Apocalypse Battle Report - May 5, 2008

Witch Hunters vs. Orks vs. Kroot
4000 points per side

This battle report is written in a narrative style. Instead of focusing on a turn-by-turn re-enactment of specific movements, game mechanics and dice rolls, this report attempts to capture some of the more cinematic moments of what was an intense and compelling game.

The game also featured the playtest of a new Ork datasheet a player drew up, which allowed the Orks to improve their cover save while in a terrain piece. It proved to extremely effective.

* * *
The hunter adjusted the grip on his weapon and surveyed the battlefield in front of him. Mounted on the back of a great knarloc, he had a commanding view of the dry desert plain.
The Skullhamma before him remained motionless, the enormous barrel of its main gun leveled at his position. Doubtless it could cut his entire brood to pieces if allowed to sit there and pound away. The Kroot grunted. That’s what the Shapers and their eviscerators were for.
Digging in his heels, the hunter spurred on his mount. There was meat to be had, and money to be made.

* * *

“Wot they doin?”
The towering nob wheeled, eyes searching for the insolent Ork who dared to speak out of turn. Deciding he didn’t have time for this, he simply backhanded the nearest one of his boyz.
“Those burnas be gearin’ up to save your sorry skins, so shuddup!” he bellowed. Figuring that it couldn’t hurt to demonstrate the value of a good education, he knocked another ork unconscious.
The nob turned back to study the burnas. He knew the blue paint being loaded into their weapons was going to keep them safe. A deep chuckle emerged from the back of his throat. Luck was on their side. Those crazy Imperial nuns were in for a surprise.

* * *

Even here, on this backwater planet, she could feel the Emperor’s grace. Canoness Miriya of the Order of the Martyred Lady had sensed His guidance as she explained her strategy to her sisters. It was a plan that bordered on recklessness, but she saw no other means of purging this world of the blasphemous forces that had dared to occupy it.
Miriya had chosen to leave her Sisters unsheltered by the heavy guns of the Imperial tanks. They would have to fight on their own and win decisive engagements.
Seated in the command chair of her personal Immolator, Miriya reached for her plasma pistol. It was old and temperamental, but the weapon had served her well for many years. It would have to do so again. She had saved the most dangerous assignment for her own squad. Someone had to make sure that Ork shokk attack battery would not rain death on her sisters.

* * *

Ork guns thundered to sound the start of the battle. Leaping forward, battlewagons and skullhammas rolled toward the Kroot and Imperial lines.
The roar from a pack of knarlocs turned into howls of agony as Ork firepower cut through the Kroot lines. As the Ork vehicles steamrolled their way toward controlling points on the battlefield, a squad of burna-boys took shelter under a canopy of trees.
Spraying the forest with blue paint from their weapons, the Orks looked about, satisfied that their luck would hold, even as an Imperial Baneblade lined up for a shot.
The ground shuddered as the tank fired its demolisher cannon. The Orks in the forest dove for cover, somehow avoiding any deadwood and finding only sturdy ancient trees to shield themselves from the explosive blast.
The Baneblade readied its remaining weapons, intent on killing the Warboss sheltering in the forest. Pre-battle intelligence suggested he was holding a vortex grenade, making him a priority target. Again, he somehow found the right tree to leap behind. The shots blasted the now-blue trees, spraying the Warboss with splinters but leaving him otherwise unharmed.
Wide toothy ork grins broke out. It worked. Time for some payback.
On the other side of the battle, another demolisher cannon thundered, smashing into the advancing Kroot lines. The tech priests at the controls of the Land Raider Ares worked with cool efficiency, reloading the mighty weapon while lining up for another shot. Still, the knarlocs and shapers pinned back their ears and came screaming in to close as quickly as possible.
The Kroot fell up on their targets with blinding speed. In an instant they threatened the Orks that had dared to charge. Unable to tear through the heavy armor, the knarlocs held their ground as the Shapers moved in.
In the midst of the Kroot line, the crew of a captured Maccharius took aim at a squad of Orks on a hill. They could either fight or become a light snack for their captors. As he watched hundreds of rounds from his vulcan megabolter turn the Orks into a fine red mist, the tank commander thanked the Emporer that he hadn’t had to kill any Imperials, yet.
The whine of missiles cut through the air. Salvo after salvo of Exorcist missiles rained down on the alien positions. Knowing victory would depend on keeping up this hail of fire, the Battle Sisters at the helm of these tanks maneuvered to bring their deadly weapons to bear.
In a small corner of the battlefield, Canoness Miriya ordered her Immolator crew to roll out. Racing from behind the protective shelter of small hillside, the Witch Hunter tank fired its heavy flamers into the shokk attack battery. Miriya leaped from the tank, blessed weapon in hand, intent on leading her Celestian retinue into a desperate assault to keep the deadly Ork artillery from engaging the rest of her forces.
The Warboss could hardly contain his laughter as he charged the Baneblade, vortex grenade in hand. The Imperial warmachine lay right in front of him, exposed and defenseless. He cocked his arm back and with a bloodthirsty cry flung the deadly bomb at the tank…
…and roared in frustration as the grenade slipped from his hand. It imploded just in front of the tank, harmlessly opening a rift of nothingness. The destructive singularity shimmered violently and suddenly winked out existence. It would only be instants before it appeared somewhere else, instantly destroying anything it touched. The Warboss turned to look at the Baneblade and locked eyes with the tank driver staring at him from the turret cupola. Both Ork and Human knew one thing: it was time to get out of here.

