Horus Heresy at the Goonhammer Open: The Exarcis Campaign

In the epoch of the Great Crusade, Vendar languished as a forsaken orb in the Ultima Segmentum, far removed from the vanguard, bereft of Astartes support, and inconspicuous in opulence or riches. Hive Exarcis, its capital, bore the mantle of sector command for the Imperial Army.

Yet, in the turbulent currents of the Horus Heresy, this bastion of countless souls and unyielding plasteel emerges as a linchpin in the Loyalist struggle. Vendar, distanced from the Traitor’s primary thrust toward Terra, transforms into a rallying beacon. Legions of militia, numbering in the millions, surge forth from its populace, while neighboring worlds contribute their own fervent levies. Astartes from disparate realms converge, fortifying their ranks and arsenals in readiness for the impending Solar War.

Horus has seen this in his visions. He has sent one of his sons to the Galactic East, ready to destroy the Loyalist forces, and be certain that reinforcements never arrive at Terra, so the palace and the Emperor himself will fall. 

Soon, Legions shall battle upon the continent surrounding Exarcis and the planet shall burn. 

Goonhammer’s first headline Horus Heresy event covered the battle of Hive Exarcis in the Vendar System. Over two days and four games, 28 Loyalists battled 28 Traitors in seven teams in Horus Heresy, with a linked Titanicus Campaign with five Princeps per side over five games.

We also had a neat Kill Team event happening in the other half of the hall, streamed by our friends at Can You Roll A Crit?

If you play Horus Heresy, you owe it to yourself to get a ticket to one of these events if you can make it. We’ve got gorgeous terrain, an amazing venue and some amazing repeat players. The quality of armies is incredibly high. With any luck, you’ll be able to grab a ticket to our Doubles Event in September, The Eye of the Storm. 

We’ll talk about the format, the balance changes,  then the lists, and then the results of the campaign itself!

The Format

Each side was split into seven Battlegroups of four players each, each made up of a themed set of lists or friends from a club. Meanwhile, the planet into seven Fronts of four tables each, each with their own geographic and narrative theming.

For the Loyalists, we had the following Battlegroups:

• I Victrix – A stalwart battlegroup of Imperial Fists, supported by an Ultramarine force and a infantry-heavy Sagyar Mazan White Scars list.
• II Ferrata – A taskforce of Blackshields and successor chapters, led by the gorgeous Mithraic Consensus, my favourite army of the weekend. Their efforts in the void led to the summoning of the Talons of the Emperor.
• III Lauda – Two Ultramarine forces, alongside some Raven Guard and Imperial Fists. This top dog loyalists won every game of the weekend until they narrowly lost to the Raiders.Luke+Howie
• IV Rapax – This well-rounded battlegroup fared well across the weekend, eventually defeating the Scavengers in a final confrontation in the Badlands against their captured Men of Iron.
• V Ingenuorum – A battlegroup of the Shattered Legions, who fought twice in the Ironyards. They unearthed sinister Men of Iron in a confrontation against the Scavengers, but swiftly destroyed this techno-heresy.
• VI Angelus – A pair of Blood Angels fought alongside the Imperial Fists and Salamanders. Angelus stemmed the tide well, drawing in every Front they fought in.
• VII Fulminata- Beleaguered survivors of Isstvaan III. Two Loyalist Emperor’s Children Armies, aided by a World Eater Drop Pod force and a clanking Mechanicum host.

The Traitor host was organised into the following Battlegroups:

• The Raiders – The Raiders were an esoteric mix of factions, banded together under the Leadership of a Tzeentch Demon Lord. They were our top table Traitor faction by the end of the campaign, winning every battlefront they were assigned to.
• The Betrayers – A band of Chaos worshipping heretics, under the leadership of a Mechanicum warlord. The Betrayers opened up a warp rift in the base of Hive Exarcis and spent most of their games in the Guts.
• The Scavengers – A nasty group of Traitors with a vehicle heavy focus, consisting of a Auxilia Iron Cohort, some Knights, an Iron Warrior armoured company and a summoned horde of Khorne Demons. Further reinforced by Iron-Men in the final round.
• The Flayers – An incredibly thematic group with three impetuous Nights Lords held on a short leash by a resolute Death Guard Commander.
• The Reavers – Two nebulous Alpha Legion lists and their unsuspecting allies, with the Sons of Horus and the Thousand Sons no doubt conned into support.
• The Eagles – Two allied Emperor’s Children forces, supported by Word Bearers and Mechanicum. Forced to spend much of their time in orbit fighting defending the Death Guard vessel, the Mia Donna Mori.
• The Howlers – A ragtag band, with pus-yellow Militia in stolen trucks, a brass-scorpion-accompanied Iron Warriors task force, a World Eater drop-pod assault under the iron fist of a traitorous Imperial Fist commander.

