Kaelo Rylanus; Throne of Skulls review (picture heavy)

Hello all!

Last night saw Darien give an overview of his experience and battles at the recent Horus Heresy; Throne of Skulls event, held in Nottingham. I also attended the event and would like to give an overview of my first experience of playing in one of these events. I went to the first one with Drake - where he used his Iron Warrior force complete with Castellum Strongpoint. I used my Raven Guard for this event - here is my 2500pt list, when I did 2000 points I just took away Corax and melts bombs etc:

Praetor: plasma pistol; thunder hammer; melta bombs; digital lasers; iron halo; cameleoline; jump pack 210

9 Tactical Space Marines: + 1 Tactical Sergeant (artificer armour; Raven's Talon; melta bombs) 165

9 Tactical Space Marines: + 1 Tactical Sergeant (artificer armour; combi-weapon; melta bombs) 150

4 Tactical Support Marines: meltaguns; + 1 Tactical Support Sergeant (artificer armour; melta bombs) 190

• Drop Pod 35

9 Veteran Space Marines: 7× combi-weapon; heavy bolter and suspensor web; missile launcher with suspensor web; + 1 Veteran Sergeant (combi-weapon; Raven's Talon; artificer armour); Marksmen 320

Contemptor Dreadnought Talon

• Contemptor Dreadnought: twin-linked autocannon; chainfist (plasma blaster) 210

4 Mor Deythan: 4× combi-weapon; + 1 Mor Deythan Shade (artificer armour; combi-weapon; melta bombs) 185

9 Dark Furies: + 1 Chooser of the Slain (melta bombs) 330

Whirlwind Scorpius 115

Corvus Corax 450

Tylos Rubio 140

2,500 points

My army selection is quite punchy with units that can expend a nice amount of firepower for a single turn before adopting more of an 'objective holding' role. Hopefully you agree, this is a fairly fluffy Raven Guard fight style.

Game 1:

My first game was against Oliver and his Iron Hands. I dreaded this battle when I saw Oliver's army as I don't have a massive amount of anti-tank, but actually it was one of my favourite games. My Melta squad dropped and took out a Scorpius in turn 1 and I was lucky enough to capture a good amount of objective points early on. It ended with a Raven Guard win but in all honesty, it could have gone either way!

Game 2:

Next up was Michael and his Emperor's Children. This was another fantastic game where I got to take on some units I had never played before. Using the Emperor's Children IIIrd Company Rite of War, Michael had an abundance of Kakophony! These were supported by apothecaries which created a tremendously fluffy and thematic army. I managed to get first blood with my Melta squad taking out one of his HQs. My Dark Furies and Corax charged a squad of 4 Castellax and obliterated them with no response. In Michael's turn the Kakophoni opened up and destroyed my Dark Furies and targeted Rubio and the veteran squad. I also managed to take out Fulgrim with combined shooting from a 10 man tactical squad and my 5 Mor Deythan. It was a great game and the Ravens managed another victory!

Game 3:

My final game of day 1 was against Kyle and his Night Lords, including Curze and Sevetar. Raven Guard and the Sons of Nostramo are very similar combatants and the battle was brutal. Dark Furies and a squad of Raptors managed to take each other out in turn one fighting. Curze took 3 wounds and took off in a tactical retreat. I had set Rubio's Oath of Moment to be 'Kingslayer' and I couldn't claim a victory unless Curze fell. I hunted him down with Corax and over the last 2 turns the brothers managed to kill each other. Curze took a massive 6 wounds off of Corax while the Ravenlord only managed the final 3. They both died with the final rolls of the game and this gave me another victory.

Game 4:

The first game of day 2 pitted me against an Imperial Fist army controlled by Gareth. He had 2 10 man missile launcher squads which massively hindered my manoeuvrability. This coupled with some horrendous luck in the first 2 turns, meant that I was unable to give Gareth a good game which was a real shame and I apologised profusely. Highlight of the game for me was Rubio surviving 20 bolter shots and my praetor running away from Sigismund (after his Land Raider transport immobilised itself in some woods). The Ravens lost.

Game 5:

This was the final game and players are encouraged to play 'grudge' match's or challenges...so I challenged Darien. His Justaerin list terrified me with its heavy hitting and survivable nature. They truly lived up to it. I was lucky enough to get first blood taking out his Vindicator in turn 1 with my drop assault. Other than that it was like wading through tar! I had to keep Corax away from his big brother and in doing so it kept Horus from doing any major damage against my squishy legion lol. Raven Guard won, this was a fantastic game too!

That's a tough looking D-line!

Ravens up the bell tower!

Squad 2 set up on an objective. Nice boards at WHW.

Melta > rear armour

Rubio comes on from the flank and takes an objective!

Dark Furies advance on Justaerin as contemptor goes into 'stealth mode' lol

Battle of the contemptors...chainfist wins!

There were some lovely models on show too and here are a couple of my favourites:

So there you have it. A great event marred only by me having migraines lol. I was lucky enough to come 4th over the weekend and I am tremendously proud of my accomplishment. Thanks to my opponents and a massive thanks to the staff at Warhammer World.

Until next time, stay fluffy 

Kaelo