Warhammer 40K Battle Report: Imperial Guard vs. Orks

Warhammer 40,000 Battle Report




A Fall of Masuda campaign battle report:

Round 2: Cadian 17th vs. Da Red Finga (Orks).

Mission: Blitzkrieg (Ork as attackers). Terrain: Ruins.

Points: Orks: 1200: 1050 + 150 Mercenaries, Imperial Guard: 1150: 1000 + 150 Mercenaries (Orks)

Looking to press their advantage around the mountainous region where they had made their base, the Imperial Guard forces of the Cadian 17th are looking to purge the immediate area of evil and filth.

3 Objectives set out. Deployment is spearhead, so objectives were center of board and center of line from corner to corner on non-deployment zone sides.

Orks have pressed on into the ruins and region to the East. Colonel Colwyn Dray saw the incoming threat of “Da Red Fingaz”. Scouts had been watching them and their continued harassment of loyal imperial forces. More importantly was how the information on the Red Orks whereabouts came from.

Unlikely allies, spies or mercenaries, depending upon one’s point of view. A unit of what can be termed as “commandos” arrived with a message from their “Warlord”. The message, while crude, was legible and detailed locations, forces and equipment of a ‘rival’ ork clan. The message had one final part to it:

“Help is on itz way to help you fight da Red Orks. For Da Emporror…..Warlord Krogg”

Uncertain exactly what that meant, the first part of the message was clear, Ork forces were on their way with the intention to strike. Colonel Dray figured to cut them off half way. Selecting a strategic section of one of the ruined city sections, Gunships were dispatched to help channel and guide the outriders of the incoming Ork force.

Relying more upon stronger defenses, Col. Dray selected a counter-strike team to help him with this mission. A lone sentinel scout walker was set forth to outflank, while sappers and a recon team of the 501st had scouted ahead and affixed bombs and booby traps to key locations within the ruined city.

Commissar Vilken Mortimer joined the Colonel and took command of the Infantry Platoon consisting of 3 squads and Lt. Ozgood Derg. Derg and Mortimer would combine the squads with Mortimer holding the units together in one strong regiment and Lt. Derg would help usher the other supporting forces through the ruined city.

Ork turn 1: Ork scout forces led through the ruined city streets with two squads of Deffkoptas zooming through the streets. They found no Cadian forces to fight, as the Colonel held all of his units back in reserve. The Ork units crept up towards the back side of the Cadian deployment zone in hopes of denying room and space for battletanks and the large unit of men to deploy.

IG turn 1: Seeing the ‘dirty trick’ employed by the Orks, Col. Dray was ready to counter every move of the Orks. A veteran of the Pillars Of Hatred, the Colonel had become a wise tactician. Of the roaming scout sentinels he dispatched, one of them arrived early.

• In Blitzkrieg missions, only Fast units can deploy, everything else goes into reserve. Also, any fast units in reserve may arrive on turn one on a roll of a 4+ on a D6.

The Scout Sentinel arrived on the Eastern Flank, behind a trio of Ork Defcoptas. The driver opened fire with his multilaser, damaging one of the walkers. He then brought his walking machine into an assault with the Deffkoptas, that were not armed with a buzzsaw, and thus no way to damage the walker.

Ork turn 2: Two massive units of Ork boyz made their arrival from the far North. They would simply just start moving as far as they could. The Ork Deffkoptas tied up in the assault remain locked up, as they were unable to pull away with their “hit and run” skill at this time.


Cadian Turn 2: Commissar Mortimer arrives with his triple combined squad of 30 men. The Punisher tank and heavy weapons team also arrived. The Punisher tank opened fire with its Gatling cannon and took out the two roaming, rocket-armed deffkoptas. As for Commissar Mortimer, his units added their numbers to the fight and took down the remaining deffkoptas that were engaged with the Sentinel Walker. Despite Ork attempts at sabotage, the Punisher remained un-hindered in its duty.



Ork turn 3: More orks forces arrive, all the orks can do at this point is run and move. Big Mek Arrives with unit of grots and a Shokk Attack Gun in the North West.


Cadian turn 3: A Leman Russ Battletank also arrives and lends its firepower to the fight. Combining fire with the Punisher tank, they cause some casualties on the orks. The Commissar takes his unit North and West, the Sentinel trying to draw fire from the orks. Heavy weapons teams lay down supporting fire with Heavy Bolters. Ork units seem wary to enter any buildings for fear of booby traps (and they are correct in assuming that).


A Chinork transport Copter had arrived behind the Cadian lines. At first, Colonel Dray thought he was being outflanked himself, his command squad arriving in a Vendetta Gunship. They had landed prior to the battle starting, and it was his reinforcements, the Ork Mercenaries from Warlord Krogg. The leader, a Noble ork, or “Nob” as they are called, named Moosh, led the troops around the southwest towards the ruined building where Da Red Finga Orks were clinging to an objective in the ruins.

