Battle for Crematoria – Battle Report #5: Space Wolves vs. Orks – 31 Power

Fizznoggin Madeye is attempting to ‘Jump’ a Stompa to the region to take care of ‘doze pesky Wolf oomies’. Folki has caught wind of this and is leading a small force to prevent the Weirdboy from succeeding…

For this battle, we played ‘The Ritual’ with the twist meaning no charges could be declared greater than 7″. We rolled-off and the Orks were the defenders trying to perform ‘Da Massive Jump Ritual’. My aim was for my Weirdboy to perform the psychic ritual action whilst being protected by a wall of Boyz – in fact this was my only option since Loudgob’s scar prevented him from performing actions. Ruby on the other hand just needed to take-out the Weirdboy to effectively win the game.

This game was played with the old Ork codex hence (spoiler alert) the Boyz being cut-down relatively easily. We also played it a really long time ago, but you’re used to that now…

Deployment

The Space Wolves deployment involved hiding in the buildings on the East side of the map, trying not to be seen. The Intercessors started in the South East building while Floki and the Thunderwolves started in the North East building. The Invictor Tactical Warsuit and Aggressors started in between the two buildings with good line-of-side down the board.

The Aggressors ready their Boltstorm Gauntlets to mow through some greenskins.

The Orks started with the Boyz, Stormboyz and Gretchin in the middle of the board around the ritual site, with Fizznoggin and the Scrapjet slightly to the North in cover. The Deffkoptas started behind the ramparts in the South East ready to pop-up and take some pot-shots at anything in range.

A big blob of Orks surrounding the surprisingly Necron-looking ritual site.

Space Wolves Turn 1

In Ruby’s turn, everything moved forwards. In the North East, the Thunderwolf Cavalry advanced towards the Boyz aiming to make a 7″ charge (I should have deployed the Boyz further back), while Floki moved into the ruins. In the South East, the Intercessors advanced around the building still holding onto the objective in that corner. The Aggressors and Bjorn moved forwards ready to fire.

The ‘Intercessors’ moving forwards to secure the objectives.

In the Psychic phase, Floki tried his usual tricks but only managed to kill a single Boy due to some terrible rolls.

Ruby shot everything except Bjorn into the Stormboyz, and even being protected by the Grots Shield, the Gretchin and all but two of the Stormboyz were killed. Bjorn meanwhile shot at the Deffkoptas in cover but failed to damage them.

In the Charge phase, Ruby managed to reach the Boyz with the Thunderwolf Cavalry and killed 9 of them. The Boyz managed to kill one in return.

The ‘Thunderwolf Cavalry’ reach the Boyz and cut them down… sadly

Orks Turn 1

The Deffkoptas and Scrapjet moved out of cover to get within range of Bjorn. The Stormboyz moved into charge range of the Thunderwolf Cavalry while Endless Tide returned the Boyz to the middle of the battlefield. In the Psychic phase, Fizznoggin attempted to perform the Ritual action but was denied by Floki – I did not think this through.

The Deffkoptas finally manage to take-out Bjorn for the first time in the campaign.

Both the Deffkoptas and Scrapjet shot everything at Bjorn and managed to kill him (for the first time in our Crusade campaign!). The Boyz shot at the Thunderwolf Cavalry causing a single wound. Finally, the Stormboyz charged into the Thunderwolf Cavalry managing to kill one, but being wiped-out in response.

Space Wolves Turn 2

Ruby, with some careful measuring, moved the remaining Thunderwolf sergeant into charge range of Fizznoggin (did I say I hadn’t thought this through) while Floki and the Intercessors moved onto objectives.

In the Psychic phase, Floki returned to his usual form and killed 15 of the newly returned Boyz with a bunch of insane rolls for mortal wounds – on the plus side, Floki then suffered a Perils and lost three wounds. One Deffkopta was also downed by some lucky Intercessor shooting while the Aggressors killed the remaining Boyz.

Floki manages to wipe-out half of the Boyz using mind bullets.

