A sad farewell and the Heresy of it all

Not wishing to start with sad news, but I have to mention that today the world lost a true great. Sir Terry Pratchett OBE author of the outstanding Discworld books (and many others) passed away. Like always I have no great words so I will leave this section here with his daughters words and few of my favorite quotes of his.

"Terry took Death's arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night."

“It's not worth doing something unless someone, somewhere, would much rather you weren't doing it”

“Stories of imagination tend to upset those without one”

“There are times in life when people must people know when not to let go. Balloons are designed to teach small children this”

“I have no use for people who have learned the limits of the possible”

 Terry Pratchett 1948 to 2015

So since my last blog life has got in the way again and have done close to bugger all in the hobby department. I did manage to replay the greatest battle in 30k history in the form of Fantasy Flights Horus Heresy board game. I got this game a while ago really cheap and have never played it, so it was a bit of learning curve. The game represents the siege of the Emperors Palace on Terra. 

This is one BIG box!

Being the first game we set up the board, decided who was going to be which side, I got the heroic defenders of the palace and my friend got the vile, underhanded traitorous dogs.

This game needs a bit of set up which is fairly simple and you just have to follow the steps in the book.

In the BIG box is a very BIG board. 

The board is divided into 3 sections, the main section has 3D fortifications, factories and the Palace itself. This is where the the playing pieces go and the fighting happens. On the right is where you put the orders and you will find the Vengeful Spirit. Along the bottom is the Initiative Track which is a really clever mechanic that controls who's turn it is and when certain events happen. Above the Vengeful Spirit is the Hero Wound Track and the Combat Iteration Track. I don't really want to go into all the rules here as this will turn into the longest blog ever, but next time I play I will take pictures and go into few more details.

 


The playing pieces are really cool and I was tempted to paint them, but I talked myself into not doing it until I knew I have the time to finish them all (so as there are so many I never will!). The bases give you the combat info simply by having a number of pegs equal to there strength. The Heroes are represented by cardboard standees, it would have been really nice to have figures for them, but I guess you can't have everything.

This game does not use dice but uses cards instead, I have heard it said that gentlemen only play with cards, but I like dice. I was a bit put off by this to start with, but after a few fights I was sold, it works really well and you have to do a fair bit planning, which can be said about the whole game really. It's very tactical and you have to think out lots of plans and possibilities and reactions using what yo have, unlike some other games this is far from frustrating and really makes the game what it is.

We played through and it ended like the story, well almost. The Emperor and Dorn along with the best troops teleported  up to the Vengeful Spirit and gave Horus a kickin! To be honest it didn't all go the Emperors way and he also took a kickin too but lived.

This game is awesome, don't worry about the rules being to complicated and not understanding all the icons on the cards and what the orders do, it just works. We played all the way through and felt pretty confident that we got it right (mostly). I believe this game is no longer available from Fantasy Flight Games as it's not on their website anymore. But if you can get a copy, or you know someone that has it give it a go, you won't be disappointed.

That's it for now, will hopefully be back soon with some more Menoth that I really need to paint...

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you again soon.