Battle Report Guard vs Orks Prologue: Regicide

"Gorblud knew it was a trap.  

It had to be. Winterborne had never made a tactical mistake like this before. After years of chasing each other across many planets, there finally seemed to be an opportunity where Gorblud could face-down the infuriating Colonel with no chance for him to escape.

Winterborne was planning something. He must know the sort of force Gorblud could bring to this battlefield, and yet he had still seemingly stranded himself there with no means of escape. Yes, he had a lot of armour at his disposal - and a lot of Orks would die in the battle - but the numbers were all in Gorblud's favour. That meant that Winterborne had some sort of hidden trick planned, to tilt the odds.
And Gorblud had no idea what it was.

There were two ways to deal with a trap: try and avoid it and get to your quarry via a route he doesn't expect - an unlikely prospect without knowledge of what the trap was - or to spring the trap while endeavouring not to get caught in it. The second option was Gorblud's favourite. It usually meant the trapper thought everything was going to plan until, the last minute. If done well it could mean a crushing defeat to the opposition.

But with it came the risk that you still get caught in the trap, and the trapper gets all that he planned..."

"Winterborne was worried.

His plan was brilliant, he'd spent months working on it and years getting everything in place.
But he was still worried. "The devil is in the detail" his father used to tell him over countless games of regicide when he was a boy. It was true, and Winterborne had spent so much of his time recently trying to ensure every detail was just right. Not 'perfect' - nothing was ever perfect. And if it looked perfect then it was probably too good to be true. No, the details needed to be just good enough to do the job, just good enough to give the outward impression he wanted, but nothing more.

Would Gorblud suspect it was a trap? Possibly. He was an extremely intelligent specimen of his species, and cunning to boot. But if he did suspect a trap, would it stop him falling in it? Winterborne suspected not. In fact his was betting his life, and that of his regiment's, on it.

The plan couldn't fail to draw Gorblud out, but would it get rid of this green menace forever?
"No plan survives the first shot". That was a saying his old Commander used to tell him. He'd surpassed his old Commander on the battlefield just as he'd surpassed his father at regicide, but they had still taught him valuable lessons. That was what he was worried about. As well as he'd planned everything he couldn't know for certain how it would play out on the battlefield. He'd just have to play the cards he had dealt and hope Gorblud didn't have any 'trumps' bigger than his..."

The Battlefield:

Primary Objectives:
Objective 1:

Winterborne and Gorblud have been bitter enemies for decades. They have met on many battlefields over the years and both gotten the better of the other at different times. However, whether through good planning, cunning or sheer luck, both have always escaped the battlefield alive.
This time neither wants this to happen. They challenge has been laid down, and both commanders intend to finish this rivalry forever!

- Slay the Warlord (4VP)
  - Gorblud wants to kill Winterborne personally (Ork player must follow this idea in the game if Gorblud is alive) only 2VP are scored if Winterborne dies via any other means and Gorblud survives
  - Winterborne wants proof that Gorblud is dead (if Gorblud is killed his body becomes a movable objective that Winterborne must claim himself to get the 4VP) only 2VP are scored if Gorblud dies but Winterborne doesn't recover the body
  - no VPs are scored if both Warlords are dead

Winterborne is given special wargear by the rogue inquisitor, Artemus Gilroy:
 - Gauntlet of Abraxis - Master-crafted Power Fist
 - Displacer Field (4+ invulnerable save. Model teleports 2D6” in a random direction after each successful save)


Objective 2 - Activate/Capture the Psychic Beacon:

Winterborne has chosen this planet in particular to stage his battle for 1 main reason - there is an ancient alien artefact on the planet that has the potential power to wipe out all the Orks on the planet.

The artefact is of uncertain origin although some markings indicate it may be something to do with the Necrons. Inquisitor Artemus Gilroy, a more recent association of Winterborne's, led a research team to uncover its secrets. It has been discovered that the beacon releases powerful blasts through the warp that can be specifically attuned to the psychic wavelengths of particular species.

Gilroy and Winterborne have already prepared the machine to attack only the minds of the Orks, but they must leave it completely powered down until they intend to use it, lest the Orks detect it and destroy it from orbit.

Winterborne's teams must activate all 3 power nodes during the battle after Gorblud's presence has been confirmed in range.

- Imperial player scores 1VP for each of the Nodes in his control at the end of the game
- Ork player scores 1VP for each of the Nodes in his control at the end of the game
- each player scores 1 additional VP if it the end of any of their own player turns they are in control of all 3 Nodes

Objective 3 - Secret Vendetta:

The Praetorian 4^th have battled Gorblud’s Bad Moon tribe on many occasions and developed particular hatred for certain units in the opposition. Some scores will be settled this day...

