More planetary empires continues, and my Orks have a foothold on one of the asteroids! Now to expand forces onward (mine are the Red logo Orks on the map):
The following battle report is from a fun, but decidedly one-sided fight against Frank’s Harlequins army.
Game Three
Big Mek Ursatz was having a particularly un-Orky feeling his mega armor mob made their way through some cathedral ruins on the asteroid they had landed upon–it must have been an Imperial moon at some point that had been blasted to bits by some really big bang. It was an un-Orky feeling because it seemed like something his Grot Oiler would be feeling instead: the feeling that the signals on his git-finder detection arrays built into his armor were being deceived by something dead sneaky and kunnin’. And the fact that he couldn’t smash the feeling with his claw or shoot it with his kustoma mega-blasta, well that made it all the worse and more grot-like.
Ursatz should have felt like the Big Mek that he was: his boyz were all outfitted in some seriously heavy gear, his tunneling battlewagon invention was not only lethal in battle but could help in clearing paths through the dense terrain, and most recently he’d repaired up a ruined Morkanaut whose thunderous stride accompanied the marching blocks of Meganobz.
The Orks were there for the scrap, as Warboss Drozgurk had demanded they have a steady supply of scrap so his Nobz could always be in the best of the best armor. Even tho they weren’t Bad Moonz, Ursatz had a feeling that Drozgurk would have made a fine Bad Moon with his proclivities. The squads of Meganobz fanned out to locate the scrap piles, and swarms of Gretchin laborers moved to take them away. Maybe it was that the Beakies that were patrolling this chunk of space rock weren’t fighting them yet–they was with another off-shoot of the Waaagh over on a nearby Shrine World. But again, the odd readings on his git-finder kept registering, and the needle vibrated stronger and stronger.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, shapes started materializing from the ruined background. Images of almost pure-white light, their forms shrouded in the brightness, bipedal warriors started streaming across the courtyard toward the Ork force. The drill-equipped Bonebreaka sped forward through the loose dirt and rock mixture to come to grips with the shapes, but it was too late. Fire from spinning and shimmering flying boats started tearing the battlewagon to bits, along with the Morkanaut as well. Some of the weapons were various energy types, but the tell-tale one revealed itself when the swarm of labor grots were cut down: a hail of shuriken meant panzies. And soon enough it was clear these were those laughin’-and-dancing panzies with their camouflage-pattern clothes. “Like Blood Axes…” Ursatz thought: “dey iz still able to be dead sneaky in the middle of nothing because of da patterns.”
He finally got a good look at one of them as it appeared behind their lines, and sprinted across the open ground and into the remains of a ruined cathedral where Warboss Drozgurk was searchin’ up some teef or something. It didn’t surprise Ursatz that the foe was wearing red in his checks and dags camouflage given how fast he could run. The assault on Drozgurk was sudden, and effective. Before Drozgurk even knew what was happening he was cut up in eighteen different spots, and one of his legs was severed at the knee. All the boyz piled in that direction to get Drozgurk to safety, or maybe because that’s where the krumpin’ was happenin’. Either way, that left the rest of the force to get shot up by jets that flew around in circles. Ursatz called for the “attack in another direction” (as Orks don’t retreat), and they left whatever scavenge was there to the panzies–along with both the wrecked battlewagon and the wrecked Morkanaut which still was flaming from an explosion. Ursatz weren’t sure how he and iz boyz would stop da laughin’-and-hidin’ panzies if they met again, but he was starting to work on some hunches.
Painting Progress
Getting the process of the armor down on these guys, and really liking how it’s turning out. Finished two more groups of three Meganobz, and I’ve got 12 more to go! One squad of nine and two squads of six feels pretty epic in doing up a Deffwing sort of feel (akin to the all-terminators Deathwing army Dark Angels Space Marines can field).
The little bit of blue on power coils is just enough, and maybe my favorite part of the models. I also like the scratches and dents and how they turn out nicely with highlights and lowlights together.
In addition, I finished up a Morkanaut for our Knight Night Fight Night 2 event. Pretty pleased with how it turned out as well. The other vehicles will have less red (more balance of black panels and metal, just by the shape of the models), but this one was still really fun. The model is kinda stinky in the game: potential to kick out a ton of damage on a lucky turn, but really dependent on dice spikes. Still, the Knight Night event was a tag-team match where I paired it with a Stompa, so giving that invulnerable save seemed like the thing to do. Probably won’t field it super-often except in really big games, but was great to build and paint, and makes a cool centerpiece.
Making good progress, even tho I’m starting Orks much later in the year than I’d like. We’re 154 days into 2022, and I’m only at 58 points of painted Orks. Again, my goal is to paint 365 points of some same army. And I’ve definitely painted up a lot of Necrons and Drukhari and Eldar this year already, not to mention Genestealer Cult. But still, one army needs to be the focus and I’m getting back to my Ork roots. So time to pick up the pace for the summer.
Painting Challenge 2022 Progress
Warhammer 40k Orks Power Level Painted: 58/365
The Dark Muse 