The seven Fronts were as follows:

• The Exarcrine Palace – A highly defended region of the capital city, containing the Planetary Governor’s palace. A command and control centre for the planet’s Imperial Army regiments.
• The Guts – The lower layers of Hive Exarcis, highly built up industrial lands and urban habitats, incredibly hostile to armoured vehicles, favouring infantry combat.
• The Ironyards – An industrial zone just outside of Hive Exarcis, working to supply the regiments recruited on Vendar
• The Badlands – A swirling dustbowl outside of city limits, it’s roads connecting the other Fronts
• The Gardens-Belt – An equatorial area exploited for agricultural purposes, providing foodstuff and oxygen to the rest of the planet
• Mia Donna Mori – A Death Guard battleship in orbit of the planet, a destructive weapon of war, laden with virus bombs. This is a GOON MORTALIS front.
• Spear of Vengeance – A Imperial Fist battleship in orbit of the planet, a valuable staging post for Traitor forces. This is a GOON MORTALIS front.

Each Front had its own themed special rules and its own mission and quest. For example, players in the Badlands played the Changing Priorities mission from the GHO Approve Mission Pack, with two special rules:

• Inter-hive Roadways: The highways allow for creative pathing with all manner of tracked vehicles. All Vehicles and Cavalry gain the Outflank.
• Dust Storms: Great rolling storm of sand and dirt cover the Badlands. Roll a D6 at the start of each game turn. On a 5+, Night Fighting is in effect until the end of that game term.

The winners in the Goon Mortalis Fronts (and the BIG GUN table in the Ironyards) got to bombard another Front to terrifying effect (but probably some friendly fire).

There were three quests over the weekend:

• Survey Hidden Signals: There are whispers of a hidden archeotech vault somewhere on Vendar, long lost since the days of the Dark Age of Technology. Both sides hunt for it within the outskirts, following faint signals emitted supposedly by the vault. Who knows what lies slumbering there. Inside the city limits, both sides seek to scan the battlefield by performing ‘actions’ in a table quarters. The Battlegroup that scored the most points in rounds 1 and 2 headed to the Ironyards to face off against a group of Silica Animata from the Dark Age of Technology, which could be destroyed for Victory Points or captured for use in game 4.
• Wet The Streets With Blood: The Traitors aim to desecrate the great Hive Exarcis, burn its building and murder its citizens. They will dedicate this offering to the Dark Gods, and summon sinister creatures of the warp. Inside the city, Traitors aimed to hold the center of the board for an occult ritual. They gained extra points if they did so with Psykers, Demons, Corrupted units, Dark Emissaries or Chaplains. The Battlegroup with the most points got to play in a special scenario with some borrowed Demons from my army, the Eyeless Host.
• A Call To The Void: The Loyalist commanders fear the worst, and plan to send requests to Almighty Terra for aid in this struggle. The Governor’s Palace contains a large comms array, which is being boosted by the Spear of Vengeance in orbit, and jammed by the Mia Donna Mori. In space, the Loyalists aimed to destroy Traitor communication systems. The Battlegroup with the most points got to play in a special scenario with some borrowed Talons of the Emperor.

Victory in a Front gains a Campaign Victory point. The Quests also granted additional Campaign Victory points. The Titanicus events was worth two Campaign Victory points per round.

The team with the most Campaign Victory Points claimed victory on Vendar.

The Balance Changes

This event used a number of rules amendments which we’ve been using for some time. These small changes add up to a quite different metagame, specifically intended to allow players to run a greater variety of lists, tone down the oppressive units in the meta and allow for more meme-like bullshit.

