Introduction
Among the myriad worlds of the imperium almost all were battlefields as the heresy took root. Splinter forces of legions and imperial army were seen everywhere, fighting desperately to secure any and all resources for their cause. The Kelarian Front was the name given to fighting that took place in and around the small Kelarian system located deep in Segmentum Obscurus.
The resources of the Kelarian system traded hands many times during the years of the heresy, and it’s people were left decimated. This did not stop the war, however, as ever increasing numbers of battlefleets sought to restock and replenish from the Kelarian shipyards.
Practical:
The Kelarian Front is an event series run by Valleyville Gaming. We aim to provide fun games with custom missions, forging the story and development of the Kelarian Front. Each event and it’s games contribute to advancing the story.
A Brief History of Kelaria
Located deep in Segmentum Obscurus, Kelaria and it’s neighbouring planets was easy to overlook. Mankind, however, has a tendancy to spread and take root even in the most remote places. So it was that when the 178th Expiditionary Fleet found Kelaria during the Great Crusade, they found a human civilization rooted there. Limited space travel technology had enabled the Kelarians to spread their influence, and the surrounding moons and planetoids were already part of their domain when the Imperium arrived. Delighted to find out that they were not alone in the universe, and perhaps even more keen to advance their own technology, the Kelarians quickly complied and became part of the Imperium.
Spaceports and waystations for warp travel was soon erected, and the Kelarian system soon became a hub for further expansion, as well as trade and resupply for passing fleets. With time the orbital and planetary shipyards grew, and huge stockpiles of arms, armor and vehicles were to be found beneath the surface of Kelaria. It made the system prosperous, but would ultimately prove to be its undoing. As the Horus Heresy unfolded, Kelaria drew predators from both sides seeking to plunder its riches.
Initial engagements
It is hard to pinpoint just when hostilities on Kelaria began. Some argue that it was the approach of some Imperial Fist and Sons of Horus vessels that sparked an argument over the right to resupply, and some argue that it was in fact the refusal of the local authorities to comply with IV legion demands that led to shots being fired. In the end, it matters not. War came to Kelaria, and soon lines were drawn as those loyal to the Warmaster launched an all out attack on those who had once been their brothers. The front quickly widened, as forces from systems close by was drawn into the fighting, and soon all of Kelaria was a battleground.
Fighting was concentrated among seven different warzones. The two main Hives, Kelaria and Otherport, became hotly contested for their ability to supply ships in orbit. This also included the vast slums that surrounded Otherport, as they provided a staging ground for assaults on both hives as well as a vast laborforce living there.
The research station located in the wilderness to the south and to the north each saw teams and even armies deployed around them, hoping to unearth the supposed archeotech that lay buried there.
The abandoned Ecktor factory side site, once home to a large manufacturing complex saw astartes clash around it. Hidden beneath it’s run down exterior lay functioning machinery, capable of producing munitions for almost any of the weapons of the imperial army. Most importantly it was also able to produce bolter shells, a fact that skyrocketed its importance as the war grew longer.
Along Kelarian equator is a string of swamps, named by the locals after the first imperial governor, Erasmus Feltun. It is a testament to his rule that he was used to name one of the planets most inhospitable areas. The swamps do not carry any riches, but taking the long way around takes time. And so, the dry and somewhat safe passages of the swamps are fought over by warlords keen to quickly redeploy their troops between fronts.
Practical:
Each warzone is represented by one or more tables at the actual event. The faction (traitor/loyalist) holding the warzone gains a special bonus, ranging from re-rolls for bolter shots (Ecktor Industrial) and re-rolling reserves (Hive Kelaria) etc.
To calculate ownership of a warzone we simply tallied the Victory Points scored by each player when fighting there, adding the scores to the players that played there before them.
Each mission had a cap at 20 VPs, and the objectives were made so that players would usually land between 8-15 VPs per game.
Part 1
While the loyalists initially held sway over all of Kelaria, the Traitor landings would soon prove that they had come in force to claim whatever riches were hidden on the planet.
The traitors struck first against the two hive cities on Kelaria. As drop pods rained from the sky, explosions and ferice street fighting broke out as the Alpha Legion revealed themselves to already having infiltrated both hives. The inital attack was spearheaded by Iron Warrior dropships and infantry columns, while the Alpha Legion fought to open the gates for them.
In Hive Kelaria, a small detachment of Sisters of Silence led the defences, while at Otherport the Imperial Fists and White Scars sought to hold the traitor advance. For the Silent Sisterhood reinforcements came unexpected, as as much as half the attacking Alpha Legion suddenly turned on their own, forcing them out of key buildings and linking up with loyalist vox networks. While initially sceptical, the new allies spoke with their actions as they ousted the Traitor forces from the city in a series of suprise attacks. Hive Kelaria would remain in loyalist hand for a while still.
