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Post by Machine Gun Kelly on Sept 15, 2017 3:54:33 GMT -5
This is a series of AARs I wrote up for Another forum a couple of years ago. I publish them here without the Pictures as they are on the Picture site that should not be mentioned. The rules are a earlier version of WH40k with modifications to fit skirmish gaming. The scenarios were played in a way to tell a story rather than as a true Contest wargame.
Salvath
The planet Salvath is a quite insignificant system in the outskirts of the Imperium. Although it was colonized a long time ago, the lack of any significant resources have kept it low populated. Most of Salvath is cold and windswept making it hard to feed large populations. The fertile grounds are generally found in close proximity to the rivers. The Winters of Salvath are cold, long and with an abundance of snow. Most of the fauna are quite big and so are the the predators. Most of the animals have evolved into hibernation during the winter month. The flora is dominated by pinetree forests and tundra vegetation. Salvath import and export what it can on a quite a small scale. The main export product is meat from the large native Borch animal.
The Culture of Salvath are hard working and pious. There are a few large cities but most of the population live in small town like communities and farms. Although the poverty is high the effects of it is dampened due to the rural life style of hunting and gathering. Except during Winter time when there is nothing to find. During the eons this have evolved into a seasonal change of productivity for the manufactorums of Salvath. As more people flock to the cities during the Winter the productivity goes up, only to go down as the thaw begins and the people go back to their farms. In general the population have no or little contact with outsiders. But they are aware of that they are a part of the Empire of men, controling the galaxy. They are also proud of it, and the few Imperial Guard regiments that have been raised.
The Ork Warlord Goorgh arrived in the system with a small fleet bent on war and destruction. Most of his escorts where destroyed closing in on the plane but quite a few managed to get through. Being a particular clever Ork Goorgh realised that he had to make planetfall with all the ships at the same time and relatively close to each other to have a good chance of taking the planet. So in a stroke of Ork genius Goorgh calculated all the landing trajectories for the remainder of his fleet. According to most Imperial scholars this is what saved the planet. It turned out Goorgh were clueless to the concept of math. Turning the landing into a disaster.
Instead of having to face an army of orks who had achived a beachhead and could fight together they faced pockets of surviving Orks. But in the crash sites/ landing places where many Orks have survived there would be major battles taking place. But all in all it was within the ability of the local defense forces to take care of. And the men and women of Salvath flocked to the Planetary Defense Force. One of these men where Kilrayn Ayth.
Kilrayne Ayth
Kilrayne where born on a farmstead and spent most of his time in the wilderness. Although his mother passed away when he was very young he had a caring father and two younger sisters. They had a hard life with not enough food on the table and a father who were away during the winter month to work in the manufactorums. But they also had lot of fun. Every one in the family where devout in their faith in the emperor and as often as possible whent to the church in the closest village. A week before Oorgh arrived in system Kilrayne went to visit relatives in the capitol. It was his first time and he was as excited as a 18 year old boy from the farmlands can be when visiting a large city for the first time in his life.
One of Goorths ship crashlanded in the area Kilrayne grew up killing every one. After Kilrayne accepted that his home, friends and family was gone he signed up for the planetary defence force. His background made him a natural scout so he was assigned to the Light Infantry and his personality as a natural leader made the officers assign him to Sergeant training.
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Post by Machine Gun Kelly on Sept 15, 2017 3:58:31 GMT -5
"The Orks had been beaten back by 42nd mechanized. The battle moved on but there where still straggelers to take care of. The mopping up job was ours according to Lt."
The squad of Sgt Kilrayne Ayth moved in and started to advance. They could clearly see some Orks rummaging about on the field looting and...where they eating? There where probably more orks inside the burned out wrecks of Chimeras and the buildings. Kilrayne knew they had to be careful out there. Kilrayne gave the order "Forward". The men lined up and started to advance. All of them where taking care to use whatever cover they could find. The Orks spotted the soldiers and stopped their looting. Gripping their weapons the Orks started running toward the men. Laughing and bellowing as they shot wildly with their pistols. It seemed the orks weapons where more smoke and noise than any real threat. But in the back of his head Kilrayne knew his men where fresh out from basic. Untried and with no real combat experience. Neither had he.
