Berks Spring Assault 4!

Berks Spring Assault 4!
Berks Spring Assault 4! Warhammer 40K tournament

Berks Warhammer 40K Group

Monday, August 2, 2010

Battle Report: Space Marines vs. Necrons

Strike Force Steel Thunder vs. Kalderian Tomb World (Necrons) [Mark VH]
1000 Points Annihilation. Deployment: Pitched Battle

+++REDACTED BY THE INQUISITION+++
On the planet of Greavalex in the Havaria Subsector, Captain Octavius Glabius, newly appointed to the Lamenters 5th company brought back another small scout force to investigate increased troop movements of reported greenskin incursions in the sector.

What they didn’t expect to find was yet another force. As they moved into the region of a torn and damaged industrial district, sensor readings indicated increased EMF emissions. +++REDACTED BY THE INQUISITION+++ These readings became evident as a large structure appeared, and from it, beings of steel death emerged from its eerie glowing green lights.
+++REDACTED BY THE INQUISITION+++
….Assembled his strike teams to counter this new threat. Captain Octavius Glabius ordered a scout strike team to outflank the new threat. As Sgt. Runat led his team around the Western flank, two tactical squads in Rhino transports prepared to engage the enemy forces. It was clearly evident that these new forces were not friendly.
Tactical squad Lamda consisting of Lamenters from the 5th company rolled North East. Tactical squad Epsilon consisting of a squad of Salamander Marines from the 6th company took position along the North West. The Salamander Whilwind “Hailfire” Took up position in the South East by Captain Octavius Glabius. Joining them was the Dreadnought, Honorable-Brother Va’Deez of the Salamander’s 6th company. In a 4 story ruined structure in the Southwest, Sgt Vidikas took a team of Lamenter scout snipers and a missle launcher into firing position.
Space Marine turn 1: Marines moved troops. Lamenters Rhino with Tactical squad Lamda rolled forth along the Eastern flank taking position behind a power converter structure. Honorable-Brother Val’Deez strode forward, hoping to bring his Multi-melta to bear upon the Monolithic structure that loomed before him. The white-hot rays from his weapon dissipated harmlessly around the pyramid-like machine.
Salamander Tactical squad moved north along the Western flank and the Rhino popped off its smoke launchers. Scout snipers gunned down a destroyer, only to see it repair itself with a “We’ll Be Back” (WBB) roll.
Necron Turn 1: Moving troops forward, the Necrons moved into position to fire at the Space Marines. As fate would have it, the large Monolith failed it’s dangerous terrain roll and got wedged between two of the structures as it was too big to move through the ruined buildings in the town square.
All necron weapons were stopped by cover and/or smoke launchers by the Space Marines. Scout snipers dug deep into cover, their camo-cloaks providing ample cover.
Space Marine turn 2: The Hailfire opened up with a massive salvo from its missle launchers, raining down pain on a collective group of Necron warriors. Out of 9 hits, all of them were either saved, or later regenerated by WBB rolls.

Much of the Space Marine fire was ineffective this turn, but Honorable-Brother Val’Deez rumbled through some rough terrain around a central structure and was able to bring his dreadnought close combat weapon to bear onto the immobile Monolith. He started to rip off some type of pintle mounted weaponry, weakening the structures attacks.
Necron turn 2: Concentrated fire from the Monolith and Necron warriors managed to stun the dreadnought and damage the leg-servos of Honorable-Brother Val’Deez. The remaining squad of Necron Warriors and Destroyers brought their weapons to bear upon the Salamander Rhino arriving on the Western flank. Eventually the vehicle was destroyed by heavy gauss fire, but tactical squad Epsilon managed to disembark their vehicle without any trouble.
Space Marine turn 3: This turn started to prove promising for the combined Lamenter and Salamander teams. Sgt. Runat and his assault scouts arrived on the West in their Land Speeder Storm. Laying down a heavy round of fire from the Heavy Bolter and their bolt pistols and the combined fire from the snipers and Salamander tactical squad, several Necron warriors were gunned down. Those units would then combine their efforts and assault the Necrons, hoping to see them off all together. Sgt Kal’Dey of the Salamanders scored a damaging hit upon the Necron lord with his powerfist.
On the Eastern flank, The Lamenter’s Rhino advanced under cover of smoke and unleashed tactical squad Lamda, who took their weapons to the Necrons. Honorable-Brother Val’Deez, his legs motionless, started to scale the side of the Necron Monolith, attempting to rip weaponry off as he made his ascent.
Necron turn 3: Seeing their forces being pulled down, the Necron troops recycled and stood back up, combining their attacks with their lord and eventually gunned down the Salamanders with combined fire from the Monolith and the Destroyers. This left Sgt Runat and just 2 men from his squad all alone facing a fully regenerated band of Necrons and a squad of 5 destroyers.