Ork turn 4: Ork warboss finally arrives with a contingent of troops. All other orks continue to move and run, but are doing such slowly in the runined land scape. (Terrible running rolls by Ed..) Orks to the Northeast had a solid hold on the objective there. Cadian forces had secured one in the center of the field of battle and were making a screen against incoming orks. To the southwest, one more objective lay and a mob of orks had entered the ruins and set off the booby traps, taking a couple casualties. Despite the heavy volume of fire directed at them, the orks were able to hold up and keep that objective somewhat secure.

Cadian turn 4: The arrival of Ork mercenaries bearing shootas was a strange one for the Cadian forces to endure. However, Colonel Dray finally arrived with his command squad and reassured his men that the orks were indeed in their employ and the perfect counter-strike unit to the fungus born filth that was already entrenched in the southwest ruins. The colonel figured that if he had to, he had enough flamers and heavy flamers available to flush out all of the orks after the fight was won.

Tanks continued to pour fire into ork mobs to the North, hoping to thin them out a bit. Heavy bolter teams also attempted to thin out the gretchin mob that was screening the Big Mek. The Sentinel Walker moved into the central ruins, detonating their own booby trap to allow Cadian Forces to enter safely and claim the middle objective.

Ork turn 5: Ork mobs in the north continued to close in on Cadian forces. They had the Northeast objective secured. The warboss was urging his men forward, pushing south into the central ruins where the second objective lay, firmly in the hands of Lt. Derg and the remnants of a veteran flame squad that was on the move. In the Northwest, The Big Mek and gretchin mob had separated, with the whittled-down grots leaving because the Ork did not want to chance the Big Mek having to take a break test.

The orks in the southwest ruin were about to be engaged by the mercenary orks, who were looking to assault them and pull them off the 3rd objective. They were preparing to be assaulted.

Cadian turn 5: Playing the war game tactically, Colonel Dray issued some orders to his men. Commissar Mortimer moved his large unit of troops to screen the Infantry command squad of Lt. Derg. The goal was to prepare to hold out against a combined ork assault long enough for the Cadian troops to maintain the central objective while the other forces pushed Da Red Finga troops off the southwest objective, thus securing a win for the Cadians, 2-1. Lasguns and Flamers opened fire into the orks, taking out a few, but still two mobs of about 15-20 Orks each yet, and the Warboss.

Fire support from the Battle tanks was lackluster, the Orks finally managing to sabotage the Punisher tank as a grot oiler managed to disable the guns for this turn. Colonel Dray ordered his own squad, the Autocannon crew in particular to “fire on my target” and they targeted the Ork Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun. Wounds from this weapon would cause successful armor or cover saves to be rerolled. The veterans in the command squad fired, scored two hits and two wounds. The Mek made one save and failed another, as he was still behind the gretchin mob. Thanks to the Colonel’s order, the Mek had to reroll his successful save, and promptly failed it, and thus he was taken down with autocannon fire.

The Ork Mercenaries from Warlord Krogg stormed the ruins to the southwest. They fired their guns and assaulted the Red Finga Orks inside, but lost a few of their own in the process. Though they now outnumbered the Red Finga Orks, they remained locked in combat.

****Game ended on turn 5, both armies in control of 1 objective marker*****

Had the game gone to turn 6, Da Red Finga for some reason think they had a shot at winning this. The Cadian 17th disagree for the following reasons:

• A 30 man, stubborn unit with commissar was in range of being assaulted by orks. While they would have died, I think that the unit would have passed leadership and kept their ground, thus tying up orks from the Northeast objective, or at least leaving them just away from the middle objective.

• Central Objective was held by 2 units and the 30 man mob was screening them (above)

• One more turn for the assault in the southwest ruins had the heavy weapons teams joining the assault in a battle where the Ork Mercs of the Cadian 17th already outnumbered the orks of the Red Finga. I think the Cadian 17th could have forced a morale check for Da Red Finger and chased them off of that objective, giving the Cadians a 2-1 win.

This battle going to turn 7 may not have held out so well for the Cadians. As it was, it lasted 5 turns and resulted in a draw. Both armies lost the territories they were looking to keep the enemy off of, and no one gained a territory.

• Colonel Dray however, gained some battle experience and as such, part of this campaign, earned some new skills and gained +1 to his Weapon skill, giving him a WS of 5.

Battle Report: Imperial Guard vs. Space Wolves

A Fall of Masuda Campaign Battle Report:

Cadian 17th vs. Berek’s Great Company.