The Thunderwolf Sergeant charged into Fizznoggin and scored 4 wounds for a total of 12 damage. I needed some luck, and that arrived when I rolled 3 6s! Fizznoggin was still alive on 1 wound. Sadly, I forgot about the wolf, and that finished off the poor psycher effectively finishing the game. To make matters worse, the Thunderwolf Sergeant consolidated into the Scrapjet which managed to cause 2 damage in return but was now stuck in combat.

Poor, poor Fizznoggin…

Orks Turn 2

I left the Scrapjet in combat while moving the Deffkoptas forwards to try to push the Intercessors off the objectives. The Deffkoptas then shot into the Aggressors and killed one. The Scrapjet shot into the Thunderwolf Sergeant at point-blank range and completely failed to damage him.

The Scrapjet failed to harm the ‘Thunderwolf Sergeant’ – possibly because he was looking the wrong way.

In a last-ditch attempt to stop Ruby from scoring, I charged the Deffkoptas into the Intercessors, completely forgetting that Ruby had given the Sergeant a Thunderhammer. The Intercessors survived the spinning blades and wiped-out the Deffkoptas in return.

Things were looking pretty dire. But with a little bit of luck, the Scrapjet finally managed to kill the Thunderwolf Sergeant and consolidated towards the Aggressors (another mistake).

Space Wolves Turn 3

This was a quick turn but an interesting one. Ruby wanted Floki to take-out the Scrapjet so unleashed with psychic powers… and Floki suffered another Perils, being sucked horribly into the warp forever more (until the next game). Finally Floki was dead! – a small moral victory even if I wasn’t the one doing the killing. Instead, the Aggressors charged into the Scrapjet and destroyed it – Ruby had won a major Space Wolves victory.

The Scrapjet’s last action.

Conclusion

So what happened? Well I did lots of things wrong so I’ll focus on my top 3. First-up having a lot of my units forward really helped Ruby’s shooting, psychic powers and Thunderwolf charges, even with the twist. I should have kept them back protecting Fizznoggin (and my only means of scoring points) and let Ruby come to me. Secondly, bringing the Boyz back with ‘Endless Green Tide’ right into the middle of the battlefield was asking for them to be killed again – Ruby obliged. I could have brought them back closer to Fizznoggin to keep him alive (and keep them more out of harm’s way). Finally, DeffKoptas shouldn’t charge into a unit with a Thunderhammer – that’s just common sense!

The victors!

40k Coaching Event

If you live in Sydney, Australia, you should check out this event at The Combat Company.

Alexander Englezos will be running this session, and on top of being a nice guy, he ticks all the boxes to teach a bunch of stuff about 40k: he’s the current coach for the NSW Australian Team Championships, he’s played himself at NSW Masters, he’s been featured in 8 podcasts and been in Goonhammer, runs the Admech Subreddit….and the list goes on.

During the session, the following points will be covered:

1. List Building for your faction
2. Secondaries: Proactive vs Reactive secondaries
3. How to plan everything for your turn in the command phase
4. Understanding your opponents army and how to counter their plans
5. Screening tips and tricks

This will be the first of 3 sessions and it’s a great opportunity to learn from one of the best. Whether you are a competitive player, someone new to the game or someone (like me) that loves the game and wants to learn more about it, you definitely should check it out.

If you are interested, you can check out the event here.

Also, I’ve you have never been to The Combat Company, I completely recommend it. It’s an amazing place where you can find anything Hobby related, not just for 40k, but also D&D, Legion, Magic… and they have a huge selection of modelling material. The staff is really friendly, there’s tables to play and paint with lots of scenery, and overall, a great environment. You can check them out here.

And no, I haven’t been sponsored. I’m just sharing this cause I love this place 🙂

I will be posting a new entry with all my impressions and photos from the event, so stay tuned!