Deciding not to let the memory of his family be discraced by his cowardice he gritted his teeth.The soldiers kept their nerve and fired at will towards the snarling Orks. Some of the shots hit home, but only one of the foul creatures fell and suddenly the first Ork closed in on the soldiers. It bellowed a "WHAAAAG!" and lunged at one of the soldiers. The trooper where just a little bit quicker and impaled the Ork on his bayonet, and let of a full auto right into it chest. Staring in disbelief the soldier realised he had killed the hulking brute. The sound of battle quickly drew out the Orks hiding in the wrecks. And they stampeded towards the soldiers firing wildly as they advanced. Kilrayne got hit in the chest by a slug and where throwned backwards. His armour had taken the blunt, but he would have a large bruise.More and more Orks reached the men and vicious meeles where fought. The soldier who had slained an ork before in close combat whirled around anothers orks thrust, and stabbed it in the back of its head taking it down. Kilrayne decided if the trooper survived he would put him up for a commondation.
Kilrayne could see Cpl Tham being cut down by a large Ork who proceeded to stomp on the corpse. On another part of the battlefield he could see private Jahn fall to a vicious blow from an ork. Three of the troopers ganged up on the Ork and took it out, stabbing and thrusting with their bayonets until they where sure the ork wouldn´t get up again. Wiping blood from his forehead Kilrayne kept advancing, screaming for his men to press on. The battle was furious and laser and Slugs whirled about. Through the smoke Kilrayne could see a large Brute of an Ork lumbering towards him. It was the largest Ork on the field. Kilrayne could feel his stomach turn in fear as the brute roared "WAAAGHH!!!!" and threw itself towards Kilrayne weapons in hand. The ground shook as the ork charged towards him and Kilrayne could do nothing but prepare to fight for his life. The two of them exchanged blows and parried, no one getting an upper hand. Kilrayne where slowly beaten backwards and every blow the Ork made, felt through his whole body as he parried it. The engine on his chainsword cried out as it met the orks heretic copy off a chainsword. Sparks where flying as the chains of their swords tried to chew into each other. Kilrayne knew he couldn´t keep this up much longer. In the corner of his eye he could see one more Ork closing in on them with an evil smile on its face. He could almost hear the laughter from it: "Hurr hurr hurr...." Kilrayne mutter a prayer beneath his breath for the Emperors benevolance.
A high roar and and scorching heat struck from his left side and the ork vanished in a gout of flames. Kilrayne realised that private Taravan whom had been stationed on the left flank, had during the battle advanced towards him and now fired for the first time. The ork leader clearly wasn´t prepared for it, and quickly glanced towards the new threat. That was all Kilrayne needed. He quickly stepped in and with a quick back hand sweep beheaded the ork. Seconds later Taravan where shot down by a ork. Kilrayne pointed towards it and bellowed a warning towards a nearby trooper. The trooper turned around and felled the beast with a long salvo. The ork kept running towards the trooper for a little while before realising it was dead.
All the Orks in the wastelands and Chimeras where now taken care of and the survivors of the squad advanced towards the ruined checkpoint. One of the soldiers took aim for the sentry in the guardpost in an attempt to take him out before he could alert the other monsters. Unfortunatly he missed. The sentry shouted out a warning and from the building Orks poured out, ready for battle. Kilrayne screamed his orders to the men "Take that checkpoint!". The Orks hurled themselves toward the troopers with their guns blasing. The troopers taking aim, fired their lasguns and at least one of the orks fell before reaching the men. Kilrayne fired his laspistol at an ork to get its attention and then charged in to finish it of. The ork parried the blows and striked out with the slugga. The hit is awful and Kilrayn staggered from it, his ears ringing and the world was spinning. Luckily it turned out the helmet took the blow. Kilrayn whirled around to face the ork and feinted a move to the left. The ork closed in to finish Kilrayn of and fell for the trick, leaving it dead on the ground.
Kilraynes squad acted up to their training and most orks go down before reaching them. But one of them closed in on a trooper slicing him up in close combat. Kilrayne charged the beast, who turned around to face him. The ork swinged his slugga towards Kilrayne. Kilrayne dived beneath the thrust and buried his chainsword in its stomach. The engine tugged as the sword chewed its way trough the intrails of the ork. It screamed in pain and tried to reach Kilrayne with its hand. Kilrayne withdraw his sword and sidestepped. The brute staggered forward and lost its balance. Kilrayne brought his sword down, slicing the orks head in two.
Silence fell on the battle field. It was full of bodies, most of them orks. According to the cheering troopers they had taken out 14 of the foul xenos. Kilrayne leaned towards the concrete of the checkpoint, sipping his flask of water. He felt empty and his whole body was shaking from adrenaline and fatigue. It was a victory but four of his troopers, friends, where dead. He closed his eyes and thanked the emperor that he was alive.
