and they were all slaughtered as they tried to run for their lives...
Yeah... I will admit, this might not have been the best idea... I know that now but I will have to try it again... maybe I can pull it through next time...

I had inflicted some serous damage on the enemy but I could do little to stop his centre from totally smashing my centre and now the deepstriking Custodes and the Thallaxes started to harass my back lines...
My own pushes had been almost annihilated as soon as I had reached the centre line, there is just so much squishy humans can do.

It was a loss for the Solar Auxilia but it was a real fun game

Here are some pictures from other players games.

It ended in a small victory for the Loyalist forces, something like 23-21.
Overall it was a great event with lots of fun games and really nice guys with great looking armies.