The Battle for Baltia IV: Freebooters
Vs Ultramarines
2000
Point Scouring Game
Scenario Fluff
Ultrimar Segmentum, on the edge of sector Artanis lies the Ork world of Baltia IV, a former Imperial Navy world of the Imperium. For decades the ork Armada of Freebooter Warlord Bludskar has used this planet and its derelict space stations as a pirate haven to all manner of Xenos and Heretics in return for a percentage of the loot, be it teeth, weapons or even space ships. With these materials and the conscription of orks from both the planet and the other freebooters he has been launching his Waaagh!'s through the Imperium and the fringes of the Tau Empire for years. His bloody wars have cost Humanity millions in lives and has severely weakened several systems under Imperial control. The Imperium has decided that this threat must be ended, immediately.
Currently the Warlord and the majority of his armada have left the sector, choosing to invade the nearby Tau world of Fiora'o. A strike force of Ultramarines, the Emperors angels of death, have been assigned under Captain Sicarius to preform Exterminatus on the planet, destroying the Warlords base of operations as well cutting off his recruitment of Orks in the system. The remaing Ork Armada even depleted however is too strong to engage in a frontal engagement, so Sicarius has come up with a cunning strategy. Across the ork planet are a number of ork nuclear powerplants, each connected to the old imperial power grid beneath the planets crust. If Sicarius and his forces can enter the planet unnoticed they can sabotoge these operations, the surge in energy will cause the imperial generator to overload and exploded, triggering a chain reactions across the whole planet. After the Ultramarines have exited of course.
The plan is not without danger however. The power plants are crawling with the greenskin menace, Meks and low chieftans of Bludskar Waaagh!, each raring to prove themselves before the warlord and all orkydom. Even now as Sicarius and his astartes take to the field, the earth shakes and dust flies in the air at an approaching tribe. Dawn is coming, and preceding it will be blood...
Last Sunday at Quarterstaff Games in Burlington VT I played against Ben's Ultramarines with my Ork Speedkult list. it was during the Jazz festival weekend so we got to play 40k to the sound of saxophones, which was awesome. We played with 2000 points and got the Scouring Mission with the Hammer and Anvil deployment. Here were the Army Lists.
Space Marines
- Captain Sicarius
- Lvl 2 Librarian in Terminator armor with hood, Force Sword and Stormbolter. He got Prescience and smite for his psychic abilities.
- Two Tactical Squads in Rhinos, each with missle launcher and banner
- 11 man scout squad with Sergeant Tellius
- 8 man Terminator squad, one has missile pack and the sergeant has a power Sword
- 5 man Terminator Assault squad with Thunder Hammers and storm Shields
- Landraider
- 2 Vindicators with Plows (Sorry don't know what they're called.)
- 2 Landspeeders 1 with Melta the other with a flamer
Orks
- Warboss on a Bike, Cybork body, Bosspole, Power Klaw
- Big Mek with Kustom Force Field, Cybork, Bosspole
- Warphead
- 10 Lootas
- 5 Burna Boyz
- 4 Nob Bikers, Cybork, Painboy
- 3 Squads of 12 Slugga boyz with Nob, Bosspole, Power Klaw. Each squad is in a trukk with redpaint and ram.
- 25 man Shoota Boy Squad with Nob, Bosspole, Power Klaw
- Deff Dread with 4 Close Combat weapons, Grot Riggers and Armor
- 20 Stormboyz, Nob, Bosspole, Power Klaw
- Battlewagon+Killkannon+2 Big Shootas
- Boomgun with Ram and 2 Big Shootas
Warlord Traits
For Sicarius he rolls the strategic trait that gives hi and his unit feel no pain when they are within three inches of an objective. My Warboss rolls on the strategic traits and get the reserve buff, worthless since I wont be keeping anything in reserve.
Deployment
We roll off and he wins deployment. We deploy all objectives, three on my side and three on his. While we check this later he gets the high scoring ones on his side, putting the pressure on me. He deploys his forces in the upper right corner of the board, using the main ork building taking up the center to keep me from attacking him from all sides. He decides to set up his terminators in front to give his vindicators behind some cover. he puts the Librarian in the Terminator Squad and Sicarius and the Assault Terminators go inside the Landraider. He puts the Rhinos behind the two Vindicators and Puts the Scout Squad in the corner in the hill terrain to give them Cover. He leaves his Landspeeders in reserve, to try and deepstrike behind my lines.
