AAR: August 17, 2012 - Heroes Necropolis

The Ork horde moves near a site holy to the Ultramarines - a burial ground for fallen brother marines and a supply depot for the living.  Will the valiant servants of the Emperor repulse the aliens, or will the site be desecrated with the stink of Orkish foulness?  This is the battle for the Heroes Necropolis!

Standard Annihilation Mission.

5x6 table.  The edge of the burial grounds and supply depot known as the Heroes Necropolis.

Almost everything on the map is impassable terrain.  The exceptions are the dome-like bunker (an Armor13 building that has a single entry point on the rear with 3 extra-wide fire points facing the bottom), the patch of weeds which provides cover, the low fences which are difficult terrain, and the two towers which can be climbed.

Orks versus Space Marines with 1150 point limit.

Chainsawz Ladz: 
HQ - Warboss
Elites - 8x Nobz & Painboy (Power claw, Kombi-rokkit, Kombi-skorcha, Twin-linked shootas)
Troops - 20x Boyz (Nob with power claw, 2x Big shoota)
Troops - 26x Boyz (Nob, 2x Rokkit)
Troops - 12x Gretchin (Runtherd)
Heavy Support - 3 Lobba gunz (3x Extra Crew, Runtherd, 3x Ammo Runts)
Heavy Support - Battlewagon ('ard case, killkannon, kannon & 2 big shootas)


Ultramarine Dark Purifiers
HQ - Captain
HQ - Librarian
Elites - Dreadnought
Elites - 5x Terminators
Troops - 10x Tactical Marines
Troops - 10x Tactical Marines
Troops - 5x Sniper Scouts with Sgt. Immortus
Fast Attack - 1x Marine Biker

Dark Purist won the initial toss, selected the blue side of the table, and elected to let the Orks go first.

Chainsaw elects to avoid the kill-zone of between the two fences and sets up his forces closer to the necropolis. The battlewagon sits in the center of the force, surrounded by the nobz.  The mob lead by the warboss takes cover in the weeds.  The gretchin mob is clearly nervous, seeing that they are going to be a "walkin' bullet catcha" for mob2.

The space marines also establish their battle line in and around the forest of granite obelisks that make the entryway to the holy burial ground.  The snipers sneak into position to use the wide avenue between the fences as a shooting gallery.  The terminator squad in-between the two units of tactical marines looks strong and proud with both of the marine leaders in formation.

In a stunning injury to his Orkish pride, the Ultramarines steal the initiative back after giving it to Chainsaw!  This is an insult that will not soon be forgiven or forgotten!  "Git on wif it, 'umie - I gotz teef ta collect frum yer skullz fer dat!"

Let the game begin!

The Ultramarines waste no time with pleasantries nor do they give any heed to pointless greenskin insults - they immediately set about the task of ridding this important territory of alien pests.

Almost every unit in their force moves towards the foe.  Tactical squad1 does so at a run.  Tactical squad4 and the snipers remain stationary so they can take careful aim.  Most impressively, the terminator squad led by the captain and the librarian travel through the Warp as the librarian opens a portal for them!  The smug looks on the Ork Lobba crew's faces turn into pale-green visages of dawning horror as the powerful units appear right next to them.  The marine captain's shout does not soothe their concerns, "Not even the unholy metal scraps that you call artillery and ordnance will desecrate this place, alien scum!  At them, brothers!"

Once the marines are all in position, they open fire, and blood begins to flow:

• The snipers, biker, and dreadnought all attack mob1.  Sgt. Immortus puts a silvered round into the left eye-socket of an ork boy carrying a nasty rokkit launcha.  Two other boyz are also killed by member of his squad.  All futher attacks have no effect, as the mob uses the cover of the weed patch to great effect.
• Tactical squads 3 and 4 both attack the gretchin mob.  The gretchin are lucky to have only 2 of their number die and the runtherd cackles with pride.  "Youse lot are good 'unz!  Stand steady now, ya snotlingz!"
• The terminators, captain, and librarian attack the big gunz emplacement, while flickers of warp energy are still arcing from their armor.  They destroy one gun outright, slaughter 5 of the crew, and terrify the unit - they will be unable to fire their remaining gunz next round.  A great moan of sorrow goes up from the gun crew as a clean-faced, funny, and smart little gretchin named Lickspittle is killed in the firestorm.  "Lickspittle?  Lickspittle!  No!!!  You 'oribble 'umies!  Why!?!?"  As the warboss hears this cry, he whirs to see the smoke and the still little form.  "Kill that dere filth!" he bellows, "I wantz revenge fer me fav'ite grot!"

The Orks respond to the Ultramarine attack by maneuvering into a good position to clean the rust off their axe blades using human blood. 

