+ War for Akkar: 30k Frontier's Horus Heresy gaming event +

+ War for Akkar: After-action report +

+ I had the great pleasure of playing a part in the War for Akkar, the last part of a grandly-scaled series of Horus Heresy campaigns run by a group called 30k Frontier [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. I had an absolute blast – great people, great tables and great armies. +

+ But don't take my word for it – check out these fantastic forces. I don't seem to have got everyone's armies, but they were all great. Thematic and clearly lovingly constructed. +

+ The Warmaster's forces +

+ These brutal-looking World Eaters, commanded by a great fella called Stacy, were a mix of older marines and those more recently 'elevated' and pressed into service. He won a well-deserved 'Best Character' – and probably the gaming highlight of the event by pot-shotting a vital Imperial strategist with a long-range plasma pistol strike! +

+ The 242nd fought alongside Sam's cool Mechanicus force. The thralls (on the right) were some suitably chaotic conversions of some Age of Sigmar troops. +

+ Some chump brought these Iron Warriors, too. +

+ Joe's beautiful Word Bearer force won 'Best Walker', and featured some blinding conversions. I particularly liked the Terminators. +

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+ Emperor's lapdogs +

+  A lovely infantry-heavy Alpha Legion force; fighting for the Emperor – or were they? (Yes). Had a good scrum against these; and my only victory of the weekend – so thanks for going easy on me, Alex! +

+ I faced this assault marine-heavy Raven Guard force in the first game, where I was trying to prevent them escaping a collapsing space station. Needless to say, trying to catch them was like grasping mist... Nevertheless, a surprisingly tense and enjoyable game. +

+ Jack's Ultramarines had a great theme – a Chapter of Destroyers – and in addition to being beautifully painted, were accompanied by some great props. They won a well-deserved 'Best Fluff' award. +

+ I faced Will's Raven Guard both one-on-one, and in a team game; and ended up getting mulched by assault marines on both occasions. A very well-constructed force, and a lovely – and very patient! – player. +

+ Sadly I didn't get a chance to face Alex's Imperial Fists, but they were amongst my favourites. While the Dreadnoughts (Mk IV box dreads forever!) are the stand-outs, the whole force was executed with great attention to detail and background. +

+ You'll probably spot that the armies are unusually (and pleasingly) infantry-heavy; and that's because the Zone Mortalis rules were in effect for the campaign. I was really glad of this; there's little more demoralising than sweeping half your army off when facing two Typhons. The army selection restrictions were quite tight, but really made for close, enjoyable games. +

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+ Akkar itself +

+ Terrain and scenery – the third army – can sometimes be an afterthought at events like this, but the 30k Frontier team went above and beyond; creating really tense and innovative missions over beautiful scenery, with fun intergame effects and loads of cool NPCs and in-campaign events. +

+ A healthy dose of Predator memes abound – poor, poor Dillon; buried under a wall. +

+ A squadron of Arvus landers swoop in from the jungle – this board saw Imperial Fists attempting to evacuate a vital Imperial officer from World Eaters. +

+ The attention to detail in all aspects really helped to make the event memorable. +

+ 12 x 4ft boards were used for the final doubles games. +

+ I was also very flattered to receive these awards – thanks all for a great weekend. I'm looking forward to adding some Akkar battle honours (and wargear) to some new troops as I gear up for a future event in the near future. Hope to see you all soon, and remember – if it bleeds we can kill it! +