Each army picks a single unit on the other army list (in secret)
- players score 1VP if that unit is wrecked, blown-apart, wiped-out or fallen back off the board at the end of the game

Objective 4 - Secret Loot:

The battle is taking place on an unusual planet with many interesting artifacts.  Both forces have secret targets that they wish to secure without the enemy knowing.

Each player chooses 3 of the objective markers (1 – 6) and places them in order of importance (and secretly)
- players score 3VP for their first chosen objective in their control at the end of the game, 2VP for the second and 1VP for the third

Many thanks to Matt AKA Gorblud for writing the great fluff and putting pen to paper for the scenario. 

Battle Report preview...

A quick teaser post for you all. This weekend Colonel Winterborne faced off against his old nemesis Warboss Gorblud!

Without giving too much away at this stage, the points were about 5300 per side with a special scenario that we wrote for this battle. 

Have a look at the photos below with more coming in a proper battle report soon!

Second Siege of Agratha - Aftermath Part 4

Gorblud awoke to a blurry image of a sky filled with dust and thick black smoke. As his vision swam in to focus he slowly sat up, noticing pangs of pain all over his body. He could hear some distant sounds of gunfire but upon looking around he didn't appear to be in any imminent danger.

Gorblud saw that he was lying at the foot of wrecked tank and a thin smile appeared on his face as he remembered tearing the turret off it and killing all the humans inside with blazes from his shoota (and a few stikkbombs for good measure). From quick observation it appeared his armour was burnt, broken and split all over - his power klaw a ruin of fused metal. It would take his meks a long while to fix it once he got it back to camp.

He pulled himself out of his armour, deciding it would be easier to drag back to his wagon than to try and walk in it without the hydraulics working. It was only then that he noticed the large crater in the side of his chest oozing dark blood. It appeared to be a mostly cauterised plasma burn - he should probably get the Docs to have a look at that.

As he strolled through the mounds of dead - some piled higher than his head, others shredded so that it was difficult to tell what body parts they had originally - he took note that both sides had taken heavy losses. Gorblud also realised he had quite a few more injuries that he hadn't initially noticed. For starters his left eye definitely wasn't working - when he reached up to check if it was still there all he could feel was a bloody crater in the side of his skull. He also appeared to have a hole straight through one of his thighs (probably a lascannon he thought) and even he was surprised he could still walk on it.

After a while of dragging his armour through rubble, corpses and miscellaneous vehicle parts he eventually reached his wagon. He was pleased to see that the grot crew were finished repairing the broken track that had made him abandon the vehicle mid-battle, however many hours ago it was now.

"What's the plan boss?" one of the crew asked in his high pitched sqeak as he entered the cabin.

"Back to the camp - we's got work to do!" Gorblud replied.

"But what about the city? Didn't we win the battle?" screeched the grot.

"Ha! You call this winning?" Gorblud reprimanded. "Leave Braindead to celebrate his ruin - there's nothing for us here. I came here for Winterborne, and the bugger didn't even show his face on the front lines! Send word to gather the boyz and our stuff - we're leaving!"

"Erm, sir..." one of the grotz said hesitantly, "the... the Stompa... the humans sabotaged it... there's nothing left..."

Gorblud just stared at the grot - fury building behind his one remaining eye.

"Er... and it also appears that... that the Deathskulls, they... they stole your Skulhamma..."

While deep in a moment of utter fury, Gorblud still managed a tiny moment of pleasure as he saw the grot sail clear over a ruined wartrakk and land in the burning wreck of a wagon - it was definitely one of his finer kicks he thought. The moment was quickly over though, and he glared at the remaining gretchin who were now literally cowering behind whatever meagre shelter was closest to them.

"GET US BACK TO THE CAMP NOW!" he roared "we'ze got some serious building to do!"

It would be a while before his army was back to strength he thought, but he knew he had the teef and the power to recover from this. He'd build a better Stompa and a better Skulhamma. He might even build one of them flying jets the kult of speed had used - that had caused loads of chaos before the humies shot it out of the sky.

He wasn't finished. He just needed a bit of time to gather some more boyz. And maybe get some more of those force field things - those would be useful against that human artillery.

Just a little more time... then Winterborne would get what was coming to him!

Second Siege of Agratha - Aftermath Part 3

The ride was bumpy as hell, but that wasn't going stop Raknor enjoying it. He looked around the cramped compartment of the Trukk and could see the same grim enjoyment on the faces of the hulking Nobs surrounding him. They'd snuck around the Imperial lines now, and should be hitting the humie artillery emplacements any moment. He'd have to congratulate Nask for his Kommandos' work on discovering this unguarded route - the humies wouldn't know what hit 'em!

