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

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BATTLE:

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

The road to Berat is guarded by bunkers with automated weapon platforms.

The Loyalist vehicles  prepare to hold the left flank.

The Traitors concentrate their forces on their right flank for a spearhead assault. 

Praetor Wolfgang and the relentless Death Guard prepare to lead the assault on the Loyalist lines.

The mighty Fellblade Welt Zerstörer rumbles straight down the highway to punch a hole through the Loyalist defenses.

Reacting to the Traitor formation, Khan Jorma swiftly redeploys his jet bikes to counter the threat.

The two armies face off on the road to Berat.

After the Khan's redeployment, Squad Temgar prepares to counter attack through the enemy lines to disrupt their advance.

The Loyalists on the left flank prepare for the hammerfall of the Traitor assault.  

Khan Jorma and his men prepare to punish the Traitor infantry as they approach.

The Berat city garrison hastily erects a roadblock barrier between the bunkers.

The mighty World Eaters Land Raider ___ provides a screen for the Death Guard Squad Folterer in their Rhino so they can push through the enemy lines.

Do the Loyalists have the firepower to slow down the super heavy battle tank?

The Loyalists make the first move as Khan Jorma and his jetbikes fly over the left bunker and Squad Temgar and the Kozar Grenadiers advance along the right flank.

Captain Xhosa leads his grenadiers from the bunker in an attempt to push through enemy lines.

The White Scars of Squad Temgar lead the way, hoping to slip past the Traitor spearhead and disrupt the approaching army, delaying their assault on Berat.

Khan Jorma and his Sky Hunters open fire into the Death Guard but inflict little damage on their famously resilient foes.

The Firespear turns its Omega Plasma Array on the World Eaters Land Raider..

The Omega Plasma Array delivers a sustained burn, but the Land Raider cannot be stopped.

A drop pod comes crashing down next to the Fellblade, disgorging Tactical Support Squad Shatak.

They unleash their plasma fire at the weaker rear armor of the mighty tank Welt Zerstörer. 

Squad Shatak delivered some damage to the Fellblade but now find themselves heavily outnumbered.

The Traitor forces push directly toward the Loyalist defenses. 

The Kozar infantry hold the line against the oncoming battle tank with little hope of victory.

The Fellblade fires the awesome accelerator cannon.

The Welt Zerstörer unleashes hell on the Sky Hunters, killing several.

At the rear of the battle, the Hell Hounds move to intercept the White Scars strike force.

The Hell Hounds are eager to spill blood.

Squad Shatak fire overwatch as the Hell Hounds charge. They fight bravely but are overwhelmed by the World Eaters.

The Welt Zerstörer rolls closer as the surviving Tarantulas pelt it with lascannon fire. 

Outrider Squad Tsujen launches a flank attack, eliminating Recon Squad The Black Vultures in a hail of plasma.

The Loyalists fire at the advancing traitors, but once again they cannot stop the Land Raider.

Praetor Wolfgang marches his men forward over the  hill. The Death Guard Rhino continues to tail the much tougher Land Raider as it advances.

Suddenly the maw of the Land Raider Fleisch Schleifer opens and The Red Butchers emerge...

The blood-soaked maniacs go straight for the Firespear.

The World Eaters salivate at the sight of the nearby Loyalists. And the Fellblade eliminates the Tarantulas.

The Butchers make short work of the Sicaran...

...and then look for their next victims.

The Traitors push their assault on Berat's outer defenses.

With the Traitors concentrating their forces on the Loyalist left flank, the Loyalists send a few squads to through enemy lines along their right flank. 

They hope to slip past the Fellblade and disrupt the rest of the enemy advance.

The Death Guard Rhino crashes through the trees in order to attack the Kozar infantry blocking the road.

The Traitor tanks are too strong for the lightly-armed Kozar army forces.

The Red Butchers attempt to rip through the bunker to get at the Kozar troopers inside.

"Little pig, little pig, let me in!"

Their chain fists rip the bunker apart in a mighty explosion.

Half the Kozar infantrymen die in the collapsing building but a few survivors crawl from the rubble.