The Lamenters and Necrons were locked in a tough assault that kept seeing each squad whittle each other down.
Space Marine turn 4: Seeing the Necron warriors collected together, the Hailfire unleashed hell, blasting the entire squad with the Necron Lord and wounding 9 out of 11 of them with missle fire. The Necrons somehow managed to save 8 of the 9 wounds!

In an act of desperation, Sgt. Runat led his squad into a foolish assault and tried to hold the Necron Lord up long enough for help to arrive. It was a folly as they were cut down, but not before the Sgt took down one more Necron warrior with him.

The Lamenters were still engaged with the Necrons and Captain Octavius now embarked upon the Lamenter Rhino and moved forward hoping to either support his men or pull some of them back. As he did such, Honorable-Brother Val’Deez in his armored sarcophogas, continued to scale the side of the Monolith, pulling off more Necron weaponry as he climbed to the top where the crystal lay.
Necron turn 4: The Necrons continued to take the fight to the Space Marines. The Necron Lord used the power of the Monolith to pull his squad back through and they warped to the other side of the Monolith, bringing their troops to attack the Lamenters who were starting to win their fight with the other Necron squad.

The Destroyers took out the Land Speeder Storm, immobilizing it and now surged forward to engage targets of the sniper squad hunkered down in the tall building. So far, the Space Marines were down a 5-man squad of snipers, a Rhino, and a full tactical squad and now a Land Speeder Storm.
Space Marine turn 5: Realizing that this foe was not going to be able to be stopped, Captain Octavious had urged his driver to surge forward and get near the fallen men of Lamda squad . He was able to pull a few of them to safety, grievously wounded as they were, and attempt to escape the implacable foe.
The Whirlwind combined fire with the scouts and finally obliterated 2 of the destroyers. The Salamander Dreadnought, Honorable-Brother Val’Deez finally made his ascent and with his dreadnought close combat weapon, smashed the glowing green crystal atop the Necron Monlith, effectively wrecking it.
Necron turn 5: With the Space marine captain out of his Rhino and collecting men, The destroyers had turned their guns to the Rhino. They managed to wreck the Lamenter Rhino. With their great Monolith destroyed, the Necron squads finished off what was left of the Lamenters squad Lamda, and reacted negatively to their loss of the strange machine. The two squads engaged in the assault finished it off, taking down the last of Lamda squad.
End Game:
Game ended on turn 5. Going by the rule book (broken!), Necrons won this Annihilation mission 5-1. Going by Victory Points, they won 535-235. The unbelievable amount of armor and WBB saves that Mark made for his Necrons was nothing short of miraculous. He must have made 90% of his save rolls. I’ve never seen anything like it. In the end, I did get a moral victory with the destruction of the Monolith, as I’ve never wrecked one before , and this is only my 3rd time facing Necrons.

Post game fluff:
Captain Octavius was able to pull some of his men to safety. The destruction of the Monolith caused enough mayhem, disrupting enemy forces to allow him to gather some of his wounded men to safety. The Sniper team and Whirlwind provided covering fire. Sgt. Kal’Dey was dead, but thankfully with the distractions to the Necron forces, his body and most of his squad was able to be recovered for extraction of their progeniod glands. Some of his squad will survive their wounds.

+++REDACTED BY THE INQUISITION+++

The losses were high for the Space Marines, but the destruction of the Monlith was a moral victory. Reinforcements are on their way, as a new threat has appeared on Greavalxx in subsector: Havaria.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Old School Marines......The Star Dragons

The Star Dragons chapter of Space Marines is listed with very little info on the Lexicanum Online.     My good friend John has been playing Warhammer 40K since the days when it first came out as Rogue Trader.    Now weather this was a chapter that originally existed or was one that John grabbed the name of himself or read about, it doesn't really matter.
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What does matter is that John has been running his Space Marines for at least 20 years.    He has some very original and older (vintage) models.    I've gone so far as to tease John about the age of his models and am in the process of making "classic license plates" tags for them, each bearing the name of the transport and/or tank.
Marine tank.
As the Space Marines and thier codex evolved, so too has John's play style and army, but the majority of his models have remained the same.    Now time is wearing on the army and they are in need of an upgrade and newer or at least a touched up paint scheme.
John currently is deployed in Kuwait with the Navy and the SeeBees.    During his departure, I was able to aquire an old original Mk1 Land Raider.    It took quite a while to seek this model out, but I finally found it.   I was saving it as a "welcoming home" gift for him, but since he's been actively seeking out more vintage rhinos and such, I had to let the cat out of the bag.

