Horus Heresy Battle Report 8: Clash of the Lines

"The object of war is not to die a glorious and heroic death, but to give one to your enemy."

 - Sergeant Albrecht,
Death Guard Legion

Campaign To Date:

It is the middle of the Age of Darkness, as the Warmaster Horus makes his long march toward Terra, leaving shattered star systems in his wake. Lying in the path of the traitors' advance, the planet of Xhorik Prime is torn apart in civil war after only recently being united in the Great Crusade. The largest nation, The Federation of Unimund declare for the Warmaster and Mortarian as their living gods and liberators, while their ancient rivals to the north, the stratocracy of Kozar and her allies, side with their kindred spirits and sworn blood brothers, the White Scars. An advance force of Death Guard has been tasked with bringing the Xhorik System into compliance so that the main war host can safely resupply and move on quickly.

The early stages of the conflict centered around the Battle for Bielyr, a major city on the border between the two sides. After a long, hard-fought struggle through the ruined streets, the Death Guard  were able to drive the loyalists north out of the now-destroyed city. Once they had lost the city, the White Scars fell back before the Death Guard advance and lured their forward forces into a trap. Thanks to some unexpected assistance from a small band of Imperial Fists, the loyalists cut off the traitor vanguard and captured their commander, Praetor Wolfgang. But a daring rescue mission performed by a small band of Death Guard freed Wolfgang and returned him to his army in time to lead his men against the imminent attack by the White Scars.

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"Sir, you have returned! By Mortarion himself, it is damn good to see you." Consul Heynrich saluted.

"The enemy are already upon us. What is the status of our positions?" barked Praetor Wolfgang, stomping into the command tent, clad once again in massive tactical dreadnought armor.

"Sir, the enemy is engaged all along our lines. We are spread thin trying to protect our flanks on this open plateau against their Outriders. But we are well positioned, my lord. Our reports tell us their main attack is coming against our left flank, led by Praetor Zherdan himself. I have already sent all reserves to strengthen our positions there. We will have the numbers to throw them back and we will emerge victorious." 

"Fool," spat Wolfgang. "That is a feint. Those riders will disappear into the dust as soon as you engage them in force. The key to the battle hinges on the abandoned outpost here." Wolfgang's armored finger stabbed the holomap. "It is the only tenable position on this plateau we can hold for long against their mobility without our lines being spread apart and our units picked off. Zherdan knows it, so he makes a show of force to the west to draw away our reserves."

Wolfgang glanced around. "Give me every man you have left in camp. Albrecht, bring Squad Ritter and move out on my command. They shall feel the wrath and vengeance of the Death Guard, and see it is like nothing they have ever known."

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PRE-GAME AND MISSION:

We played the Onslaught mission from both Horus Heresy Book One and Book Six using the Clash of the Line deployment (opposing triangles on the short edges) to really represent the spear tips of two armies crashing together and trying to break through this key location. Onslaught is an aggressive mission that awards VPs for enemy units killed in the first turn and controlling your tactical objective in the enemy's deployment zone at the end of the game. Secondary objectives are Slay the Warlord and Attrition, which awards an extra VP to the army that destroyed the most enemy units. We also added a scenario rule of having a random level of dust storm each turn, with a range of effects such as limiting visibility, causing pinning, impacting reserves and deep striking, and more. With only Troops able to capture the objectives, neither side could afford to sit still and not advance aggressively.

Pete won the roll to select his deployment zone. Phil won the roll to go first and elected to do so.

ARMY SELECTION: 1100 Points

Death Guard - Pete

• Praetor Wolfgang: Terminator armor, Paragon Blade, volkite charger, digilasers
• Apothecary Wilhelm
• Tactical Squad Stärke: 14 marines with close combat weapons, sergeant with power fist and artificer armor
• Tactical Squad Ritter: 10 marines with close combat weapons, sergeant with power fist and artificer armor, rhino with heavy flamer
• Tactical Support Squad März: 7 marines with volkite calivers
• Heavy Support Squad Tragen: 3 marines with missile launchers
• Contemptor Dreadnought Friedrich:  multi-melta, meltagun, dreadnought close combat weapon

White Scars - Phil

White Scars, Brotherhood of the Wind

• Centurion Kuyuk: Power glaive, bolter, refractor field
• Tactical Squad Kheeg: 10 marines with close combat weapons, sergeant with power glaive and artificer armor
• Tactical Support Squad Khoer: 5 marines with plasma guns
• Legion Outrider Squad Anchin: 3 bikes with twin-linked plasma guns, sergeant
• Sicaran Omega Tank Destroyer: Omega Plasma Array, heavy bolter and lascannon sponsons

Imperial Fists, Boarding Party

• Terminator Squad: Plasma blaster, volkite charger, two power fists, chainfist, lighting claws

BATTLE:

The front lines of the two forces engage each other in the badlands of the Vaalbara Plateau near a deserted outpost that forms the only defensible position in the area. 

