//Begin Transmission to High Command of Valour. Contingency. Asteroid Base 74 is overrun by multiple Xenos and Chaos forces. Pox Walkers are risen from the dead not devoured by initial Tyranid assault. Ork Freebooters are raiding the belt. Necron forces last spotted on Valour IX now spotted at Asteroid Base 74. Intent unknown Adeptus Astartes Dark Angels… unavailable. Deathwatch… unavailable. Cadian Shock… understrength. Negotiations initiated with the Orks against protocol. Initial terms never deployed. Warboss Charr hunting forces of Chaos for retribution of “Old Bale Eye”. Forces deploying with extreme caution. Nurgle alliance with Necrons more unsettling then Ork alliance. The Emperor, protects. //End Transmission.
The Imperial Guard brought their armour support originally intended to reinforce Valour IX. With the Orks providing shock troops, a full frontal assault was decided after other forms of strategy were lost upon the blank stares of Charr and his advisors. Undercover of night, the Earthshaker Platform was deployed in the center of their lines, ready to rain destruction from above. The Macharius Omega deployed a bit to its north where it could react and respond to enemy strengths once they were spotted. A squadron of Hydra Flaks ran with Knight Commander Pask on the Southern side with similar intent. A unit of ten Ratlings took up position in a building, securing a key objective and overlooking a good portion of the advance.
The Orks filled in throughout the lines. Lootas deployed on the North to hold a key location while two units of Ork Boyz prepared to advance in front of them into the teeth of the enemy.
Soft contact with the enemy was made in a somewhat narrow pass. Nurgle in its usual lack of subtlety was spotted rising up on the North side of the narrow pass. The Pox Walkers milling around aimlessly snapped to a degree of alertness and began to form a up in a pile of bodies. Two Plague Drones gurgled in the Warp, waiting for the right moment to arrive. Some cultist held the south, corrupted by the taint of Nurgle.
The Necrons had deployed a unit of Deathmarks in their North strongpoint with a Lokhust Lord. Three Doomsday Arks lurked in the back lines, hovering ominously against the skyline. A unit of three Triarch Stalkers advanced along the south, their Heat Rays warming up to deliver lethal strikes. A Cryptothrall held the furthest point of interest in their North flank.
Two units of Ork Kommandoz were being sneaky gitz and each deployed in reaction to the enemy, one North and one South.
Before the slow reacting forces of ancient machines and bloated rot could react, the Imperials and their temporary Ork allies broke into attack formation. Spotlights lit up every single enemy unit suddenly. Knight Commander Pask ran his Hand of Steel fully kitted out with a Gryphonne Pattern Long Vanquisher Cannon and Coaxial Stormbolter. A Lascannon and a pair of Multimeltas were further complimented by a Hunter Killer Missile and a pintle Stormbolter. He pulled the vulnerable Hyrda Flaks away from the closing Triarch Stalkers, directing them to the middle.
There he took careful aim at a Doomsday Ark and fired the most accurate weapon in the Imperial Guard armoury crewed by the most elite tank crew in the Imperium, but missed. The Lascannon and Hunter Killer Missiles hit the Triarchs, but did little damage thanks to the overlapping Quantum Shield generators they carried. The Hydra Flaks provided supporting fire, but could not penetrate the shields.
The Macharius Omega responded to the close threat of the Stalkers, realizing that time was going to be short lived against such powerful antitank weaponry in the Necron back lines. Both Plasma Blast Gun barrels landed excellent hits, crippling one Stalker to the point it could barely function and vaporizing a Cultist that strayed to close. The Earthshaker Platform hit the Triarchs as well, but failed to get through the shields. Without any targets in range, the Ratlings dropped down a level.
In return, the Pox Walkers moved forward. For a moment, it looked like they would surge forward but ended up tripping up the front lines and causing a massive pile of zombified Guardsmen and Orks. The Deathmarks spotted the Pain Boy and decided to eliminate him. All ten fired, but the Ork was so hyped up on adrenaline, combat stimulants, and his own custom battle brew made from squig piss and hydraulic fluid that he was only injured.
Things were starting out bad for the Imperials, but the Orks were to excited to notice the lack of effectiveness! With the powerful cannons of the Imperium blasting away and the glow of a blue mushroom cloud forming on the southern flank fueling their adrenaline, they surged forward, guns blasting wildly. The effect of the weapons left something to be desired, but a few Pox Walkers went down.