The warboss leads mob1 out of the weeds and into the more substaintial cover of a large fuel tank at a run.  The nobz embark into the battlewagon and it rumbles forward as the last hatch closes.  The gretchin move between two fortified walls, leaning around them to aim at the murderers of Lickspittle.  Mob2 charges towards the terminator squad with a deep yell.  The remnants of the lobba crew wheel their two remaining gunz into the weedy cover that mob1 just left - the runtherd is so misty eyed at the loss of everyone's favorite grubling, that he only cracks his whip once.

Then they attack.  Only the gunnery crew on the battlewagon do not try to kill the terminators, since they have not yet heard the sad news.  The results:

• The battlewagon fires the dreaded killkannon at tactical squad3, but the aim is poor and only a single marine is killed, despite a satisfying mushroom cloud of smoke and debris.
• The nobz inside the battlewagon, the orcs in mob2, and the gretchin mob all unload their weapons into the terminators.  The powerful attacks of the close-range orkish bullets are all shrugged off, but the space marines ignored the gretchin - surely such rusty and barely-functional firearms couldn't hurt the mighty terminators?  But the grot aim is true and they manage to kill 3 of the terminators!  The Ultramarines are stunned by this unlikely event, but the Orks know that the blessings of Mork (or is it Gork?) are clearly upon them.
• Annoyed that the meat-sheild got more kills than they did, the ladz in mob2 swarm over and around the terminator squad, captain, and librarian in a brutal close-quarters assault.  They realize that without the librarian, the terminators couldn't have gotten close to the lobba crew, so most of their attacks focus on him.  He is cut down by the horde with the loss of but a single boy in return.  The pages of his holy book are ripped out and thrown to the wind.  "Wot 'ese squigglez mean?  Ah, who carez..."

The Utlramarines react quickly to the changing battlefield by moving tactical squads 2 and 3 forward while tactical squad 1 falls back to a better defensive position.

Then they open fire with high hopes of slaughtering the enemies of mankind:

• The snipers attack the lobba unit with their missile launcher and sniper rifles.  3 of the gun crew die, despite the cover.
• Tactical squads 1, 2, and the biker shoot into mob1.  Six boys die in the vicious crossfire.
• Tactical squads 3 and 4 shoot into the gretchin mob to kill whatever unnatural freaks of the universe are in their midst - technically that is all of them.  Together they drop 5 of the getchin punks.  "Only a down-payment on our righteous revenge, brothers!"
• An ominous whine fills the air as the dreadnought fires a supercharged blast from his multi-melta at the battlewagon.  At such close range, it should cut through the tank's side armor like butter.  And it does.  However, the results are completely unexpected.  The beam punches through a metal plate, stikes a bottle of fungus-beer, refracts through the glass and punches right out the other side - doing no lasting damage at all (other than instantly skunking a nobz beer).  "Curse youse, 'umies!  My last beer!  You'll pay fer dat in dobble-teef!"
• The ongoing combat between the terminators and mob2 continues without abatement.  The captain takes a single wound and 2 more orc boyz perish. 

The Orks don't like how the humans aren't dying as fast as they'd like, so they try to increase the flow of blood on the battlefield by "movin' 'round a bit and cuttin' some t'roats".

The gretchin mob have had enough - they have almost broken and run twice.  Their runtherd shuffles them into the bunker to save what he can of "'dese fine, shooty grot, 'ere!"  The battlewagon rumbles into some cover from the dreadnought and the nobz pour out of the back.  The warboss and the mob1 that he leads squeeze past the biker marine to slam into the marines in tactical squad1.

Primitive firearms and edged weapons yield the following nasty results:

• The lone lobba crew fires one of the kannon at tactical squad 3 at the urging of the runtherd.  The blast kills one of the marines.
• The battlewagon's killkannon also speaks to tactical squad3.  The blast kills another marine from this beleaguered unit and the orks hoot in delight at the fountain of soot, blood, and marine limbs that erupt from the ground at the point of impact.
• The nobz shoot at the dreadnought.  Only one nob has a chance of hurting the fearsome war machine, but "ya gotz ta payback dose who skunk yer beer".  His rokkit corkscrews wildly (and comically) into the ground and he decides to make the Mek that built the defective rokkit pay for the fungus-beer instead, when he gets back to camp...
• Mob1 and the warboss fire wildly into tactical squad1 as they close with them.  They manage to kill 2 of them before the chainswords fire up and they get "stuck in, propa".
• The assault between Mob1 and tactical squad1 is brutal, with the squad focusing all their attacks on the warboss.  The marines manage to injure him twice, while 2 more members of their squad die.  This leaves only one marine left alive in a sea of snarling Orks.
• The grudge-match assault between the terminators and the ladz in mob2 continues.  The last 2 terminators are butchered, leaving only the wounded captain to face the foe.  He kills 3 boyz to give them a hint of his grim intentions.

The tactical options of both forces are shrinking rapidly now and both sides are determined to destroy the other.

The space marines tactial squads 3, 4, and the biker move forward to get clear lines of fire on the powerful nobz squad.  Tactical squad 2 pulls back behind the dreadnought.

