Trajan Campaign - Game 3 - The Imperial Vanguard

The Space Marine expedition was able to identify the location of the Xenos planet with it's investigation of the asteroid colony despite being ambushed and destroyed along the way. Having located their target the Space Marines sent another expeditionary force, this time to the Xeno home planet codenamed Trajan. They were successful in engaging and nullifying the the space defence array, this opened the path for more numerous Imperial Navy to begin its invasion of the planet Trajan. The first task for the Navy is to recon the planet's surface for targets, critical infrastructure and threats. The Xeno forces were surprised by initial incursion that took out their space stations defences, however, they were prepared to meet this invasion in force.

We played the Vanguard Recon scenario with each side having 1250 points, thus far in the campaign the Xenos have 2 campaign points and the Empire has 3. 

Both sides maneuvre into place on the first two turns of the battle. 

The Imperial Navy advances quickly on their left flank with the aim of scanning as many clusters as possible, their frigates lead the charge with the heavy cruiser, Moscow, and battlecruiser Avalon behind.

The Xenos are more cautious and counter with a pair of cruisers and battlecruiser on their right, with their carrier group in the middle.

The Imperial battlecruiser is attacked by a swarm of Xenos bombers and monitors, it hadn't adequately anticipated the range of the Xenos launch assets and had taken spike on it's approach.

Meanwhile the Xenos use their initiative to pile on to the heavy cruiser Moscow with pinpoint burnthrough laser accuracy. The left flank of the Imperial Navy was collapsing due to being in a vulnerable position.

The Imperial navy still had fight left though, the Taipei frigates made a missile run against the battlecruiser, however, their volume of fire didn't produce the anticipated damage. Meanwhile the battleships made their entrance from the horizon.

The Imperial battleship New York finally arrived to provide launch support and reclaim the battle for the humans. As a detachment of Imperial light cruisers and destroyers, originally deployed on the far right flank moved towards the centre to support.

The end of turn 3 saw both sides launching all of their assets as fighters and bombers fought for superiority. 

The situation on the Imperial left flank did not improve any in the fourth turn, the heavy cruiser and the Xeno battlecruiser exchanged fire, with the Moscow taking the worst of the damage and blowing out of the sky. The escort carriers were left alone on the Imperial left.

The Imperial detachment came out aggressively against the carrier group in the middle, blowing a carrier out of the sky.

This move was countered by the Xenos sending their battleship into the centre of the action to stop the forward momentum of the Imperial right flank. The Imperium focused their fire on this target and in the launch phase the New York launched it's torpedo against the mothership.

One the Xenos turn, they again had initiative and were able to counter fire with great effect from their mothership and battlecruiser.

In the final turn, the battleships exchanged salvos, damaging each other greatly, again the Xenos fire was more accurate and knocked the New York out, including its admiral out of the sky.  The Imperial fleet, or whatever was left of it, was forced to retreat.

The Imperial Navy took a licking in its first battle of the invasion of Trajan. However, the memory of the devastation caused on Scipio still haunted the senior leadership and they were determined to nullify the Xeno threat once and for all. The next battle will be the final struggle in this epic war.

The Xenos now have a 6-3 advantage in campaign points, they will be able to secretly the pick the final scenario. The winner of that scenario will be the ultimate winner of the campaign.

Trajan Campaign - Game 2 - Space Station Assault

The Imperial expedition was ambushed on its way to the Asteroid Colony, but managed to drop an elite squad of Space Marines to investigate the colony. The Marines were never heard from again but Imperial communications relays received a data download from the central computers on the colony. This data revealed the miner’s on the asteroid colony were working with the Xenos, sending them the outputs of their production in exchange for protection. The computer data contained shipment and communication logs that allowed Imperial decoders to deduce the location of the Xeno planet. 

The planet lies outside of the boundaries of the Imperium. it was codenamed Trajan by the war planners at HQ. Long range scans of the planet showed a earth like planet orbited by a network of space stations. The Space Marines were tasked once again with being the vanguards of the invasion. Although they had to travel a far distance to reach their target, they would have the element of surprise on their side. Their mission is to take over the space stations defending the planet Trajan in order to prepare for the planetary assault.

The first ships of the Space Marine fleet approach the space stations, luckily they are left unarmed as the defenders were caught off guard.

The Xeno fleet mobilizes quickly and deploys to counter this threat. 

Both fleets manoeuvre into position and rush to occupy the abandoned space stations.

The Space Marine flagship, battlecruiser cruised towards the central space station.

As the fleets close to engagement range the Xenos launch their deadly bombers, countered by the Marine fighters.

Meanwhile on the other side of the battle the Xenos shore up their defenses and put troops on their space station.

The Space Marines have the advantage in troop carriers, the Xenos realizing this unleash their burnthrough lasers cause hull damage. Meanwhile the Xeno superiority in launch assets destroys the Marines light cruiser.

The troop carrier unleashes a volley on the Xeno frigate while sustaining more heavy damage. It manages to drop off the first squadron of Space Marine troops onto the Xeno space station.

The Xenos keep coming, using their close action weapons to retaliate on the Scipio. 

The Space Marine battlecruiser, Scipio unleashes its full broadsides on the Xeno frigates and cruisers. The Space Marines are deliberately prioritizing the smaller Xeno ships which are understood to carry their boarding troops.

The fighting with the launch assets intensifies as both sides launch their bombers against opposing assets. The Scipio is destroyed in a great explosion as a result of overwhelming enemy launch assets.

The Xenos land their first troops on the large space station, however, Space Marine forces have already boarded and shored up their defenses, throwing back the Xeno landing party.

