Happy new year, everybody. I've been super busy with no time for proper hobbying (except for buying new stuff, I think my pile of unassembled Legions Solar Aux is mysteriously growing every week...), but I did once again organise more Titanicus goodness at the club. This year started with a bang, as our annual-ish AT mega-battle expanded into a two-day narrative event. I wrote custom missions so that we could first play three rounds of 1v1 games on Saturday where the winning side could dictate environmental conditions for the following round as well as earn some neat bonii for Sunday's all-in brawl.
-- War for the Angel's Grave 3.-4.2.2024 --
An ancient repository of knowledge, a forbidden and sealed esoteric weapon best forgotten or a relic of the broken dream now irrepairably lost? No-one knew precisely what the arcology known as the Angel's Grave held within its confines, but when Warmaster Horus decreed it to be taken, neither did his lackeys question the wisdom of such orders. Under the capricious auspices of the dark gods, god-machines marched into their dropships and hurtled through the blazing voids of the war-stricken galaxy with murder in their hearts...
The traitors slam down on the unsuspecting planet in the dark of night and spread out. From the barely habited outskirts, legios Krytos, Omina and Mortis plunge deep into the planet's infrastructure as the surprised loyalists scramble to face the threat. Legios Solaria, Astorum and Magna jump to hold the line and manage to stem the initial tide despite Krytos wreaking havoc on their communication towers. As the loyalist line refuses to crumble, their reserves in space enter the system and carve a bloody swathe through the traitors' fleet. As burning ships, scrap and satellites fall down on the planet in a rain of fire, the loyalist legios sally forth in a counter-attack to drive the traitors back. This seems to work, securing the defenders a decisive advantage in planetside artillery assets, until for the sudden and totally unforeseen betrayal by the Screaming Skulls! Who'd have thought those guys weren't on our side, absolutely shameful. With this stab in the back, both sides are forced to accept that this conflict will go on for a while and stock up on supplies from the available storages and techno-magi. With reserves from legio Favilla stepping onto the field to plug the hole left by Magna's treachery, the loyalists once more secure the continuing support of the Mechanicum and converge on the final showdown.
Four traitor commanders square against three loyalists with some 30 titans and 20 knights stalking the field. Ultramarines and Death Guard models are there to represent area control over various important objectives on the table as well as the critical supply depots no side can wage war without.
Astorum's supreme loyalist command leaves the supply depot lightly guarded, focusing their knightly allies on the right flank.
Traitors, acutely aware of their tenuous grasp on the planet, guard theirs keenly with the newly arrived Tiger Eyes' deployment.
As the fight begins, deafening roar of war-horns fills the centre as Favilla pushes forwards. Fallen knights are vaporised before their volcano cannons, swatted aside like gnats as more worthy foes approach from Krytos' lines.
On all flanks, forces advance into the fire.
In the middle, Excidium Ultimum and Deus Victrix hear the siren song of the Thunderdome. Two god-machines enter, who will leave?
Fighting intensifies on the flanks, as Mortis reaches one of the habitats in force and knights swarm towards Omina's positions.
Sensing an opportunity, one of Omina's Warhounds sneaks to threaten the loyalist supplies as Krytos' devastating volleys savage the Astorum Warmaster guarding them.
Despite losing its fist to Deus Victrix' fire, Excidium Ultimum saws the upstart God-Breaker in half and casts its broken form down in ruin, almost decapitating Ibn Faruq below with its mass. Glory is fleeting, however, as unabated firepower from most of the Tiger Eyes' battleline causes the injured Warmaster to crash down from its throne all the same.
On the left flank, Solaria's brazen charge cuts deep into the lighter Mortis engines as a column of Ultramarines follows in their wake to wipe out the Death Guard attempting to seize the habitat. Yet with their supplies under threat, it is all nearly futile.
Fighting to salvage the situation, Delictor Profectuum ploughs through Krytos' fire and the wrecked corpses of their comrades towards the supply depot with all systems burning. Perhaps they could have made it, if not for the relentless shelling of Quake munitions raining on them, causing the ground under their buckling legs to undulate like tortured jelly with each booming shot. Valiantly, if desperately, later reserve Cerastoi rush to try and relieve the Ultramarines at any price.
The traitors are similarly pressed, now, with Mortis crumbling before Solaria's advance. Favilla's heavy guns blow out one of Fureans' Warlords nearby and seal the deal as the remaining traitorous knights are slaughtered to the last.
Triumphantly, Krytos' sole remaining Warlord Braccus Rex sidesteps the futile knight charge and guns down the immobilised Delictor Profectuum, trumpeting its ownership of the loyalists' supply depot.
With fires burning all over the broken and mangled countryside, it is eventually clear to the loyalist side that their tactical situation is untenable. While the traitors are trapped and caught stranded in the bigger picture, unable to hold the planet and will soon all be hunted down, on this day they have by the barest of margins bought enough time for their techno-magi to complete their dark purpose at the Angel's Grave itself. For the Warmaster, they cry in the all-consuming ritual flames!
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A very slight Traitor victory after six rounds, 225 to 168 points (with one good turn able to swing 50+ points)! Loyalists killed more and took ground more aggressively, but with their supply lines left basically undefended by the supreme command's strategic blunder, they were unable to capitalise on this advantage, scoring no control points for the whole game after the first round. Not that the traitors had much more luck on that front, with loyalists having more men and machines on most strategic zones after the first third of the game, but that early lead let them coast pretty far. That element certainly brought a good dynamic to the match, with everyone involved until the end and multiple possible game-changing maneuvers hanging at singular dice rolls. If Delictor Profectuum hadn't been slowed down by Quake shell and immobilised ½" too far from the supplies, for example, it could have gone very much the other way. Still loving all of that.
Thanks for reading and happy wargaming!
