Battle of Tallarn, Escalation Campaign, gameday 1

I wanted to hold a small escalation campaign of Horus Heresy this year and it was decided to set the campaign around the Battle of Tallarn.

https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Battle_of_Tallarn

https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Tallarn

This will be a After Action Report from the first gaming day.



Here are the special event rules and allowed forces that I had decided.

Battle of Tallarn

Imperial:
Imperial Army (Militia och Solar Auxilia)
Imperial Fist
Iron Hands
Ultramarines
White Scars
Questoris knights

Traitors:
Iron Warriors
Alpha Legion
Militias
Questoris knights

500pts
Generally:
Compulsory 1 HQ, 1 Troops
Optional: +1 HQ, +2 Troops, +2 Elite, +2 Fast attack, +2 Heavy Support

*No Relics or Psyarkana(book 8 thingies)
* Named characters only allowed if they were there.

* Militias - Half cost of Provenances on the Force Commander (not on the individual units).

* Questoris Knights - Different Force Org.
Compulsory: 1 Troops, no compulsory troops, Armigers may be taken as this.
HQ model is optional, a selected knight count as the Warlord.
Price of Failure on all larger Knights.

Traitors
Iron warriors + 10% points (they are the main force)

Imperium
Militias + 10% points (they are the main force)
 
Battle of Tallarn special rules:

* Combat squad - All squads with 6+ members may be split into two squads with equal numbers.

* Deadly atmosphere - All armour saves of '6' must be rerolled, inv and cover save are not effected. All rolls of '1' on the the Vehicle penetration rolls must be rerolled. Miniatures with Void armour, Reinforced armour or models with 2+ armour save ignores this rule.
* Virulent air - All miniatures not modelled with a full helmet on their head instead reroll successfull armour save of 5+, helmet on the belt count it as not having the helmet on. (Kaxar man får man ta konsekveserna)

* Shotguns +1S within half range
* Malcador tanks gains Machine spirit

For the event we had rented a small old former schoolhouse in the village of Attsjö, near Växjö Sweden.

In the end we were only five attenders because of reasons you are all aware of.
We had a really good spread of armies, all very unique forces. I would be using my Alpha Legion masquerading as White Scars.

Before each game each player was given a random card with stats of an extra miniature that would join his force. This could be anything from military personal, mechanicum cultist, noblemen that needed escort or just surviving civilians. They all had their stats on the card with equipment and any special rules. I had decided that if anyone would survive they could be used in the next game, so in theory you could gather up a group of npc:s during the day.

In the first game we had a small two vs two game with objectives in no mans land, and with clouds of high concentration of virus entering from one side moving to the other.
It was a really fun game with lots of intense moments.
The scenario worked even better then I had hoped.

A small hit squad of masquerading Alpha Legions, A Deligatus leading a half squad of Tacticals with extra close combat weapons, joined by a Battle-servo automata with a heavy bolter. Their mission for the game was to take out enemy noblemen (npc:s) hiding in the enemies backlines.

 Target acquirer... he is running into the ruins trying to find shelter...

Target taken out...

Enemy Dreadnought taken out... It took out two of my marines as they placed their krak grenades in mutual destruction.

Virus clouds wrecks havoc on the abhumans as they battle the Armiger knights.

The Iron Hands terminators are securing an objective and guns down my "White scars" sergeant, the hail of boltshells finds a weakness in his armour and he is no more...

My Sicaran guns down the last hullpoints on one of the Armigers and the knight force is out...

The game ended in a major traitor victory. Huzza !!!

For the second game we played a scenario were the Imperials were making a planned assault with lots of artillery behind the lines trying to ether help or hinder the Imperial push.

The Ultramarines was trying to push into the city held by the abhuman militias.

An surviving army officer had joined the Ultra Marine force.

Meanwhile a force of traitor Armiger Knights would be defending the ruins against the pride of the legion Iron Hands Terminator force.  Playing the same scenario.

In the city the artillery are raining down unnervingly accurate...
 

Making large holes in both forces...

The lone boxdread is going toe to toe with the larger Armiger knights...

A close combat equipped Armigers is closing in on the Iron Hands Terminotors...

 The Iron Hands Delegatus makes short work on the beast with his chainfist...

Meanwhile in the city, the artillery continues to scatter into the poor soldiers battling for the control of the city.

In the end the Iron Hands Delegatus could claim a tally of three Armiger Knights taken out all by him self... But all of his force was spent keeping him alive and thus no objectives could be clamed resulting in a extremely bloody draw...

In the city the the abhumans had managed to hold their ground and claim a victory over the Ultra Marines.

For the third game the Imperial forces was trying to gather at an extraction point until an large transport was to pick them up, as the traitor forces had surrounded them and was closing in for the kill...
We played this as a 3 vs 3 game, a small Armoured company had joined the abhuman militias and the Alpha Legions.

In this scenario the Imperial forces had a scattered deployment and the Traitor forces would move in from all sides.

Trying to take out a Iron Hands Dreadnought this Predator lets loose with its cannons..
But it manages to shrug it of.

As the Iron Hands Terminators trying to reach the centre with a huge hoard of abhumans in pursuit...

In a tight alley the abhuman ogryns are faced by the Ultra Marines tacticals realising Furry of the legion, and all hell is let loose from their bolt guns and bolt pistols...

The Dreadnought was in no mood for more beating and closed in with its lascannon blowing of the tracks of the Sicarans immobilised it.

As the Ultra Marines had taken out a Predator with krak grenades they are surrounded and engaged from all sides...

My kill team would engage two Armigers... I had trying to chip away hullpoints and damage the metal beast as the closed in. When they were close I swung to the side and tried to take out one Armiger at the time...
I could not take out the Armiger fast enough and was soon engaged by both of them. But the good thing was that they were both heavily damaged and with arms loss and immobilisations reducing their attack dices in close combat...

The last of the wounded Armigers was finally taken out by my Vigilator, but it had been somewhat costly. He had lost all of his men and all of the supporting battle servo automatas and the mechanic I had gathered during the event.

A squad of dismounted tank crew is here seen giving supporting fire with its heavy stubber as a Predator is peeking through a large building picking out lone survivors with its predator autocannon...

This resulting in a crushing victory for the Traitor forces and an overall victory of the first event from our Battle of Tallarn escalation campaign day.

For the next event, the plan is to give the players 250 points more to play around with so we will be playing with 750pts at the next event.

Overall I think that most of the scenarios worked really well, some tweaking here and there might be required but they worked better then expected.
The added scenario rules of the hostile environment worked relative simple, adding a special Tallarn feel to it without being to complicated. The test with adding small npc:s to your force I think was a fun little thing to spice up the games even further.

Im really happy by the outcome of the first event in this campaign. I really had a blast.


We are some time behind most with the hole Corona thing and I think we will lay low for some time from now on the event series until the virus had played it course before we continues our own virus bombing campaign..