Xhorik 87th Drop Troops Full Army Update

Here is my full progress so far on the Xhorik 87th Drop Troops Regiment, F Company:

Horus Heresy Campaign Phase 3 - Battle 4: The Road to Berat

Campaign To Date:

It has been about 40 years since a combined force of Sons of Horus, Death Guard, and White Scars brought the Xhorik System into compliance during the Great Crusade. The major population centers of the largest continent were quickly brought under Imperial control in the typical fashion: a series of pinpoint attacks of overwhelming force by the Legions against the enemy's strong points, followed by rapid surrender. Due to the richness of the primary planet and the strategic location of the system on a sort of crossroads of warp currents, small garrisons of the Death Guard and White Scars legions were left on the planet to oversee the tithes of men and material to the Great Crusade and to help eradicate the threat of large ork populations in the eastern wastes.

With the advent of the Horus Heresy, the Warmaster ordered that the Xhorik System be taken to act as a way station for resupply on his long march to Terra. The Death Guard and their human allies on Xhorik Prime launched an attack on the White Scars and their allies, the Stratocracy of Kozar.

In Phase 1 of the campaign, the Traitors pushed the Loyalists from the war-torn border city of Bielyr in a series of bloody street fighting.

In Phase 2, the war escalated across the badlands of the Valbaara Plateau in several pitched battles. In the end, the Brotherhood of the Wind was defeated and their leader Praetor Zherdan was killed by the Death Guard.

Phase 3 of the Campaign for Xhorik Prime finds the battered Loyalists unable to stand against the Death Guard heavy armor and so they are resorting to guerrilla tactics as the Traitor army advances north toward the major cities of Kozar. This phase will culminate with a large Traitor assault on a fortified Loyalist city. There will be four missions that will impact the deciding battle of the phase.

PRE-GAME AND MISSION:

The fourth battle of the phase sees the Traitors pushing down the main road to Berat and attempting to smash through the outer defenses, while the Loyalists are trying to break through the attackers' spearhead and into the main body of their force, stalling the advance. We played Shatter Strike from Horus Heresy Book One. The goal was to get infantry units into your opponent's deployment zone. The mission also allowed one unit from each side to redeploy after both forces were setup. We chose Hammer and Anvil as the deployment map to give the effect of a concentrated push along a narrow front.

ARMY SELECTION:  2000 Points

Traitors - Pete

Death Guard

• Preator Wolfgang: terminator armor, volkite charger, paragon blade, digital lasers, fearless, It will not Die
• Tactical Squad Folterer: 10 marines with close combat weapons, sergeant with power first and artificer armor. In a Rhino APC with a pintle mounted heavy flamer.
• Tactical Squad Toddestraffe: 14 marines with close combat weapons, sergeant with power fist and artificer armor and Apothecary Gerhard
• Legion Fellblade Super Heavy Battle Tank Welt Zerstörer

World Eaters

• Tactical Squad Hell Hounds: 17 marines – 16 with bolters, bolt pistols and chain axes. 1 sergeant with artificer armor, power fist and plasma pistol
•  Chaplin Zungarz: Artificer Armor, plasma pistol, refractor field, crozius arcanum
•  Reconnaissance Squad Black Vultures: 5 marines with power armor, sniper rifles, cameleoline 
• The Red Butchers: 1 Devoured with dual chain fists, 4 Butchers with dual power axes
• Land Raider Phobos Fleisch Schleifer: side sponson twin-linked lascannons, twin heavy bolter, armored ceramite, machine spirit 

Loyalists - Phil

White Scars Brotherhood of the Wind 

• Khan Turan Jorma: jetbike, glaive, cyber hawk
• Skyhunters: 6 jetbikes,  2 x volkite culverin
• Outrider Squad Tsujen: 5 Outriders with plasma, sergeant (in reserve)
• Tactical Squad Temgar: 10 marines, sergeant has power glaive, artificer armor
• Tactical Support Squad Shatak: 8 marines with plasma guns, with drop pod (in reserve)
• Sicaran Omega Tank Destroyer Firespear: lascannon sponsons

Kozar Army, Berat Garrison

• Force Commander Xhosa (deployed with Grenadiers)
• Grenadiers Squad: 11 infantry, 1 missile launcher (deployed inside bunker)
• Infantry squad: 20 infantry
• Special weapons squad: 12 infantry with 6 melta guns (deployed inside bunker)
• 2 x Sentinels with multi-meltas
• 3 x Tarantulas with twin-linked lascannon
• 2 x Bunkers - no weapons

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



BATTLE:

Turan Jorma and his men deploy along the Loyalist right flank, ready to counter attack.

Valkyrie: Our First Flyer!

After all these years in the hobby, one of us finally built and painted a flyer. The skies are no longer safe!

The Valkyrie really is an impressive model.

Drop Troops Updates: Tarantulas and More Grenadiers/Veterans

I've finished a few things for the Drop Troops over the last few months while building by Khan on Jetbike and the Skyhunter squad. Just a few quick projects to break up the endless coats of white on the Scars:

Quick and dirty paint job: prime, base coat the black and metal, wash, drybrush twice, pick out the eagle, add weathering. 

They turn out pretty well for being so quick. They look like they have been dropped from a Valkyrie and used in the field for a while.

If these were not so pricey, I would get a few more just because they were so quick and fun to paint.

If you see those blue sensors... move!

Then I painted a sergeant and some sniper rifle guys for my squad of Grenadiers or veterans with carapace armor, depending on what book you use. I did not have any particular want or need for sniper rifles. They just looked cool and I felt like painting something different. 