In Otherport, the gamble the Traitors had made for both Hives proved to be but a ruse, as they brought ever more troops into the city while abandoning the front at Hive Kelaria. The Imperial Fist defenders were soon locked into the spaceport, fighting to the last man while the White Scars were commanded out of the city, to seek to reinforce the Salamanders at Ecktor instead. As the traitors sought to push out into the Slums surrounding Otherport they were met with fierce resistance. The Salamanders camped there refused to budge, and weakened by the battles fought withing the city, the Traitors did not have the momentum to push further. A calm of sorts settled over that part of the front, as the Traitors consolidated their hold of the city while the Salamanders focused their efforts on evacuating the human populace of the slums.
Meanwhile, the Sons of Horus, supported by elements of both Alpha Legion, Death Guard and foul human militia had made a play for both the abandoned Ecktor Industrial Sector and the Southern Research Facilities. Landing in force to surprise the Salamanders and Dark Angels defending those areas, they soon overwhelmed the forces holding the factories. Despite White Scars reinfocements arriving from Otherport, the traitor force was to great, and the loyalists were forced to retread back towards Hive Kelaria.
In the south, the Dark Angels dug in, however, and used any means they could to delay and blunt the traitor advance. Here hordes of human cultists were cut down as they tried to swarm the defences, only to be met with bolter, blade and radiation. In the end, it was the arrival of a company of Death Guard that broke the defences, wading in through a sea of radiation and phosphex, headless of their own casualties. The traitors claimed victory over the research facility, but the Dark Angels did not give up. Launching raids and lightning strikes from the surrounding countryside the traitor hold was weak at best, with constant battles being fought around the area.
While the southern research facilities fell to the traitors, the same was not true of the north. The Silent Sisterhood had here been reinforced by astartes of the Salamanders, and together they hunted the enemy through the underground complexes. While the traitor assault, spearheaded by the World Eaters, initially seemed to gain a foothold here, it soon lost its momentum as the headlessness of the World Eaters brought them into the traps prepared for them. The loyalist defences proved too strong, and most of the World Eaters and their human cultists were purged with blade and flame.
Much of the retreating loyalist forces, both those of the Dark Angels and the Salamanders, ventured through the Feltun swamps on their way to loyalist held land. Here they were ambushed and drowned, not in the swamps but in the masses of militia cultists herded there by the Death Guard. While the swamps soon filled with the dead, the traitors cared little for the price in blood. The Death Guard urged the cultists on, and soon the Salamanders and Dark Angels were cornered and destoryed, or forced to retreat ever further into the swamps towards Hive Kelaria.
Practical:
Hive Kelaria – Loyalists victory.
Hive Otherport – Traitor victory.
Ecktor Industrial – Traitor victory.
S. Research Facility – Traitor victory.
Feltun Swamps – Traitor victory.
N. Research Facility – Loyalist victory.
Otherport Slums – Loyalist victory.
Part 2.
The initial scepticism harboured by the Loyalists against the Alpha Legion elements seemingly fighting for them was deepened as whatever forces had helped secure Hive Kelaria suddenly and unexpectedly vanished before formal contact could be established. As the Loyalist forces searched the city no sign of their elusive allies could be found, and the city remained on high alert. The Silent Sisterhood and their Planetary Defence Force troops were reinforced by the Imperial Fists and the work began to further fortify the great Hive. Constant probing attacks and covert operations conducted by the Iron Warriors and Alpha Legion kept the city vigilant, but made no significant gains. Hive Kelaria still stood for the Emperor.
In Otherport the story was vastly different. The concentrated efforts of the traitors had ousted the remaining Imperial Fist and White Scars, forcing them out of the city and into the wilderness surrounding it. Some of those forces moved into the slums, reinforcing the Salamanders who still held out there. They were under constant attack, however, and their hold on the area was severely weakened. Daily sorties from the Hive made the slums closer to the Hive walls a perilous area even for astartes patrols, and soon the Loyalists found themselves restricted to the outskirts, leaving parts of the slums to the enemy. The traitors, however, dared not venture too deep into the slums as the spread-out loyalists lay in ambush. A stalemate of sorts grew out of this tension, with neither side gaining control yet never fully abandoning the slums to the enemy.
With the north firmly in the hands of the Loyalists their commanders started looking south, towards the traitor held areas of the swamps and southern research facilities. Rumours and sporadic vox-intercepts spoke of continued resistance in the southern areas, especially by the Dark Angels who had been forced out of the research areas. Cut off and outnumbered they turned to destruction, forcing the Traitors to keep a constant vigil over the outlands lest they be taken by surprise.
To aid their brethren forces of both Imperial Fists, Salamanders and Dark Angels moved through the Feltun swamps, forcing their way to reinforce their surrounded brethren who had taken refuge in the deep jungles of the swamp. Strengthened by their success, forcing the Death Guard back, the combined loyalist forces advanced further, focusing on securing safe routes through the swamps. This would allow them to bring heavier vehicles and equipment through to attack the south. Fighting continued throughout the swamps, however, as both World Eater and Sons of Horus forces started to arrive to reinfoce the Death Guard.