Then a blizzard of explosive-tipped fire pours into the orks:

• Tactical squads 3, 4, and the biker all shoot at the nob squad.  Their armor, the cover provided by the battlewagon, and the "gentl' ministrationz" of the painboy mean that they only lose a single nob.
• The snipers attack the big gunz once again.  This time Sgt. Immortus' aim is perfect and he pops the runtherd's head like a rotten ostrich egg.  The missile destorys one of the remaining lobba kannons.  The last surviving grot staggers from cover, running drunkenly for home.
• The dreadnought tries to blow up the battlewagon, but misses badly.
• The last remaining marine of tactical squad1 fights valiantly against the warboss and his mob1, but it is to no avail.  He is ripped to pieces, with many of the ladz "gettin' a fancy blue soov'o'neir".
• The captain continues to wield his thunder hammer to great effect on mob2.  They take 3 losses, but he also takes another wound.

The Orkz have not yet felt satisfaction.  They move in for more gruesome kills with a mighty "WAAAGH!" echoing across the battlefield.


The nobz and mob1 both charge towards the foe before them.  The battlewagon driver foolishly tries to run down tactical squad3 with a tank shock.  They simply step out of the way and then turn to see the lightly armored rear of the Ork tank.  A grin settles on both of their faces...

With the roar of the "WAAAGH!" all around them, the Orkz dive into melee with hoots of delight:

• The nobz fire their weapons at the dreadnought in their excitement.  All of the slugs bounce harmlessly off, but one of them unleashes a skorcha blast that goes past the dreadnought and roasts 2 marines in tactical squad2.  "Datz a bonus!"
• Mob2 girds itself for a final assault on the hated captain.  They do manage to wound him, but he kills one of the boyz and injures the nob.  His stalwart valor at surviving almost 200 attacks while still killing some of them breaks the morale of the mob, despite the nob killing the first lad to break from combat.  As the mob tries to flee, the captain cuts them all down, leaving him standing victorious in a sodden field of gore.  Mob2 is gone.
• Mob1 and the warboss assault the three marines left in tactical squad3.  All of the marines are destroyed before they have a chance to respond and more souvenir heads are claimed by the ladz.
• The nobz surround the dreadnought and heave their big choppaz and powerclaws at the war machine.  Their attack is very successful - too successful, really.  One nob is killed and another wounded as the enemy walker explodes in a burst of incandescent light.

The marines move into position to neutralize the remaining Orks and hopefully destroy their tank.  Only small movements are made by the marines to get into the best placements.

The attacks are as follows:

• The snipers and tactical squad4 shoot at mob1.  The missile blasts kill 5 boyz and wounds the nob.
• The captain shoots at the nobs to no effect.
• The two tactical marines in squad3 take their time in placing krak grenades onto vulnerable-looking bits of the battlewagon and it is totally wrecked in seconds - smoke billowing from the interior and the crew shrieking as they are roasted alive.  "Thus do all the enemies of mankind suffer!"

The warboss is not about to let this act of "'umie vandalizm" go unpunished.  The nobz and mob1 move into position to extract payment from the marines in form of their lives.

Their attacks are as follows:

• Mob1 shoots at tactical squad4, killing 1 marine.
• The nobz slam into the pair of marines left in tactical squad3 and utterly destroy them.  They then take a moment to toss bits and pieces of these heroes of the Imperium towards the captain who looks at such desecration with horror and disgust.

Enraged at the dishonorable treatment of the bodies of his fallen battle-brothers, the captain charges towards the nobz.  The biker also moves in order to get a line of sight on the ladz in mob1.

The fighting results:

• Tactical squad4 and the biker rapid fire their boltguns into mob1, killing 3 more boyz.
• The captain heroically assaults the nobz, but his charge is folly.  The nobz are much more powerful that the mob of boyz he killed to the last alien but a few turns before - he is killed before he can even complete the down-stroke of his thunder hammer.

Now the warboss is at last filled with satisfaction.  The last of those responsible for the death of his favorite gretchin has been killed.  "Right.  Letz kill off da rest ov 'em, then.  Might az well, eh?"

The nobz and mob1 flank tactical squad4 and "stomp 'em inta da ground."  Two boyz from mob1 die during the assault.  A small price to pay!

The snipers are disappointed that the Orkz refuse to "come out and play", but the warboss feel that he has everything he came here for: "good fightin', spe'chal tombz, 'nd lottsa blood."

Sadly, the biker and the scout squad must allow the Orkz their victory and lewd party - but they vow to return with a stronger force and cleanse them from this world!

Chainsaw wins!  Good tactics and a stronger force selection (not to mention a lot of luck) allow the Orkz to complete their campaign of wonton destruction.  The orkz had 373 points left on the field (32%) to the marines 175 (15%).  A bloody victory, to be sure, but "datz how propa ladz likez it, see?"

"Lickspittle is 'venged...  Now pass 'round the fungus-beer 'nd letz smash up dis place, ladz!  WAAAGH!"

"So close to a tactical draw that I could taste it."