We rolled up mission type and deployment style after determining that the vile forces of Chaos and Tau would go first.
Not shown are the Daemon Prince (hiding behind the Orky shed in the top Left and most of my forces, because I took them as Infiltrating reserves. Now, down to business.
Turn 1:
The forces of Chaos went first. The Daemon Prince transformed into a greater daemon with a howl, and then flew directly forward 24”. The two rhinos, filled with gibbering berserkers of Khorne in squads of 8, rolled forward 12” to challenge the Warboss and his mob. No shooting occurred, but the Daemon assaulted the two Deffcoptas hanging out around our objective. He caused two wounds (1 on each copta) and took none. Ballocks.
The Tau quickly mobilized, their Broadside moving 5” out from behind the Ork shed, the Hammerhead forward 6” to where it could fire, the devilfish 6” southeast behind the downed wing, and the Kroot 6” towards the poor Ork’s Loota squad. The Crisis Commander and Squad also moved forward 6”.
In shooting, the Pathfinders marked the MekBoy’z mob with 5 markerlights, and the Ork’z countenances fell. Using up one marker, the Devilfish killed 3 Boyz from said mob. The northeast Firewarrior squad also used some markers and killed 4 more Boyz, and an opening salvo from the Hammerhead killed another 5. On the other side of the battlefield, the Commander and his retinue opened fire on the Warboss’ mob with flachette, burst cannon, and plasma rifle. Only the burst cannon caused any wounds, and miraculously it was saved. Alien curses followed this bleak performance, and the suits ran diagnostics to adjust their weapons calibration.
For assaulting, the Kroot ran into the Loota squad with their weapons swinging. 5 Orks were killed, but 7 Kroot died in the assault. The Shaper, left to himself, promptly panicked, ran, and was cut down in his attempt to flee.
The Ork retribution was swift, albeit milquetoast. The Boss and his mob moved towards the Chaos Rhinos, as well as his Mekboy squad. The Mech squad shot at the Pathfinders and killed three, causing them to fall back. The Lootas then opened fire upon the devilfish, but to no avail. The Warboss attempted to rip open one of the passing Rhinos, but failed miserably. Finally, in close combat, the two Deffcoptas were swatted aside by the Daemon Lord Proxius, who would later go on to find other fights.
The Space Marines were able to do little in order to help their allies. Fearing a regrouping upon the next turn, the lone Whirlwind shot at the fleeing Pathfinders, killing two more. The lone remaining pathfinder fled off of the board edge. More alien curses were heard across the Vox-net.
Turn 2:
Ecstatic over the opportunity to spill more blood for their god, the Khorne berserkers piled out of their Rhinos to face the Ork threat. Meanwhile, Abbadon deep struck onto the board with two Obliterators, cutting off the Ork’s right flank. The Berserker squad furthest north moved towards the Orks 6”.
In shooting, the Obliterators shot at the now relatively open Whirlwind, immobilizing it. The crew simply shrugged their shoulders, as they hadn’t planned on moving during the battle anyway. Abbadon shot his twin linked bolter at the Mekboy’s mob, failing to kill anything.
In assault, the closest Khorne Berserker squad caused two unsaved wounds on the Warboss and 8 killed Boyz. In retaliation, the Boss and his Boyz killed 4 berserkers. The flanking K.B.s decided that they didn’t want to be outdone by their cursed bretheren, and so assaulted the Mekboyz’s mob. They killed 8 Orks, but the Orks managed to wound an Obliterator who had charged them and kill 2 berserkers outright. Having failed the combat miserably, the Orks fell back and were destroyed.
Their psychotic allies on the assault, the Tau found themselves in need of repositioning. The Hammerhead moved 12” to the West, while the Devilfish moved 12” to the Southeast. The west firewarrior squad moved 6” through difficult terrain, while the east firewarrior squad moved into the East building ruins, which for simplicity’s sake we were counting as area terrain.
Now in sight of some targets, the Hammerhead commander opened fire upon the Lootas. The smart missile systems did not manage to kill anything, but the main cannon killed 7 lootas. The Orks fell back two inches.
The Lootas again fell back two inches, dangerously close to falling off the edge of the board. With no other recourse, the Warboss continued to fight against the Berserkers. Though 3 Orks were killed, 4 more Berserkers fell to the might of da Green Tide. They were now disengaged from combat.