Another shot of the sergeant. I am not sure why he has to remove his mouth armor to give orders into his communicator. I guess they don't have radio helmets? And I finally finished the sign for our industrial facility terrain. The only decals I could find online that were sort of generic sci-fi appropriate were zombie themed. Guess we need to get some plague zombies now.

And somewhere along the way, I picked up some old Kasrkin models from eBay to use as Storm Troopers. The only thing I did not like was that the sergeant had a bare head while everyone else sensibly wore helmets. So I painstakingly cut and filed his head off (and the helmet hanging on his belt!) and replaced it with a matching helmet. I'd like him to match the rest of the army and look like he is jumping into a hostile environment!

I also did a single Grenadier with missile launcher but I guess I never took a picture so here he is in his first battle report where he died horribly at the hands of the Butchers.

That's all for now.

Horus Hersey Campaign Phase 3 - Battle 3: Night Raiders

Campaign To Date:

It has been about 40 years since a combined force of Sons of Horus, Death Guard, and White Scars brought the Xhorik System into compliance during the Great Crusade. The major population centers of the largest continent were quickly brought under Imperial control in the typical fashion: a series of pinpoint attacks of overwhelming force by the Legions against the enemy's strong points, followed by rapid surrender. Due to the richness of the primary planet and the strategic location of the system on a sort of crossroads of warp currents, small garrisons of the Death Guard and White Scars legions were left on the planet to oversee the tithes of men and material to the Great Crusade and to help eradicate the threat of large ork populations in the eastern wastes.

With the advent of the Horus Heresy, the Warmaster ordered that the Xhorik System be taken to act as a way station for resupply on his long march to Terra. The Death Guard and their human allies on Xhorik Prime launched an attack on the White Scars and their allies, the Stratocracy of Kozar.

In Phase 1 of the campaign, the Traitors pushed the Loyalists from the war-torn border city of Bielyr in a series of bloody street fighting.

In Phase 2, the war escalated across the badlands of the Valbaara Plateau in several pitched battles. In the end, the Brotherhood of the Wind was defeated and their leader Praetor Zherdan was killed by the Death Guard.

Phase 3 of the Campaign for Xhorik Prime finds the battered Loyalists unable to stand against the Death Guard heavy armor and so they are resorting to guerrilla tactics as the Traitor army advances north toward the major cities of Kozar. This phase will culminate with a large Traitor assault on a fortified Loyalist city. There will be four missions that will impact the deciding battle of the phase.

PRE-GAME AND MISSION:

The third battle of the phase represents a raid by the Loyalist forces on a Traitor outpost and supply depot. The Loyalists are trying to capture and destroy enemy supplies in order to reduce the Traitors' ability to wage war and assault the city. This is a scenario from the Taros Campaign. Each player takes turn places objectives. The defender (Traitors) deploys anywhere within 12" of any of the objectives and chooses a table edge. The attacker does not deploy, but can move on any units from their table edge at the start of Turn 1, including Deep Striking with units that have that ability. Each objective is worth 3 VPs at the end of the game. Secondary objectives are Slay the Warlord and First Blood. The special rule is "Night Raid", which means the Night Fighting rule is in effect for the first 3 - 4 turns.

ARMY SELECTION:  2000 Points

Traitors - Pete

Death Guard

• Tactical Squad Folterer: 10 marines with close combat weapons, sergeant with power fist, artificer armor, rhino with heavy flamer
• Tactical Squad Toddestraffe: 14 marines with close combat weapons, sergeant with power fist, artificer armor
• Tactical Support Squad Blitz Schock: 7 marines with volkite calivers 
• Heavy Support Squad Feuer Sturm: 7 marines with missile launchers and Apothecary Gerhard
• Contemptor Dreadnought Jürgen:  multi-melta, melta gun, dreadnought close combat weapon

World Eaters

• Chaplain Zungarz: with power weapon and plasma pistol
• Tactical Squad Hell Hounds: close combat weapons, sergeant with power fist, plasma pistol and artifcer armor
• Recon Squad Black Vultures: with sniper rifles
• Contemptor Dreadnought Delrog the Diabolical: twin-linked lascannon, melta gun and chain fist

Army of House Harkhathe

• Grenadiers The Hero Hammers: 15 grenadiers with 2 plasma guns

Loyalists - Phil

White Scars Brotherhood of the Wind 

• Khan Turan Jorma: jetbike, glaive, cyber hawk
• Skyhunters: 6 jetbikes,  2 x volkite culverin
• Outriders: 5 Outriders with plasma, sergeant
• Tactical Squad Temgar: 10 marines, sergeant has power glaive, artificer armor
• Sicaran Omega Tank Destroyer: lascannon sponsons

Kozar Drop Troops, 2nd Company

• Captain Xhosa and Command Squad: medic, vox caster, plasma pistol, carapace armor, missile launcher
• Infantry Platoon
• Infantry squad with vox caster and melta gun
• Infantry squad with grenade launcher
• Special weapons squad with melta guns
• Special weapons squad with melta guns
• 2 x Drop Sentinels with multi-meltas
• 3 x Tarantulas with twin-linked lascannon

Imperial Fists

• Terminator Squad Stalwart Blade: 5 marines with plasma blaster, volkite charger, two power fists, chainfist, lighting claw

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The White Scars force was a streak of white moving across the black sand. The silhouettes of Valkyries passed overhead, only noticeable from the way they briefly winked out the stars. They had been pushing hard for two days, ever since they got the shocking news of what was happening back west, the mind-wrenching idea that their sworn brothers had betrayed their honor and turned their guns against their fellow Astartes. The Brotherhood of the Wind forces in the west had been beaten back and, impossibly, the great Khan Zherdan was dead. Turan Jorma knew that made him Khan of the Brotherhood now and he had to make it to Berat in time to turn the tide.

