Game 4, Big battle: Horus Heresy - Escalation Campaing, Lacum Itineribus

Game 4, Big battle: Horus Heresy - Escalation Campaing, Lacum Itineribus

This is the battle 4 for me in our 500pts Escalation campaign.

Some of the players could not stay the whole day and dropped out.
At the same time as Tobias and I played our small battle (game 3 in this series http://kampgruppe-engel.blogspot.se/2017/04/game-3-horus-heresy-escalation-campaing.html) some of the other players played a big battle with multiple players on each side.

Fredrik, the commander of the Word Bearers had also finished his smaller battle and was freed up for more gaming and thus it was decided that our forces would be allowed to be deployed as reserves and as deepstrike if we so choose.
The Word Bearers looked more "traitory" and my Alpha Legion would therefore be playing for the Loyalist this game.

And thus our forces was thrown right into the action...

Iron Hands has a nice looking defensive formation, their commander is closing in on the big black dice on top of the building to the right as this was an objective to secure and be carried out of the table.

Word bearers troops deepstrike in the open area as their dreadnought moves in from the rear.

Night Lords Doredeo dreadnought are looked in combat with Raven Guards infiltratiors.

A Space Wolf dreadnought are seen amongst the Iron Hands.

The Word Bearers dreadnought again... I just love this conversion, it looks so mean.

Empires children's commander with his elite bodyguards are at the centre of the board and closes in on the Iron Hands positions. Behind him but hard to spot are Traitor Alpha Legion forces in the form of a specialist weapons teams all with flamers and the Alpha Legion commander.

As the Space Wolves dreadnought moves closes to the Word Bearers the Emperors Children strike...

Iron Hands breachers shoots reaction fire as the imperial purple clad traitor marines charges...

Loyalist turn and my forces are allowed to deepstrike, my terminators scatters and have to take the fight from here. Traitor Alpha Legion headhunters to the left and Night Lords to the right... We are right in the middle of the fray...

As the Emperors Children is in combat, their commander in a duel with the Iron Hands sergeant my Alpha Legion Centurion charges in with his mighty Thunder hammer...

 Making short work of anyone he hits... But it is not over yet...

The Space Wolf dreadnought charges in...

On our left flank these Raven Guards seems to be in trouble from the Emperors Children...

The Raven Guards that was in combat with Night Lords Dorodeo are now free after taking the big dreadnought out of action. The Word Bearers dreadnought charges the Space Wolf one as the Iron Hands Dorodea dreadnoughts opens up with all its weapons on some poor Night Lords troops trying to grab an objective...

The combined might of the Iron Hands breachers and my Centurion was able to destroy the Emperors Childrens onslaught...  A tactical redeployment was in order as the Word Bearers dreadnought had made short work of the Space Wolves one and was closing in... fast...

The Raven Guards infantry was trying to use its elevated position to move past the Word Bearers commander.

Dreadnought closing in...

And charges... And unfortunately wins the combat without even breaking a sweat.
After the swift combat it changes position and are facing the Iron Hands dorodeo as it was planing to have its thicker front armour in its facing...
 

Little did he know that to turn an unguarded back to an Alpha Legion was a bad mistake...

My Commander closes in and was able to take the last hull point by throwing an krack grenade...



On the table outside the camera, my last terminator had managed to climb the hight building in the centre of the table and grab that objective and was moving down with it into safety. My tactical squad that I didnt manage to capture on camera (must bee their shiny armour that plays tricks on any form of sensors...), they had managed to take out the traitor Alpha Legion commander and his specialist weapon team. They were even able to charge in on the last traitor Alpha Legion headhunters and grab the objective they were carrying...
So two out of three moveable objectives secured by the Alpha Legion troops and my commander was standing besides the burning hull of a dreadnought on objective "3" as seen on the last picture.
My Alpha Legion had done good, damn good.

All in all a really great intense game with a great success for my troops.

