Rynn's World Battle 2: Blades in the Night

"...Everywhere there was evidence of the orks' presence: rubble lay strewn in the streets and damage from the recent fighting had been left unrepaired. As we entered the refinery grounds, my squad spotted the first ork patrol milling about and grumbling loudly in their ugly vernacular. Vermian and Rogar raised their sniper rifles and looked to me for the order to fire. Our mission called for the utmost stealth and with three Xenos and only two silenced weapons, I did not want to risk leaving one alive to raise the alarm. Instead, I gave the signal for the men to creep forward and eliminate the sentries silently with combat blades..."

-From the report of Scout Sergeant Mishina

Background

This is the second battle in our Rynn's World Campaign, using 4th Edition rules.

Although wresting Badlanding from the Orks' control would be impossible in the short term, Chapter Master Kantor planned a series of raids on Warlord Snagrod's latest acquisition. These would serve a number of aims. Firstly, they would secure information the strength of the orks, their war machines, and ships. Secondly, they would disrupt the orks and prevent them tightening their grip on Badlanding and exploiting its resources. Thirdly, they would encourage the resistance of the surviving humans now engaged in a guerrilla war from their scattered settlements in the Scratch Mountains. 

For an overview of the campaign and the rest of Andy Chambers' excellent lore:

Bloodied Fist: The Rynn's World Incident - Campaign Outline

For links to all the related posts in this campaign:

Rynn's World Incident Blog Index

Scenario: Blades in the Night - Kill Team Mission 6: Reconnoiter

This battle would represent the Crimson Fists scouts of the 4th company reconnoitering the company's planned entrance into Krugerport, while simultaneously attempting to eliminate as many orks as possible. 

The mission called for the Kill Team to enter the battlefield from a side of their choice and then traverse around the central point and exit on the same side from which they arrived. This represents them stealthily scouting the area to find a path for the rest of the company. Any sentries encountered should be eliminated before they can raise the alarm.

The winning side gets to use their entire force from this scenario in the next battle without paying its points cost.

Scout Damian plans to plunge his combat blade into the backs of a few Orks this night...

Night vision magnocular pict-cap showing the ork alpha, from the report of Sergeant Mishina.

Opposing Forces:

Crimson Fists Kill Team Broken Arrow [Pete]

• Scout Sergeant Mishina: Power fist and plasma pistol
• Scout Ferdinand: bolter
• Scout Vermian: sniper rifle
• Scout Rogar: sniper rifle
• Scout Pelayo: bolt pistol and combat knife
• Scout Alexander: bolt pistol and combat knife
• Scout Damian: bolt pistol and combat knife
• Scout Roca: missile launcher

Kill Team Broken Arrow, led by Sergeant Mishina

Orks Brutes of the Skulltakaz Warband [Phil]

• Nob Zogbod with power klaw and slugga
• 5 Brute Squads with slugga and choppa
• 4 Brute Squads with shoota

Nob Zogbod, 'Fuel-Boss of Krugaport', and his top brutes run the captured refinery.

Rynn's World Battle 1: The Approach to Krugerport

"...Gonna burn dis burg to da ground, an' kill anyfing dat fights. Yous all gonna be slaves an' when we done ya gonna say 'thank yoo boss'..."

-Warlord Snagrod, the Arch Arsonist of Charadon

Background

Welcome to the first battle in our campaign to recreate the Rynn's World Incident, one of the oldest and most iconic stories of the 40k setting.

For an overview of the campaign and Andy Chambers' excellent lore:

Bloodied Fist: The Rynn's World Incident - Campaign Outline

For links to all the related posts in this campaign:

Rynn's World Incident Blog Index

Scenario: The Approach to Krugerport - Seek and Destroy 

This battle would represent the Crimson Fists 4th company making their way from their Thunderhawk landing sites to Krugerport and running into an ork patrol on the way. As this is an escalation campaign to allow us to build up our forces, this first clash is only 500 points and represents just a small skirmish before the marines reach their main objectives in the settlement.

This was a warmup game just to get familiar with the 4th Edition rules again so we played the Combat Patrol scenario with the simple objective of trying to destroy the other army and earn the most Kill Points. Game Length: 4 Turns

Opposing Forces:

Crimson Fists 4th Company [Pete]

• Brother-Captain Ashor Drakken
• 5th Tactical Squad: 7 marines, heavy bolter, melta gun, veteran sergeant with power sword and plasma pistol
• 4th Tactical Squad: 6 marines, flamer, veteran sergeant with power fist
• Rhino transport with storm bolter

Da Skulltakaz, Deathskull Warband [Phil]

• Uzrog Mag-Kull: Warboss, slugga, power klaw, cybork body, eavy armor (100 pts)
• Snagtoof's Sluggas: 21 x Ork Boyz: slugga, choppa, Nob w/ power klaw, boss pole (166 pts)
• Gargut's Bullet Boyz: 21 x Ork Boyz: shoota, 2 x big shootas, Nob w/ power klaw, boss pole (176 pts)
• Da Bonepickaz: 16 x Gretchin: blasta, 1 x Runtherds (58 pts)

Total: 500 points

Our armies consisted of all the painted models we had, except I had to leave out a few grots to get down to 500 points.