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Post by Machine Gun Kelly on Sept 15, 2017 4:01:35 GMT -5
Our platoon had taken a beating. It turned out there had been more stragglers than anticipated and they had fought hard. In the end though we had come out victorious. Lt rearranged the platoon by dividing up the men of the hardest hitted squads. My platoon where strenghtened to full capacity. That worried me a bit, since it meant we where probably about to head out again. Too soon after our latest skirmish. It turned out I was right.
According to Lt, a LemanRuss Vanquisher where damaged during the battle. It is not very far from here so we are to escort enginseer Whooms to the LMR while he patches it up, to get it running again. His safety and getting the LMR patched up is top priority.
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Sgt Kilrayne Ayth divided his squad into two fireteams. His team escorted and protected enginseer Whooms. They where taking the easy road towards the damaged LMR. The other team where to flank up through the rougher terrain, protecting the flank. They where issued the flamer. Up ahead Kilrayne could see the LMR. It where surrounded by orks trying to get in. Whooms calmly analysed the situation "They are trying to use axes to gain entry into a tank blessed by the Omnissah. Probability of success are 0.000326784%. Yet, I will not allow those bastards to scrape any more of the paint. Men advance!". With grim determination Kilrayne led his men towards their target. As the men advanced one of the Orks saw them. The orks quickly ran towards nearest cover but still intent to close as quickly as possible. Their goal was the troopers advancing through the rocks.
Laser ionized the air and slugs from the orks gun whistled past the troopers. Private Challs head exploded as a slug hit him. All while the orks as quickly as possible closed in on the humans. As soon as the orks closed in and the melee swirled it was clear that the men where slaughtered by the orks. There wasn´t much Kilrayne could do to save them, since they had to get Whooms to the LMR."Steady men, if you can see one of the aliens take him out. But do not leave the formation". It was clear his men was shaken, but they stayed firm and managed to take one of the brutes out. But it was to late for the second fire team. "May the emperor judge them worthy of his grace" Kilrayne muttered.
Finally they came up to the LMR and Whooms started his chanting. "Line up men, lets kill those orks as soon as they get in range". Kilrayne lined his men up to protect the enginseer. They prepared for the orks onslaught they knew would come. Sure enough he could see them, taking up cover in the rocks and firing towards his men.One of the orks tried to get round the flank while the other two kept the troopers occupied. It lunged as fast as it could and took the trooper more or less by surprise. He went down screaming as the ork finished him by ripping one of his arms off.Kilrayne threw himself at the ork with his trusty chainsword in hand. He could feel the buzzing from the engine in his hand, it was as if the sword wanted this as much as he did. The ork swinged is choppa towards Kilrayne who dodged it. With a stroke he cut off the orks right hand with the slugga. The slugga boomed, spitting slugs as the fingers gripped it harder. The ork thrusted the stump towards Kilrayne and the blood flushed across his face. Stumbling backward Kilrayne, blinded by the blood, slashed his sword in a stroke upwards. He could feel the chainblade connecting to the ork chewing away at its flesh.
And then it was over. The only sound was the chanting from the enginseer and his repairs.The men formed up to protect the enginseer and the LMR.Suddenly one of his men shouted. "In all that is holy. What is that?" Kilrayne looked the way the trooper pointed. Around the hill one of the largest orks he had ever seen came lumbering. It seemed to be clad in what could only be a rude copy of the same armour the enginseer used. One of the hands was replaced with a claw as big as one mans torso. The large gun in its other hand spat fire. All the bullets whent far astray. "I don´t care what it is. Take it out!" Kilrayne fired away with his laspistol, but the shots didn´t even cause a dent in the orks armor. His soldiers fired for all they had, but the ork just kept going at a slow pace towards them. Suddenly the engine of the LMR roared, its tower turned towards the ork. BOOM! the cannon spitted fire and the ork dissapered in a ball of fire.
The Leman lumbered away and the four men started to head home. As they passed the bodies Whooms analyzed the situation "6 men are a small price to pay for saving a Vanquisher". At that time Kilrayne hated the man. It didn´t make him feel any better that they too had killed six orks. Back at base camp Kilrayne sat in the barrack. The lockers of the dead had already been emptied when his platoon had arrived at dusk. The bed clothing had been rolled up and it looked like the beds was waiting for new fresh meat. Kilrayne sat by his small desk, chainsword and paint in hand.
Four slain enemies, four markings.
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Post by Machine Gun Kelly on Sept 15, 2017 4:03:40 GMT -5
Lt and Kilrayne walked through the camp. Soldiers and serf milled about doing their things. The 5th companys flag flapped in the wind, while the four honor guards stood in attention below. The screams of the wounded and dying could still be heard above the carpet of sound all the people and machines in the camp made.