Game 3: Horus Heresy - Escalation Campaing, Lacum Itineribus

Game 3: Horus Heresy - Escalation Campaing, Lacum Itineribus

This was the third game I played in the campaign day. Unfortunately I didnt get so many pictures from this game as the others.

My Alpha Legion had information that the Space Wolves was after cultist priest that was behind much of the insurrection on the planet. Their plan was to take him out when he was stuck in morning traffic to his daytime job. The Space Wolves had three potential suspects.
My Alpha Legion team was meant to escort the cultist leader to a safer place the day before, but that would have been to easy... Not the Alpha Legion way...
If we could snatch the cultist leader away right under their noses so much better. Cursed be their martial hubris...

The game it self would be played as the others for the day, 500pts and unit could be broken up into minor units with a minimum of three men per unit.

In this game we would have three objectives, each one containing a person that could be Cultist leader. Each player would escort the objectives out of their table edge and after the game a dice would be rolled to see which one of the objective escorted really was the right one... This to spice up the game and add a layer of uncertainty.

I went with the infiltrate special rule for this scenario as quickly taking the objectives would be of the essence. I had good luck and was able to get the first turn.

Early in the game I was reach the objectives before the Space Wolves.
My left flank was my heaviest flank, as the tacticals got the wip out of the car the terminators opened up some suppressive fire.

The Space Wolves had some trouble getting through the thick terrain that was in front of them. Giving me time to collect all of the wip and even start pulling back.

As I was pulling back the Space wolves was chasing after....
Some bad dice rolling from me meant that they were even closing in.

Their HQ and his nasty elite unit of power axes and artificer armour caught up with the centre wip and together with their special charge bonuses made short work on my tacticals escorting him.
This did however meant that they were relatively close to my terminators...
In my movement I rolled a 5 for moving in difficult terrain and the terminators was really close by now...
And I managed my charge, this meant that all the Space Wolves special charge rules would have no effect and instead would my troops have an extra attack for charging...
The lightning claws did surprisingly much casualties and the power fists from my terminators made short work of the artificer armour.
An challenge had been issued and my Sergeant would came on top of his commander. The power fists and the ability to kill a character with a single wound because of the strength of the power fist was effective... And Tobias failed his invulnerable save and I did not.
The central wip was secured by the terminators.
 

A continued cat and mouse game ensued on each flank and I tried to use the terrain to block his shortest routs to my units to keep me out of combat. That was a plan that on more then one occasion proven to be effective in this game as charging through difficult terrain adds a minus two on the charge range.

All three wips where escorted out of my table edge in the end and the Space Wolves could see their target disappearing right under their noses...

A highly successfully mission for the Alpha Legion.



Had the Space Wolves deployed besides the thick terrain instead of trying to run through it this could have been a totally different outcome. And the standard dice roll problems.
I was able to charge the Space Wolf elite unit with power axes and artificer armours with my terminators instead of the other way around and that are one of those moments that could have totally altered the game result.

Big thanks to Tobias for an really intense nerve wrecking game of cat and mouse...

Game 2: Horus Heresy - Escalation Campaing, Lacum Itineribus

Game 2: Horus Heresy - Escalation Campaing, Lacum Itineribus

Game 2 for the day. My Alpha legion had located some enemy informers. These people had to be silenced and their collected data secured.
To counter my move was sent an Raven Guard detachment under the command of Petter Tillström.

As with the previus game we both had 500pts armies and units could be split up into smaller unit with a minimum of three man per squad.

The table was set up to have three buildings with the informers inside and tree objectives symbolising their data. The informers could be killed by a round of close combat from the opening of the building. Two of the buildings was less sturdy and could be destroyed by shooting (Armour 10, 2 hull points)but after the game we would roll a dice and the informers would only be killed on a 5+, making a Close Combat a mutch more reliable way to take them out but still an option. I was also able to engage a tent a tent in close combat after I had shoot it to symbolise troops making sure the target was taken out.

