Orks abandon the safety of the bastion to charge the Imperial attackers. Both vehicles and the supporting infantry squad were destroyed, although the demolition team in the Chimera escaped to safety.

The Orks Charge

Over the next few minutes, guardsmen began to hear the orks bellow, their warcries building as the xenos worked themselves into a war fury. Finally, as one guardsmen commented, “the war cries suddenly melded into this thunderous WAAAGH! and the greenskins broke into a charge toward our lines.”

The first charge swept over the Lemon Russ outside the bastion. The orks gathered behind the fortification rushed forward and clambered atop the tank, striking at the engine grate, exhaust system, and the thinner rear armor. A nob armed with a power klaw drove his weapon into the besieged armored vehicle and tore its guts out.

Only meters away, the Chimera and demolition crew also came under attack. Orks streamed out the side gate of the bastion and charged the vehicle, tearing it apart. Most of the demolition squad survived by bailing out of the rear hatch and fleeing toward their fellow guardsmen on the Imperial right flank.

On the right flank, the charging orks did not fare so well. The xenos found that broken ground separated them from the human warriors to their front, and their charge fell short. That gave the Imperials time to bring heavy bolters and lasguns to bear, and a veteran squad moved forward in a counterattack armed with flamers and shotguns.

The ork charge was blunted, and nearly half the greenskins were killed.

The ork charge on the right flank was confronted by intense fire from guardsmen. A veteran squad inside the Chimera soon disembarked and, with shotguns blazing, charged into the greenskin tide.

A Warlord Falls

Just as it seemed the Imperials would sweep the orks off the right flank, though, the momentum of the fight shifted. The ork warlord stood his ground, despite being outnumbered 10-to-1, and only after the rest of the right flank joined the melee did the warlord finally fall.

At this point, both sides fell back. The orks were disorganized and discouraged by the loss of their leader, and the guardsmen were simply exhausted by the sheer ferocity of the fighting.

Intermittent fighting continued throughout the day, but the orks showed no signs of wanting to close again with the guardsmen and, without armor support, the 5th Platoon lacked the strength to make a renewed effort against the bastion.

The battle ended in stalemate.

It took more than a dozen guardsmen to finally bring down the ork warlord.

Victory Points

Imperial: Three units destroyed, 3 v.p.; First Blood, 1 v.p.; Slay the Warlord, 1 v.p.; Linebreaker, 1 v.p. Total: 6 v.p.

Ork: Control the bastion, 3 v.p.; one enemy unit destroyed, 1 v.p. Total: 4 v.p.

Imperial Victory!

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TheGM: What a fight. The Gaffer pulled this scenario out of an old 40K battle book. Essentially, both sides earned victory points for the fate of the bastion, units destroyed, and the basic secondary objectives that are used in most scenarios.

The game ended up a tactical win for the Imperial Guard (6 v.p. to 4 ork v.p.), but it was a strategic failure (the bastion remained in enemy hands).

It could have easily gone the other way. The Lemon Russ’ battle cannon missed with every shot and didn’t kill a single ork. The shots scattered every time, with distances ranging from nine to 11 inches off target. (One scattered shot did hit the bastion but didn’t even manage a glancing hit.)

Just two successful shots out of five would have prevented the successful ork attack on the Imperial armor.

As for the right flank, a poor charge roll by the orks gave the Imperial Guard an opportunity, and they took it. A mobs of orks, along with the warlord’s Nob entourage, took severe damage from lasguns, shotguns, and multi-lasers, and the charge of a veteran squad took out most of the greenskins. Only the warlord and a handful of nobs were left.

But the warlord was a monster, and he nearly overwhelmed the veteran squad. Only when two more infantry squads joined the fight did the warlord go down (and even that involved bad saving throw rolls by The Gaffer).

What a battle!

Click here to return to the battle’s beginning.

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The Corvus Cluster is a Warhammer 40K blog documenting our gaming adventures in the fantastical sci-fi universe of Games Workshop.