"Its been a hard day today Sgt." Lt shot a glance towards Kilrayne, as if challengeing him to state otherwise.
"Yes, sir! A hard day. We lost many good men"
"They rest in the Emperors gaze, sergeant" Lt took up a cigar and passed it over to Kilrayne. "I heard you grew up in a small farmstead sergeant? Is that true?"
"Yes, sir. But it is gone now. Crushed by the orks" Kilrayne looked steadily into the Lts eyes until Lt turned his eyes away.
"Well then I guess you will feel at home with your new orders. Intel assume the stragglers in the area will hit the surrounding farmsteads in search for supplies. We are to defend them. Our platoon and third platoon will be divided up and fortify each farmstead. The rest of the company will be on standby to react. It seems you will have to fight two enemies. The orks and your men trying to get to the farmers daughters" Lt laughed at his own joke. "Hit the sack now sgt. You and your men will ship out early tomorrow" Lt walked away leaving Kilrayne standing outside the barracks.
Kilrayne lit the cigar and watched Lt walk away.
"What an idiot" Kilrayne mumbled to himself.
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Post by Machine Gun Kelly on Sept 15, 2017 4:11:41 GMT -5
We had arrived two days ago and fortified the farmstead. Since 5th companys forces where stretched real thin and quite worn down, my squad wasn´t at full strenght. We were only eight men, most of them new to me. One day of hard fighting and private Deen and I were the only survivors of the original 3rd squad. Since I didn´t know any of the new meat I decided to assign him as my new Corpral. Lt didn´t mind, so Deen got a quick field promotion.
Our squad weren´t assigned any new special weapons either. I guess Lt was tired of the specialist getting killed on my watch. Well, so was I. The munition where getting scarce too. Apart from the two mags each soldier worn for their lasgun, we had only half a crate of extra with us. But at least the farmstead had a effective power plant so we could recharge them quick and easy.
We settled in awaiting the orks arrival...one early morning they came. .................................................................................
Early in the morning two alarm flares flamed up. One of them from the north, where Kilrayne had anticipated the main thrust to come from. But one also flared in the south where only two of the men had been stationed. Kilrayne and two of the troopers had set up in the middle of the farmstead to serve as a back up and second defense line. As soon as the attack commenced Kilrayne told comm trooper Deric to report to HQ what was happening. At the main defence line Corporal Deen and two men where stationed. They where dug in and as prepared as they could be. As soon as the enemy came within range they started firing. Deen saw the orks at the lead armed with close combat weapons and pistols starting to run towards them. They´ll make good targets Deen mused to himself. Suddenly noise erupted as the orks who had held back started firing. They streaked the walls with what seemed to be ork equilient of rifles. "Sgt, they are trying some new tactics!" Deens shouted. "They are trying to keep us pinned! Do you see that big brute back there. He seems to be leading the force...." Deen threw himself to the ground as a big part of the wall where sprayed with fire. "Dear Emperor.....They´ve got a machinegun!"
The troopers in the first line kept firing back as best they could, but their lack of experience where showing. Their snapshots missed and the few that hit failed to injure the orks. Those two in the second line did what they could but the orks where to far away. Kilrayne saw the trooper next to him take long and steady aim. Gently squeeze of a shot that hit ono of the orks straight in the head. "Nice shot soldier". Kilrayne stared in disbelief, even though a part of it jaw where gone, the ork got back up on its feet and started to run towards them. "Lord Emperor, what does it take to keep them down" Kilrayne whispered to himself.
The orks kept spraying the fortifications while their compagnions charged them. The trooper stationed in the dug out sat up to fire of a few shots. He got hit by a slug from one of the charging orks and fell down with large piece of his chest blown away. Deen yelled to the other trooper to keep up the fire, just as one of the orks charged him. Deen fired at full auto into chest of the ork. The ork bled from his wounds but grapped the rifle and shoved it to the side. Then with a cut from above, it slashed through Deens helmet with the axe. Deen staggerd backwards a few steps and then toppled over.
It proved to be to much for the last soldier in the first line and he started running backwards, towards the second line. "Fall in and protect the left flank" Kilrayne shouted and pointing to the habs corner. The trooper nodded and took up his new firing position. Kilrayne could hear fire coming from the south too. The short loud barks of the orks guns and the snapping sound as the lasguns fired... He threw a quick glance towards that battle only to see a ork sneaking around the building. It started to run towards Kilrayne howling "WHAAAAGGGHHH!!!". Kilrayne flipped the power on the chainsword to on and charged, nothing to do but to fight. Kilrayne went in for a low cut towards the legs of the brute and the chainsaw drew up a big lash in the leg. The ork punched Kilrayne in the chest with its left fist. The impact drove Kilrayne backwards as he struggled to take a breath. The ork kept up pace and followed through with a sweep with its axe towards Kilraynes stomach. He managed to evade it by jumping backwards and as the orks drew its axe back for a new attack Kilrayne saw the opening. He thrusted his sword right into the face of the ork and straight into its brain. As the brute fell to its knees he swept in with a new attack taking its head straight off.