The traitors had chosen their moment well.  He had been in the Far East for weeks with fully half the Brotherhood, hunting down the remnants of the vast Ork populations that had once plagued this planet. The enemy had clearly done a good job of choking any communications while they launched their attack. But now the winds had awakened and they could not be stopped. Their speed would give them surprise. The traitors would not expect a full fighting force to cover the breadth of the continent in two days.

As they approached the Death Guard facility in the predawn blackness, Turan felt the hatred and sense of betrayal rising to boiling. These wretched traitors had murdered his brothers and broken their sworn oaths. He meant to rip this outpost apart and prevent this traitor force from bringing aid to the assault on Berat. He would tear through this scum like a hurricane, leaving only wreckage and desolation in his wake as he carved a path to his besieged brothers.

The night vision sensors on his jet bike lit up with the distant targets. He growled into the comm link, “Engage at will. Take no prisoners. Purge the betrayers.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



BATTLE:

Game map highlighting the four objectives. The traitors chose the near table edge, leaving the far edge for the Loyalists to enter the table from on turn 1. 

View of the Traitor facility from the east. 

Horus Heresy Campaign Phase 3 - Battle 2: The Boarding of The KVS Defiant

"We are going in to disable that ship, and we are going to kill anyone who stands in our way. Prepare the Butchers."

 - Praetor Helmuth,
Death Guard Legion

Campaign To Date:

It has been about 40 years since a combined force of Sons of Horus, Death Guard, and White Scars brought the Xhorik System into compliance during the Great Crusade. The major population centers of the largest continent were quickly brought under Imperial control in the typical fashion: a series of pinpoint attacks of overwhelming force by the Legions against the enemy's strong points, followed by rapid surrender. Due to the richness of the primary planet and the strategic location of the system on a sort of crossroads of warp currents, small garrisons of the Death Guard and White Scars legions were left on the planet to oversee the tithes of men and material to the Great Crusade and to help eradicate the threat of large ork populations in the eastern wastes.

With the advent of the Horus Heresy, the Warmaster ordered that the Xhorik System be taken to act as a way station for resupply on his long march to Terra. The Death Guard and their human allies on Xhorik Prime launched an attack on the White Scars and their allies, the Stratocracy of Kozar.

In Phase 1 of the campaign, the Traitors pushed the Loyalists from the war-torn border city of Bielyr in a series of bloody streetfighting.

In Phase 2, the war escalated across the badlands of the Valbaara Plateau in several pitched battles. In the end, the Brotherhood of the Wind was defeated and their leader Praetor Zherdan was killed by the Death Guard.

Phase 3 of the Campaign for Xhorik Prime finds the battered Loyalists unable to stand against the Death Guard heavy armor and so they are resorting to guerrilla tactics as the Traitor army advances north toward the major cities of Kozar. This phase will culminate with a large Traitor assault on a fortified Loyalist city. There will be four missions that will impact the deciding battle of the phase.

PRE-GAME AND MISSION:

The second battle of the phase takes place in orbit over the Loyalist Kozar city of Berat. We elected to use the Zone Mortalis mission Force the Breach! to represent a Traitor boarding party trying to capture a Loyalist ship, the Kozar Void Ship Defiant. The setup is simple: three objectives (one in the Defender's deployment quadrant and one in each neutral quadrant) and whoever controls more of them at the end of the game wins.

ARMY SELECTION:  1000 Points

Traitors - Pete

Death Guard

• Praetor Helmuth: Terminator armor, Paragon Blade, volkite charger, digilasers
• Tactical Squad Hammer Streik: 12 marines with close combat weapons, sergeant with power fist and artificer armor and Apothecary Holtzendorff

World Eaters

• The Red Butchers: 5 marines with power axes plus Devoured Argore with two chain fists
• Contemptor Dreadnought Fellblood: twin-linked lascannon, melta gun and chain fist

Loyalists - Phil

Ship's Crew of the Kozar Battlecruiser KVS Defiance

• Commander Kazchian with plasma pistol
• Infantry squad with lasguns and medicae
• Grenadiers with one missile launcher and medicae
• 2 Sentinels with lascannons
• 3 Tarantulas with twin-linked lascannons

White Scars Brotherhood of the Wind 

• Consul Barikh with power glaive and refractor field
• Veteran Tactical Squad Zurgaa: 10 veteran marines, sergeant with power glaive and artificer armor
• Veteran Tactical Support Squad Khoyor: 7 veteran marines with combi-plasmas, and 1 with plasma gun

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Kohrin gripped his lasgun tightly as the ship shuddered and groaned around him.  The lights flickered out momentarily, casting him and his squad mates into utter blackness. He knew that meant that all available power was being diverted, likely to the shield systems. The lights sputtered back to life, but weaker now, and some not at all. 

Again, the walls shook and the floor rocked and swayed under his feet, as the artificial gravity generators struggled to keep up with the pitching of the ship as it recoiled from the impacts. Kohrin swallowed and glanced around. His squad mates were quietly lost in their own thoughts, some mumbling the now-forbidden, but not forgotten, prayers of Kozar, their ancient homeland. Prayers that pre-dated their assimilation into the Empire of Man and the administration of His Imperial Truth. 

