The Word Bearers convinced Archmagos Delvere of Constantix II to swear fealty to the traitor legions in exchange for forbidden knowledge. Delvere was convinced this would allow his world to ascend to new heights. Perched in the vast Barge City of Leiminota, the Word Bearers enacted their plot. Several smaller Barge Cities resisted, and a call for help rose into the heavens. Primarch Covax and the Raven Guard legion answered the call.

With stunning ferocity, the speartip arrived in Malcaster’s outlying settlement. Malcaster’s purpose was to maintain a small bridge where acid flowed through. The Word Bearers fled, knowing their limited forces must consolidate and draw the Ravens into a protracted siege. The Ravenguard must keep the bridge intact at all costs to speed up the assault.

Praetor Corveran Shixx will lead the speartip. His primary objective is to secure the bridge and destroy as many Word Bearers as possible. He leads his unit of Cataphractii in a deadly dance.

The Word Bearers, led by their Praetor Toradik, the Sonorous Fiend, must preserve as many units as possible for the coming assault. His legion is small, and reinforcements are far away. Drawing the fast-striking Raven Guard into a prolonged siege will lead to great benefit.

Lessons Learned
Terminators and Dreadnoughts are a house. I am excited to play narratively and thematically and add those units to the game. For example, most of the Raven Guard Terminators were destroyed in this assault. There will not be more available until an apothecary can make them.

The punishment for moving heavy weapons is severe. More terrain across the main field would have impacted how I used the tanks. There was no line of sight-blocking terrain across the battle, so the tanks and dreadnoughts just sat and shot at things with very little movement or strategy.

I mis-deployed the Word Bearers infantry. Instead of the flank away from the river, all three units should have deployed near the river to clog the bridgehead.

Rules, rules, rules—there are many rules for the game. It was hard to keep track of them during solo play. I think I could do better once I learned to shoot and keep track.

Smaller games. 3500 was too many points for a 6×4 table like this. 2000 Would have been better. We are at 1250 for the Word Bearers for the next engagement and 2500 for Ravenguard.

The Actual Game

I actually deployed the units twice. I played one round deploying as the scenario said; the Ravenguards were completely wiped off the table. Instead, we selected to deploy 30k style with all units, not in a deep strike on the field. This was my first time using the Horus Heresy rules, so I kept everything as simple as possible. There were no flank attacks.

After the first turn for Ravenguard, very few units were destroyed. I didn’t anticipate the impact that moving heavy weapons would have. Reducing all hits to only on 6’s is a challenge to overcome.

The Word Bearers responded with a general push up the field. I wanted the Rhinos to get in the flank and do some damage. I was still far too unfamiliar with the rules. No model in all 30 tactical squads could dent a land raider. I also learned from my actions with the Ravenguard and kept all the heavy weapons as stationary as possible to maximize shooting.

Round two for the Ravenguard saw something interesting happen. The Sicaran fired on the Land Raider; however, when firing back, the Land Raider scored 3 total hits, once glancing and two penetrating. The penetrating hits did double damage, destroying the Sicaran. A great roll from the raider. However, the gunship single-handedly destroyed the veterans for the Word Bearers. Looking at the image above, you can see them behind the building to the right of the bridge. If you look at the lower image, they are gone. Otherwise, it’s just more heavy weapons shooting and missing.

The Word Bearers focused fire on the terminators crossing the field. Only 3 made it to the Word Bearers lines.

The assault on the bridge is in full swing. You can see the rhino at the bottom of the bridge was pinned by something of the Word Bearers. I think the Dreadnought. A Mor Deythan death squad also made it across the river transported by the gunship.

The Word Bearers used their desolaters to try and push back the tactical marines. They were unsuccessful and lost combat. You can see that Predator and Landraider are now in flames for the word-bearers.

The assault marines finally made it into combat and destroyed the basilisk. The devastators holding the bridge were also destroyed. The Contemptor Dreadnought for the Word Bearers has now been tied up for two shooting phases with the Terminators. We rolled to see if the Desolators could make it in for the Word Bearers. They did, and I decided to call the game. There was just no firepower left for the Word Bearers, as all their units were either in combat or ineffective against the tanks.

I could have charged with the Ravenguard leader and done a challenge here just to try it out. I didn’t.

Units for further expansion

Units that exemplified themselves included all four dreadnoughts, the Ravenguard Tactical Marines that held the bridge, the assault marines that killed the basilisk, and the 30 Tactical marines from the Word Bearers who never entered the battle. Praetor Toradik also bravely charged the Terminators to try and dislodge them from the dreadnought.