So, the Star Dragons will continue to remain an older, loyal chapter of Space Marines, much of their equipment will be older in vintage but just as effective as the newer marine players.    In fact, John is seeking out another "Thud Gun" to add to his other one, that serves as the Thunderfire Cannon in the newer Codex.  


What John has brought to our gaming club at Berks-PA Gaming is experience, knowledge, humor, mentorship, and sportsmanship.    John has mentored myself as well as others in tournament style play as well as heavily emphasised the "Army Fluff" and backgrounds and story writing into our hobby.       Matching the aspects of the Hobbies that Jervis Johnson wrote in White Dwarf this past year:  Collecting, Modeling/sculpting, Paitning, Competition, and Socialization, I can say that when I look at my "pie" it shows all aspects of the hobby in equal parts.   

Now as time and games have gone on, there is a HUGE rivalry between my Ork Warlord Krogg Satogg and his Captian Bruno.   This has only served to strengthen our friendship and generate even more smack-talk between us.
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One nice thing about this hobby of Warhammer 40,000 is that even though Games Workshop comes out with newer stuff, at least most of your models will have some longevity, as evidenced by the Star Dragons, still taking the fight to the Galaxy for over 20 years!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Works in Progress: Space Marines

Works in Progress:  Space Marines:

I have been working on some Space Marines now for a little while as my 3rd army for Warhammer 40K.    Recently in both the Berks Warhammer 40K club as well as the Adventurer's Guild, I entered a "Tale of 4 Gamers" type of challenge.   I had been making good work until life complicated things.

I had run a large tournament in April, the Berks Spring Assault.   I was ill prepared for nearly 40 players showing up and that event took a lot out of me.   Plus I was moving to a new house and that took time as well, so I had taken a break from painting and working on minatures.

Now, I have the creative bug back and have been feverishly working on completing at least the first 1000 points of this army.    Initially I wanted to create an army based on a Lesser Known chapter of Marines, since I like to keep things unique.     I eventually settled on Lamenters, as their background has been checkered with doom and they are in various states of rebuilding.

My 8 year old son, who is taking a huge liking to Warhammer 40K wanted me to build Salamanders.   Green is his favorite color and he liked how they were based upon dragons and preferred using flame weapons.    So, in lieu of building (and paying for) two armies, I decided to combine them.

So, my army fluff takes off from there the Lamenters were down to just 3 companies.   Now they are rebuilding, and my company will be the 5th company Lamenters.    Adding to that the 6th company of Salamanders aiding them in support and training.  

Now I have a combined force of Lamenters & Salamanders working together.   The Yellow and Green units look great along side each other.   Thus the combined project has been called:  STRIKE FORCE: STEEL THUNDER.

I'm working on more units, but here's some of my highlights of what I am finishing off:

Lamenter's Company Captain.    The checkerboard pattern around his cape has been tedious work but is really starting to look good.

Lamenter's Tactical squad:  The Yellow is a tough color to paint with, requiring mulitple coats.    The shoulder pads symbol, the Heart and Teardrop inside the checkerboard pattern is tough.   Good thing I spent 2 years painting a Goff ork army and mastering the Checkerboard patterns.



Salamanders tactical squad and Rhino are coming along nicely.   The Rhino, featuring Forge World doors is complete and took 3rd place in a painting competition at Hobby Town USA.

The sniper scouts look much better now that I finished the camo cloaks.   These photos do not show that, but they are coming along nicely.   I also have a completed 5-man squad of Assault scouts who will ride into battle on a Land Speeder Storm, that is currently still on sprue but mostly painted.

I hope to have these models finished by the end of July 2010.