In the aftermath of the False Hope Crusade where several forces were fighting over the False Hope Sector, the forces of Order serving the Imperium had swayed the tide of most of the systems towards orderly control, if not peace. Many Xenos and forces of Chaos had been vanquished, but still others had managed to lurk and slip through the cracks of the defense networks established by the so called “Forces of Order”.

The False Hope sector has been ravaged by unending wars since the beginning of the last decade of the 41st millennium. Occupation of each of the systems is continually contested. To the galactic south of Sebastian’s Straits lies the planet of Masuda.

This once lush planet was suspected of being an Eldar Maiden world. It was also suspected of housing an ancient warp gateway that allowed the denizens of chaos to enter this reality unabated.

Whatever Masuda once was, today it stands in ruins. Lord General Militant Gaven Therarius’ last crusade to reclaim the False Hope sector for the Imperium saw no less than 24 decisive battles fought on this world. This constant state of warfare attracted Chaos and xenos alike, perpetuating the bloodshed.

One final push to claim the planet for the Imperium was initiated. Space Marines and Imperial Guardsmen fought side-by-side to rid the planet of traitorous Marines and Orks. But in the midst of battles, those who were once considered allies were suspected of deceit.

And history repeated itself again. The curse of the False Hope Sector is not its unusual location above the galactic planet. It is not that the Emperor’s Astronomican Light cannot always be seen. The curse of the sector is that, for some reason, brother seems to always turn against brother when fighting over a planet.

Could it be the work of the Chaos Gods to instill distrust on those who dare trespass on their ancient planets? Could it be a more sinister power at work? Or is this what happens when the Emperor’s Light can no longer be seen?

Colonel Colwyn Dray of the Cadian 17th had successfully led a Recon strike force into battles against various forces during the Pillars of Hatred Campaign. This stalwart combat veteran would be called upon once again to send his forces into battle into territories against forces unknown. They are in dangerous territory, the Havaria Sector clearly under disarray and chaos from the various battles and forces that have waged war here over the past decade.

Following their commander’s orders, the forces of the Cadian 17th Recon detatchment started establishing a centralized grid of operations. Using their experience as both a recon force and stalwart defenders, they had selected primarily mountainous terrain also located around portions of a ruined city. Col. Dray felt that his units would have an advantage in the higher grounds. Using Valkyrie and Vendetta transports they were able to establish a centralized base and start monitoring the other forces that have been arriving to Masuda.

“We’re going to have to prepare for anything men”, the Colonel had told his officers. “If we learned anything, it is that no one can be trusted, especially after that debacle with the Pillars of Hatred. We lost some good men and some of them to supposed Allies. At least we won’t have to worry about that cursed renegade Inquisitor, Lord Aki.”

The Colonel looked hard and long at his assembled officers before him. He knew this would be a series of long and hard fights. But he knew, after the trials, temptations, and tribulations that they had faced, he could rely upon them without question.

“We have sent word through our own networks for reinforcements and allies. It will be some time until they can arrive to assist us. So, under my orders, unless they are flying our banner or using our code, all forces are to be considered enemies. Even those forces of the Astartes. After our last encounters with them, even they are not immune to the temptations of evil. Your orders will be to obey me, and sometimes those orders may put us at odds with those who seem loyal to the Imperium, but again, we are not to trust ANYBODY! Do I make myself clear?!”

Of course the Colonel’s men all agreed in unison. They had witnessed their commander first hand, take them through dark times and come out better than they imagined. Yes, they would trust nobody else, save their own men.

As the forces of the Imperial Guard established their presence on Masuda, their surveillance network had already detected scout forces moving in on their location. Reports came back of ‘hostile intentions’ by the Space Wolves known as “Berek’s Great Company”, a near-renegade chapter of Space Wolf Astartes Marines who were taking to the field under the command of Wolf Lord Bulveye.

Looking to intercept the forces of Berek’s Great Company before they could become a nuisance, Colonel Dray led a small strike team through the mountains and intercepted the Space Wolf warriors in the Mountains, near a Command Bastion they had recently taken possession of.

The Plan was simple: Prepared Assault. Colonel Dray would establish a fire base in the mountains and than rely upon scout and recon forces to intercept and outflank advancing troops. The addition of a Leman Russ Executioner tank would further strengthen the bombardment. Col. Dray expected that the rough terrain of the mountains may create low-visibility situations and felt that the shorter ranged, yet massive firepower of the Executioner tanks Plasma Canons would seal any hope he had of a victory against so cagey an opponent.

