Battle Report - Orks vs Astra Militarum

Hello!

Back again with another report with the Orks, taking on another Dan with some high flying air cavalry Imperial Guard. To keep it simple we decided to play the standard Only War mission from the 9th edition core rules, so that's four objectives, a point for each you control at the start of the turn and a bonus point for the classic slay the warlord! We were at the amusingly named Hull's Angels gaming club in Hull, and Dan picked out a suitably thematic board for us, obviously the Astra Militarum were performing an air strike on the Ork settlement.

I, somewhat lazily, took the exact same list as the last game against the Aeldari. A Snakebite battalion with some tough, stompy elements and 5 command points immediately sunk into upgrades:

HQ: Warboss (kombi-skorcha, Surly as a Squiggoth, Da Killa Klaw, Da Biggest Boss), Weirdboy (Warphead, Warpath, Da Jump), Big Mek with Kustom Force Field (Brogg's Buzzbomb)

Troops: 2x 30 Boyz (Powerklaw), 10 Boyz (Powerklaw)

Elites: WAAAGH! Banner Nob, 3 Meganobs, 10 Tankbustas

Heavy Support: Gorkanaut (Slug Gubbin), Squiggoth, 5 Killa Kans (Klaws, rokkit launchas, Dirty Gubbinz)

Dan's Air Cav had a load of flyers, obviously, and Tempestus Scions to jump out and cause some damage. They were Kappic Eagles, so would be getting +1 to hit when they jumped out, and there was also an upgrade on the Valkyries to keep the -1 to hit while in hover mode. He'd also taken a cheeky Ordo Xenos Inquisitor and her faithful cyber-mastiff (a Commissar). I don't know the exact composition of the list or all the upgrades, but it was something like this: 

HQ: Tempestor Prime (Warlord - Master Vox), Tempestor Prime (Old Grudges), Ordo Xenos Inquisitor (psyker, inferno pistol, force sword), Commissar Doggo (plasma pistol, power fist) 

Troops: 3x 10 Scions (4 plasma guns, plasma pistol), 10 Scions (4 volley guns)

Elites: 2x 4 Command Squad Scions (4 Meltaguns), 4 Bullgryns, 2x Officer of the Fleet

Flyers: 3 Valkyries (heavy bolters, rocket pods, multilasers), 2x Vendetta (all the lascannons, heavy bolters) 

Deployment - everything on the Guard side was either in a plane or in the sky (melta squads dropping in from above). I had the boyz ready to push up and jump, and the 'ard stuff all clustered on the left flank under the force field and supervised by the Warboss and banner Nob. Once again the Tankbustas were on the back of the Squiggoth and the Meganobz were in the belly of the Gorkanaut.

Turn one went to the Astra Militarum, who immediately slammed on the air brakes into hover mode across the army. One squad of Scions and an Officer of the Fleet (who called an air strike on the Gorkanaut) deployed out of a forward Valkyrie onto an objective, while the rest held back. Then there was a lot of gunfire. The white Boyz were focused on by the Valkyries, while the Vendettas and Scions shot up the Squiggoth and Gorkanaut. The Boyz survived with a handful of models, while I got pretty lucky to only take 8 damage from four lascannon wounds on Nipper Jr, and the 'naut made it through relatively well also.

My turn, and the Orks surged forward. The white ones ran away, to be replaced by an Unstoppable Green Tide of additional Boyz (onto an objective), while the pink ones did Da Jump to get to a central position. The small purple squad hung back on an objective, while the Killa Kans claimed the one on my left flank. Firepower from the Gorkanaut, Kans and Tankbustas damaged a Vendetta, but the real damage would come from melee...

The Gorkanaut and Boyz charged the very low flying Valkyrie, grabbing it out of the sky, as well as clearing up the Scion squad and the Fleet officer. This move left my Boyz somewhat exposed, but I was claiming all four objectives.

Turn two, the Astra Militarum scored zero points for holding objectives, but were fully in operation: kill the Orks. Everyone disembarked and formed up into a firing line, orders going across the line to reroll ones to hit. One flyer zoomed over to drop off the Inquisitor and her Commissar dog behind my characters, while the melta squads dropped in as well! There was a lot of bang bang. Warboss Redtoof and Big Mek Gubbinz both fell to meltaguns, while the Valkyrie finished off the banner Nob. Lascannons blasted the Gorkanaut, causing the Meganobs to tumble out onto the objective, ready to get charged by Bullgryns. Combined fire from multiple Scion squads and Valkyries completely wiped out the pink mob and reduced the white ones down to a mere 5 models after morale. Ouch!