Monday, July 19, 2010

False Hope Crusade Battle Report: Orks vs. Chaos Marines

A FALSE HOPE CRUSADE BATTLE REPORT:

Orks of Krogg's Karnage vs. the Slaneesh Chaos Marines of the Heartbreakers.
Mission: Pillage: Chaos Marines Mission 1 from Battle Missions Book
Objective: 5 Loot & Pillage markers would be placed as per a Seize Ground Mission. Scoring would start at the end of your opponent's turn. Chaos Marines scored 1 Loot point for each marker they were in BASE contact with (not in assaults or falling back). Orks would score one Salvage point for each marker they were in BASE contact with at the end of the game, not engaged in an assault or falling back. Scoring would take place EVERY turn.

Points: 1850 Deployment: modified Spearhead (Table Quarters, but only 1 HQ and up to 2 troops, all other units are in Reserves).             Fort Hungstun.

It was no secret that the Daemon Princess Jenna would be wanting to strike at such a "comically" named place. Looking for a good fight, Warlord Krogg Satogg took lead of a strike team to intercept the Chaos Marines, in an attempt to claim some much needed supplies, and take the fight to the Marines, so as to show them who truly owns supremacy in this sector.

Ork forces deployed as follows: 1850 points
* Warboss with Mega Armor, bosspole, cybork body, ammo runt, kombi shoota-skorcha
* Big Mek with Kustom Force Field, and 'eavy armor

* 10 'ard boyz with Nob w/ big Choppa in wartrukk (Ork-Vee with Warboss riding inside)
* 11 'ard boyz with Nob w/power claw, bosspole, Kombi shoota-skorcha in wartrukk (big Mek riding inside)
* 20 shoota boyz with Nob w/ bosspole. 2 rokkit launchas
* 27 ork boyz (slugga boyz), 2/ 2 x Big shootas, Nob w/'eavy armor, powerclaw, bosspole
* 15 Gretchin & runtherder

* 20 x Stormboyz (red storm): Nob: 'eavy armor, bosspole, big choppa
* 20 x Stormboyz (white storm): Nob: 'eavy armor, bosspole, power claw

* 5 x tankbustas, 2 bomb squigs, 1 tankhammer
* 3 x Killa kanz mob (big shoota, rokkit launcha, grotzooka)
* Big gunz: 3 x Zzap guns, +3 extra crew, runtherder
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Prior to both parties deploying their forces, both the orks and the Chaos Marines had the idea of ome orbital bombardment. No matter what happened, it seemed that both forces were intent upon causing as much mayhem and destruction to the local populace. It was simply a matter of who was going to collect the most prizes after the long-range destruction was complete. Chaos Marines deployed in their landers and gunships. Both forces had located a 'hot-spot" of technology and components around what now was a pulverized fortress, an outpost in the wilderness with a couple of support buildings. Between the heavy bombardment of lascannon fire from the marines and meteoric rock drops from the orks, not much was left intact.
The Hearbreakers arrived from the Northeast quadrant of the battlefield. A unit of Noise Marines set up a defensive position in a ruined structure that also was the location of an important objecive marker. Daemon Princess Jenna leaped forward, her wings carrying her close to the central fortress now a ruined pile that still housed critical military components. Along the Eastern front, a large unit of traitorous marines tainted by Nurgle, led by what appeared to be a festered ork boss in Marine colors led the bunch.

The battlefield had the fort located in the center with one loot objective. On the Eastern side (My right), one was in a ruined building in the south east, and one in a building in the North East. On the Western flank one objective was centrally located not in cover at all. to the North West, amid a cluster of rocky buttes lay another.
On the South West quadrant, An ork wartrukk with the Big Mek and 11 'ard boyz positioned by the SW objective. The mob of 20 shoota boyz joined them as well, just behind, hoping to stay out of range of the Chaos weapons to start the game.
Chaos Turn 1: the Heartbreakers concentrated on movement and positioning to start the match. Daemon Princess Jenna leaped towards the central objective in the ruined fort. The Nurgle troops marched south along the Eastern front, almost tripping over their own feet in their pathetic attempt at running. The Blast Master with the Noise Marines fired a salvo toward the orks. They were mostly out of range, and between his and Jenna's attempts, the Ork Force Field held strong. Orks were in possession of 1 Salvage counter at the end of the turn.
Ork turn 1: Seeing their main target moving close, the shoota boyz urged forward hoping to close distance with Jenna. Only 4 of them got into range, 2 armed with shootas and 2 armed with WPG (Waaagh Propelled Grenade) Rokkit Launchas. Their shots would strike true, hitting 4 out of 6 times, causing 2 wounds to the Daemon Princess. The trukk moved closer to the NW objective, deploying the 'ard boyz who ran into the cover of the rocky buttes, trying to close in on the NW objective. The shoota boyz kept the tail end of their mob in contact with the SW Objective. Chaos Marines scored 2 Loot counters.
Chaos Turn 2: Dice gods were with the Heartbreakers, who made a whopping 4 reserve rolls! A predator tank, another squad of Noise Marines, a Rhino with Havoc Launcher and Beserkers on board, and a defiler (that looked like a converted soulgrinder) all rumbled into view. They manuvered to get a better line on the orks. The Nurgle marines continued to move (slowly) south on the Eastern front. The predator fired a lascannon shot into the wartrukk, but the Big Mek's custom force field kept it and most of the ork warriors safe from enemy fire.

