The winter vortex passes and the lands of Midnight quickly thaw. Commander Dwalin has been charged with a daring mission to travel north and assault the Ork base in the city of Ushgarak but his huge army is slow and ponderous. A smaller opportunistic Ork force led by Kommander Creppa hears from his scouts of the larger Squat army to the north. Creppa could stick to the plans and push forward towards the stunts hideout at Xarjorkith…and miss out on a chance of battle? No way! He charges his army to engage Dwalin’s force!. Dwalin is amused by the Ork attack as his Squats outnumber the Orks 3:2. He sees this as an opportunity to inflict a humiliating defeat upon the Orks and perhaps turn the tide of the war. He gives explicit orders to his men not to contest the battlefield but instead allow the moronic scum to throw themselves into the formidable array of firepower at his disposal. Grinning with hate, Dwalin knows that victory is a formality…
The Squats have a 6,000 point army while the Orks have 4,000 points in action. 50VPs are required for victory. The ruleset is Net Epic Evolution.
Here we see an overview of the battlefield. The Squats are at the top of the picture while the Orks are at the bottom.
Commander Dwalin has positioned a large chunk of his force in a deep bowl at the base of the Mountains of Ashimar (highlighted in red). The plan is to keep his artillery out of harm’s way.
Despite being the smaller force, the Orks have speed on their side and spread their forces wider than the Squats, aiming to capture a host of objectives in Turn 1!
The depth of of the bowl is clearly illustrated in this picture as Squat Berserkers begin the battle high in the hills!
For most of the Squat forces though, this will be an uphill battle!
Central to Squat hopes is the feared Doomanvil Squadron which consists of two Cyclops Praetorians and a Colossus! With the Air Attack Corps in close support surely there can be no hope for the Orks through the centre of the battlefield…
And the Squats have yet another Praetorian - a Leviathan - covering their flank!
The Goffs and a Kult of Speed care not - they are ready for waaaaaggghhhh!
Yellow battlewagons are the only proxy, representing Gobsmashas.
High in the hills, Goff Boyz charge forward, suffering only a few light casualties from incoming artillery fire…
…while in the plain below, a Cyclops unleashes a hail of Doomstorm missiles upon the Evil Sunz! Iron Eagle Gyrocopters hover in support and absolutely hammer the Evil Sunz but do not break them!
Ork vehicles rampage through the hills, led by their Nobz bikers who, almost singlehandedly, annihilate the Gyrocopter wing! Burning wreckage spinning out of the sky all around him, Dwalin realises that he has overestimated his strength and underestimated the sheer speed and reckless abandon of the Orks! His army is configured for siege, not close quarters fighting!
Nobz bikers and a caravan of tanks gleefully surge across the sandy foothills and are now perfectly poised to cause more carnage in turn 2!
Ork Bonecrunchas and a few battlewagons are picked off by the Squats but this is a poor start…
…And an Ironshield squadron is broken by incoming fire! In the foreground, Kommander Creppa and his Nobz lead a charge…
…and they pound the Leviathan lotsa big shootaz, an unbelievable ten shots hitting the mark! Void shields are stripped and the Doomsday Cannon and Battlecannon are both destroyed - but somehow the Leviathan hangs on. Things are looking grim for its survival as the engineers fail to get any Void Shields back online!
The satellite overview of the battlefield shows how much territory the Orks have claimed and the Squats are looking to be under massive pressure!
The Goffs are the only clan who are unable to make huge inroads to the battlefield. The rest of the Orks have done plenty though - they’ve taken a whopping 7 objectives this turn!
End of Turn 1:
Squats 5VPs
Orks: 45VPs
At last some fortune for the Squats as they win Initiative! The Colossus rolls into action and cuts down droves of Nobz bikers, several tanks and a number of Goff Boyz with Plasma Missiles and the fearsome Doomsday Cannon! Is this the start of a fightback?
Possibly not as the Grand Battery fail to find their mark - and the Orks destroy two Goliath Mega-Cannon! The Warrior Brotherhood takes brutal losses from a mixture of Warbuggies and swarming vehicles, but hang on by a pitiful 2 squads!
Spleenrippas surge forward and gun an airship from the sky! A Cyclops retaliates and reduces the Spleenrippas to molten slag with Melta-Cannon! A Spleenrippa high on the hill is vaporised by the awesome might of the Hellfury Cannon! More Ork vehicles try to gun down another Airship but it proves elusive…
…but Bad Moon Boyz find their mark and wipe out most of the Squat Thunderers before they have even had a chance to fire in the battle! An Ironshield tank manoeuvres around the rocks and targets Kommander Crippa with extreme prejudice! The Kommander dies in a sneaky hail of heavy bolter fire as do Nobz all around him!
Berserkers make a desperate bid for an objective! There’s real danger of the battle being lost!
Coptas, Gobsmashas and Gibletgrindas continue to batter the Leviathan but somehow - miraculously - it is not destroyed!
Squat bikes dart out from the bowl to steal an objective from Ork Stompas! This could be a critical move at the death of the turn!
The Orks still dominate the battlefield but have lost two objectives this turn…
Leaving them with five. Had they picked off two more squads of the Warrior Brotherhood they would have won the battle!
End of Turn 2:
Squats 38VPs
Orks: 40VPs
His army teetering on the brink of defeat, rage overwhelms Dwalin and he roars his men into action! First to respond is a Cyclops which annihilates two Ork Gibletgrindas!
Orks desperately try to shoot an Airship from the sky but fail to do so while the other Cyclops makes short work of two Stompas! The Hellfury cannon is appropriately named! A Warlord opens fire at the remaining Stompa without much hope…but destroys it!
The Colossus mops up some remaining Warbuggies and Boyz. His Doomsday Cannon pulverises Goff Boyz while Dwalin himself takes another objective!
The destruction of the Stompas allows a Hearthguard squadron to hold objective 5…
…allowing the bikes to steal objective 6 from under the Ork’s snouts!
More Hearthguard pour forward to secure another objective and cut down Bad Moons…
…and the indestructible Leviathan takes another!
At the end of Turn 3 the Squats have decisively avoided defeat!
It has been far from a glorious day for Dwalin but, considering how close his army were to defeat, he is relieved to see the Orks completely broken.
End of Turn 3:
Squats 72VPs
Orks: 44VPs
Kommander Creppa’s Orks were extremely unfortunate not to have gotten more out of the battle! Surely this was the most heroic of failures! Creppa will not be forgotten for a few days yet!
The Squats have delivered the overwhelming victory they anticipated…but not in the manner they expected! Dwalin breathes a sigh of relief. His blushes have been spared but the Orks almost succeeded, something which was almost unthinkable before the battle. If he didn't hate them so much, he would have had to concede that the Orks fought well and to their strengths perfectly!
One thing is for sure, the war for Midnight is approaching its close. Dwalin calls for reinforcements to his army and pushes on with his mission to Ushgarak...