1000 Points: Imperial Guard vs. Space Wolves, Imperial Guard go first.
IG turn 1: Preparing to do the most damage they could but still trying to control critical positions on the battlefield so as to allow them to possibly take the Bastion away from the Wolves. Colonel Dray took up positions in a ruined town square that was overgrown with a variety of foliage. Taking two snipers, a lascannon team and Major Thomas Gunns, a Master of Ordnance officer, Col Dray was happy to see his men along with a quintet of Ratling Snipers unload some fire power into an advancing squad of Sky Claws, the Space Wolves Jump Infantry.

The Valkyrie “Warthog” boosted over the enemy lines, executed a 180 spin and roll and also fired multiple rocket pods into the Sky Claws, effectively breaking their moral and forcing them to fall back.

Space Wolf 1: Evaluating their situation the Space Wolves looked none-too-pleased with the Imperial Guard taking a fight to them. A rune priest along with a unit of Grey Hunters secured the Western Flank. The priest called out with the “Living lightning” and only managed to shake the Valkyrie. A drop pod arrived, slamming home close to the command squad of Col. Dray.

Long Fangs atop a mountain bluff unleashed their fury of missle launchers also into the Valkyrie, but the extra armor on The Warthog kept it mobile and moving. The Blood Claws in the middle of the battlefield attempted to assault the Valkyrie, but to no avail. Also, the Sky Claws fled the field of battle, clearly not ready for the trials of combat.

Imperial Guard 2: The ‘Warthog’ moved North East and unloaded its cargo: Veteran Squad Delta, who unleashed Plasma-hell upon the Long Fangs on the mountain bluff. All seven shots hit (3 Plasma guns and a plasma pistol for good measure. Four of the Six Long fangs failed to retain their footing).

With the drop pod and Wovles so close, Colonel Dray ordered his men to fire upon his target and selected them. All of his troops combined their fire into the six man squad. Snipers, ordnance, pistols, a squad with a Heavy Flamer, all made short work of this unit of Space Wolves, leaving just one man in the mob, who smartly turned tail to fall back as well.

On the Western Flank, the scout sentinel walker and a squad of Kasrkin stormtroopers arrived, and they also combined fire into the Grey Hunters, and took them out to a man thanks to the Hot-Shot lasguns of the stormtroopers. Only the Rune Priest remained and he was also injured.

Space Wolf 2: One lone Long Fang remained. He aimed his missle launcher at the Valkyrie, scored a penetrating hit, but again only stunned, it and the extra armor on the Valkyrie was its saving grace. The Rune Priest attempted to use “Jaws of The White Wolf” on the stormtroopers and killed one with a melta gun.

The lone grey hunter near the command squad regrouped and turned around to assault the guard unit that gunned down his friends. He ended up taking a few of the guardsmen down with him and remaining locked in combat.

Imperial Guard 3: Concentrated fire from the Lascannon team destroyed the Drop pod in a brialliant explosion that killed off a few more guardsmen too close to the vessel. On the North Eastern zone, the veterans of Delta Squad moved again and finally finished off the last Long Fang atop the mountain bluff. The Valkyrie, unable to fire, moved to receive a cargo full of troops next turn.

The Sentinel and Stormtroopers finished off the Rune Priest and repositioned as the Wolf Lord, Bulveye himself broke free of his once large squad of Blood Claw troops, who were trying to hold their ground under the continued pounding fire of the Leman Russ Executioner’s Plasma Cannons and the sniper attacks of both the Ratlings and the command squad. Slowly but surely, the Space Wolves were running out of troops.

Space Wolf 3: Blood Claws scurry to attempt to control 2 objectives. Wolf Lord Bulveye moves through the woods looking to close in on the Sentinel and Stormtroopers in the West. They are powerless to stop the Leman Russ and troops again fail to do any damage to the Valkyrie.

Imperial Guard 4: Stormtroopers turn their hot-shot lasguns on Lord Bulveye. They desperately try to gun him down and manage to kill his Fenrysian wolf and inflict a wound upon him. Executioner tank and Valkyrie continue to rain down fire into the Blood Claws. Delta Squad starts to run towards the next objective.

Space Wolf 4: Wolf Lord Bulveye closes in on the stormtroopers squad. He charges them in a heated frenzy, killing several of them and running the rest of them down, scattering the squad in a sweeping advance. Blood Claws desperately try to hold off closing forces of the Imperial guard, killing one of the 3 remaining men from Veteran Squad Epsilon, the ones that took the brunt of the explosion from the drop pod.

Imperial guard 5: Concentrated firing kills off 4 more Blood Claws, leaving just a handful of troops left. The Sentinel attempts to shoot the Wolf Lord as well as snipers, who fail to do any more harm to him. The Sentinel engages the Wolf Lord in an assault, but fails to hurt him.

Space Wolf 5: The remaining Blood Claws try to consolidate their position in the middle of the field inside a forest, desperately trying to hold onto their objective. The wolf lord manages to immobilize the Sentinel but is still locked in close combat with it.

