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!
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