One of the troopers meanwhile had killed another of the orks and now ran to help his friend who desperatly fough in close combat. Kilrayne ran to help. Charging into the fray with his chainsword, the ork had to parry Kilraynes attacks. The troopers grabbed the chance and plunged their bayonets into its back killing it. "Kolbaehc , flank them " He pointed towards one of the troopers. "The first line has fallen, back up the second line" kilrayne shouted to them as he ran back towards the generator. Back at the second line the fire from the soldiers where keeping the orks at bay. The orks hugged the wall pouring fire back. Kilrayne threw himself into cover as heavy machine gun fire rikocheded of the machine. "Concentrate your fire on that machinegunner!". As one all the remaining troopers fired towards the ork. It staggered backwards as many shots hit it and then its gun exploded as one of the lasbolts hit the magazine.
Back amongst the rocks Kilrayne could see more orks coming running, with pistols and melee weapons in their hands. Kilrayne could also see the large ork with horns on its helmet. It had hardly moved. It was as if it was watching them and how they reacted. The fire fight kept going, both ork and men where saved many times by the cover and their armor. Trooper Kolbaehc swung around the corner and with a burst from his lasgun, felled the ork who had kept Kilrayne pinned. One of the orks hit Kolbaehc with a stray shot from it pistol, all while it kept running toward the troopers covering around the generator. It was looking grim for the defenders. There where only five left of them. Three by the generators and one by each flank. The trooper who had fallen back earlier aimed his rifle towards one of the ork covering behind the wall. Suddenly he heard a loud boom as a gun went off a few meters beside him, and he felt a slug whistle past his helmet. They had been flanked!
He whirled round and fired of on full auto at the ork that where charging him. The rifle went dry just as the ork slashed its axe towards his head. The soldier could do nothing but fight.Suddenly one of the orks more or less was evaporised as three large laser beams hit him from the flank. One sentinel strode in firing away at the targets while two more where coming in from the south. Kilraynes feeling of relief where quickly turned in bone chilling fear as the remaining orks let of a unison "WHAAAAGHHH!" and charged. The ground thundered as the orks came charging towards them. The orks with rifles threw them away and pulled up what they probably deemed as daggers. To the humans, they where swords. A vicious fight erupted, and Kilrayne could see comm trooper Deric being gutted. Kilrayne ducked the slash from the ork who had jumped up on the barrels. Kilrayne chopped of one of its foot and as it fell Kilrayne moved to the side and brought his sword up to meet the falling ork. The trooper by Kilraynes side had taken one of the orks out and now only two orks remained in battle, the one who had killed Deric and the one fighting with the trooper by the hab building. A fight the trooper was loosing. The ork close by grinned and turned towards Kilrayne. As Kilrayne steeled himself for the upcoming battle, the surviving soldier slammed in a new mag and shot the brute dead at close range.
Kilrayne turned his attention towards the fighting by the hab and charged in just as the trooper stumbled and fell. The towering brute lifted his axe aimed to kill the soldier but Kilrayne was quicker. He chopped off the orks hand still holding the axe and then sidestepped and chopped off its right leg. As the ork went down, Kilrayned killed it with a thrust into the chest.Kilrayne looked around for more enemies but there where none. It seemed the large ork had slipped away. Kilrayne turned his attention to his men, two of them where still alive but very badly injured. The farm serfs helped getting them inside and treated as they waited for med-vac. The sentinels scouted the surrounding landscape but could not find any more xenos.
Two days later a Chimera arrived to take away the injured and dead. Two soldiers in full gear stepped out of the Chimera. They marched up to Kilrayne, saluted and handed over a letter from Lt."Good job, Sgt. You are to proceed as ordered until further notice." Kilrayne looked at the troopers, "...and who are you?". "Sir, private Jugh and Linder. We are ordered to reinforce you". It turned out there had been some real fighting taking place. Platoon 4 and 5 where dismantled and the troopers assigned other platoons in the company. This is not the walk in the park the Lt talked about in the beginning. The orks that attacked us where not stragglers looking for supplies. They where testing us.
I´ve got a bad feeling about this, Kilrayne thought to himself as he lit up his cigar.
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