AAR: October 13, 2012 - Fungal Infection

At the suggestion of Kaptain Krunktoof, the orks drop poisonous fungal bombs onto a Imperial Guard supply depot.  The lethal spores killed all of the base defenders, leaving all of their equipment and supplies in pristine condition and primed for looting!  When they arrive, they are dismayed that the poison wasn't fast-acting enough!  The Dark Purifiers are here to contest their rightful pillaging and seek revenge.  Which group will claim the spoils of battle and which will reap the whirlwind of this fungal infection?

Annihilation match with long edges.

5x6 table.  The entire area is littered with the twisted corpses of the guardsmen who were cruelly poisoned by the ork's biological agent.

A few stands of trees surround the base, but for the most part, the area has been cleared.

The cermacrete pad the base and landing pad are built on is smooth as any road and so any vehicle will get an extra 6 inches of movement when driving on it.

All buildings, crates, and walls are impassable terrain and can not be climbed or walked upon.  The sole exception is the guard tower to the north-west.

Orks versus Space Marines with 1743 point limit.

Chainsawz Ladz: 
HQ - Warboss
HQ - Big Mek (Shokk attack gun) 
Elites - 15x Kommandoz (Nob with power claw, 2x Rokkit)
Elites - 5x TankBustaz (Nob with power claw, 1x Tank hammer)
Troops - Deff Dread (2x Kustom mega-blasta)
Troops - 30x Boyz (Nob with power claw)
Troops - 30x Boyz (Nob with power claw)
Heavy Support - 3x Lobba gunz (6x Extra crew, Runtherd, 3x Ammo runts)
Heavy Support - 10x Flash Gitz (Kaptain Krunktoof, Painboy, Cyborks, Blastas, Shootier)

"Krump it!  Doze 'umies iz alwayz crashin' our partiez!  Zog 'em all, ladz!"

Dark Purifiers
HQ - Captain
HQ - Chapter Master
Elites - Dreadnought (Power fist, Multi-melta)
Elites - 10x Terminators (2x Cyclone missile launchers, 2x Chain-fists, Power fists)
Troops - 10x Tactical Marines (Flamer, Missile launcher)
Troops - 10x Tactical Marines (Melta, Heavy bolter)
Troops - 6x Sniper Scouts with Sgt. Immortus (Missile launcher)
Heavy Support - Land Raider Redeemer (Multi-metla)

"Smells like spores...  Quick!  Into the Land Raider, brothers!"

Dark Purist wins the initial die toss.  He selects the blue half of the table.

Chainsaw is quite satisfied to attack from the red side.

The two short sides of the base are completely blocked off, making an interesting, triple-lane passage from one side of the table to the other.

The space marines line up first, putting their heaviest hitting unit in the center where their tactical options and mobility will not be limited, no matter how the orks deploy.

The terminator squad looks at the massive loss of life here and vow to avenge their weaker cousins of the battle versus the enemies of mankind.

Tactical squad 1 is prepared to embark onto the tank, while tactical squad 3 digs into the trees to provide a ready reserve force.

The dreadnought and biker sit on either flank to provide speed and stopping power.

The snipers position themselves at the top of the guard tower to maximize their field of fire.

Kaptain Krunktoof and the warboss have been drilling the ladz quite hard.  They line up neatly to avoid giving the space marines any dense clusters of victims for their frag missiles.

At the north end of the field, the tank busters can see a nice clanky target!  They are so excited!

The mob of flash gitz is next in line, their fearsome rifles humming with lethal menace. Right next to them is the deffdread, it has been walking with a funny sound for days now, but it should still be ready for action.

Two huge mobs of ladz are next, breathing in the sticky-sweet residual odor of the fungal bombz and laughing at the funny faces the guardsmen made as they died.

The kommandoz move into the north as well, to provide extra hitting power on that flank.

The armies scream out their battle cries!

Tactical squad 1 runs up the main ramp of the land raider at the double.  Once it is buttoned up, the tank moves up into the base.

The terminator squad moves forward as does the dreadnought.

The chapter master attempts to cut the head off this snake by calling in an orbital bombardment upon the leadership of the aliens.  Streams of super-charged ion rain down into the group of flash gitz!  To the frustration of the marines, it seems that they have been grounded somehow, probably as a protection from the feedback from their own over-charged weapons.  "Bwah-ha-ha!  Dat ticklez!"

Determined to make a lasting impact, the marines open fire:

• The dreadnought shoots his multi-melta into a tank buster's belly.  The greenskin explodes with a clatter of disconnected limbs.
• The snipers attack the lobba crew, but only kill 2 of the grot.  Their confidence is still low from the last battle, when an automated turret out-shoot them...
• The land raider, tactical squad 3's krak missile, and all of the terminator squad shoots at the deffdread.  Some shots are out of range, most explode on the armor, but one glancing blow slams into the weak knee joint!  It will be unable to move next turn while it recovers it's balance.