Raknor squinted as the Trukk broke through the tree-line and daylight streamed in to the cabin. This was it - time to chop up these humie wretches and make Gorblud proud.

The trukk skreetched to a bone-jarring halt, but Raknor and his squad were used to the exuberance of ork drivers and needed no time to regain their balance before leaping over the front and sides of the cabin.





Big shootas opened up to the left and right of the hulking Warboss as his boots hit the dirt and he broke immediately in to a run. Belcher, his attack squig, squeeled in annoyance as he was thrown off his perch on Raknor's shoulder guard to swing briefly on his chain before scrambling back up again.

It was only after he'd taken several steps that Raknor realised something was wrong. The Imperial lines were still a hundred yards away - the Trukks had stopped too soon! Almost as soon as this thought had gone through his head enemy fire started whipping around him. It was panicky and poorly aimed, but Raknor could already see the enemy forming more organised ranks - it would be mere moments before the ork offence would come under serious fire. Raknor sped-up, urging his fellow Orks to run alongside him.

The Imperial fire intensified and orks began to fall. A large tank straight ahead spat out round after round of large calibre ammunition, mowing down orks wherever the guns were directed. Raknor, began to get worried - there was still a lot of ground to cover and there was a lot of firepower now directed at them.





A huge roar overhead announced the arrival of Mytox and his stormboyz. Raknor looked on in dismay as he realised they had misjudged the jump distance and landed too far in front of the Imperial lines. They were almost instantly being cut to pieces by concentrated fire from a number of Imperial units. Curse those trukk boys, they'd caused this mess!

The death of the stormboyz was sorry loss, but a welcome diversion Raknor realised, as they had probably bought his squad enough time to reach the Imperial front lines. He looked left and right. The losses had been heavy, but not near enough to stop the charge - they could still win glory after all!

He took a large intake of breath and then let loose an almost ground shaking roar.

"WAAAGGGHHH!!!"

With uncontrolled enthusiasm his fellow orks joined in, bellowing and sprinting as fast as their bowed legs could carry them. He noticed with satisfaction as Durog and his bikerz hit the Imperial lines first, driving nearly full-speed into the human infantry while spraying shells and swinging choppas.





Just before Raknor's own unit hit the Imperial lines, a human squad in bright orange fatigues bravely sprayed them with undisciplined las fire as they closed the last few yards. Raknor signalled to his squad to take out the big tank while he dealt with this little annoyance.

The first two humans went down to a burst of fire from his gauntlet mounted shoota - their thin armour no match for his high calibre shells. The next one was cleaved in two by a mighty sweep of his huge choppa which sent the top half of the body sailing a good 15 feet in a beautiful parabola while spraying his comrades with blood.

The next imperial jumped forwards and tried to skewer Raknor with his bayonet, but his clumsy strike was easily parried by Raknor's gauntlet shortly before his head was chopped cleanly off.

Raknor knocked the next human off his feet with the head of his choppa before he could bring his lasgun to bear. Raknor then rapidly deflected the bayonet of another before slicing him from naval to collar in one easy stroke. With each blow he struck Raknor was more invigorated, the power unit of his enhanced choppa seeming to thrum with more energy the more lives it took. He vaguely noticed his squad of Nobs tearing open hatches and lobbing stikkbombs in to the tank to his left, but he was now far too deep in to the thrall of violent combat to pay it much heed.

He only paused when all around him seemed to be dead - orange clad body parts littering the ground around him. He let out a bellowing laugh at the sheer joy of combat.

As he turned to look for new foes a searing pain seared through his chest. Sharply jerking away he heard an awful crunching noise and the pain flared into a brief moment of agony. Looking down he saw the end of a chainsword buried in the armour of his chest plate and broken off at the hilt. One of the orange humans was still alive and had seized an opportunity to attack while Raknor was distracted.

While Raknor was still in shock the human tried slam the broken handle of his sword into the huge ork’s face, but pure instinct made the warboss evade enough to cause a mere glancing blow to his chin.

Raknor quickly recovered his wits, realising the injury was nothing the Doks wouldn't be able to sort out in short order. He took measure of his foe and realised he had nothing further to worry about. The fool had disarmed himself of his most dangerous weapon by stupidly stabbing his opponent with a chain weapon intended for slicing.

In one easy move Raknor knocked the human to the ground with the haft of his choppa before raising it up for the killing blow. He paused briefly to appreciate the kill, giving the human a grim smile as he lay sprawled in a small furrow of mud and dirt.

Just as Raknor started the final downward swing a blindingly bright flash appeared to his left, instantly followed by a searing pain at his neck. His vision blurred and he felt a huge wave of disorientation as the sound of the massive explosion reached his ears.

