A squadron of Warkoptas begin their attack on a military training camp on the world of Iconia.

“We’s having a good time. We’s shootin’ up humies, flyin’ fast, and we’s lots of red paint. Who’s we gonna fight next?”—Gutkrumpa, warboss of the Speed Freaks mob, Gutkrumpa’s Kill Koptas

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ICONIA (6 417 746.M41)—A surprise attack by ork “koptas” was repulsed today at a military training camp to the southwest of the Hobru Jungle.

The target of the greenskin attack was a temporary encampment of Planetary Defense Force (PDF) recruits engaged in training exercises prior to their assignment to a war zone.

Forty recruits were killed and 87 wounded, military authorities report. The majority of the ork force was destroyed, with only two Deffkoptas and a handful of orks managing to retreat from the fight.

Alerted to the approaching enemy aircraft, conscripts and veteran instructors deployed for battle and shot down the majority of Warkoptas before they reached the camp’s perimeter.

The enemy force, consisting of six Chinork Warkoptas and a two dozen Deffkoptas, appeared out of the dawn mist at 06:58, according to Major Luka Horvat, senior military intelligence analyst for the Iconia PDF.

“Sentries on the perimeter reported the sound of engines approaching, and the Duty Officer ordered a general alert,” said Horvat in a public briefing this afternoon. “By the time the orks reached the encampment, the majority of recruits were in position to deal with the threat.”

The majority of Warkoptas was shot down by heavy weapons fire provided by a squadron of Sentinel walkers and a half-dozen Chimera transports, along with support from several conscript heavy weapons teams.

Although brought down, all of the damaged aircraft managed a survivable crash, and out of the wrecks came approximately 300 ork warriors that immediately began running toward the camp perimeter, Horvat said.

The largest ork mob attacked the right flank of the training camp, supported by Deffkoptas. The conscripts held against the initial charge and, before they were overwhelmed, reinforcements arrived in the form of the camp’s command squad and Enforcer guards.

The majority of fighting occurred on the northwest corner of the camp. One mob of greenskins charged a recruit platoon that had just managed to form a firing line and, in the hand-to-hand combat that followed, dozens of recruits fell.

Horvat praised the bravery of the recruits. “Even veteran troops can sometimes break in the face of an ork charge, but the recruits stood their ground and fought fiercely.”

Their defiant stand bought time for a contingent of drill instructors, supported by the camp’s command squad,  a team of Adeptus Arbites Enforcers, and a Chimera, to reach the beleaguered recruits as four DeffKoptas joined the close-combat fighting.

“Witnesses report that the fighting lasted for nearly eight minutes—young recruits facing off against two- to three-meter-tall greenskins,” Horvat said. “It generally took three men to bring down an ork, with only one of the three soldiers surviving each melee.”

Another major ork mob charged the center of the camp perimeter, but they were met with a storm of fire from heavy bolters, assault cannons, and scores of lasgun fire. Ork casualties were high, and the enemy force broke and fled.

Although virtually the entire platoon fell dead or severely wounded, their bravery allowed the Chimera to advance to point-blank range and open up with its heavy flame. This powerful attack was supported by a heavy bolter team that was able to deploy on a nearby hill and open up on the xenos’ flank.

Another mob of orks attempted to advance on the western perimeter of the camp, but heavy weapons fire and lasgun volleys by other recruits managed to repulse this attack.

“The greenskin casualties surpassed 80 percent, and the surviving xenos turned and fled.”

Casualties among the conscripts were heavy, but with the arrival of reinforcements, including a Chimera equipped with a heavy flamer, the xenos were eventually routed.

Within 30 minutes, the attack was over, Horvat said. “The vast majority of the ork menace died in the fighting, and the fleeing survivors were chased down by reinforcements that arrived from a nearby training camp. We believe very few greenskins survived.”

In the past two years, much of the fighting in the Hobru Jungle has deteriorated into trench warfare, according to other military sources. But the Iconia PDF have struggled recently with a growing number of mechanized and aerial xeno formations that rely on raids and fast-moving attacks.

“We believe tje xeno force involved in this attack calls itself Gutkrumpa’s Kill Koptas,” Horvat said. “They have been a nuisance to a number of regiments in the Hobru Jungle sector.”

Despite the ferocity of the recent ork attack, it posed no real threat to Imperial defenses, Horvat claimed.

“If anything, the small scale of this fighting, along with the strategically unimportant target of the attack, indicates that our defenses are providing a secure future for the Imperial citizenry.”

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TheGM: Ah, my first tabletop battle using  Gutkrumpa’s Kill Koptas, an ork warband I began painting five years ago (741.M41).

As the Gaffer has a sizable ork army, I’ve had little incentive to do anything with this force until recently, but once I’d finally painted a small but viable army, I just had to get them on the table. The fact that all my Warkoptas were shot down in the first turn suggests this warband will rarely be successful.

But who cares? What could be more fun than orks in helicopters!

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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.