The data could be secured by moving into base contact but loosing that rounds shooting.

I went with the infiltrate rule for my Alphas to be able to deploy deeper in on the table.

This time the Raven Guard player won the infiltrate roll and could deploy first.

 

Alphas moving in...

Raven guard rhino lurking behind a tall building.

My troops sees one of the objective relatively unprotected.

The Rhino pop smoke for protection and a unit of Raven Guards and their commander is guarding one of the tents.

My terminators advance and manages to destroy the tent. It's only a 5+ result after the game to see if the inhabitants are killed but it's better then nothing, the plan is to move up an be sure before the game is to an end.

Then... Then I got a really nasty surprise. The unit inside the rhino had some effective special rules... Apparently these were one use only but a one use rending, flamer attack with shred was all it took and my terminator squad was no more...

With that nasty blow my Centurion took the company with some tacticals and charged the Ravens guarding one of the tents.

And my Thunderhammer swinging Centurion with the support of the squad made short work of them in one fell swoop.

One of my small tactical units moved up and secured one of the data objectives instead of engaging the enemy.

The enemy special squad took no notice and closed in on my Centurion with boltgun blazing... He somehow miraculously survived unharmed, all be praised the artificer armour and ye ol mighty dice Gods... 

After I moved up an emptied my pistols into them I made an combined charge, my tacticals taking the reaction fire from the charge.
As my Centurion was equipped with a Thunderhammer he would be swinging last, he took a wound but survived. My tacticals and the Centurion won the fight.

In an attempt to stop me from entering the tent and kill any surviving informers the Rhino with an stormbolter and an multimelta (they can get those in 30k... nasty..) charged through the wall and shoot at my squad of tacticals containing the sergeant but it could not do any damage.

I ignored the Rhino and cleaned out the tent instead, securing the objective. The last tacticals with the Centurion had charged the last squad of Raven Guards and the Centurion was the last man standing as the enemy fled the scene and his marines were dead.
The Rhino now tried to back up and take my Centurion out with his Multimelta. But it got bogged down onto the walls it tried to cross and could not get a clear shot. My powerfist sergeants and his squad of krack grenade wielding tacticals now silenced the enemy machine.

With two out out of three informers killed and all objectives containing their data secured it was a great victory for the Alpha Legion.

A bit thanks to Petter for an intense game that could have gone in a totally different direction had the dices decided differently in some important instances.

Game 1: Horus Heresy - Escalation Campaing, Lacum Itineribus

Game 1: Horus Heresy - Escalation Campaing, Lacum Itineribus 

Here are the first AAR from our campaign day we had. My Alpha Legion would be pitted against Raven Guards.
We have played some games before but this would be my first game on the campaign day.

For more detailed background see here: http://kampgruppe-engel.blogspot.se/2017/04/horus-heresy-escalation-campaing-lacum.html



The area had a couple of objectives that would be gathered and could be carried out of the table at your table edge to secure it, the unit that left the table would be placed in reserve and would be able to enter again with an reserve roll.

The objectives was information or data on a highly representative of the large hive city under siege. The hive lord has turned traitor and any information on him is important. Should such information fall in the wrong hands these could lead to embarrassment or in worst case his voluntarily or forced recognition and a new lord appointed.  Maybe one more leaning to another side or someone easier to control...

We would be playing 500pts and units could be broken up into lesser units with a minimum of 3men. This was decided to get a greater tactical option with these smaller forces.

As an Alpha Legion player I get to choice one special rule from a list for all my men with the Astartes Alpha Legion special rule. I went with infiltration as I felt the option to get a better deployment would be great in a scenario like this.

I was facing Raven Guards and they also got Infiltration on their troops as one of their rules and a dice roll was rolled to see who would deploy their infiltrators first, a dice roll I won.

Sneaky Tartaros pattern terminators from the Alpha Legion had infiltrated one of the larger buildings in the underhive.