Kor’Sarro Khan observed the slaughter of his temporary allies, and ordered an advance. He and his squad looked on the Land Raider’s viewing screens as they rolled in from the Eastern flank, accompanied by a Predator on their left, sporting an Autocannon and two lascannons. Sgt. Chronus gave an uneasy thumbs up from his perch in the predator, as it opened fire with its lascannons and destroyed the Devilfish. The Landraider then turned and vented its full fury upon the Hammerhead, destroying it utterly. Inspired by the arrival of reinforcements, the Whirlwind opened fire upon the Firewarriors hiding in the eastern ruin. Unfortunately, there was no effect, as the squad was able to find cover.
Turn 3:
Calling out curses to the warp, the Daemon Lord moved towards the Warboss’s mob, as Abbadon and the fully victorious eastern K.B. squad moved towards the immobilized Whirlwind. One of the rhinos moved in front of Abbadon, blocking him slightly from the view of the Predator’s and Land Raider’s hungry lascannons. The second rhino remained stationary and shot its stormbolter at the Boss, and killed one boy. The Obliterators, determined to take out some armor, shot again at the Whirlwind, but only managed to shake and stun the artillery piece. The Khornberserkers ran towards the whirlwind as Abbadon juked to make sure the Rhino blocked him completely. In range and enraged, the Daemon lumbered forward into the Warboss’ mob, killing one Ork, while the battle-frenzied greenskins scored three unsaved hits against the beast.
The Tau realized that no one was guarding the objective, and so the western Firewarriors moved 6” towards it as the eastern Firewarriors clambered out of the building to move towards the same. Meanwhile, the Commander and his retinue moved 6” East, and the Broadside moved 6” Southeast. The Broadside then shot and destroyed the Predator, and Sgt. Chronus died in a burst of flame. All this was happening as the Firewarriors and Command squad sprinted for the objective.
In deep trouble, the Orks decided to rally their Lootas (something that we found in retrospect he shouldn’t have been able to do, but that’s hindsight: 20/20.) Anyway, the Lootas fired on the Berserkers to no effect. In assault, 5 more Orks (including the Warboss) lost their lives, but the Daemon was slain!
Muttering battle prayers to the Emperor, the 5 man tactical squad arrived on the West side of the board, and promptly moved behind the safety of cover and in range of their objective. The Land Raider moved 6” to get into better firing position, allowing the Khan and his squad to disembark. One lascannon shot at the Obliterators, failing to kill them. However, the combined might of 10 bolters and a plasma gun reduced the Obliterators to smoking protoplasm!
Turn 4:
The Berserkers moved towards the two remaining Lootas, murder in their hearts. The Rhino that had been blocking Abbadon decided to tank shock and ram the Land Raider. As the Khan and the rest of his brothers dove out of the way, it was lowly Brother Dolan that stood in front of the Rhino’s charging mass, jumping on the front of it at the right time and dropping an activated Krak grenade down it’s exhaust, immobilizing the steel beast. Meanwhile, the other Rhino was busy shooting at the remnants of the Boss’ mob, killing another Ork. After that, the Berserkers assaulted and promptly slew the two remaining Lootas.
The Tau Battlesuits moved further towards their objective to ensure its safety, and the Broadside moved 3” to the west. The eastern Firewarrior squad moved up to meet their brethren at their objective. In shooting, the Commander’s frag attack killed 6 more Ork boyz. The other battlesuits failed to kill the last one, but the western Firwarrior team finished them off. That was the last of it for the Orks! They had been totally defeated.
Noting the terrible danger they were in with Abbadon still hiding close by and the Broadside sitting in a good firing lane, the Khan and his men decided to pile into the Land Raider, which then moved 12” behind the eastern ruin. The Whirlwind, now over its negative effects, shot Vengeance missiles at the east Firewarrior squad, killing 7 of them.
Turn 5:
Abbadon, thoroughly steamed that he had been unable to get into assault, moved back towards the center objective as his berserkers moved closer to the whirlwind. In the subsequent assault, the Whirlwind was destroyed.
The Tau commander ordered his remaining Firewarriors to get into cover as he and his battlesuit compatriots attempted to fire on the Rhino, but all of their shots went awry. The Broadside took a pot-shot at the Land Raider, and destroyed the heavy bolter.
The Space Marines failed to do anything of note, and the game ended in a tactical draw because it was ~3 a.m. and we were all dead tired. :P
Hope you enjoyed it, there will be another b.p. soon!
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