Around Christmas time I decided that I really needed to fight the Siege of Terra at some point in 2013, and that Epic would be the best way to do it.

I enlisted the help of a couple of my oldest friends. Neither of them really plays Epic, but they were willing to help in my scheme. I would do all the armies and scenery etc.

The three of us go to the Salute show in London together every year and usually turn it into a wargaming weekend. This seemed like the perfect occasion to fight the battle and would give me about four months to get everything together.

I already had a lot of the stuff I would need: lots of Imperial Guard to play the role of the Imperial Army; several titans, including an Imperator; quite a lot of buildings; piles of unpainted space marines.

The things I would need to acquire from somewhere were: some more buildings; some sort of front wall and gate; more space marines to fill some gaps; daemons. Oh yes, and the Imperial Palace!

I locked myself away and set to work.

The Scenario

I did a new scenario for the battle. Victory points would be awarded for the following:

Battlefield positions held:
• Lion’s Gate spaceport = 1 point for Traitors, 3 points for Loyalists
• Eternity Gate = 1 point for Loyalists, 3 points for Traitors
• Basilica = 1 point
• Librarium = 1 point

Key foes destroyed:
• Primarch = 1 point
• Reaver Titan = 1 point
• Warlord Titan = 2 points
• Imperator Titan = 1 point if reduced below 10 wounds, or 3 points if destroyed

If either side achieved 6 victory points at the end of turn 3, they would automatically win. Otherwise, the game would end after turn 4 and the player with the most victory points would be winner.

There were a few special rules. The first was that there were two shield generators built into the front wall. These could be destroyed, but while operational they created a static bubble over the city that would destroy any flier, skimmer or teleporter entering the city on a 4+ (5+ if only one generator is operational). The main purpose of this rule was to change the game up a bit so that the loyalists could have stuff like an artillery company without it getting killed in the first activation!

The other main special rule was that Jaghatai Khan and his White Scar bikers would enter play on turn 2 from any point on either neutral table edge (this point had to be noted down by the Loyalist players before the game).

Onto some pictures...



Here is a view of the whole table. We played long ways, with the Emperor’s Palace at one end and the Lion’s Gate spaceport (represented by some old Necromunda terrain) at the other.




Here is a closer view of the city. That big grey thing by the window is meant to represent the very edge of the Emperor’s Palace. The Eternity Gate objective is there, at the end of the big bridge.




Another view of the city outside the Palace. The Basilica objective is the brown building in the foreground. The Librarium is the white tower in the distance.




The east of the city, showing a closer view of the Librarium objective.

FANTAAAAAAASTIIIIIIIIICCCC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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The armies

I controlled the Traitors and my two friends took joint command of the Loyalists, playing the roles of Rogal Dorn and Sanguinius.

I put together the armies using a few different army lists and some made up stats. I used the standard Steel Legion list for Imperial Army. I used Simulated Knave’s Horus Heresy list (v0.3) for the legions. I used a titans list that I have got saved on my hard drive (probably been superseded now). It was War Gryphons v3.18b.

The traitors had about 7,500 points and the loyalists about 7,000 (plus strong defensive positions).

I made up some stats for the primarchs. They were DC2 (but behave as infantry rather than war engines), Armour 4+ (reinforced), Fearless, Inspiring, Invulnerable save, Leader. Rogal Dorn and Fulgrim were also Supreme Commanders. CC and FF were between 2+ and 4+ depending on the primarch. I also gave them all 3 extra macro weapon attacks in assault, which I split between CC and FF depending on who it was (ie Angron’s were all CC, while two of Magnus the Red’s were FF to reflect his psychic powers).

Orders of battle are below:

Loyalists

Rogal Dorn (in command)
Sanguinius
Jagathai Khan (off the board, flanking)
Adeptus Custodes in thunderhawk
Imperial Fist dreadnought company
Imperial Fist fire support company
Blood Angels assault company
Blood Angels assault company in thunderhawk
2 x White Scar biker companies
Warlord titan
Reaver titan
2 x Imperial Army infantry companies
Leman Russ company
Baneblade
Shadowsword
Storm troopers in Valkyries
Artillery company
Hydras
Sentinels
Thunderbolts

Traitors

Fulgrim (in command)
Angron (he deployed inside the city walls with a company of his World Eaters. A static shield bubble means nothing to him ).
Magnus the Red (in a Stormbird)
2 x Emperor’s Children land raider companies
2 x Emperor’s Children land speeder companies
2 x Emperor’s Children Whirlwind companies
2 x Emperor’s Children Fellblades
Emperor’s Children tactical company with predators
Thousand Sons Terminators
Thousand Sons fire support company with dreadnoughts in a Stormbird
Imperator Titan
4 x Warhound titans (two in a pack)
2 x Thunderbolts
World Eater berzerkers (with Angron in the city)
World Eaters tactical company (deploy via drop pod)
12 x lesser daemons
Greater daemon

Here are some more shots of the deployment:



Imperial Army storm troopers deployed at the rear, awaiting orders.