A moment later his world stopped spinning and his vision slowly came back. The pain at his neck had gone away as quickly as it had arrived, and even the pain in his chest seemed to have abated.

He could see the massive wreck that had been the heavy tank and a couple of his nobz staggering away from its recent cataclysmic explosion. Nearer he saw a human in orange fatigues struggle to his feet under the shadow of a hulking ork figure. The human gently pushed the ork and the body toppled helpless and headless to the floor.

A grim realisation came to Raknor as he recognised the armour and weaponry of the felled ork. Well, no wonder the pain in his chest had gone – his chest was now several feet from his head. As his vision blurred and he drifted in to unconsciousness all he could think was ‘I really hope there is a bluddy dok nearby . . .’

Second Siege of Agratha - Aftermath Part 2

“FIRE!”

The imperial line had overextended. In the West the Leviathan had pushed too far ahead and was now almost cut off from the main battle line. He had heard on the short wave vox that the force under Captain Caine had reached Gravis and were taking up defensive positions among the wreckage of a stompa, The Praetorian Lancers and Dragoons had also managed to reach the Leviathan and were organising themselves for a final charge headlong into the ork lines. 






“Second Rank…”

In the East the Cadian armoured might had come unstuck. The near suicidal advance of ork trukks. battlewagons and bikes had delivered Warboss Gorblud and his retinue deep into their lines. In close quarters the tanks were no match and a great many venerable Leman Russ were unceremoniously ripped apart. Where these ork reinforcements had come from nobody knew, a great many had advanced on the Imperial lines from the flanks and the rear. The cunning of the orks had seemingly been greatly underestimated.










“FIRE!”

Admiral Drax was close by. That much he knew. He had expected to link up with him near the centre of the Imperial lines, attempt to re-establish communication and better coordinate the deployment of the heavier elements of the Fourth Mechanised. With the renewed ork assault and the arrival of the Green Tide, Drax, much like Gravis had been almost cut off from the main Imperial lines. An ork Skull Hamma battlefortress had been closing on the Cadian support weapons. From the reports of his own scouts, it appears that Drax had decided to see to it personally…



“First Rank…”

Colonel Winterborne was brought back into the present when the hull of a nearby chimera imploded under the impact of a crude ork rocket. The shock wave from the explosion washed over his command squad. A number of Cadians had been stood far closer and had been caught in the blast. Lord Stern strode over to them and unflinchingly administered the Emperor’s mercy.



“FIRE!”

The sergeant major continued to shout orders at the amassed Praetorian infantry. The remnants of a number of squads from the fourth foot had formed up with squads of the fourth mechanised. Two ranks deep they stood, arranged in a long line punctuated by support weapons in the form of heavy bolters and autocannons.

“Second Rank...” 

The first rank took to one knee and began reloading their lasrifles. Their comrades took aim over their heads, picking their targets from the onrushing orks.

“FIRE!”

The nearest orks absorbed the Praetorian fire, a great many falling to so many well placed hits, but many more shrugged of the lasfire, seemingly uncaring or unfeeling of the injuries sustained. The heavy weapon gunners did their best to focus on the larger orks, some shots punching clean through, others tearing off limbs. But still they came.



“First Rank...”

The Baneblade Indomitus Rex spoke with the fury of a god. It’s guns tearing huge holes in the ork advance. It advanced to the right of the Praetorian position, supported by Cadian veterans. These were the same veterans who had laid low the tyrant Warboss Gorblud. There hadn’t been time to find the body, and while these cocky veterans were prone to exaggeration, they were certain their melta fire had put too many holes in him to survive.



“FIRE!”

Combined with the armoured onslaught of the Baneblade the ork advance began to waver. It was then that the world went bright white…

Second Siege of Agratha - Aftermath Part 1

The orks emerged from the thick smoke, their guttural war cry hanging in the air. Colonel Winterborne gave a nod to the sergeant major.

“At One Hundred Yards...”

They had arrived late. Bloody late. No sooner had the Praetorian IV left Bolan flats they were engaged by ork Kults of Speed. They saw the orks off time and again, but every attack delayed the Praetorians further. By the time they got to the outskirts of Agratha the devastation was already apparent. Vast swathes of the city had been reduced to rubble, smoke billowed from countless fires and the sky was lit up with flame, explosions and tracer fire. Only the reassuring boom of the artillery companies safely ensconced behind Imperial lines confirmed that the city hadn’t already fallen. Or so they thought…

“Volley Fire Present...”

The disciplined ranks of Praetorian Infantry presented their lasrifles in unison.