Daemon Princess Jenna moved out of the ruined structure and attempted to use her "Lash of Slaneesh" to pull the shoota boyz mob closer to her (Eric rolled snake eyes). Still, it was just enough to get the Princess in range to assault the orks. She managed to kill 4 of the orks, but the orks were too numerous and hungry for battle and pulled the Daemon Princess down. Weather Jenna was cut down or chose that time to teleport away the orks did not know, nor care, as she was gone from the battle and they were free to go kill some more.
Orks were in posession of 2 Salvage Markers: Score: orks 3, Chaos: 2

Ork turn 2: The orks didn't do near as well as the Chaos marines on reserve rolls, but 3 units did arrive. The Killa Kanz mob arrived in the south west, looking to possibly make their way east towards the Nurgle marines. The Red Storm mob of Stormboyz led by Da Red Baron arrived, dropping in from high above. Coming in off an overhead 'Chinork' Warcopta, the Stormboyz landed (deep strike) around the central ruined fortress. With the Daemon Princess gone, the stormboyz were free to run and secure their position inside the structure, positioning themselves for cover.
Warlord Krogg Satogg arrived upon his Ork-Vee wartrukk. His band of 'ard boyz rolled forth securing the SW objective, allowing the shoota boyz to move forward and attempt to shoot rokkits into the chaos rhino, but to no avail. The other 'ard boyz with the Big Mek moved to secure the NW objective and the Big Mek tried to keep his Kustom Force Field around centralized to protect as many of his companions as possible.

Heartbreakers were still in posession of 2 Loot counters: Score: orks:3, Chaos :4
Chaos turn 3: More troops by the Heartbreakers arrive. A pair of Obliterators (Ron & John) deep struck right infront of the Killa Kanz. The grot pilots screamed in terror as the Obliterators appendages morphed into Melta guns. Their surprise attack destroyed 2 of the kanz, incinerating them into piles of twisted wreckage. The Beserkers on the North central part of the battlefield disembarked from their transport and lunged forward in hopes to assault the 'ard boyz inside the cover of the rocky buttes. Needed a 3 or 4 to make the assault, the Beserkers rolled a 1 and a 2 for their difficult terrain roll, falling short and unable to assault the ork warriors.
The Nurgle Marines finally made it to the South East objective and took up a position inside the ruined building. The Predator fired again into the ork wartrukks, only to see it's shot fizzle as it impacted the Big Mek's force field once again. The remaining orks fired all of their shots into the Red Stormboyz mob central in the ruins. The orks made excellent use of cover, only losing 3 of their 20-man strong unit to incoming fire. Things were looking very grim for the Heartbreakers this turn.

Krogg's Karnage was in possession of 3 Salvage counters: Score: Orks 6, Chaos 4
Orks turn 3: More ork reserves arrived this turn. A large mob of boyz (Alfa Skwad) led by ork nob "Gunzor" came into the field right by the wrecked killa kanz and where the obliterators stood. The orks pumped slugga fire into them, gunning one of the twisted walkers down. The Lone Killa kan marched Eastward, hoping to get into battle with the Nurgle Plague marines. Along with the large mob of orks, the gretchin mobs arrived, both the foot-sloggers and the Zzap guns crews. The Tankbustas also arrived, but were too far out of range to shoot any chaos vehicles yet.