The Inquisitor successfully charged Nipper Jr, reducing him down to 5 wounds with her 'wounds anything that's not a vehicle on 2+' relic. However in return the big Squig sat on her and she died. Elsewhere the Bullgryns charged the Meganobz, but good saves from both sides meant neither of us lost a model. A brutal turn of killing (in two turns Dan had effectively killed around 75 boyz!) and a point scored for Slay the Warlord.

Ork turn two, the Guard had pushed us off a couple of objectives, but we still held the ones on our half of the table, so two points and into the lead. I'd lost a lot of Orks, but against puny oomies, even a few boyz can do some real damage. I lined up to take back the lost objectives with the white mob remnants on the right flank and a Killa Kan charge into the Bullgryns on the left. First though, the Weirdboy teleported himself to a slightly safer position near the Squiggoth, leaving the small Boyz mob alone to guard the back field. Smite cleared a Bullgryn, before kans and Tankbustas downed the damaged Vendetta and hurting the other. Three planes left.

The charges were successful, Kans removed the Bullgryns and the Boyz reduced the Scion squad to a mere two models, taking that objective back. A successful counter punch, but there were plenty more oomies kicking about in our village!

Guard turn three, and once again no objectives held. One of the Scion units popped into the Vendetta, which zoomed over to harass the Weirdboy and Squiggoth, while the Valkyrie and melta troopers went hunting my objective holding purple squad. Shooting reduced the purple mob to just the nob, killed off two meganobz (taking them off an objective), and removed the white mob - though some strong Snakebite saves made it more of a challenge than it should have been. Thanks to previous damage the Vendetta failed to kill the Weirdboy or the Squiggoth.

Looking to secure an objective and remove the last model, the command Scions charged the purple Nob, but he survived on one would and killed three of them! Happy with his haul of dead oomies, he then ran off.

Orks turn three, I'd been shifted off three objectives but still held one, so up to 3 points. The Kans clanked onto an objective, looking pretty solid to hold it this time. Nipper Jr moved around to get the Tankbustas a shot at the couple of Scions that held the objective the white Mob died for. That was about it for things I could move! The Weirdboy then cracked his knuckles, and Jumped the lone Meganob over to face the lone melta gunner on my backfield objective. He followed it up with a super Smite on the Vendetta, destroying it utterly! Four of the scions died on the way out, and were looking like a tasty charge for Nipper Jr. Tankbustas only managed to frag one Scion, so that left them safe on at least one objective.

However both the charges were successful, the Squiggoth plowing into the Scions and goring a load more to death, while the Meganob pulped the melta gunner.

Going into guard turn four and Dan was suddenly also lacking in assets. He did pick up a point for an objective to make it 2-3 to me. The Meganob got melted and the Weirdboy got mauled to death by the 'commissar', I think, but otherwise not much could happen. At this point it was pretty clear the Guard didn't have the board presence to get back into the game, though the warlord's plane did move up to help clear an objective and present the opportunity of him falling out onto it if I blew up his ride!

Turn four, Kans held an objective, making it 4-2, and they went and murdered some Scions. With just the one objective safely held by the Guard for turn 5, I could just sit back and do nothing for the last couple of turns. But I decided it would be much more fun and Orky if I could blow up that plane and slay the warlord!

Nipper Jr got into position, alongside the Tankbustas who disembarked so they could get better shots at the flying tank. Using More Dakka they downed it, leaving the Tempestor Prime to parachute onto the objective...

And promptly be eaten by a big old squig. Going into turn five I was on 5 points with Slay the Warlord to 3, so there wasn't much to play for other than revenge...

The angry Commissar doggo charged the Squiggoth, enraged at the undignified death of it's master. It took a chunk out of the blue beast with it's powerfist/jaw, but it was then crunched up by Nipper Jr's big yellow teef.

Final score would be 6-3, a bloody but in the end convincing win for the Orks! WAAAGH!!!