These changes include no Custodes or Sisters, balance changes for Telepathy, Dreadnoughts survivability, Dreadnought close combat weapons, Lascannon Heavy Support Squads. The Fury of the Ancients or Armoured Spearhead Rites of War are banned. Artificer Armour can’t be taken on Sergeants.

We also have some buffs for Bike and Jetbike Toughness and the arrival times of Flyers. Demons can be taken as allies.

No Unique Characters or Primarchs are at the event, Vendar is a lynchpin system but none of your favourite special characters are here.

I also did manual list reviews of all the attendees, checking for anyone not running within the spirit of the tournament and asking one or two folx to tone things down.

The Lists

This was a treat. So many delightful lists. Some highlights:

• 3 Drop Pod Assault Lists
• A Mastodon full of Gal Vorbak
• 5 or 6 Warhound Titans
• Incy’s support force full of planes
• A nasty looking Iron Cohort Solar Auxilia list I seriously rate
• A seriously dope kitbashed pair of Blackshields forces
• Caestus Assault Ram
• 3 Stormbirds and a Fire Raptor
• 3 demons players
• A militia player
• A bike chaplain from 198-something

Every player had a 2500 pts list for their normal games, and a second 1250pt list for our spaceship Boarding Actions mission, the “Goon Mortalis” variant. Goon Mortalis plays on a 3’x3’ table of Boarding Actions or Zone Mortalis terrain, with an entire warzone of 4 tables all lined up against each other representing the decks of a massive spaceship. Games were quick, bloody, and ended in an hour and a half or so, so players could use their Support Forces to join other games.

Speaking of support forces, every player has a 750pt Support Force made up of an Allied Detachment (with no Warlord) or a Lord of War Choice. When your initial game finishes, you find an ongoing game and commit your Support Force to join from Reserves, hoping to swing the tide of that battlefield.

Reserve Forces took three flavours:

1. A big horrid deep strike unit that would mess things up, like Dawnbreakers, Warmonger Terminator Squads or a
2. A huge cool stupid Lord of War Choice, like a Fellblade, Warhound Titan, Arch-Demon or Knight.
3. A smaller version of someone’s main force, with a lot of Line to help score objectives.

The Reserve Forces meant that if games ended quickly didn’t mean you had to sit around for 3 hours, and you could tee up for another match. It also created impromptu voluntary lynchpin megagames that sprung up across the campaign, where the battle was fiercest.

Round 1

In the opening actions of the campaign, Traitor Princeps around the planet attempted to land the Legios under Loyalist fire. However, they were repulsed heavily by Loyalist forces, with 4 victories in the Titanicus campaign.

Meanwhile the Traitor ground forces successfully claimed victory in both spacefronts, the Mia Donna Mori and the Sword of Vengeance, with the Loyalists clearly caught off guard by the sudden results. The Traitors were thus able to resolve a pair of bombardments onto the planet below, with one of them causing major damage to a Reaver titan in the Ironyards. Loyalists attempted to summon reinforcements from Terra via their astropathic relays, but they did not manage to protect their comms equipment and the signals were dark.

Surrounding the Hive Exarcris were sweeping victories for the Loyalists, with Battlegroups Ignenuorum and Rapax claiming victories in the Garden Belt and Dustbowl. Meanwhile, the Raiders assaulted the Palace and claimed victory against Victrix, and began to thin the walls of reality in the Palace and the Guts by pledging offerings of blood and bone. Battlegroup Ferrata and the Betrayers fought to a standstill in the Guts, with the Betrayers ignoring their orders to capture the city in favour of instead compromising the warp fields.
Meanwhile in the Ironyards, Battlegroup Lauda and the Scavengers drew, but the Loyalists scored vastly more points on the Mechanicum quest, leaving them perilously close to locating the fabled archeotech vault.

In the second round of the Titanicus event, the Traitors recovered from their brutal defeat in round 1 and won the round. In particular, the Guts were almost destroyed by Titan forces, with areas of dangerous terrain now being added to the ruins on these boards.

