Here is a snapshot of where things stand in the campaign leader board going into week 6's 1850 point games:
| Legion | VP | W | L | D |
| Iron Warriors | 33 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Salamanders | 23 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Emperor's Children | 22 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Space Wolves | 22 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Night Lords | 21 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Sons of Horus | 21 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
There have been some epic games and a lot of nail-biters - a very successful first foray into the wonderful world of Horus Heresy 30k!
With the leader board so tightly packed and a lot of Victory Points (VP) on the line in this week's mission, the stakes are high for both Alex's Night Lords and Leighton's loyalist Sons of Horus. While they sat in 5th and 6th positions respectively, a good showing by either side could see them quickly scale the rankings going into the final week of the campaign!
THE MISSION
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| The Scenario |
Both forces have intercepted garbled comms-transmissions indicating that an ancient artifact from the golden age of technology lay hidden in the manufacorum district of a long-abandoned outpost. Each legion anticipated that they might meet resistance, and so deployed a considerable force to search for and secure the immeasurably valuable relic. Today they descent upon the district to recover the artifact, but will have to pry it from the cold dead hands of their once-brothers, now sworn enemies.
The ever-important campaign VP would be awarded like so: 5 VP going to the the side that controlled the relic marker at the end of the game. 1 VP for Slay the Warlord. 1 VP for every 100 points worth of enemy models slain. 3 VP per side if the relic marker was contested at the end of the game.
A further incentive was added - the side that controlled the relic at the end of the game would get to roll on a 'Relic Uncovered' chart and be eligible to bring that relic for free to the final week's battle!
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| The stage is set for the two forces to search for the relic and do battle! |
THE ARMIES
Loyalist Sons of Horus -1850 Points
Rite of War: The Black Reaving
- HQ
- Legion Praetor
- Cataphractii Terminator Armour, Combi-Melta, Master-Crafted Lightning Claw
- Legion Centurion - Master of Signal
- Artificer Armour
- Legion Centurion - Chaplain
- Artificer Armour, Crozius Arcanum, Plasma Pistol, Melta Bombs
- Troops
- 10x Legion Tactical Marines
- Sergeant w/ Artificer Armour, Power Axe, Melta Bombs
- Nuncio-Vox, Legion Vexilla
- 10x Legion Tactical Marines
- Sergeant w/ Artificer Armour, Combi-Melta, Melta Bombs
- Legion Vexilla
- 10x Reavers
- Chieftain w/ Artificer Armour, Power Fist, Melta Bombs
- 9x Chainaxe
- Jump Packs for everyone
- Elites
- 5x Legion Terminators
- Sergeant w/ Pair of Lightning Claws
- 4x Lightning Claws
- 1x Reaper Autocannon
- Dedicated Transport for Terminators
- Spartan Assault Tank
- 10x Legion Veteran Tactical Marines
- Sergeant w/ Artificer Armour, Power Sword
- 2x Melta Gun
- Melta Bombs for Squad
- Nuncio-Vox, Legion Vexilla
- Marksmen (Outflank + Sniper)
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| Leighton's Sons of Horus are ready to do battle, determined to keep the relic out of the hands of the nefarious Night Lords! |
Night Lords - 1850 Points
Rite of War: Terror Assault
- HQ
- Legion Praetor
- Tartaros Terminator Armour, Master-Crafted Paragon Blade, Digital Lasers
- Legion Terminator Command Squad
- 3x Legion Space Marine Chosen w/ Tartaros Terminator Armour
- 1x Standard Bearer w/ Tartaros Terminator Armour
- 1x Plasma Blaster
- Troops
- 10x Terror Squad
- Headsman w/ Artificer Armour, Melta Bombs
- 10x Volkite Chargers
- 10x Terror Squad
- Headsman w/ Artficer Armour, Melta Bombs
- 10x Volkite Chargers
- 10x Terror Squad
- Headsman w/ Artificer Armour, Melta Bombs
- 10x Volkite Chargers
- Fast Attack
- Legion Storm Eagle Assault Gunship
- 4x Tempest Rockets, Vengeance Launcher
- 15 x Night Raptors
- Huntmaster w/ Artificer Armour, Melta Bombs
- 15x Nostraman Chainglaives
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| Alex's Night Lords... Spooky! A Terror Squad would start the game embarked in the Storm Eagle in reserves. |
PRE-GAME
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| Deployment |
The Night Lords won the roll-off to choose their table edge approached the battlefield from the East while the Sons of Horus entered from the West. The Night Lords deployed first and had the first turn. All six possible relic markers were placed in a relatively tightly-packed zone in the center of the battlefield. Surely this will lead to an action-packed mad dash to secure the relic!