The ship jolted harder than before and Kohrin staggered, but this time instead of the dull, echoing rumble and groans of previous hits, the sounds were immediate and intense: an eruption, the screaming whine of metals failing, a hissing roar like a windstorm. 

“Rifles up, lads. That’s a boarding party.” the Lieutenant barked. “And nearby, from the feel of it.”

The men around Kohrin tensed. The praying from some intensified. 

He heard the hard pounding echoes of metal on metal. Then the distant sound of men screaming, dying, muffled by the doors and yet unmistakable. Kohrin’s stomach twisted and his hands felt numb. He looked down to check that he was still holding his lasgun. 

The metal pounding got louder. Then an angry roar split the air, sounding only half-human. 

From behind him, Kohrin heard the metallic footsteps of power armor and whipped around only to see the massive bodies were clad in the stark white of the White Scars. He trembled at the sight of the superhumans.  Even knowing they were on his side, he couldn’t forget the things he had seen them do. 

The White Scars moved wordlessly through the Kozar troopers to stand ahead of them, shoulder to shoulder in the narrow hallway. 

The clanging of the approaching enemy grew louder. The bellows of rage reverberating through the halls made Kohrin squeeze his eyes shut. The men around him murmured and glanced sideways at each other, as if each was checking to confirm his squad mates were still there. 

“You are soldiers of Kozar! Whatever comes down that hallway, you will hold your ground!” The lieutenant’s voice was firm and clear, practiced in command. 

In the dim light, Kohrin could just make out the massive silhouettes at the other end of the hall and his heart sank. Whatever they were, they made the giant power-armored marines in front of him look small. Their weapons alone were nearly the size of a man. The flickering lights gleaned off the splatters of slick, fresh blood that covered them. 

Once again, that horrible, twisted roar that seethed with hatred. This time louder and clearly coming from those huge and horrible metal shapes. Kohrin found himself screaming too, whether to drown out the terrifying sound or to steel his nerves or just out of sheer terror, he did not know...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



BATTLE:

Map overview with objectives highlighted and deployment zones designated.

The near side of this board represents the entrance to the engine room. If the Traitors gain control of this vital area, they can disable the ship from the inside, taking her out of action and swinging the void battle in their favor. The objectives represent vital ship's controls.

Terrain: Quick Ridge Line

For Father's Day, I told the kids I wanted us to make some terrain together so they helped me with this quick project. When cleaning out the garage the other day, I found a box of model trees that I must have had for over ten years, waiting to be turned into a terrain project so here was the perfect opportunity. This project went from raw materials to finished over the course of a few hours spread throughout the day. I cut and shaped some styrofoam with an electric cutter, one piece for the ridge and another for the base. Glued them together with white glue. Then stuck on a bit of putty here and there to break up the flat features slightly. The kids then helped me by sticking on some rocks with hot glue and then spreading white glue all over and sprinkling sand on it. I primed it a sand color and gave it a couple of quick coats with some tan and gray craft paints. Then we got the pre-assembled trees out and stuck them into the foam with hot glue. Simple, but effective.

The crew busy spreading glue and sand.

Each ridge is long enough to give cover to a normal-sized squad. The two together make a nice ridge line. 

Kill Team Battle Report: Drop Troops vs Tyranids

PRE-GAME AND MISSION:

This was a kill team game with the mission where the Tyranids had to kill the leader of the Drop Troops. It seems the Genestealers could instinctively sense the human leader and knew that his DNA would be the most beneficial for the hive...


FORCES:

Tyranids Hive Fleet Tarasque - Infiltration Splinter
Nine Genestealers

Xhorik 87th Drop Troops - 3rd Company, 2nd Platoon
Lieutenant Kipchak with laspistol
Specialist Tarik with melta gun
Specialist Korab with grenade launcher
Drop Trooper Qerim with vox caster
14 Drop Troopers with lasguns

Kill Team Tarasque moves swiftly and silently in search of their targets.

Kipchak and the men of 2nd Platoon, 3rd Company: The Lucky Bastards

Drop Troops Tauros

It looks like I never posted a picture of my Tauros. It still needs weathering, but I plan to do the whole unit together once I build the Venators so they will look uniform. I really love the look of the four-wheeled Tauros and would love to have more, but unfortunately, they went out of stock many months before the rest of the Elysians were discontinued so I was never able to get more. Although I have to say, this guy has never done anything in a game except die and give up an easy victory point.

This vehicle has such a cool profile. I love the open roll-bar frame.

Horus Heresy Campaign Phase 3 - Battle 1: The Conclave of the Damned

"Be careful out there."
"If I wanted to be careful, I wouldn't have joined the drop troops."

 - exchange between Kozar troopers,
2nd Platoon, 3rd company,
 just before Operation Comet

Campaign To Date:

It has been about 40 years since a combined force of Sons of Horus, Death Guard, and White Scars brought the Xhorik System into compliance during the Great Crusade. The major population centers of the largest continent were quickly brought under Imperial control in the typical fashion: a series of pinpoint attacks of overwhelming force by the Legions against the enemy's strong points, followed by rapid surrender. Due to the richness of the primary planet and the strategic location of the system on a sort of crossroads of warp currents, small garrisons of the Death Guard and White Scars legions were left on the planet to oversee the tithes of men and material to the Great Crusade and to help eradicate the threat of large ork populations in the eastern wastes.

With the advent of the Horus Heresy, the Warmaster ordered that the Xhorik System be taken to act as a way station for resupply on his long march to Terra. The Death Guard and their human allies on Xhorik Prime launched an attack on the White Scars and their allies, the Stratocracy of Kozar.

