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%.