Paint Holders for Ikea Pegboards

Hey guys. I created a custom design for Ikea Pegboards that let you hold 10 32mm paints per row, and they fit perfectly. The design is for easy display, so you can see all your paint names at first glance, and they are easily accessible. The design is 100% free at Thingiverse, so if you wanna give them a try, you can download the .stl files here. Let me know if you like them, and any feedback is welcome, as this is my first design ever! Also, if you want different sizing for other paints that are not 32mm, I can have a go.

32mm diameter

Doom Chaos Miniatures

Since I borrowed my brother in law’s 3D printer, I’ve been really invested, looking around to all kinds of posibilities for the hobby, and obviously, looking at 3rd party Sculptors that make minis that I could proxy in my games. That’s how I run into this guys at Kickstarter. The quality and details of the models is amazing, and I can see myself using lots of those models as proxies in my Chaos Army, but also as display pieces as they look incredible. Here are some of their models:

Keeper of Secrets!!!

Khorne Exalted

Daemon Prince???

Warlord

Slanesh Prince

Skulltakers

Changeling/ Sorcerer…you name it.

If you guys want to check the whole collection, you can do it here. If you want to pledge to get all the STL files, for just 75 euros you can get the whole collection and terrain!! But you have to be quick as the project closes today…

You can also check their work in Instagram here. Worth a follow!

Painting showcase featuring @wolfcryminis

I thought I would like to show the world, not just my miniatures, but everyone’s! And what better way than doing little Showcases of people’s work so you can show everyone your proudest work! First post, as an example, will be some of my recent painted miniatures. If you want to see the whole lot and more, you can see them @Wolfcryminis in Instagram too, and if you like what you see, give it a follow 🙂

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If you would like to see your miniatures here, all you need to do is contact us here or drop a message in Instagram or Facebook, and we can discuss it further. All showcases are free or charge as we are only doing this for the love of the community and this is just a fan page with non profit. You can also tell us your Instagram, Twitter, or whatever you have, so we will display it as well and hopefully get you some followers in the process 🙂

Make sure to share with your mates and do not hesitate to contact us with any questions.

Battle for Crematoria: Narrative Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – The endless green tide

– “This looks like an industrial area of some sort. It’s hard to tell what were they manufacturing here”

– “Agreed. Most of this stuff looks primitive and worthless to us, but if our reports are right, this could be infested by scavengers. Keep your eyes open and stay alert” said Eivor in the open vox.

The contrast between his twin brother and him was borderline ridiculous. Where Floki was slim and loud, Eivor was a hulking tower of muscle and mainly introvert. Those traits took them on different paths when they joined the Vlka Fenrika but their bond was unbreakable, no matter what their paths were. They completed each other perfectly in the heat of battle, Floki being a tool of destruction while Eivor was the perfect defense. Together they had eliminated Xenos armies, took worlds to compliance and fought unimaginable horrors, but as long as they had each other, they had nothing to fear.

The idea of giving Floki command of his own company came from Eivor himself. His brother was to hasty at times and needed to learn that not every battle is won by pure brute strength and pushing forward. Standing your ground, retreat to reposition, claim and hold objectives and knowing when not to engage where some of the tactics that his brother always ignored in the past, and for a man in his position, they were key to a great leader and had to be learnt one way or another.

Battle for Crematoria – Battle Report #4: Space Wolves vs. Orks – 31 Power

It has been a few months in the making but the Orks and Space Wolves have finally run-into each other again on the planet of Crematorium.

This time, another Imperial supply drop is on the way and Floki wants to make sure he gets his hands on it. But Ol’ Fizznoggin Madeye has seen visions that he’s gonna get a krumpin from Da Boss if he doesn’t start bringing in more loot for Da Stompa. Who will emerge victorious?

Our 4th Crusade game gave us 31 power to play with. Why 31? So Ruby could fit the specific army he wanted, and I was ok with that. We rolled for another Incursion mission and got Supply Drop with the twist of Blinding Sun (which we were excited about). Spoiler alert – after randomly determining the table edge, we completely forgot about the rule, so it didn’t have the impact we thought it would.

