Victory Pointless

This was game 3 for my Ork crusade army – a 500 point game using the Combat Patrol mission Forward Outpost.

“Spread out, Ladz, I gots a feelin’ deres some good gubbins to grab in dese ruins.”

The Ork landing party picked its way clumsily through the rubble.  One of the gretchin tugged at a half-buried crate.  “Found sum, boss!”. It started to dance a little jig of glee, but the sudden sound of an explosion sent it scurrying for cover instead.

Uzblitz frowned.  That had sounded like a bomb squig, and uniquely of all his forces it wasn’t like the Kommandos to waste good explosives.  He thumped his radio until the static reduced enough to make out words.  “Nargrub!  Wots appenin’?”

“We gots hostilez, sah!” Sgt. Nargrub responded.  “More of dem red beakies, sah!  Must’ve not liked us bordin’ dere ship, sah!  We iz engagin, sah!  Requestin fire support, sah!”

There was the sound of gun and rokkit fire from the Kommandos’ forward position.  At a signal from the Warboss, Krakdakka’s Flash Gitz headed in that direction, snazzgun muzzles ablaze and filling the air with an exotic array of munitions.  One or two of them even appeared to have targets.

A shower of rockcrete chunks clattered off of Uzblitz’s armour as a bolt struck the wall behind him.  Another took the head off a nearby Ork.  Red-armoured figures were advancing through the shattered buildings towards them.

“Form up!” He bellowed.  “Urdgit!  Send in da kannon fodda!”

The ancient runtherd rolled his eyes and grumbled, but with judicious application of boot and sparking prod urged his gretchin charges forward, towards the enemy.  With any luck they’d get under the marines’ feet and slow them down enough to-

But the space marines were already here and the gretchin were gone, mown down in a hail of bolter fire with the last few survivors fleeing ahead of the charging Blood Angels.  With chainswords shrieking the astartes crashed into the Ork lines, cutting down the greenskins with a ferocity and rage Uzblitz had barely considered possible from mere humans.  He was almost impressed.

On the still-open channel to Nargrub came the muffled sounds of similar combat.  “We’re bein’ overrun, sah!  Da ladz gave as good as dey got, but – Ugh!” Static.

Uzblitz drew himself up to his full height.  “Roight,” he said, “dats enuffa dat!  OI! SPACE MAREENS!  WE KRUMPED YER MATES ON DERE SPACESHIP AN’ WE’RE GONNA KRUMP YOU TOO!” A small part of his brain pointed out that actually they’d been forced to retreat and he himself had almost died during that encounter, but these were the kinds of trivial technicalities that the Ork mind did not dwell upon.  He ignited the missile welded into the blade of his great choppa and allowed it to propel him forwards into the fray.

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!” The primal cry from his own throat was echoed down the line as the battered Ork forces threw themselves into battle.  The power klaws of his bodyguards bit deep into astartes battleplate.  He swung the sputtering choppa again.  Again.  Again.  Again.

Their white-clad leader lay at his feet, his armour spattered with so much blood it was barely distinguishable from one of his compatriots’.  More rushed in, bolters blazing.

Uzblitz kept swinging until the green mist cleared and there was nobody else to thump.  He stood on a mound of bodies, green and red alike.

The radio crackled again.  “Hello.  Iz ziz fing on?”

“Professa?  Dat you?  Got any more beakies over dere?”

“Zorry, boss, ve haf just krumped ze last uf zem.”

“Pity.” It had been a good fight, but a short one.  “Orlright, gather up da scrap an’ any ladz da painboyz can stitch back togevva.  Letz get back to da ship an’ go find somefing else ta fight!”

Result

Ork victory: 45 to 25

Post Mortem

This was melee army vs melee army (I technically had more shooting than the marines, not that it did much) and Blood Angels get some pretty terrifying bonuses on the charge, so my game plan going in was to try to maintain enough spacing that they couldn’t easily charge me but I could use my greater mobility on the Waaagh turn to advance and get the charge on them instead.

In the end this didn’t quite work, but I did manage my backup plan of baiting them into charging units I could afford to lose.  The big advantage Orks have, especially at this game size,  is numbers and even though I lost my Boyz, Kommandos and most of my Gretchin to the initial assault, the Nobs and Flash Gitz were safe and pack enough of a wallop on their own to be able to counter-attack successfully and still win out.