Intelligence was still scarce and communication with the defenders had been a practical impossibility. Even with the powerful communications relay operated by Gravis’ command Leviathan precious little had managed to get through the trickery of the orks jamming. Not even the usually secure local vox frequencies worked. It had been suggested by Enginseer Argus that somehow the orks had acquired the Imperial vox codes and somehow decrypted the cypher, but such suggestions were dismissed with contempt for what ork could have the capability for such a complex task.

“Steady lads...”

The orks charged closer. Men in both red and khaki uniforms stood shoulder to shoulder.

The front lines had been a swirling mass of combat, death and destruction. In the East of the city Gravis had mounted a counter attack from the battlements of the Leviathan, laying waste to hordes of greenskins with every salvo from the mighty doomsday cannon. In the west however the Cadian lines had come under crippling ork attack and only the swift intervention of Drax’s armoured fist platoons and Leman Russ squadrons prevented total collapse.

“Aim…”

Still they came closer, you could almost see the whites of their eyes. Targets were picked.

A platoon under the watchful eye of Captain Caine and Primaris Savant had been sent to support Gravis’ men. The primary threat of the Bad Moon stompa had already been eliminated and the orks were dying in droves. That should have been enough. The priority had been to hold the centre draw the orks in further while the advancing forces of Drax and Gravis would spring the trap. That’s why he had gone there with his strength. That should have been enough damn it.

“FIRE!”

The lead advancing orks were punched off their feet by the fire to be trampled by the onrushing horde following in their wake.

Then the guns fell silent. Somehow the orks had outflanked the Imperial lines and set upon the lightly defended artillery emplacements. The artillery support was no more. In the blink of an eye the battle changed, no longer could the Imperial forces keep the orks back, emboldened by the respite from the withering artillery barrage the orks grew bolder and set upon the imperials with renewed frenzy. At this point the Imperial advanced began to falter and one by one advanced units were being forced to fall back or risk being overrun.   

“Volley by Ranks. Front Rank...”

The slavering orks came closer still, uncaring for their grievous loses. Intent only on tearing the guardsmen limb from limb.

to be continued...

Second Siege of Agratha - Prelude

Praetorian IV Mechanised Infantry under the command of Colonel Animus Winterborne. 
Somewhere on the Mputu Ridge 50km Southwest of Bolan flats. 

+++

Colonel Winterborne - How did the greenskins manage to breach the cordon? Details man, give me bloody details. 

Lieutenant Tavistock - Seemingly they breached at the Barlon flats and made straight for Agratha. The Tallarns posted there are... gone.

Colonel Winterborne - What the Hades do you mean gone?

Lieutenant Tavistock - Dead sir, every last one, the camp now resembles a charnel house. The Tallarns were seemingly caught by surprise, our scouts couldn't find a single living soul. 

Captain Caine - 2 full regiments of Tallarns... How on earth did the greenskin filth manage to take them by surprise? Commander Al'tshan is no fool.

Colonel  Winterborne - Quite Captain, seemingly the threat has been sorely underestimated. What intelligence was recovered? We must have something on what happened. 

Enginseer Argus - I can be of assistance Colonel. While the data feeds of the base are unrecoverable I have accessed the pict and audio feeds of a number of badly damaged munition servitors. By piecing together the data and...

Lord Stern - Enough techpriest, speak plainly, what happened?

Enginseer Argus - Apologies my Lord. Somehow the orks managed to conceal their presence until they were right on top of the base, by the time the alarm was raised it was too late. It is not known precisely how this feat was achieved, but closer inspection of etheric data suggests a powerful psyker was present. 

Captain Caine - How could one primitive ork psyker manage such a deception? 

Primaris Savant - It is true ork psykers lack finesse, however the way in which they harness the warp is markedly different from ours... how can I explain... numbers my lords, numbers...

Lord Stern - Primaris I grow impatient, what are you saying? 

Primaris Savant - ...the...the psyker feeds off the orks nearby, to achieve the deception needed to fool the augurs and sentries... I don't think we've seen a horde this size since planet fall. It's beyond even the most pessimistic predictions. Even if the Tallarns hadn't been count unawares... They wouldn't have stood a chance. 

Captain Caine - Holy Throne of Terra...

Colonel Winterborne - Captain! You are Praetorian and must remember to conduct yourself as such. 

Captain Caine - Yes Sir. Apologies sir. 

Colonel Winterborne - Lieutenant, Have you managed to get through to high command yet and notify them of the breach of the cordon. 

Lieutenant Tavistock - All long range communications are still being jammed sir, we are still cut off from high command. We have had no contact from any new regiments. There remains only one other regiment that we are contact with via long wave vox, they are continuing to make best speed for Agratha.