Battle:

Drakken's men picked their way through the rugged terrain, making for Kurgerport.

In the low light and dust of Badlanding, the Crimson Fists encounter an unexpectedly large ork patrol.

Gargut's Bullet Boyz catch sight of some new enemies and bellow out their war cries. 

The ork patrol has the initiative and they surge toward the marines. 

The Skulltakaz warband splits up to maneuver through the broken terrain.

Tactical Squad 4 advances cautiously in their Rhino, firing their storm bolter. 

Tactical Squad 5 takes up a defensive position on a rocky outcrop. 

Uzrog sends Da Bonepickaz ahead of his boys to soak up the incoming fire.

A few greenskins are whittled down.

The orks continue to press the advance, getting ever closer. 

The Skulltakaz warband approaches through the barren woods of Badlanding. 

Snagtoof's Sluggas push the hapless grots toward their target. 

4th Squad disembarks to face the oncoming orks. 

The thin blue line of marines launches another salvo, felling a slew of grots. But the large mob of orks remains intact. 

Orks roar out in pain as they are burned to slag by a gout of flaming promethium. 

The two squads find themselves separated and vastly outnumbered. 

Gargut's boys close in on 4th Squad.

Snagtoof's Sluggas violently shove the gretchin aside as they charge up the hill. The grots are more than happy to oblige and scamper off to the side to avoid being trampled. 

The marines fight valiantly but are overwhelmed by the aggressive savagery of orks on the charge. 

A brutal melee erupts on the outcrop!

Sergeant Werner and 5th Squad defend the hilltop against the green tide.

It quickly becomes apparent the Crimson Fists cannot hold off the ork assault as Uzrog drives his boyz forward. 

4th Squad is forced to grab their wounded and leap aboard their Rhino to escape the rampaging orks. 

Captain Drakken is forced to disengage, leaving several dead marines behind. 

Aftermath:

The Crimson Fists clearly did not expect this level of organization and aggressiveness from the orks of Badlanding. Drakken realized too late that these were not just typical ork pirates pillaging for fun that could be dispersed with some disciplined bolter fire. These greenskins were part of a much bigger ork force that was gearing up for a Waaagh! that would threaten the whole sector. This would be critical information to pass along to Chapter Master Kantor. He knew he must complete his mission to gather information on their strength and do what he could to disrupt and delay their buildup. 

Uzrog Mag-Kull was pleased with the new opponents his boyz had found. As he looked down at half a dozen dead orks, he nodded appreciatively. These beakie 'ard boyz had put up a much better fight than the human defenders of Badlanding. It must be the lucky blue color of their armor, he surmised. It was a shame there were so few. He let his Deathskulls loot the battlefield and then gathered them up to leg it back to Krugerport as quickly as they could in order to get in on what sure to be the best scrap available on this desolate rock of a planet. 

Post-Game:

That was an overwhelming victory for the orks. The marines couldn’t dish out nearly enough damage from a distance. And most of the shooting they did only thinned out the grots, leaving an unstoppable number of boyz to charge into close combat. This was only a practice game to get used to the 4th edition rules with small armies that didn’t leave a great deal of room for tactics. But I believe Pete made the classic mistake of splitting his fire between different units, weakening several but not sufficiently crippling any. He could have used his Rhino to transport 4th Squad to support 5th Squad, forcing the shoota boyz to spend an extra turn or two closing the gap to the hill. Most likely it would not have made a difference to the outcome as the ork numbers were just too overwhelming for a handful of tactical marines to tackle. The marines will have their work cut out for them in this campaign!

We both really enjoyed the 4th edition rules after playing mostly Heresy for nearly a decade and 7th edition before that. The rules are simple and intuitive, turns are quick, there are a minimal number of special tables to consult and rules to check. It feels like positioning of your units and target selection are critically important, rather than special rules and buffs. I love this version of the ork codex for its simplicity (elegant army-wide rules; minimal unit special rules to remember) while having a great versatility of army compositions possible. We also both realized we had put our characters in the rear of our units because we were conditioned to the casualty removal rules of other editions, but 4th edition allows you to remove any models in range and line of sight so it doesn't penalize leaders leading. It actually encourages you to put your characters near the front so they can participate in melee (both of our independent characters were left out of the central brawl).