Imperial Guard 6: The rest of the Imperial Guard forces combine all firepower into the few remaining blood claws. Sniper rifles, plasmas cannons, lasguns, melta guns and rocket pods target the woods. When the smoke clears, no more Space Wolf troops can be seen.

Veteran Squad Delta secured the Northern most objective. The remnants of Veteran Squad Epsilon also secured the central objective.

Space Marine turn 6: The only remaining model for the Space Wolves is Bulveye. He finishes off the sentinel walker in a specatular wreck. The game would end here, Imperial Guard: 2 Objectives, Space Wolves: 0.

Due to the campaign rules and such, the Imperial Guard selected the Command Bastion territory owned by the Space Wolves. (in the campaign, I needed to roll an 8+, and rolled a 10, thus gaining a new territory).

Games Day 2010

Well, we made it to Baltimore MD, to the Inner Harbor at the Baltimore Convention Center for Games Day 2010.    Quite a few members of our local gaming club, Berks-PA Gaming Club made the trip as well.   It was also good to see friends from other gaming clubs like Rich D and the guys from the Adventurer's Guild in Harrisburg, and Tony, Doug and the gang from the Gaming Garage, who will be hosting the Mechanicon-GT in West Chester PA this November.

I took my son along, Ethan, who is now 8 years old and building an Imperial Guard army as well as a combined Space Marine army with me.    This would be his first ever Games Day.      We took time to review the events list and think about what we wanted to do the night before.

We decided to make this a special Father/Son getaway and booked a hotel room at the Days Inn right across the street from the venue.   Funny how many of the folks working there, especially staff from GW and Forge World were staying in our hotel.

I recall from Games Days in the past that there is so much going on, not to get bogged down in a big tournament.   However, we did want to make sure that we played at least a game or two, get to see what was there, view models, buy stuff, and just enjoy the day.

Last year I was very dissapointed that there was no open gaming.   Thankfully that was corrected this year.    It seemed that many of the gaming clubs picked up on this as well and sponsored their own tables for games.    I must say that this was perhaps one of the best features of Games Day for us.   

We were drawn to the tables by Ineptus Astartes, a club based locally in Colombia MD, and their comical signs of "special forces" featuring a space marine dropping a hand grenade.     

One of their game tables was "Da Hunt for Red Orktoba", a play off of the movie, where an Ork Warboss steals an imperial submarine and bursts through the snow and ice to launch a death missle.    You could command Ork forces or Imperial Guard forces and try to destroy the submarine before the Orks launch the missle.

My son substituted 500 points of his Cadian 17th Imperial Guard for 500 points of the game club's Vostroyans.    Sure they looked a tad out of place, but it added the personal touch of having some of your own forces.    

We played with 2 players running the IG (us and another player) and 2 players running the orks.    Hosts from the Game Club acted as referrees.    The game was solid, the Submarine was very well built.    The mission was fun.   We had 5 turns to destroy the submarine by taking away all structure points.   The sub was broken down into 4 sections, each with 2 structure points:  Front: Armor:13,  Sail: Armor:14.   Middle/Hangar: Armor:12 and Rear: Armor: 12.

We all started with a few forces on the table and other units in reserve.    We got to use one of their Valkyries, placing my son's stormtroopers inside and also a Thunderbolt fighter.    In the end, a very tense fight (with a battle report to follow!), my son scored vicotry combining fire with our comrade and the Guard took away the last 2 structure points at the top of Turn 5.

We had incredible fun, and leaving that game with my son feeling really proud of himself, we made our way to the Forge World line of goods.   Thankfully FW fixed their issues from last year, as they had no bar coding on any items last year, and had to tally items up by hand.    Instead of having to wait 2+ hours for an item, I think we waited 5 minutes and walked away with some goodies, including our own Thunderbolt fighter.  :-)

We made our way to view the Big Game, and than took part in a Mega-Battle of Superheavies and Gargantuan models run by Showcase Comics.   The scenery was immense, and my son Ethan got to run a squadron of Vendetta gunships and a Warhound Titan in a battle against orks.

After that we made sure to get a chance to try out the Remote Control Tanks. Ethan got his hands on a R/C Baneblade and had fun with that.

We made our way past there to the Scenery Make & Take.  I love this event, and we both made a sizable GW building to add to our collection.     After the Make & Take, we helped texture some GW battle boards for another give away.

This one was really nice, and I wish we would have done more with this.   In 5 sessions througout the day, people got to paint and texture complete boards.    Your name got entered into a raffle for each time you helped.    At the end of the day, they raffled off all 3 boards complete with about 8-12 pieces of terrain to go with them.    This event was just an extra donation by GW, and I feel was a great one.   Sadly we didnt' win, but I still think that it was a wonderful concept, and all of the boards looked terrific.

