The Martyrs of Feuergefecht Ridge

Our deployment.

A few weeks ago I had an opportunity to play a quick game.  It spiraled into a larger 3500 point game, where my Marines Errant faced off against Orkamungus' Tire-Waaagh as part of the D-Company mid-big-game hex campaign.  The mission was Breakthrough from the Stronghold Assault scenarios.   I (the Marines) was the attacker and the Orks were defending.  Because of the point size we decided to extend the board to 6' x 8', and increase the number of Ork objectives to four.  I let my opponent set up the terrain.  What follows is the narrative report of the encounter.  Thanks for reading.  Comments are welcome, as always.

The Martyrs of Feuergefecht Ridge

 If one were to travel south on the main highway leaving the Southern Spires of Torn Martyr, a five-way intersection and checkpoint would be encountered.  Banking a hard left would lead the traveler into a small canyon network, where arterial roads become two-lane tracks.  It was in these canyons where the Marines Errant had begun their fallback from Torn Martyr, to hopefully find a secure high-ground landing site to receive much needed reinforcements.

After the siege and fall of Torn Martyr, the Errants found themselves solitary in enemy territory.  Their commanders had fallen during the siege and their Chapter Master had been lifted off the planet after being near mortally wounded by massive amounts of ork gunfire during the defense of the main road and the Southern Gates.  Reeling from the grievous pummeling, Master of the Forge Kantorian had transmitted universal fallback coordinates.  What was left had regrouped, and fled the base in an attempt to set up a stronghold somewhere in the False Hope wilderness. 

To this end, the Errants had divided themselves into two wings.  To the north-east rode Master Barrattiel, a Techmarine commanding a half-company of Rhinos, Razorbacks and Dreadnaughts plus forty tactical marines, two under-strength units of Devastators and four Predator tanks.  This company was assigned no air or drop pod support, diving deep into the canyons choked with foliage and forests.  It was here that they encountered a band of Lootas from Klan Zazdakka; these were dispatched after securing their fuel stores and what remained of the orks were sent fleeing into the highlands surrounding them.

To the south-east Techmarine Lassuarium led an ill-fated attempt at breaking through a strong point held by the Iron Warriors.  Placing his Predator tank commanders in charge of the assault, they found heavy resistance behind the walls of the Chaos makeshift fort.  They fell back to the northwest, and joined the main body of marines still gathering at the original rendezvous point at the five-way intersection.

Nightfall of the next day there was a conference on board the Landraider Raupin's Dart.  Here, Librarian Lidicker and three Chaplains,  Puriel of Mercia, Sorush of Vilamus and Zachariel of the Last Watch met with seven remaining Honor Guard formed a battle plan to dive deep into ork territory and attempt to draw the orks away from the high ground.  A single transmission code had been sewn into the very fabric of the Errant chapter banner held by Honorable Brother Locius.  If this banner could be brought to the high ground behind ork lines, a signal could be sent to the Collatus System to send reinforcements that could properly form some sort of retaliation on the planet's surface.  Once that was completed, evacuation of any remaining Imperial citizens could commence.  It was decided that a Demi-Company would be formed, consisting of two tactical squads mounted in Rhino transports.  A single support drop pod would be sent from the Cruiser Entract that still held a portion of orbit within Imperial airspace.  Escorting this drop pod would be a single Landspeeder and a solo Stormtalon for air support.  This was all the Entract had to offer at the moment, at least until reinforcements arrived.  An Armored Strike Force was hastily formed, consisting of Tank Commander Chronus and three other predators.  Master of the Forge Kantorian decided to follow them into battle with three Dreadnaughts borrowed from the forces of Barrattiel and three repair servitors which had been found deactivated in the basement of the Char-Szasul outpost just north of the intersection.  Puriel would accompany the Honor Guard, Sorush formed a Reclusiam Command Squad from five veterans and Zachariel, resplendent in Terminator armor, would march forward, directly up the center of the field praying for deliverance.

Feuergefecht Ridge is part of a larger system of hills in the outlying areas surrounding the southern suburbs of Torn Martyr.  3000 years ago the area was flat plains, but mining in the area had created tiling hills that created multi-colored ridges across the 175 square-mile area.  During the thermal warming of the planets surface that brought the tropical vegetation and life forms to become the dominant species, the toxicity of the mined areas remained barren.  Great storms accompanied these changes and eventually swept the tiling across the continent and shoved them into tightly packed hills and valleys.  Feuergefect Ridge is one of these mounds, a densely packed hill covered by sparse vegetation and sulfurous soil composition.  By the time the Marines Errant had arrived, any remaining trees upon the ridge had been burnt to the ground or used as target practice by the orks swarming across the sector.

