Xhorik Commander

 After a long hiatus, I finally painted a few models: a Xhorik 87th commander with power fist, another grenadier, and another recon marine with shotgun (I figure he can be a cheap body to add to the sniper squad and be the first one to bite the bullet). Again, painted 90% with Contrast. 

Xhorik Grenadiers

 Some close-up shots of the finished platoon:

Blood Angels Tactical Squad: The Triarii Guard

 

The venerable Triarii Guard are a highly experienced and decorated Blood Angel's Tactical Squad with an illustrious history of securing vital objectives during numerous campaigns. Known for never breaking in the face of overwhelming alien, cultist or demonic hoards, the Triarii Guard are the pride of the 2nd company of the 9th Legion. The Triarii Guard are now for the first time meeting their brother marines in battle, but are more than eager to defend the honor of their great god-emperor. 

Operation Downfall Battle Report 4: The Last Bastion

 "Today, we don't fight for an objective, or for a general, or for some distant Emperor. Today, we fight for our home planet and everyone we ever knew, plain and simple."

-Captain Skander Xhaer. 3rd Company, Xhorik 87th

Background:

It is the middle of the Horus Heresy and civil war rages across the galaxy on a thousand worlds. Everywhere, former brothers and sworn allies have turned against each other in a fury of betrayal and hatred. The Warmaster Horus has begun his long march to Terra, crushing all resistance before him. In his direct path is the Xhorik System, located at a strategic crossroads of Warp currents in a sector of space known for smooth transitions between realspace and the Warp. This prosperous system has become a focal point for the Traitor war effort as they attempt to seize control of the key spaceport facilities to enable a rapid refuel and resupply of the main Traitor war host as they make their way to the throne world. 

On Xhorik Prime, the key trading and transport hub of the system, Traitor forces are newly victorious over those loyal to the Emperor in a massive planetary civil war that erupted along old, pre-Imperial factional rivalries. A combined force of Death Guard and World Eaters has crushed the stratocracy of Kozar and their small garrison of the White Scars Legion. The major space ports are now securely in the hands of the Traitors, although small bands of Loyalist survivors continue to wage a shadow war along the fringes of the high desert wilderness. 

On Xhorik Secundus, the planetary governor has remained loyal to the Emperor and maintained control of most of the planet. As war raged on Xhorik Prime, armies began mobilizing for an invasion of the heart of Traitor territory, in the Federation of Unimund. The first phase of the invasion was codenamed Operation Downfall and called for a massive nighttime drop assault on key enemy installations in order to clear the way for the massive, lumbering landing craft that would be bringing the bulk of the invasion the next day.

Although suffering significant casualties in the war for Kozar, the Xhorik 87th Drop Troops Regiment, the Firebirds, were called upon to support Operation Downfall from Xhorik Prime, along with several dozen drop regiments from Xhorik Secundus attacking from orbit. They would be making simultaneous night drops to secure key landing zones, disable defense and communication capabilities, and clear roads and bridges to allow the Loyalist forces to move quickly out of the vulnerable landing zones, establishing a beach head. 

Battle 5 - 1: Night Drop

Battle 5 - 1: The Battle for Alteron Bridge

Battle 5 - 3: War Train Raid

At this point, the campaign is at a stalemate with each side claiming a win, loss and draw. With the drop troopers making some gains and being repulsed elsewhere, the success of Operation Downfall was balanced upon a knife's edge. Would the fourth battle be the tipping point?

Scenario: The Last Bastion

For something different and thematic, we decided to try a mission from one of the old Horus Heresy Black Books. The goal was to hold the bastion at all costs, and only if it becomes clear that you cannot win by holding it, to destroy it rather that let it fall into the hands of the enemy. 

For our campaign, the bastion would represent a planetary shield generator that would control access from low orbit to the surface at the nearby space ports. This would be crucial to allow or prevent the Loyalist invasion force to arrive in earnest, with heavy planetary landers bringing in tanks, titans and other massive war machines.

Belligerents:

Traitor Militia: Pete

General Titus Ghoulv’s Iron Battalion:

“The Marauders of Meddeon VII”

“The Pirates of the Northern Fringe”

“The Chem Hounds”