Raven Guards veterans lay in position to step forward and open up fire with their guns.

Raven guards jumppack infantry and fast skimmer advances.

Alpha Legion terminators have captures one of the objectives and the reaper autocannon opens up and immobilise the skimmer.

My commander carrying an objective as the tacticals fires their boltguns on the Raven Guards.
 

The Raven Guards had decided  to get the objective in the open area in front of the speeder.
A sign was given by my Centurion and I managed to make a combined charge of terminators, tacticals and the Centurion him self onto the Raven Guards.

A quick but bloody fight ensued and I had secured the objective.

In an attempt to cut my retreat with the objectives a new unit of Jump pack infantry deepstriked. This meant that I could not let some spare tacticals make the dash to my own table edge as they had to be escorted by the terminators because of this unforeseen danger.
 

Meanwhile the Centurion took out the speeder by throwing a krack grenade onto the downed jetbike...
Excellent paintjob by Fredrik Svensson, but it could not save it.

The enemy Jump infantry was confronted by my Terminators as they escorted two tactical marines carrying two or three objectives. Lightning claws and power fist made short work of those Ravens.

I had secured all but one of the objectives, taken minimum cassualties and the underhive belonged to the Alpha Legion, a great success for the Unbroken chain...

The information about the hive lords was in the Alpha Legions hands.

Horus Heresy - Escalation Campaing, Lacum Itineribus

Here are the background for our Horus Heresy Campaign.
Credit for this writing goes to Daniel Stennert.