The armies clash along a wide front, but the crux of the battle swings around this outpost as an anchor for the rest of the conflict. Whichever side can break through at this key point will sway the entire battle for their side.

Centruion Kuyuk clusters his infantry together between the rocky outcrops of the badlands. The Imperial Fist terminators form the core of the loyalist advance. 

The White Scars Sicaran Omega Tank Destroyer III Kharvaak provides supporting firepower, but has limited mobility options in the extremely rough and rocky terrain. 

The Loyalists hope to use their big guns to break down the enemy.

Praetor Wolfgang returned to his army in time to reform their positions and lead the spear tip at the critical point in the battle.

Tactical Support Squad März occupies a rocky hill where they can support their brothers' advance and halt any enemy that break through.

Heavy Support Squad Tragen takes up position on the crucial hill that is the target of the Loyalist advance, preparing to use their vantage point to strike at the enemy from afar.

A massive sand storm descends just as battle is joined, severely limiting visibility and even restricting movement. Sicaran Omega Tank Destroyer III Kharvaak races forward, but can't find a target through the swirling dust.

With no enemies nearby and minimal visibility, the Loyalist infantry race forward into the outpost.

The White Scars and Imperial Fists advance through the dust, seeking their foes.

The Contemptor Dreadnough Friedrich advances, careful to keep the cover of the rocky outcrop between himself and the White Scars tank.

The Death Guard Rhino races through the dust at full speed, carrying Squad Ritter into the midst of the Loyalist advance.

Turn 1: Both sides advance, but shooting is ineffectual as the sand storm reduced visibility significantly.

Despite the continuing heavy dust storm, the Sicaran Omega Tank Destroyer does just that, and eliminates the Death Guard Rhino.

The Rhino is surrounded as it explodes.

As the passengers crawl from the wreckage, they are gunned down at point blank range, leaving only a single survivor.

The Imperial Fist terminators slay the lone survivor in melee.

Meanwhile, Outrider Squad Anchin races in from the flank, firing full out into the Death Guard tactical support squad. Thanks to the cover of their rocky position, only three marines of  Squad März are felled.

Loyalist Turn 2: The White Scars center advances, destroying the rhino and Squad Ritter in a coordinated concentration of firepower. The Outriders make a flanking attack, but are unable to cripple Squad März.

The core of the Traitor force, consisting of Wolfgang, Tactical Squad Stärke and Apothecary Wilhelm, continue to advance steadily into the outpost, undaunted by their army's losses or the punishing sandstorm. 

Squad Stärke fire their bolters at the Imperial Fists, but with their line of sight mostly blocked by the communication tower, the few shots that get through are unable to penetrate the massive tactical dreadnought armor.

Quickly regaining their composure after the surprise attack, Squad März pivot toward the oncoming Outriders and unleash their volkite calivers, killing all three of the White Scars bikers.

The Contemptor Dreadnought Friedrich fires at the Kharvaak from the rocky outcrop and inflicts a glancing blow on the tank with his melta weaponry. Then as the sandstorm finally lets up, the White Scars return fire. The Kharvaak is unable to inflict any damage due to Friedrich's rocky cover, but Tactical Support Squad Khoer is able to deliver a few hits from the flank with their plasma weaponry

Turn summary of Traitor Turn 2 and Loyalist Turn 3 movement and shooting phases: Both sides continue to advance and fire, trying to reach their objectives in the opposing deployment zones. The dreadnought and Sicaran both take damage. Volkite wins over plasma as Outrider Squad Anchin is destroyed.

Centurion Kuyuk and his men charge through the outpost into the Death Guard lines. They are outnumbered, but they count on the imminent support of the Imperial Fists terminators coming behind them. 