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| Space Marines, For the Emperor!!! |
Sorry I forgot to take a picture of the ork initial deployment, but in the next picture it'll be easier to see where I deployed. The Warboss and bikers go to the bottom of the Table, next to them is the large boy squad and the Warphead. Near them from bottom to top in a line is the Deff Dread, the Trukks and The Battle Wagon, holding the Big Mek and the burnas. Behind them I place the stormboyz, while finally at the top of the table I have the Lootas sitting on top of a building, with the Boomgun, nestled behind it. Best of all I have everything but my biker boyz in range of the kustom Force field, giving my whole army a cover save. Finally deployed I roll to seize the initiative and I do!!! We also roll for nightfighting and it is nightfighting for Turn one.
Pregame Thoughts
I am worried about this deployment. While I have over double in terms of wounds and models on the field i have seen Ben's Terminators weather 3 Charging Squads of boys only to lose on terminator. That land raider also serves as a big wall to my troops, large and hard to crack. I expected to give up first blood in turn one and have to hope his heavy support doesn't rip my trukks apart. I did however have the advantage of nightfighting on my side as well as a crap ton of boyz, so I felt it could go either way.
Pregame Fluff
"Captain Sicarius." The Landraider driver said through the auspex channel. "We have secured three of the power nodes. The Techmarine has begun uploading the Escalator virus to the plants Machine spirit. He will need the full day to fully implement it."
"Then we will ensure he has all the time he needs. Sergeant Tellius, report in. What is the situation?"
"We have enemy contact Captain, Ork Speedkult coming in, they must have been attracted by the earlier fighting. What are your orders commander?"
Sicarius was silent for a moment before drawing his blade from its sheath. "Simple Tellius, we go to war."
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Across the plains the ork Horde stood, drooling in anticipation for the blood to come. At the front of the horde Warboss Gitkrusha sat in his bike, teeth in a toothy grin. Spitting out a loogie he looked at his Lieutenant in the battlewagon, whistling to get his attention. "Alright Scraphead, you takes da boyz dat way, I'll take deze boyz dis way, and we'll crush em all!!!"
The aformentioned Scraphead simply nodded his head, metallic jaw clamped shut. He made the mistake once of mouthing off to Gitkrusha during a scar poker game. The result of that little outburst had not been pleasant, and had taken his voice with it. Pressing a button in his arm the forcefield activated, covering the troops and as one the horde moved forwards. Over the squeal of tires, footsteps and gears only one sound could be heard.
"WAAAAAAAAGH!!!"
Sicarius was silent for a moment before drawing his blade from its sheath. "Simple Tellius, we go to war."
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Across the plains the ork Horde stood, drooling in anticipation for the blood to come. At the front of the horde Warboss Gitkrusha sat in his bike, teeth in a toothy grin. Spitting out a loogie he looked at his Lieutenant in the battlewagon, whistling to get his attention. "Alright Scraphead, you takes da boyz dat way, I'll take deze boyz dis way, and we'll crush em all!!!"
The aformentioned Scraphead simply nodded his head, metallic jaw clamped shut. He made the mistake once of mouthing off to Gitkrusha during a scar poker game. The result of that little outburst had not been pleasant, and had taken his voice with it. Pressing a button in his arm the forcefield activated, covering the troops and as one the horde moved forwards. Over the squeal of tires, footsteps and gears only one sound could be heard.
"WAAAAAAAAGH!!!"
Turn 1 Orks.
Movement
The orks all move up to close the distance between the two armies. Boomgun touches that so it moves into the back of the building and does nothing. The trukks move flat out but remain in range of the KFF. I run the shoota boy squad and the deff dread up, as they have nothing to do. Run and flat out movements were done in the same turns in order to save time. The stormboyz run up behind the battlewagon in order prepare for their jump next turn. Finally the warboss and his unit Turbo boost to the side of the large building in a flanking maneuver.