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| Outflanking Veterans |
Two Terror Squads infiltrated onto the battlefield, while the third squad was set to enter play from reserves, embarked in their Storm Eagle.
The entire Sons of Horus force deployed using standard deployment, save for the Veterans who would enter play via Outflank.
The Night Lords enjoy many benefits from Night Fighting, and using the Terror Assault Rite of War can force Night Fighting on a 2+ on turn one. Unfortunately for Alex, he rolled a 1 and the horrible light of a new dawn enveloped the battlefield as the forces prepared to do battle.
TURN ONE
Night Lords
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| Night Raptors advance toward the foe while searching for the relic |
Wielding exclusively short-ranged firepower and assault prowess, the Night Lords' first turn was uneventful. The Terror Squads and Night Raptors fanned out to search as many objective markers as they could and take control of the center of the battlefield.
Ever aware of the Master of Signal's ability to call in an orbital strike, the Night Raptors fanned out their formation as they advanced toward the enemy.
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| The Terror Squads have infiltrated onto the possible relic locations and prepare to dig their heels in. |
Sons of Horus
Now with the enemy in sight, the Sons of Horus sought to use their superior firepower to negate the foe's positional advantage. The tactical squads advanced into trenches and aimed their bolters downfield. The Spartan Assault tank roared into action, lurching forward as the assault ramp bay doors opened, unloading the deadly cargo of a Praetor and five Terminators. On the other side of the battlefield, the Reavers' jump packs whirred into action as they made a beeline to the closest Terror Squad.
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| The Praetor and Terminators disembark |
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| Reavers prepare to fire then assault the Terror Squad |
In unison, the Sons of Horus' firepower came to life. The forward-most Terror Squad took heavy casualties as their Power Armour failed to protect them from the seemingly endless volleys of bolter rounds.
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| The front Terror Squad has lost more than half of its members, but their resolve is strong as they hold their ground. |
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| The Night Raptors take casualties, but this puts the Praetor and Terminators out of charge range for the turn. |
The Spartan and Praetor's Terminator unit focused their efforts against the large pack of Night Raptors that was rapidly advancing to their position, however the Night Raptors were able to duck and weave, successfully avoiding most of the firepower. Nevertheless, four of them fell to enemy fire.
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| The Reavers are victorious, consolidating toward the other Terror Squad. |
The Reavers however were able to launch an assault against the damaged Terror Squad. A brutal melee ensued, seeing three Reavers fall while the remaining Terror Squad members were butchered to the last man.
Turn Two - The Relic is found!
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| The relic lies here! |
At the start of turn two the Night Lords feverishly searched the possible relic locations, and uncovered what appeared to be the ancient artifact itself! The surviving Terror Squad had by chance infiltrated right on top of it's position, within the missile bays of a long-abandoned missile silo. Now they would just have to hold their ground and make sure that the advancing Sons of Horus don't push them off the objective by the end of the game.
Just in time, the third Terror Squad embarked upon the Storm Eagle arrived to the battle, zooming toward the tightly packed formation of Sons of Horus Tactical Marines, Chaplain, and Master of Signal. Unleashing a barrage of missiles at the foe, several tactical marines fell to the Storm Eagle's firepower. The Night Raptors fearlessly charged the Spartan, hoping to use their Rending Nostraman Chainglaives to damage the armoured behemoth while the squad leader planted a melta bomb on the vehicle's hull.
The melta bomb's placement was immaculate, causing the promethium fuel tanks to detonate. A massive ball of fire shot up into the sky as the mighty Spartan exploded!
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| The Night Raptors thrust forward with their jump packs, past the Terminators and straight toward the Spartan. |
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| Yup, the Vengeance Launcher is going to score a lot of hits. |
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| Night Raptors assault the Spartan |
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| Boom! Spartan down! |
After the dust settled from the Spartan's explosion, the Night Lords had turned a poor showing in turn one on its head. Not only did they discover and currently control the relic, they had destroyed the linchpin of the Sons of Horus strike force, evening the tide of battle!
Sons of Horus
The Night Raptors, unable to consolidate out of their melee with the Spartan were particularly vulnerable to enemy fire... and so the Sons of Horus tactical units dug in their heels and loosed a Fury of the Legion attack against the Night Raptors, aided by supporting fire from the Praetor and his retinue of Terminators. After the vengeful massacre, only a single Night Raptor remained. He wisely fell back an impressive 17 inches, hoping to live to fight another day.
