Campaign Gameday Three - Battle for Scrap Peak

Photos from the third and final mega-game of the campaign. The Orks and Imperials faced off, and then the Orks detonated the vortex weapon supply tearing a rift into the fabric of reality. While the forces of Chaos poured forth from the breach, the Eldar of Iyanden--having foretold the disturbance in their omens--rushed to help the Imperial lines.

The Ork Skullhamma led the charge. 

Deff Dredds led their little brother Killa Kans into the fray.

The Orks even took to the air in their whirling Deffkoptas.

A sea of boyz advanced before the towering Stompa.

The ramshackle Ork Trukks sped toward the Imperial positions. 

The Imperial Battle Line was a parking lot of tanks and men, anchored by a mighty Stormlord superheavy tank. 

The Skyshield Landing Pad provided defense for Heavy Weapon Teams as well as the rocket-laden artillery of the Imperial Guard. 

A massive and deadly Shadowsword anchored the right flank of the Imperial Guard, its devastating cannon ready to punish Ork vehicles and infantry alike. 

The first lines of Imperial defenses: ranks of valiant Guardsmen taking what cover they could in trenches, with a line of Leman Russ variants behind them. 

In a vault below Scrap Peak, a different battle raged: the forces of the Inquisition tried to stop the Orks' Prophet from reaching the vortex weapons cache. 

The Ork Commander and Inquisition Commander holding their models after the mini-clash in the vaults event. 

The Orks managed to set off the detonation codes, releasing a barrage of vortex weaponry. However, instead of devastating targets all over the planet, the missiles all rained down the exact same spot--right in the center of the battlefield, thanks to the Orks not understanding the aiming of the devices. The waves of successive pockets of reality tore a rend in the fabric of the warp. Worse yet, those "bubbles" of reality seemed to persist: and from them swarmed the servants of Chaos: vile daemons and their Chaos Marine allies who had forseen the event and waited for their release into Sanctus Reach. 

The Khorne Bloodletters swarmed out over the Imperial Guard, laying waste to their tanks and men with savage blows from their unholy blades. 

The Inquistitor marshaled his forces from out of the vaults below Scrap Peak, hoping that his waves of mechanithralls would stop the Ork assault. 

It was then that the forces of the Eldar craftworld of Iyanden joined the fray. They had forseen the warp incursion, and knew that they had use this moment of distraction to strike at the Ork war host--the Imperium was going to be crippled by their dealing with Chaos, which would leave the Orks free to pillage their way across the system (eventually reaching the Craftworld). 

The Ork air support, in the form of three Dakkajets, raced across the Imperial lines as the Orks reached their foes. The rattling fire tore up the Imperial positions and left them reeling. 

Despite the pressing need to stem the Ork tide, the Eldar were unable to accomplish the task. With the distraction from Chaos and the wave of Orks that came crashing forward, the fragile alliance between Eldar and Imperium was broken, and both forces fled the field. The Orks had won, and the system would burn with their wrath. 

Campaign Gameday Two: Imperial Breakthroughs and Ork Traps

Sanctus Reach: Imperial Breakthroughs and Ork Traps

Because the prior games were split, with the Imperial forces winning the large initial battle for Sacred Mountain, but the Orks taking the Steel Cyclops, this next phase of the campaign saw both portions of the narrative played out. The Bait is Taken scenario is one where the Bad Moonz trick an Imperial commander into getting over confident, and thus having his forces overwhelmed. The Chain Reforged scenario is one where Imperial units move to re-establish their battle lines, breaking through pockets of Ork resistance. The results of these various battles in the campaign are below.

The Bait is Taken

This match pitted the Imperial Inquisition versus Orks, with victory conditions centered around units destroyed as well as whether the Imperials could take out the Ork warboss. 

The Bad Moonz were kunnin' but brutal, setting up some Death Skulls to be the "bait" in the trap.

The center of the Ork battle line were three Killa Kanz, their deadly gunz and melee weapons primed to destroy the 'umies. 

The Inquisition included bands of mindless servitors, as well as a non-Mars approved pattern Razorback tank to carry a squad of Savlar Chem-Dog veterans the Inquisitor had recruited.

Tractus Garis Cesaro (center, white beard), a radical Ordo Xenos Inquisitor, led his extremely diverse squad of Xenos acolytes into battle against the Orks--convinced that if he could break the back of the Death Skulls Ork Warboss himself, the Orks would crumble. 