Shooting
Shooting is rather innefective this turn, out of twenty loota shots they only manage to ping one hullpoint off a vindicator and the Killkannnon manages to ping off one terminator. Otherwise all wounds or Hull points were promptly saved
Assault
No orks in range so it was time for the ultramarines to strike back.
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| Move foreward ya gitz, or you'll meet de end of me Choppa!! |
Turn 1 Ultramarines
Movement
Landraider moves up and parks next to the building, serving as a mobile wall. One of the two rhinos follow it while the undamaged vindicator moves around the terminator wall in order to get a better shot at the orks. Then without further ado he begins shooting.
Shooting
This turn for him was in the best possible description, terrible. Even with the Librarian giving the Terminators Prescience didn't help him. Targeting the trukks with everything but the Landraider they only manage to take a single hullpoint off of one trukk and two off of another, that one losing it's big shoota. The Landraider attempts to pop the battlewagon but only manages to strip 2 HP's off it, although he does immobilize it and destroys the Killkannon. One stormboy bites it from a vindicator blast.
Assault
No assaults to be made so we go into turn two.
Turn 1 Thoughts
This turn went really well for my army, usually by the end of this turn I would have lost at least one trukk and a handful of boyz to the shooting, but my army is basically intact. And unfortunately for him he made a tactical error in moving up the vindicator, as you'll soon see...
Turn 2 Orks
Movement
The trukks move up and dislodge their boyz across the field, the orkish horde hooting and hollering as the Terminators grimly stare them down. One way or another the dead pile will be getting larger this turn. Meanwhile the Stormboyz, getting a lousy two for their extra jump decide to head off behind the trukks and run up, hoping for a charge next turn. The deffdread and boyz move up behind the lower trukks but do not run, as the immmobilized battlewagon blocks them. Finally the Warboss splits from his group and heads towards the landraider, while the nobs eye up the Rhino.
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| Prepare yourselves brothers!!! |
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| The Warboss grins as the Landraider comes into view... |
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| The ork gunline locked and loaded. |
Shooting
With the lootas I debated between softening up the terminators or trying to ping off the damaged Vindicator, in the end i decided on the vindicator, as I didn't want to accidentally kill to many allowing them to run off and regroup to shoot down my boyz. Rolling three shots for each the torrent of fire manages to glance it to death. First blood to the orks, don't see that very often. Nobs firing at the rhino strip off a point and the boomgun does the same to the remaining vindicator. combined fire of large blasts, big shootas and sluggas from the rest of the army results in only one dead terminator. Still one is better than none. For once my Warphead decides to be worth his points and gets a waaagh for his random power, giving my boyz fleet for the charge.
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| DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA |
Assault
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| TIME TO GET STUCK IN BOYZ!!! |
Two Squads of boyz charge the terminators and though they lose two to overwatch they make it in just fine. His sergeant challenges one of my nobz and the boy accepts. The third boy squad actually goes around the large scrap and assaults the remaining vindicator, while the Warboss and bike squad assault their respective vehicles.
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| Ooooh, look at all da red... |
The result of this is not pretty, the terminator squad losses three of it's power fist terminators as well as the challenge, with the sergeant whiffing terribly and dying to a power klaw. In return the librarian and the other two terminators are able to kill two boyz, resulting in a loss by 2. They make their leadership and stay in. The Vindicator is summarily flipped, with the power klaw never getting the chance to strike. The Warboss does terribly, only managing to take a hull point off the Landraider though the bikers end up exploding the rhino, killing two marines and wounding a nob. The marines autofall back where they will rally next turn.
Turn 2 Ultramarines
Movement
Landraider pivots around and Sicarius and his unit head towards the nob biker squad. Tactical marines rally and prepare to fire while the other tactical squad gats out of its rhino. One landspeeder deepstrikes behind my battlewagon hoping to make it go boom. Other one stays in reserve.
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| Assault Terminators, to glory!!! |
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| They're distracted brothers, aim for their flank. |
Shooting
Unfortunately it is a repeat of last turn, combined shooting from the scouts, tactical marines and sicarius only manage to kill off the wounded nob. Meaanwhile the landspeeder firees but misses it's shot. Landraider manages to ping off another hullpoint from the battlewagon.
