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.

The Death Guard heavy gunner with missile launcher takes up a perfect position behind cover with a wide line of sight.

Sergeant Khaljyk leads his men toward the hated enemy.

Sergeant Albrecht and his plasma gunner advance along the catwalk toward the much-needed supplies. 

Sergeant Khaljik and his men fire as they advance, but the bolter rounds cannot penetrate the Death Guard power armor.

The Death Guard heavy gunner fires off a krak missile that rips the White Scars plasma gunner apart in an eruption of sparks, smoke and gore. The Death Guard plasma gunner fires at Sergeant Khaljyk, but his armor somehow spares him from the white-hot plasma! He is truly favored by the Emperor!

Sergeants Ritter and Khaljyk stare each other down as they close the distance. 

Sergeant Albrecht makes the fearless charge into all three White Scars. Khaljyk is able to dodge Albrecht's deadly power fist attacks. 

The Death Guard heavy gunner is once again dead accurate with his krak missile, this time taking down the White Scars' spiritual leader, the veteran plasma gunner Brother Elder Gansukh. 

The brawl on the platform continues until Khaljyk is able to land a crippling blow with his power glaive, taking Albrecht out of the fight.

Meanwhile on the ground, the White Scars tactical marines make a push for their objective, the scanner. It is protected by immovable Death Guard marines in a defensible position. One of the White Scars suffers a flesh wound as they advance against the fortified enemy.

The plasma gunner takes aim once again at Sergeant Khaljyk but misses.

With the White Scars on the platform busy with Sergeant Albrecht and the two gunners, a lone tactical marine makes a rush for the ladder, hoping to slip through the White Scars' line and grab the unguarded objective of the crates.

Khaljyk notices the Death Guard marine making his way to the platform and races back to crates of dreadnought parts.

After a close quarters fight in the center of the platform, both sides fall back. The Death Guard plasma gunner backs up to stay out of melee combat. The White Scars move back to grab the two objectives on the platform.

View from the other side: The White Scars and Death Guard each hold one of their objectives. The White Scars are contesting their second objective.

The firefight around White Scars Objective B continues with neither side able to gain the advantage. Marines on both sides take several hits from bolter rounds, but continue to fight through their injuries.

A White Scar tactical marine braves the plasma gun fire to race toward the Death Guard gunner, figuring he has a better chance in close combat than in a firefight. 

The Death Guard heavy gunner was extremely deadly early in the battle, eliminating both White Scars plasma gunners. With a chance to take out the lone White Scar marine near White Scars Objective A across from him, he finally misses, leaving the Loyalists in control of the objective.

The battle ends with each side controlling one of their objectives. The Death Guard contest White Scar control of their scanner objective on the ground and no Death Guard are near their supply crate objective on the platform. 

Result: DRAW

With the Traitors holding one shipping container full of replacement parts for their dreadnought, Pete would have 200 points to spend on additional units to deploy at the start of the battle, and would be able to use those points on non-infantry units, meaning Friedrich would be present from the beginning of the battle instead of having to enter from reserves. That is a key advantage for a unit with relatively slow speed and short-ranged weapons.

The Loyalists were able to download some scans of the area and the Traitor movements, getting a better read on where to find their leaders. This information enables them to move closer before striking, allowing Phil to select a unit of 200 points to arrive from reserves on Turn 1.


POST-GAME:

Loyalist Post-Game Analysis:

Phil: We tried to simplify things and just focus on learning the core rules so we left out all specialists and command points in this game. I think that was a good move since this time we correctly played the effect of the multiple damage from krak missiles giving multiple injury rolls, unlike last game, and the results were very different: two hits - two kills, demonstrating how lethal that weapon is. Once again, our basic space marines had a hard time killing each other without special weapons, but we realized late in the game that we had not been shooting twice with rapid fire weapons when at half range so that was a factor, and again proved we needed this game just to memorize the core rules.

The highlight of the game for me was definitely my sergeant miraculously surviving first a plasma gun shot and then Albrecht's power fist and then taking down his foe in return. That was a dramatic sequence that will give these two sergeants some history and animosity for each other to fuel future games and shows that Khaljyk clearly has some unknown destiny laid upon him by fate. The rest of the game was a little slow for me; after losing my two plasma gunners to krak missiles on the first two turns, my force struggled to do any damage. Despite that, I ended up controlling the catwalks enough to claim my objective and deny Pete his, but neither of us could break the stalemate on the ground without a character or special weapon gunner down there. In the end, a good warmup to set the stage for a more interesting first few turns in the Conclave battle to come.


Traitor Post-Game Analysis:

Pete: