Siege of Seraphim Reach Recap
OH WE SIEGING
At Bolters at Dawn we have always loved the narrative flair. Finding our miniatures in scenarios that bring the game to life for us is something that elevates our game to the next level. With the Siege of Seraphim Reach we wanted to do just that with a game that was both a spectacle and put our players at the controls of telling the story of the day.
First, let’s start off with the premise:
In the grim darkness of the 41st millennium, the shrine world of Seraphim Reach stands as a beacon of faith and devotion to the God-Emperor of Mankind. Home to countless relics and sacred artifacts, it is a vital spiritual stronghold within the Imperium. However, a storm of malevolence gathers on the horizon, as the forces of Chaos descend upon Seraphim Reach with the intent to corrupt and destroy all that is holy.
The sky burns red with the fires of war as daemons and traitor marines wreak havoc, spreading their blasphemous influence across the land. The defenders of Seraphim Reach fight valiantly but are vastly outnumbered and outmatched by the relentless tide of Chaos.
As the walls of their bastions crumble and the once serene chapels are defiled, the defenders are faced with a dire mission: to preserve the sanctity of their most precious relics. The only hope lies in a daring and desperate plan to extract these holy artifacts via a sky crane, transporting them to an orbital landing pad where a fleet awaits to evacuate them to safety.
Time is of the essence. Chaos forces seek to intercept and destroy the crane, knowing that the loss of these relics would deal a devastating blow to the morale and faith of the Imperium.
In this narrative-driven campaign, players must coordinate the defense of the sky crane, navigating through waves of enemies, securing strategic points, and ensuring the safe passage of the relics to the orbital pad. Every decision and sacrifice will determine the fate of Seraphim Reach and the spiritual legacy of the Imperium.
Will you rise to the challenge and save these sacred treasures from the clutches of Chaos, or will the world of Seraphim Reach be engulfed in darkness forever? The Emperor protects, but only the brave and the faithful will prevail in this dire hour.
We dvided our forces into two sides; Imperium (defenders) and Chaos (attackers). Forces could not bring any named characters, and a minimum battleline requirement of 20% per side was required. Point values were skewed to give the attackers an advantage. Attackers brought 12,000 points, while defenders brought 9,000 points. Players were required to name their characters they brought to get them in that narrative mindset and help us tell the stories in the after action.
THE WALLS
I’ll have to admit that building a ‘castle’ wall to defend in 40k has been a childhood/manchild dream, and this would be the perfect spectacle for our game. We started with inspiration from the Tabletop Tactics crew and purchased some Imperial Bastion kits as the main wall sections.
We needed to fabricate a few things for this to work. First, we needed the back of the walls to be a functional castle wall with walkways. Second, we needed gates. Big gates. Imperial Knight-sized gates. Finally, we wanted to extend the walls to a second table as well but we were out of bastion sections to construct walls so we would have to fabricate our own.
Enter Albert. One of the founders of Bolters at Dawn is a wiz with AutoCAD, and with our access to a local laser printing shop, it allows him to make some really fun stuff. Albert got to work on fabricating the gate sections, additional walls, and fitting our walkways to slot into the back of the bastion walls.
Everything came out great. We assembled the walls and slapped some paint on everything. Voilà, some pretty decent walls.
Pretty standard of Bolters at Dawn to be still painting things until minutes before the event. I find a do my best work when I’ve self-sabotaged myself into these types of moments.
DESIGNING THE GAME
Our illustrious Propaganda Enforcement and Needful Information Secretary (Nate) and myself began to scheme. We had two guiding principles when we started looking at designing the game: the wall is the main character and this should run like a 40k game that was a D&D session.
An idea we came up with was giving our players back some of the army identity that a lot of us found missing in our transition to 10th edition 40k. We didn’t want to include anything too crazy that it would alter the game state, as we still want to be playing 10th edition, but give each faction something fun to help tell this story.
We wanted to give a number of events inside the game turns to provide the sense that the battlefield has an asynchronous feeling and gives us nobs to turn if one side is running away with the game too early. Not all of these were used during the game but as any good Dungeon Master has experienced, some of your plots and ploys end up not being used depending on how your session goes. Some of these that I’ll go into depth with in the game review were: demonic summoning ritual, a secret access tunnel going under the battlefield, and a transported relic going down outside the gate.
THE GAME
Deployment
The state of our game world (Seraphim Reach) was dire for the defenders as they deployed the whole of their forces on the board first. All planetary centers had fallen and the defenders were tasked with holding as thousands of personnel, relics, and ancient technology was loaded onto the sky crane to be taken to the orbital platforms for evacuation. The orbital war raged on as the Imperium fleet made a desperate maneuver to control the space around the orbital platform during this time. Their time was limited and so were the resources of the defenders.
Our attackers, a host of Chaos demons and traitor Space Marines, deployed their forces next. During their deployment the Chaos team was made aware of two things the Imperium did not know.
They could complete a demonic ritual by using a unit in their army with a mark of a Chaos god. That unit would have to weather the fire of the defenders for two turns while the ritual was manifested. If successful, the unit performing the ritual will sell their soul(s) to their chosen god and be replaced on the battlefield with a greater demon of that god.
Additionally, the Chaos forces have been made aware of an underground tunnel passage that went behind the gate walls. This passage was installed in secret by a planetary governor during a rebellion on the planet many years ago to prevent the planetary defense force from losing access to the sky crane complex. The Chaos forces would be able to embark into the tunnels (TUNNEL FIGHT!), deploy on a separate tunnel sideboard, and could exit behind the walls if they were successful. In addition, there were explosive devices rigged into the walls that could be activated by hacking a series of terminals in the tunnels.
TURN 1
Chaos
The Chaos forces were granted the first turn and advanced rapidly (in some cases) towards the gates to bring them down with all of their combined might. Additionally, the chaos forces embarked into the tunnels on their mission to hack the terminals and attempt to exit behind the gate walls.
The Emperor’s Children Lord Discordant Slavath Dreamrider began the summoning ritual, offering up their own life for the boon of Slaanesh. Reality began to tear as a violent tornado of warp energies swirled around the ritual, clouding the vision of the Imperium forces.
The Imperium unloaded on the advancing Chaos forces from their prepared positions. The limitation of the Overwatch stratagem of being only used once was lifted for this game with the restriction of only using it once on either the shooter(s) or target.
Imperium
The 5th Brotherhood Grey Knights in their strike cruiser, lead by Tauros Hendron, were made aware of this ritual and now knew that cleansing the ritual site would be the only way to stop the ritual from being attempted.
The defenders have now been made aware of the tunnels and that the Chaos forces have taken to them. They are aware that there are tunnel exits behind the walls but they are not aware of what else the Chaos forces are up to in the tunnels.
The Imperium raised the city side gate and unleashed a massive volley of weapons fire from Space Marine tanks and Adeptus Mechanicus knights. They turned the area surrounding the demonic ritual into rubble and glass, temporarily stopping the ritual and delivering the Emperor’s justice to Slavath Dreamrider.
Blood Angels Baal Predators poured through the opened gate to halt the Chaos forces advance and take the fight to the enemy.
The Master of Ordnance Sergeant Praxel van Dahl has targeted the ritual site with the defenders only deathstrike warhead intending to cleanse the area with atomic fire in the turns to come.
TURN 2
Chaos
Two mighty Blood Thirsters of Khorne, Vothrak and Khar’zak’ghul, assault the sky crane gate. With the combined might of the Chaos forces the gate is almost brought down, leaving just a few wounds left on the gate.
The brave Baal Predators that pushed out of the opened city gate to stop the advance paid dearly for their actions. It was not in vain however, the push forced the Chaos forces to focus on the Blood Angel tanks and prevented much needed deep strikes.
A second Emperor’s Children Lord Discordant, Scorpexi Swiftfeast, takes up the demonic ritual. The warp energies again begin to swirl as the ritual begins anew.
Inside the tunnels the Iron Warrior terminators engaged with the Custodes terminators. Showing that they are indeed the masters of siege they killed far more custodes terminators than they lost, securing a needed win in what was becoming a very crowded tunnel.
Imperium
With the sky crane gate heavily damaged, the defenders made a desperate play to open the gate and unleash a hellstorm of fire from the waiting forces behind the gate. The Adeptus Astartes forces, Astra Militarum heavy support, and Adeptus Mecanicus knights reaped every traitor and demon on their doorstep.
The city gate remained open, and the defenders softened the advance with small arms and heavy weapons fire from inside the gate proper.
The Blood Angel’s terminators that took to the tunnels engaged with the Emperor’s Children terminators. Their martial prowess showed through as they held firm against the traitor marines, not only surviving out numbered, but taking a fair number of the enemy out of the fight.
Black Templar jump pack intercessors deployed from reserves and took up position underneath the gate where they would valiantly make their last stand. The Black Templar sergeant was able to draw first blood from the Great Unclean one with a pistol, which would prove critical in the future.
++NUCLEAR LAUNCH DETECTED++ The deathstrike missile launches into to the heart of the chaos ritual, leaving a smoking crater in the battlefield where only the mighest of the Emperor’s enemies were left standing.
TURN 3
Chaos
An Astra Militarum valkyrie carrying a precious relic to be taken off planet with the sky crane evacuation sends a distress call as their plane crashes down outside of the gate. The scion squad inside disembarks with the relic and is raked by fire from an Iron Warriors forge fiend. Only a lone scion survives the attack.