The Armies
Space Wolves

• Floki Ravenskull – Primaris Librarian in Phobos Armour
• 5 Intercessors
• 3 Inceptors
• 3 Thunderwolf Cavalry
• Wulfen Dreadnought

Orks

• Fizznoggin Madeye – Weirdboy Warphead
• Snotkickas – 10 Gretchin
• Spleenrippa – Deff Dread
• Flame Spittas – 3 Warbikers
• Whirlybangas – 3 Deffkoptas
• Rokkit Skrudriva – Megatrak Scrapjet
• Da Hammers – 5 Tankbustas

Battle for Crematoria – Battle Report #3: Space Wolves vs. Orks – 30 Power

Coming off an Ork win and still picking through his share of the additional supplies, Zogger Loudgob has come-up against his new foe Floki Ravenskull once again. Would he fare better this time, or would the ‘Brainie Oomie’ get the better of him once again?

We expanded our third Crusade game to 30 power to include some more units: On the Space Wolves side, Bladeguard Veterans and Thunderwolf Cavalry, while the Orks included a bigger Kommandos force and a Megatrak Scrapjet. Now able to use Incursion missions, we rolled and got ‘The Relic’, with a twist of ‘Tempest’ meaning units greater than 18″ benefited from light cover – pretty useless on this board which has plenty of terrain.

The armies

Space Wolves

• Floki Ravenskull – Primaris Librarian in Phobos Armour
• 5 Assault Intercessors
• 3 Bladeguard Veterans
• 3 Thunderwolf Cavalry
• Bjorn – Invictor Tactical Warsuit

Orks

• Zogger Loudgob – Warboss with Da Killa Klaw
• Doc Gorgrok – Painboy
• Da Ironboots – 20 Choppa Boyz, Nob with Power Klaw
• Da Blakteef – 10 Kommandos, Nob with Power Klaw
• Whirlybangas – 2 Deffkoptas with Kopta Rokkits
• Rokkit Skrudriva – Megatrak Scrapjet

Battle for Crematoria – Battle Report: Space Wolves vs. Orks – 25 Power

As Zogger Loudgob’s raiding party were unsuccessfully trying to secure the promethium pumping station, across the planet Fizznoggin Madeye and Doc Gorgrok had their eyes on another target – an Imperial supply drop bound for Eivor Ravenskull’s forces.

Our second Crusade game was even worse odds for Ruby with 34 models against 10. We were playing the Combat Patrol Supply Drop mission, where each player scores victory points for taking-and-holding the three objectives. One objective is then removed at the start of the 4th, then the 5th turns, leaving the ‘supply drop’ objective. As usual, we added an Open War ‘twist’ to our game which was Last Stand (i.e. no morale checks required) – very beneficial for the Orks.

The armies

Space Wolves

• Eivor Ravenskull – Primaris Captain
• 5 Intercessors
• 3 Eradicators
• Wulfen Dreadnought

Note: Ruby’s army will be played by Ultramarines, with the Intercessors being proxied with Infiltrators and the Wulfen dread being proxied by an old-school Space Marine Dread from the 80s (not pictured).

Orks

• Fizznoggin Madeye – Weirdboy (Warphead) with Da Jump and Warpath
• Doc Gorgrok – Painboy
• Da Ironboots – 20 Choppa Boyz, Nob with Power Klaw
• Stompkrumpas – 10 Stormboyz, Nob with Power Klaw
• Whirlybangas – 2 Deffkoptas with Kopta Rokkits

Deployment
Again, the Space Wolves were the defender for this mission. Both Ruby and I decided to deploy all our units, with the Deffkoptas and Stormboyz facing off against the Wulfen Dread on Ruby’s right flank, while the Boyz, Painboy and Weirdboy were positioned to the left facing the Eradicators, Intercessors and Captain.

Orks Turn 1
The Orks started their movement, and both the Koptas and Stormboyz surged forward with the intention of shooting and charging the Wulfen Dread. The Boyz didn’t move (a mistake on my part as they could have taken the objective), while the Painboy and Weirdboy shuffled forwards.