The Doomsday Arks rapidly repositioned and fired at the glowing Macharius Omega. One round skimmed off the hull due to a bad angle, but the other two drove deep penetrations into the Open Topped super heavy. Massively damaged, it was apparent it would not last long. The Triarchs moved forward and fired some flame weapons into the Ork unit, scoring a few kills. The range was to far to be anymore effective than that.
Commander Pask swore furiously into his Vox Caster and got his armour formation back under control. Rolling up to a fallen knight from a former battle, he brought his main cannon to bear on the elusive Doomsday Ark. The sharp retort boomed out across the field as the rocket powered round blew clean through the Quantum Shield. The Lascannon gunner also redeemed himself with a hit that breached it simultaneously. The Macharius Omega landed another pair of accurate hits on it as well, lighting it up with a pair of blue mushroom clouds. As soon as the field flickered out, the Hydra Flaks opened up as well with their Long barreled Autocannons and blew it out of the sky. The Earthshaker swiveled and fired, knocking out the shield and a Gauss Flayer of the Doomsday Ark lurking in the North Eastern corner of the map.
The Ratlings picked off a cultist that was foolish enough to be in range, but they were hunkered in at this point and incredibly hard to get a good shot on. The Orks moved in closer, firing weapons at the Triarchs. They were unable to close in to melee due to the excitement of the terrifying Necron weapon being blown clean out of the sky with excessive fire.
The Orks in the North ran a unit up to scout these new Pox Walkers and their capabilities. Their shots dropped a few more, but did not do much thanks to their leaders that were with them. Epidemius shrugged off the worse of the hits before healing his wounds like the Pain Boy did moments before.
The remaining Doomsday Arks fired at the Macharius Omega. The tank driver desperately slammed tank into a clutch break turn. Miraculously, this actually worked! The tank was hit incredibly hard still, but it still remained intact much to everyone’s surprise. The joy was short lived as the Lokhust Lord charged up his Tachyon Arrow and finished off the crippled tank.
The Deathmarks fired at the Pain Boy again. This time he did not survive the barrage of synaptic disruption. The remaining Triarchs closed in and fired their Heat Rays in the sweeping mode, clearing out some more Orks before Charging them. Only a few were impaled on the Forelimbs, and one was smashed by a Power Klaw. Charr was struggling to understand the on/off switch of his new Kill Saw, and was ineffectively beating the Triarchs through sheer force.
The Pox Walkers reached the first Orks, killing them through sheer volume of numbers and swelling their ranks with the freshly zombified Orks. The warp lurking Pox Drones dropped behind the Orks on the North Western corner, killing one of them. One rider accidently ran its mount into the ground and had to scramble to mount back up.
Knight Commander Pask needed to take out the enemy guns as quickly as possible. He was unable to engage the Triarchs with his secondary guns, so the Multimeltas and Stormbolter were turned against the Cultists hiding in the building getting one kill while his main cannon went through the windows to the Doomsday Ark lurking in the South Eastern corner of the field. The high velocity armour piercing round with clean through again, but the Lascannon dissipated on a support column in the building. The Hydra Flaks followed suite, but due to some unfortunate luck the Doomsday Ark just barely remained in service with its main weapon. The Earthshaker Platform attempted to get a clean kill, but had its main weapon disabled moments before by a Triarch Stalker and missed.
The Ratlings picked off another cultist. Nurgle’s rule this day was that a unit could never kill more than once Cultist at a time it seemed. The Orks continued the grind against the Triarch Stalkers, but now that Charr had the Kill Saw going was struggling to use it correctly. A patient Ork had to stop and help him learn to swing it spiny sharp end at the enemy even though it was less exciting to not get to see the sharp spiny side of it. A Triarch stalker was damaged, but they killed a few more Orks.
On the North flank, the Orks managed to injure one of the Pox Riders. The Kommandos decided getting away from the mob of Pox Walkers was the best idea, so they closed in and charged one of the Pox Riders. They got locked into a disgusting melee that resulted in no one being killed as they attempted to not touch each other.
The Doomsday Arks each fired at Pask, disabling the engine of some power as well as a Multimelta. The Deathmarks fired into the side of a Hydra Flak and nearly destroyed it completely, crippling its engine to the point it could barely move.
The Pox Walkers closed in and destroyed the Lootas. The Kommandos continued their ineffective fight with the Pox Rider. The Ork unit and Triarch Stalker fight turned sharply as Charr finally figured out the sharp spiny blade had to be spinning AND swung spikey first at the enemy. A Triarch was cut down and another damaged by this new found revelation! A Few more Orks died, but the fight was steadily going in their favour finally.
