Horus Heresy Betrayal at Calth

First impressions of the new GW board game.

Proxying some figures we cracked into the first mission - The Wrath of Veridia! With solar flares and radiation pouring forth from Veridia the surface of Calth will soon be scoured clean of all life. The only hope is the extensive arcologies and caverns beneath its surface. Approaching the blast doors a group of Word Bearers and a group of Ultramarines find they are heading towards the same safe haven.

The board is made up of four double sided hex tiles. Using three for this mission each group entered from opposite sides needing to get out through three points at the other end of the map.

Each hex has a capacity limit of three bulk, with normal marines having a bulk of one. One tilesworth of figures makes a unit, so you have a lot of options of how your units are combined and these can be changed as the battle progresses.

A pile of Command Cards give game altering options and in this mission also act as a counting clock - there are three doors, one of which closes at the end of turn three, the second turn four and then the last on turn six.

In a turn you choose a unit and activate them once, doing move, run, shoot, assault or consolidate actions. Once done your opponent does the same, then back and forth until you run out of activations. Each unit starts each turn with two activations and thus can shoot then move, shoot and shoot and so on.

Moving is one hex to another hex, Run allows you to go two hexes but not adjacent to the enemy. Shooting is total up all the firepower in the hex, roll dice equal to that number. Basically 4+ hits and 6's are criticals. Criticals depend on the weapons used, for example Bolters remove an activation for the turn - everyone ducks and hides. Defensive dice are then rolled per figure, on 5+ the wound is saved. Two unsaved wounds per Marine takes them out. Consolidate allows you to split a unit in different directions, joining up with other units if wanted and so changing the composition of those units. Assault is similar to Shooting but only against adjacent targets.

The Command Cards give options to break or modify the usual rules, with things like Krak Grenade (extra Assault dice) or Corpse Shield (half shooting damage).

Ok, so you have an idea how it plays. Now bear in mind that I only opened the box at 7:30pm, and most people didn't turn up until nearer to 8pm we still managed to set up and play this game twice. The first time two of us died like dogs as we pushed forward, I think 9 casualties to 1 giving the other pair of players the win. It was then a second face off between former allies as I tackled Craig. A closer game, which at the halfway stage I was slightly ahead. However some good dice and Command Cards turned the tide and my men died in hails of Missile Launcher shots. All done by just after 10pm.

This plays very well as a stand alone box based on two plays of the first mission. There are six missions in the box, with a seventh in this weeks White Dwarf (bought already), so that should keep the game going for quite some time. Yes this is a GW product, which is being listed as a Core Set. So you can assume more to come, and at a GW premium. However it appears that you can have a lot of fun with just this box, especially if you want a compact fast playing miniature skirmish game.

Sam

That's promising.

The six (plus one) mission thing kind of surprises me. Of all the shit in that box, the least costly for them to produce, but the highest ROI, is missions/scenarios. I don't get why they'd only put six in the box.

SuperflyTNT wrote: The six (plus one) mission thing kind of surprises me. Of all the shit in that box, the least costly for them to produce, but the highest ROI, is missions/scenarios. I don't get why they'd only put six in the box.

Probably because that is enough to get people to buy it.

SuperflyTNT wrote: The six (plus one) mission thing kind of surprises me. Of all the shit in that box, the least costly for them to produce, but the highest ROI, is missions/scenarios. I don't get why they'd only put six in the box.

Hell, the last GW game, Fart of the Assassin, only had one scenario from what I've read.

I'm thinking to get the boards, books and bits from a bits seller (for about $20 shipped). I'm not really into 30k, and I have space and chaos marines laying around.

But the game is really simple, and dice can be very swingy (and the cards too). At least there's zone of control rule...

The main thing that gives it a 30k sheen is the cards, with the Ultramarines ones being (so far) about training and equipment and the Word Bearers being more about underhand tricks and betrayal.

So outside of that you can easily use what ever figures you've got - maybe even non GW ones! . On various sites I have seen fan rules already for additional troop types and weapons. Something like Tyranids vs Astra Miltarum (Guard) would be good.

Anyway if you take the rules and board as a base you can easily home brew what you like.

Sam