Imperial force vs Orks Games Workshop Apocalypse battle March 2009

I took part in my first Apocalypse battle at my local Games Workshop. It was a weekend of 40k, however due to work I could only attend the Sundays activities.

The battle was themed around the third War of Armageddon, a massive force of Orks clashed with the Imperial forces. There were 5 Ork players and 4 Imperial. Each player had upwards of 5000 points.
My Ultramarines comprised of serious 'punch' units, two squads of Terminators with a Terminator Chaplain and the God Of War (or dog of war during the battle) Marneus Calgar. These units were transported into battle in a Thunderhawk Gunship. I also had two 10 man full drop pods, a combat squad supported by Tigurius, 6 man Sternguard squad with Cassius, two Dreadnoughts a Landraider with support from a Baneblade and a Shadowsword, oh, and a Reaver! On the Imperial side there were also several baneblades/shadowswords and a Stormlord plus several Sister of Battle units.


The Orks had 5 Stompas, and a Gargant- 7 Structure points and 4 shields. The orks also had renegade Imperial guard and Space marine units. The deployment stages was very entertaining, the orks played the jamming beacon, so no communication during deployment, - 4minutes isn't long to get as many units on the table! - The orks had a massive 25 minutes and another 5 minutes to discuss their tactics!

Due to time issues we could only have 2 turns, 30 minutes a turn. let battle commence!!

Turn 1, the Orks grabbed the initiative and started first, all of the Stompa's charged forward getting into a good position to launch into assault. The Gargant took aim and blasted one of the Baneblades, 1 structure point down. The lifta drop also showed good aim and dropped one of the Leman Russ' into the forest. Combat was bloody, with the titan close combat weapons showing no grace as two Baneblades were assaulted, one exploding taking another two Leman Russ' with it! (curse that 6 on the super heavy catastrophy table!) The Reaver took some heavy fire and all void shields were overloaded. (BOO!!)

Imperial turn 1 started with the landing of the Thunderhawk Gunship (reserves were allowed on turn 1 due to the lack of time). Terminators and Marneus deployed from the gunship, ready to charge into assault that turn. The Sisters of Battle charged forward to comand the objective in no-mans-land. My Sternguard took control of the second objective in no-mans-land. The shooting phase was heavy, with all weapons fired at the Gargant and the Stompas. The Gargant lost all of its shields and 2 structure points. 1 Gargant was reduced to 1 structure point. The assault phase was swift as the Terminators and Marneus charged into the renegade Imperial forces and wiped them out without loss. The Orks final turn, the arrival of another Stompa, two mobs of Killer Kans and 30 ork boyz just behind the Reaver titan, all ready to charge into combat. Things were looking bad for the Imperials. More boyz arrived on the other side if the table to contest the objective in no-mans-land from the Sternguard. A further mob of biker boyz zoomed up behind one of the Baneblades, the Nobz powerclaw readied for action. The Orks weren't able to hit a thing, (a good thing) however, the Renegade forces with the support from a Drop Pod full of space marines managed to take out two of the mighty terminators (Two failed storm shields saves. I need bigger shields like Siph's Termi's.) and also took out the thunderhawk with lascannon fire from all directions. In the assault phase, the orks took control of the battle, two more Baneblades felt the wrong end of the Stompa's close combat weapons. A further Baneblade was destroyed by that Ork Nob on the warbike (four 6's in a row... unbelieveable). Worst was to follow as the Orks behind the Reaver charged into combat with my lone combat squad, wiping them out to a man, the Stompa charged into combat with the Reaver and hammered home by taking off 3 structure points. Things were looking very bad for the Imperial forces.
The final turn had little movement, Drop Pods were deployed to contest objectives. Orbital bombardments with support fire from the remaining super heavy tanks managed to take out the Gargant, on the last roll for damage, a 6 was rolled... a further roll of 6 meant that the Gargant went out with a massive apocalyptic explosion. 9 was rolled, thus taking a massive amount of troops and tanks, enough to have made a good small skirmish! Close combat again was manic as the Terminators smashed into more of the Renegade Imperial forces and killing more of them. The Reaver stomped back at the killer kans around its base, taking one with it, however the combination of 2 killer kans and the Stompa were enough to take down the mighty Titan. A bell on Mars chimed at the death of one of its mighty war machines.

As the dust settled, the results were close. The Imperial forces had control of 1 objective and contested 3 others, the Orks had control of 2 objectives!! The Orks won the battle.