Lacum Itineribus - 13 January

The campaign takes place in a system called Lacum Itineribus. It is comprised by a number of worlds, most of whom have been made habitable by ancient terra-forming technology. During the age of strife these worlds were split among three rivaling factions that vied for control of the solar system. Their prolonged conflicts came at a price, and caused the entire system to revert in regards to their technological advancements and understanding, as much of the technology utilized by these factions was lost during the centuries of civil war that the system bore whitness to. As a consequence space travel between the planets was limited during this time and many of the warships and their weapon systems, with age, became laden with ad-hoc repairs, or were simply decomissioned as battle damage and wear rendered them unsuitable for action. By the time the imperium of man arrived, spear headed by a small contingent of Emperor’s Children and Iron Hands commanding a fleet of pre-post-humans, the planets had resorted to cheaper, more simplistic defensive measures to ward off incursions by the rivalling factions by encircling their planets with orbital defence batteries. Being so heavily fortified, the three factions initially had some success in repelling the new invaders, but their failure to present a unified front along with their armadas’ lack of both size and repair soon meant that the imperial forces could isolate defensive positions and pick them apart one at a time. Some of the most ancient battle cruisers employed by a faction known simply as “The Confederation”, the imperium came to realise, were so archaic that the crew had resorted to aiming their heavy lance batteries through means of heavy chains and pullers, as the targeting systems had broken down ages back.
When the system fell and imperial rule was imposed, a second obstacle arose. Another faction, known as the Brotherhood, had been a rigid people. Ritualistic and devoted to a god-like idol of perfection. They used crude genetical engineering in their striving towards the creation of perfect citizens and valued nothing higher than physical beauty. The imperium, being starchly against such paganistic ways, came to blows with the populace on several occasions and riots started to erupt among the populace. These uprisings, while persistent, were harshly dealt with to act as an example of the punishments that awaited any who might dare show such blatant insubordination to imperial rule. Leaving thousands of people dead across the system. But the populace of the worlds previously under the sway of the brotherhood have started to take up a devotion to idols of the emperor in turn. To the extent where imperial officials have found it needed to strike down against such proto-religious behavior.
Much like ancient Rome’s rise and fall, so too did the worlds of Lacum Itineribus fall from their technological peak under the throws of civil war. So at the time of imperial conquest the cities crowding the planets were largely built upon the ruins of older, ancient structures. Often incorporating these sleek, antique constructions into later, crude ones. Hence turning the cities a mesh of buildings both new and old, built layer upon layer with their underbellies a labyrinth of forgotten and forbidden halls.
A small contingent of iron hands were left to garrison the system while the last of the uprisings were dealt with, supported by imperial pre-post-humans and locally recruited militia. But the marines soon left as the last of the riots among the post-brotherhood population were crushed in bloody confrontations, leaving the planets in a treacherous but calm state of submission.
Present date – mid heresy.
Snippets of gleaned information suggests that Malchador the Sigilite has learned of an ancient artefact known as the Oculus which should be of great aid to the emperor and his work/war in the webway, and it is rumoured to be found in the Lacum Itineribus system. A small force of Custodes, along with a contingent of Imperial Fists, have thus been dispatched to retrieve the object that is believed to be lost in amongst the ancient buildings in the lower regions of one of the cities of the system.
They aren’t the only ones dispatched however, as Alpha Legion infiltrators intercepted some of the information and had it transponded to the Warmaster Horus and his fleet. But the information is incomplete, most noticeably so the operatives failed to obtain information as to the exact system to which the Custodes had been dispatched.
As such, Horus tooks caution and sents a number of smaller scouting fleets to the region, intent on letting them probe for information while a larger contingent of combined legion ships are set separate from his main force and head towards the sector in general.
On the imperial side, the custodies operation is left unknown to all but those involved, but imperial intelligence does catch notice of the traitorous contingent of ships as they detatch from Horus' forces, and they are soon shadowed at a distance by a smaller fleet. Simultaneously a combined fleet heading through the sector from the opposite direction have a chance encounter with one of the scouting ships as they enter a neighboring system comprised by manufactorum and supply worlds. The ship, having been locked in battle with a smaller freight-ship in an effort to board and obtain data regarding the system, is quickly dispatched and information is gathered that causes the loyalist commander to halt his fleet in-system and fortify their position, fearing that further traitor ships might soon be inbound and arriving from war-jump at any moment.
In the Lacum Itineribus system, riots are once more ravaging the worlds formerly belonging to the Brotherhood. Fueled by the underhanded machinations of Alpha legion operatives the system once more finds itself at the brink of civil war as the unruly populace turns back to their old ways and proclaim that they’ve thrown off the yolk of imperial rule, leading the other, still compliant, planets of the system to muster their forces and conduct planet-wide invasions to quell the uprisings.
Thus the system finds itself in a civil war that is quickly spiraling out of hand, and with it comes the first of the scouting vessels who roam as they wish in the system-wide chaos. Most of them, under the lead of the Emperor's Children, making planet fall on the planets of the brotherhood resurgent where they are received with open arms by (slaaneshi) cultists.
But soon, and unbeknownst to the traitors who quickly set to work with further destabilizing measures to simplify their mission, the shadowing loyalist fleet arrives hot on their heels.
Let the battle for Lacum Itineribus begin.