In Phase 1 of the campaign, the Traitors pushed the Loyalists from the war-torn border city of Bielyr in a series of bloody streetfighting.

In Phase 2, the war escalated across the badlands of the Valbaara Plateau in several pitched battles. In the end, the Brotherhood of the Wind was defeated and their leader Praetor Zherdan was killed by the Death Guard.

Phase 3 of the Campaign for Xhorik Prime finds the battered Loyalists unable to stand against the Death Guard heavy armor and so they are resorting to guerrilla tactics as the Traitor army advances north toward the major cities of Kozar. This phase will culminate with a large Traitor assault on a fortified Loyalist city. There will be four missions that will impact the deciding battle of the phase.

PRE-GAME AND MISSION:

This first battle represents the arrival of the World Eaters into the Xhorik system and their attempts to link up and coordinate with Praetor Wolfgang and his Death Guard. They have arranged a secret meeting at a remote location far from the front lines, but a Loyalist spy was able to get wind of the approximate location. Now a Loyalist R.A.P.T.O.R. team has been assembled to make a daring raid in an attempt to eliminate the Traitor leaders and disrupt their coordination for the coming assault.

We played the Conclave of the Lost scenario from Horus Heresy Book VI. In this mission, commanders of two allied factions start in a central ruin with a few sentries around the perimeter. The attacker can deploy infiltrators and the rest of each force is in reserve. Victory points are awarded to the attacker for eliminating enemy HQ units by turn 3 or to the defender if they survive for three turns instead. The secondary objective is kill points for destroying units and we elected to use our house rule of units being worth one kill point for every 100 pts the unit cost, rounded up.

The result of the Kill Team game we played previously setup this game by allowing the Traitor side to start with a dreadnought on the board (rather than just infantry) by obtaining replacement parts and for the Loyalist side to have one unit up to 200 points arrive from reserves on Turn 1 due to capturing additional data on the meeting location from scanner consoles. 

ARMY SELECTION:  Points

Traitors - Pete

Death Guard

• Praetor Wolfgang: Terminator armor, Paragon Blade, volkite charger, digilasers
• Tactical Squad Stärke: 12 marines with close combat weapons, sergeant with power fist and artificer armor and Apothecary Wilhelm
• 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 and Apothecary
• Contemptor Dreadnought Friedrich:  multi-melta, melta gun, dreadnought close combat weapon

World Eaters

• Vigilator Remulak: Cameoline and bolter
• Legion Recon Squad The Butchers' Eyes: 4 marines with sniper rifles
• The Red Butchers: 5 marines with power axes plus Devouer Argore with two chain fists
• Land Raider Flesh Grinder: twin-linked lascannon sponsons, twin-linked heavy bolter
• Contemptor Dreadnought Vorgett the Vicious: twin-linked lascannon, melta gun and chain fist

Loyalists - Phil

R.A.P.T.O.R. (Rapid Attack / Precision Tactical Operations / Reconnaissance) Team for Operation Comet:

Kozar 87th Drop Troops, 3rd Company

• Captain Xhaer with plasma pistol and Command Squad with medic, vox caster, carapace armor
• Veteran Squad Recon with carapace armor and Forward Observers (infiltrate and homing beacon)
• 2nd Drop Platoon:
• First Stick: Infantry Squad with melta gun and vox caster
• Second Stick: Infantry Squad with grenade launcher
• Melta stick: Two special weapons squads with melta guns
• 2 Drop Sentinels with multimeltas
• Tauros with grenade launcher

White Scars Brotherhood of the Wind 

• Tactical Squad Kheeg: 10 marines with close combat weapons, sergeant with power glaive and artificer armor
• Tactical Support Squad Khoer: 8 marines with plasma guns
• Sicaran Omega Tank Destroyer Balestorm: Omega Plasma Array, heavy bolter and lascannon sponsons
• Outrider Squad Anchin: 5 Outriders with twin-linked plasma guns, including sergeant Genju
• Anvillus Pattern Dreadclaw Dop Pod

Imperial Fists Support

• Terminator Squad: 5 marines with plasma blaster, volkite charger, two power fists, chainfist, lighting claw

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Listen up, soldiers," snapped Captain Xhaer.

"You've been briefed so you know the importance of Operation Comet. We've already been taking a beating and now the traitor scum is trying to link up with a warband of the World Eaters legion. We know the Death Guard are advancing on Berat. I know more than a few of you are from there and have family there. We cannot let them coordinate a joint attack on the city. This is our chance to disrupt their forces. We must take it and we must not fail.

"We will have sixty minutes, plus or minus ten, from T-zero when the White Scars drop pod hits until the Valkyries come back in for extraction, depending on how much heat they face.  If the Primaries are neutralized, then take out any enemy targets of opportunity before we pull out. But watch yourselves; this isn't a suicide mission. We cannot afford to deplete too much of our fighting strength. We need to hit them fast and hard, accomplish our objectives, and get out of there alive. Understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" was the shouted response of 2nd Platoon.

"Into hell we go..." Xhaer began the regimental motto of the Kozar 87th.

"...Willingly!" the men finished with raised fists.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



BATTLE:

Deployment Map

Horus Heresy Battle Report 13: The Setup (Kill Team)

"Better to be the head of a wasp than the tail of a dragon."

 - Brother Elder Gansukh of Kill Team Sürel,

White Scars Legion,
on why he prefers to fight as part of a kill team

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 by 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.