Provenances of War: Warrior Elite, Industrial Stronghold

• Force Commander General Titus Gholv: Robber Baron, power armor, power fist, iron halo, bolt pistol, frag and krak grenades
• Discipline Master: carapace armor, refractor field, laspistol, ccw
• Discipline Master: carapace armor, refractor field, plasma pistol, power sword
• [Line] Grenadier Squad A (15)- The Tongue Collectors: bayonets, plasma gun, flamer
• [Line] Grenadier Squad B (15) - The Psycho Slaves: bayonets, melta gun, flamer
• [Line] Grenadier Squad C - Harkhathe Hammers: bayonets, 2 x plasma guns
• Fire Support A (5 teams): 3 x lascannons, 2 x missile launchers
• Fire Support B (5 teams) - Black Bombardiers: 2 x lascannons, 3 x missile launchers
• Auxilia Medicae (3): Dr. Cut and Dr. Cauterize and Nurse Hatchet
• Ogryn Brutes (5) - Dregg Nukem’s Shrapnel Eaters: boss w/ power axe, carapace armor, 2 x ccw
• Leman Russ Battle Tank
• Leman Russ Demolisher
• Leman Russ Vanquisher
• Malcador Battle Tank Chimaera  

1855 points

General Titus Ghoulv leads his Marauders, in service to his Death Guard masters.

Pete: Leading up to the battle, I spent a couple weeks re-painting my entire traitor militia force. The first time I painted them I utilized a speed painting video I found online to complete the entire army in 30 days… and the results admittedly looked like a speed painted army. I chose Death Guard green as their new secondary color and changed their backstory to be recently corrupted by the blight lord. In addition, I converted a smaller Forge World model space marine into the notorious General Titus Ghoulv himself – someone I saw as well-equipped and armed after having plundered an imperial garrison. Phil had given me a non-GW helmet with two respirators which fit the new army theme quite nicely. Then I added some spikes, wires and the skull of a planetary governor and came out with a nice force commander.

For tonight’s battle, I was relying on my 4 tanks to punish Phil’s militia army, as they’ve done in the past. Using the tanks for cover, the orkish ogryn brutes could be shielded from small arms fire and pesky bikers and sentinels while they push toward the objective. The grenadier squads would pile in and attempt to hold the objective in the rear, while the ogryns chopped up Phil’s infantry loitering around the center of the battlefield. 

I placed the Leman Russ with the vanquisher cannon across from the Phil’s ordnance battery, incorrectly thinking that it could pop it open with one well-placed BS 3 shot. That dumb assumption would come back to bite me later. 

The heavy weapons fire teams I tried to place in areas with some decent firing lanes. They could at least shoot at the Thunderbolt when it made its appearance. 

With the mighty Malcador I hoped to drive around Phil’s flank and end up behind his army, devastating his infantry huddled up behind the bunker objective.

Loyalist Militia: Phil

Xhorik 87th Drop Troopers, 3rd Company:

"The Firebirds"

Motto: Into Hell We Go

Provenances of War: Warrior Elite, Legacy of the Great Crusade

• Force Commander Captain Skander Xhaer: Marcher Lord, power sword, cyber familiar, iron halo, blast pistol
• Discipline Master: Refractor field, power sword, bolt pistol
• Command Cadre (8) - The Sokhët: Lieutenant with refractor field and power fist; carapace armor, melta gun, militia standard, laspistols, lasguns, frag and krak
  
• [Line] Infantry Squad (20) - First Platoon: sergeant with laspistol and ccw; lasguns, frag grendades, flak armor, melta gun
• [Line] Grenadier Squad A (10) - The Survivors: sergeant with melta bombs; lascarbines, carapace, plasma gun
• [Line] Grenadier Squad B (10) - Stormtroopers of the 501st Company: sergeant with power sword and plasma pistol; lascarbines, carapace, frag and krak, plasma gun, melta gun
• [Line] Grenadier Squad C (10) - Stormtroopers of the 501st Company: sergeant with power sword; lascarbines, carapace, frag and krak, 2 x flamers
• Fire Support Squad (6 teams) - Stone Rain: 6 x missile launchers
• Recon Squad (5) - The Sand Snakes: 5 x sniper rifles
• Sentinel Squadron (3) - Rojets: 2 x lascannon, missile launcher
• Militia Cavalry (10) - The Hunters: laspistols, ccw, lascarbines, carpace armor
• Militia Thunderbolt Fighter - The Avenger: 4 x krak rockets, 4 x autocannon, 2 x lascannon
• Rapier Battery A: 3 x gravis heavy bolters
• Rapier Battery B: 3 x laser destroyers
• Ordnance Battery - The Spear of Heaven: Earthshaker, 4 additional gunners

1855 points

Captain Xhaer leads the Xhorik 87th in a desperate attempt to help reconquer their homeworld.

Phil: Pete and I had been looking forward to trying the new militia army list for Horus Heresy Second Edition since we first saw the PDF. The army is full of fun and flavor, although it seems designed to be uncompetitive with Legion armies. Most infantry options, other than Levy Squads, seem to be exorbitantly over-priced compared to tactical marines, transports such as the Arvus and Cargo Hauler have no effective weapons, and the few more capable vehicles are saddled with Third Line. So we decided the only fair way to use a militia list would be to put it up against another militia list!

