That's so many subheadings.
On Saturday 29 November,
a small part of Sydney was transformed into a bloody battlefield, re-enacting a gore-soaked conflict of the
Badab War.
One of the more fleshed-out parts of the Warhammer 40,000 background, the Badab War was expanded from a two-page spread in Rogue Trader's Warhammer 40,000 Compendium supplement into a two-book series during Forge World's short-lived Imperial Armour series. These books were the precursors to what became the sprawling Horus Heresy series. They included detailed examinations of the factions involved, maps, art, supplements for then-current game (6th edition), and since have become a firm fan favourite.
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| a handful of Warriors, painted for a 1st-edition Kill Team |
When I came crawling back into the hobby at the tail-end of 7th edition and decided to paint my very first Space Marine, this was the space I joined. I vacillated between a few choices, settled on a
Mantis Warrior, and haven't looked back. (I've looked
sideways a lot - I have so many projects - but not
back.)
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| III Squad - I think he's one of the guys in the back. |
That first Space Marine is still in the army, although he didn't make it to Saturday's game.
The
Badab War Reenactment Society has been intending to run game days, campaigns, and other events for years. For once, this community is actually based in Australia and, while I do not live in Sydney, this means that I am more able to attend. (Well, depending on child care responsibilities!) So when an event was announced for November, I jumped at the chance.
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| 1500 points of Mantis Warriors |
The rules were simple enough,
as mentioned last time. Either bring a Battlefleet Gothic fleet or 1500 points of 28-mm scale warriors. The
rules are Heresy 2.0, using custom-built lists - which is great, as it meant that I didn't waste too much money on the Heresy 2.0 rules, given that I played
very few games of it. While I do have a BFG fleet, it's not-yet-painted, so ground soldiers it was. I brought together a list of 'neat stuff that everyone in the Facebook group liked' rather than 'good' or 'strong', and away I went.
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| One of the first Battlefleet engagements; Howling Griffons engage Mantis Warriors |
We weren't told of the day's missions ahead of time, to help reflect the confused state of affairs on the ground, although we did know a) that the space conflict could affect the ground; b) that there would be some kind of map system; c) that it wasn't intended to be competitive, but narrative (although we could bring special characters).
As the final week approached, we were told that each map would have some special features and would start under the control of each faction. These were the Governor's Palace, Industrial Zone, Alpha & Beta Hab Zones, Space Port, Orbital Defense Battery, and Armoury. Controlling a given territory would give advantages - for instance, controlling the Industrial Zone could give one player (in the whole day, not just on that board) It Will Not Die 5+ to any non-AV-14 vehicle to represent improved repair facilities; that entire faction would also gain +1 to Reserves die. A faction had to control the Governor's Palace in order to win the campaign day, otherwise the best to hope for would be a (bloody) draw.
In the end, my Mantis Warriors didn't wind up using any of the map-based advantages, although I heard from the shouts and chaos of other tables that my allies certainly did.
