Badab War Why The Astral Claws Lost

   A small skirmish in the Badab war where an advancing Blood Angels detachment is ambushed by the Astral Claws. For this game I tried to use the tactics and doctrine of the Astral Claws as described in the Forge World Imperial Armour Vol. 9.

   The Claws use the Tyrant's Legion of humans as an ablative shield to offset their deficiencies in numbers of Space Marines. Accordingly I set up a defensive line with the Legion Auxilia Infantry strung out as bait in a valley between two forested hills [1]. The far hill has an Auxilia Fire Support Unit with armour piercing weapons among the trees [2]. The near hill has an Astral Claw Cohort in the woods [3] and a Hellhound in hiding [4].

   In order to give myself the best possible chance I elected to use my lucky dice.

   On turn two I sprang the rest of the trap. My lucky dice lived up to their name and dumped all my reserves on the battlefield to the rear of the Blood Angels - the Centurion with a bodyguard elite troops bebussed from an Arvus lighter converted into a gunship by the addition of an autocannon escorted by a heavily armed armour busting Vulture Gunship. The Claw Cohort [3] and Hellhound [4] rushed from hiding

   The Blood Anels were surrounded by a ring of steel. Well almost surrounded. The uxilia [2] had taken a hammering but that is what ablative shields are for.

   A perfect plan: pity about the outcome.

   The ablative shield ran away, what was left of it [1]. The heavy weapon Auxia were shredded 2] and the Astral Claws were exterminated to the last man [3&4]. This was not bad luck - I used my lucky dice after all. The Vulture shot poorly but I got all my reserves on where I wanted them on turn two - swings and rounabouts.

   There were better set ups I could have made but only by ignoring Astral Claw doctrine. Does that matter?

   When I play a historical game such as Bolt Action I tend to judge the 'realism' of the game by whether the rules incline you to use the tactics of the time, or what is currently considered to be the tactics of the time, and whether the results seem reasonable.

   The yardstick for judging the realism of a fantasy game must be the fluff. By that standard there is something badly wrong with the Astral Claws as depicted by Forge World.

   Now that irritates me because I am a scenario or narrative gamer. OK, very anal and all that but this is an anal hobby. If it was just about a good game we would all be playing chess.

   Or maybe this just explains why the Astral Claws lost - lousy tactics and  false doctrine.

Astral Claws Chirurgeon

Still working on my Tyrant's Legion. It is almost finished. I have finished the Chirurgeon and given him a couple of disection servitors.

The Astral Claws were desperate for new gene seed for their rapidly expanding Legion. They obtained it by training chirurgeons to harvest gene seed from Space Marines of any chapter, living or dead.

Badab War - Blood in the Void

Blood in the Void is the space boarding game in Imperial Armour Volume 9. Shaun and I played the Force The Breach scenario, with three objectives.

Shaun set up this amazing battle board representing a shuttle bay on an Imperial Cruiser. A space battle is underway and a Badab assault shuttle makes it through ther Imperial cruiser's point defences to drop a Tyrant's Legion assault team into the shuttle bay.

I pushed in with an an Astral Claws Cohort and Legion auxilia on the right flank. The Cohort were amazing. They destroyed an Imperial termator squad and a techmarine, and captured an objective. Then I made my big error. The Cohort held the objective while the Auxilia pushed on to the second objective held by Naval Armsmen. It should have been the other way round. The Auxilia charged the Armsmen who slaughtered them. Sigh!

On the left the Astral Claws Warden and Retaliators, backed by armoured Heretek Renegades with meltas, traded shots with a second terminator squad, while pushing on to the third objective, held by Armsmen.

During the course of the battle, two lance hits smashed through the bay, without inflicting casualties. However they must have damaged something because all the lights went out soon afterwards. I ran for the third objective but never made it before the recall.

So Shaun won, two objectives to one.

This pics show the position at the end of the game (variable game length).

I have to say that the superb 'terrain' really made the game. Shaun has some amazing stuff. Just look at that assault shuttle.

Badab Shuttle

Badab light shuttle, used to transport personelle and supplies around the complex Badab system defenses. These are made locally in large numbers so, inevitably, some fall into 'private hands', as has this example.



The shuttles have excelent navigation systems to safely move through the defense zones. The navigation module can be seen clearly on the dorsal fin in this photo of a shuttle lifting off through atmosphere.


Badab shuttle on hard stand, above and below. They are normally unarmed but this private example has been fitted with twin-linked 40mm autocannon on the control module's roof. These would be triggered to spray the landing zone with suppression fire in an assault. The shuttle has no targeting avionics.



Rear view showing the two turbofans for atmospheric flight and the five ion drives for system transit.


The control module, showing the nose art. This shuttle was used by a heretek renegade band in the Tyrant's employ; they apparently christened it Nighthawk. The control module is disconnected from the cargo hull so the single crewman cannot get at the cargo or visa versa. This is unfortunate for any passengers if the pilot is put out of action. Passengers disembark via a hatch under the front hull.

Badab Fleet Eagle

The Badab Fleet two-seat Eagle Fighter is equipped like a Lightning with twin linked lascannon and an autocannon on an AA mount. This example is from 89 Squadron. Note the personalised nose art.


A computer generated image showing the Astral Claws Insignia on the fins. The autocannon is a replacable mission package on a hard point.



Eagle making a fast low level pass.


Eagle on a ground launch stand.