I tried to fit my collection to the new rules, often having to use a model as the closest available alternative, although that seems very much in line with the intent of the militia list as it is meant to represent the spectrum of irregular fighting forces from across the galaxy. To that end, I used the Avenger as a Thunderbolt, the Tarantula sentry guns as Rapier batteries, the bikes as cavalry, and the Tauros as a Sentinel, all fairly good matches. The only model that did not really have an equivalent in the militia list was the Valkyrie, so I had to leave that out for now. I suppose I could have used it as an Arvus and just ignored all of its weapons, but in an edition that is not kind to fliers, I cannot imagine what the purpose of using a weak, defenseless transport that must come in from Reserves and face Interceptor fire while carrying a unit of fragile infantry. More fittingly, I could have used it as a gun ship using the Thunderbolt rules. But in any case, I did not have the points or the fast attack slots to bring it after I already included everything that more clearly fit with the militia rules.

Another issue I ran into was that all of the artillery (Ordnance Battery and Rapiers) required quite a few models for crew, unlike the old unmanned Tarantula Sentry guns. Thankfully I have a pile of Steel Legion troopers that I could use as crew to man the guns. They actually worked quite well for this since they are on the small side and therefore make the big guns look appropriately large!

Looking at the assembled force, I decided my advantages were in numbers, with over 120 models on the table, and ranged firepower, with the three units of big guns. As I was making the list, I was surprised to see the effective gun options for the Rapiers. Their gravis heavy bolters would be extremely damaging to militia infantry with 4+ saves and with their laser destroyers it looked like I finally had something that could reliably destroy tanks, even with AV 14 like the Leman Russ.  In previous games, even with more air support, I really struggled to deal with the quantity of tanks that the Chem Dogs bring so I was definitely concerned about anti-armor. Another worry was how I would handle the beastly Ogryns who could easily crush anything I had in melee. Therefore, my strategy was to keep feeding Line units into the objective area to always have someone to contest or control it, even as they suffered heavy casualties. My back line would lay down a withering hail of covering fire, while my cavalry would zoom forward and try to disrupt my enemy's supporting fire.

With the army list written, the army photo taken, and the general strategy thought-out, it was time to head to Pete's for the game. When I arrived, he had an awesome thematic table setup for the clash. He had also done some great work to improve the painting of his army by adding more color and more details and giving them their proper commander. We both knew this game would be an experiment, being the first use of the new rules for militia and their first time playing with second edition rules. We were most excited to see these fantastic painted armies lined up on table full of painted terrain and to throw some dice and just have fun with the humble militia. 

Deployment:

The Xhorik 87th won the roll and elected to deploy first and take the first turn. Phil selected the southern deployment zone as the artillery bunker in the southeast corner offered an elevated position for the fire support squad. He elected to go first because with the objective being a building, it seemed critically important to get there first and occupy the building, making that unit extremely hard to shift away from the objective.

The Loyalists deployed first in the south, then the Traitors in the north.

Speed Painting Challenge: 36 models in 36 days - COMPLETE

 In an effort to work through some of the "pile of shame" and have more fun painting by getting results quicker, I have been experimenting again with Contrast and finally getting better results (see the recent White Scars Scouts, for example).

So, I have set myself the goal of painting this entire 36-man platoon of grenadiers at an average pace of one model per day, an ambitious target for me since it can usually take me at least two or three weeks to finish a ten-man squad.

Here is the test speed-painted model on the left compared to some of the models I painted in my classic-style recipe of base-shade-highlight-highlight for each color.

Xhorik 87th Drop Troops - Reinforced 3rd Company Strike Force

 After making orbital drops to secure key objectives, the Xhorik 87th Drop Troops move to quickly deploy artillery to support their light infantry against the enemy's counterstrike. In the fierce fighting for the planetary shield generators, the 3rd Company was bolstered with significant artillery elements and multiple units of the elite 501st Company of Storm Troopers fighting in the role of heavily armed grenadiers.  It was also common to have air support from naval fighters and ground attack craft such as this Thunderbolt. Recon squads, sentinels and mechanized cavalry provided mobility and adaptability. This force configuration trades their usual high mobility for heavy firepower needed to destroy heavily armored foes and additional tactical flexibility.

This image shows a typical strike force of the reinforced 3rd Company during Operation Downfall on Xhorik Prime. This force was engaged in heavy fighting for one of the planetary shield generators, crucial to enabling the deployment of heavier units from orbit to the surface. 

White Scars Sniper Scouts

In an effort to try to speed up my glacial pace of painting, I decided to try painting a unit almost entirely with Contrast and washes/shades. The cloaks and fatigues of the old space marine scouts seemed to make them a good set of models to try this approach. Of course they needed a head swap from their giant heads with buzz cuts and square jaws. I spent some time searching around for heads with the right look and size, and that came in a combination of hooded and bare options to match the mix of models with cloaks being worn or folded up. I think these heads give a great ninja-like stealth feel to the unit, perfect for snipers. 