The 'ard boyz to the NW moved and assaulted the Berskers, killed 3 of them, but took heavier casualties and in the end were run down by the awaiting chaos marines. The Stormboyz in the center of the ruins chose to abandon their post and leap forward. Their blitz attack saw the Squad of Noise Marines in the central North cut down to a man, the Orks than scrambling into the nearby woods to grab onto more cover.
The Shoota boyz moved to shoot the Rhino to the North West again and failed. Warlord Krogg and his men held their position, waiting for a foe to attack, moving their trukk into better position.

Chaos Marines were still in posession of 2 Loot counters: Score: orks: 6, chaos: 6

Chaos turn 4: Persitency is sometimes rewarded and this time the Predator tank found a seam in the ork force field and took out the engine to the Warboss's Ork-Vee. Despite the ramshackle construction of the vehicle, it simply just shut down, the motor ruined, but nothing else. Warlord Krogg Satogg ordered his orks to bail out and prepare to embark into the Big Mek's trukk that was right next to theirs.
The Beserkers left the Big Mek to the fire power of the Havoc launcher equipped Rhino. Theu instead charged around the rocky buttes and took out the remaining shoota boyz.

The Big Mek had secured the NW objective as the 'ard boyz ran to assault the Beserkers. He was not prepared for the 'ard boyz to be wiped out so quickly and than found himself falling to enemy fire despite the power of his Kustom Force Field. The Nurgle Marines held their position in the SE. Noise marines kept pouring fire into advancing ork hordes. The chaos marines in the 2nd Rhino with Havoc Launcher deployed and fired 4 flamethrowers into the woods, burning out the stormboyz. Concentrated fire gunned down a dozen of the greenskins, leaving just The Red Baron himself, the Stormboyz Nob, smoking and charred, but unhurt. The Defiler closed into the center ruins, trying to get position on the central objective.

Orks were in possession of just 1 Salvage counter: Score: orks: 7, Chaos: 6

Ork turn 4: Orks moved again, the White Stormboyz led by Nob "Chubby Chekkaz" arriving and moving East and south to seek out the Nurgle marines. They would fire their sluggas into the building harmlessly and than assault the troops inside. Chubby Chekkaz missed with his powerclaw, but the troops were still numeroius enough to hold their ground. The large mob of orks made their way towards the central objective, calling out a Waaagh! The shoota boyz moved to get position on the Beserkers and fired a hail of gunfire their way. The Killa kan managed to finally hurt one of the Nurgle troops with the Grotzooka (they had made their "Feel No Pain" rolls all game long....).

The shoota boyz were wiped out, but the Beserkers were just in range for Warlord Krogg to lead the attack. His large mob fell short in the difficult terrain to join into the fray. The Ork warlord would prove to be too much for even Khorne Beserkers and would cut them down to a man with his mob of 'ard boyz alongside of him.
On the North East, The Red Baron ignighted his jump pack and landed behind the Rhino armed with the Havoc Launcher. With a series of well placed blows from his Big Choppa exploded the fuel tank and caused the machine to explode in a cloud of shrapnel. The Red Baron smiled in his efforts.

Chaos Marines were in possession of 1 Loot objective: Score: Orks: 6, Chaos: 7.

Chaos turn 5: The Chaos marines continued to fight, the tactical squad that was heading West now turned their attention back East due to the carnage caused by The Red Baron. They would concentrate their fire into him with the Noise Marines on the East and cause a flare up into his Rokkit Pack, and the Red Baron's pack exploded in a plume and trail of black smoke sending the nob high into the sky and off to the North, never to be seen the rest of the battle.

The Defiler/soulgrinder was secured on the middle objective, fired it's battle cannon harmlessly between all ork units.

The Nurgle troops pulled down the last of the Stormboyz from the white mob, their feel-no-pain ability keeping them mostly intact, only losing 2 troops. Chubby Chekkas threw his boyz into hsi path, igniting his rokkit pack and making his escape before he got pulled down with the rest of his mob. The Nurgle Marines pulled back to consolidate by the SE objective again.8
Orks were in possession of 1 Salvage Objective, score: Orks : 7, Chaos 7.

Orks turn 5: Trying to cut down the marines and even the score the orks of Kroggs' Karnage struck out. Combined efforts of the Tankbustas unleashing a bomb squig and fire from the Zzap guns caused damage to the defiler, taking out a claw, it's battlecannon and immoblizing it by crippling one of it's legs. Still, the large machine sat securely upon the central objective.
The large mob of ork boyz had moved into the ruined keep, looking to at least deny the Defiler the ability to score points on the central objective in the ruined fort.

