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.

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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.

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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.

Wolfgang and his men are supported by a massive Fellblade and a Support Squad of Volkite Calivers with commanding fire arcs over the center of the battlefield. 

Contemptor Dreadnought Friedrich and the mobile Squad Ritter make up the aggressive portion of the army, planning to advance straight ahead to capture the central objectives.

The Death Guard forces line up to smash the White Scars and throw them back from the contested Valbaara Plateau, opening the way to the major cities of Kozar.

The Kharvaark rumbles through the rocks and is caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the Death Guard. 

Captain Xhael, commander of the 3rd Company, and his command squad hold one of the objectives among the rocks.

Praetor Zalitai Zherdan leads the central advance. He orders the Outriders to scout ahead in order to quickly secure one of the objectives.

The Outriders slip ahead of the main force to secure some well-needed supplies. As they turn the bend, they unexpectedly find themselves face to face with the enemy.

Zherdan is stunned to be outmaneuvered by the Death Guard. But he grimly leads his men forward into battle, knowing that retreat is not an option; only victory or death. Fate will decide.

After delivering a successful flanking attack to Wolfgang's forces in the previous battle, the Kharvaark now finds itself facing the deadly Death Guard Fellblade that destroyed Bunker Tauruk.

A Kozar scout Tauros races up the road to the communication tower to claim the comm link objective, opening up communications with the Kozar military command.

A veteran squad of Kozar infantry creep forward into the rocks to secure the fuel dump, equipped with a tracking beacon to allow the drop platoon to accurately home in on their position and hit their drop precisely. They also hope to use their melta bombs and breacher charge to destroy the Fellblade.

The Loyalists advance onto the field of battle - right into a Death Guard ambush!

The Death Guard get the jump on the Loyalists and launch an all-out attack.

The Loyalists hold the center as the Traitors prepare to engage.

The Contemptor Dreadnought Friedrich advances toward the Outriders.

Heavy Support Squad Tragen ambushes the Outriders from an elevated position with a hail of missile fire. Despite their skilled riding, three of the bikers are blown to bits.

Wolfgang and his men spread out to secure the area while keeping a watchful eye on the supply depot to their rear.

The earth shakes as the Fellblade slowly rumbles forward. The shattering sound of its accelerator cannon splits the air across the battlefield as The Kharvaark erupts into flame and smoke.

The center of the traitor line advances aggressively. Squad Ritter disembarks and combines their fire with the Volkite fire of squad März to decimate the Kozar veterans, wiping them out and eliminating their tracking beacon.

After suffering punishing losses in the initial Death Guard ambush, the Loyalists fight back. A Deathclaw drop pod screams down from the sky and slams into the rock near Squad Tragen's position. Squad Khoer disembarks with plasma guns blazing, killing most of the Traitors.

The last of Outrider Squad Anchin fire into Squad Ritter, killing several, before assaulting the survivors in a cloud of dust. As they charge into the gun line, one of the bikers is laid low by overwatch fire, leaving the Outrider sergeant to face six Death Guard marines alone. Despite the hopeless odds, he attacks, his power glaive slicing off the head of the first traitor he reaches before he is brought down by massed point-blank pistol fire and killed by bayonets.

Wolfgang orders his men to hold their position and maintain control of the supply depot while the Fellblade changes course and heads for the center of the battle, having already decimated the Loyalist right flank. 

After finishing off the Outriders, squad Ritter clamber back into their Rhino and move to secure the fuel dump. They unleash a stream of burning chemicals onto the advancing White Scars infantry. The Death Guard's special concoction is especially deadly, burning through one of the enemy despite his power armor.

With the White Scars tactical marines stalled by the chemical flames, the Death Guard Fellbladele fires another shell from the accelerator cannon into their midst, killing a few more. Other gunners use the quad lascannons to destroy the drop pod, leaving the White Scars plasma gunners stranded at the pumping station.

