Horus Heresy Battle Report 9: Disable the Fellblade (Kill Team)

"If you can see us, we are dangerous indeed. But that is nothing to the peril you face if you cannot see us, and all you can hear is our laughter."

 - Brother Elder Gansukh of Kill Team Sürel,

White Scars Legion

Campaign To Date:


Xhorik Prime is engulfed in civil war as the traitors attempt to subdue the system prior to the arrival of Horus and his host on their long march to Terra. The loyalists know that if they can gain control of the system, they can deny Horus a place to safely resupply. So far, the war has mostly gone the traitors' way as they have claimed five victories to the loyalists' two. With a recent defeat, the White Scars and their allies, a small band of Imperial Fists and Kozar military auxiliaries, have been forced to fall back to fortified positions in the northern mountains. The Death Guard are making an immediate advance to strike before the loyalists can regroup and gather reinforcements.

Additionally, with their control of the main space port in the region, the traitors are able to bring in additional reinforcements. The latest to arrive is a super heavy battle tank and an icon of the Death Guard, a fearsome Fellblade. Partially broken down for transport on the small craft available, the war machine must be reassembled and loaded out with weapons systems, ammo and fuel prior to battle.  Loyalists scouts were able to spot the tank's arrival, allowing Praetor Zherdan to send a White Scars kill team behind enemy lines to attempt to disable the tank before it is battle-ready. Knowing how critical the heavy weaponry would be to his assault, Praetor Wolfgang of the Death Guard assigned an elite unit of his own, Kill Team Ritter, to guard the tank and see it safely to the front lines. Wolfgang is already moving on the White Scars positions, not wanting to give them a chance to recover, and planning that his big guns will arrive in time to neutralize the enemy defenses and allow his army to overrun the loyalist position. He knows the White Scars have nothing that can match his Fellblade and its arrival should mean a quick end to the war.

PRE-GAME AND MISSION:

This was our first game using the Kill Team boxed game rules. We played the mission Disrupt Supply Lines from the book, with the twist that the attacking White Scars are attempting to disable or at least delay the Death Guard's super heavy Fellblade tank by damaging the tank and the control systems of the equipment conducting the final on-planet re-assembly and loadout after the partial disassembly for planetary landing. Pete placed three objective markers (the rear left vent of the Fellblade and two control consoles) in his deployment zone. Controlling an objective marker is worth 3 victory points. Additionally, the attacker scores 1 victory point for each objective destroyed (using a special mission Tactic card for 1 command point) and a player scores 1 victory point if the enemy's kill team is broken at the end of the game. Game length is 4 turns with a chance for a potential 5th and 6th turn.

The result of this mission would determine whether or not the Fellblade would be available for the upcoming Traitor assault on the Loyalist stronghold.


FORCES:

Death Guard Kill Team Ritter

Their  mission is to protect the crucial Fellblade until it is kitted out for the assault on the White Scars fortified position.

Kill Team Ritter is back for another mission, this time to protect the mighty Fellblade as it receives it's final loadout prior to battle. The team is led by the feared Sergeant Albrecht and features Apothecary Wilhelm and a heavy weapons expert.

White Scars Kill Team Sürel

Their mission is to disable and delay the mighty superheavy tank to give their brothers a chance in the ensuing battle.

For this mission, the White Scars Legion Brotherhood of the Wind has assembled their first kill team. Kill Team Sürel (to stalk) is ostensibly led by the dynamic and charismatic Sergeant Khaljyk (running with glaive), but the centerpiece holding the team together with his wisdom and calm demeanor is the elderly Brother Gansukh, a Terran veteran and expert plasma gun marksman (bare headed).


BATTLE:

The main objective: the mighty Fellblade, still in the process of being re-assembled and loaded out for battle.

The arrows point out the three objective markers: the left rear vent of the Fellblade and two control systems for the factory. The White Scars infiltrated the plant from the near side.

Kill Team Sürel has taken out the outer sentries and infiltrated the plant before Kill Team Ritter raises the alarm.

Two of the Death Guard cover the long open approach to the crane control system console. 

Sergeant Khaljyk sprints across the open ground just inside the plant's southern entrance, with an eye on the assembly control console on the eastern platform deck.

The White Scars stalk through the heavy equipment, their target in their sights. 

Sergeant Albrecht, Apothecary Wilhelm and a melta gunner guard the key weak point on the Fellblade. 

The Death Guard know the importance of getting their war machine into the upcoming battle and prepare to lay down their lives to protect her, if needed.

Both kill teams advance and fire at close range.

The White Scars move up to the bridge while the Death Guard hold their ground on the objective.

The Death Guard defenders inflict a flesh wound on one of the White Scars plasma gunners. 

 Sergeant Khaljyk sprints on his bionic leg across the open factory floor while two Death Guard marines try unsuccessfully to bring him down. One of the Death Guard is injured from the deadly White Scars sniper, Brother Gansukh.

Khaljyk quickly ascends the ladder as the Death Guard fall back and continue to fire.

The Death Guard heavy weapons expert fires a krak missile at the oncoming White Scars, but the shot sails wide.

The firefight around the crane control module heats up as the combatants close distance. 

The heavy weapons trooper is gunned down at point blank range while his Death Guard brother charges the plasma gunner.

