Welcome back to the ongoing campaign, now into turn 8 and heading towards the final showdown...
To recap, the Orks have launched an assault on the remaining forge precinct (Alpha) and are now bogged down amongst the ruined forges, fighting the imperials block by block. Meanwhile, in the East, the Imperial side has reclaimed the Shield of the Emperor defence silo and used the site as a base to build up their forces.
Determined to relieve the pressure on the forge precinct in the west, the Imperial side has drawn on their strategic reserves to push a heavy armoured assault towards the Ork held Equatorial Hub. If the Imperials take this location, the way is open to the main Ork staging post on the coast.
But the Orks have strategic reserves of their own, and as the marine armoured spearhead drives south, the greenskins move up some heavy metal of their own...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
We played the game as a hybrid spearhead/
apoc game at 3,000 points each. This allowed us to take lots of tanks, a super-heavy each and two flyers apiece. Let the carnage commence!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The sparsely populated agricultural hub now lies in ruins thanks to the Ork occupation. Open country and wide lanes of fire suit armoured warfare.
Enemy sighted! The lead elements of the marine spearhead spot an Ork super-heavy. Clearly the greenskins have not been idle amongst the captured machinery of the long held forge precinct Omega
Marine outriders push forward to engage the Ork forces as the heavy armour grinds forward
Can you say armoured assault? The marine big guns move into formation whilst medium tanks protect their vulnerable flank
Meanwhile, the Ork battle line moves forward to engage the lead marine elements. A looted wagon with a huge boom gun fires a speculative shot downrange
Marine scouts infiltrating ahead of the main force set up a firing position on a low rise and look for targets of opportunity. Suddenly, something huge blocks out the sun to their front...
As the marine tanks press forward, a wall in a ruined suddenly crumbles, revealing a hidden group of greenskin walkers almost on top of them (ambush spearhead)
Marine attack bikes race forward to engage this new threat and protect the super-heavy armour
But the Orks have a new surprise – with a roar of over-powered engines, 3 battlewagons crash into the flank, demolishing the closest marine vehicle (mechanised assault spearhead)
Charge!
On the Ork lines, the Stompa fires up its supa-skorca, immolating most of the unfortunate scout team.
The Kan ambush charges out of the ruins, closing on the densely packed marine tanks
The marine spearhead breaks formation to counter this new threat and put some distance between them and the advancing kans.
My, that’s a lot of guns...
The first salvo blasts apart the middle battlewagon, tipping out the meganobz and the big mek .
The marine tanks form a firing line to get the best possible angle on the Ork armour
A view from above as the marine gunners prepare to unleash the pain..
Melta fire and deadly accurate lascannons (tank hunter spearhead) wrecks the second battlewagon, causing the Warboss and nobz to bail out in front of an awful lot of guns.
To add insult to injury, the big gun of the Imperial super-heavy strips a structure point off the Stompa
With the marines distracted, a dethkopta squadron pounces on the Shadowsword
But the shower of rokkits only immobilise the big tank, leaving its deadly main gun intact
The Kans and Deff Dred overrun the marine attack bike squadrons and head for the main battle tanks
But the marines continue to keep away from the clanking Ork walkers and reform their firing line
Swooping in on a column of oily smoke, the Ork fighta-bomber arrives
Not to be outdone, and Imperial Vendetta roars in low and strafes the Looted wagon
The Imperial flyer flies past its victim, leaving the Ork tank’s main gun ablaze
A second attack run targets the stompa and damages its drive train
The Shadowsword scores another hit on the Stompa, tearing another huge hole in it (another structure point gone...)
The dismounted Ork warboss vents his frustration on the last attack bike squadron, annihilating it
The marine tanks continue their mobile tactics, outflanking the meganobz and mek and unloading a melta-heavy Sternguard squad and marine captain
The Orks weather the deluge of melta fire (hoorah for the
KFF!) and the marines charge into close combat
Meanwhile, three marine speeders deep-strike behind the last battlewagon. With all the meltas, it doesn’t look good...
