A Rare treat; Zone Mortalis versus Horus heresy! 1,000pts

[Tiger9gamer]

I had a rare treat the other night: some guy brought in his zone mortalis board and allowed me to play! My opponent, the Horus Heresy’s own Sons of Horus!

The board had one long central hallway with a few side doors that allowed me to outflank, but rendered my flamers useless. the forces were

Sons of Horus (enemy)

HQ: Legion Preator (artificer armor, Paragon blade, Iron halo, melta bombs)

Elite: Apothecary [attached to legion tactical squad]

Troop: Legion tactical squad (20 man, Artificer sergeant)

HS (?): 10 man squad with Volkite chevaliers (artificer sergeant)

H/S (?): 7 man autocannon squad (Artificer sergeant)

Guardian’s of the Covenant (me)

HQ: Interrigator Chaplain Mordecai (Terminator armor, Crozius, Mace of Redemption, Relic of the Unforgiven [Attached to knights])-180pts

Elite 1: Deathwing Knights-235pts

Elite 2: Deathwing Terminator squad (x4 TH/SS, heavy flamer)-250pts

Troop 1: Tactical squad (10 man, Flamer, Combi-flamer, melta bombs)-155pts

Troop 2: Tactical squad (10 man, Melta gun, Combi-melta)-160pts

Without cutting through the 1st three turns of wandering, I’ll cut to the meat:

First Contact:

Troop 1’s marker reached a corner, and they revealed themselves and two of the enemy down the hall, which where the Volkites and Autocannons. They fired at them, killing the Volkite’s artificer sergeant and one other.

The following turn the Volkite’s blasted half the squad off the board with so many Heavy shots and failed armor saves. Dang those things are awesome! my next few turns saw them hide around a corner while Elite 2 and Troop 2 moved up to support. (about 2 more turns)

Crossing No-man’s zone:

Elite 2 Revealed themselves down the hall, and they provided a nice distraction to help my Troops move up further. I really wished I brought a plasma cannon when They couldn’t shoot, and when my bolters only killed one more Volkite marine.

On the Sons of Horus’s turn all the heavy weapons fired at Elite 2, killing three veterans through weight of fire and Volkite wounds. His legion tactical squad moved through the halls, in position to reveal themselfs his next turn.

On my turn, The troops moved up, Elite 1 staying to the side and Elite 2 huddling down a bit. Bolters didn’t score any kills.

His Turn Came, and the legion Tactical squad revealed themselves to Elite 1 and fired, Killing both Terminators easily from weight of fire. The Volkites killed Troop 1 down to only one marine (for now, I’ll be referring to him as “Survivor”)

Fortune Favors the Faithful:

Elite 1 finally revealed themselves while Survivor moved up more, and no one shot yet. I charged Survivor into the Legion tactical squad, intending them to waste their snapshots, but my opponent didn’t overwatch. My knights barreled into the Legion squad soon after, the Knightmaster accepting a challenge from the Praetor.

The Legion Preator totally wiffed, and my knightmaster managed to score a wound! Mordecai killed 3 marines and three knight’s smite mode killed 5 more. They broke...

but luckily Survivor was there! The lone marine caught them and ended up slaughtering 12 legion marines, and the warlord!!

The next shooting round saw me lose 2 knights, But the rest of their fire was ineffective.

My turn. Survivor moved up to the volkite squad and capped one right in the face with his pistol! he charged, but was slaughtered by overwatch. My knights came in and wrecked the volkite squad, and my opponent gave up soon after.

After the game, Survivor recieved Terminator honors

What do you think?

[Razblood]

I think Survivor deserves to be in the Inner Circle for that act of heroism!

 

Nice succinct report, sounds like the games was a lot of fun :)

[Tiger9gamer]

It was for me at least! I got a little to much into it...

and it got me a talk about sportsmanship from the store manager

[Cmdr Shepard]

I'm gald to see other players are having fun with Legiones Astartes versus standard 40K matches. They were among the most entertaining 40K matches I ever played and HH are even extremely balanced and fun to play with and against.