Storyline Update: 13 February
Using the chaos quickly spreading through the system of Lacum Interibus (LI) as cover, the traitorous scouting fleet managed to penetrate the system largely un-noticed. They quickly decided on setting up a staging area on a terraformed moon that had previously served as a mining planet, but which had long since been decommissioned. Initial landing was made in a ruined and overgrown population hub, the traitors thinking to use it as a make-shift base of operation while civil war raged on the main planet above/below them, but their plans were soon to be thwarted. Unbeknownst to them, a shadowing loyalist cruiser entered orbit and quickly conducted a lightning strike that caught the traitors entirely off guard.
The battle ended in a smashing defeat of the traitors who found themselves forced to retreat into the wild, leaving much of their equipment behind in their hasty withdrawal. Several skirmishes came to follow as the loyalists stalked their pray through the densely forested terrain as the traitors desperately sought to find a means to link up with those brothers who had not partaken in the landing mission.
Finaly, and exhausted with battle fatigue, a contingent of Emperor’s Children managed in securing an abandoned mining facility and made contact with the ships in orbit for extraction through means of an uncyphered transmission. Naturaly, the loyalist ship intercepted the transmission and was swift to intercept. Thus forcing the traitors into a desperate battle in the void as they fought to stave off the attackers while extracting the ground forces off the moon. Several boarding torpedoes were launched at the loyalists while the ships started bombarding one another. The following battles onboard the loyalist ship were fierce and bloody affairs as the traitors desperately fought to dismantle the shield generators while the loyalists surged forth to fend off the intruders. Once more the traitors found themselves soundly beaten, having only managed in blowing up a single shield generator before the stalwart defenders cut them down to a man.
Despite the loss of a considerable amount of their forces in the loyalist surprise attacks, both on world and off, the boarding action bought the traitors enough time to evacuate their ground forces and disengage from the loyalist fleet. This time steering for the relative safety of the planet, locked in civil war, below them…

Storyline update: 21 February

Beating a hasty retreat from Tauron, the traitors head for the relative safety of Aerelon. Seeking to take cover in amongst the debris hanging in orbit around the beleaguered planet. Task forces are dispatched to board a few key locations of interest in amongst the mass of destroyed and decommissioned defensive platforms that surround the planet. Noticeably a pair of smaller landing crafts make way for an abandoned orbital fortress and a lumbering space hulk, making entry through a massive breach in its hull. And, seeking to disrupt any pursuit the loyalists might undertake, the ships broadcast a demand to the imperial ships laying siege to the planet, warning them that traitorous elements are inbound and demand that the navy commander engage any astartes ships arriving from Tauron. The plan, while sound, is foiled by the suspicious nature of the commander. Sensing foul play the imperial ships go into high alert, scanners sweeping the void in search of the source of the received transmission.

Meanwhile the loyalists, having been delayed by the need to extract their forces off planet, have begun fortifying their position. Identifying Tauron as a suitable base for operation they have begun construction of a functional outpost. But not wanting to allow for the traitors to slip out of their grasp, a small pair of ships set off in pursuit. These arrive just in time to appear on the loyalist fleet’s scanners. Disaster is narrowly avoided by a swift sitting-down of the fleet commander by a space wolf officer. The following confusion as the fleet stands down is utilized by both Raven Guard and Alpha Legion elements to conduct a swift planet-landing, the Raven Guard drop pods slamming down just south of the planet’s major hive city from where the heretical preachings are being transmitted, while Alpha Legion landers soar down toward an abandoned power plant, having picked up on an encrypted homing beacon bearing the signature of their battle brothers.

As tensions between the loyalist fleet and the loyalist astartes calm the marines set to assessing the situation. Identifying the decommissioned orbital defense platforms as a clear threat, they too decide to dispatch landing crafts toward the orbital fortress. Any suspicions they might have had that the traitors may have decided to try to bring the weapons systems online once more are quickly proven true as the ships come under fire on approach. They force a hasty boarding action, fearing the consequences of allowing the traitors to succeed with their plans..

Meanwhile the Raven Guard start working their way into the hive city though its ancient catacombs. Not knowing that they’ve been tracked by the Alpha legion elements on world guilty for these latest planet wide uprisings. Now the two forces come to duke it out in the underground dark and the secrets that lie there-in.

The traitor landers that headed for the space hulk are quick to start working their way into the ship’s depths. The hulk has gone into full lock down, probably following the breach that tore out a large part of its hull. Progress is slow but steady, until the marines suddenly find themselves under attack!
It would seem the hulk never did serve as a battle-craft, but rather a research lap. Now, roused by the intrusion of Astartes, the mutant monstrosities that have lain dormant within the ship leap out of the dark, driven by an insatiable hunger.

So with this as an background we had our first big get together fixed.



Here are just some random pictures from the event we had the first of April, AAR from each battle will come.