Assault
Sicarius and his unit move in, losing a terminator to overwatch and assaulting the nobs with ease. The nobs manage to kill two of the assault terminators in close combat, but then lose a nob in combat. Nobs fail there morale and fall back, but cant be overrun. Terminators reconsolidate five inches In the other combat the boys manage to finish off the terminator squad and the librarian fails to kill anyone, takes a wound in combat and is forced to flee. boyz consolidate 2 and 5 inches respectively.
Turn 2 Thoughts
Things are not looking good for the Ultramarines right now. The terminators have been all but removed from the field and much of the firepower of the army has been neutralized. Neutering the nob squad was a nice bit of work but at this point it may be to little, to late. We'll soon see.
Turn 3 Orks
Movement
Nob squad rallies, though they are out of sight to actually see anything so what they'll be able to do is limited. One squad of boyz heads towards the fleeing librarian while the other two head towards the upper tactical squad and remaining rhino. Warboss skims around Sicarius unit preparing to assault the upper tactical squad as well. Trukks move out of the way so that the stomboyz and Deffdread can assault the landraider, meanwhile the large mob of ork boyz move over to take on the landspeeder.
Shooting
Shooting for this turn is hit and miss. Lootas only get 1 shot each and fail to do anything to Sicarius's unit while the warboss killed 1 tactical marine. I also declare my normal Waaagh to give my boyz fleet for the charge.
Assault
Warboss assaults into the tactical marines and is challenged by the sergeant, esily krumping him in close combat. The marines make their leadership and hold. Boyz assault the remaining rihno and glance it to death. Deffdread and stormboyz assault the landraider, but only manage to glance it three times. They do however manage to immobilize it.
Turn 3 Ultramarines
Movement
Sicarius and the terminators move up towards the warboss while the Tactical marine squad shimmys around a bit. Remaining rhino moves over to protect the tactical marine squad in combat from the coming ork boyz. He unfortunately forgot to move his librarian this turn or use his psychic powers. Again he fails to get in his last remaining speeder.
Shooting
The librarian and tactical squad unload into the closest unit of boyz, leaving only three boyz left. They do pass their leadership though. Landraider then attempts to blow up the deff dread but even with both the lascannon and Melta it only manages to remove two hull points.
Assault
Terminators easily make it into assault with the warboss and smash him to bits. Sicarius is actually the one who kills him, not even getting a chance to lift his power klaw. 1 point for Slay the warlord. Terminator squad reconsolidates two inches while the tacticals roll a 1.
Turn 3 Thoughts
Losing my Warboss and most of a squad of boys is always hard to watch, but has hardly slowed down my boyz. I've still got two squads of boy that are fairly healthy and an almost full unit of stormboyz moving in. The ork leader is dead but the horde continues marching on....
Turn 4 Orks
Movement
Angered by the loss of their leader the Nobs urged their boys forward, each one wanting to claim his head (and consequently take control of the warband.) Not to be out done the Stormboyz leap forward a staggering 18 inches, surrounding the forces of the Imperium. Nob bikers Move out of the ruins and line up their guns with the lower tactical squad.
Shooting
The lootas roll a 3 and fire straight into the sniper squad, wiping them off the board with 15 wounds caused. The upper boy squad and the stormboyz pepper the Terminators, but fail to kill any. The lower boy squad fires into the librarian, finishing him off on a bad double 1 role. Shooting from the nob bikers kills one Tactical marine.
Assault
The boyz and the stormboyz smashin into the terminator squad, with Sicarius and the stormboy nob moving aside to duke it out. Sicarius swings and even though he hits three times he only manages to caus one wound. Then the Stormboy replies with 4 power klaw hits, 3 wounds and Sicarius failing his 4+ invulnerable save. Before he can die though the strike cruiser up above teleports him out of combat and rushes him to the sick bay. The rest of the combat is rather dismal for the marines, losing two terminators and only managing to kill back to nobs in return. The lone Sergeant fails his leadership and manages to run off, while the boyz reconsolidate 1 inch each. The Deff dread assaults the Landraider and finishes it off, though he only wrecks it.
Turn 4 Ultramrines
Movement
Lone Sergeant Reconsolidates and moves up three inches. Tactical squad moves back a bit though the missile launcher stays in place so he can fire. The flame speeder finally comes in and direct hits next to the stormboy squad.
