Horus Heresy Campaign Update: Resolution of Phase 2

Phase 2 Overview

The second phase (set of five battles representing the Battle of the Vaalbara Plateau) of the campaign is well under way and approaching the climax. I'd like the last two battles to tie in directly to each other, with Game 4 impacting what type of battle will be played in the finale. I would like the last game to feel like the resolution of a distinct story arc and feel significant.This phase saw the development of the personalities and styles of warfare of the two Praetors as well as escalated the scale with the addition of the Imperial Fists, the Fellblade, and fortifications.

Right now, the Death Guard hold a 2-1 lead in the main battles, after having won the last two. They have taken the Loyalist base and have the White Scars on the run. I see the next battle being the Death Guard pursuing their foes, but more cautiously than last time when they were ambushed.

If the White Scars lose the next battle, then they will have already lost this second phase of the campaign going into the final battle, so the theme would then focus around their survival or obliteration with a sort of "last stand" battle.

If the White Scars win the next battle, then the scores will be tied and it sets up an epic clash in the form of a pitched battle for supremacy. 

In either case, I think the final battle needs to have an element of the personal clash between the Praetors with that featuring in a significant way in the objectives. 

Game 4

I see a few potential good missions to represent the Loyalists being pursued by the Traitors after their defeat. If the bulk of the Death Guard force opts to pursue immediately, then it turns into a sort of fighting retreat represented by the Rearguard Mission. If the White Scars were able to escape in the dust storms and get into the mountains, then both sides become more fragmented. The White Scars split up in order to avoid the stronger Traitor army, which forces the Death Guard to send patrols to seek out the survivors. Upon engagement, the Death Guard patrols will call for support from their main host, while the White Scars will be waiting for the reinforcements that never made it to the fortification battle. This would represented by something like the Hunter/Hunted mission.

Of course, I am open to any other suggestions, but these are both missions we have not played yet and seem like they would fit the current story in the campaign. There is a mission in the Taros Campaign book called Fighting Retreat that should be good, except it does not seem balanced at all and seems to favor the defender heavily unless I am missing something. 

Rearguard: From WH40k 4th Edition Rulebook. The Defender is the rearguard of a retreating army and must stall the enemy advance for as long as possible to give the rest of the army a chance to regroup and form up a new defensive line. The Defender splits his force in half and only uses half. He wins by having a scoring unit still alive more than 12" from a board edge. The Attacker's force is split with some starting on the table and some in reserve.

Hunter/Hunted: From Horus Heresy Book VI, Shadow War campaign. This would represent a Death Guard patrol finding Praetor Zherdan and a few survivors, with both sides bringing in reinforcements. Uses Shadow War rules. Players split their army into halves. One half starts on the table and the other in reserve. Victory is determined by destroying enemy units.

The Battle for Hydro-Plant 23-30 - Second Lift: From the Taros Campaign. Similar to Hunter/Hunted. A small force starts on the table and reserves are brought in based on holding objective counters. Victory is based on holding objective counters at the end of the game.

I would like to have another Kill Team game in here to build up to the finale. We will figure out the details based on where the story is going at the time.

Game 5

If the Death Guard win Game 4, then I see Game 5 as being a desperate last stand of the White Scars after their fleeing forces were caught by a more powerful Traitor force. With no way to win the Battle of the Vaalbara Plateau, the Loyalist focus would be to inflict some sort of critical damage on the enemy before meeting their inevitable deaths. 

I think a really cool one for this would be Challenge since it emphasis the rivalry between the Praetors that has been a big part of the story of Phase 2 and would represent Zherdan knowing he is doomed, but trying to kill Wolfgang first. Since the result of the campaign phase would not be in doubt, we would need to raise the stakes and still have something significant to play for. If the White Scars' Praetor Zherdan is killed by Wolfgang, then he will be DEAD and out of the rest of the campaign! (The reverse would not have to be true since the Traitors would be winning the campaign in this case; we could say that Zherdan has already been badly wounded so any further major damage at this point will kill him.) Another option would be any kind of "last stand" mission, like Mission 6 from the Taros Campaign. Or possibly a mission where the Loyalists have to destroy a specific objective, even at the cost of all of their lives.

The Ambush of Supply Column Theta-XJ-59: From the Taros Campaign. The Defender has half the army size as the Attacker and starts encircled. You play until they are wiped out and VPs are awarded to both sides based on how long it takes the attacker to kill them all, with First Blood and Slay the Warlord in there as well. This could be a great Last Stand mission, with a modified rule to award extra VPs if one warlord can kill the other.

Challenge: From Horus Heresy Book VI, Shadow War campaign. If one warlord slays the other, that side wins. If not, there are secondary objectives. This would represent the Death Guard winning this phase of the campaign regardless of the outcome, but with a chance for the White Scars to claim a victory of sorts by taking Wolfgang out of action temporarily, and a chance for the Traitors to kill Zherdan for-ev-er.

If the White Scars win Game 4, that indicates their reinforcements arrived and turned back the pursuit of the Death Guard, setting up a large clash of evenly-matched forces to determine the result of this campaign phase. This could be represented by several of the main battles from the Battles in the Age of Darkness Core Missions, such as Shatter Strike, Dominion, or Tide of Carnage. These are all pitched battles that could represent the conclusion to this phase if both sides are even with two wins apiece going in. 

Looking Ahead...

For the next phase, we should have full-size armies (2000+ points) so it would be fun to play one of the campaigns straight out of one of the books. We have several Horus Heresy campaigns in our black books, the Taros Campaign, as well as a campaign from the WH40k 5th Edition rulebook.