 

I'm also a huge fan of Zone Mortalis since the days it was called Boarding Assault from IA Vol.9

I played so many missions that my armies are now considered expert in Boarding assaults ;)

 

If you want my opionion your opponent didn't played his SoH army at the best of its possibilities... just my opinion, though, no offence intended...

[Tiger9gamer]

oh, I know he didn't X-X he had way to little tactical marines on the table. if he had another squad of tac marines instead of the autocannon squad, I think I would have lost.

 

as it stands though, the Volkite is brutal in this

[Cmdr Shepard]

oh, I know he didn't X-X he had way to little tactical marines on the table. if he had another squad of tac marines instead of the autocannon squad, I think I would have lost.

 

as it stands though, the Volkite is brutal in this

 

I didn't want to look abrupt... sorry If I appeared so ;)

I was just thinking all of those heavy weapons in a setting where you have to move and shoot, especially with FW "official" tiles, does not seem a good idea.

I also don't think you would have lost in other circumstances since the DW knights are extremely powerful is such enviroments where they can reduce the shots they suffer before charging. In fact they seem to be one of the most effective choices for such fights (they can also activate their S10 AP2 weapons as soon as they charge th enemy strongest unit).

 

I played Son of Horus several times and like every other HH army you have to plan your strategy carefully (they lack ATSKNF, storm shields etc) it's a different approach from the standard SM we are used to play so it's understandable he didn't find the best combination of units. Even I, who have toyed with HH armies a lot, am trying to find the most effective build for each Legion. 

 

Beside at such small points limit HH lists struggle to be on par with their 40K counterparts, unless you find a very good plan ;)

For example Legion Vexilla is a must for HH squads of such size and nit even it guarantee to not being swept. They key is to charge what you can defeat. Also was Merciless Fighters useful? I won several fightes thanks to it

 

I said it was a mere observation...;)

[Tiger9gamer]

I think we both forgot the Merciless fighter thing X-X

 

Yea, the heavy weapons didn't help him at all, as I was able to get more guys into position when he remained stationary. The volikites picked up lots of slack, but he didn't need the autocannon squad. 

 

besides Survivor (who I may call Brother Foely) The knights and chaplain did well! Chappy picked up the slack with some needed AP3 mace attacks (5 in all) and his re-rolling helped punish the Legion squad with Hatred. plus the model I made for him was awesome looking!

[Cmdr Shepard]

I think we both forgot the Merciless fighter thing X-X

 

Yea, the heavy weapons didn't help him at all, as I was able to get more guys into position when he remained stationary. The volikites picked up lots of slack, but he didn't need the autocannon squad. 

 

besides Survivor (who I may call Brother Foely) The knights and chaplain did well! Chappy picked up the slack with some needed AP3 mace attacks (5 in all) and his re-rolling helped punish the Legion squad with Hatred. plus the model I made for him was awesome looking!

 

Merciless Fighters is what makes SoH quite effective ;).... anyway when you first play something you always forget something.. it's inevitable.

 

Regarding the heavy weapons: their effectiveness depends on the nature of the table.  For example if you use FW official tiles the table would be too cramped for them to be effective.

If the table is like the old Boarding Mission, namely the area is covered by more than 25% of their surface but without the very narrow corridors of FW tiles, they may be very useful.

They can be deployed as spearhead and provide suppression fire. Heavy bolters are a cheap choice for such point limits. Volkite culverin cost more than a ML for a very good reason ;)

 

New DA are quite effective. Anyway how did you decide to play DW assault? Did you deep striked them or did you decide to not use the rule in such scenario?

[Tiger9gamer]

I couldn't deepstrike them in the board as there was to much things in the way. They walked on, and the DEathwing squad din't do anything besides die X-X should have given them a plasma cannon...

[Cmdr Shepard]

I couldn't deepstrike them in the board as there was to much things in the way. They walked on, and the DEathwing squad din't do anything besides die X-X should have given them a plasma cannon...

 

If I'm not mistaken they are no longer forced to deep strike even in standard matches, right? Personally I'd go with shooty DW squads... just my preference. I have noticed Hammer/shield TDA often die to massed bolter fire before they have the chance to retaliate....

[Tiger9gamer]

That's right, they can just start on the board. and I noticed X-X