Photodump: Horus Heresy event weekend, Ajax 2.5 - After Action Report

Here will follow a photodump from the Horus Heresy event weekend we had in Nybro, Sweden.

This year the event of Ajax was cancelled but we had a smaller and simpler event none the less for the closest people here around. We tried out some new scenarios that hopefully will be seen in the next years planned Ajax 3 event.
So we called this: Ajax 2.5

I fielded my Solar Auxilia force this weekend.

My forces started on the Traitor side but because of different reasons we had some dropouts for the second day and my force would fight for the Imperial side.
Or as I like to think about it. My low worth poor troops are just following orders and are not aware of the greater pictures. If they are confronted by opposing forces they will attack.
My Solor Auxilia forces were confronted by some speedpainted Imperial Fist forces in the first game in an Zone Mortalis type of game. Probably some Alpha Legion operator had hindered the communications and the Imperial Fist had deemed the non responding hailing as a signal for them that the mere mortal had turned traitor... A typical blue on blue action were the Alpha Legion would be amused...

So here follows some pictures taken during my first game with Linus, with pictures from that game and pictures on other peoples game during the same time.

White Scars have surrounded a traitor militia force that are trying to protect a wip unit.

In my first

Imperial militias engage Iron Warriors

A unit of my Solar Auxilia Veletaris stumbled upon a unit of terminators and a Deredeo in the hidden unit scenario. I dont fancy their chances... All unit were marked by a marker with a number underneath and the unit were revealed and  deploy upon contact.

My Xeno warbeast (count as Ogryns) attack the terminators.

The Prime, Ivan Dmitriev and his Veletaris squad is setting krak grenades to the large tank as the Imperial fist is occupied elsewhere.

My Solar Auxilia Lord Marshal Fyodor of the House of Naryshkin with what was left of his Household Guards engage some Imperial Fist templar looking marines. Turns out the marines are really good at killing T3 regular humans...
The Lord Marshal manages to activate his teleporter and are saved in last second.
Meanwhile the Veletaris under the command of Prime Ivan Dmitriev manages to take out their second objective.

Lord Marshal Fyodor of the House of Naryshkin teleports down to a safe area where he can contact the High Command about the status of the mission. An Alpha Legion representative greets him with a "- For the Emperor" and are interested about the mission he was given about taking out some computer data bases in this Zone Mortalis area...

Prime Ivan Dmitriev, one mean machine... He led his squad taking out two objectives and after loosing all of his men he moved up the flank on the enemy hq unit led by Alexis Polox. By engaging them from the flank Alexis was the closest model and would be the first model to get the hits if his bodyguard would not be able to step in the way. Alexis Polox was bleeding heavily from the previous engagement and was down to his last wound.
One of his bodyguards managed to step in the way of the Volkite from Prime Ivan Dmitriev and was torn to pieces by the martian deathray... As the unit had taken some casualties earlier due to lasrifle fire this was more then they could take and made a hastily retreat, fleeing the battle.
Granting Prime Ivan Dmitriev not only two objectives but also the Warlord kill...

I just love this picture above. Those old metal Cadian models looks so good. Even better with some Leman Russ protection.

In my second game I had been informed by my contact in the High Command about enemy forces escorting a unit of specially trained soldiers carrying a mysterious substance and that it would needed to be stopped and preferable obtained..
So a roadblock was set up in their track and an ambush was sprung.
The poor militia forces were surrounded by the might of the Solar Auxilia.

A mighty behemoth, an Stormblade Super-heavy tank had surrounded the enemy. Raining death with its massive plasma blastgun...

Caught in a tight place between plasma tanks and even larger plasma tanks, the enemy felt the heat...

Superheavy tank, faceoff...

My Solar Auxilia force would face the Custodes in the third game.

Our scanners had detected unknown movement, word from our contact in High Command told us it was enemy forces and the Solar Auxilia hunkered down an prepared for the battle ahead.
But they could not prepare them for the onslaught that is Custodes.

Enemy tanks and heavy jetbikes raced to engage the Solar Auxilia as the Custodes heavy infantry waited for teleportation orders to engage.

Using the terrain as protection the artillery tank had deployed in the front.

An Custodes dreadnought just walks trough my lines, nothing is stopping it. I had shot everything I had at the heavy jetbikes, leaving the dreadnought unharmed. I had hopes of taking it out with meltabombs. But the combinations of extra attacks for being outnumbered the beast went berserk, the shield granting it extra inv. save and getting even harder to hit meant that my meltabombs could not hit home.

I had two Primaris-Lightning unleashing 8 Kraken penetrator heavy missiles into the large Custodes flyer...
But it was not enough.. it just kept flying...

I had softened up the Custodes with firepower and then sent in my Veletaris with swords, pistols and daggers, and my unit of Household Retinues with power axes. The hope were that their weight in numbers would tip the scale.

Im not gonna lie... Things looks bleak by the end...
Its casualties the Solar Auxilia forces under the Eastern Fringe Trading Company under the House of Naryshkin can effort without effort but still...
In the end I had the two squads of Veletaris that somehow managed to take down a unit of custodes running up the flank (mostly just to survive the slaughter...), an aircraft and of course the Lord Marshal himself that managed to activate the teleporter when the dreadnought tried to crush him...

Both Militia commanders prepare to face their opponents.
I just love militia vs militia... Uncounted millions of troops faced eachother during the Horus Heresy, the Astartes is just the fancy posterboys for the heresy. The men under the command of the army or militia imperial or traitor forces were the real fighters, outnumbering the Astartes by the millions...

The Alpha Legion operative in the High Command must have been caught and I could establish proper chain of command to them. It was far to embarrassing for the High Command to admit they had been infiltrated so they pretended that it never happened and my army was ordered to move out and reinforce a heavily battered area of the battle that was crumbling. White Scars and Ultra Marine forces had been forced to fall back and were occupied slaying wild tigers, fostering their next generations of warriors or whatever so things started to look bleak for the Imperials.

The Solar Auxilia forces set up their defences in facing the lines of the Iron Warriors...

As this was the second day I unfortunately did not take nearly enough pictures from this battle. It contained lots of great moments that did not get captured.

Milita tanks reinforces as the infantry are already engaging their infantry counterpart.

The Solar Auxilias tanks are blasting the enemy from afar as the infantry searchers through the building for important objectives.
The elite Veletaris moves up in their Auroxes, trying to take the fight to the enemy.
In the centre Peurtorabo himself with his elite terminators advances, brushing aside any incoming firepower with rather ease...

In the end it was a win for the Solar Auxilia, now under Imperial Command jet again.

 

That was all folk. We had a great time and the Ajax 2.5 ended in a victory for the Imperial. It was all decided by the result of the last battle.

As this was not a "proper" Ajax campaign many scenarios were playtested for the next official Ajax event and I hope that Linus got away with some input on the scenarios to make them even better.

Big thanks for all attendees but especially to Linus for organising it.