Only half the Bad Moonz plan actually worked. While they defeated the Inquisitorial forces, the surly Death Skulls Warboss was just too cunning and hardy to perish. The Bad Moonz had to plot a better way to remove him.

The battle ended with an Ork victory. While Inquisitor Tractus escaped yet again, his faith in the Emperor was shaken more than ever. He realized that he had the power at his fingertips to gain victory over the cruel Orks, but his faith kept him from using that power. It was time to look into darker sources, and materials recovered from strange dim pathways of the Universe, in order to stop his foes. Faith alone would not suffice to save mankind. 

The Chain Reforged

While the Orks devoted their resources to a gambit to ensnare Imperial command, the Imperial Guard was seeking to get their units back into defensible and supported positions. With roaming small warbands of Orks everywhere on the plains of Alaric Prime, the tank legion led by Knight Commander Pask sought to reconnect their supply lines with other Imperial Guard units to discourage Ork raids through show of united force. That meant breaking through existing Ork battle lines at times, including one particularly nasty wargroup of Orks. 

The 'Eavy Armored Orks charge across the plains as their Battlewagons rumble in the distance. 

A column of Imperial tanks meet them across the field, seeking to break through the Ork lines and reunite their scattered forces on the plains of Alaric Prime. 

The rapid advance of the Ork Trukkmobz is met by horrendous firepower from Tank Commander Pask, commanding his Leman Russ Punisher. 

The Ork Deff Dread, sporting four huge claws, reached the Commander's tank and inflicted some damage, but was wiped out by Imperial fire before it could finish the job. 

The battle ended with an Imperial victory. The left flank of the Imperial Guard forces managed to usher all of their tanks off the board edge, with the right flank nearing that spot as the last Ork defenders fell. With battle lines re-united, the Imperials will have a solid front in the next battle (rather than find their lines broken by intervening Orks.

The Chain Reforged

The Space Wolves, having used drop assault for Sacred Mountain, were now faced with gathering and uniting their forces to present a unified front against the Orks. Rune Priest Engil Thundersky took command of some Wolf Guard terminators, leading them on a trudge across the low plains mopping up pockets of Ork resistance. Coming upon a small group of Orks, he thought it was business as usual--called for a single Blood Claws assault pack to join them via drop pod, and rushed into battle. 

It seemed like a small group of boyz and a single ramshackle trukk. 

Rune Priest Thundersky, in the back, unleashes his furious warriors at the Ork menace.

The second squad of Wolf Guard Terminators close the jaws of the trap. 

Suddenly, the Trukk disgorged a huge group of deadly nobz, led by a warboss who had been bolted into a scavenged Space Marines dreadnought. 

The Blood Claws arrive by drop pod, and engage the horde of boyz--though the heavy armor of the boyz makes it far less simple to eliminate them. 

The remaining Wolf Guard from squad two stares down a horde of Nobz. While he managed to cripple the enemy warboss with a chainfist swing, the noble born son of Fenris didn't stand a chance against the furious assault of the Nobz. 

Rune Priest Thundersky, injured from a mistake in using a Tempestus psychic power, had to fight the flanking Deff Koptas himself. While he finally routed them, the fire of the Ork boyz as he advanced found a weak spot in his armor and he fell slain, the blood pouring from his neck. 

All told, the battle was a slim victory for the Space Wolves--due simply to the resilience of Wolf Guard squad one. While they lost two members, the remaining three held out over successive waves of Nobz as well as Boyz, saving against 'uge choppas, power claws, and the dwindling attacks of the greenskins.

A Chaotic Interlude

Meanwhile, the narrative of Warp'ead Zageye continued. Having made his way back from the warp tear, rambling about a meeting with Mork himself, he rounded up yet another band of Orks. This time, he felt the calling to push northward. Taking the troops with him, he followed his senses of the path.

Then, suddenly, more 'umies emerged from a ruined suburban landscape. The Orks charged in oblivious of the markings on their armor and soldiers, thinking it simply more foes of the Imperium.

Wait. Those aren't the markings of the Emperor! That's the eight-pointed star of Khorne!

The Big Gunz of the grots fire away anyhow, pulverizing the forces of any foe that Zageye might tell them too (as well as any Ork units that recently bullied them in camp).

The small force that had landed in secret on the northern side of the continent came from an Idolator Raider vessel that swung hidden into low orbit. Somehow the will of Khorne opposed the designs of Tzeentch and led the raiders to the planet, destined to try and stop Tzeentch's plans to recruit Warp'ead Zageye as a pawn in his grand game. Yet the small group was unable to stem the tide of greenskins, and at least for now Tzeentch's plans continued un-interrupted.

