No Retreat - Horus Heresy in Gibraltar

This time last week Teemu and Ollie were waging miniature war in Gibraltar, where the fabled No Retreat tournament by SN Battle Reports was held once again for Horus Heresy enthusiasts! Arranged on a luxury yacht hotel the event was nothing short of spectacular and was accompanied by other program such as sightseeing and tours to the historical military sites in Gibraltar. The most amazing part for us was seeing all the astonishing 30K armies, hand-picked from the international player applications by the SN team. 

Ultimately our World Eater detachment was able to represent the XII Legion and the Traitor Alliance with pride and also recorded a few trophies: The Best Army, a SN Award and two Highly Commended pins for squad and vehicle categories! What an honour in such an established company and with world-renowned judges - thanks for all the votes and feedback!

We'll be debriefing the crazy gaming experience with photos and text soon, but would now like to thank the brilliant and hardworking SN organization, gentlemanly and skilled co-participants as well as our travel partners for the quality hobby experience. This one will be hard to beat!

+ Goonhammer No Retreat: Horus Heresy Event Report +

Ultramarines Armoured Breakthrough
@hereticalarchitect

A sweet start to the event facing an imposing and interestingly different force and an understanding opponent who was patient enough to let me learn the rules while playing the game! I made so many mistakes in this first proper 2.0 battle that I realized and was able to correct later on. The bloody drop operation however left no tank standing in the end and I think we both learnt a ton about our armies. Thanks again! 

Battleshock Moment: a pair of Sicaran Arcuses opening fire as an interceptor reaction and deleting five Red Butchers and a Warmonger without breaking a sweat. 

World Eaters MVP: The surviving Red Butcher Sergeant who went on to destroy two Vindicators, a Librarian and a Predator single-handedly! 

White Scars Pride of the Legion
@itstimins

Lots of line units in a progressive scoring mission looked scary but all I really had eyes for was Tim's painting and all the culturally flavoured freehand work! The game itself was a really even nailbiter where we had a melee going on every turn from the second round, going neck to neck on victory points. In the end I was a single kill point behind but had a lot of loyalist bodies piled up - a good day in the office.

Battleshock Moment: I had my berserk Scouts charge a Rhino and absolutely annihilate it with their Meltabombs, killing 4/5 of their own squad and I think a Red Butcher or two in the explosion. The surviving Scout fittingly got ran over by the other, avenging Rhino!

World Eaters MVP: The Red Butchers were a menace again, they walked over the scary Jetbikes and would have removed the veterans, a Stormseer and a Tactical Squad if they only knew how to catch their fleeing prey. 💀

Mechanized Salamanders
@son_of_nocturne

Another super eventful game but in this one the forces were spread wider and we had many sub-battles in the various corners of the battlefield. The Salamanders had master-crafted weapons but their dice were woeful, just had to feel bad for my opponent who took the misfortunes like a champ. I aimed to take out as many units as possible so I could go ahead in Kill Points even if I lost the objectives and the World Eaters performed - we had many crazy sequences and the momentum shifted many times during the game. In the end I did lose the objectives but won the battle by secondary means - Salamanders probably deserved to get a bit more from the game.

Battleshock Moment: I arrogantly dropped the Caestus Assault Ram to shoot a Land Raider, not really considering the armour facings - had a Laser Destroyer Rapier emplacement intercept it clean out of the sky from the rear armour. Kharn and a Despoiler Sergeant were the only survivors and got pinned as well - not the optimal course of events. 💀

World Eaters MVP: I had a super Javelin deep strike near a Tactical Rhino and pop it with a Multi-Melta and missiles. In the following assault phase the speeder then charged the disembarking squad, killed a couple, won the combat and swept the fleeing Marines, pretty effective for a turn's work. 

White Scars Repentia
@soggychipsnz

Another violent touchdown! This time I thought I'd soften the Terminators in the midfield a bit with shooting before going in - nine twin-linked Melta shots and a few rockets later I still hadn't killed a single Cataphract! The ensuing multi-charge didn't dramatically change the situation and that kind of broke the spine of my momentum. Red Butchers cut through the Golden Keshig but the White Scar retaliation was brutal - I was really put on the back foot in the scenario. At this moment a narrative event occurred and Erebus sent Victory Point -yielding Daemons to every field. I decided to concede the scenario and go for the personal glory and chased the warp-spawn down with the speeder fleet. Thanks for the great game and challenge! 

Battleshock Moment: a single White Scars Proteus Speeder definitely earned its pay by drifting behind a Caestus Assault Ram and immobilizing it with a Multi-melta shot - Kharn was the sole survivor, again, and landed pinned, again. 

World Eaters MVP: The chainaxes were missing a few teeth in this one when it comes to the scenario, but chasing down the Daemons from across the table with the skimmer cavalry was fun. Thanks Erebus!

Salamanders
@legionoftheunderhive

Final game of the campaign was perhaps the most relaxed one, I think battle fatigue had kicked in a bit for both of us and the game was more about creating a cinematic scene than the usual duel of wits! Freddie was super cool and easygoing opponent and we had a lot of time to chat about our hobby, conversion work, 3D printing and American football, to name a few. 

Battleshock Moment: The Pyroclasts had to take to the field after their Land Raider was blown up and the Salamander elites found themselves surrounded. I think they felt fairly confident at first but then realized Kharn's charge allows no overwatch reactions - and then came the 88 Chainaxe attacks. 

World Eaters MVP: Kharn the Bloody finally made it into a proper scrap and not only denied the wall of death, but also went toe to toe with the opposing Warlord in a challenge and emerged victorious before the Thunder hammer had its turn to strike.

I just have to thank all of my No Retreat opponents once more - I'd happily play any of the gentlemen again in a event or otherwise. Top guys and perfect gaming conduct!

Picture credits: SN Battle Reports