The Contrast painting is still not perfect and there are some areas that still came out a bit blotchy but it is a huge improvement over where I was previously with these paints. I found you need to thin the paints with wash medium and then possibly apply multiple coats, depending on how dark you want the color. And the new Soulblight Grey shade does a really impressive job on white.

With this unit complete, my White Scars now have two 10-man scout squads and a 5-man recon squad. This gives me more than enough to build a force based around the Recon Company Rite of War. I always thought this sounded very flavorful for the V Legion, which started as a collection of recon companies for the Great Crusade. 

Building a Better Bridge Table Part 1

 After Pete raised the bar with all of his new terrain (you can see it in the latest battle report Might Makes Right), I decided I needed to invest some time to improve the game experience at my place.

For years, we have played games on flat rectangles with a few hills or buildings to break it up, although we have also played a few battles on a circular battlefield for variety. For a long time, I have been wanting to make a table that utilizes the vertical element to a greater degree with more depth. Also, two years ago I built a huge bridge terrain piece and we even played a visually awesome battle with it, but I feel the current table setup to use the bridge is too limiting. 

So I have decided to try to build a table with the following charactersics:

1. Non-rectangular shape
2. Significant elevation changes (not flat)
3. Accommodates the bridge terrain piece 

I sketched out some ideas for hexagon and octagon tables using trusty PowerPoint. Since my dining room table is round, these shapes seemed like a more natural fit to take advantage of the table support than a rectangle anyway (which was always hanging in one direction and leaving extra table in the other direction).

After looking at a few designs, this is the one that I landed on. The grey rectangles represent the road and bridge pieces. The blue rectangle represents the canyon/river/whatever that the bridge will cross. The black circle is the outside of my dining room table. 

The area is quite large at over 36 square feet, bigger than a 9 ft x 4 ft rectangle. I wanted a lot of area to accommodate bigger games and because the bridge piece is so large that it would overwhelm a standard 6 ft x 4 ft table. 

With the rough outline in place, I had to think about how to build it. Since it is so large, I decided to build it in two halves to make it easier to handle and store when it is not setup. With big 8 ft x 4 ft x 1 inch pieces of insulation foam, I could make two half-octagons that were 80" x 40" each, with some scraps leftover to make the hills. I bought some foam and started cutting these shapes out to be the base of the board. 

Now I just need to decide if I want to split the battlefield along the river (vertical cut in my image above) as I originally planned, or if I should split it along the road (horizontal cut in my image above). The advantage of having the two piece come together under the road is that I could leave the road off and then place it down for games to cover the seam between the two boards. 

I have some ideas for how to add elevation and to make sure there are still options for setting up additional terrain on the board. For the "river" the bridge is crossing, I am thinking to make it more of a ravine. A few reasons: I do not know how to get water effects with resin, this table will represent the eastern desert wastes of Xhorik Prime so it does not make sense to have a wide river, I want to ensure infantry can cross the gap in multiple places and not just at the bridge, and I can still come up with some ideas for the bottom that may be easier to model, such as nearly-dried up puddles of water or waste, etc. 

Plenty more planning and building to do! Updates to come. 

The Grey Ghosts: White Scars Recon Squad

The White Scars were the original recon force for the Great Crusade, ranging far ahead of the main forces, so it is only fitting that my army incudes a recon squad. 

Of course, both of the antennae on the vox guy broke. I replaced the skinny one with a wire and replaced the segment that joins the fat one to the pack with a piece of brass rod. The only other change I made was to use White Scars MKIV shoulder pads from Forge World. This was a bit tricky because the vox guy already has a left shoulder pad built into the model, with the cloak covering half of it, so I could not replace that one. Instead I cut a decal in half and tried to line it up with the edge of the cloak. It is the same icon as the rest of the squad, but not 3D, of course. Other than that, I built them straight out of the box with no other modificaitons.

I tried some new painting techniques on this squad to speed things up, including using mostly Contrast paints and washes other than the grey armor and the metal. On the grey armor, I used a shade but no highlights, figuring the battle damage would act as a bit of a natural delineation of edges. Some aspects turned out better than others and some of the battle damage is not my best work, but overall I am happy with them for the amount of effort I put into them. Despite their armor being mostly light grey, they are immediately recognizable as White Scars with the white heads and shoulder icons. I like the way the blue/grey cloaks turned out with dusty fringes. I also like the simple technique of Contrast over metallic for the lenses. 