Early the next morning the Demi-Company arrived at Feuergefecht Ridge, and began their approach to the ork lines.  It was soon evident that this group of orks was quite different from the ones encountered by Barrattiel in the canyons.  These orks were extremely well equipped, and had gorged themselves upon the spoils of the fallen fortress.  Two long lines of Lootas crested the ridge, with nearly 100 Shoota boyz screening them.  The orks had backfield artillery, in the form of strange Zzap and  Smasha guns.  Mega armored beasts prowled their backlines, and two groups of ten nobz bellowed commands from within the hoard.  These orks were led by the Warlord Orkamungus.  Orkamungus had a vision.  While other orks were given visions of towering monstrosities like Stompas, Gargants and warmachines of that ilk, Orkamungus had a vision of tires.  The gods had sent him a vision that if he were to gather enough tires he would become a greater warlord; there is little explanation to help rationalize the thought process of the fanatical ork.  When the Errants arrived they witnessed a giant hoard of orks cresting the top of Feuergefecht Ridge, taking aim over the tops of defense lines made from tires.

The orks on the ridge, left flank.

 

Marines Errant on the right flank. 

Marines Errant, mounted and moving forward.

A good view of the orks cresting the ridge and advancing, guns blazing.

One piece, maybe two of real cover out there...

Angry Nobz on the advance up the road.  Predators and Razorbacks opened fire into them, yet they kept advancing despite direct hits.  The painboss with them kept them intact, and the force field with them helped as well.

 

 

Sixty shootas dashing down the hill on the right flank.

Drop pod arrives, delivers ten marines into the ork backfield.  The ten open up with a tactical doctrine on the lootas, but only succeed in killing four of them.

The Honor Guard and Chaplain spill out from the Land Raider and charge one mob of shootas.  The Dreadnaughts scale the hill to engage the second.

Left flank, Predators line up and go weapons free on the Nobz to no effect again.  Chaplain in Terminator armor joins a combat squad that has disembarked from the Razorback.  Another combat squad advances into the building on the left.

The Chapter Champion, after disembarking from the Landraider, challenges the Nob to singular combat.  He chooses to attack with his combat blade but fails to slay the Nob outright; the Nob swings with his power klaw and kills both the Champion... and the Chapter Banner bearer next to him!  

On the right flank, lootas tag Chronos and glance his tank to pieces.  He jumps out and takes cover behind any cover he can.

Nobz charge into the Scouts.  The scouts don't last long, but the Errants hope their sacrifice will allow one more round of firepower to meet the Nobz.

Dreadnaughts on the right flank engage shoota boyz and start cleaning them up nicely.

The look of the left flank a quarter of the way in.  Nobz have moved into the cover in front of the Razorback, which is almost fully destroyed.  Marines have come out of transports and really laid into shootas on the left flank, breaking one squad (the ones on the vertical road) and severely crippling the strength of the other (on the horizontal road).

Stormtalon arrives, and begins mowing down more orks on the roads.

All is going good for the dreadnaughts on the right flank... until the Nobz show up.

The Nobz quickly overwhelm the dreadnaughts and dismantle them limb from limb.

Terminator Chaplain and tactical squads bravely take on the Nobz on the left flank and don't fare as badly as one might have thought.  Nobz begin to tire and fall to the side.

Orks clean up their backfield.  A Landspeeder has struck in behind the drop pod, but it is too little too late.

With some of the orks destroyed, the Errants attempt their last-ditch effort to break through the lines of the ork defenses.

Chronus gets into a scrap with some of the remaining orks from the left flank.

A lone veteran sergeant takes one last look at the fading Errant lines before charging the Smasha Guns.

Predators shift into high gear and start their charge of the ork lines.

The tanks begin to take damage from the artillery firing at point-blank range.  The charge stalls.

A rhino breaks through...  And the landraider does as well.

The predators are essentially stopped in their tracks.

The landraider is destroyed by Nobz swarming it from all sides. The rhino is left in the deployment zone.

The battle is lost.   The Marines Errant scored on a Rhino in the deployment zone and other objectives for a total of 9 points.  The Orks score a whopping 22 points.

Master Kantorian and his new Servitor friends withdraw from the battlefield.  He may ask himself if this sacrifice is worth its cost.  He will record the fall of the heroes and see if the distraction caused upon the ridge will result in any meaningful progress on this planet that has been seemingly forsaken by the Emperor.