The first phase of the campaign consisted of a series of small skirmishes as the the Death Guard captured the border city of Bielyer and the only space port of any consequence in the region. In the second phase of the campaign, the Traitors pushed north into Loyalist territory across the barren Valbaara Plateau in a series of larger pitched battles. The Death Guard control of the space port allowed them to bring in a super heavy battle tank, which helped to overpower the White Scars.

As the third phase of the campaign begins, both armies have suffered significant casualties and are looking for reinforcements. The White Scars have taken the worst of the fighting, such that they will struggle to mobilize enough forces for large pitched battles and will need to rely more on their Kozar Army allies and the small Imperial Fists detachment. Their strategy will be to defend the key cities combined with hit-and-run targeted raids when opportunities arise. The Death Guard are planning to assault the key cities and strongholds of Kozar in order to crush the northern nation and bring the major population centers of the continent under the control of Horus and Mortarian. To assist in this endeavor, they are hoping to enlist the support of a contingent of World Eaters that has arrived in the Xhorik system. Praetor Wolfgang calls for a secret council with the World Eaters at a remote location in order to understand their current mission and coordinate their forces against the Loyalists.

PRE-GAME AND MISSION:

The next major battle will be the first final battle of the third phase of the campaign. We decided that each team would have two objectives to capture, with an effect on the main battle for each objective captured.

The Death Guard would be looking to gather critical supplies: replacement parts for their mighty Contemptor Dreadnought Friedrich, which suffered some damage in previous battles. The needed parts are indicated by the red storage container and the red crates. Each objective captured would be worth an extra 200 points that Pete could spend on defenders that would start the game on the battlefield and could be used for any units (the mission restricts the defender to start with only infantry on the table).

The White Scars would be trying to capture two area scanners with detailed information about the area. Their reconnaissance work has already told them the general vicinity of the Traitor rendezvous, but with the scanners, they could pinpoint the location. This would allow them to focus their forces rather than sweeping a larger area. The result would be that for each objective captured, Phil would get to select 200 points worth of units to arrive from reserves on Turn 1, rather than rolling to arrive on Turn 2 as normal. Just like the Traitor bonus, this would be in addition to any units allowed to start the game on the table or arrive from reserves on Turn 1 already.


FORCES:

Death Guard Kill Team Ritter
Sergeant Albrecht: Power Fist
Heavy Gunner: Missile Launcher
Gunner: Plasma Gun
Four tactical marines

White Scars Kill Team Sürel
Sergeant Khaljyk with Power Sword (represented by glaive on model)
Gunner: Brother Elder Gansukh with Plasma Gun
Gunner: Plasma Gun
Four tactical marines

BATTLE:

The foes face off in the industrial facility, both kill teams seeking to give their side the advantage in the pivotal battle to come.

Campaign Update: Phase 3 Outline and House Rules

Phase 3 will be a set of four missions to setup the final battle and culmination of the phase: a Death Guard assault on the walls of a fortified Kozar city. The four missions are not necessarily linear and represent various skirmishes, raids and maneuvers ahead of the main attack, where each mission will have a significant impact on the final game. The winner of the final game will be the winner of the phase.

1. The first mission of Phase 3 will be a variation of the Conclave of the Lost scenario from Horus Heresy Book VI. This will represent the World Eaters joining the campaign with a secret conclave between their forward strike force and Praetor Wolfgang. If the traitors win, they have successfully coordinated their assault in the final battle and one World Eater unit (and any transport) gets to deploy via Outflank, including inside the city walls.

2.  Zone Mortalis mission representing an assault on a ship in orbit. If the Traitors win, they control geosynchronous orbit above the city and can launch bombardments (as per the Damocles Command Rhino) at the start of any traitor shooting phase on a 4+.

3. Night Raiders (from the Taros Campaign). If the Traitors win, they can elect to re-roll the roll for an additional turn at the end of the game.

4.Shatter Strike as both forces try to breakthrough in a battle along the main road to Berat.


5. The final battle will be a Death Guard assault on the city gate.

The defender selects an army of 3000 points and splits his forces into two parts: Sentries and Reserves. The Sentries portion consists of 1 HQ, 1+ Troops choices, and 0 - 2 Heavy Support choices. Only units with the Infantry or Artillery type may be selected. This portion of the army can cost up to half the army total points cost and may be deployed anywhere up to 6" in front of the city walls. The HQ unit must be deployed inside a piece of ruins designated as the Defenders Headquarters. The Defender Reserves force starts in Reserve as normal and enters using the normal rules. The Warlord may be part of either force.

The Attacker can select an army of 3000 points. The Attacker may deploy any units with Infiltrate as per the normal rules. The Attacker automatically goes first (no chance to seize the initiative) and may move as much of his army onto the table from his board edge as desired. Any unit chosen to enter the table on Turn 1 with the Deep Strike rule may deploy using Deep Strike on Turn 1. Any unit that does not enter the table on Turn 1 starts in Reserves as normal. The Attacker's army can include a Lord of War.

There will be three primary objectives: the gate, the loyalist headquarters and the defensive artillery platform. Holding an objective at the end of the game is worth 3 VPs. Or the attacker can earn 2 VPs for destroying the gate or the artillery platform (the headquarters must be held). Secondary objectives: Slay the Warlord (1 VP) and Annihilation (whichever side destroys more points worth of enemy units gets 1 VP). Additionally, the Attacker can earn Line Breaker (1 VP).

Gate: AP 14, 5 Hull Points, fortification damage table. If you control the Gate Controls at the start of your turn, you may choose to open or close the gate.

Artillery Platform: AP 14, 5 Hull Points, fortification damage table. Any artillery units on the platform can re-roll scatter.