Finally, as Games Day winded to a close, we met up with some of our friends and went to Hard Rock Cafe and enjoyed a great dinner and swapped our tales of our adventures for the day.    Back at our hotel, my son and I ran into a group of fellas from GW and Forge World, including Gav Thorpe!     That just made a wonderful weekend even better.

So, in the end, we are saddened to hear that Games Day will not be in Baltimore next year, but regardless of that, we all agree that this year was by far the BEST Games Day event all of us had attended.

Battle Report: Imperial Guard vs. Tau

Warhammer 40,000 Battle Report: Imperial Guard vs. Tau

Cadian 17th vs. Tau: E’co Sept (Jon Kissinger)
Mission: Pillars of Hatred, round 5: The Pillars
Deployment: Modified Pitched Battle*

This was the 5th episode of the Pillars of Hatred campaign for the Cadian 17th, who were lured to the dark planet of Bein-Telu by the Renegade Inquisitor, Lord Aki. Dark things lurk on this foul planet, once home to an industrious civilization. Dark forces of Chaos linger in the planet in forms of Pillars that caused the planetary population to turn on each other and hold a civil war.

Lured by the promise of power, Lord Aki was not alone in his ventures, only the first to make planet fall. Having discovered the arriving forces also drawn by either a distress beacon or the call of chaos, he set his plans into motion.

First, the initial recon forces of the Cadian 17th expeditionary forces were lured to a landing zone by Lord Aki. As troops made planet fall, Inquisitor Lord Aki sprung his trap, attacking the loyal imperial force, and catching them by surprise.

Colonel Colwyn Dray, company HQ of the Cadian 17th Recon division pulled his forces back and waited for reinforcements to arrive as he tried to ascertain what had just transpired in this ploy of treachery. Identifying five other forces than his own on Bein-Telu, it was decided to attempt to make a run for the call to the Pillars that manifested their call of power in the form of dreams and nightmares into the command staff of the Cadian 17th.

During the campaign, they had been ambushed by Inquisitor Lord Aki, and than beset upon by Traitorous forces of Chaos by the Army of the Ten Rings. As a few units made the breakthrough, this led to the disturbing event of Salamander space marines losing forces to chaos. After combining efforts with the Salamanders 2nd company in stopping their cursed brothers, Colonel Dray was than sent to capture the mysterious “Keepers” before the Tau of force Firestorm could.

Escaping with 2 of the Keepers, the secrets garnered from them led to this stage of battle now….the location of the Pillars of Hatred. It would be up to the Cadian 17th to intercept Commander Shas’o Ra’Kel and the E’co Sept Tau forces from controlling or destroying the Pillar of Hatred.

The Pillars of Hatred. The dark source could be either controlled or destroyed. It finally came to come, it was time to end this problem. Colonel Dray discussed with his staff, and they decided they would intercept the Tau forces of E’co Sept. They would attempt to control the Pillar, and failing that, destroy it with multiple melta gun shots.

Commissar Blackledge was to lead the way to glory, taking lead of 1st infantry platoon, combining Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie squads and securing the Pillar. If the Tau forces got too close, his plan was to destroy the Pillar. Success in this mission would lead him to advancement and promotion to Lord Commissar. Colonel Dray would oversee support operations with a Leman Russ Battle Tank, a Demolisher Tank, and heavy weapons team. Veteran squad 17 would attempt to cut off enemy forces arriving via a Valkyrie Assault Carrier, and Lt. James Gavin would take the 005th Stormtrooper unit in Recon and outflank the enemy, striking them where they least expected it.

The tactics were good. The plan was sound. It started to work. Than all hell broke loose and the Pillars of Hatred unleashed their Chaotic Hell upon everyone……..

Taking to the field, the Pillar of Hatred stood in its lonesome, surrounded by nothing but craters and debris. Around the pillar were some ruined buildings and scattered woods.

Cadian 17th forces (1500 points consisted of the following):

HQ: Company Command, senior officer w/power weapon, 1 Regimental standard, 3 sniper rifles, Master of Ordnance, entire squad with carapace armor

Troops: Infantry Platoon: command: junior officer with power fist, 2 x melta guns, 1 medi-pack, 1 vox caster
• Infantry squad: vox caster, Melta gun. Commissar (plasma pistol & power weapon)
• Infantry squad: Melta gun.
• Infantry squad: melta gun.
• Heavy weapons team: 2 x Lascannons, 1 Missle Launcher
• Veteran squad: Sgt w/plasma pistol, 3 x plasma guns, (riding in valkyrie)
Elites:
• Guardsman Dutch (SPC Marbo clone)
• Stormtroopers squad (10), Sgt w/power weapon, Plasma gun, Melta gun (Recon)
Fast attack: Valkyrie Assault Carrier (Lascannon, 2 x missles)
Heavy Support:
• Leman Russ Demolisher: w/lascannon upgrade
• Leman Russ Battletank: w/lascannon, sponson heavy bolters, HK missle, pintle mounted Heavy Stubber.

