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What is your favourite 40k historical battle?

Mine would probably be the battle of Isstvan 3, the first battle between brothers and the purging of the loyalists from the ranks of the Sons of Horus, the world eaters, death guard and the Emperors children.

Hmm..

Second Siege of Terra, I think. Sure, my favoured faction were pretty much the villains in that one, but it doesn't change the fact that the Brides of the Emperor did what the Imperial Fists couldn't and held Terra against invading Marines... even if it was Chapters rather than Legions.

Hmm, leaving the obvious big Horus Heresy stuff out, there's a few that spring to mind.

Massacre of Sanctuary 101 is up there. Remember well when Necrons first appeared as the most OP army you could possibly contemplate and I think either tabled or nearly did the Sisters in the WD battle, with it subsequently becoming canon.

Similarly the Battle of Golgotha, with the Epic battle vs the Squats & Imperial forces where Ghazzy got revenge on Yarrick (it spawning an Ordinatus machine helped too).

But at a personal level probably the 3rd Armageddon war, even with the usual ending fudge. That summer campaign was probably the most fun I had playing 40k.

my favorite is the whole Octarius War, the fact that the Orks and Nids just keep evolving and leveling up and killing each other, until one of them will just finally win... and that is really not gonna be good for the Imperium.

just the whole idea of Kryptmanns gambit.

lol, well, Sanctuary 101 was pretty much set up to be a roflstomp. 2000 points of Necrons against 1000 points of Sisters, who don't even have a proper Character? Yeah...

I've always liked the battle of Iyanden, such a desperate battle only won courageous sacrifices and the return of Prince Yriel. I really hope one day black library expands on the battle, though I'm not keeping my hopes up. The supplement did a surprisingly good job at describing the battle though.

Battle of the Fang. Bjorn vs Magnus. That's the stuff 40k is made of.

So many Gaunts Ghosts battles to choose from...

The Battle for Terra during the Heresy is pretty high up there, so is Sanctuary 101 as someone else mentioned.

But my favourite has the be the Battle at the Farm.

I would have to say the Battle of Vraks. It's nicely detailed, it's guard doing what guard does best and a lot of Space Marines die. What is not to love about it?

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Second Siege of Terra, I think. Sure, my favoured faction were pretty much the villains in that one, but it doesn't change the fact that the Brides of the Emperor did what the Imperial Fists couldn't and held Terra against invading Marines... even if it was Chapters rather than Legions.

This is one of my favourites too. It had the Brides doing a good job of epitomising the SoB ideals (even if they were misled), and really demonstrating their combat prowess.

Although, I think I like the first battle for Terra even more. It was pretty damn epic, with the fate of the Imperium on a knife's edge and several legendary heroes all going to battle. A favourite moment would be where Angron is yelling out Horus' terms of surrender, and Sanguinius rejects them, starting off the siege.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
lol, well, Sanctuary 101 was pretty much set up to be a roflstomp. 2000 points of Necrons against 1000 points of Sisters, who don't even have a proper Character? Yeah...

That and the pre-Codex Necron rules. What was it...a full marine profile, we'll be back, no opposition wargear within 12" and individual Toughness 8 Scarabs? Haha priceless

Necron Warriors had Marine statlines, but I2 (which they kept until the most recent codex), with what basically amounted to Rending bolters if I remember correctly, which rolled an extra D6 armour penetration (so d6+d3+d6).

Everyone within 12" of any Necron took a -1 to hit penalty with their guns per Necron. Including Scarabs. Which were T8/2+ individuals that moved like jump packers. They couldn't attack, but any vehicle they attached themselves to suffered a -3 penalty to their armour value per scarab, as long as the scarab was attached.

Oh, and Necron Destroyers were Jetbikes that self-repaired as Necron Warriors.

Self-repair was 1, phase out, 2-4, stay on the field, 5+ get up and join the nearest unit.

The gauss flayer guns would let you get an additional roll for armour penetration when you got a six, and keep on giving additional rolls if you got further sixes. While unlikely, it did mean they could potentially penetrate armour of any toughness with a run of luck.

Scarabs were bust. T8 fliers that cumulatively reduced the armour of a vehicle by 3 each turn they were on it, when armour reached 0 the vehicle was destroyed. A group of scarabs could demolish a vehicle in a couple of turns.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Necron Warriors had Marine statlines, but I2 (which they kept until the most recent codex), with what basically amounted to Rending bolters if I remember correctly, which rolled an extra D6 armour penetration (so d6+d3+d6).

Everyone within 12" of any Necron took a -1 to hit penalty with their guns per Necron. Including Scarabs. Which were T8/2+ individuals that moved like jump packers. They couldn't attack, but any vehicle they attached themselves to suffered a -3 penalty to their armour value per scarab, as long as the scarab was attached.

Oh, and Necron Destroyers were Jetbikes that self-repaired as Necron Warriors.

Self-repair was 1, phase out, 2-4, stay on the field, 5+ get up and join the nearest unit.

Been a long time since I actually saw those rules but I thought they had I4 too, and you ended up having to attack them with base stats in CC for the full shebang due to the wargear issue. Ah well, no matter. They were still crazy good obviously. For me, the great thing was I had a copy of Space Crusade from my youngest days before I ever properly got into GW, and the Androids & old Ed-209 style Dread from that fit well with the old-oldcrons.