Defender Headquarters: Any unit in this ruin may re-roll failed morale and leadership tests.

City Wall: This counts as a terrain piece and not a fortification. Units on the wall receive a 3+ cover save from the front a 6+ cover save from behind. Multiple units from opposing sides may simultaneously be on the walls.

The battle lasts for a minimum of six turns. At the end of the sixth turn, there is a seventh turn on a roll of a 4+.

The Defender starts with good positioning, but the attacker gets more options to earn VPs and the chance to earn bonuses in the preceding missions.

I really want to try this mission in reverse as well!

Other Campaign Rules:

Terrain:
We have finally documented our campaign terrain rules to make them more consistent from game to game.

Warlords:
Our Warlords can choose a Warlord Trait instead of rolling for one as long as it is suitable based on the way they have played so far. That trait should not change from game to game unless both players agree there was a significant change in the way the Warlord or his army played and then the new trait should be representative of that.


Blast Marker Weapon House Rule:
For direct fire: Roll to hit as normal. If hit, place the template on the closest visible model in the target unit, as per normal rules for casualty removal. If miss, no effect (no scatter).
OR: Can use the standard rules (place the blast anywhere in the unit and automatically roll for scatter subtracting BS.
Indirect fire (barrage) stays the same as current if there is no line of sight. If there is line of sight, you can choose to fire directly, as above.


Go To Ground House Rule:
Going to Ground is never used in our games because the benefit is too small for the cost so we should improve it. If a unit elects to go to ground, it gains a +2 to its cover save instead of +1.


Sniper Rifles House Rule:
The special rules are replaced with: "Heavy 1, Sniper, Head Shot, Pinning" and the points cost is increased from +5 to +10 points.
Head Shot: An unmodified roll of 6 to hit results in the hit being S6 AP2.


Elysian Drop Troops:
To bring them in line with Horus Heresy, the cost of all infantry and light vehicles (up to AV 11) - basically everything except flyers - are reduced by 15%.

Xhorik 87th Drop Troops Melta Stick

These two special weapons squads typically ride to battle together in a single Valkyrie, but with the flexibility split up during the drop as the tactical situation dictates. They fight in two-man fire teams consisting of a melta gunner and a rifleman that carries extra ammo, acts as a spotter, and provides covering fire so that the primary gunner can focus on the most important targets.

Due to the short range and high power of their weapons, melta sticks are often included in platoons that are making combat drops directly into battle where they are sent to eliminate critical enemy targets.

Shown here are all six fire teams of the two squads that make up the melta stick of their platoon.

Horus Heresy Battle Report 12: Control of the Valbaara Plateau (Phase 2 Finale)

"For Horus to succeed, Terra must fall. For Terra to fall, Xhorik must fall. For Xhorik to fall, the Brotherhood of the Wind must fall. This is our task."

 - Praetor Wolfgang,
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 by 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.

In the first phase of the campaign, the Death Guard captured the border city of Bielyer and the only space port of any consequence in the region. 

The second phase of the campaign has centered around the conflict for the Vaalbara Plateau. The White Scars struck first with  a false retreat leading to an ambush of the Death Guard vanguard. The Traitors were able to rescue Praetor Wolfgang in time to lead them to victory in the pitched battle that followed. Then, after using the space port in Bielyr to bring in a super heavy battle tank, the Death Guard attacked and destroyed the Loyalist base, Bunker  Tauruk. Praetor Zherdan and a small band of survivors were forced to fall back and rendezvous with reinforcements that had been on their way to the battle at the bunker. The White Scars reinforcements outflanked the pursuing Death Guard and drove them off.

With both sides running low on manpower and supplies, the remnants of the two armies converge on an abandoned pumping facility in the middle of the badlands. Both Praetors elect to engage the enemy with everything at their disposal, attempting to drive the other from the Valbaara Plateau once and for all in this decisive battle.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The bitter north wind scoured the Valbaara Plateau. Praetor Wolfgang felt the tiny shards of ice and grains of sand stinging his face as he surveyed the abandoned outpost. With the help of the rugged terrain, he had managed to conceal a good portion of his forces from the White Scars Outriders that had been sweeping the area ahead of the main loyalist advance. 

Wolfgang knew the White Scars forces in the area were critically low on supplies after the destruction of their stronghold, Bunker Tauruk, and that he had the opportunity to deliver a decisive strike here today. But time was not on his side. His own supply lines were stretched to cover the long distance of his northern advance from Bielyr and vulnerable to raids by the mobile White Scars and their Kozar allies. He had suffered significant causalities of his own, and ammunition and fuel were running low this far from his supply base. He was not worried about his men; they had marched and fought without food, water or rest for several days already and showed no sign of fatigue. But his vehicles could not drive on fumes or go into battle without shells. He needed these supplies as badly as the Loyalists, but he could afford to be patient and let the enemy come to him and his defensive positions. 

Sergeant Albrecht's voice came over the comm link, indicating the sensors in his Rhino had picked up the enemy advancing into the center of the outpost.

"Let them come. Don't attack until I give the word." Praetor Wolfgang ordered.

He knew he had one chance to break the Loyalists here and he intended to do so.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



PRE-GAME AND MISSION:

To represent how the battlefield priorities were constantly shifting between the scramble for supplies and the need and desire to destroy the enemy, we played a Maelstrom of War mission from the WH40K 7th Edition Rulebook called Contact Lost. In this mission, you received tactical objective cards for each objective marker you controlled at the start of your turn. We liked that it rewarded being aggressive and controlling the table because a player would get more chances to earn victory points by holding objective markers during the game.

