First Game of 7th Edition---Horus Heresy Style

Greetings once again InterWebs!!!!! It has been a long time since my last post and I can only blame it on my ongoing health battles. I managed to actually get a little game time in with my good friend Mordian7th over the 4th of July holiday. It has been a tradition for the two of us to play a game of 40k on the 4th of July holiday and I was concerned we might miss it this year. As it turned out we were able to get together and decided we would try out the new edition of the rules while playing with our Horus Heresy armies. I went with my Salamanders and Mordian7th went with his Thousand Sons. It was nice to get out of the house that didn't involve a trip to the hospital or a doctor and I must say I had some much needed fun.

Mordian7th and I decided to play a 1500pt game to keep it simple as we adjusted to the new rules. Here is my 1500pt Heresy-era Salamanders army list:
HQ: 
Praetor M’tonga Chaga’st 
Master Crafted Thunder Hammer, Iron Halo, Stormshield, Mantle of the Elder Drake, Digi-Lasers

Epistolary U’uka Obataiye (Librarian lvl 2)
Artificer Armor, Refractor Field, Stormshield, Inferno Pistol
Troop:
Tactical Squad Mas’kini (10)
Nuncio-Vox, Artificer Armor (Serg), Melta Bomb (Serg), Master Crafted Power Weapon (Serg)

Tactical Squad Sim’baa (10)
Nuncio-Vox, Artificer Armor (Serg), Melta Bomb (Serg), Master Crafted Power Weapon (Serg)
Rhino Transport

Tactical Support Squad (5)
Meltaguns, Combi-Melta (Serg)
Rhino Transport
Elites:
Legion Terminator Squad (5)
Powerfist, Thunder Hammer x3, Storm Shields x5, Master Crafted Thunder Hammer (Serg)

Land Raider Phobos Transport
Hull Mounted Twin-Linked Heavy Flamers, Pintle Mounted Multi Melta

The game was played on some of Mordian7th's new urban terrain tiles (from some random kickstarter he backed) which I thought looked stunning. Here are some pictures of the table before the armies rolled onto it:

 There are so many little details printed on the tiles like crushed soda cans, bloody footprints, leaves, trash, etc. I really thought these tiles added a lot to the look of the game!

Here are some pictures of the initial setup of the armies:

1k Sons Assault Squad waiting to pounce:

 Lots of 1k Sons hunkered down behind a Skyshield Platform:

 Salamander Tactical Squad with Praetor holding an objective:

 Terminators ready to roll down the street to unleash Hell on the 1k Sons.

The game started with the Salamanders going first and the mad rush to grab tactical objectives (the orange d6 dice scattered around the table) was on. I was concerned about the 3 Landspeeders and 2 Predators the 1k Sons brought to the table but the Salamanders stayed strong in the face of such firepower.

Salamander Tactical Support Squad and Librarian rushing forward to kill the 1k Sons Scorpious Whirlwind Launcher which is just nasty and had to die quickly:

 The 1k Sons milling around in the backfield. I am glad they milled around back there instead of pressing forward with the Predators:

 The 1k Sons Assault Squad moves to capture an objective they needed (orange d6 dice):

 The mad rush of the Tactical Support Squad comes up just short as their Rhino Transport is disabled. It was time to make a dash for it on foot:

 1k Sons Landspeeders started to drop from orbit (Deep Strike) and it was not looking good for the other Rhino Transport:

 The Tactical Support Squad still trying to kill the 1k Sons Scorpious Launcher while trying to avoid getting blown to bits by its return fire:

 1k Sons rushing to protect the flank with the Scorpious Launcher and deal with the threatening Salamanders:

Poor 1k Sons Assault Squad couldn't quite make it into the building to assault the waiting Salamanders, this left them sitting all alone in the middle of the street facing down a lot of Salamander bolters:

 The 1k Sons move some firepower forward to press an assault on the Salamanders:

 The Salamanders respond with a charge from their Legion Terminators:

 The result of the Salamander charge:

 The result of the Salamander Tactical Squad unleashing 'Fury of the Legion' on the 1k Sons Assault Squad:

 Salamander Terminators now moving onto the 1k Sons Predator. The Salamanders having the 'move through cover' special rule allowed them to assault through all kinds of terrain catching the 1k Sons flat footed at times:

 The Salamander Terminators continue on after destroying the 1k Sons Predator:

 The last of the Tactical Support Squad and the Librarian finally managed to disable the Scorpious Launcher only to get washed off the table next turn by the 1k Sons 'Fury of the Legion' gunfire:

At this point it was getting awfully hot up in the game loft and it was the end of Turn 5 anyway so Mordian7th and I decided to call it a game; we tallied up our victory points and the Salamanders came out ahead 11-8. Both Mordian7th and I really enjoyed our first taste of 7th Edition; I really enjoyed the Tactical Objective cards which I thought gave the game a 'real feel' as units were scurrying around the table top trying to achieve vital objectives all game (instead of the mad rush at the end of the game). I also enjoyed the Psychic Phase being its own phase instead of trying to remember which game phase the different types of psychic powers went off in (previous editions). I found vehicles to be slightly more durable but everything still dies to a Lascannon. All in all I really found the game entertaining with never a dull moment as my troops had to scramble to achieve vital objectives all the time.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look! Take care!