Eagle in flight, above and below.



Note the twin rocket boosted turbofan engines for atmospheric flight, and the three ion drives for low orbit transit. The twin communication crystals on the upper hulls are shown in this photo.


Front view showing the targetting avionics on the long barreled autocannon, and the twin lascannon..

Bada Tyrant's Legion - Hellhound

I kitbashed this from an old Chimera bought on eBay. There are Old GW, Airfix Robogear, and a remote controlled model boat life raft bits added. The paint job is Wermacht early 1942. The German army had a scare from the superb Russian tanks and hastily painted lines over their Panzer Grey tanks to blend them in a bit. They used various colours, whatever was to hand, including brick-red.

Astral Claws Centurion

Centurions are the HQ leaders of the Tyrants Legion forces. I wanted to make something that looked a little different so I incorporated Scout components into the model. A Centurion is not exactly a Space Marine Hero but is not a line trooper either.
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The Astral Claws logo is from Bolter and Chainsword, as suggested by Sonofsaurus. He has a cloak, courtesy of Shaun's bit box (which occupies most of his flat).

I used the marble floor again but with debris from a thick stained glass window, which has obviously been shot out.

Astral Claws - Retaliator Squad

The Astral Claws Space Marine Reliator Squad is an Elite Choice for a Badab Legion. They have void-hardened armour for boarding. They are supposed to have combat shields but I don't like the shape, so mine don't. I have yet to add the Chapter Insignia. I am looking for cat-like transfers.


The armour is more greyish than appears in the photos. The bases are mosaic chips from Hobbycraft. I wanted to get the look of the floor of the Tyrant's blue marble palace.

Badab Legion Vultures

I have started assembling My Badab Legion.

I need to paint some Astral Claws but can source most stuff from my collections. The army has spurred me on to finish my Vulture VTOL strike planes. I have given them a 'measles' camoflague pattern based on one of the German WWII designs. The Germans often used dazzle camoflague, rather than subdued colours, to break up the outline of the vehicle.

Imperial Armour V. 9 - The Badab War - A Review

I am a sucker; I admit it. I always claim that I will not buy any more Imperial Armour books on the grounds that I just can't afford it. But I always do.

This is the latest, The Badab War Part One, by Alan Bligh.

First, a general comment that I have made before so I will not labour the point. This is an expensive book with high quality, professional graphics but the writing is amateur, underedited, fanzine stuff. Badab War is one of the better examples from Forge World, incidentally, but there are all sorts of amateur style problems in the prose.

The price is, as always, eye watering at £45. However, it is 200 pages of full colour large format.



The graphics are excellent, as always and the Badab Sector is well described and illustrated. I could have done without the brown writing on a brown background - my eyes have the dgradation caused by thirty years of computer screens and high-power binocular microscopes.


The book starts with four chapters describing the background and opening pahse of the Badab Revolt, ending with the destruction of the Lamenters Chapter and the containment of the revolt. As Churchill might have put it - "Not the beginning of the end but, perhaps, the end of the beginning" - or possibly not.




The next seventy pages or so describe some of the loyalist and renegade space marine chapters that fought in the war. The problem is that this section is all fluff and graphics. OK, it's a useful modelling guide, but how deeply do you want to read fictional details about fictional space marine chapters when none of it has any bearing on gameplay. I am just not that autistic. At the risk of inviting vitriol - seen one space marine chapter, seen 'em all.

I found the Campaign section more interesting. It is a story-based construct with scenarios based on key events in the war. Most of the scenarios are uninspiring with the very honourable exception of one - see below.


Blood in the Void is a set of rules for fighting space boarding acrions for 40K. It is the gem that rescues the campaign with new gear and strategems.

This is followed by a small section of special characters, including a pre-renegade Lugft Huron, to match forge world models.


Last, but not at all least, we have a new Codex army - The Tyrant's Legion. This is not just a reworked Imperial Guard. The Legion are the auxilliary troops for the Astral Claws and incorporate Astral Claws units, including the Legion Centurion who is a sort of space marine Commissar figure. The main troop types are Legion SM Cohorts, i.e. Astral Claw squad, Legion Auxilia and Auxilia Armsmen.

The Legion Auxilia are badly equipped militia that fight in groups of twenty, classic cannon fodder. Armsmen are professional soldiers seconded from the private forces of the Sector nobility. They are basically guardsmen.

Two additional things about this codex delight me. First are an Elite choice, renegade marauder squads. These can have all sorts of weapon goodies and can include up to two "brutes". Brutes are large anything-you-want. They can be feral Ogryns, Muties, Xenos, Foul Heretic Abominations, Dark Adeptus constructs........anything your perverted imagination and modelling skills can devise.

And, oh thank you Ruinous Powers, Marauders can be given Fleet Lighters as dedicated transports. And, may joy be unconfined, you can arm the lighter so my weapon armed Arvus is finally not only legal but can be used in a Codex army.

While on this subject, Navy Fighters and Vultures can be taken as Codex Heavy Support choices. I have a couple of Old Crow Vultures and I an finally moved to add a acratch-built Lightning as top cover.

This codex really excites me, which doesn't happen often at my age.



Final thoughts: Did I get value for my £45?

Well almost. The Tyrant's Legion and Boarding Rules are great and inspire me to make some new stuff. The background to the Badab War is so-so and the yet another space marine pic with different coloured armour is weak.

So three out of five.