Horus Heresy - Chondax Campaign: Game One Scars and Iron

GG here with what I hope is the first of many game reviews.  I’m going to be working though the Chondax campaign with a few friends, but for the first game I’m playing against my little bro and he will be using my Iron Warriors.  Clearly the Agents of Alpharius continue to disguise themselves in the colours of their brother legions at this early stage in the campaign…

Ok so we’ll jump straight in.  For those of you unfamiliar with this campaign it is split into 2 phases; the Deception Phase as the Alpha legion seek to coral the White scars in to favourable kill zones then the Destruction phase when they reveal themselves fully and look to utterly destroy the remaining White Scars forces in the Chondax system.

Pre-game I rolled ‘From Surprise, Courage’ on the Ensnared Boons table meaning my hammer of wrath attached are worked out at AP4 and gain concussive.

My enemy rolled ‘Mimic’ on the deceivers table meaning he needed to roll on the Ensnared table, then rolling ‘Chorgorian Gloom Rocket’ meaning once per game he can enforce Night fighting for a whole turn.

I was running 1000 points of Chorgorian Brotherhood.  A Cut down version of my main army with only the bike units.  Praetor on bike, Plasma bikes, melee bikes and two multi-melta assault bikes.  Facing me will be 2 tactical squads with additional close combat weapons, Iron Havocs with missile launchers and heavy bolters (shrapnel rounds of course) two quad mortars (no phosphex on this occasion) and a Kheres toting Contemptor dread. All being led by a Forgelord with four bodyguard servitors.

Game One: Setting, mission etc...

We chose to fight this battle of Shaln, a high grav world were move and run distances are reduced by 1” (Edit: though due to the high movement of the Scars and the completely static movement of the Iron Warriors this didn’t have a great effect on the game, still a bit more fluff didn’t hurt anyone!)

The Mission: Lure.  With open arms the enemy reveals himself in parlay hoping to lure the loyalist forces into open ground.  The Warlords start facing one another in the middle of the board before the trap is sprung. Playing down the length of the board the warlords cannot be targeted for the first turn however subsequently killing the enemy warlord in their enemy deployment renders the most victory points…

Turn 1: As our warlords parlayed in the middle of the battlefield the Forgelord's servitor bodyguard moved around the warlords in defensive positions, or so the White Scar Khan thought… the trap was sprung and the enemy artillery began to rain down fire. The Forgelord's servitor crew about faced and trapped the White Scar Praetor down in front of the Forgelord.  In turn one neither Warlord can be targeted and so both made plans for their escape from what was soon to become a bloodbath.

Turn 2: Turn 2 commences as the Iron Warrior's Dreadnought emerges from the woodland with a barrage of [mini-gun] fire, mowing down the White Scar Khan and coating the surroundings with power armour and bits of star hunter… The Scars were quick to retaliate and mowed down the Forgelord with an armada of bikes and lucky dice rolls! They then proceeded with vengeance on the Dreadnaught by chipping off a point of hull armour and attempting a charge, but nevertheless after a failed broadside the Dreadnaught stood strong, ready to fight back.

Turn 3: After realising that the dice “must” be skewed against him, Dan made an automated dice roller to ensure fair rolls from this point forward. The effort was not in vain as his artillery rained down hell on the Plasma Bike Squadron, obliterating two of the crew and their bikes! Furthermore with Fury of the legion allowing standard infantry to wield 4 attacks, he turned the sky silver with a barrage that took out two Melee Bikers. Another two were destroyed in a last move by his Dreadnaught, that was shortly after dismantled by the multi-melters of two scar attack bikes. This wasn't enough to save the Scars though as their forces were battered, their melee bikers turned on the field of battle and disgraced their Legion. The remaining plasma bikes crippled a squadron of infantry, leaving only their Primus Medicae to be cut down by the biker sergeant.

Turn 4: The White Scar Plasma Bikes fought to the bitter end as they were torn down by artillery fire, the pathetic Melee Traitors rallied themselves in a last ditch attempt to hold off the overwhelming force of the enemy. The Iron Warriors engaged with all of their units on Fury Of The Legion. The little that was left of the Scars managed to take out two infantry.

Turn 5: The final turn dawned with a last standoff between Scars and Iron, after the last charge from the infantry the Bikers were torn to shreds and the field of battle fell silent. This was not a glorious victory, the deceivers had taken heavy losses and had achieved the quick decisive ambush they had planned. The bravery of the White Scar Bikers will not be remembered by their brothers as none would ever know of their fates.

The battle ended and after toting up the VPs, the Deceivers ended up winners 7-6.

This was a good little game really kicking off the narrative of the campaign.  For my second game I hope to find an Alpha Legion player to take this to the next level...

We hope you liked the first Battle Report from the Chondax Campaign with more to come. Please feel free to comment below and don't forget to follow us to keep up to date on all things UnityB4Heresy.

- John GG