More brave men of the Imperial Army man the defences, and try not to worry too much about the massive gap in the front wall.




Rogal Dorn and his Imperial Fists, commanding the loyalist defence.

A Shadowsword loiters with intent, sheltering from orbital weaponry under the bridge, awaiting its moment to strike.





A full artillery company deployed to the rear of the city, ready to rain death on the attackers as they emerge from cover.





The Traitors. A wall of old school land raiders of the Emperor’s Children legion, revving their engines. And an Imperator titan as well





Fulgrim commands the traitor ground forces. He deploys with his men in the woods to the east, ready to assault the breach in the front wall.


I will post the actual battle a bit later - my photobucket account is misbehaving at the moment.

Very nicely done !!!!

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Awesome!

Very nice

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Nice work on this. I've always wanted to do this battle myself and will do one day given half a chance.

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Thanks for the comments

On to the battle ...




The battle commences. A Leman Russ company advances to plug the breach in the front wall. They unleash hell on Fulgrim’s infantry, concealed in the woods outside the city.





Angron and his World Eaters (who, you may remember, deployed inside the city) jump pack over towards the artillery company and peer down at it threateningly from the nearby rooftops. They begin to cackle in anticipation of the next turn.

The Blood Angels in reserve spot the threat and swoop down in their thunderhawk to assault the World Eaters. Angron roars out a laugh at the temerity of it and murders them all.

Unfortunately for him, many of his own men are also killed in the process, enough to break the formation and force it to retreat to reconsider its options. The artillery is safe for now.





A warhound of Legio Mortis hurls itself against the front walls, bathing the defenders in flame from its pair of (ignore cover!) inferno guns and setting the shield generator on fire.





Without pause, the Reaver Titan Fiore Dei Liberi charges forward to engage the warhound in a vicious close quarters firefight across the top of the city wall. I imagine those dudes on the wall do some massive cowering while this goes on .

The Fiore Dei Liberi is a close assault specialist, armed with two laser burners. There can be only one winner here. The warhound is destroyed utterly, though the Fiore is left a little battered as well.

In the west, land raiders advance and bring down one of the shield generators, forcing another breach in the wall.




The Imperator titan Dominus Magna blasts open the front gate and bears down on the city. He positions himself nicely to lend some firefight support later in the turn.





More warhounds move up behind their daddy. They rake the wounded Reaver titan with long range fire.

Rogal Dorn makes his move. His men advance calmly towards the monstrous titan in front of them. They take aim and fire, stripping many of the great machine’s shields, preparing the way for...





The storm troopers skim over the rooftops in their Valkyries, redeploying into the fortified front wall and peppering the Imperator with more fire.

Then the Warlord Titan Heaven's Thunder walks. Its concentrated firepower strips the remainder of the Imperator’s shields and the volcano cannon rips open its armour. The Imperator is reduced to a mere 9 wounds and with that the Loyalists secure a victory point!





Summon daemons! In the east, Fulgrim makes his move. He charges out of the woods and assaults the city wall, while ranging ahead of him are the horrific denizens of the warp that he has called to his side.

Despite support from the Leman Russ company, the loyalist infantry formation defending the wall is badly broken.

The first turn is over, with terrible carnage on both sides. The Traitors have breached the walls and caused much damage, but they have been badly bloodied in return. The shield generators are destroyed, so the reserves in orbit will be able to act freely in the coming turn. But has Fulgrim spent too much time destroying infrastructure rather than his foes? Time will tell.

At the start of turn two, terminators of the Thousand Sons legion teleport onto the walls of the Imperial Palace itself and assault the Imperial Fist dreadnoughts defending the Eternity Gate.

This proves very, very rash. Two dreadnoughts (of six) are killed, but the Imperial Fists win the engagement. With nowhere to flee, the broken terminators are hunted down and destroyed on the walls.