Both of the mobs of ladz charge forward at a run, yelling madly.  Mob1 can't run nearly as fast, since their feet keep getting tangled in all the dead imperial guardsmen.

The flash gitz moves forward to close the range and get a better batch of targets.

The kommandoz and tank hunters move forward at a steady pace as they take aim with their rokkits at squishy-lookin' targets.

The madness continues:

• The tank bustas shoot their rokkits at the dreadnought, but their attacks are swatted out of the air by the dreadnought's power claw.
• The lobbaz open fire on the snipers.  Their fire is spookily accurate and all of the snipers die except for Sgt. Immortus. 
• "We gotz that 'un!" hoots the kommando nob.  Two rokkit go spiraling up to the lone sniper.  One hits!  The snipers are out of the battle...
• The deefdread shoots his twin mega-blastas at the terminator squad, but the weapon is not in range.  "Me no care!" screams the pilot when the warboss criticizes him, "Me hear horrer storiez 'bout dem!"
• The flash gitz charge up their nuclear-powered rifles and unload them into the terminator squad.  One terminator marine goes down.
• The big mek powers up his brand-new shokk attack gun and hopes for the best as he squeezes the trigger.  The snotling that is blasted through the warp emerges unexpectedly in five different chunks in the middle of five terminators.  The twitching snotling body parts are physically interposed into the same space as the men's heads and upper torsos.  All five of the space marines go down hard and the big mek laughs uproariously!

With over half of the space marines heavy infantry wiped out in the first turn, the mood is grim, but stoic.

"No more mistakes shall be made today, brothers!  Not by us!"

The dreadnought slowly retreats into the trees to gain cover and slow the orks advance.

The terminators move forward cautiously, re-grouping as they go.

The land raider driver hits the accelerator and the huge machine leaps forward on the paved surface of the base.  As the tank slides to a stop right in front of mob1, the main hatch opens and tactical squad 1 pours out, boltguns blazing!

The space marines open fire:

• The biker shoots mob2 and a single boy is cut down.
• The dreadnought shoots the tank bustas, but the orks bob and weave out of the path of the incoming fire.
• The land raider opens up with one of it's flamestorm cannons and 7 of the ladz in mob1 die while "doin' da burny dance".
• Tactical squad 3 and the terminators unload their weapons into mob1, trying to reduce the numbers of this huge mass of alien flesh into something more manageable.  Together, they kill 8 more boys, but tragedy strikes!  One frag missile scatters into the ranks of tactical squad 1 and a brother marine is laid low by friendly fire.
• The remainder of tactical squad 1 opens up with flamers and boltguns.  7 orc boyz are killed in the fiery maelstrom.  Then the marines wade into close-quarters with the much reduced mob1 remnants.  One marine goes down, but enough of the orks are killed that their courage fails.  As they turn to flee, the space marines callously shoot each one in the back of the head.  Mob1 has been utterly destroyed in a single turn!

The kommandoz and tank bustas continue to move towards the dreadnought in the north.

The deffdread moves to intercept and rend tactical squad 1.

Mob2 continues their mindless charge towards the grizzled biker veteran that they have learned to hate so much from stories told around the campfire.

The ork attacks are as follows:

• The tank bustas unleash another flurry of rokkits, but they all explode harmlessly upon trees that the dreadnought is hiding behind.  "Drat dat cof'ver!"
• The lobbaz attempt to shoot tactical squad 3, but they are out of range.  The runtherd beats the range-master grot mercilessly as the shells all fall short.
• The flash gitz shoot at the terminators once again.  One unlucky git has his containment field fail.  For a brief instant, his body glows like a small sun, highlighting his skeletal structure, then he explodes into ashes.  The rest of the flash gitz are too busy inflicting a wound on both the caption and chapter master to notice.  "Hey, where Flicknose go?"
• The big mek pulls his weapon's trigger with more confidence this time, but the promising-looking snotling that he vacuums into the warp is a disappointment.  A loud >SPLOOSH!< echoes through the base as snotling blood-soup is sprayed all over the terminator squad doing no damage, but making an unbelievable stench.
• The deffdread scores a direct hit one a space marine with his mega-blasta.  The unlucky member of tactical squad 1 explodes as his blood is instantly turned into steam.  Then the over-zealous deffdread wades into assault range.  The marines toss krak grenades all over his chassis and it is blown into wreckage!  "Orks are brainless, sir!"  "Yes, brother, they certainly are.  This one is also legless, armless, headless..."

The dreadnought continues to make a fighting withdrawl, leading the orks into it's firelane.

The biker drives right up into the business of mob2 with a spray of mud arching up behind the rear tire.

The terminator squad and tactical squad 1 both move forward to better position themselves for fighting the flash gitz.

Deadly firepower is unleashed:

• The dreadnought blows away one of the tank bustaz and the rest turn to flee.
• The biker and tactical squad 3 rapid fires into mob2, killing 4 orks (the icon display above has T3 shooting FG - that's an error).
• Tactical squad 1, the land raider tank, and the terminators all aim carefully at the flash gitz, determined to bring more of these far-too-tough-for-their-own-good aliens down.  Krak missiles are very effective, but all weapons bring something to the table as 3 flash gitz die and another is wounded.