Campaign Special Event: Protect the Steel Cyclops

Sanctus Reach: Protect the Steel Cyclops

The following battle was a special event inspired by the Sanctus Reach rules and story. We changed a little to match our narrative, but here it is:

Two Superheavy Imperial Guard tanks were involved in the fighting at Sacred Mountain. The Baneblade had been torn asunder by a wave of buzz-saw armed Orks, leaving the Shadowsword Steel Cyclops woefully exposed in the face of the closing Orks. Having no choice but to retreat, the tank tried to reverse over a too-small bridge. Unfortunately, the bridge's construction proved to be much sturdier than the commander expected, and the guardrails on the right side tore into the underside and engine of the Shadowsword. The resulting damage caused a critical core leak, flooding the interior chambers of the tank with lethal gasses. Only the commander of the tank donned his gas mask in time to survive, the rest of the tank's crew succumbing in seconds, and leaving the vehicle both virtually unmanned as well as totally without power for its weapons. Popping the top hatch to escape the acidic vapors, the commander looked out at the sea of Ork boyz charging his way--the longest of their shootas starting to range in on the tank's front armor. Soon they would be on him, he thought, and they'd take and repair the tank... it would soon be an Ork Skullhamma battle fortress, the mighty turbolaser turned back upon the very Imperial forces it was supposed to protect. Just then, the commander of the tank felt a lurch. The tank improbably started dragging backwards. Looking to the rear of the tank, he saw a small squad of Space Wolves Longfangs, their weapons discarded near the Razorback that no doubt carried them to the fight. Instead, they had grabbed the tank and were using their superhuman strength to slowly drag it backward over the bridge, where a choke-point of Imperial forces could protect it until its drive was repaired (or the bridge could be blown). Yet just as it started to move backward, he felt another lurch. A squad of Ork bike nobz had blazed up, and hopped off of their motley bikes. Rolling up their sleeves and with shouts of "Oi, ooo wants a tug'o'war?" they were pulling the tank the other direction. Both sides had covering fire protecting them, but soon the enemy's shots would reach them. Who would survive to get the tank safely off the bridge? The Space Marines with their Imperial Guard infantry protection, or the Nobz with the horde of onrushing shoota boyz?

We used blind set-up, so this is Craig, Charles, and Kevin deploying their Imperial Guard and Orks respectively. My Space Marines were there to do the pulling, and Dave's Ork Nobz were doing the same for the Ork side. 

 The initial deployment with the Shadowsword Steel Cyclops and bridge in place. The river represents an open chasm, which neither side currently had troops able to cross. 

Gradually the numbers won out over quality, as the Imperial Guard shooting--even with their devastating heavy weapons and guided by Imperial Psykers using Divination powers--couldn't keep pace with the raw firepower of the Orks. 

The Orks swarmed to the left side of the tank, finishing off the last of the Imperial Forces--then turning their fire on the Space Wolves squad tugging the tank. Finally, with the Imperials wiped out to a man, the strong arms of the Nobz heaved the tank off the bridge. 

A great big Mekboss battered his way through the crowd to the tank, surveying its massive beauty. "Ooo, dat kannon be a fine big shoota," he said, producing a tool kit and lighting his burna's cutting torch alight. "Dis tank gonna be da best Skullhamma dat ever hammered da skullz."

The Orks now gain the following rules:

If they field a Skullhamma, it must be the re-built Steel Cyclops. The rebuilt Steel Cyclops has the following rules:

Shadowsword Cannon: The main gun of the Skullhamma must be paid for as normal, but is immediately replaced with the following weapon:

Cyclops Gun: Range 120" Str D, AP 2, Ordinance 1, 5" Blast, Destroyer.

Victory at the Gorge: This particular Skullhamma was a recent win for the Orks. Any Ork unit that has at least one model within 12" of the Shadowsword counts as containing a character with a bosspole and counts as being in combat for purposes of Ork morale and leadership checks.

Reclaiming What's Ours: If the Skullhamma is destroyed by the Imperial side in hand-to-hand, it does not have to make any catastrophic damage rolls. It simply becomes a wreck. It also immediately becomes an additional source of victory points in the battle. Scored like an objective, it awards an additional 1 VP to the side that holds it at the end of the battle. If the Orks score the point, they can continue using these rules for future battles. If the Imperials score the point, they will get to refurbishing the vehicle (complete with Steel Cyclops Restored special rules). If it is destroyed in shooting, neither Orks nor Imperials get special rules any longer.