As the fighting gets hot and heavy the Space Marine troop ship unleashes two broadside volleys before being taken out by opposing fire.

The battle ends in a stalemate in the space orbiting Trajan. Both sides lost most of their ships in very close quarters fighting, however, the Space Marines managed to capture two out of the three space stations and neutralize the planetary defenses. In both battles the Marine losses have been heavy but they have paved the way for the full planetary invasion to get rid of the Xeno threat once and for all...

Trajan Campaign - Interlude - Assault Inside the Asteroid

The Imperial expedition was nearly wiped out in the ambush by Xeno forces, however, their dropship was able to get through to the Asteroid Colony and successfully land an elite squad of Space Marines to complete the mission. 

The rules used for this scenario were Star Breach with the Legion of Mankind taking on the Hive Cult. I was testing the rule set and thought it would fit nicely with the campaign.

The Space Marines land near the generator and have to work their way through the winding tunnels of the asteroid.

The squad is deployed into the crammed quarters of their entry point with their leader, Amos, leading the charge.

Their target is the central computer that controls the asteroid communications, data storage and mining equipment. From this point they are hoping to deduce clues as to the fate of the colony and source of the Xeno threat.

The Miners have lined up to ambush the intruders, the Space Marines can see that these are no longer the industrious settlers that had set out but they have morphed in strange ways and their leader holds a banner of the Xeno worshiping cult.

There is no ambiguity about the Miner's intentions as they immediately launch a rocket at the intruders, the Marines were lucky to hit the dirt and allow their armour to absorb the impact.

A brute with a giant hammer follows this up with a charge against the nearest Marine, the exchange damages the Marine but he also manages to push the brute back.

Amos charges straight at the rocket launcher to cut him down before he can launch another salvo, his power sword makes quick work of the two Miners behind the barricades.

The Miners aren't fearful and throw a grenade at into the midst of the advancing Marines, the hurt Marine is taken out of action and the mech is also takes some damage.

But the damage isn't enough to stop the mech as he charges the grenade thrower and uses its crushing claws to take the miner out of action.

The Space Marines continue their advance, but are slowed down by a line gun that fires through the entire squad. The leader of the cult has developed psychic abilities which he uses to unleash a roar causing havoc among the Space marine ranks.

The Marines are elite soldiers for a reason, as they quickly recover and charge through to cut down the remaining Xeno lovers, eventually taking out the leader.

Amos makes his way to the computer terminal, downloads all of the historic data on the communications module and sends it back to through space for the Imperial relay stations and surviving ships to pick up.

As soon as the download and transmission is done, the Marines had back towards the extraction point. However, they hear noises coming from throughout the colony. There are more Miners than they had reckoned for and their escape path is covered with fresh enemy reinforcements.

The unsuspecting Marines are surrounded by more than double their number. While the data was transmitted successfully they were not heard from again..........

Trajan Campaign - Game 1 - Asteroid Colony

The asteroid mining colony orbiting the barren planet of Colona, lying just outside the edge of the Empire, went completely dark one Earth year ago. The Empire has sent an expedition  of the elite Space Marines to investigate, hoping it would lead to clues as to the origins of the Xenos....

The expedition force comes out of hyperspace in the orbit of Colona and begins their cautious approach towards the asteroid colony. They have brought along two civilian ships, one a research vessel for investigating anything abnormal and the other a supply vessel to sustain a presence on the colony in the long term.

Scenario objectives:

The first match in the campaign is based on the Civilian Liner Ambush scenario 

Empire - must cross the battle space and gains 2 VP for successfully scanning the asteroid, 2 VP for landing troops on it.

Xenos - come in on the flanks in distant formation, score 2 VP for each civilian ship destroyed.

Both sides will also gain VPs based on kill points.

The Xenos destroyers and frigates appear first, the Space Marines expected some kind of trouble and their fears were confirmed.

Space Marine Destroyers and Heavy Cruiser turn to face the new threat, both sides launch their bombers and fighters.

The Xeno light ships are specially armed with Close Action Weapons and so close the distance and carnage ensues

The Empire heavy cruiser launches fighters to fend off another round of Xeno bombers.

Meanwhile the remaining troopships and civilian ships continue towards the Asteroid

The second half of the Xeno ambush arrives and opens fire

Meanwhile the Xeno lights swarm heavy cruiser, causing a fire and eventually a complete explosion, but not before the heavy cruiser takes out some a destroyer and two frigates.

Another round of bombers from the new ambush attacks the lagging troopship, casualties on board are heavy as those troopships are packed with soldiers and crew.

The light cruiser Orion returned fire on the ambushers trying to give the troopships and civilians time to reach their target. A couple of well aimed shots blew up the Xeno carrier. 

The Xeno cruiser armed with burn through lasers got pas the Orion’s screen and zeroed in on the civilian research vessel. The ship’s destruction was a foregone conclusion but not before it was able to scan the asteroid and send detailed layout data to the rest of the fleet.

The Orion unleashed another barrage on the Xeno cruiser, trying to avenge the war civilians, but wasn’t as lucky this time around. The two destroyers also came over to also provide some relief unleashing a salvo on the enemy heavy cruiser. The Xenos returned fire and made the Orion a martyr. On the last turn the destroyers attempted to flee, seeing they were outnumbered and outgunned.

The sacrifices of the expeditionary fleet were worthwhile as the remaining troopship managed to reach the asteroid colony and drop off the Space Marine landing party. It will now be up to the Marines to finish the mission (here).

Both sides achieved 4pts for their objectives. The Xenos, however, won on kill points having wiped out almost the entire expeditionary force. The Xeno player will be awarded 2 campaign points and +1 admiral value.