Scores on the doors? Each Titanicus round victory was worth 2 points, and each victorious Heresy Warzone worth a single point. Overall, round 1 was a Traitor Victory, with the scores 6-4.

Round 2

In the blasted ruins of the underhive, half destroyed by Titanwar, Battlegroup Rapax and the Scavengers drew against each other.

Up in space, the Mia Donna Mori was held by the Reavers following a perilous assault by the Blackshield forces of Ferrata, but Traitor void supremacy was ended by battlegroup Victrix claiming a draw on the Sword of Vengeance against the Flayers. The thunderous Traitor barrages both hammered into the Garden Belt, landing on the battered Battlegroup Angelus and the Betrayers, with the Triator forces seeking out a draw thanks to their barrage.

Meanwhile in the Dustbowl, Battlegroup Fulminata was routed by the Raiders, proving themselves as the most fearsome cohort of the Traitor advance, with 4 wins and a victory in AT this round. In the palace, Battlegroup Lauda claimed victory against the Eagles, managing to defend the Imperial Command centre.

In the Ironyards, Battlegroup Igeonorum once again claimed victory against The Howlers. Igneanorum also managed to scan almost every single table quarter (13 out of 16), leading them to find the archeotech vault.

In Titanicus, the third game of the day was still in progress when all the Heresy players were going home. The Traitors were currently a game ahead, and I called out over the microphone that if both Loyalists players won their games, then the overall campaign scores would swing in the favour of the Loyalists.

They lost both games, and the Traitors won in Titanicus. At the end of day one, the Traitors had a commanding lead of 10-6, but with everything to play for.

Round 3

What thought forgotten has been found!

An Archeotech Vault from the Dark Age of Technology was found within the Ironyards, and these horrors of a forgotten era are filled with violence and hate towards man and mankind, no longer restrained by the walls of their vault and unleashed upon the galaxy. They are the reason the Mechanicus outlaws machine minds, and that the Silica Animus are now the darkest of heresy!

Seven Men of Iron were deployed into the no-mans-land of the Ironyards. Skiaros The Dunewalker, armed with a Flesh-scourge and Sunfury Discharger, and Unrelenting Cerusite, with an Arthus Graviton-Harpoon and an Engine Occulsior, were deployed onto table 1. On table 2, Okoptious the Beloved, armed with a Contemptoromandibular, Hateful Heavy Repeaters and a Radiation Caster. On table 3, FH8-Alpus-Decon, with its White-Death Caster and Toxin Projector, could be found on table 3, along with UR-325 with it’s Extinction Mandibles and Flesh-Scouge Annihilators. Finally, the Drake of Steel, a flying dragon thing, was on table 4.

Our players had to choose between destroying the Men of Iron for a Campaign Victory Points, or attempting to capture and use them in the final round.

The fury of Battlegroups Igeonorum and the Scavengers fell upon the Men of Iron and they were all swiftly destroyed, despite the games themselves being dead even. Igneanorum swiftly destroyed all of their found relics (as they should as good Loyalists), with the Traitor Scavengers electing to deploy their four captured warmachines in the next round. The Loyalists knew that to meddle in techno-heresy is worse than death.

Off in Titanicus, the sides were competing to destroy terrain features and objectives across the planet, as the fabric of the Warp thinned and buckled under the pressure of the destruction caused by Traitor Legios and Astartes sorcerers. This caused carnage across the Heresy Battlefields, with a Reaver chassis exploded in the Ironyards, along with several bridges. In addition, the Guts was almost destroyed, with the forces of the Reavers and Victrix fighting to a standstill with the Hive falling in on itself and all multilevel ruins being reduced down to rubble.

Battlegroup Ferrata and the Flayers faced off in the Traitor-dominated Badlands, with the Titan forces in the area destroying key atmospheric regulators. This kicked up a duststorm, adding Night Fighting and giving Shrouded 6+ to all models. The storm was so intense that even the Killer Instinct and Night Vision of the Night Lords was battered and rendered useless by the storm, resulting in a furious standstill despite a Loyalist advantage when the dust storm started. .

In orbit, the Traitors of the Raiders conquered the Sword of Vengeance. Whereas upon the Mia Donna Mori, the Loyalists drew and fired off a savage volley against the Ironyards.