Points would be scored as follows:
• Control the Pillar at least 1 turn (by being in base contact with it for 2 consecutive turns), 15 points
• Destroy the Pillar of Hatred (AV14, 2 structure points), 10 points
• Kill enemy commander: 1 point
• Victory Points: Killed: total points/10, modified. Max total: 15 points.

Cadian turn 1: The warp storms were in effect, blinding light causing the same effect as “night fight” rules. The Valkyrie used its scout move to fly flat out and position itself along the right flank. Moving to hit the Hammerhead tank on the side, the Valkyrie moved slightly to fire a krak missle and lascannon, stunning the Tau vessel. Tau units moved as well, Two Devilfish transports came zooming right in to the center by the pillar. (scout moves) and deployed their infantry squads. The Leman Russ battle tank fired and took out two of its weapon systems. The Pillar fired off blue electric beams into each squad, not causing any casualties as of yet.

Commissar Blackledge moved his mob of 30 men from three combined infantry squads forward, urged further along with the aid of Lt. Balken and his infantry squad.

Tau turn 1: The Pillar continued to fire off bolts of energy around. Two troopers from the Cadian 1st platoon fell, but so too did three of the tau warriors. Devilfish moved forward, all Tau that could “see” Cadian forces trying to shoot the large squad, but most attempts failing to find their mark.

Cadian turn 2: With a brief lapse in the warp storm, total confusion set forth as the mystical energies of the Pillars of Hatred caused brother to turn on brother and each allied squad turned and opened fire into their closest ally.

On the Tau side, the Command unit in Crisis battle suits opened fire and annihilated a squad of tau pathfinders closest to the Pillar. Fire warriors immobilized their own transport tank, and another devilfish tank killed two of the fire warriors.

On the Cadian side, Lt. Balken’s squad turned their fire into 1st platoon, and the 25+ strong man unit returned fire. The ensuing lightshow of lasgun fire cut down all of the Infantry command squad except one lone Melta gunner, Corporal Miggins.

Trying to recover from what just happened, Commissar Blackledge restored order to his men and led them into an assault against the Pillar of Hatred. This would be 1 round of attempting to control the Pillar. All they needed to do was hold out one more turn, a Stubborn unit 25 strong and gaining a 4+ invulnerable save from any attacks coming from the Pillar itself (***thanks to not taking any chaos upgrades during the course of the campaign).

The Demolisher, Leman Russ Battle Tank and the timely arrival of Guardsman Dutch combined their fire into the command mass of the Tau battle suits. The shield drones did an amazing job of soaking up wounds.

The Valkyrie continued to fire into the Hammerhead on the right flank and stunned it yet again. The veteran squad from the Valkyrie deployed, pumping multiple plasma gun fire into the rear of another Devilfish, causing some minor damage.

Tau turn 2: The Pillar of Hatred still continued to cause mayhem and this time warped and teleported each and every unit within 18 inches of it (180 meters?). The Tau forces scattered harmlessly and not very far, basically falling back an average of about 7 inches.

The Cadian forces didn’t fare as well. 1st Platoon, along with Commissar Blackledge, were teleported back and right in front of the large squad of Tau Crisis suits and right out in the open, amid some craters.

The Leman Russ demolisher scattered into a woods and was lost in the warp. Guardsman Dutch also warped. In the Tau shooting phase, burst cannons from the other Hammerhead tank and a devilfish fired at him, but somehow the specialist managed to survive by hugging the ground and diving for cover (suffering 1 wound, going to ground, 6+ cover save, and stealth, giving him a 5+ cover save).

The Tau command squad fired all it had into Cadian 1st platoon, causing many casualties and weakening the Commissar’s unit considerably. The other Tau devilfish with weapons weakened flew back to the far left (west), positioning itself for a flying ramming attack next round.

Cadian turn 3: Warp storms again caused confusion, blinding forces from seeing too far. This greatly hampered the Cadian command with the Master of Ordnance as well as the heavy weapons squad nearby.

The Valkyrie positioned to the rear of the Hammerhead on the right flank, still trying to break its rear armor, only having a lascannon left to fire. The veteran squad from the Valkyrie moved up and pumped 7 plasma gun bursts into the rear of the other Devilfish, six hitting it square. They would manage to destroy it, leaving the fire warriors exposed.