Shooting
Combined shooting from the speeder and squad manage to kill of fourteen stormboyz, though the nob manages to rally three of his boyz and stay in by crushing a fourth ones head with his bosspole. Otherwise that was all
Assault
No Assaults are made.
Turn 4 Thoughts
At this point we both know the game is over. The orks still have substantial troops and shooting left while the Ultramarines are down to one speeder and six TAC marines. I offer to end the game then but Ben wants to play this out to the bitter end, so we go on to Turn 5.
Turn 5 Orks
Movement
The remnants of the stormboyz and the two ork upper ork squads move up to finish off the remaining terminator. Nob bikers go around and plan to engage the Tac squad while the 3 man boy squad moves in on the Landspeeder. The deff Dread moves up but is unlikely to be in assault range of anything.
Shooting and Assault Phase
The ork guns open up and wipe everything but the landspeeder off the field, which then get hacked down by the three boyz in the assault. Ultramarines are tabled.
This game is a good example of how good the deceptive ork shooting can be. Armor 2 while great has a hard time standing up to massive shooting, and the orks can put out an insane amount of shots in combat. Add that with all the attacks in close combat and they're quite deadly. Ben admitted moving up his forces turn one was a bit of mistake but it has worked for him in the past. That and the cover saves from night fighting and the KFF neutralized his shooting allowing the trukks to deposit their boyz safely. In any case it was a fun game and I expect Ben will beat me sometime in the near future.
End Game Fluff
"Report of the Fallout of the Baltia IV, Faithfully written by Inquisitor Adrastia of the Ordos Malleus
The events of the failed attempt to destroy Baltia IV. Though the Virus was successfuly uploaded the survivng Big Mek now known as Rustbootz was able to disable it, apparently by hitting it with his choppa. While Sicarius recovered in the Apothecarium his surviving troops attempted to think of a new way to complete the mission, but the return of the Ork Armada from the succesful Fiora'o campaign forced them to retreat. The second company has lost over thirty brothers and will be short handed for sometime. Worse yet, it appears that none of the equipment lost was recoverable, the orks even now defiling them under the new lieutenant of Waaagh! Bludskar, Big Mek Rustbootz . Ork defences have been increased on the surface, and it is recommended that more resources be pooled together before another attempt at removing the pirate presence is attempted.
The ultramarines loss however may be an opportunity however. A situation has popped up in the nearby sector of Micaldor, one requiring methods laying outside the regular methods of Imperium forces and attention. Waaagh! Bludskar may perhaps be the answer.....
Thank you all for reading and see you at the next update.
Assault
Warboss assaults into the tactical marines and is challenged by the sergeant, esily krumping him in close combat. The marines make their leadership and hold. Boyz assault the remaining rihno and glance it to death. Deffdread and stormboyz assault the landraider, but only manage to glance it three times. They do however manage to immobilize it.
Turn 3 Ultramarines
Movement
Sicarius and the terminators move up towards the warboss while the Tactical marine squad shimmys around a bit. Remaining rhino moves over to protect the tactical marine squad in combat from the coming ork boyz. He unfortunately forgot to move his librarian this turn or use his psychic powers. Again he fails to get in his last remaining speeder.
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| The Warboss laughs holding up the Sergeants head, unaware of the doom approaching him... |
The librarian and tactical squad unload into the closest unit of boyz, leaving only three boyz left. They do pass their leadership though. Landraider then attempts to blow up the deff dread but even with both the lascannon and Melta it only manages to remove two hull points.
Assault
Terminators easily make it into assault with the warboss and smash him to bits. Sicarius is actually the one who kills him, not even getting a chance to lift his power klaw. 1 point for Slay the warlord. Terminator squad reconsolidates two inches while the tacticals roll a 1.
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| "Oh Zog it..." The Warboss grunted before his head was removed from his shoulders, Sicarius flicking the blood off his blade. |
Losing my Warboss and most of a squad of boys is always hard to watch, but has hardly slowed down my boyz. I've still got two squads of boy that are fairly healthy and an almost full unit of stormboyz moving in. The ork leader is dead but the horde continues marching on....