Meanwhile, the Vendetta circles the field, looking for its next victim
As expected, the speeders make short work of the remaining battlewagon, eliminating the Ork mechanised assault
Meanwhile, the marine gun-line thins out the Ork walkers. The survivors think the better of a frontal assault against so many heavy guns, and retreat to the cover of the ruins. One of the predators burns following a dethkopta rokkit in the rear.
Above the battlefield, another combat takes shape. Out of the sun comes the Ork fighta-bomber
A burst of big shoota fire blasts off one of the lascannon mounts in a shower of sparks
In revenge, the Vendetta makes another attack run on the Stompa, immobilising it
In its own payback the Ork super-heavy winds up the supa-gattler and lets fly. Uncounted shots later, the Sternguard (flush from wiping out the meganobz), marine captain and all three speeders are blasted away (I ran out of targets before I ran out of shots – hilarious weapon). Sadly, all the Stompas other weapons fail to do any damage (again...)
A second Imperial flyer, this time a Valkyrie, arrives on station and blasts apart a number of dethkoptas, leaving the rest to flee
The rampaging warboss and nobz are finally halted by a well placed demolisher round...
The only survivor makes a last act of defiance before the Landraider vaporises him...
But it’s not all one-way traffic. The second Ork flyer turns up (fighta) and teaming up with the fighta-bomber, bounce the vendetta as it lines up the Stompa again
Weave skipper weave!
A supa-rokkit streaks away from the fighta, blasting the vendetta apart
Following a turn of repairs (a reclaimed structure point for the Stompa and partial mobility for the Shadowsword) the super-heavies resume service. A second predator goes up in flames.
With one objective safely secured each, both sides look to the remaining (and critical) objective. It sits out in the open and the kans consider their options against two tank-hunting landraiders...
A dismounted marine tank commander directs the Shadowsword’s fire towards the cowering walkers...
Over there - behind the wall! No, no, the one next to it...
The destroyer blast disintegrates one kan while the landraiders immobilise another and take the head off the big mek (who had been taking cover in the ruins)
With nowhere to go but forward, the last kan makes a break for the objective....
The landraiders move forward and easily turn aside the walker’s attacks. Several lascannon shots later the kan is finally put down.
The Valkyrie meets the same fate as its wingman as the fighta-bomber brings it down with a burst of big shoota fire through its engines.
But it is too little, too late. The surviving marine armour has broken through and now the way to the Ork drop zone and staging point lies open...
Postscript
Whew, what a fun game. The Shadowsword totally outclassed the Stompa – those destroyer templates hit a big target like the Stompa even if they scatter, and one of the marine players (yes, you Sandy) rolling a 6 for damage each time didn’t help. Next time I’m taking a deff arsenal...
The Ork mechanised assault and Kan ambush looked promising, but clever deployment by the marine team to keep away from the table sides meant they had too much fire-swept ground to cover and never made it into assault (curses!)
The marine tank-hunter spearhead with landraiders was a killer. Landraiders firing basically all weapons when they move (power of the machine spirit plus the spearhead rule) and
str 10 lascannon shots (at separate targets if desired) was a lethal combination. The second marine spearhead was armoured assault on 3 predators, which made them very hard to kill.
A great game with massive losses on both sides. The marines had just 4 operational tanks left, whilst the Orks had the Stompa and flyers plus one back field battlewagon and 2 buggies.
Thanks to Boyd, Julz and Sandy for the game, venue and drinks! A special Hero of the Imperium for Sandy who played in a neck brace and drugged to the gills on pain killers due a spinal injury from a mountain bike crash (he's only just out of hospital!) The Emperor is proud.
The next game will be the final push by the marines at Forge precinct Alpha. After that, it’s the grand finale as the campaign reaches a climax.....
THE EMPRAH! 
Smurfies 5th company 
Joint Biel-Tan Army with Tortoiseer 
Order of the Sable Heart
Grave Knights