The Khan rides! The White Scars enter the battle from the east. Predictably, they cause havoc in the Traitor backfield, snacking on some Whirlwinds. Nothing now lies between the White Scars and the Lion’s Gate Spaceport objective.



In the east, Fulgrim attempts to press on with his assault, clambering out of the crater to engage the Leman Russ company up close and personal. But his resolve wavers (I rolled a 1) and the assault stalls.

Sanguinius seizes his opportunity ...



The golden primarch leads his assault troops in a great arcing leap over the city walls, descending on Fulgrim’s Emperor’s Children and their daemonic allies.

Carnage ensues, as brother murders brother. It seemed only right that the primarchs should fight a kind of duel, so we played fast and loose with the rules for hit allocation. Sanguinius and Fulgrim faced off and their hits were allocated only to each other.

The brother primarchs are well matched. Both of them inflict 2 ordinary hits and 1 macro-weapon hit on their foe. Sanguinius makes all his saves. Fulgrim makes all his saves except one. He limps away, bested by his brother, but still alive.

The Blood Angels win the combat and the Emperor’s Children retreat into the woods, broken. Casualties are heavy for the Blood Angels as well, so their morale cannot hold despite their victory. They retreat back to the safety of the city.






Sanguinius takes a moment to recover from the brutal fight outside the walls. I like to think he is unsettled by the reality of almost killing his brother and so has to take some time to gather himself. Perhaps he cries a single golden tear

In the centre, the Imperator Dominus Magna advances into the city and rains terrible fire on Rogal Dorn and his Imperial Fists. The loyalists cannot stand against such firepower. They break and flee back up the bridge.





The Reaver titan Fiore Dei Liberi is finally brought down, finished off by a Thunderbolt strafing run. 1 victory point to the Traitors.

The brave shadowsword (out of sight behind the bridge in the photo) does what surely no shadowsword has ever done before – he charges at an Imperator titan! This is a clever move, since it pulls in the firefight support of the nearby Warlord and stormtroopers. The Imperator is wounded again and loses the fight! He doesn’t seem to mind that much – he uses his flee move to advance further up the ramp towards the Eternity Gate.

Land raiders breach the walls in the west and bear down on the Basilica objective. A brave squad of sentinels engages them and (with the help of the nearby Warlord) sees the heavy tanks off in a firefight. The traitors flee from the city.

Action switches to the far end of the battlefield. In an uncharacteristically defensive move, the World Eaters in orbit deploy via drop pods to seize the Lion’s Gate spaceport (for this scenario we played that you could choose where the drop pods entered, rather than plotting it in advance).





The moment the Adeptus Custodes have been waiting for has arrived. They fly the length of the battlefield in their Thunderhawk and descend on the World Eaters holding the spaceport.





The Adeptus Custodes are victorious. They break their foe and slay every last one of them as they flee. Here are the survivors, looking smug.





Magnus the Red, still circling high above the battlefield in his Stormbird, is left with no choice. He has to destroy the Adeptus Custodes to re-take the Lion’s Gate Spaceport and deny the loyalists 3 victory points.

The primarch and his men win the fight and destroy their foes. They hold the spaceport, but it comes at a cost. Now the traitors have no air assets left to make a decisive intervention in the city itself.




With that, we came to the rally phase at the end of Turn 2. In the space of a few dice rolls, the battle was decided. When Sanguinius and Rogal Dorn rallied, while the Imperator and Angron failed to rally, we all knew the traitors could not prevail. They simply did not have enough unbroken assets left to threaten the key objectives in the city.

We had planned to play at least three turns, but we reached a decisive position by the end of turn 2, so called it a day (it was also 10:30pm).

A resounding 4-2 victory for the Loyalists! They held all three objectives in the city and had also reduced the Imperator below 10 wounds. The traitors got a point for taking down the Reaver and also for holding the spaceport.

It’s at this point that I like to imagine that Horus, aboard the Vengeful Spirit high in orbit, might have given the order: “Lower the shields.”

That was fun! Thanks to my two friends for a great game. Considering they don’t really play Epic, they basically beat me up! They certainly mastered the fine art of pulling firefight monsters into multiple assaults – the Warlord titan was the absolute star of turn 2.

Primarch of the battle must go to Sanguinius, the only primarch to draw the blood of his brother in this battle, turning Fulgrim back from the walls. Angron gets the award for lamest primarch today, spending most of the game broken.

Right, let’s double the army/table size and play again!