The Deffkoptas take to the ruins to harass Ruby’s right flank

In the psychic phase, the Weirdboy attemped Warpath on the Boyz, and instead got a perils. A command point re-roll saved his bacon and gave the boyz an extra attack. Unfortunately, Da Jump failed so they boyz were stuck doing nothing for the rest of the turn.

Shooting saw the Koptas take 2 wounds off the Wulfen dread and the Big Shootas take a wound of an Eradicators.

Next was the charge phase which is where the plan was to destroy the Wulfen Dread with the sheer volume of attacks. Unfortunately, the Stormboyz failed their 8″ charge… twice… so charging in the Koptas seemed like a good way to lose a unit.

Space Wolves Turn 1
In response, the Space Wolves moved to the right flank to take-out the iminent threat of Koptas and Stormboyz. Both the Captain and Wulfen dread moved into charge range of the Stormboyz, while the Intercessors and Eradicators moved across to be in-range of both the Boyz across the table, and Koptas in the ruins.

In the shooting phase, the Eradicators took shots at the Koptas killing one. The Intercessors fired at the Koptas and Boyz but did no damage. The Wulfen dread unleashed the Heavy Flamer on the Stormboyz and roasted one of them.

The Wulfen dread and Captain then charged into the Stormboyz easily killing them without response. They the consolidated back towards the objective and cover.

At the end of turn one, it seemed as though it would be a repeat of the first game.

Orks Turn 2
At the start of my turn, I earned no points as I had completely managed to ignore all the objectives.

So, learning my leasson from the first turn, the Boyz moved onto the objective on the offchance that I failed Da Jump again. The remaining Deffkopta flew to the middle of the table to take the objective atop the storage containers. The Weirdboy and Painboy moved up to take cover behind the containers with the intention of being more useful in the following turn.

The psychic phase was better this turn with the boyz getting Warpath and successfully jumping to within charge range of both the Eradicators and Intercessors.

In the shooting phase, the Deffkopta took more shots at the Wulfen dread but failed to damage it. The Boyz took shots at the Eradicators but failed to wound them. Pretty typical Ork shooting – all or nothing.

The charge phase was where everything changed for the hapless Orks. The Boyz multi-charged into the Intercessors and Eradicators, bringing 100 attacks against the Space Wolves, and while neither unit was wiped out (only three Intercessors and one Eradicator), they were neutered for the next turn. More importantly, the boyz were up in Ruby’s business and safe from the majority of his firepower.

The Boyz bring almost 100 attacks to the Space Wolves

Space Wolves Turn 2
At the start of Ruby’s turn, he’d managed to keep his Dread holding the objective, so earned 10 points.

Ruby knew that keeping his units engaged with the rampaging Ork Boyz for another turn was suicide, so he disengaged both Eradicators and Intercessors and moved them back towards the Captain. He then put both his Captain and Wulfen dread in charge range of the Weirdboy and Painboy behind the storage container – something I hadn’t anticipated.

In the shooting phase, he took a wound off the Deffkopta with the Heavy Flamer, but failed to wound the boyz with his Captain’s Heavy Bolt Pistol.

In the Charge phase, Ruby’s Captain charged up onto the storage container into both the Deffkopta and Painboy. The Wulfen dread then tried to charge the Weirdboy but failed twice – the Captain was on his own, and now had three targets with the Weirdboy heroically (suicidally?) intervening.

The Weirdboy right before his ‘Suicidal Intervention’

Simply put, Ruby’s captain is a beast dishing-out 6 attacks, each with 3 damage. That said, he failed to wound the Deffkopta, and despite causing 6 wounds on the Painboy, 3 were ignored by Doc’s Tools, leaving the surgeon alive on a single wound. The Weirdboy was not so lucky, falling to 6 unsaved wounds. In response, the Painboy and Deffkopta did nothing.