The Fellblade turns around and fires everything into Outrider Squad Tsujen, killing several.

The remaining Loyalists attempt to fall back away from the advancing Traitors. All of their fire only manages to kill one of The Red Butchers terminators.

The battle rages around the road to Berat. The Traitors control the battlefield, with the remaining White Scars and Kozar Army forces scattered around the perimeter. 

Khan Turan Jorma and his few remaining men continue to fight, knowing the situation is hopeless.

Praetor Wolfgang and the Death Guard continue their advance, facing no more real resistance.

The Traitors have broken through enemy lines. The Loyalists have no way to penetrate the armor of the tanks.

All that is left is the slaughter...

Slaughter!

SLAUGHTER!

S L A U G H T E R ! !

The last few defenders fall back as the Death Guard and World Eaters press forward. 

One of the Outriders survives to fight another day. 

Tactical Squad Temgar and the Kozar Grenadiers make a dash past the enemy lines, hoping to still accomplish their mission. 

The unstoppable Land Raider rolls forward while the Butchers seek fresh victims.

The Fellblade turns its guns on the Loyalist flanking force and obliterates them.

The Traitors control the road to Berat.

RESULT:

Traitor Victory!

With this result, the Traitor forces would be able to grant three units Scout moves from their starting table edge rather than moving on from the edge on Turn 1 of the final battle for the city. Additionally, the Traitors can re-roll any Reserves rolls in that game. 


POST-GAME:

Loyalist Post-Game Analysis:

Phil: It was a lot of fun to finally build and use a road in our games, something I have been wanting to do for a while. This terrain piece offers a trade-off between lack of cover and a movement bonus, even though neither side really took full advantage of it for this game. The road and the bunkers gave this battle the feel of fighting through the outer defenses as the Traitors approached the city walls. I love that every battle in this campaign feels like part of the progressing story.

The game itself was pretty brutal for my army. I only killed one unit (five Recon marines) and lost nearly my entire army in return. My army just does not have the heavy firepower to deal with Pete's tanks. Although, I did not do any significant damage to his infantry, either, so I can't only blame the lack of anti-tank weapons! Once again, the Imperials Militia troops were useless. This force of 900 points (including the fortifications) killed one model and scored no VPs. They cost roughly the same as the Fellblade and the Land Raider put together and did nothing except die in droves. But they add to the flavor of the campaign and they really emphasize just how powerful space marines are compared to mortal men.

It was a crushing defeat for the Loyalists. So that sets up the final battle of the Phase nicely with a good sense of dread and desperation for the city defenders falling back behind their walls with the pursuing invaders at the gates...

Traitor Post-Game Analysis:

Pete: Awesome battle! Such a cool mission for our ongoing campaign. And the terrain and painted models are truly top tier. The battle ended up being one-sided, as they all have been with the Fellblade involved, but I think Phil was able to use this battle to find a strategy that could be very successful in the future. Dropping his plasma gunners right behind the Super Heavy in a drop pod and hitting the AP 12 rear armor is a recipe for success. I’ll have to protect this vulnerability better in future games as this battle my jaw dropped and some sweat trickled down my forehead when Phil’s plasma knocked off 5 hull points in a single volley, and it could have been even worse! And with the plasma bikers still to come!

As for battle strategy, I used the tanks to screen my weaker infantry units with the imaginary side of the battlefield and the front and side armor of the Land Raider and Rhino. Even the Fellblade helped screen the infantry from the threat of a flanking maneuver. I knew that I needed to get the Butchers into the heart of Phil’s defenses as soon as possible, as their Land Raider would be a magnet for heavy weapons fire and I didn’t want them trudging across the battlefield. They ended up being highly effective as usual. Busting those bunkers would take a hell of a lot of ranged shots, so having chainfists up close and personal was just the ticket.

I’m excited for the pinnacle battle of Phase 3 – the assault on the walls of the fortified loyalist city. I’ve had a chance to see the walls that Phil’s working on, and I’m confident that this will be the grandest battle we’ve ever played! There will be easily 3,000 points per side – a battle in the true scale of the Horus Heresy!