Another thrilling engagement for the Horus Heresey Series. It took me too long to get this particular game in.

The Ravenguard started off aggressively and with ample destruction. However, clever maneuvers to negate the Lord of War Fellblade and strike a crucial counter-attack doomed them by Turn 4. The Word Bearers were victorious, and this plays nicely into scenario 4, where the Ravenguard is backed up by a river in a desperate struggle for survival. The battle played out very similarly to the Bolt Action version, where each side picked a flank to focus fire and efforts . The strength of the deep strike played a major role here, just like the flanking assaults in Bolt Action.

Conclusions and Thoughts

It was my first time bringing out the Gal Vorbak; wow, they impressed me.
The terrain was a little thick which negated the Fellblade, the three turns it got to shoot, something did die. They just were not the optimum targets.

The Scenario
As with the Bolt Action Version, there is a small river separating a subdivision of the city. The Word Bearers have been ordered to push back the Ravenguard, while the Ravenguard have been ordered to seize both sides.

Forces get 1VP for each unit on their opponent’s side of the river and 1VP for each unit destroyed.

Army Lists

(The lists were equal when I originally built them)

Ravenguard	3000	Word Bearers	2850
Damocles Command Rhino	150	Praetor Cataphractii	140
Strike Captain Alvarex Maun	140	Gal Vorbak Squad	550
Contemptor Dreadnought Talon x2	350	Mhara Gal Dreadnought	240
Deliverers Squad	225	Terminator Cataphractii	175
Assault Squad	145	Assault Squad X20	265
Assault Squad	145	Tactical Squad	100
Tactical Squad x18	250	Tactical Squad	100
Dark Furies	150	Sabre Strike Squadron	150
Javelin Squadron x2	180	Storm Eagle Gunship	210
Proteus Land Speeder x3	180	Deredeo Dreadnought Talon	205
Land Raider Proteus	235	Land Raider Spartan	250
Legion Basilisk	200	Sicaran Squadron	365
Fellblade	650

List Choice

Both sides used assault marines to move across the river. I also felt the gunship could help transport that Gal Vorbak to a crucial space. The Ravenguard pushed with their land speeders, emphasizing their speed, while the Word Bearers wanted to counterattack when holes opened in the Ravenguard lines.

Deployment

The Word Bearers needed to limit the Fellblade’s effectiveness, as they had little that could even dent it. 14 Armour with 12 HP is a challenge. I placed the Gal Vorbak inside the warehouse. I think thematically having the Ravenguard “surprised” with the new mutants would be a little shocking.

The Ravenguard wanted to get their heaviest units across the board and hold them while using their two units of assault marines and a single unit of furies to disrupt the situation.

Turn 1

The Ravenguard Fellblade knocks out the hammerfall bunker. I wanted to make sure there were options to get the assault marines in the backfield. It was also one of the only units in line of sight. I could have taken out a sabre tank instead. There were very few casualties and most units were just positioning, and checking sightlines.

Turn 2

Heavy shooting here, the Fellblade knocks down the Gunship. The Ravenguard Landraider destroyed the Sicaran. The Ravengaurd are very aggressive with their land speeders and have dropped in their assault marines. They have also pushed with the Rhino carrying the Deliverers. The Word Bearers countered the tactical marine advance on the railroad bridge with their own terminators and they moved their own land raider into position to cover the bridge along with the daredeo dreadnought.

Turn 3

The Word Bearers have turned the corner. With some clever movement, the Word Bearers took the Fellblade out of the game; the Fellblade did not have a line of sight with its lascannons and had to take a hopeful shot against the Deredeo Dreadnought but missed. The Word Bearers destroyed most of the speeders for the Ravenguard, destroyed an entire assault squad, and pinned the unit of tactical marines as they tried to cross the railroad bridge. They also destroyed the command rhino attempting to deliver the Deliverers. Finally, they landed 20 assault marines behind Ravenguard lines. The Ravenguard didn’t really do anything helpful.

Turn 4,

After this turn, I called the game. I could not see a path forward to victory for Ravenguard. The Ravenguard lost their Land Raider, lost all their assault squads, and did zero damage to the Mhara Ghal Dreadnought who tied up both Contemptors. The Ravenguard did manage to kill a Sabre, a tactical squad, and, maybe a terminator.

Ravenguard	3000	Word Bearers	2850
Damocles Command Rhino Destroyed	150	Praetor Cataphractii	140
Strike Captain Alvarex Maun	140	Gal Vorbak Squad	550
Contemptor Dreadnought Talon x2	350	Mhara Gal Dreadnought	240
Deliverers Squad	225	Terminator Cataphractii	175
Assault Squad Destroyed	145	Assault Squad X20	265
Assault Squad Destroyed	145	Tactical Squad 2 Alive	100
Tactical Squad x18 2 Left Alive	250	Tactical Squad	100
Dark Furies	150	Sabre Strike Squadron 1 Destroyed	150
Javelin Squadron Destroyed	180	Storm Eagle Gunship Destroyed	210
Proteus Land Speeder x3 Destroyed	180	Deredeo Dreadnought Talon	205
Land Raider Proteus Destroyed	235	Land Raider Spartan	250
Legion Basilisk	200	Sicaran Squadron 1 Destoyed	365
Fellblade	650
4 VPs for Destroyed Units	3 Units in Enemies Backfield	7 VPs for Destroyed Units	4 Units in Enemys Backfield

Why I Called It

The very best turn imaginable would have been the following, Fellblade destroying the Daredeo +1 25% chance (no line of sight to the 2nd Sabre), the two contemptors destroying the Mhara Ghal +1, 4% chance, the Dark Furies landing on the far side and living +1 66% chance, the 2 remaining space marines winning combat on bad initiative and forcing back the terminators and praetor -2, <1% chance, which would have resulted in a +1 win for the Ravenguard.

The Word Bearers would have responded with, focusing fire on the basilisk, 75% of destroying it. +1, using the Land Raider and Tactical Squad to Destroy the Dark Furies 33% chance +1 and -1. The Ghal Vorbak charging the damaged dreadnought 18% +1 and -1 chance of destroying it. Killing the remaining 2 tactical marines. 85% chance.