Pete and Bill won the roll to select their deployment zone and then they won the roll to decide on deployment order and elected to deploy second. That strategy has been hugely successful in the campaign so far as it allows them to put their units in position against their optimal foes.

After deploying Infiltrators and making Scout moves, Pete rolled a six and stole the initiative! 

ARMY SELECTION: 1780 Points

Traitors - Pete and Bill

Death Guard

• Praetor Wolfgang: Terminator armor, Paragon Blade, volkite charger, digilasers
• Tactical Squad Stärke: 14 marines with close combat weapons, sergeant with power fist and artificer armor and Apothecary Wilhelm
• 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: 7 marines with missile launchers and Apothecary
• Contemptor Dreadnought Friedrich:  multi-melta, melta gun, dreadnought close combat weapon
• Legion Fellblade with space marine crew

Loyalists - Phil

White Scars Brotherhood of the Wind

• Praetor Zalitai Zherdan: Master-crafted power glaive,iron halo, digilasers, cyber hawk 
• Tactical Squad Kheeg: 10 marines with close combat weapons, sergeant with power glaive and artificer armor
• Tactical Support Squad Khoer: 8 marines with plasma guns
• Sicaran Omega Tank Destroyer Kharvaak: Omega Plasma Array, heavy bolter and lascannon sponsons
• Outrider Squad Anchin: 5 Outriders with twin-linked plasma guns, including sergeant
• Anvillus Pattern Dreadclaw Dop Pod

Kozar 87th Drop Troops, 3rd Company

• Captain Xhaer with plasma pistol and Command Squad with medic and vox caster
• 1st Drop Platoon:
• Veteran Squad with carapace armor, infiltrate, homing beacon, melta bombs and breacher charge
• Infantry Squad with melta gun and vox caster
• Infantry Squad with grenade launcher
• 2 Drop Sentinels with multimeltas
• Tauros with grenade launcher

BATTLE:

Praetor Wolfgang gives his orders from a good vantage point on top of a rocky hill, surrounded by a block of his toughest soldiers.

Unleash the Red Butchers

THE RED BUTCHERS and THE BUTCHERS' EYES


Fresh off of exterminating the populous of the loyalist Tull System, the World Eaters of Angron's 4th Battle Group await orders for their next assignment. No matter the tactical objective of the upcoming campaign, the end will be the same - complete and utter slaughter of the enemy.


Of all the troops at Horus' disposal going forward in his war of hated and vengeance against The Emperor, none are so rightfully feared as Angron's Red Butchers. Driven mad by bloodlust and the piercing "butcher's nails," these berzerkers are unleashed upon the enemy and all allied troops know to keep a wide berth of their carnage. To exert control over these madmen and use them strategically in battle, they are accompanied by an elite recon squad of World Eaters who infiltrate ahead on the battlefield and call in targets for The Butchers. Therefore they have a nickname among the 4th Battle Group - The Butchers' Eyes.

(Above) The Butchers' Eyes on the Battlefield, calling in a target for bloody extermination.

The Red Butchers

By the end of a campaign, their white armor was stained red with blood. Their own blood, the blood of their enemies, the blood of fellow World Eaters who got too close to the rampage.

Once a renowned Centurion among the World Eaters, after the butcher's nails were pierced into his skull and deplorable madness took hold, Argor is now an unfeeling Butcher, hellbent on killing all before him.

White Scars Anvillus Pattern Dreadclaw Drop Pod

I finally fished my Christmas present from the wife: the Anvillus Pattern Dreadclaw Drop Pod.

Just cleaning and assembling the thing took a few sessions. Fitting it together was actually fairly difficult.

It is a pretty large model! And when it is all together, it looks fantastic.

There were some gaps between some of the resin and plastic pieces so I tried to fill them with green stuff and smooth them as well as I could.

After several weeks of painting sessions (did I mention painting white is a real pain?), here she is, brand new and clean from the manufacturom. But a drop pod isn't going to look like this for long!

I figure a drop pod has an extremely rough life so it should look pretty worn and weathered. 

I wanted it to look like it had made many drops; a valuable transport with a long history within the Brotherhood of the Wind.

The photos aren't the best, but it looks decent in reality. 

Overall, this thing was a much bigger job than I anticipated when I started (but then again, so are almost all of my projects...). One problem is that I have issues with my white priming so I spend a lot of time just painting white on top of white, and white takes a lot of coats to cover anything! Also, the clean white look I have adopted is a lot of work since I am doing all that black lining of every crease instead of just washing and drybrushing the entire model like a smart, sane person would do. But, that clean white is what separates these White Scars from the Death Guard or the World Eaters and their dirty off-whites, and I like the look, even if it is a pain on a model this big.

I didn't even bother with the base, or doing much detail on the bottom of the model (just a boltgun metal drybrush down there), partly because I was burned out on this thing by the end, and partly because a drop pod flying around sideways the battlefield just seems silly to me. In my mind, this thing is meant to rocket straight down from a space ship, slamming directly into its target at a force that would kill anyone who wasn't a superhuman in power armor, and opening up to release a squad of space marines with guns blazing. Screaming down from space, then pivoting around to its side and flying around like a weird, slow jet just doesn't make any physical or tactical sense in my mind. (How does it hover along slowly if it is a jet? Don't the riders all fall over on their sides? In order to burn targets like in the rules, it must be pivoting back and forth between vertical and horizontal positions?) So I will just leave mine off the stand.

I am looking forward to seeing this thing on a battlefield soon.