 TheCustomLime wrote:
I would have to say the Battle of Vraks. It's nicely detailed, it's guard doing what guard does best and a lot of Space Marines die. What is not to love about it?

Absolutely. Siege of Vraks is my choice as well.

 Tennants Lager wrote:

Been a long time since I actually saw those rules but I thought they had I4 too, and you ended up having to attack them with base stats in CC for the full shebang due to the wargear issue. Ah well, no matter. They were still crazy good obviously. For me, the great thing was I had a copy of Space Crusade from my youngest days before I ever properly got into GW, and the Androids & old Ed-209 style Dread from that fit well with the old-oldcrons.

Oh, they did affect CC weapons... I can't remember how though. Something like Gets Hot I think?

My Chaos Androids got repurposed as Pariahs, originally, and now take to the field as Deathmarks.

 Sparks_Havelock wrote:

 TheCustomLime wrote:
I would have to say the Battle of Vraks. It's nicely detailed, it's guard doing what guard does best and a lot of Space Marines die. What is not to love about it?

Absolutely. Siege of Vraks is my choice as well.

And mine, especially the first part where there is only krieg against the renegades, and some help from the dark angels.

My second choice is the siege of lesser Damanthyne during the heresy, less than a hundred loyalists fight of multiple companies of traitor marines, several regiments of renegade guard and a titan legion for a full year before hijacking their ship and escaping.

 Troike wrote:

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Second Siege of Terra, I think. Sure, my favoured faction were pretty much the villains in that one, but it doesn't change the fact that the Brides of the Emperor did what the Imperial Fists couldn't and held Terra against invading Marines... even if it was Chapters rather than Legions.

This is one of my favourites too. It had the Brides doing a good job of epitomising the SoB ideals (even if they were misled), and really demonstrating their combat prowess.

Although, I think I like the first battle for Terra even more. It was pretty damn epic, with the fate of the Imperium on a knife's edge and several legendary heroes all going to battle. A favourite moment would be where Angron is yelling out Horus' terms of surrender, and Sanguinius rejects them, starting off the siege.

My favorite part, too

 Howard A Treesong wrote:


But my favourite has the be the Battle at the Farm.

lol, I remember playing it with the scenery from the lichemaster, it was as though someone had opened my eyes. You moaning dakkarites whinge about GW but I remember the start and still forgive :-)

Glazer's Creek was a pretty awesome battle, too.

Imperial Guard Praetorians (with a single Ratling!) against Adrian Wood's orks.

Massacre at Big Toof River, though mostly for the Praetorians rather than any fluff.

Ahh Big Toof River & the Praetorians. Good choice!

Furyou Miko wrote:
Oh, they did affect CC weapons... I can't remember how though. Something like Gets Hot I think?

My Chaos Androids got repurposed as Pariahs, originally, and now take to the field as Deathmarks.

Great to hear some of the Androids are still getting used today. If I still had them would do so as well. Can't remember the specifics on the cc weapons obviously but I thought they just stopped them working altogether. Don't think Gets Hot was around then? Don't remember it anyway. And apologies to the OP if the old Neccy rules talk is getting OT btw - it's just nostalgia with Sanctuary 101!

Howard A Treesong wrote:Massacre at Big Toof River, though mostly for the Praetorians rather than any fluff.

Another great shout there. And the meatgrinder take on the Battle at Rorkes Drift (was that the battle of the farm or something else?) that followed. Would've said them for sure but wasn't confident if they counted as historical.

Third War for Armageddon, where Tycho fell. Second to that, the united Space Marine front against renegade psyker Varlak


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh! and a close third goes to the massive tank engagement on Tallarn.

 Tennants Lager wrote:

Furyou Miko wrote:
Oh, they did affect CC weapons... I can't remember how though. Something like Gets Hot I think?

My Chaos Androids got repurposed as Pariahs, originally, and now take to the field as Deathmarks.

Great to hear some of the Androids are still getting used today. If I still had them would do so as well. Can't remember the specifics on the cc weapons obviously but I thought they just stopped them working altogether. Don't think Gets Hot was around then? Don't remember it anyway. And apologies to the OP if the old Neccy rules talk is getting OT btw - it's just nostalgia with Sanctuary 101!

Howard A Treesong wrote:Massacre at Big Toof River, though mostly for the Praetorians rather than any fluff.

Another great shout there. And the meatgrinder take on the Battle at Rorkes Drift (was that the battle of the farm or something else?) that followed. Would've said them for sure but wasn't confident if they counted as historical.

That was Glazer's Creek, it was done as a battle report in White Dwarf. One of the last appearances of Adrian Wood's ork army, I think.

 Furyou Miko wrote:

That was Glazer's Creek, it was done as a battle report in White Dwarf. One of the last appearances of Adrian Wood's ork army, I think.

Yeah, an amazing narrative to it.

I'm pretty sure it will be something from the Taros campaign. I really do need to actually read the fluff portion of that book.

Siege of Vraks is pretty high up there, but for me it's a tie between the 13th Black Crusade and the Siege of Prospero.

Sanctuary 101, obviously. CCCCC: