Horus Heresy – What’s the Big Deal?
Let me tell you of the days of high adventure…
In 2007 a group of gamers in Austin, Texas got together because they were inspired. Horus Rising was fresh in everyone’s mind and they decided to do something about it. Sides were chosen, armies were divided, legions were selected. They spent hours researching paint schemes in ancient White Dwarf magazines and old Epic books. Countless bits were traded, Imperial Aquilas were scraped off, and a community came together.
They didn’t have access to Forge World bits and Heresy-Era armors. They converted what they could and scratch built the rest. They came up with their own ruleset for playing-out those same tales they were reading about for the first time from Black Library. One gamer even went so far as to create PDFs of Legion Transfer sheets for everyone participating. Once everyone got their force to a playable level they launched a multi-week campaign that ended with a massive battle at the Gates of Terra. Step back in time 8 years and partake in our game:
The Heresy League is almost finished, and the Imperial Palace is under siege!
We had a little over a dozen folks show up at Battleforge Games, and the Warhammer 30,000 League has only 1 week to go. This 8th week featured the Siege of the Imperial Palace. It was an Apocalypse game where 25,000 pts per side tore into each other to breach the Palace Walls or hold the line against the hordes of Traitors. It was an absolute blast so lets do a recap so everyone can see how the Palace fared.
Setup
You can see in many of these long shots the massive 7×30 table we used and the palace walls that dominated the game. The traitors deployed first and put all their heavy assets like titans, fellblades and vindicators in thir center-right with support elements on the flanks to guard the breaching elements. The reaver titan mounted a titan close-combat arm to better smash the walls and any defending superheavies to dust. It was also thought that the fear of the titan CCW would help draw fire away from the rest of the traitor forces. This was correct.The loyalists massed a heavy IG vehicle force outside the walls on the traitor left, and placed all other heavy assets and titans behind the walls. Salamanders were holding the outer picket lines and bunkers with their short-ranged but heavy weaponry.
Turn 1
The traitors pushed forward with abandon. Every transport moved at full speed, turned sideways to form a wall, and popped smoke. Every gun available that could penettrate the AV:14 walls blazed away trying to open up a breach to the immediate left and right of the main gate. With surprizing accuracy, the 2 linebreaker squadrons and heavy IG las-cannon fire, destroyed 5 wall sections.The Loyalists mounted the rubble and fired into the approaching traitors with minor effect. Their firechannels were blocked by their own vehicles and much fire was wasted. The Traitor reaver was stunned, and lost a weapon in a heavy fusilade of fire to prevent it from reaching the palace walls next turn.
Turn 2
Hell broke loose at the breaches. On the traitor right, over 80 Death Guard Plague Marines, Terminators, and summoned daemons reached the outer defense lines and swarmed over 2 bastions, 2 bunkers, and destroyed all loyalist Salamanders, Dark Angels and IG they could reach. The Alpha Legion inserted a force of over 40 infantry into the Loyalist left flank as well, and one entire side of the Palace seemed in doubt. On the Traitor left a huge tank battle erupted outside of the walls between over 2 dozen tanks and APCs of traitor and loyalist guard.The Loyalists were reeling on thier left and threw all Salamander and IG reserves into the teeth of the Death Guard to kill them at point blank range. An Imperial Fist Sheild Wall arrived and tore into the Traitors, blunting their assault, while the arrival of a full Raven Guard Talon Company sent over 40 assault marines deep into the Traitor rear lines, where they feasted on Traitor Guard support squads. The Legio Metallica titans continued to pour fire into the stricken Traitor Reaver and immobilized it at a safe distance.
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Turns 3+A Traitor Thunderhawk streaked through the skies and landed in a breach, disgorging 30 elite Sons of Horus infantry into the intact Palace right flank. Many more arrived in a hail od droppods and fought thier way into 2 nearby bastions and secured them. On the palace left, the Death Guard consolodated, and led by Typhus and Kor Phaeron, recaptured 2 bastions. In the Palace center, Kharn and his berzerker bodyguard, arrived at the now ruined main gate, and cleared it of Loyalists in a bloody assault.
The Loyalists were out of time, and had to reclaim at least 2 bastions to add to the 1 they held to not concede defeat. On their center, the Legio Metallica finally destroyed the Traitor Titan just as Forrix, the Iron Warrior siegemaster fought his way clear of its position. A squad of noble Adeptus Custodes on the palace left, marched forward, hacking away a traitor guard squad as if they were paper, before hurling a vortex grenade into the low hovering Thunderhawk. The machine fell to the ground and was still. At every one of the 6 bastions, the Loyalists poured on firepower and countercharged in a desperate attempt to dislodge the Traitors within. White Scars bikers sped alongside the dangerous outer walls to contest several bastions. 3 remained in Traitor hands, and 3 were retaken by the Loyalists.
As the game came to a close, the Palace was shattered. Its mighty walls were in ruins , and it was half occupied by Traitors. Ths cost of the breaching effort was high. Hundreds of traitors lay dead, alongside their blasted warmachines, but the Loyalists were no longer masters of the Palace Walls. Under covering fire from the Legio Metallica, and the supervision of thier Marine officers and their Custodes , the Loyalist fell back to the Inner Sanctum intact. The Heresy would go on…
Result: Tie (and a great time was had by all)
To this day many of us still look back at that campaign as the pinnacle of our wargaming experience. The trifecta of Hobby, Narrative and Competition was achieved and we’ve been chasing that high ever since. With the release of The Horus Heresy: Betrayal at Calth a new opportunity has presented itself to get in on Heresy-Era gaming. It’s been 8 years and our dreams of mainstream plastic Horus Heresy have finally come true. We hope your’s come true as well.
What’s the “big deal” with Horus Heresy? Let us know in the comments below!