Orks Turn 3
The Deffkopta had successfully held the middle objective so I gained 10 points making the score 10-10.

Sensing the iminent loss of both my Painboy and remaining Deffkopta, the Boyz moved towards the Captain with the intention of saving at least one of the other units. The Painboy then disengaged to a position where he could offer Doc’s Tools to the Boyz if they successfully charged.

In the shooting phase, the Boyz unleashed their deadly Sluggas and Big Shootas into the Intercessors and wiped them all out (showing the Shoota Boyz from game 1 how to aim).

In the charge phase, the Boyz succesfully made their charge and managed to surround the Captain on the storage container. Then, to my surprise, Ruby heroically intervened with his Wulfen dread, forcing five Boyz to fight it instead. Despite using Trans-human Physiology, the Captain fell to sheer weight of damage (although only just), and the Wulfen lost two more wounds, killing just three boyz in return thanks to lucky invulnerable saves and Doc’s Tools rolls. The Deffkopta now out of all fights consolidated down behind the storage container, out of sight of the Eradicators but still in range of the objective.

Space Wolves Turn 3
In the Space Wolves turn, Ruby had moved away from all the objectives so scored no additional points, leaving the score level at 10-10.

The Eradicators charged the Boyz due to lack of other targets. They hacked through two, and the Wulfen dread took out a handful more. The Boyz and Nob attached back and took the Wulfen down to two wounds. At this point, Ruby’s entire army was engaged with my Choppa Boyz.

Orks Turn 4
We started the turn by rolling-for and removing the objective on my side of the board. I then gained 15 points for holding the central objective with the Deffkopta, taking the score to 25-10.

The game-winning move

My Boyz were now heavily engaged in the fighting and their numbers had dwindled to below 10, so I used 3 command points on Endless Green Tide and brought them back at full strength near the objective on Ruby’s side. The Painboy then moved towards the Eradicators and Wulfen dread to try his luck with his Power Klaw.

For shooting, the boyz unleashed their Sluggas and Big Shootas into the Eradicators but caused no damage. The Deffkopta then unloaded on the Wulfen dread finally felling the walker, which luckily did not explode.

In the charge phase, the Boyz failed their charge against the Eradicators, but both the Deffkopta and Painboy made it in. The Deffkopta killed the Eradicator sergeant leaving Ruby with a single model, while the Painboy promptly died after completely failing to hit with any of his attacks.

Space Wolves Turn 4
Ruby, still not on any objectives remained at 10 points. With his last remaining Eradicator, he attacked the Deffkopta and managed to cause an additional wound recieving one in return. Things were looking grim for the Space Wolves.

Orks Turn 5
The middle objective was removed leaving the objective closest to Ruby as the supply drop. Neither of us had units on the objective so the Orks had successfully secured the area and the supply drop – 2 Requisition Points were mine!

To close out the game, the Boyz charged into the remaining Eradicator and chopped him up easily with almost 80 attacks.

Eradicator’s ‘Last Stand’ – also the name of the Twist for this game

Post Game
Ruby rolled Out-Of-Action for all of his units and found that his Captain had sustained an injury. For our narrative, we decided to always take battle scars, so Ruby rolled and Eivor lost a leg! – his move will be 5″ next time he sees the table. Our house rules dictate that he has to sit-out one game, then play one game with the battle scar before it can be removed – we’ll see if we remember that in the following games.

For me, none of my destroyed units sustained long-lasting injuries and I marked the Deffkoptas for Greatness as they were a constant thorn in Ruby’s side. No upgrades yet but hopefully the next battle will give them enough experience.

Battle for Crematoria. Chapter 1: The raven and the thief

“Well, this is quite an unnatural darkness…and I know a thing or two about unnatural…” the young Rune Priest said. He was right. There was something about to happen on this planet and it’s like the elements knew it and were preparing for it. 

