Out come the Waaaghs

The latest thing at the Leeds NightOwls is another mini campaign, this time set in the 40k universe. The star system Sodallere finds itself at the end point of a rift in warp space and the sudden arrival of unexpected guests sees sudden and explosive action amongst several alien races.

I quickly painted up my new Orks to get involved, more on those in a subsequent post, and have set to getting a decent number of games in before either the end of the campaign, or my time in the area!


And overall it's been going surprisingly well. The games are combat patrol sized, which means a maximum of 400 points and a variety of restrictions on unit types. On the plus side a game should never last more than an hour, so several can be played in a session; or around a more conventional game.


My initial, and current force is ordered thus:

• 5 Nobz, wearing 'eavy armour. Lead by Fangback the Ork, accompanied by Doc Greenthumb the painboy.
• 20 Ork Boyz with two 'eavy shootas.
• 2 Deffcopters with twin linked Rokkit launchers.
  

So far this little force has won 5 and lost only 1, and that was against an all long ranged shooty space marine force. Otherwise we've been victorious over Tyranid, Chaos Marines, Tau, Adeptus Arbites (imperial police) and Guard forces!

A narrative acount of one of these battles should serve to illustrate the point!

Whilst Fangback was notionally in command when it came to brains, Doc Greenthumb usually held sway. "Them's look like marinez over there, but dey is all spikey like." Fangback motioned over the ruins of a small village towards a handful of glinting figures. "Whaddya fink." Greenthumb Scratched his masked nose. "I reckon the plan last time woz sound, just need to keep tha boyz 'eads down more until it's clobberin time."

Greenthumb knew how to keep the group of Nobs motivated, a smouldering blue liquid was injected into each ones' arm before the battle, sending pulsating spasms of raw energy through their limbs.

Fangback ordered the smaller boyz to advance through the centre of the village whilst Deffcopters looked for targets of opportunity. To their bemusement the enemy didn't spray them with a hail of explosive bullets. Instead a curiously emblazoned Rhino rumbled forward, unleashing gouts of black smoke and a group of red warriors. "I've seen thems before," yelled one of the lesser nobs "thems Beserkers; this'll be a proper fight. Waaagh!"

In rushed the Nobs, Greenthumb barely able to keep pace. The Nobs hit hard but the Chaos warriors held firm, despite the fresh sheen of their own blood across their armour. Behind the scrap, the unloaded Rhino tried to tangle with the Ork boys. They allowed it through their lines though, crawling all over it; gibbering and screaming as they set to it with Axes, Chainswords, Bolt pistols and Grenades.

The Rhino finally lifted up on one side as the suspension was rent from its hull and before long the remains were burning; thick with the acrid smell of the crew, boiling alive in their armour.

Things weren't going all their own way for the Orks though, and Greenthumb glanced away from his own favourable scrap to see a Deffcopter spiralling into the ground. The Nobs were oblivious to it, and the Boyz seemed only interested in the burning tank.

"Oy, grots for brains," he yelled, waving his syringe in the direction of the other Chaos warriors trying to encircle his lads. "There's your fight!"

The Boyz swung around and screamed with joy; a half dozen warriors had left themselves exposed in their efforts to bring down the copters, they'd broke cover. Some screamed revenge for their fallen flyboyz, others simply relished another battle.

They charged and scrambled over the wreckage toward the near helpless foe. It was over so quickly, that as the last Chaos warrior fell their only casualty was a fool who attempted to leap at the warriors without paying heed to the remains of the rotors, spinning in front of his - soon to be decapitated - head.

At last the final Beserker fell too, their toll on the Nobs was significant, but not severe. Fangback roared with unconcealed relish whilst Greenthumbs Grot, Randi, scampered around trying to fix up the wounds - generally getting a swatting for his troubles.

The Nobs wandered over to the Boyz, who were busy firing Plasma guns at each other and wondering why their enemy hadn't bothered to use them.

"Gimme that!" rumbled Fangback. He turned the gun on the burning Rhino, and carved a neat hole through it's front armour. "Hmmm, good work lads, Wrenchmangler will be well 'appy with this lot."

Greenthumb looked over the injured, not many really, and only two actually dead. Pity; he needed more to work with than that. Still, these 'spiky humies' would make for some effective transplants.

Or failing that, a tasty dinner.

It's going well so far, and the games have motivated me to paint up a plentiful array of Orky bits and pieces, which otherwise would have languished indefinitely. More on that tomorrow...