Due to the narrow space in the outpost, the terminators are unable to reach the melee. Outnumbered and facing the wrath of the mighty Praetor Wolfgang, Centurion Kuyuk and Squad Kheeg are cut down.

Praetor Wolfgang and his men devastate their enemies in ruthless hand to hand combat and then advance on the Imperial Fists.

Wolfgang leads his men in a furious charge, determined to reap bloody vengeance for his defeat and capture in the ambush previously.

Dreadnought Friedrich charges at Squad Khoer. The White Scars desperately fire their weapons again and again at full power at the onrushing behemoth, knowing that if reaches them, they are all dead. Although two of their own are killed by overheating weapons, the do-or-die hail of plasma is enough to stop the war machine. Friedrich falls to the ground, spewing black smoke, just short of his targets. The survivors of Squad Khoer exhale shaky breaths.

Wolfgang and his men swarm the terminators. Although the terminators are more powerful and more heavily armored, the Death Guard have the momentum of the charge, are more numerous and are led by the deadly Praetor Wolfgang and protected by the skilled Apothecary Wilhem. The Traitors are victorious again. In a few ferocious moments, Wolfgang had destroyed the Loyalist center and now had an open path through their lines.

White Scars Turn 3 Melee Phase and Death Guard Turn 3 Summary: With brutal efficiency, the Death Guard are able to engage the Loyalist forces piecemeal and crush them one by one, while suffering minimal casualties in return.

The storm remained in a lull. With their core broken and the Death Guard support squads holding defensible positions, the Loyalists knew they had little chance to capture the enemy territory required to win the battle, but hoped to stop Praetor Wolfgang and his squad from reaching their objective, thereby forcing a draw.

The few surviving White Scars fire everything at the hated traitors who killed their brethren. But with the help of some cover and their apothecary, only two Death Guard tactical marines are killed by the storm of plasma.

With Apothecary Wilhelm keeping his battered troops on their feet, Praetor Wolfgang wills his men forward, his objective in his sights.

Loyalist Turn 4: The last White Scars attempt to stop Wolfgang and Squad Stärke from breaking through, but inflict minimal damage on the traitors.

Praetor Wolfgang leads his men out of the outpost and into Loyalist territory, claiming critical ground. As they advance, they fire at Squad Khoer and kill the last of them.

Traitor Turn 4: The Death Guard reach their objective and eliminate Squad Khoer.

The dust storm resumes as Kharvaak rounds the hill to fire on the Death Guard. 

Through the clouds of billowing dust, Kharvaak's crew take revenge, hoping to break the traitors and send them fleeing from their hard-fought objective, but Wolfgang ensures his last men hold firm.

Loyalist Turn 5: The White Scars' last gasp is not enough to shift the traitors from their objective. 

Wolfgang and his last few men maneuver around the hill to stay out of sight of the enemy tank.

The dust storm worsens and the struggle for the outpost is over. The Death Guard were able to break through the loyalist lines at this critical location, creating a linchpin for the traitor forces to fight around in the wider battle and ensuring a traitor victory in this major battle.

Traitor Turn 5: Praetor Wolfgang holds critical enemy ground. Heavy Support Squad Tragen continues to pelt the Sicaran tank, inflicting more damage and forcing it to break off the engagement. With success here at the outpost, the Death Guard forces are victorious in the wider battle. 

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"That's it. That's the last of their reserves engaging. They took the bait. Pull back, men, disengage. Our job is done." As Zalitai Zherdan gave the order, he saw squadrons of his Outriders and jet bikes peeling away and zooming into the dust storm, their white shapes disappearing into the swirling clouds. "It all rests with Kuyuk now, may the Emperor guide him."

"My Khan, word from the outpost," crackled his radio headset. "Kuyuk is dead and the position is lost. Praetor Wolfgang himself led the assault. How is that possible?"

Praetor Zherdan clenched his teeth. He knew his chance to scatter and destroy the Death Guard was lost. The enemy had broken through at the key point and secured an anchor for their lines. Somehow, Wolfgang had escaped his captivity and made it back to lead the Death Guard in the key thrust of the battle. Curse him.

The Death Guard would be continuing their northward push. Zherdan knew he had to regroup quickly and prepare for the inevitable attack. Perhaps, he thought, a few small teams should be dispatched to slow the Death Guard advance and guard the flanks against any enemy recon squads.