Most importantly, it was amazing to see the legendary matchup of orks vs Crimson Fists! Badlanding, Rynn’s World, Captain Ashor Drakken… these names bring back nostalgic memories of our early days in the hobby and an excitement the current lore just can’t match. 

This should be a great campaign!

Crimson Fists Army Update 1-Year In

As I'm about 1-year in to my journey to make an old school Crimson Fists army, I felt it was a good time to reflect on my progress, as well as look forward to the next units and additions. 

I think I'm showing my age and maturity as I was able to form the core of this army with 1 HQ w/ command squad, and 3 Troops choices w/ 2 dedicated transports. Impressive restraint! In my early days of 40k, I would have started a new army with nothing but terminator squads, dreadnoughts and land raiders! 

This command squad makes me smile. Bright yellow flamer. White armored apothecary. Crimson stripes down the center of their helmets. A heroic captain covered in robes and medals. Iconic stuff.

I still have a company standard barrier to finish to complete the squad. But I'm struggling a bit with the immense flag and how to paint it. Or only use transfers? Or both? 

I want to give a special shout-out to my bro, Phil, for all his help bringing this dream army to life. He has helped me flock my bases with charming bright green grass, just like the early days of 1st and 2nd edition. And he has lent his impressive Warhammer transfers skills to bring my vision of adding big clunky line/troops up-arrows to my tactical marine shoulder pads. Now THAT is good stuff - tactical marines just like in the old codexes, rules books, and other early drawings. 

As for the unit flags, those are also a call back to the early days of 40k, when it seemed every unit on the battlefield had a colorful flag flying high above. The look reminds me of armies from the medieval or renaissance areas, when a general needed to see where his units were on the battlefield by their unit colors, as well as the imperative to look flashy while riding into combat!

I don't quite have the mountain of Crimson Fists firing in all directions in a desperate last stand against hoards of orks, as in the iconic imagery and stories, but I'm getting closer. 

Year-2

I have the following units already purchased, assembled, undercoated and even painted Kantor Blue!

• Dreadnought with Assault Cannon and Power Fist
• Whirlwind Tank
• Land Raider
• 10-Man Tactical Squad w/ Missile Launcher and Plasma Gun
• 8-Man Tactical Squad w/ Missile Launcher and Plasma Gun
• 5-Man Tactical Squad with Missile Launcher
• 1o-Man Assault Squad w/ Jump Packs and 2 Flamers

Now, can I paint all that in a year? Ummm... history would point emphatically toward "no". But I hope I can make a massive dent in that list. I would think the assault squad and dreadnought would be the immediate priority, as those units would give this army a little more oomph on the tabletop. I don't think the army as it currently stands would pose much difficulty for Phil's Orks or Bill's Tyrannids. Bolters just don't put out enough firepower to lay low hoards of angry xenos armed with sharp stabby things. 

The only models that I still need to purchase for this army to be complete are a terminator squad and Padro Kantor. Terminators because, well, they're just the coolest looking damn models in the entire Space Marine range. Even if they're overpriced for their usefulness at 40 pts/each, they are the epitome of the rule of cool. Never forget that's the real reason for playing this game. Now the hard decision will be, do I go traditional, or assault termies? 

As for Padro Kantor, I think I'll need to start with the Padro model still available on BLM, and then build it up with more recent MKVI armor so the size is right compared to the rest of the army. But that old model has the iconic Kantor flag pole and fist-mounted storm bolter, so its got to be part of the conversion. I probably need to get started on this project soon, as Padro will be needed for our Rynn's World campaign this year. 

Final Word

Hopefully for those who recall an earlier era of Warhammer 40k - namely Phil and Bill - this army has been fun to watch come to life. I've been having a blast and feel truly inspired after a long offroad into Horus Heresy for what felt like a decade. It's satisfying to come back to my roots and circle back to an army I always wanted to give a go. I was a damn kid, probably not even 10 years old when I saw those early images of Crimson Fists beakies fighting and dying in a scary post-apocalyptic battlefield. What that does to one's imagination... 

So on we venture into the next year and the next project! 

Crimson Fists Scout Squad

The most memorable image of space marine scouts when I was first getting into 40k in the mid-90s was this depiction of wild, colorful, and fierce scouts with painted faces and big combat blades. Ever since, this has been the benchmark of cool for any scout models I ever saw in a battle report, on a tabletop, or online. 

As I continue to work on my ultimate 90's nostalgia Crimson Fists army, one of the cornerstones had to be an inspired scout squad. I think I nailed the assignment using the new Kill Team scouts, which obviously were somewhat inspired by this terrifically old-school image below. Mohawks!? Big combat blades!? Fantastic!

For those who appreciate a good throwback unit to a more fun and colorful time in 40k... enjoy!