They came out well enough that I am inspired to try more units with Contrast to try to speed along the painting. I definitely learned a few things about how to make Contrast look better (I have struggled with the splotchy surface finish on most models in the past.) If nothing else, trying different techniques keeps the painting interesting and breaks up the monotony of painting a whole army with the same slow method. Units like this recon squad are the perfect opportunity to try new things since they do not need to look exactly like the other marines, as long as they tie in to the overall army. 

Might Makes Right: 3-Way Istvaan Battle Report

"The strong get what they deserve. So do the weak."

Background:

This battle takes place during the Istvaan III atrocity when the traitors purged their legions of any who would potentially remain loyal to the Emperor, long before the Xhorik Campaign. This battle provides some back story to three of the Traitor leaders before they crossed paths again in the Xhorik System in the middle of the Heresy.

Scenario: Might Makes Right

Might Makes Right Scenario

Belligerents:

World Eaters: Pete

Primary Detachment: World Eaters The Crimson Path

• Praetor Ghrodd the Slaughter Lord: artificer armor, iron halo, master crafted thunder hammer, jump pack
• [Line] Tactical Squad The Skull Collectors: 17 marines with chain axes, sergeant with power fist, artificer armor and plasma pistol 
• [Line] Recon Squad Butcher's Eyes: 5 marines, Nemesis bolters, bolt pistols
• [Line] Rampager Squad The Pit Gladiators: 10 Rampagers with jump packs, 3 with falax blades, 4 with excoriator chain axes, 3 with meteor hammers, sergeant with artificer armor
• Predator Severing Cut: Predator autocannon, lascannon sponsons
• Predator Fires of Hell: Magna-melta cannon, heavy bolter sponsons
• Tartaros Terminator Squad The Red Mist: 5 marines, 4 x dual lightning claws, 1 with heavy flamer and chainfist
• The Red Butchers: 4 x dual power axes, sergeant with dual chain fists
• Transport: Land Raider Organ Grinder: quad lascannon sponsons, twin-linked heavy bolter
• Apothecary Bazrak: jump pack, frag and krak grenades, bolt pistol, chain axe

2000 points

Death Guard: Bill
Primary Detachment: Death Guard (No Rite of War)

• Praetor Wolfgang: Catphractii terminator armor, volike charger, paragon blade, rad grenades
• Deathshroud retinue: 5 terminators with hand alchem-flamers, power scythes and rad grenades
• Tactical Support Squad Folterer: 8 marines with flamers and melta bombs, sergeant with artificer armor. 
• [Line] Tactical Squad A: 14 marines with chainswords, sergeant with power fist and artificer armor and Apothecary Gerhard
• [Line] Tactical Squad B Toddestraffe: 10 marines with chainswords, sergeant with power fist and artificer armor. 
• Transport: Rhino with pintle-mounted heavy alchem-flamer.
• Tactical Support Squad Blitz Schock: 7 marines with volkite calivers and apothecary
• Heavy Support Squad Feuer Sturm: 7 marines with missile launchers
• Predator Mittel Panzer 021 with Predator Autocannon and lascannon sponsons 
• Contemptor Dreadnought Jürgen:  Gravis melta cannon, melta gun, Gravis power fist
• Deredeo pattern dreadnought with Arachnus heavy lascannon battery, twin-linked heavy bolter, Aiolos missile launcher, and helical targeting array

2000 points

Sons of Horus: Phil
Primary Detachment: Sons of Horus Pride of the Legion 

• Praetor Ezman Vyke with Cataphractii terminator armor, chain fist, combi-melta, digilasers, Armor of Pride
• [Line] Tactical Squad (6th Squad, 12th Company): 20 marines with bayonets, vexilla, artificer armor, power fist
• [Line] Cataphractii Terminator Squad Tempest: 10 marines with Cataphractii armor, combi-bolters, 3 power fists, 1 chain fist, 1 thunder hammer, 5 power axes
• [Line] Cataphractii Terminator Squad Hammerfall: 5 marines with Cataphractii armor, 3 power fists, 2 chain fists, 5 combi-meltas
• Transport: Land Raider Proteus The Bladed Hand
• [Line] Veteran Tactical Squad Exomis ("The Remnants"): 10 marines with 2 power swords, 1 power axe, 1 power fist, vox, 2 meltaguns, 1 combi-melta, and artificer armor
• Transport: Rhino
• Contemptor Dreadnought Konax Silat with Gravis-melta and chainfist with inbuilt grav gun
• Heavy Support Squad: 5 marines with lascannons

2000 points

Cataphractii Terminator Squad Tempest

 As I slowly work through my Age of Darkness box set, I have to determine what to paint for my White Scars and what to paint for my Sons of Hours. So far, I have done the Contemptor and a Tactical Squad for my White Scars as they needed some basic troops and did not yet have any dreadnoughts. For the Cataphractii, being heavy and slow, I decided they fit better with my Sons of Horus. I decided to paint up all ten in one batch as a big foot slogging squad for our Traitor Bash game. I thought it would give me a very tough and formidable core to my army that could take and hold ground and go toe to toe with almost any unit in melee. (It turns out it did not quite work out that way...)