Colonel Winterborne - Looks like it will be down to us to see to the ork menace. I almost pity the greenskins. 2 of Praetoria's finest and being outnumbered only 50 to 1 by the orks barely seems sporting does it. Captain Caine, give the orders for the regiment to form up, let the men know it is time to fight alongside our Praetorian brothers again. 

Captain Caine - Gladly sir.

Colonel Winterborne - One more thing, Lord Stern, ensure the men desist with this Drax's last stand nonsense. He may not be Praetorian but he is no fool and decorum must be maintained. I won't be a bloody footnote in someone else's last stand, the emperor has far grander plans for this glorious regiment. See to it. 

Lord Stern - Consider it done Colonel.

Colonel Winterborne - Lieutenant, update the fourth on our latest intelligence and inform them that we will now make best speed for Agratha. Also, get me Gravis on the Vox, I intend to find out if he is a betting man... 

+++

Helios Pass - Praetorian v Ork Battle Report

Welcome back everyone for the Battle Report of Helios Pass!

Be warned this post is going to get picture heavy very very quickly.

When we left you last the Praetorian IV Mechanised Infantry were in a perilous position, outmaneuvered by Warboss Gorblud's Bad Moonz and trapped in Helios Pass, the Praetorian forces would have to attempt to break out and take valuable intelligence to the defenders of Mercatura Hive. Be sure to check the previous post for the background to this epic battle.

Will Colonel Winterborne survive? Will the Praetorians manage to escape the Ork trap? Read on to find out...

The Batle for Helios Pass...

Just to refresh you all of the objectives of this mission the Imperial Guard need to get infantry off either of the short edges, and in particular the officers and Colonel Winterborne. While the orks need to kill the lot of them and get points for doing so (1 point for each infantry unit, 1 point for each officer and either 3/5 for the colonel depending on whether killed in combat or by shooting).



The deployment for this battle had the IV placed squarely in the middle of the table being allowed 6" either side of that. The orks deployed first and the big decision to make was whether to try and break out left, right or have a go at both. To the left we had just the one battle wagon, mega armoured nobz, plenty of boys and the big mek, while the right had both warbosses, mega armoured nobz, two battle wagons, and once again plenty of boyz and nob bikerz!

After a good 10 minutes of mulling it over I decided to take a chance and head as fast as I could towards the pair of warbosses. A bold move, and certainly risky given that you normally try and stay as far away from them as possible! However my thoughts were that the other orks were less mobile and I was I better having the warbosses front of me than behind, at least then I could meet them on my own terms.



The Praetorian right flank contained the vast majority of the infantry laden chimeras while the left flank had the blob of 30 guardsmen with the priest and a commissar. Their last rights had already been administered, their orders given to die to a man, and they would buy as much time as possible for the mobile elements to escape.

To help us out with the game (there being an awful lot of points on the table) we decided to ignore difficult terrain and just treat it all as open.

The two armies face off against each other. The Praetorian firing line make themselves ready for the onrushing ork horde.



The Praetorian's get the first tun and cautiously make their first moves. The infantry safe in their chimeras largely stay back hoping to get some valuable shots before the orks get to close. The rest of the armour moves forward,vying for position hoping to make their opening salvo count.



The Praetorian heavy shooting focused on the two battlewagons containg the warbosses. Both the medusa and Macharius targetting them, both managed to score penetrating hits but do little other than prevent them moving or shooting the next turn. Not a bad result as it keeps them a little more at arms length.



In a hail of autocannon shells, both groups of deffkoptas were annihilated! The fearsome exterminator accounting for one unit, while the hydra and leman russ combined to account for the other. The guns on those  and their maneuverability would have been a real hindrance to my chimeras, so it was a real stroke of luck!

The rest of my shooting was largely ineffective with multi lasers and heavy bolters damaging a war trukk or two and eliminating a few of the ork boyz.



The orks response was unsurprisingly to leg it forward as fast as possible! Both warbosses disembarked and figured and tried to get as close as possible in the hope of assaulting my lead units. My 30 strong blob squad had advanced in my turn and were now dangerously close to return ork fire.



The psyker adds his power to that of the squad but to little effect against the ork hordes.



The orks having disembarked from there transport were a real threat, one unit of mega armoured nobz with Gorblud (my AP2 weaponry consisting of the medusa and nothing else), and the other warboss leading the cybork nobz with a painboy.

As the orks get close they attempt to charge the hellhound and medusa, however the dice gods smile upon the Praetorians and both fail there charges by mere milimeters.



Eager to score some easy victory points the ork shooting targets the 30 strong blob squad. Targetted by countless boyz, the kannon on the truck and a myriad of other weaponry, as the smoke clears only 6 and the psyker remain standing.