Within the Garden Belt, the Loyalists of Battlegroup Lauda were victorious in a 4-0 sweep against the Eagles. In the Palace, Loyalists of Battlegroup Angelus defeated the Howlers in a close fight.

Going into the penultimate round of Titanicus, the Headtakers of Legio Vespa have been shown the error of their ways, defecting to the Loyalist cause and planning to make a desperate last stand defending the Imperial Palace. Legio Invicta claimed victory in the Ironyards, crushing the Murderlords and slaying all of their Corrupted Engines and banishing many demons. Loyalist elements of Legio Vulpa in the Badlands held Legio Furion to a bloody standstill amid the raging sandstorm. Whereas a Knight Household of House Terryn has seen the dark depths of the Guts, and has defected to the Dark Gods.

Going into the final round, the Traitors held a suffocating advantage of 13 to 9.

Round 4

A warp rift opened in the Guts, as ichor and organs were spewed across the Battlefield as the Eyeless Host advanced alongside our Traitor Quest winner, the Betrayers. The Loyalists were also reinforced by a pair of Orion Assault Dropships containing the forces of the Talons of the Emperor and an assassin of the Adamus Guild. They answered the call of the battlegroup II Ferrata, who’s faint cries successfully cut through the void. Both sides faced each other in the Guts as the warp began to pour into the planet of Vendar.

Assigned by their commanders, the two most victorious battlegroups, Lauda and the Raiders were ordered to the Garden Belt for a mighty struggle. In a gentlemen’s agreement, no reinforcement Support Forces were used. Two two was the score in this clash of champions.

In the previous round, the Scavengers successfully captured a number of Iron Men, hoping to chain them for war. They were sent against Battlegroup Rapax, who were reinforced in the Badlands by armoured elements of the 17th Oeste-Albion Dragoons. In bad news for the Loyalists, the Atmospheric Regulators had been destroyed, casting the Badlands into perilous darkness of storms. Battlegroup Rapax, however, foiled the Scavengers and won the round, destroying all remnants of the hated techno-heresy.

In the Titanicus Campaign, the sole Traitor victory was in the Ironyards. The Loyalists won the day in the Guts, as demons streamed around their feet, with the Legio Vulpa claiming a massive victory due to regenerating units pouring out of the warp and being cut down in melee for a mass of victory points. On the Palace, the Headtakers of Legio Vespa defected the Traitor side when it was made clear they were expected to fight alongside demons, and held the Palace for a victory.

My notes say in the Badlands “Gryphonicus saved the day.” which is pretty neat.

There was a bloodbath in the Palace as Victrix drew against the Flayers, whereas Battlegroup Angelus and the Eagles fought to a standstill on the Mia Donna Mori, before turning its guns on the faltering Guts.

There were no victors in the Guts, with Ferrata and the Betrayers drawing in this zone. That said, the noble Lord-Captain Benassiah-Wyvar slew the Heirach of the Eyeless Host, Drustos Vol, in single combat, and earned a vital Campaign Victory Point for the Loyalists. In the final moments of the battle, fearing Demonic Corruption at the Warp Rift Velox Venator, Titan of Legio Gryphonicus self detonated its reactor core at the heart of the Warp, devastating the Betrayer’s midline, and plunging the Hive above into the warp, but stemming the tide of demons beneath tons of steel and concrete.

Wrap Up

Where did we get to in the end?

There was no victory on Vendar. The final score was 14 to 14.

Editor’s Note: It turns out that Horus Heresy is a perfectly balanced game.

I was certain until the absolute final moments that this would be a victory to the Traitors. With the Hive city destroyed, crashing down into a wet pit of blood and desecration where the warp thinning and the planet tumbles into darkness., Loyalists forces pulled it back from the brink.

No reinforcements will arrive on Terra, but there was no ground left to hold. Nearly as many Traitors and Demons were destroyed as Loyalists in the conflict, with Drustos Vol and the Eyeless Host banished to the darkest immaterium.

We’ll be back in September 2024, to tell the tales of The Eye Of The Storm, Goonhammer’s first Horus Heresy Doubles event.

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