Floki Ravenskull was young, yet a veteran of many battles that fought alongside the great Ragnar Blackmane from whom he learnt a great deal, a little bit too much for many of his peers’ opinion. That relentless thirst for battle and glory was inbred in him and his twin brother making them reckless at times for a man in their position and role. His mentor always told him that they were there to support their comrades, but he always rather being in the middle of battle looking for the toughest opponent to write his own saga. His eccentric and anarchic behaviour got him in trouble more than once but his results talked from themselves. 

His superiors thought that putting him in charge of a small company would teach him the leadership skills that he was missing, and with the blessing of Ragnar himself they sent him to lead a scouting company to the planet Crematoria.  

This planet was full of wildlife and ruins from an older civilization that somehow fascinated Floki. These are the same ruins that were showing on his visions while navigating the storms but that wasn’t the whole picture. During his visions he could see two black ravens flying over a battlefield where 2 warriors were fighting each other surrounded by countless skeletons that once were corpses. One of the warriors was getting weaker, while the other one stronger, but both of them were oblivious to an unnatural green thunderstorm that was coming their way. 

Floki had had visions with those storms before and knew exactly what they meant, and that’s what they were hunting for: Orks. But what intrigued him were the 2 faceless warriors and what could they mean…

Floki stood stoically, examining the land in front of him. His force had been dropped 80 kliks to the South West of Urganth, a key city of interest to his superiors, despite looking to Floki like a smoking pile from this distance. Before getting to the city and its all important space-port, Floki knew he’d need to take control of the promethium pumping station to the North, a small ruined building surrounded by plenty of places for enemies to hide. The ground was scarred by innumerous battles and stained dark red with blood. There was no sign of life but Floki knew Orks were near, drawn by the promise of combat. He knew surveying the land for an optimal approach to the pumping station was the tactical choice, but he didn’t have the luxury of time. And despite his training and his superior’s best intentions, he lusted for battle again. He decided to make haste and move ahead. He had to take advantage now that his brother wasn’t around…

His men moved forward swiftly taking cover within the ruins while the thunderous footsteps of Bjorn Hellshammer’s suit would let any hostiles within a 5 kliks radius know that his force had arrived, and that’s exactly what he wanted. Ever alert, Floki sent his Assault Intercessors to investigate the pumping station while the rest of the force kept watch for movement. Suddenly, the sound Floki had been anticipating echoed out among the ruined buildings…

WAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

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        Zogger Loudgob looked at his right arm. The power claw was setting up nicely. Da Boss was kind enough to give him, not just a second chance, but also an augmentation. He chopped his arm off, beat him to a pulp, but Zogger’s resilience and endurance made his boss take pity on him and spare his life. Not just that, he also made him one of his lieutenants and gave him a new shiny Power Claw to replace his lost arm. He wasn’t sure what Da Boss’ endgame was, but he knew that he always did everything for a reason. 

He could smell the pinkskinz in the area, and his Kommandos reported a big metal suit walking around. Big and metal. Lots of shiny parts and extra dakka. Just what he was looking for. Da Boss had sent them to this stinking planet with one mission: collect anything that we could salvage to build a Stompa. So far, everything that he and his boyz collected was deemed useless by the Meks, which he didn’t understand because everything look sturdy enough. 

This was Zogger’s first mission as a lieutenant and he didn’t want to disappoint Da Boss, so he wanted to make sure that he could smash a lot of pinkskinz and loot lots of trophies from their little corpses. He had fought pinkskinz before in their green little suits with their little lasguns and big tanks. Lots of loot. These guys smelt different but he was sure they wouldn’t be different to squeeze. 

There was an unnatural fog covering the field, and between the factory ruined buildings and the fog, they could barely see anything ahead of them. But he heard it, same as all his boyz. He looked at the Deff Dread escorting them on the side and pointed to his right side. His scream was heard in miles: WAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!

All his Boyz knew what to do. Rush forward to meet the enemy face to face and teach them a little bit of Ork diplomacy. The Warbikes roar on the flank while the Deff Dread covered the opposite side. His Kommandos were scouting the area, while he advanced with all his Boyz to show the enemy some Dakka. 