The lone killa kan tried to closed on the Nurgle marines, killed one more with it's Grotzooka, but was just outside of range to assault them insde the building. The lone ork wartrukk kept moving around, lending it's big shoota into firing into any enemy it could find. Warlord Krogg Satogg ran forth and once again with his 'ard boyz and secured the NW objective.

Heartbreakers were back in possession of 2 Loot markers,: Score: orks 7, Chaos: 9.
Chaos Turn 6: The battle was far from over and the Marines had to find a way to finish the horde of orks off. The rhino with Havoc Launcher left in the NW drew a bead on the Ork Warlord, but falied to target him within the rocky confines of the buttes. The defiler in the central ruins was still engaged with the orks, and the Nob with is powerclaw was able to pile in. Despite losing a couple of orks, the Nob Gunzor, tore the Defiler in half, ripping the top part from the lower and left its remains clatter down the side of the fortress. Orks consolidated closer south east towards the Nurgle troops, but still in possession of the central objective.

The Nurgle marines blasted the lone killa kan with a pair of Melta guns, causing the grot-powerd device to explode in a cloud of fire and shrapnel. Orks loomed in the middle of the battle field, this battle was far from over.
The Grots of Doom held the SW objective. Orks in possession scoring 3 Salvage markers: Score: Orks: 10, Chaos: 9

Ork turn 6: Doing their best to secure this game, the orks tried to take out as many Marines as they could. In the Northwest, the remaining 'ard boyz of Krogg's truck mob took over holding his objective. Warlord Krogg rumbed forth and sunk his powerclaw into the chaos Rhino, tearing the machine apart into shreds of scrap metal.
The Grots of Doom held onto their objective in the South West. Zzap gun crews tried to shoot at the nugle Marines in the south East, and the Tankbustas kept running forth, shooting some rokkits into the direction of the Predator tank.

The lone wartrukk and crew raced their vehicle into the ruined fortress and positioned themselves to keep the central objective while Gunzor led his mob down the bluff and south east to confront the Nurgle troops. The orks were in possession of 3 objectives, but needed this game to go another turn to have a chance at a win.
One last chance to pull victory from the marines: Nob Gunzor and his band of orks, still over 20 strong, had to assault the Nurgle Marines to the SE, keeping them from being able to score at the end of the turn. They were 3 1/2 inches away and needed a 4+. The dice roll was a 3! The orks failed to assault the Nurgle troops.

Heartbreakers (barely) in possession of 2 loot counters. Score: Orks: 10, Chaos: 11
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The Game ended on turn 6. In a standard Seize Ground mission, this would have been an Ork victory. But it wasn't. This was a battle missions game. This was an INCREDIBLE fight and a very enjoyable game. I can look back and second guess myself on some things. Should I have kept the Red Stormboyz in the central objective one more time and risked another round of fire? Good chance the Defiler could have closed the distance to assault them had I not moved them. The Beserkers failing their first assault was matched by my own orks failing their difficult ground move for the final assault, which would have resulted in a 10-10 tie. Victory points wise this was a close battle, but was in favor of the orks, no doubt there.

As for Eric Bates, he now gains the honor of one of the few Berks 40K club members to pull a victory off on me. This game was so fun and Eric is such a great opponent to play. He knows his army, his fluff is fun, and he's just a fun guy to play against. I look forward to a rematch with him again sometime. As for the rest of you.......I suggest you try this mission out, it was Extremely fun and changed tactics from the standard Seize ground style, since you can score points every turn.
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In the aftermath of the battle, Warlord Krogg took out the Chaos Rhino. It had seemed as though the dark marines had slithered away under the cover of smoke from the battlefield. While the Heartbreakers made off with the better parts of the choice loot, the orks could rest assured that they had a good fight and collected a substantial amount of wargear themselves. Their leader was taken out and to Warlord Krogg Satogg, that in and of itself was a victory. The Big Mek appeared, injured but not dead. Krogg was surprised, but the Mek's addition to his warband no doubt was a good one. They made their way back into their wartrukk, using cables and ropes to tow the second trukk back to the ork camp.

The orks loaded up their equipment. "We are not done fightin' here..." the ork warlord proclaimed. ".....we will go through our loot and than plan another raid!"
A cheer went up from the surviving orks of the battle, still well over half the warband was intact. Now it was time to collect equipment rebuild and plan for another fight.