The table as it stood at the end of turn 1. Eliminating the deffkoptas had opened up the flanks for the escaping Praetorians, providing the ork centre could be occupied they might just be able to make it out alive. In turn two we would surely see the carnage reach new highs.



Getting through all these orks in the centre was going to be a real struggle. Surely in their next turn they would be in assault. Time to fix bayonets...



Praetorian Lancer, the noblest cavalry in the Imperial Guard, and the worst led. Seeking to avenge the near destruction of the holding platoon the lancers see the orks (out of square formation) and prepare to charge a rather large unit of boyz (a good 15+). They certainly don't lack for bravery. None survive.



The Thunderbolt arrives in the second turn aiming to run interference for the withdrawing units. Meanwhile the Praetorian armour maneuvers further into position, establishing firing lines and hoping to capitalise on the orks currently in the open. If they let this many orks get within charge range the armour of their tanks will provide little protection.



After a few shots at the mega armoured nobz proved ineffective the shooting refocused on the cybork nobz. Shell after shell and round after round was expended attempting to lay waste to them. When the smoke cleared one very angry Warboss was left standing there.



Warboss Gorblud and his retinue crest the hill and sound an almighty WAAAAAGGGHHH!!!



The two warbosses, the mega armoured nobz, the biker nobz and a unit of boyz all make it into combat with the Praetorian armour. The medusa somehow survives but is bereft of its main gun and tracks. A Chimera containing an infantry squad is destroyed. The hellhound is seriously damaged and left unable to fire, while the Devil Dog after failing to inflict any casualties with its chem cannon is destroyed.



On the left flank the orks are also closing dangerously quickly, the hydra was the first of the tanks to fall to the onrushing orks.. Buoyed by their success against the lancers the main mob then makes short work of the holding platoon. A brave challenge by the psykers was met by an ork nob resulting in mutual death while the rest of the squad died without giving an inch.



The squad from the wrecked chimera were forced to emergency disembark only to find themselves eye to eye with the meg armoured nobz.



At the end of turn two and start of Praetorian turn three the casualties on both sides were begin to mount up. At this stage the Praetorians had yet to score (no infantry having made it off the board) while the orks had accounted for a heavy weapons squad and the holding platoon and so had two victory points.



The remaining mechanised infantry made their way for the right board edge, making the most of the time afforded by having the warbosses tied up in the middle. The exterminator imposed itself between the nearest warboss and the chimeras, hoping to present itself as an irresistible target to the orks and prevent them from engaging the infantry. The Thunderbolt continued strafing the ork positions while both leman russ and the macharius moves to impose themselves in between the orks on the left flank and the rear armour of the retreating chimeras.



The Praetorian heavy dragoons offered themselves up to the Emperor and also prepared to sell themselves dearly, heading for another large mob of orks. Once again, in what may be the last time I am able to use Rough Riders (if the new codex removes them as is rumoured), none survived.



The Thunderbolt having made its attack, surveys the devastation and begins to pull up and heads for the board edge to re-enter the fray at a later stage.



The Macharius continues to prowl the centre ground, its gunners reliably picking off ork targets. However, now with the battles lines compromised and chaos ensuing, it will surely only be a matter of time before it gets some unwanted greenskin attention.



The Tech Priest will leave none of the machine spirits behind, he soothes the last of the escaping chimeras before moving to intercept a mob of outflanking orks.



With no AP2 weaponry remaining the Praetorians are helpless in preventing the mega armoured nobz and the mekboy from closing on the Macharius, while another mob of orks destroy the supporting Leman Russ.



The mechanised infantry and Colonel Winterborne's Command Chimera make good their escape and almost reach safety as the Praetorian's begin their turn 4. The Thunderbolt flies off the board while the hellhound regroups and takes revenge against the boyz who destroyed the Leman Russ.



With the Colonel and 3 infantry squad almost safe victory seems to be slipping from the clutches of Warboss Gorblud. The Macharius attempts to withdraw from the mega armoured nobz but is left with little room as it is surrounded by the second unit and a warboss.



The Macharius Tank Commander frantically swings the turret guns round hoping to take down some of the mega armoured nobz, however the shells prove no match for the orks armour. The Exterminator continues to wreak havoc among the orks and single-handedly fells the second ork warboss in one round of shooting!



The Tech Priest can only watch on in horror as the green tide closes on the Macharius. He knows it is lost before they even make contact and moves closer to it to to sooth the machine spirit. The orks then charge in, revelling in assault finally getting their power klaws in to combat with the tank, tearing the armour apart before...