That was an awesome game, so much fun seeing the guard zip all over the board and having little skirmishes everywhere. I was expecting my big stuff to die quickly, but I didn't quite anticipate the amount of dakka the Scions and their planes could put out to remove boyz! Still my tougher units managed to hold on to give me some tools to use at the end. Ultimately though, this game was won on objectives, as is so often the case with 9th edition.

Nipper Jr once again did me proud by surviving to the end. He and his Tankbustas did some real work this game, but I'm tempted to say the key unit was the Weirdboy. Da Jump got me units into positions to clear off objectives, and his mind bullets shot down a plane! Similarly to the last game, the Killa Kans were also unsung heroes, coming in under the radar to avoid being targeted and grabbing objectives. It's always a great game when both sides can point to a bunch of units that performed well - I think the Valkyries and various Scion infantry squads were the stars for the Imperials for sure.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed reading, and stay safe.

Eight Days on Reuvengrad Part 2 - Narrative Campaign with SorcererDave

Hello!

Once more going back to the before times when one could freely visit a friend to play toy soldiers and film it, here's part two of the latest narrative campaign with SorcererDave, Eight Days on Reuvengrad. 

After the events of part one, Ordo Malleus Inquisitor Ivan Herrick follows up on a lead on the planetary governor's aid who seems to have been cooperating with heretics. He leads a small force of Skitarii from the forge world of Ryza, accompanied by two ancient relic Kastelan robots on a mission to a remote space port in the mountains, where they find the work of the great enemy is already underway...

As before, it's a super narrative game and obviously filmed in the 8th edition ruleset, although I think if you are into this kind of game the exact rules will be of a secondary concern behind the drama of watching the events unfold and the Sorcerer's excellent storytelling. I do hope you enjoy it - having forgotten much of what happened I watched it and found some slightly narcissistic amusement in my own antics! We're both keeping an eye on the Covid situations in our areas and planning to film more as soon as reasonably possible after 9th edition properly drops. I suspect we'll need a few games of 'normal' 40k first though before we feel confident enough in the new rules to totally break them for narrative purposes!

Anyway, watch the video, have fun and stay safe everyone. 

Eight Days on Reuvengrad part 1 - Narrative campaign with SorcererDave

Hello!

Those of you who have been reading for a while may remember back at the start of the year I posted about a narrative campaign that SorcererDave and I had been planning and had started filming - about the Inquisition investigating heresy on the planet of Reuvengrad. Well, due to obvious reasons, we've been unable to film any battle reports recently, so the two we had done were waiting for things to go back to 'normal' before being put on the internet. The intention being to not have a big delay between episodes. However with 9th edition 40k on the horizon, the decision was made to start releasing them now while we are still in 8th edition.

That said, this campaign is Narrative play, with a capital N. There are a lot of 8th edition rules that we modified or outright ignored for narrative purposes. It's not balanced, it's not competitive, it's not even got proper armies. This campaign is very much driven by the story. It's got action, it's got drama, it's got RPG elements and a mad Sorcerer acting as a 'Dungeon Master'. It's inspired by Dan Abnett books and Dark Heresy campaigns and the old Inquisitor battle reports from White Dwarf. If all that sounds cool to you, please go and give it a watch:

I really hope you enjoy this one, I know I did. And I really hope we can film more before too long. Stay safe out there everyone!

Inquisition Land Raider

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This one has been a loooooong time in the WIP stage, having been bought and built back when the Land Raider Redeemer was a new kit, but sat in a box waiting for the inspiration to paint it. Inspiration came with plans for a new narrative campaign with SorcererDave featuring the Inquisition. To date we've filmed two episodes, yet to go up on YouTube, and it definitely felt time to finally give this venerable machine a coat of paint.

So here we go, an Inquisitorial Land Raider Redeemer, the personal transport of Inquisitor Mortimer Arctos of the Ordo Hereticus, crewed by battle sisters of the Order of the Azurine Heart. I tried to somewhat replicate the paint job on the wife's beautiful sisters of battle, with a few changes - primarily swapping out the white for black on some of the tank's panels, as Inquisitor Arctos himself wears blue and black. The most notable and heavily converted feature of the tank is the assault ramp drawbridge leading to a marble archway and a heavy wooden door, the Inquisition does like to make an entrance! A couple of other quick things to note - all the scrolls and seals have 'writing' on them - squiggly lines with a fine drawing pen, and the soot around the engine and weapons is one of the forge world weathering powders, which gives a lovely realistic stain once you hit it with a matt varnish.