Turn 4 Orks
Movement
Angered by the loss of their leader the Nobs urged their boys forward, each one wanting to claim his head (and consequently take control of the warband.) Not to be out done the Stormboyz leap forward a staggering 18 inches, surrounding the forces of the Imperium. Nob bikers Move out of the ruins and line up their guns with the lower tactical squad.
Shooting
The lootas roll a 3 and fire straight into the sniper squad, wiping them off the board with 15 wounds caused. The upper boy squad and the stormboyz pepper the Terminators, but fail to kill any. The lower boy squad fires into the librarian, finishing him off on a bad double 1 role. Shooting from the nob bikers kills one Tactical marine.
Assault
The boyz and the stormboyz smashin into the terminator squad, with Sicarius and the stormboy nob moving aside to duke it out. Sicarius swings and even though he hits three times he only manages to caus one wound. Then the Stormboy replies with 4 power klaw hits, 3 wounds and Sicarius failing his 4+ invulnerable save. Before he can die though the strike cruiser up above teleports him out of combat and rushes him to the sick bay. The rest of the combat is rather dismal for the marines, losing two terminators and only managing to kill back to nobs in return. The lone Sergeant fails his leadership and manages to run off, while the boyz reconsolidate 1 inch each. The Deff dread assaults the Landraider and finishes it off, though he only wrecks it.
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| Out of Da Way gitz, I get da shiniest bitz!!! |
Movement
Lone Sergeant Reconsolidates and moves up three inches. Tactical squad moves back a bit though the missile launcher stays in place so he can fire. The flame speeder finally comes in and direct hits next to the stormboy squad.
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| Things are about to get toasty. |
Combined shooting from the speeder and squad manage to kill of fourteen stormboyz, though the nob manages to rally three of his boyz and stay in by crushing a fourth ones head with his bosspole. Otherwise that was all
Assault
No Assaults are made.
Turn 4 Thoughts
At this point we both know the game is over. The orks still have substantial troops and shooting left while the Ultramarines are down to one speeder and six TAC marines. I offer to end the game then but Ben wants to play this out to the bitter end, so we go on to Turn 5.
Turn 5 Orks
Movement
The remnants of the stormboyz and the two ork upper ork squads move up to finish off the remaining terminator. Nob bikers go around and plan to engage the Tac squad while the 3 man boy squad moves in on the Landspeeder. The deff Dread moves up but is unlikely to be in assault range of anything.
Shooting and Assault Phase
The ork guns open up and wipe everything but the landspeeder off the field, which then get hacked down by the three boyz in the assault. Ultramarines are tabled.
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| Alright boyz, good fight. TIME FOR LOOTING!!! |
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Victory to WAAAGH! BLUDSKAR!!!
Post Game ThoughtsThis game is a good example of how good the deceptive ork shooting can be. Armor 2 while great has a hard time standing up to massive shooting, and the orks can put out an insane amount of shots in combat. Add that with all the attacks in close combat and they're quite deadly. Ben admitted moving up his forces turn one was a bit of mistake but it has worked for him in the past. That and the cover saves from night fighting and the KFF neutralized his shooting allowing the trukks to deposit their boyz safely. In any case it was a fun game and I expect Ben will beat me sometime in the near future.
End Game Fluff
"Report of the Fallout of the Baltia IV, Faithfully written by Inquisitor Adrastia of the Ordos Malleus
The events of the failed attempt to destroy Baltia IV. Though the Virus was successfuly uploaded the survivng Big Mek now known as Rustbootz was able to disable it, apparently by hitting it with his choppa. While Sicarius recovered in the Apothecarium his surviving troops attempted to think of a new way to complete the mission, but the return of the Ork Armada from the succesful Fiora'o campaign forced them to retreat. The second company has lost over thirty brothers and will be short handed for sometime. Worse yet, it appears that none of the equipment lost was recoverable, the orks even now defiling them under the new lieutenant of Waaagh! Bludskar, Big Mek Rustbootz . Ork defences have been increased on the surface, and it is recommended that more resources be pooled together before another attempt at removing the pirate presence is attempted.
The ultramarines loss however may be an opportunity however. A situation has popped up in the nearby sector of Micaldor, one requiring methods laying outside the regular methods of Imperium forces and attention. Waaagh! Bludskar may perhaps be the answer.....
Thank you all for reading and see you at the next update.