KABOOM!!! The ensuing apocalyptic explosion flattens the local area, killing the Tech Priest and all but one of the mega armoured nobz. In the confusion that followed Colonel Winterborne made good his escape and made best possible speed to Hive Mercatura.



The battle field that was once so full no nothing more than a tank graveyard, with Warboss Gorblud cutting a solitary figure as the last of the Praetorians withdraw.

The orks had managed to decimate the Praetorian army but had failed to prevent the Colonel and enough of the guardsmen from escaping. Only 5-10 models remained on the table at the end, it had been utter carnage.

Game Result - Praetorian Victory

Post Game Analysis - 
Colonel Winterborne
Well that was one hell of a battle! Not much left standing for either side at the end, and far closer than it finished points wise. Had only a few dice rolls gone the other way (the orks charge distances in particular!) then I may well be writing an obituary the esteemed Colonel!

The battle plan I formed turned out to be a sound one, make for the scarier quicker orks and delay the rest. I managed to score a great result downing the deffkoptas straight away which made a convenient hole which the orks couldn't plug. They were far more intent on charging forward and smashing da umies! When they got amongst my lines there was very little I could but drive the chimeras as far away as possible.

Notable performer for my army was definitely the exterminator, that tank is a beast and when it comes to orks nothing kills them better. The cavalry where about as useful as a chocolate teacup but made for some cinematic moments.

If I was to play this again I think I'd like to see even more orks! It was a shame my chimeras had such a clear line down the flank to get off the table, if there had been another unit of boyz playing sweeper it could have made for a very tight finish. With regards to my tactics, I think I'd do much the same, distract the scary stuff, kill the fast stuff and keep the troops out of harms way.

I'm definitely looking forward to the big battle in the summer after this warm up game, and who knows next time I may well be fielding an army of Praetorian Astra Militarium!


Warboss Gorblud - 
It was a great game.  A disappointing result for the Orks, but still great fun.  The battle was pretty close (with some awful dice rolling on both sides) but the large number of points for getting the Colonel off the side of the board made it far too tempting a focus for the Praetorians early on.

I think I split the Ork forces in a sensible fashion, but maybe could have deployed them better so that the blast weapons couldn't cause quite so much havoc.  Not getting any of the Ork units in to close combat on the first turn really cost me as it just gave the Praetorians far too many opportunities to slim the Ork numbers and create gaps in the Ork lines.


If I was to play it again I think the most important thing would be to have a Bik Mek with a Kustom Force Field on each side of the board to get some more of those much needed cover saves – unfortunately that would require converting another model!

Colonel Winterborne

Epilogue:

“Gorblud casually swept a piece of tank wreckage aside to reveal an injured Praetorian artillery man.  Bringing his shoota to bear he ended the life of the miserable wretch with a quick burst.  These humies died so easily!  The last of the artillery man’s squad mates chose that moment to leap out of his hiding place and charge Gorblud from behind, firing his lasgun at point blank range and raising his bayonet to try and skewer the mighty Ork.  It was a brave but ultimately futile attempt as the fusillade bounced harmlessly off the Warboss’ armour.  Before the bayonet even scratched its surface Gorblud had swept round and sliced the guardsman in to three neat pieces with one swipe of his mighty klaw.

Gorblud stepped out of the wreckage, searching for his next target.  The Praetorian’s guns had taken a heavy toll on his forces before he had managed to reach their tank line, but once the Orks had a chance to utilise their Power Klaws the Imperial armour formation quickly fell apart.  He turned his head towards the direction he had seen the tank with the big aerials – he was certain their leader would be in that one so he had headed in that direction as quickly as he could.  But as he gazed out through the smoke a bare patch of desert greeted his eyes – the small group of Imperial transports had vanished.

Looking round the battlefield he saw the surviving members of his warband swarming towards the last few human tanks that were still able to fire.  He’d lost a lot of Orks today, but they’d killed a lot of humies as well.  A roar overhead drew his gaze upwards and he spotted the Imperial plane lining up for another strafing run on one of his units.  It didn't keep his attention long – it could do little damage on its own to his spread out force, and the dakka wagonz  would have their own fun with it once they arrived up the hill.


Turning around he finally spotted the tanks he’d been looking for, and to his annoyance they were racing off through a gap in his lines.  He spied the wrecked deffkoptas and bodies of the ork unit that had meant to be blocking that route, and cursed there pathetic attempt to slow the tanks.  The Imperial Leader was escaping with his head intact and there was nothing Gorblud could do about it!  He hadn't even found one of the Imperial sub-leaders’ heads to decorate his pointy stick.  It would be a frustrating walk back down the mountain.  Maybe one of the Mek’s had survived and could fix his wagon...”