The sky crane gate explodes as it is finally breached by a stampede of Khorne blood brushers leaving the gate open for a flood of demons.
The demonic ritual taking place outside of the city walls intensifies. The currents of the warp making a tornado of unholy power encircling the followed making their dark pact with the chaos gods.
The city gate is finally breached by Death Guard and Black Legion forces, the mightiest of which is a great unclean one of Nurgle.
A group of regimental attaches, Sergeant Praxel van Dahl, Leutienant Cornelius Durold, and Balphus Grivven who had taken flight from their forward position on walls met their ends at the hands of the chaos spawn that had poured through the gate.
Imperium
Two valkyries carrying scion squads lead by Colonel Mathais Drook and Captain Artu make a harrowing dive into the heart of the Chaos ritual as Grey Knights arrive to support. Even with the combined might of the scions and Grey Knights, the chaos ritual stands.
After being charged by the Death Guard, the Black Templar jump intercessors were slaughtered wholesale. However, they bought enough time for the gate to be lowered onto the heads of the attackers. Crashing down upon the Great Unclean one who could only barely hold the Gate up and at great cost to itself.
Under the weight of the defender’s firepower the vulnerable greater demon folded under the pressure of the gate closing. Leaving a rather disgusting and rather large pile of putrid gore spewing into the defenders positions as the Great Unclean One was cleaved in two by the gate closing. The remaining chaos forces were easily dispatched by the defenders behind the gate, now cut off from retreat.
TURN 4
Chaos
Just as the defenders of Seraphim Reach believed the siege was nearing victory, a squad of Chaos Marines dedicated to Slaanesh detonated explosives in the tunnels beneath the center wall, sending rubble and stone into the sky. The force of the explosion sent a handful of loyalists to their early grave.
From the outskirts of the city gate, the purple tornado erupts into a blinding light, and descends on the Lord Discordant, violently tearing its very being apart. The ritual is completed, and as the light and warp energies fade, a Keeper of Secrets appears dashing out of the chaos. It charged into the final functional gate and dug its claws deep into its metal structure. Meanwhile, the Iron Warriors were unable to complete their dark pacts, abandoned by the gods they hold dear.
With a new angle of attack, tank and small arms fire exploded through the opening onto a steady unit of Adeptus Custodes.
Imperium
As Imperium’s turn started, the Custodes weathered the attack, and pressed forward through the rubble to obtain the precious relic delivered by the Scions and their now destroyed Valkyrie.
Near the calming ritual site, Colonel Drook and Captain Bastraanak pilot two Valkyries overhead, deploying a unit of scions alongside Grey Knights appearing out of blue lightning. A worthless sacrifice, as the Chaos units return fire via Overwatch and are turned to dust.
On the sky crane gate, the remaining unit of Astra Militarum fix bayonets in preparation for the final Khorne Daemon advance.
In the tunnels underground, the heroic actions of the final terminal activation by the Slaanesh-worshiping Space Marines left them vulnerable to a prepared unit of Blood Angels terminators, who destroyed them in revenge for their crimes.
TURN 5
Just outside the sky crane gate, the Khorne advance is halted by overwhelming gunfire, while a pair of two Grey Knights units arrive in blinding blue light, absolutely decimating the last of the sky crane gate threat.
At long last, the Imperium closes the city gate covered in the remains of the crushed Great Unclean One, dripping with a stench of green blood and disease.
The sky crane arrives and has been loaded with the remaining relics to be saved from Seraphim Reach, and are successfully extracted while the battle rages on.
Much was lost in this victory for the loyalists, but the secrets of the final bastion on the planet were delivered into the fleet awaiting their arrival.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It brings us a lot of joy at Bolters at Dawn to spend days like this gaming with a group of great people. Days like this provide us a great chance to get together as a big group and talk some shit, catch up, and have a few cold ones.
The game was a ton of fun and I’m appreciative of everyone taking time out of their weekend to play with our minis. It is impossible to capture every cool event throughout the game, but those stories will live on for years to come with those that were there that day.
We learned a lot as Game Masters about where we felt things went well and things that didn’t go quite how we thought they would. We’re excited to continue doing these types of events.
Thanks to Albert, Jesse, and Nate for helping pull all of this off.
BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE!
To wrap this up, I’m excited to leave you with this DOPE video. One of our players had his perspective put into audio format from a friend, and Nate took that a step further and put the visuals with it. Dope stuff of the highest quality!
This dramatic retelling is from the perspective of the 104th Frosthammers Astra Militarum Regiment played by Sam Teague during the Siege of Seraphim Reach narrative Warhammer 40,000 event created and hosted by Bolters at Dawn.