* * *
Across the battlefield, a knocking sound kept bothering an Ork Skullhamma driver. Annoyed, he turned to his main gunner.
“You hear dat?”
Thunder erupted in the crew compartment as the gunner fired the Skullhamma kannon again.
“Hear wot?”
The driver shook his head. He was about to power into a pack of those crazy bird things when he heard the knocking sound again.
“Dere it is! You got to hear dat?”
The gunner turned, clearly annoyed. Here he was, ready to unload on those pesky kroot and all this guy wanted to do was talk about his hearing problems.
“Hear wot? I don’t hear….”
Then the Ork’s head flew across the cabin, landing in the driver’s lap. He looked up, directly into the face of a Kroot carrying the biggest damn sword he’d ever seen.

* * *
“Say again, Overwatch,” Miriya shouted into her vox caster. “Skullhamma One is down?”
The Canoness snapped off a shot with her plasma pistol and ducked back, making room for her Celestian Sisters to discharge a rapid fire barrage from their bolters.
“Correct. Skullhamma One is down. Looks like those Shapers skinned it like a carcass. Damn big explosion too. Nothing left but a big hole in the ground.”
Good, Miriya thought. Let them kill each other. She opened another vox channel.
“All units,” she said. “Initiate phase two.”

* * *

The Skullhamma erupted into a ball of fire that vaporized nearly everything around it. The tank had once occupied a commanding spot of the battlefield. Now, it lay completely open for anyone to claim.
All across the plain, the rumble of engines started up as all of Miriya’s mechanized infantry units prepared to take the field. One Rhino charged up to the remains of the Skullhamma. Almost directly across the field, a Repressor packed with Battle Sisters drove in behind Kroot lines to strike at their supply base.
The Repressor’s heavy flamer spouted burning promethium. A second gout of holy flame erupted from the top hatch as a Sister unleashed the cleansing fire of Imperial faith. Sisters within the tank took advantage of their firing slits to unleash a barrage of bolter fire into the unsuspecting Kroot warriors.
A roar of engines tore through the sky as the Imperial Navy joined the fray. A lone Thunderbolt burst from the clouds, firing Hellstrike missiles into the Orks massed in the forest. Again, the Orks ducked and rolled, seeming to somehow find the right tree to hide behind and avoid the explosive blast.
The battle raged on. A second Skullhamma commanded the center of the battlefield, stubbornly refusing to yield ground. The Warboss continued to charge the Baneblade, howling in delight as he caused the great warmachine to keep falling back.
Speeding on leathern wings, three Kroot Shapers finally caught the Ares. Too late, the tank crew realized it had made a fatal error by holding their ground to fire. The Land Raider’s vaunted armor shredded like paper under the scything blows from the Kroot eviscerators.
Other Shapers pounced on the invading Repressor, avenging their fallen by tearing the armored personnel carrier apart. Ten Sisters came stumbling out of the shattered vehicle, but only eight managed to stand and keep fighting.
Their faith was rewarded when a squad of Seraphim and a second Rhino arrived. Bolter shots and the cleansing fire of holy promethium cut through the attacking Kroot. Shielded by their Emperor’s divine grace, the Seraphim cut down their opposition in close combat and overran the Kroot supply base.
Miriya had the last shokk attack gun in her sights. She sighted carefully and squeezed the trigger. Instead of firing a deadly bolt of plasma, she felt the gun start to vibrate wildly in her hand. Acting on instinct, she flung it away a split second before it exploded. The blast battered her, the shock wave seeming to rip through her powered armor. But she stood, wounded but not dead.
Her Celestians finished what she started, destroying the last Ork weapon in a barrage of fire.
All across the battlefield, key strategic points were held by squads of Witch Hunter infantry. The aliens had suffered incredible losses and were out of position to challenge the Sisters. Realizing their predicament, the Orks and Kroot began to withdraw.
Imperial scribes would note this as another glorious victory for the Ordo Hereticus. But Miriya knew how close it had been. The Orks might have overrun her own base if the vortex grenade had hit its target. The Kroot might have fought and slashed their way across the battlefield if the Skullhamma explosion had not crippled their lines.
And her Sisters might have been cut down as they fought their own skirmishes across the battlefield. She shook her head as she climbed back into the Immolator’s command chair. It had been a reckless plan. It had been pure chance that it worked.
No, not chance, she chastised herself. It was faith.