CAMPAIGN: IMPERIAL GUARD versus Orks

Game: Warhammer 40,000 4th edition
Opponent: Gary
Campaign: Destroy the Gargant campaign game 1
Mission: Night Fight
1st turn: Imperial Guard
Points: 1500
Location: Celebes, Salazar systems, Skolarii Sector
Background: En route to Celebes, Inquisitor Severus stopped off at Ceylanka to bolster his meagre forces. Although the planet is still infested with Orks many regiments of Ceylanka Tigers are based there, and Severus made contact with a certain Captain Jehan, requisitioning two detachments of his guerrilla fighters. Inquisitor Severus then made all haste for Celebes. Within an hour of dusting off we were in a firefight with Ork pickets on the outskirts of their encampment. Severus chose to stand off and place Jehan in charge of the engagement.

Imperial Guard with Daemonhunter allies

• Command Section, Captain Jehan with plasma pistol, Meltagun, Lascannon
• Eversor Assassin
• Infantry Platoon 1
• Command Section Diyon, Plasma gun, Missile launcher
• Squad Thehan, Vet sergeant with Bolt pistol, Heavy bolter, Flamer
• Squad Vidu, Mortar, Flamer
• Infantry Platoon 2
• Command Section Pamu, Sergeant with Bolt gun, Missile Launcher, Flamer
• Squad Ranuga, Mortar, Flamer
• Squad Kavith, Mortar
• Squad Derrida, 8 Stormtroopers, Plasma gun, Melta gun, Vet Serg, plasma pistol, Bolt gun, Auspex, Rhino, Smoke launchers
• Squad Baudrillard, 7 Stormtroopers, Grenade Launcher, Vet Serg, Hell Pistol, CCW, Krak grenades
• Sentinel, Multilaser
• Sentinel, Heavy Flamer
  

Orks

• Brazhak Snitchtongue, Warboss, Mega Armour, MegaBooster, CyborkBody, 5 Brazhak Bully Boyz, Nobs, Sluggers, Choppas, 'eavy armour, 1 Wartrukk big shooter
• 16 Greengobs, Slugga Boyz, 3 Rokkits, Nob, Iron Gob
• 16 Tusk Sharpeye Shooter Boyz, Nob, 3 big shooter
• 5 Bang Boyz, Tank Busterz, 3 rokkits
• 5 Snotfasts Bike Boyz, Warbikes
• 3 Killer Kanz, 3 big shooterz
  

Terrain and deployment
Lieutenant Diyon's Command Section deployed to the left, taking cover behind a ruined wall. Stormtrooper squad Baudrillard and Command Section Pamu held the middle ground while Squad Vidu and a sentinel took the front. The Orks can barely be seen on the horizon.

Over on the right the flanking force consists of Stormtrooper Squad Derrida in the Rhino, the Eversor assassin, Squad Thehan, and the Heavy Flamer armed sentinel.

Killer Kanz led the line for the Orks with the Snotfast Biker Boyz ready to deliver a solid right hook. A large Slugga Boyz unit followed up the initial wave (to the right), while the left flank was held by the Shoota Boyz. Hiding behind the large wall in the centre were the Bang Boyz Tankbusta Squad.

Turn 1

The Imperial Guard won the die roll for the first turn and took it, hoping to cause some early casualties with their long range firepower. Luck failed them however as they failed the first ten (yes, that's right, TEN!) 4+ to hit rolls. Things looked up briefly when the Mortars were on target landing in amongst the Greengob Slugga Boyz but the Mortars failed to wound a single Ork. On the right flank the sentinel stalked the Killer Kanz through the wood, with the Eversor assassin stealthily following up behind.

Heaving a huge sigh of relief, the Orks piled forward, eager to engage the frail humans in close combat. The Biker Boyz raced to the front so that the huge clouds of dust and smoke the bikes kicked out would shield the Orks to the rear. The Killer Kanz advanced menacingly and the Warboss' Buggy could just be made out behind them, sheltering behind the ramshackle mini-dreadnoughts. The sound of Big Shootas rang out across the battlefield and when the smoke cleared 3 men from Squad Vidu lay dead and the Sentinel near them was reduced to a smoking wreck.

On the Orks right flank the Shoota Boyz killed half of Squad Thehan in an impressive display of sharp shooting. The Guardsmen routed, only to rally when they reached the table edge.


Turn 2

For the most part the Imperial Guardsmen held their ground again and prayed to the Emperor to guide their shots. The remaining Sentinel continued to pick its way through the undergrowth, trying to outflank the advancing Orks.

Squad Vidu advanced into the oncoming Ork horde and let fly with a flamer, killing one of the Biker Boyz! This time more heavy weapon shots hit home and another Biker was killed along with a Killer Kan. The mortars were once again on target but failed to kill any of the Greengobs. Captain Jehan shifted uneasily as the Orks made it into assault range.