Captain Xhaer watches as three Valkyries soar overhead and a platroon of drop troopers use their grav chutes to descend. As they hit the ground, Xhaer issues his orders over the vox caster to bring down the dreadnought!

"Go! Go! Go!" The drop platoon hits the ground. First stick tries to secure the comm-link objective on the hill, but enemy fire forces the Valkyrie to make evasive maneuvers and the men land in the open in front of Wolgang's squad instead!

The drop sentinels land perfectly on target, directly behind Friedrich. They line up their multi-meltas to destroy the Contemptor Dreadnought and they both miss! Second stick also lands on target and secures their objective. The melta gunner receives his orders and promptly brings his weapon to bear on the Death Guard walker, but the dreadnought's shields absorb and dissipate the heat blast.

The White Scars desperately attempt to hurl back the Death Guard and claim the needed fuel objectives Squad Kheeg charges the rhino and uses their krak grenades to destroy it, forcing Squad Ritter to disembark out the back. 

The Loyalists control the left half of the battlefield (including three objectives) while the Traitors control the right half (and two objectives), but the Traitor army has suffered less damage and still has all of their strongest units untouched. 

The unstoppable Fellblade rolls forward, shredding the two sentinels with heavy weapons fire. It also fires the Accelerator cannon again and wipes out most of the drop troops company command squad on the hill. 

Friedrich engages the White Scars infantry next to the smoking wreck of the rhino.

With no chance to hurt the armored walker, the White Scars attempt to fall back, but Friedrich is too quick and wipes them out with a few sweeps of his power claw.

Second stick makes a last, desperate attempt to stop Friedrich. The gunner once again hits with his melta gun right on target in a spot that would penetrate the armor, but once again the shot is stopped by the walker's force shields.

With no way to damage the Contemptor Dreadnought, Praetor Zherdan has no choice but to fall back. 

The Fellblade and Friedrich both advance on Praetor Zherdan and line up their heavy weapons.

The combination of multimelta and tank firepower is enough to utterly destroy the mighty leader.

The last of the Loyalists are forced to fall back or be slaughtered. 

RESULT:

Loyalists: 3 Victory Points

Secure Objective 4: 1

Ascendancy: 2

Traitors: 6 Victory Points

Secure Objective 1

First Blood: 1
No Prisoners: 1

Slay the Warlord: 1
Assassinate: 1
King Slayer: 1

Traitor Victory!

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Consul Dhunan stepped back from the remains of Praetor Zalitai Zherdan. Parts of the body were completely burned away, evaporated by the melta blast that felled the mighty hero. Despite the damage, the Praetor was still recognizable by his large body covered in innumerable scars and ancient tattoos. The blood of the Great Khan himself, thought Dhunan. 

For this Khan of the Wind, there would be no foul rotting beneath the dirt, cut off from the sky and held forever underground. There would be no entrapment in the sarcophagus of a dreadnought where what was left of his brain and soul would be trapped and condemned to madness, never to feel the wind again. There would not even be the flames of the funeral pyre, burning away the soul along with the body. No, these were the ways of other Legions, but not of the Brotherhood of the Wind.

Praetor Zherdan would be united with the sky and the sacred realm through a sky burial, an ancient tradition of the clans of Chogoris that made up the Brotherhood of the Wind. Here on a barren nameless peak of rock north of the Plateau of Valbaara, the body of Praetor Zherdan would be eaten by the airborne animals of this world of Xhorik Prime, giving strength to his spiritual brethren and thus remaining in the sky always. 

Dhunan and his small band stepped back and watched the grim proceedings until darkness fell. Their leader was dead, their Brotherhood shattered and defeated. But as long as any one of us draws breath, vowed Dhunan, we will fight on. They turned and headed down the mountain. The sun will rise. The wind will rise. This world would yet be cleansed of the foul taint of betrayal that had befallen it.

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"This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it may be the end of the beginning."

