First Game of Horus Heresy v2.0
With our latest get together at Battlefields Hobbies in Daventry, myself, Andy, Karl and Adrian finally managed to get a game of Horus Heresy v2.0 in.
We decided to take 1500pts of forces each - double team split across Traitors vs Loyalists.
Traitors
Adrian - Sons Of Horus, led by Ezekyle Abaddon
Philip - Alpha Legion, led by a Praetor
Loyalists
Karl - Blood Angels, led by Dominus
Andy - Imperial Fists, led by Fafnir Rann
Karl brought his recently painted Blood Angels, while I supplied the Sons of Horus and Imperial Fists, while using my newly painted Alpha Legion.
Mission rolled up was Tide of Carnage with deployment Vanguard Strike
Battlefield and Deployment - Traitors won the roll for deploying first
In deployment, the Sons of Horus left Abaddon and Justaerin Terminators in deepstrike, meanwhile the Imperial Fists left Fafnir Rann and Phalanx Warders in deepstrike.
Loyalist deployment
Traitor deployment
Turn One
The Loyalists managed to steal the initiative - Blood Angel Spartan moves to fire on the Alpha Legion Rhino (with Headhunters inside), I used the advance reaction to move the Rhino closer to the table edge and provide it with a cover save from the Spartan Tank.
The Blood Angel Tactical Squad attempts to charge the rhino but with -2 due to charging out of terrain and the -2 due to being Alpha Legion, they fail to make the charge.
Meanwhile the Imperial Fists advanced and dismounted the Support Squad of Meltaguns and Blood Angel Assault Marines jumped over the ruins - the Sons of Horus Spartan reacted by retreating out of half range of the meltaguns.
In the assault phase the Assault Squad makes the charge and with numerous melta bombs destroy the Spartan, all but one Sons of Horus Tactical Squad survive but are pinned :(
In retaliation, the Alpha Legion Plasma Gun Support Squad dismount and fire their guns at short range, supported with additional snap firing Sons of Horus - they manage to kill all the Assault marines plus Dominus
Turn 2 - missed taking a photo, Imperial fists manage to deepstrike Fafnir and Phalanx Warders scattering close to the Sons of Horus troops which enabled the Alpha Legion to intercept with the Plasma Gun support squad managing to kill half the Warders (but losing half their squad to 'Gets Hot'.
The remainder of the Squad and Fafnir assault the Sons of Horus, unfortunately a fist full of low dice rolls and even Fafnir fails to kill a model (the -1 Strength when assaulting Sons made a big difference)
Ongoing combats and finally Fafnir finds himself on his own surrounded.
Then finally the Sons of Horus managed to find the weak spot in Fafnir's armour and he goes down, too late to be rescued by the Support Squad.
Meanwhile Abaddon and Justaerin Terminators having deepstriked next to a unit of Blood Angel Meltaguns and failing to make a 1" charge (rolled double 1 and with -2 for charging though terrain)
In the end Abaddon on his own managed to not only kill the Support Squad but also rout a 20 man Imperial Fist Tactical Squad but also survived 40+ hits from overwatch and not die (which I always managed to do when I used him)
At the end of turn 5 - the Blood Angels had no scoring units left in their deployment zone while the Blood Angels had to move the Spartan into 'No Mans land' to contest the Sons of Horus Tactical Squad. Meanwhile the Alpha Legion Tactical Squad holds the Traitor deployment zone (3 vps).
While the Loyalists lost both Dominus and Fafnir, while the Traitors lost the Alpha Legion Praetor.
And finally the Loyalists had more surviving units for 'Last Man Standing'.
Final Score: 5 v 2 to the Traitors
Version 2 rules seemed very smooth, only had to look up a few things (mostly movement distances and new weapon stats).
Reactions really do add a new dimension to the game; Intercept and Overwatch at full ballistic strength is very brutal.
Also the reduction in Leadership value caused four units to flee the table (and fail four rally attempts).
Looking forward to playing Horus Heresy v2.0 again.