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| The Night Raptors will take heavy fire this turn as the Sons of Horus seek vengeance. |
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| The lone Night Raptor survivor briefly contemplates his life, then chooses to flee from the impending doom before him. |
The Sons of Horus had taken a notable advantage in the battle by inflicting heavy casualties upon the foe, however the Relic still lay in the hands of the enemy. They would soon have to turn their attention to the Terror Squad, Praetor, and Terminator retinue that had rallied around the precious artifact, waiting for a Thunderhawk transport to airlift them out of the battlefield.
The Master of Signal knew this, and immediately called in an orbital strike upon the entrenched Terror Squad. The strike's accuracy was however not on point, as it clipped only the outer ring of the building, killing just a single Marine.
With the ringing of the orbital strike still present in the Terror Squad's ears, they were descended upon by the remaining six Reavers. Once again, both sides fought with formidable prowess and ferocity. The Reavers came out on top, by virtue of their Chieftain's Power Fist attacks. Despite having the numbers advantage at the start of combat, the Terror Squad took more casualties and the three remained on either side of the melee over the pivotal relic... though the Terror Squad had reinforcements nearby.
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| The Reavers' Chainaxes do work against the Terror Squad, but not without taking casualties of their own. At the top left of the image, the Praetor and his retinue of Terminators is poised to provide much needed support to the struggling Terror Squad. |
TURN THREE
Night Lord
The Night Lords had taken heavy casualties but retained a positional advantage in the battle. Seeking to parlay this advantage to a victory, the Storm Eagle and it's cargo of ten Terror Squad members zoomed toward the relic. The Praetor and his retinue of Terminators scaled the wall of the ruined missile silo and charged in to support the three surviving Terror Squad members that were stuck in an ongoing melee with Reavers. The Praetor himself slew all three remaining Reavers. The Terror Squad had taken heavy casualties but not in vain - with the Reavers felled the Night Lords had full control of the relic and would be tasked with holding their ground until the end of the game... but the Sons of Horus would have at least 2 more turns to close the distance.
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| The remaining Night Lords consolidate onto the relic. |
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| The Praetor issues orders to defend the objective at all costs - their Thunderhawk transport is on its way! |
Sons of Horus
With superior numbers but caught out of position, the Sons of Horus marched toward the Night Lords and relic, not even stopping to fire their weapons. By this time, the Master of Signal had received word from command that a heavy enemy transport was en route to extract the remaining Night Lords infantry as well as the precious relic, and they had no time to spare.
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| Two Tactical Squads, a Chaplain, Master of Signal, Praetor, and unit of Terminators close in on the remaining Night Lords. Without their Spartan transport however, their maneuverability was severely hindered. |
The Sons of Horus Veteran squad finally completed their wide outflank maneuver, however the tactic was flawed as they entered the battlefield on the opposite side of where the relic lay. Without a transport they would be hard pressed to reach the Night Lords in time to support their attacking force.
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| The remaining Night Raptor goes to ground, dodging not one but two Melta shots, only to be felled by a stray Bolter round. |
TURN FOUR
Night Lords
With dwindling numbers, the the Storm Eagle decided to enter hover mode and drop off the one uninjured Terror Squad, while the Praetor, Terminators, and three Terror Marines held their position and controlled the relic marker.
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| The Storm Eagle fires off its Vengeance Launchers at the advancing Sons of Horus, while the remaining infantry set up a defensive perimeter around the relic hidden within the missile silo. |
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| The combined firepower of the Night Lords kills most of the Tactical Squad. Only the Sergeant, one Marine, and the Chaplain remain. |
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| 6 Terror Marines on the charge yield an impressive 24 attacks that hit and wound on 3's with Preferred Enemy! The Chaplain and his entourage were slain in combat. |
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| The Terror Squad consolidates, victorious in combat. |
Sons of Horus
This could be the last turn the Sons of Horus get to deal more damage to the foe and potentially secure a victory despite not earning the 5 VP for controlling the relic, so they had to make it count.
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| The Praetor and his retinue prepare to engage a Terror Squad |
The six surviving members of the Terror Squad were besieged by bolter rounds from the Praetor and his Terminator guard, leaving only two alive. The Master of Signal led his tactical squad around the trenches, not wanting to be bogged down in difficult terrain, and killed two Terror Marines from the other squad, leaving only the Huntsman alive thanks to his Artificer Armour. While the Sons of Horus succeeded in doing more damage, they were still out of striking range of the relic, and were left at the mercy of the dice. Would the game go on to a turn 6, or was the Night Lord's Thunderhawk transport ready to evacuate the remaining survivors?
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| All that remains of the Night Lords force is a Storm Eagle, 3 Terror Marines, and the Praetor with his bodyguard Terminators. |
TURN SIX
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| Storm Eagle: "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" |
Night Lords
Welp. The Thunderhawk must have been delayed since we went on to a turn six!