 - Elder Brother Gansukh,
White Scars Legion

POST-GAME:

Loyalist Post-Game Analysis:

Phil: This was definitely the best-looking battle yet. And it was great that our other brother got in on the action by sharing control of the Death Guard with Pete. It was just too bad that the action was not very compelling with the outcome being more or less determined pretty early on. The combination of setting up first, going second, and facing a super heavy vehicle was just far too much to overcome. With three units completely destroyed and one crippled before my first turn, it was an uphill battle from the start.

I knew I would struggle to destroy the Fellblade, meaning Pete would likely be controlling the game in the later turns, so my strategy was to jump out to an early lead, by using my numbers and mobility to control a lot of objectives from the start. Since you got a Tactical Objective card for each objective you held, I started with my army deployed aggressively forward (using infiltrate and scout moves) and spread out to control four objectives to start the game. Unfortunately, this really worked against me when Pete and Bill stole the initiative as my forces were sitting in vulnerable positions where he could inflict maximum damage.

We attempted to adjust the points of the WH40k 6th Edition Drop Troops to match Horus Heresy by applying a 15% discount (dropping them from about 600 pts to about 510). But it was really glaring just how poorly they performed even at the reduced cost. They cost about the same as the Fellblade, but only managed to kill a single tactical marine that cost about 13 points. And they were 80% wiped out after three turns. The Fellblade was able to destroy five vehicles and a number of infantry for a total of around 730 points and had not lost a single hull point. So for around the same points cost, the Fellblade did over 50 times as much damage and took over 80% less damage in return. The Drop Troops did hold two objectives for a few turns, but that was it.

I think we both agree that the house rule that makes blast marker weapons more deadly should increase the cost of those units by at least 20 - 25% to try to redress the balance issue.

The battle was so convincingly dominated by the traitors that I figured I should have Praetor Zherdan perish at the end as a penalty, since he has lost both of the first two phases. I will start Phase 3 with a new warlord and try to avenge him while regaining some credibility for the White Scars.

Traitor Post-Game Analysis:

Pete: I have to agree – what a truly awesome looking battle. A bit one-sided, but really sharp pictures and effects by Phil. I’m loving the melta effects, smoke from the Fellblade, dust-up from the landing drop pod, green chemical weapon flame from the Rhino, etc. So cool!

It was a lot of fun sharing control of my army with Bill, as he is a courageous commander and doesn’t share my conservative nature. He threw the units under his command forward and took control of the center battlefield. Perhaps there is a lesson to learn there as we begin Phase 3 of the campaign. But I’m still surprised his Contemptor Dreadnought wasn’t destroyed by all the Drop Troops’ melta.

I believe this is the first battle that included the Fellblade from turn 1 deployment, and it is obvious that our games aren’t ready for it yet. I think we’ll keep it on the sidelines for Phase 3 and allow Phil to build up his Loyalist forces to a higher point total. It would have been possible to destroy the super heavy behemoth, but it would have taken a miracle or two. But it was so satisfying to see this amazing model on the table, a rolling fortress of death and destruction! But I don’t want the competitive balance to be upset - this is like playing Sid Meier’s Civilization when you bring tanks to a battle against musket men.

For a game or two of Phase 3, I’d like to see us try alternating deployment back and forth – heavy support, troops, elites, then fast attack. It just makes more sense, despite it being outside the rules of Warhammer 40k/HH. Unless a battle calls for a defender and an attacker, then it would make sense to have the defender lay out his entire force before the attacker counters. In this game, having Phil deploy first was again a significant disadvantage. I’m sure Phil will be in favor of this trial rule change. 

I’m so nostalgic about Preator Zherdan already! He was a worthy battle commander and stunning model on the table. But I have to say that I like the idea of characters, commanders, flavorful induvial troopers, etc. being mortal and able to be killed in the campaign. Otherwise it is a never-ending recycling of the same warriors with no real consequences for losing or dying. Not to say every time they are “killed” in a battle they should be automatically gone forever, but sometimes based on the situation or story it makes sense.

I’m thrilled to see where the story goes next and involve new factions in the action! The war for Xhorik has only just begun! All hail Warmaster Horus!!