The tank bustas stop running as a whiff of motor oil from the dreadnought catches the breeze.  Like the addicts that they are, they wheel back around with wild eyes.  "Gotta' blow dat up!  Gotta'!  Gotta'!  Wa-ha-a-ha-ha!"

The kommandoz run towards the slowly retreating dreadnought, hoping to catch it before it can escape.


Mob2 moves to use the cover of the fuel tank so tactical squad 3 can't launch any more missiles at them.

The flash gitz are annoyed that so many of their fellows have fallen and turn their loving attention to tactical squad 1 for reparations.

Orkish mayhem follows:

• Tank bustas shoot rokkits at the dreadnought, but fail to penetrate its armor.
• The lobbaz shoot the approaching terminators and manage to inflict another wound on the captain.  The runtherd stops beating the greenish lump that once was the range-master grot when he sees this improvement in the crews quality of fire.
• The big mek fires off another unlucky snotling towards the terminators.  The portal opens in the wrong place and a hole is punched in the storage tank instead.
• Mob2 unleashes a hail of small-arms fire that cuts down the biker, much to their relief.  "Lookit!  He'z not unkill'a'bile!  Hooray!"
• The flash gitz open up their dangerous weapons into tactical squad 1.  All but one of the remaining space marines are killed as 6 of them are intersected with the bolts of energy.  Then the flash gitz charge the staggered marine and cut him down using their wicked-sharp blades.

Tactical squad 3 moves out from the trees to get some distance from the slavering horde of mob2.

The dreadnought continues his slow withdrawal, firing as he goes.

The terminators and land raider tank close in on the flash gitz in a pincher movement they hope will finally put an end to them.

Without pity and without remorse, the marines perpetrate the following:

• The dreadnought fires into the kommandoz and takes one ork right out of this world.
• The land raider tank and the terminators shoot at point-blank range into the cocky ranks of flash gitz.  One git is blown in half from the tank's melta, 2 are detonated by krak missiles, and another goes down under a solid stream of stormbolter fire.
• The terminators charge forwards and slam into rest of the flash gitz.  The chapter master takes a wound and a terminator goes down under the warboss' power claw, but all of the flash gitz go down, including Kaptain Krunktoof.

The warboss howls in rage as all of his gun-buddies (and their expensive equipment) get splattered all over the pavement.  His mighty yell turns into a battlefield-wide "WAAAGH!"

Mob2 jumps into the trees to discover that tactical squad 3 has just quit them.  "Stand still, youse little runties!"

The kommandoz barrel through the trees and get into the dreadnoughts business at long last, while the tank bustas scream that they have already called "dibs on dat!"

In a frenzy of rage the orks attack as follows:

• The big mek fires a screaming snotling at tactical squad 3, but the wailing creature goes soaring off the edge of the map.  The big mek slaps the side of his targeting system and is rewarded with a fireworks display of sparks.
• The lobbaz shoot tactical squad 3 and manage to kill 3 of the marines.
• In the continuing battle between the warboss and the terminators, the warboss has gotten a spot of radiation poisoning.  He doesn't feel well for a few seconds, then the captain's thunder hammer cures what ails him - forever.
•  The kommandoz assault the dreadnought and their nob tears off the stormbolter cannon.  A kommando ork is ripped in half, too, but that's a pretty good trade.

Tactical squad 3 continues to move towards the land raider tank at a run.

The tank itself moves towards the center of the base, turning it's mighty weapon systems on the big mek.  Gulp!

The terminators move out to take care of the big gunz that are still killing brother-marines.

With uncanny calmness, the marines attack:

• The land raider unloads all weapon systems into the big mek.  The melta strikes the shokk attack gun and it melts at the same time as it activates!  A huge hole into the warp opens underneath the big mek's feet and a tentacled horror drags the screaming big mek down into oblivion!
• The terminators shoot at the loobaz and then slam into the shell-shocked survivors.  None are left alive.
• The battle between dreadnought and kommando continues.  The multi-melta gun is cut in half and another kommando dies.  "Still a good deal!"

Mob2 tries to "come ta gripz" with tactical squad 3 in vain.

The pitiful attacks of the orks this turn are:

• The kommandoz lose another lad to the power claw of the dreadnought.

The random game-length roll ends the game!  It's all over!

Dark Purist Wins!  The terminators were bloodied, but not defeated!  The final score is Dark Purist 851 points (49%) to Chainsaw's 428 points (25%).  A decisive victory for the space marines and a fitting retribution and act of vengeance for the slain of the Imperial Guard!

"Best cure for fungal infections?  BOOM!  Tough-acting promethium!"

"Dat big tank-ting iz gettin' on me nervez...  'Nd itz lightin' 'em all on fire!  OW!  OW!!  OW!!!"