Of course, with the Land Raider done, I had to take some pictures with Inquisitor Arctos himself and some of his allies, ready to burn some heretics! Enjoy.

Welcome to Reuvengrad

Hello!

I've not just been getting excited about the GT recently, but also something at the very opposite end of the 40k scale of narrative - an all new series of battle reports with SorcererDave! This campaign though is going to be a bit different from what we did previously in The Battle of Morgan's Reach, in that we are dialing the narrative up even further, making a few more tweaks to the rules, and borrowing plenty from tabletop roleplaying games.

We filmed the first game this week, and it was a load of fun, so I really hope it's enjoyable for the viewers when it gets up to YouTube, as I'd like to do more! We did try to cut out a chunk of the unnecessary waffling, so I thought I'd write some companion articles to replace it and expand a bit on what is happening. This first one is merely an introduction to the setting and the characters of the Imperial forces, controlled by me. There's also some nice pictures in here, some I took, some taken by the Sorcerer himself. He also has some more info on the wider setting for his battle reports here.

The planet of Reuvengrad, only habitable world in the system of the same name, is a relatively unremarkable hive world within the Acheron sector. It is situated near to many active or recent warzones but not close enough to be considered currently under threat. A number of regiments are being raised for the Astra Militarum to fulfill and exceed the world's tithe quota, and Reuvengrad is expected to contribute men and munitions to Imperial war efforts in the Gulf of Athena for many decades to come.

Reuvengrad has long had issues with heretical cults springing up within it's underhives. The local enforcers and the Adeptus Arbites have so far been successful in shutting down these cults before they could spread significantly, but their persistence is apparently cause for concern by some. Several members of the holy ordos of the Inquisition have recently arrived on world, each for their own reasons, but apparently all linked to the cults.

Inquisitor Mortimer Arctos of the Ordo Hereticus was drawn to Reuvengrad by, of all things,  irregularities in the recorded movements of transport ships and their cargo. Regarding himself as a witch hunter, his experience told him that something didn't add up, and that it was evidence of something more malevolent than mere smugglers or thieves. Along with his retinue and faithful canid Alleb, he smelled heresy. He brings a force of Adepta Sororitas of the Order of the Azurine Heart with him to the planet.

Inquisitor Ivan Herric of the Ordo Malleus had a more unconventional tip off. He has no qualms with skirting the edge of radicalism and it was an interrogation of a daemon that revealed to him a grave threat on Reuvengrad. He has vowed to stop that threat, whatever form it may take, by any means necessary. He is accompanied by allies within the Adeptus Mechanicus, of both forge world Ryza and Imperial Knight house Taranis.

Inquisitor Deatrix Kane of the Ordo Xenos is a relative newcomer to the role, but she has already built up a network of contacts including some among the Adeptus Astartes and, allegedly, the Aeldari - who according to rumour provided a psy-boosting artifact to grant her psychic abilities. Her sources told her rumours of some great and powerful artifact hidden on Reuvengrad, possibly of alien origin, and she has come to investigate.

Upon arrival the trio of Inquisitors quickly found themselves contacted by a superior - Lord Inquisitor Octavian Vensk, who has been working covertly on planet for some time. Though keeping tight-lipped about his own investigations, he has tasked the makeshift conclave with eradicating the cult of the Bloody Sabbath. Their first order of business is to locate the headquarters and personally eliminate the cult's leaders. This is where the story begins...

No one expects the Imperial Inquisition!

Hello!

As I recently posted, the wife has a lovely Sisters of Battle army, built mostly during the days of the old Witch Hunters codex. That means there are also some Inquisition and assorted other Imperial units around. So here they are! Consider it part two of the army. So we've got a bunch of Inquisitors (notably including the classic metal Inquisitor Karamazov who appeared in a battle report and somehow didn't fall apart), a load of Acolytes, some Assassins and of course the Rogue Trader crew I painted last year. Most of this was painted by the wife, but there are a few bits I did, notably the Vindicare and the radical Inquisitor with bolt pistol and deamon blade.

And finally, some group photos of just the Inquisitors. Everything you have been told is a lie...