Sergeant Khaljyk charges both Death Guard troopers protecting the assembly console. They try to fall back, but he is quick enough to catch them and inflict a flesh wound on one with his power glaive.

The battle for the elevated control panel objectives rages on, both sides fighting intensely to help their brothers in the upcoming assault. 

Brother Khoro clambers up on top of the Fellblade and starts firing down at Apothecary Wilhelm, trying to clear a path to the tank's weak point where his explosives would be damaging. Meanwhile, Sergeant Albrecht climbs the ladder and charges into the melee on the catwalk. 

The game of cat and mouse on the factory floor continues as the combatants weave and scramble among the pillars for a good line of sight or some cover.

The White Scars gain control of the assembly console while the Death Guard still protect the weak spot on the Fellblade. 

The White Scars missed their chance to detonate the crane console when they had control of it and now Albrecht has them fighting for their lives with his deadly power fist.

The Death Guard hold their ground around the tank as the White Scars advance.

Albrecht strikes down his Loyalist foe with his power fist, as the surviving White Scar marine charges into the fray.

The White Scars also launch an assault on the ground level to try to wrest control of the tank's weak point so they can plant their explosives. 

Melees rage near all of the objectives. 

Sergeant Khaljyk continues to dodge attacks and inflict flesh wounds on his opponents but cannot bring them down, while Albrecht's power fist crushes another of the White Scars near the crane controls. 

The battle for the tank continues with neither side able to strike the decisive blow. 

Brother Gansukh tries to kill Albrecht in revenge for his brothers' lives, but the Death Guard sergeant shrugs off the plasma fire. The battle draws to a close as Death Guard reinforcements close in, forcing Kill Team Sürel to fall back, hoping the damage they inflicted would be enough to delay the deadly war machine in the oncoming assault. 

Result: 

With the Loyalists and Traitors each holding one objective, the tank being contested and neither Kill Team breaking the other, the result was a draw with 3 victory points per side.

Since neither side won outright, I think the most fair result of this mission is that the Fellblade is available in the next game, but is delayed due to the damage the Loyalists caused to the factory. I think the tank should have 4+ chance of arriving turn 3 and if that fails, automatically arrive turn 4. It would be available for roughly half of a standard 5 - 6 turn mission.

Alternatively, the tank could be rushed to the front without finishing assembly or weapons loadout. In this case, it would be available to deploy as normal, but would be at roughly half strength (vs having the tank at full strength for half of the game). This might mean that it starts with half of its hull points and only a 4+ chance for each weapon to be functional for the battle.

Of course, the traitors could elect not to use the tank at all under these circumstances and build an army without it.

These are just my ideas. If anyone has any others, let us know.



POST-GAME:

Loyalist Post-Game Analysis:

Phil: I really enjoyed the fast-pace of the game and the interesting tactical decision making. The alternating deployment, never knowing who will go first on a turn, and alternating shooting/assault attacks all make for a more interesting act-and-react dynamic than the core Horus Heresy/40k games where you take turns landing massive haymakers on each other with your entire army. As our first game of Kill Team, it was a bit of struggle with all of the specialists and command points and both of us missed multiple opportunities to use points and skills because we were caught up in the action.

Overall, it was a good, well-matched game with neither side ever really gaining a distinct advantage. I feel I played well enough to win the mission, but made a big rookie mistake. As part of learning the general rules, the mission rules, and all the Tactics, I forgot to use the Attacker Tactic from the mission that would have allowed me to destroy the crane console objective at the end of the turn that I controlled it; I thought it would be during a model's action phase such as move or shooting. On the next turn, Pete's sergeant charged in and I never controlled the objective again. Had I destroyed it, I would have earned one VP and prevented  Pete from holding it at the end, which may have tipped the game.

The other item of note is just how hard it is for space marines to kill each other in Kill Team. After six turns, only three of our 14 models were out of action (two from the power fist) and neither side was ever at risk of failing morale. Although that may have just been a result of our poor dice rolling: I inflicted 7 flesh wounds on Pete's traitors and never got an "out of action" result, my only kill coming from stacking 3 flesh wounds on the same guy.

In the end, it was a good game (with a few good beers) on nice terrain with some fun, cinematic moments. You can't ask for much more than that.


Traitor Post-Game Analysis:

Pete: Well that was an interesting game. I agree with Phil that having space marines play space marines might have led to a bit of a dud in terms of casualties and action. I’d be excited to play again with some weaker models on the board. But I liked the gameplay and the pace of play with the alternating phases in each turn.

I’m not sure the game really needs the action cards and command points to be a fun experience. I liked the specialists, and I think it’d be entertaining to level them up and see them progress over a series of skirmish battles.

As for my strategy in the game, I tried to spread my small force between the three objectives and wait
for the White Scars to come to me - nothing too fancy. I focused my strongest group with the sergeant, melta gun marine and apothecary down around the tank, thinking they might mix it up with the enemy up close and personal. And it was hard not to think of the objective down on the tank as the primary objective, even if all three counted equally.

I was really disappointed in my missile launcher marine as he fizzled out and got knocked out. I figured he would be one of the strongest participants in the battle and he didn’t live up to his potential. Or live.

We will definitely have to mix-in some more Kill Team into our ongoing campaign for Xhorik Prime, as well as with other armies and games outside of the Horus Heresy. I see a lot of potential.