Battle of Solis Planum

The Battle of Solis Planum was a colossal battle on Mars that saw both the Secessionists and Mechanicum simultaneously attacking the last major holdings of the Imperialists on Mars.

Defending the center the Imperialists were composed of Thousand Sons, Salamanders and Iron Hands with supporting elements of Solar Auxilia, Imperial Fists and some renegade Emperor's Children. 

Attacking from the north were the forces of the Mechanicum.  Comprising of a Reaver Titan of the Legio Astraman and attending Knight House, Skitarii Legions, a considerable Legio Cybernetica cohort and a small force of Raven Guard. 

From the south cam the Secessionists composed primarily of Iron Warriors and Imperial Militia, lead by a contingent of Ultramarines and supporting elements of the Alpha Legion.

The Salamanders and a small contingent of Iron Hands Held off the Mechanicum in the north.  Vulkan and one Iron Hands Veteran Tactical squad destroying almost all of the Knight Titans, all the while the Reaver Titan bombarded Vulkan whilst all watching saw him walk unscathed from the God machines hellish firepower. 
The bulk of the Iron Warriors, Thousand Sons and the supporting Imperial Fists and Emperor's Children tried to sally forth in the south smashing into the Secessionists whilst the Reaver randomly bombarded both sides from afar.
The defence in the center was disrupted somewhat with the Raven Guard dropping virtually their entire force in the middle of the defenders throwing their defence into disary. 

Ultimately the defence held, with Imperialist forces taking massive damage but seriously bloodying the noses of the Mechanicum and Secessionist forces.

Due to this game having taken place some time ago, and me only having 4 pics and my terrible memory to work off of I will give a few highlights I remember.  If people have any fond anecdotes they want to add in then please do so in the comments below.

Here are a few of my highlights:
-The Raven Guard Moritat being killed by the Scattering Raven Guard Deathstorm Drop Pod, before he had fired.
-Vulkan surviving every shot the Reaver fired his way and merrily beating down Knight Titans.
-The Defenders leaving their entire center open with a Raven Guard Drop Army waiting on the wings.
-1 Iron Hands Veteran Tactical squad killing 2 (or 3 I forget) knight Titans in close combat and only losing less than half the squad total.
-The crazy amount of armoured firepower that the Secessionists had.
-The Secessionist hill well away from the front line ,with the Ultramarines command squad and Lascannon toting Iron Havoks on it getting bombarded into oblivion by orbital bombardment (2-3 orbital bombardments I think).
-The crazy number of Dreadnoughts on the table (from the pictures I can see 29 but I think there may have been a few more)

Legion in Review- J4ck's Emperor's Chlidren

Legions in Review is where I will put up the pics of various players armies to show them off to one and all.  As the campaign progresses I will try to get pics of all the player's armies up here (Legion or no) so we have plenty of pretties to look at and drool over.

So first up we have:

Legio II The Emperor's Children

A quick group shot of the army so far. 

Praetor in Terminator Armour

Legion Champion 

Moritat

3x 5 Legion Terminators

9 Legion Veteran Tactical Marines

The Praetor faces down a hapless Ork Nob

Left to right:

Legion Champion, Praetor and Moritat.

The Moritat lines up his next victim.

Emperor's Children Terminators move through a clearing in the dense jungle.

Warzones of the Betrayal (Isstvan III)

The Betrayal era sees the Legions the beginnings of the Secession proper.  With several major warzones being fought over between the Secessionists and Imperialists at the dawn of Guilliman's Imperium Secundus.


Guilliman gathers his closest allies above the blighted world of Isstvan III.  It is here Guilliman, Horus, Fulgrim, Sanguinius and Angron openly plot against the rule of the Emperor.  Their first move to cleanse their Legions of those who show greater loyalty to the throne than to their Warmaster and Primarchs.  It is Guilliman's intention to simply strand their Legionnaires upon the world on which they now fight.  Sanguinius and Fulgrim are quick to point out that leaving an army of that size at their backs is too great a threat.  Guilliman does not hear the plans of his brothers, nor their bickering, his heart is heavy with the knowledge of what he must do.  The orders to begin the bombardment are given, soon the Imperialists in their ranks will be purged in the most ignominious way possible.  Guilliman wears a wry smile as the order spreads from his brothers to their Legions, as he alone hears Angron give the order that the Imperialists be warned of their fate.  Perhaps the Legionnaires will get an honourable death after all, a chance to stand against this Betrayal.

Isstvan III Rules
The Legions that are battling on Isstvan III are:
Scions of Guilliman
Emperor's Children
Luna Wolves
World Eaters
Blood Angels

Isstvan III will follow all the rules found in Betrayal and players are strongly recommended to use the scenarios found therein.  I will be running 3 of the Legendary battles as multiplayer events in the 3rd week, middle of the campaign and as a finale game, more details will be provided closer to the events.

When any of the above Legions fight a battle on Isstvan III their player should decide if they are playing as Secessionists or Imperialists.  It does not matter which side their opponents choose.  When players post their game results (to be detailed in a future post) they will need to add which side they played as. 

Generic Betrayal Warzone Rules
Although the various Legions are assigned to various Warzones this doesn't mean that elements for their forces aren't active elsewhere in the galaxy.  As such (and so no one gets left out; and we can have some big games)  players may bring their Legions to any Warzone.  There will however be a benefit given for fighting in the correct warzone (more details in a future post).