A final aside: the other task from Sunday was the construction of some joint terrain for "Ork Shantytown". These are the pieces prior to painting! Note the windmill!

Campaign Game 1.5: Fallout on Glacier 217

Sanctus Reach: Fallout on Glacier 217

As the Imperial resistance on Sacred Mountain turned away the Ork forces, many spread out back down the cliffs and across the frozen plains in the mountain region, already planning to regroup with larger Ork forces down on the flatlands below. The Warp'ead Zageye, whose squad of boyz wisely fled from the Sacred Mountain battle in the face of four Imperial Hellhounds, slunk back down the mountainside to a long glacial plane (number 217 in Imperial designations, tho the Orks just refer to it as "da white cliff over dere"). A small group of Long Fangs which found themselves misplaced decided to try and stop the Ork escape, calling in reserves as the battle escalated.

 A single squad of Long Fangs' Stormwolf caught some Flakka Dakka fire and had to land, leaving them the sole line of defense against the fleeing Orks.

 As the Orks rushed forward, the Space Wolves redirected some remaining drop pod assets to help stem the green tide. 

 Two mobs of boyz spill out of Trukks crippled and destroyed by the burning plasma shots of the Long Fangs.

 While only a Rune Priest remained at one point holding off the Ork onslaught, it was the timely arrival of the Wolf Guard terminators that turned the tide.

The roar of storm bolters and assault cannon from the terminators are enough to finally scatter the Ork forces. Meanwhile, the Ork Warp'Ead Zageye--in attempts to harness the waning Waaagh energy, accidentally opens a portal of pure warp energy and is sucked through.

Battle Results: The Orks again proved that mobility is critical in early objective securing. While the Space Wolves had to wait until the later turns to start scoring points, they managed to accrue enough

Fiction: The following events take place right after Warp'ead Zageye is sucked through the portal, at the conclusion of the battle (and was written by Kevin for the event):

*Splort*

Warp'ead Zageye looked around to see scintillating colors and vague images from different points in his brutal life.  Past victories, past losses (some even reworked into victories), and images of what can only be described as an older more magnificent version of himself played out within the swirling colors.  "Wot's all dis den?" Was all he could utter.  The words floated out of his mouth and tiny pink humanoid figures seemed to emerge from them.  One burst into a blue explosion as the others giggled.  Zageye gripped his axe ready for a fight.  Then the unexpected happened.  He felt at peace.

"You truly are both cunning and brutal, a most apt avatar for my actions in the material world."  The largest ork that Zageye ever saw was looming above, and speaking some language Zageye had never heard.  Zageye gave a quizzical look.

"Wot?" He asked.  The large ork shook his head and sighed.\

"You've got to be...ahem.  Yoo is brutal 'n kunnin'.  Yoo be me when fightin' hoomanz.  I brung yoo 'ere to tell yoo to use my boyz to 'elp". The large ork gestured to waves upon waves of flamers, screamers, pink horrors, and even a grotesquely overweight lord of change vomiting rainbows.  "Dey is da best.  Yoo is da best.  Got it?"

"Wot?  'Oo is yoo?"

"I be Mork!"  With this exclamation the hosts of amorphous pink and blue creatures in the background snickered and laughed and cheered.  Zageye immediately prostrated himself before half of his entire pantheon, then immediately looked around for Gork. The being continued speaking: "Yoo gots ta smash da humiez.  Do dis fer Mork and yer waagh will be da best"

Zageye didn't need an excuse to smash humans.  He didn't need an excuse to smash much of anything.  When your god summons you before him and tells you to do something, it takes a lot to convice one to do otherwise.  "Hoo do I smash first?"

The being claiming to be Mork dismissed Zageye to the next battlefield to prepare the way for chaos.  As soon as the warp sensitive ork was gone he resumed his avian form, revealing himself to be an exalted lord of change.  His second in command, the grotesque lord of change seen earlier, approached him.

"Most exalted Thrunmindyax, what do we do now?"

"Now we wait for the greenskins to do what they do best.  And wait for the minions of the Brazen One to attempt to breach the barriers between the worlds for us."

Zageye looked around at the battlefield he was pulled from.  Dead orks lay amidst piles of the big blue humans, but not nearly enough of them.  "Zog!" He yelled out, and returned to riding his lucky bomb all the way back to the main ork encampment.