The Snotfast Bikerz jinked right then left, dodging the regular guardsmen in favour of the Stormtroopers beyond. The unfortunate Squad Vidu were then confronted by Warboss Brazhak Snitchtongue himself, along with his retinue of Nobs. What followed was definitely not for the squeamish...

Stormtrooper Squad Baudrillard are assaulted by the Biker Boyz but deployed behind the stream they manage to hold fast.

Turn 3

With the Orks advancing into the teeth of the Guard guns it was time for the flank attack. Pausing only to shoot the Wartrukk out from under the Warboss, the Eversor assassin leapt from the woods and assaulted the Slugga Boyz squad, killing the lead three Orks.

The Sentinel, meanwhile, also charged from the forest and made it into close combat with the Tankbustas. Note the Killer Kanz, reduced to just one model by Imperial guard firing.

Turn 4

The Orks pressed on regardless, desperate to contact the Imperial Guard firing lines. The Biker Boyz are reduced to just one model and the Warboss has lost his Wartrukk and some of his retinue. Despite the lack of numbers the Orks make mincemeat of Lieutenant Diyon and his command.

The assaults with the Sentinel and Eversor assassin continued in the centre of the battlefield, the assassin in particular outnumbered by the green horde. Eventually, sheer weight of numbers brought him down and he was hacked to pieces, only for the Greengobs to get a nasty surprise...

...the toxins and poisons flowing through the Assassin's veins mingled as he died and the resultant explosion killed half of the unit! To add insult to injury the Sentinel also exploded after a flurry of blows from the last Killer Kan and a Tankbusta Boy was killed.

Turn 5

Command Section Jehan and Squads Kavith and Ranuga fire everything they have at Warboss Snitchtongue.

Although the Ork leader survives his retinue is killed and he decides to make a tactical withdrawl. A huge cheer goes up from the Emperor's servants.

Turn 6

The Warboss fails his morale check once more then tries to mob up with the remnants of the Slugga Boyz but fails his dice roll again. With the Imperial Guard holding one table quarter and the Orks controlling another the battle result is a draw.

Result: Draw

Aftermath
So the Daemonhunters are forced to find another way into the Gargant construction fields, the Orks having held them up but failing to destroy their enemies.

The game was incredibly tense as two players with new armies tried to get to grips with their own forces as well as that of the enemy.

The Daemonhunters seemed to have lost the game early on as their first turn of shooting failed to kill a single Ork. In later turns they fared little better and to add insult to injury the Orks excelled in the shooting phase early on.

This was largely due to the big shootas on the Warbikes, the Killer Kanz and in the Shoota Boyz squad. Between them these three squads could kick out thirty-three strength five, armour penetrating five, hits per turn whilst moving. The regular Guard squads were shredded in short order as they were wounded on a 2+ with no saving throw.

Once the Stormtroopers became involved however their 4+ save allowed them to soak up the hits; in the centre the stormtroopers held up the Biker Boyz for several turns and reduced the squad to one model, on the right the Stormtroopers survived where the Guardsmen had been cut down.

This impressive Ork shooting display effectively destroyed any Daemonhunter flanking move on the right with Squad Thehan being killed to a man and the Stormtrooper Rhino being first immobilised and then, after rolling a lucky six to get moving again, being blown up while having smoke grenades deployed. Stormtrooper Squad Derrida clawed some dignity back when they forced the Tankbustas to rout on the last turn but they took some casualties of their own and were last seen running for the hills themselves!

The remaining flankers attacked the Ork centre instead with the Assassin taking out the Warboss' transport then crashing into the Slugga Boyz, and the Sentinel taking on the Tankbustas. While both the Assassin and scout vehicle both died in short order they managed to hold their opponents up for a turn or two and this then meant that the Orks were effectively attacking in two waves. These waves crashed into the main fire base of the Daemonhunter army; two platoons of Imperial Guardsmen.

Although they couldn't seem to hit a thing early in the game they excelled at close to medium range where they could bring their plasma gun, meltagun and numerous flamers to bear. Even the humble lasgun managed to fell several Orks due to the Orks lack of effective armour.

Although the Ork Warboss was a formidable foe in close combat, and every unit he touched he destroyed, the Guardsmen had just enough units to whittle his retinue down and force him to retreat. If the Orks had managed to make contact as one unified whole then the Guardsmen would simply have been overwhelmed.

As it was the tattered remnants of the Slugga Boyz only just reached the Guard in the last turn and they were locked in combat as the game ended, while Commander Jehan personally took the last bullet of the game in order to keep his unit above half strength and therefore claim the table quarter.

All in all a very enjoyable and tense game that went right down to the wire. The next game in the campaign is now a patrol with the Orks trying to prevent the Daemonhunters from infiltrating their camp.