I gave them the old Forge World resin shoulder pads, and I used one set of Forge World power axes for five of them. The other five got a a thunder hammer, a chain fist and a few power fists. I equipped them with just combi-bolters for guns since I was trying to keep the squad cost from ballooning too much and I was assuming they would do most of their damage in melee. I also added a vexilla from the tactical squad sprue. The sergeant got a bare head and a mounted skull trophy to mark him out and help intimidate his foes. I also gave him the pointing hand to indicate that he is directing the unit. He also got golden trim on his thighs where the rest of the unit had green. I painted them pretty much the same as my first Cataphractii squad, except these have black outer shoulder pads to accentuate the brass iconography. 

 I really like this paint scheme with the super bright edge highlighting but after doing ten Cataphractii terminators. I will need to take a break from it. I think that is why I like having a few armies in the works at a given time. By the time I spend weeks painting the same thing, the thought of another squad of the same scheme is daunting and I am ready for a change. 

Might Makes Right: 3-Way Scenario for Traitor Bash in April

We are planning our next three-player three-sided scenario in April. I am thinking about some clarifications for the rule in a three-sided game, as well as a scenario. 

Rules

Reactions:

Reactions will be tricky to balance in a three-way game. The base rule is that a player gets one per phase but with most warlord traits giving one extra in a specific phase. Each unit can only make one reaction per phase but the same unit can react in all three phases, if desired. In a three-way battle, this would result in a lot more reactions as you would be facing the potential for two reactions (one from each opponent) in each of your phases.

My initial thought is to let each player have their full reactions to each of the other two players, but that a given unit can only make one reaction per game turn, unless they have a special rule that allows more. In a relatively smaller game like we are planning (2000 points), the limitation that a unit can only make one reaction per game turn (instead of one per phase) could be a good constraint to keep reactions from dominating. 

The other option would be to keep the current rule that each unit can make one reaction per phase but limit a player's reaction allotment to one Movement phase reaction that can be used in either of the two opposing player's movement phase, but not both. (Same for Shooting and Assault reactions.)

The last option would be to have the full allotment of reactions. Reactions would play a bigger role in the game but maybe that is OK when you have to wait for two opponents to go in between each of your turns. More reactions keeps all three players more engaged all the time and gives more balance to the player that goes third. 

Fight Phase:

I think melee would only be fought during a player turn in which at least one engaged unit was controlled by the player with the current turn. So if units controlled by player A and player B are engaged, they would fight during player A's turn and again during player B's turn, but not during player C's turn. If all three players have a unit engaged in the same melee, then all units in that melee will fight during that player turn. 

Challenge:

If units from all three players are engaged in the same melee, then the player with the current turn gets the first option to issue a challenge. If both opponents have characters in the melee, he can issue the challenge to either of the opponents. Only if he does not issue a challenge, then the player whose turn is next can opt to issue a challenge to one of the other players. If he declines, then the third player can issue a challenge. It would still be only one total challenge per melee. 

What do you guys think of these?

Scenario:

We also need a good scenario that makes for a fun three-way battle where you are rewarded for diving in rather than hanging back and letting the other two players destroy each other. The one we used last time was great, because you earned points each turn for control of the central objective, meaning you had to get in there early and could not hang back until the end. This time, the battle takes place at the start of the Heresy as the Traitor legions purge their loyalist elements so we wanted to emphasize the animosity and rivalry between the leaders, and the desire to prove their dominance over each other.

Might Makes Right

"It is self-evident that the strongest should rule. The Emperor commanded mankind because he subjugated his rivals through force. When he a appointed the Warmaster to lead the Great Crusade in order to return to Terra, the Emperor abdicated his right to rule. Now Horus will prove he deserves control of the galaxy by crushing all who would oppose him."

-Praetor Ezman Vyke, XVI Legion

In the bloody chaos of the Battle of Istvaan III, as the Traitor Legions purged themselves of any elements that may have remained loyal to the Emperor, there were also old grudges to settle and a new hierarchy to be established under Horus. As they hunted and slew their enemies on the ravaged surface of Istvaan III, these three bitter rivals crossed paths. In the heat of battle, none of them were willing to give way to the other, for to do so would set the precedent of deferral and see a hated rival ascended in stature in the view of Horus. All three commanders insisted on marching their armies directly forward on their intended path and demonstrating their power and leadership. This would establish the victor at the pinnacle of the rebellion and lay claim to stand first at the side of the Warmaster.

Deployment

To determine deployment order, players roll off. The winner chooses to deploy first, second or third. The player with the second highest score then has the second choice of the two remaining deployment options.