Campaign Game One: The Battle of Sacred Mountain

Sanctus Reach: The Battle of Sacred Mountain

Two planets in the Sanctus Reach system have fallen, and a number of Rust Ships have landed on Alaric Prime, leaving the planet swarmed with Greenskins. The most critical command and control element of the Imperial Guard on the planet is Lieutenant Colonel Harper of the Dernhelm 8th Regiment. Lt. Col. Harper has been working with a clandestine group from the Inquistition under the command of Inquisitor Tractus Garis Cesaro, a radical inquisitor of Ordo Xenos. Inquisitor Tractus was nominally assigned to the system help manage the threats of the Ork invasion, but also has his own agenda with the greenskins (pursuing rumors of a "weirdbox" warp item being utilized by an ork shaman. Unfortunately the pair are up against a considerably strong Ork push, and have been backed into a corner against a rocky mountain peak. As the Ork Warbands encroach and encircle them, guardsmen start to sell their lives dearly. Can intervention from the Wolf Guard Captain Fjolnir and a small detachment of the Space Wolves drop assault forces that are arriving on Alaric Prime save those stuck on Sacred Mountain? Or will the Orks triumph?

Gretchen discover a servo skull transmitting drop coordinates to the Space Wolves reinforcements. 

Deployment zones for the battle. Imperium deployed first, and went second. Six objectives were placed, three by each side: one in own deployment zone, one in no man's land, one in enemy deployment zone.

The Imperial deployment. A cordon of tanks and men, backed against the wall in the face of an overwhelming Ork invasion. 

The big gunz of the rampaging Orks take aim at the Imperial tanks. Also, Kevin making his best Warboss face. 

The Orks quickly closed on the right flank of the Imperials, their ramshackle vehicles' weapons tearing holes into the Imperial vehicles and lines.

Three massive hordes of Ork boyz formed the central battle line, urged forward by the watchful eye of the Warlord of the Orks: Grukk Facerippa. 

The Imperial Hellhounds severely maimed the Ork lines, causing Weirdboss Zag Eye to retreat from the field. In response, the Ork trukkmobz rushed to defeat the promethium-laden threat before they damaged the Ork lines further. 

As the Imperial lines were reached on the right flank, the soldiers of the Emperor faced two huge mobs of Nobz. The soldiers' heavy plasma load-outs proved to be more unstable than threatening to the Orks, and many soldiers died from their own weaponry even before the Orks hit their lines. 

The Imperial tanks found early advantage at range, their heavy guns punching huge holes in the Ork lines. But once the Orks got close, their power klaws started making short work of the Imperial tanks--only the strongest managed to survive the initial onslaught. 

Inquisitor Tractus (white beard) and his retinue of xenos warriors attack the Ork Warlord Grukk Facerippa. The two squared off in personal combat, and while the Inquisitor got close to defeating the Ork he forgot to engage his digital weaponry, leaving Grukk standing. The enraged warlord swung back with his power klaw, and it was only due to the timely intervention of Inquisitor Tractus' tech adept using an emergency teleport to save his leader that Tractus lived. 

The Space Wolves reinforcements arrive via teleporter and drop pod. The Great Company of Gunnar Red Moon includes a great number of heavy weapon-equipped Longfangs, whose powerful weaponry was brought to bear on the Ork forces. 

The Wolf Guard terminators face down a squad of burna boyz as well as three killa kanz. Surviving the killa kanz's charge with only one of their number dying from a skorcha shot, the Wolf Guard smashed them and turned in the burna boyz, decimating their numbers as well. However, their strikes were too few too late, as they were unable to secure the objective they were dispatched to take in the face of the wave of Orks. 

Battle Results: The Orks got out to an early start, gaining two victory points each of their first three turns and ending with six total. The Imperium lagged behind with only two, but managed to squeak out five in the bottom of the last turn of the game. They got really lucky with an objective to demolish enemy forces, and picking off some below-strength Ork units managed to net the Imperials a technical win. 

For purposes of the campaign, the first battle will be treated as a close draw. The Imperials managed to fight their way free, but the Orks were hardly blunted in their attacks. Things continue evenly pitched between the two sides. 

The next event, the "Protect the Steel Cyclops" mini-event will be the break point for the first phase. A disabled Shadowsword superheavy tank is the site of a close-up brawl between a few Space Wolves and Guardsmen and hordes of Orks. Whoever takes the tank will carry the day for the first phase of the campaign!