Pask sighted the incredibly long cannon on the crippled Doomsday Ark and blew it up in a ball of flame and green crackling energy as he limped his tank out of the way and popped his Smoke Launchers. The Hydra Flaks hurried through, and opened fire on the final Doomsday Ark, blowing off several weapons and immobilizing it completely. Their hull weapons were Heavy Flamers and they also had pintle Stormbolters. They turned these on the Deathmarks and began to knock them down a few at a time.
The Earthshaker Platform got a solid hit on the Pox Walker unit, killing quite a few despite their daemonic abilities and support.
The Orks blew up the final Triarch Stalker. The resulting explosion hit the crippled Hydra Flak and finished it off. The crew bailed out and joined the Macharius Omega crew sheltering in its shadow. By this point, the Pox Riders chased the Kommandos back to friendly lines, removing them from the fight.
With no other target to engage, the Doomsday Ark fired and struck the Earthshaker, damaging it further but did no internal damage. The Deathmarks fired on Charr, striking him down with excessive fire now that he was in the open again. His Ork boyz grabbed him and hauled him along to the next fight so he wouldn’t miss the best part of gettin’ behind ‘nemy lines!
The Cryptothrall emerged from cover and charged the Hyrda Flaks to try and stall them. It withered the incoming fire okay but they failed to damage each other.
By now, the Pox Walkers closed in on the Earthshaker Platform. It fired a shot to deter them but it had no effect as they charged in and slow tried to pull the gun apart. The crew stepped on oily puss covered heads in disgust as they rammed a new round home, one for the text books back home.
Knight Commander Pask had his engine back online again. He ran his tank up to the Deathmarks and fired all weapons pointblank into them. Many of them were cut down by the devastating weaponry. None of them Reanimated.
The Hyrda Flaks blew the last Doomsday Ark out of the sky despite some very poor quality shots they were going to get lectured about after the battle. They redeemed themselves by bull dozing the Cryptothrall into the ground and burring it. Either it never Reanimated or was trapped, both were acceptable.
The Ratlings killed the Pox Rider that survived the Ork Kommandos. The Earthshaker Platform was completely surrounded by this point. Firing point blank into the crowd, it sent waves of them into the air moments before the crew detonated the ammunition cache and took many more out with them. Most of the flying zombies survived, but still lost significant numbers despite their durability.
The few Orks remaining on the Southern flank ran towards the cultists, firing and charging into their building using Charr’s body as a window clearer. The fight wore on, with minor losses on both sides.
The Lokhust Lord saw that he needed to intervene. He charged the Hydra Flaks, withering the incoming fire with his durable armour plating. His swung his Staff of Light, dealing minor damage to the tank. They were unable to hurt him with their Dozerblades and started an organized retreat, but he caught them and the fight continued.
The Pox Walkers closed in on the Ratlings, slaying them despite their valiant last stand. The Orks used Charr as a weapon, slaying all of the cultist but two and started chasing them. They caught them easily and the fight continued. The reason for Charr being a weapon was so he could use ‘is ‘ead and see the fight as up close and personal for himself.
The Hydra Flaks followed Pask’s Orders and blew the Lokhust Lord into dozens of tiny pieces. A healthy does of Promethium ensured it stayed dead. While not scientifically the case, the Lord was unable to Reanimate so they must have been onto something. Knight Commander Pask continued firing on the Deathmarks. All were taken out by this point, but one reanimated.
The Ork Nob swinging Charr was injured, but he slew a cultist, leaving only one left. The fight continued.
The Deathmark fired ineffectively as it moved to claim an objective that had been abandoned earlier in the fight. The Pox Walker mob slowly moved towards the Orks but had no target to engage. The Cultist injured the Nob again, but did not take any injury in turn so the fight continued!
As Dual of the Fates played in the background, the Nob finally struck down the last cultist with Charr’s face. The Hydra Flaks flamed and then charged the Deathmark with their Dozerblades. They killed it, again, but it reanimated, again. Pask swung his tank around and began engaging Pox Walkers, dropping several.
The Deathmark was once again killed by a Dozerblade but Reanimated. The Pox Walkers shambled towards the Orks but were to far away. With that, the forces had engaged for the maximum amount of time possible and were forced to disengage.
Necrons and Nurgle won 22 to 13! The game went all the way to Turn 8. At one point it looked like we were going to catch up fully, but Alex pulled their team away again with excellent Objective rolls. All units tested did so very well, and we are excited to continue to do so!
*Charr was not harmed in the making of this documentary. A Pain Boy fixed ‘im ‘ight up!*
Alternate 40k Rules 