Whoever deploys first, selects his deployment zone and deploys his army. 
Whoever deploys second, selects one of the remaining two deployment zones and deploys his army. 

The final player takes the remaining deployment zone and deploys his army. 

Turn Order

The turn order is the same as the deployment order.

The player with the second turn can attempt to Seize the Initiative from the player with the first turn.

The player with the third turn can attempt to Seize the Initiative from the player with the second turn.

(If both players roll a six, the player who originally had the first turn would end up with the third turn!)

Game Length

At the end of Turn 5, roll a die. Add 1 for each warlord that is still alive. If the result is 5+ there is a sixth and final turn. 

Primary Objectives

Slay the Warlord: 

3 VP for destroying an enemy warlord in turns 1 - 3 

2 VP for destroying an enemy warlord in turns 4 - 6

By My Own Hand:

+1 VP if your warlord destroys an enemy warlord in a challenge (stacks with Slay the Warlord; does not count if the warlord is lost to a sweeping advance or due to "spillover" wounds from outside the challenge)

Secondary Objectives

Glory Unto Me:

1 VP for each other enemy unit destroyed by your warlord or his attached unit (does not stack with Slay the Warlord)

1 VP any time an enemy unit fails a morale check caused by wounds inflicted by your warlord or his attached unit (destroying a unit with a sweeping advance counts as 1 VP, not 2 VP)

Assert My Will:

Controlling your objective at the end of the game is worth 3 VP.

If you  have two or more scoring units on your objective at the end of the game, you gain +1 VP.

Mission Special Rules

Reserves

Night Fighting

The focus of the battle is on the warlord's demonstrating their dominance over the opposing forces, justifying their claim to lead. Controlling your objective at the end represents marching your Troops along your intended path, forcing your rivals to stand aside. The emphasis is on the warlords but there is a solid benefit to bringing scoring units as well.

What do you think of the scenario? What would you change?

Sons of Horus Bases

 Quick update: I built some bases for my next unit of the Sons of Horus. These are built from a mesh with a grating texture, plasticard strings, textured plasticard, plasticard tubes, a Lego corrugated tub, and a random fan bit. I am going for the look of the interior of a ship or base of some type.

White Scars Rhinos

I added two new Rhinos to the one I already had painted. I figure every unit of the V Legion would want some form of extra mobility, other than maybe Recon marines. 

One of these was the Forge World resin conversion kit for the old Rhino and one is the new plastic Deimos kit. I hate to say it, but I actually liked putting together the Forge World resin kit better than the new plastic kit. Although I do like the new plastic kit design of the treads and hunter-killer missile better.

I added the Forge World V Legion doors to both. 

I gave each one an optional hunter-killer missle. The Rhino with the heavy bolter has one that is magnetized and can be swapped for smoke launchers. The Rhino with the twin-linked bolters has its missile on a pin, stuck in a mounting hole, and it can be swapped for a generic radar. This will let me remove the missile when it is fired to help remember if it has been spent, or allow me to leave it off if I need to save the points. 

For the painting, I went with pure white with no highlights or shading. Instead, I black lined all recesses to create the contrast to make the details stand out on the white. I tried a new technique with a paint brush pen and the lines were quite thick, but it was faster than a conventional brush and the line width was more uniform. It looks a bit wonky when you are very close up, but looks great from a distance. The final picture with all three tanks that is just a little more zoomed out looks much better than all of these zoomed in photos. I am not sure yet if I will replicate this on future tanks or try to use a brush for thinner lines. 

After painting, I added the decals and then I sponged on dark grey battle damage/paint chipping. I then added dust, dirt, soot and rust to give the look of equipment that has been in years of active service in battle.

This one has obviously had some field modifications for extra protection.

Rhino number X

This one does not have the dozer blade, so I decorated the front a bit.

With smoke launchers instead of hunter-killer missile.

Rhino number I

Dozer blade

With optional hunter-killer missile from original kit

I left this one with the option to drop the rear ramp

All three side by side! 

Rhinos are not too tough and they can provide easy kill points to your opponent, but they are just fun to play with and against. And they are such a part of the look and feel of space marines and Heresy that I want to make sure they are well represented in our campaign. 

Battle for Provisa 3: Blood Angels vs Sons of Horus - Dominion

We played this battle probably five or six months ago but I never got a chance to post the photos. Since the weather has been cold and wet all week and I cannot prime any modes, I figure I will work on battle report. Due to the long time since the battle, I won't try to rehash the blow by blow, but looking at the pictures and the score each turn should tell the tale.

 Background:

Campaign background provided in:
Battle for Provisa 1: Take and Hold

Battle for Provisa 2: Blood Feud

With the results now even, the stage was set for escalation as both sides brought bigger war machines and more units into the fray. The next battle would see both commanders attempting to assert their will on the enemy and claim control over the field. 