Commissar Blackledge again led his men back into assault, this time firing melta guns into the Pillar to no effect, and than attempting to re-establish control once again.

The lone melta gunner, Corporal Miggins stepped up as well, firing a blast into the Pillar and then himself clinging to the side of the Pillar as well.

Tau turn 3: The Pillar was unable to shoot this round, but it didn’t matter. The Hammerhead on the Eastern flank gunned down all but one man from the Veteran squad, who dove for cover by some rocky outcroppings.

The Tau command squad along with combined fire from the other units managed to wipe out Commissar Blackledge and his unit. The Fire warriors gunned down Coproral Miggins. With no opposition nearby, the Tau commander SHAS'O RA'KEL led his band of battle suits and established contact with the Pillar of Hatred.

Cadian turn 4: Warp storms again firing around, the Pillar was unleashing large blasts into Tau forces. A few more shield drones were blown apart and a couple of the body guard crisis battle suits.

Guardsman Dutch ran for cover, trying to find a place to get position to help out. But he fell short of grabbing some serious cover in the rocky butte.

The stormtroopers arrived and fired Melta and Plasma gun into the rear of the Devilfish that flew off to the Western flank. Due to the speed of the transport, a killing blow from the melta gun barely missing. (Cover save from skimmer going flat out).

Combined fire from the Leman Russ battle tank and supporting units tried to whittle down the Tau command unit and prevent them from controlling the Pillar of Hatred. The unit survived with Commander SHAS'O RA'KEL and 2 of his body guard still alive, but injured.

The Valkyrie in the North East finally did some damage, and immobilized the Hammerhead and eventually took out its main gun as well.

Tau turn 4: The Hammerhead on the North west opened fire and gunned down Guardsman Dutch (or chased him into cover so deep, he was never coming back out this battle). The other Hammerhead, damaged now, tried to finish off the lone veteran warrior with its burst cannon, but failed to eliminate him.

The Tau Commander finally succeeded. Two full turns (consecutive assault phases) in base contact with the Pillar of Hatred, and established control.

Cadian turn 5: Time running out, and little in the way of options, the Cadian forces fired all they could into the commanding Tau unit. Leman Russ Battle tank cutting down the last 2 warriors and injuring the Tau Commander.

The Master of Ordnance called in an orbital strike, the mark missing the Pillar but scattering right onto the Tau devilfish, destroying it completely.

The stormtroopers advanced in an attempt to gun down the other Hammerhead with their melta gun, but it missed. All they could do was try to kill as many enemy forces as possible now.

Tau turn 5: Tau forces secured control of the pillar, and now decided to attempt to destroy it. Commander Sho’sa swung his Dawn Blade to no avail. The Hammerhead was trying to fire its railgun into the pillar, but no matter what they threw into the pillar, nothing seemed to penetrate it’s outer shell.

Cadian turn 6: Warp storms picked up, and this would spell doom for the Cadian 17th. Heavy weapons teams unable to see their target were unable to fire at the Pillar. Neither could the Master of Ordnance draw aim and call down a strike.

The only unit with any hope was the Leman Russ, and it chose the wrong target ( I chose the pillar and NOT the commander…..my bad). Commander Sho’Sa was injured badly (1 wound left out of 4), but was still alive.

The Stormtroopers fired into the Hammerhead shaking it, extra armor allowing it to continue to move. Colonel Dray looked upon the Pillar, realizing they had loss, he ordered his men to provide covering fire and withdraw their forces.

Tau turn 6: One last desperate gambit to go for maximum points, the Tau tried to destroy the Pillar one last time. The shaken Hammerhead flew off full speed in an attempt to ram the pillar, only to bounce off harmlessly and damage it’s side thrusters. Commander Sho’sa was unable to damage it again with his Dawn Blade.

The battle was over. The Tau forces scored 15 points for controlling the Pillar. They scored an additional 7.5 points for the damage the did to the Cadian 17th. (750 victory points exactly, 750/10 = 7.5) for a total of 22.5.

The Cadian 17th inflicted more damage to the Tau, 1026 points, giving them 10.3 battle points.

Colonel Colwyn Dray pulled his men back. “This did not go as we had planned. This foul chaotic power is nothing we could have made contingencies for.”

As the heavy weapons team pulled back and broke down their gear, the Valkyrie landed. Colonel Dray and his men boarded the transport and made their departure. The Leman Russ Battle tank fired off smoke launchers and used the distraction to make their escape as well.

***** In the end, my tactics and force organization was solid. Had the Pillar not teleported our forces away, the Cadian 17th would have controlled the Pillar first and possibly won the battle. The loss of the Demolisher tank was also unfortunate and robbed the Cadian 17th of some serious firepower.