Practical:
Hive Kelaria – Loyalists victory.
Hive Otherport – Traitor victory.
Ecktor Industrial – Traitor victory.
S. Research Facility – Traitor victory.
Feltun Swamps – Loyalist victory.
N. Research Facility – Loyalist victory.
Otherport Slums – Draw.
Part 3.
The loyalist plans to bring heavies armour to the south was foiled. Not by the traitors, but by the combined war effort and its effect on the planet of Kelaria itself.
As the battles along the Kelarian front dragged on, increasing bombardements as well as near-orbit void battles and the debris from those battles started to take its toll on the climate of the planet. What had once been fairly hospitable became ever worse, and soon large thunderstorms moved across the whole front. While they were not lethal (except for those caught in the lightning strikes) they proved a great hindrance to any vehicles. Dust and mud, made worse by the constant rain, clogged wheels and tracks alike, while the thunder itself made any air-raids all but impossible even for craft piloted by the astartes.
War, however, does not rest but finds a way. Soon large infantry columns moved across the land, foregoing their vehicles and instead using the storms as cover for both auspex and void scans. Fighting was now consigned to the ground, with the storms interfering with both communication and movement.
Practical
For this part of the series a thunderstorm rolled in and made the movement of heavy armour impossible. It also hindered visibility and angered to local fauna. In short – we went to town with special rules. =)
- All games were played using the Praetorian ruleset by the Liber Panoptica. In essence this meant that no vehicles were allowed.
- All games used the “Local fauna”-rules, meaning any non-ruin terrain piece had a chance of spawning between 5-10 local beasts who immediatly attacked whoever disturbed them.
- All games were using the Thunderstorm-rules below.
- Thunderstorm: At the start of each game turn – toll a d6. If a 5+ is rolled, a storm has arrived. All the effects of nightfighting are now in effect for that game turn. The ”Night vision”-rule has no effect on the storm, and so does not work for this.
Part 3, cont.
Under cover of the weather both traitors and loyalists were reinforced. The loyalists were bolstered by a large force of Raven Guard on route to re-supply. Having been briefed and given whatever the stores of Hive Kelaria could supply them with in terms of repairs and munitions they gladly lent their strength to the loyalist forces. They first clashed with the Iron Warriors in Hive Otherport, fighting a close battle that in the end saw significant parts of the Hive once again return to loyalist hands. As the Iron Warriors fell back they were further harried by the loyalist forces in the slums. The loyalists harboured there surged forward, only to be ambushed in turn by the Alpha Legion. So reinforced, the Iron Warriors could once again turn their guns to the battle and constant gunfire filled the Hive, with astartes fighting close street battles. The traitors would not lose their hold, and the loyalists were contained in the northern parts of the hive.
Hive Kelaria instead came under attack from a new traitor force. Under the cover of darkness the New Mechanicum had landed significant troops, lending their strength to several warzones across Kelaria. First and foremost they struck the defenders of Hive Kelaria, supported by elements of both the Sons of Horus and Iron Warriors. The defending Sisters of Silence were massacred, yet salvation came from the sky as Blood Angels and Dark Angels moved in to reinforce them. Fighting once again in the streets, the forces of the New Mechanicum and Sons of Horus soon fought their way into the space port, landing reinfocements using the stable teleport chambers housed there. This forced the loyalists to withdraw, and the Eye of Horus was raised over Hive Kelaria for the first time.
With the bulk of the traitors engaged in the Hive Cities, loyalist elements of the newly arrived Raven Guard and Blood Angels, supported by a force of Dark Angels moved into Ecktor, tyring to wrest control from teh traitors and secure the vital factories below ground. The production of bolt shells there never stopped, and as fighting intensified it proved too much for the combined loyalist forces. While their supplies dwindled, the traitor forces could afford to spend and soon gained the upper hand, forcing the assault back. While the initial attack had inflicted significant casualties on the Sons of Horus and World Eater defenders, the weight of fire proved to much as the Mechanicum forces and emplaced guns started to lend their fire to the fusillade. Ecktor would remain in Traitor hands for a whole longer.
Using the momentum gained by the loyalist retreat, the traitors once again launched into the areas of the Feltun Swamps, aiming to destroy the newly erected loyalist supply routes. The Sons of Horus and World Eaters sallied forth, using the thunderstorm to get close to the loyalist positions before revealing themselves. Several supply routes quickly fell to the traitors, forcing the loyalists back and into the deep unhospitable jungles and swamplands once again. Having extended far from their own support lanes however, the traitors had little way of holding what they had gained and instead retreated once again, leaving sentries and hidden observation posts to warn of any loyalist attacks.
With the loyalists forced out of almost all of their strongholds the war seems to be almost over…
Practical:
Hive Kelaria – Traitor victory.
Hive Otherport – Traitor victory.
Ecktor Industrial – Traitor victory.
S. Research Facility – Traitor victory.
Feltun Swamps – Traitor victory.
N. Research Facility – Loyalist victory.
Otherport Slums – Traitor victory.