Scenario: Dominion

Each side must maintain control of critical objectives in the face of enemy resistance. 

Primary Objective

Dominion: Each objective controlled at the start of your turn is worth 1 VP.
The objectives were:
#1 The cathedral ruin (designated by the comms relay model in front)
#2 The central ruin (designated by the red barrel in the center)
#3 The red ruin (designated by the green barrels in the center)

Secondary Objectives

Slay the Warlord: Earn d3VP to slay the Warlord and +3 VP if it was a Primarch
Attrition: The side that destroyed the most enemy units earns d3 VP

Price of Failure: Destroying Lords of War is worth 1 VP

Game length: Five turns with a 4+ chance for a sixth turn

Scarred

Scarred

Following their encirclement and defeat by the Traitors, the remnants of Khan Jorma’s detachment found themselves hunkered down in hiding in the ruins of a blasted city in the heart of enemy territory. The Khan had fallen in battle and had been dragged to safety by his men. Now his bloodied form lay on the floor of the ruined temple. It was clear his battered body would never rise to fight again.

Turan Jorma knew he had failed the Great Khagan. His Brotherhood had lost the planet to the traitors and now the heart of his remaining strength had been encircled and defeated, an unforgivable offense for the White Scars, who prided themselves on maneuver and speed above all else. He knew the consequences; they were dictated by his honor and the code of the V Legion. 

The survivors of his Brotherhood felt it as well. Their collective psyche had been sundered. Never before had they felt the dishonor of such a string of defeats as they now suffered. Never before had they been unable to visit retribution on those who had defied the Khan. The psycho-indoctrination of their transition to Astartes, combined with decades or even centuries of rigid mental conditioning,had made such defeat all but incomprehensible. The White Scars knew when to fall back, when to disperse, when to give ground, but always with a plan to circle back to destroy an overstretched enemy or to strike at a newly-opened opportunity. Their minds were unable to cope with the current reality: brother had turned against brother, Legion against Legion, and their Brotherhood had been crushed. 

They understood on a primal level that the dishonor could never be wiped away, except by their own deaths. It was never a conscious choice, and there was no debate. They all felt it and understood it to be true, as surely as they had felt the pride and honor of their Legion and their loyalty to the Great Khagan every day up to this point. 

Turan Jorma set aside his Paragon blade along with his title of Khan. He had fought bravely and slain a Death Guard Champion by his own hand, but his leadership had lost the war and thus shamed the Legion. He did not feel his physical wounds, only the mental anguish of failure. He drew his dagger, uttered the sacred words, and performed the ritual act of redemption silently and alone.

Those whose injuries were too severe to be able to redeem themselves by dying in combat followed the example of their former leader. The rest dedicated themselves utterly to the only thought that now burned relentlessly in their minds: to fight their enemy with every bit of strength that remained and to die doing so.  There could be no victory now, no end but death. Death for themselves as surely as for their enemies. No honor or hope. Only the promise of dying, gun in hand, covered in the blood of their enemies, remained to sustain them. 

They would become Sagyar Mazan.

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He awoke, in a sense. 

He could at first see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing. He had no thought of self. The only sensation was a burning shame and an endless rage. Of what, he knew not. He had no feeling of what any of it was or what it meant. He only wanted to lash out, to crush the source of this mental anguish. He could not understand. He could remember nothing else. 

For days he lay entombed in utter senselessness and deprivation. There was nothing but the shame and the rage. That was life, the universe, all that existed. 

Slowly, very slowly, other thoughts and memories started to take shape out of the black mist of his mind: duty, honor, loyalty, death. But always the shame and the rage burned stronger and brighter than the rest. 

As more of his consciousness and memory and sense of self returned, he started to envision that he must be in the afterlife, being punished by the spirits for his failures. He began to accept the pain and punishment. It was just. 

More memories took shape from the mists. He began to focus the undying inferno of his rage on a new, more complex thought: vengeance. With this new concept came new purpose. With purpose to focus his mind came a true reawakening. 

He realized he was not in hell: it was worse. He would suffer mentally and physically every moment. He would never feel the freedom of a racing jetbike. He would never feel air again. Or anything but cold steel, wires, pain, constraint of movement, pain. His body would never undergo the ritual funeral, his spirit would never roam the steppe of Chogoris with his ancestors. He would spend eternity trapped, what was left of his body being sustained in grotesque ways. Worst of all, he would never again have the esteem of his Khagan or his brother. He would be outcast and shamed, hurled into the thick of battle like a grenade: his only job to destroy and thus be destroyed.

But... he would have his vengeance. And that was all that mattered now. Pain be damned. Eternity be damned. He would have his vengeance. 

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