The Night Lords HQ stood their ground, guarding the relic, while the poor Terror Squad was sent to their death, hoping to slow down the advancing Sons of Horus as much as they could.
The Storm Eagle hovered low to the ground, blocking the path of the Sons of Horus Master of Signal and his Tactical Squad. While doing so, it unleashed a volley of Vengeance Missiles killing four tactical marines.
Sons of Horus
With their path blocked, the Sons of Horus sought to make their foe pay dearly for guarding the relic with walls of flesh and metal. The Master of Signal charged in against the Storm Eagle and placed a Melta Bomb in the Vengeance Launcher ammo storage, causing the hovering flyer to be blown sky-high. On the other flank, the Terminators and Veterans advanced toward the relic, still out of striking distance.
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| The Master of Signal issues an order to charge the hovering Storm Eagle |
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| The Night Lords' flyer explodes, leaving a single Hunstman to block the path of the rampaging Sons of Horus. |
The Sons of Horus enjoyed a decided advantage on VP for killing enemy units, so it was unclear at this point who would win should the game end at turn six. We pressed on, rolling a 3+ the game would go to a final and decisive turn seven!
TURN SEVEN!!!
With just 4 Terminators, a Praetor and a Hunstman left, there were not many options other than hold position and protect the relic. The Praetor and his Terminators withdrew further into the ruined missile silo so as to be at a greater charge distance from the Sons of Horus while still securing the objective.
The Hunstman bravely stood his ground, blocking the path of the Tactical Unit and Master of Signal.
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| The remaining Night Lords forces, desperately holding out until their Thunderhawk Transport arrives to evacuate them with the relic. |
The Sons of Horus advanced as quickly as they could, felling the Huntsman and one Terminator, but could simply not close enough ground to make a successful charge up and into the ruins which the Night Lords held firmly. The relic would be secured by the Night Lords, though we would have to tally up the total points killed to see who ultimately came out the victor.
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| Aerial view from the Night Lords' Thunderhawk Transport as it arrives to save the Praetor's unit and retrieve the relic. |
| Primary VP | Secondary VP | Enemy Pts Destroyed | Total Score | |
| Night Lords | 5 | 10 | 1018 | 15 |
| Sons of Horus | 0 | 15 | 1545 | 15 |
After seven turns of blood and carnage, the two forces had played off to a virtual draw! The Night Lords held the tie-breaker for winning the Primary objective, and claimed the narrowest of victories over the Sons of Horus.
Both sides won in a way however, since the high-scoring game saw the forces catapult from #5 and 6 in the standings to #1 and 2 (at least for now, as the other week six match-ups were yet to be played).
Both sides won in a way however, since the high-scoring game saw the forces catapult from #5 and 6 in the standings to #1 and 2 (at least for now, as the other week six match-ups were yet to be played).
The Relic
Alex rolled on the "Relic Uncovered" table to identify what artifact of the golden age of technology lay hidden within the crate they retrieved.
Cloaking Array
This relic generates a highly localized refraction field that distorts light and may other forms of electromagnetic radiation in such a way as to render the bearer invisible to the naked eye and most forms of machine sensor.
Once per game, at the beginning of any game turn, the cloaking array may be activated. For that entire game turn, the bearer may not be targeted by shooting or declared as the subject of a charge. The bearer may not use the array if joined to another unit, or engaged in an assault, and may not move, shoot, charge or declare any other actions while it is in effect.
Neat! Alex will be able to bring this to the finale next week and ensure a turn of survival for one of his HQ choices should the circumstances require it. Furthermore, based on our house-rule of the chart, he has the option to exchange the cloaking array on the black market and receive instead the Night Lords legion-specific relic:
Nostraman Mancatcher
The origins of the mancatcher remain a mystery, though some claim that it was wrought not by human hands, but was created deep within the Ghoul Stars, a region of space known to be haunted by countless alien horrors entirely anathema to sanity. Several examples of the device have been recovered and the Night Lords have found particular use for them when they would sooner take their foe alive, but for what fell purpose only they know.
| Range | Str | AP | Type | |
| Nostraman | - | 1 | 3 | Melee, |
| Mancatcher | Two-handed, | |||
| Ensnare |
Ensnare: A character bearing the Nostraman mancatcher nominates a single enemy infantry model in base contact before any attacks are resolved at the start of each Fight sub-phase. The target must take a Strength test for every attack it is eligible to make that phase. For each test failed, the target loses an attack that phase.
I am stoked to see what Alex picks, as a fellow traitor I will be playing alongside his Night Lords in the epic 6,000 point finale!
Stay tuned for more epic 30k battle reports. Next up we have Salamanders vs Space Wolves and Iron Warriors vs Emperor's Children!
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