The first ones to unleash fire were the Warbikes. They must have met the Shiny Pinkskin Deff Dread. “Break it quickly, but don’t break it too much!” Zogger yelled while keeping his pace rushing towards an invisible enemy. But as soon as he finished his sentence, all the Warbikes blew up in a big explosion. He saw some of the drivers running away and he tried to remember his faces to smash them later. Some of his Boyz seemed to be shooting aimlessly at something that he couldn’t see while Zogger kept yelling “Ruzz towarz the walker! Daz our prize!!”

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        The plan in his head was solid until they had any further information. By the smell and sound of it, it looked like they were outnumbered at least 3 to 1 but Floki wouldn’t know for sure until they had visual contact with the charging Orks. 

He saw Bjorn unleashing hell on something that he couldn’t see, until he saw a big explosion and parts of what look like a rudimentary vehicle. That was surprising since, unlike most Invicor pilots, Bjorn was an average shooter, but a master in close combat. 

As soon as that happened, they saw some Orks with shootas coming out of the fog shooting at Bjorn. In the back of that mob, he could distinguish a much bigger Ork that the others shouting orders or threats, he couldn’t tell. Next to them, a massive walking can with blades and claws started rushing towards Bjorn’s position. “Freya, fly over. They took the bait”

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The walking suit was by himself in the open. They saw him hesitating moving towards them when he saw his numbers, as if he was about to retreat, but they couldn’t let that happen. “Hurry up! Don’t let that get away!” As he screamed his order, he saw a Pinkskin coming out of some ruins with a hood covering his head and not wielding any weapons in his hands. Barely a threat, or so he thought… before he could look away, a surge of lighting came out of him, straight into his unit, instantly killing several of his Boyz, and even hurting him on his leg. As he was recovering from the shock, he could see the masked guy gathering more power, and before he could give any orders, a huge lightning Wolf appeared in the sky above them and impacted his unit. Half of his unit was gone in the blink of an eye. 

He looked at his side and saw the Kommandos fighting the Suit in close combat, or at least what was left of the unit as one of the guys had all his bones shattered by a punch of that hulking thing. The rest of the Boyz were still rushing towards the Invictor suit, escorted by the Deff Dread when he realised that the Hooded stranger was charging towards them by himself with a shiny sword on his hand. 

As soon as he started brazing himself for the incoming enemy, he heard a roaring noisy flying above his head. 3 armoured guys in a jet pack were flew past his unit, landing right behind them. They were carrying big weapons on them, and the last thing he saw was them unleashing them on him.

---

The trap couldn’t have worked any better. The green skins were dropping like flies and they haven’t had any casualties yet. Floki invoqued the storm one more time before releasing another living lightning on their enemies and charge them. At this point Bjorn had already engaged the Boyz himself and was doing what he did best. The Ork Walker attacked Bjorn spinning all its blades and weapons at him, but Bjorn evade them with ease and wrecked the charging walker before he could attack again. 

The Inceptors were thinning out the ranks from the rear and stopping any fleeing Ork, while Floki charged the remaining Orks with his Runic Blade shinning like Fenris’ ice in the morning. The battle was over before they even knew it and victory was theirs. 

While Freya’s Bane and the Assault intercessors were making sure that there were no more Orks in the area, Floki examined the bodies in search for any clues on why the Orks were in this wretched planet. While doing so, a vision hit his mind. A wounded raven was falling from the sky into the abyss, while the Green Storm was getting closer. “Eivor…” 

“Sir, we haven’t found any trace of the Ork Leader in the field. By the looks of it, he escaped the battle wounded. We should be able to trace him, but he could be leading us to a trap” 

“Gather your troops and contact base. Get the Scout squad to trace the area and follow the trail in search of an Ork encampment or base. Do not engage until you receive my orders. We need more intel in the enemy and the area. And let me know as soon as you make contact with Captain Eivor or his unit. I have a bad feeling about this”