The 2016 30k event – Western Fringe is done for its first year… and what a weekend it was!
We had 18 players duke it out across 2 days and 6 games at 2500 points. Primarchs fell, knights died and legions suffered mortal wounds… and gosh darn it they looked good while doing it!
First things first – HERE is the players pack and its important that you have this context for the rest of this article. Primarily because the missions were tied to which side won each round (6 wins of the 9 games). With exactly 9 players for the Loyalists and 9 for the Traitors the battle lines were drawn! I will also mention that the pictures below don’t necessarily correspond to any particular game – I just wanted to show off some of the awesome work the players had done!
Mission 1 was a Book 5 Legendary Mission –Shock of Betrayal (pg 170 HH 5). Its a great and fluffy mission to kick the weekend off with – and the first few results to come in saw the traitors take the upper hand… but after the first 2 traitor wins, we got a draw and then a landslide of Loyalist victories…
Mission 2 saw the forces face off playing a Book 6 Legendary Mission – Slayer of Worlds (pg 166 HH 6), (Loyalist Attacker). This mission again saw players jostle for position early in the games before some key strikes fell. Against my expectations, the traitors again lost ground to the loyalists who won the round 6 games to 3.
Mission 3 again comes from the Loyalist story tree – Deployment – Dawn of War, Mission – Challenge (pg 184 HH 6), (Loyalist Attacker). We had several instant wins in this round as heroes sought out their counterparts and Primarchs fell to their foes. The dust clears to give yet another Loyalist win 6 games to 3!
Day 2 dawns and we kick the day off again on the Loyalist missions… this time with – Deployment – Hammer and Anvil, Mission – Bad Blood (pg 181 HH 6), (Loyalist Attacker). Some very tense and close games this round and I watched the teams jostle back and forth for the victory – at one point having 3 wins a piece before the loyalists routed the traitors yet again 6 games to 3!
We also had a very impressive visitor come to say hi for day 2…
Huge is not a fitting word for this monster of a kit!
Mission 5 is again the Loyalist tree – Deployment – Vanguard Strike, Mission –Suicide Mission (pg 183 HH 6), (Loyalist Attacker). This mission was one I selected early in the planning phase – to represent the loyalists trying to punch out of the traitors clutches and escape for the final mission and after the first 2 results came in as loyalist victories I was worried I had made an error in the expectation of the round… but the traitors finally got their affairs in order and romped home their first round in 6 games to 3.
While the Traitors did indeed manage a win for round 5 it mattered not as round 6 was a fixed mission… Book 3 Legendary Mission –Deliverance, (pg 182-183 HH 3). This game was really interesting to watch as players took in the complexity of the scenario. Risks were taken on both sides and both sides suffered for it! The dust settles and its a clear win yet again to the loyalists!
So with 5 rounds out of 6 in the Loyalist hands, we had a clear win for the forces of the Emperor! In the end, the Loyal Ultramarines led by Roboute Guilliman emerged victorious! Full results can be found HERE.
It was one heck of a weekend and one we will repeat since the traitors need a chance to get hold of this awesome helmet we had graciously donated as a perpetual trophy! Thanks to Anthony for the awesome paint job on it!
Yes that’s my ugly mug in it!