As his jetbike roared above the tumult of the storm, Zherdan knew he had never faced an enemy as deadly or as determined as this. His small force couldn't sustain the losses of repeated pitched battles or the grinding war of attrition favored by the Death Guard. He would have to make his engagements count. And he would have to make use of his more numerous Kozar military allies, at least to buy time until help could arrive. 

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POST-GAME:

Loyalist Post-Game Analysis:

Phil: Wow, tough game. Through the first half, I felt my units were well positioned, but it all fell apart when I was only able to get my central squads engaging Pete's forces in close combat one at a time instead of both together. Losing those two squads in quick succession while doing only minor damage in return was the back-breaker and there was just no recovering after that.

This game was interesting because the really tightly-packed terrain and the dust storm rules made shooting less effective than normal and the game really came down to some critical melees. But even then, it was the tight nature of the terrain that prevented me from launching a coordinated charge from both of my units simultaneously which determined the outcome. I tip my cap to Pete who played the mission and the terrain well and was able to outmaneuver me to the victory. This scenario ended up playing a bit differently from our other games, which is our goal when we are using basically the same units in every battle.

The game had quite a few memorable and exciting moments, one of the best being the desperate plasma gun squad killing the dreadnought (and half their own) in an exceptionally deadly round of overwatch. You could just picture them squeezing down their triggers, firing with everything they had, heedless of the dangers of overheating as it was a situation of kill or be killed.

I was of course excited to try out the new Sicaran Omega Tank Destroyer (a Christmas gift from the wife that I just now got around to painting), but it severely under-performed, only killing a Rhino and five tactical marines over five turns. The dense terrain forced it into sub-optimal positions and the dust storm limited its visibility, but positioning also turned out to play a critical role. On the last few turns, Pete's men got behind the tank and I didn't dare turn around to bring the lascannons and heavy bolter to bear on them or I would have exposed my weaker armor to his heavy weapons and been easily destroyed. So I kept the tank facing the threats, which only left the turret-mounted Omega Plasma Array available for shooting. Despite those rules costing me here, I really like that facing matters in Horus Heresy, both for shooting and defense with vehicles. It forces tougher choices, seems more realistic and gives more reward for clever maneuvering and positioning (and also provides a tiny bit of drawback to vehicles that can be pretty dominant). If anything, I think we should expand the role of facing to impact infantry as well. It allows games to better follow the tactical logic of historic battles and makes games more interesting by forcing choices instead of leaving players with obvious paths.



Traitor Post-Game Analysis:

Pete: Great game. I really enjoyed the random dust storms and the ways they effected the action. It was a new mission, different deployment shape and overall fresh feel to the game. It was a true stand up fight where neither army was holding back or backing down.

My plan was to control the center of the board and keep the White Scars in close combat so they
couldn’t blast away at my infantry with all their plasma. I figured my support squads should be fairly
protected behind their cover and could sit back and protect the objective well enough. Missiles for the
tank and volkite for the bikers. The dreadnought would engage the Sicaran Tank and I figured it was a toss-up who might come out on top. If Freidrich got lucky and close enough, his power fist, multi-melta and melta gun all had a real opportunity to wreck Phil’s expensive plasma death machine. Now the trick is getting close enough… ha ha.

I’m very pleased at how competent Wolfgang and his retinue continue to be in both close combat and
ranged combat. Adding an apothecary to the squad is the perfect Death Guard addition to complete the picture of a slow, implacable, ruthless, and nearly unkillable wall of unfeeling super soldiers.
I’m not sure what I was thinking speeding my rhino and tactical squad into the meat grinder on turn 1. I really wanted to keep the action on Phil’s side of the board and have a swirling mob of close combat raging around, again to nullify the White Scars’ ranged guns. Also to keep his scoring units far away from my objective. Once they were wiped from the board and all my success relied on Wolfgang alone, I was obviously worried.

The cat and mouse game between the Sicaran and dreadnought was also a highlight as I danced around the hill and tried to take some melta shots without being the victim of an unobstructed Omega Plasma Array volley.

Super fun game that played a little differently than I thought it would. The action was fast and furious, and the dust storms rolled in and out to add to the drama and character of the battle. I also felt the pressure of the campaign story and the stakes being raised again with the winner of this battle being in firm control as the aggressor on Xhorik Prime. I’m really looking forward to the next chapter.