Tales of the 13th Necromunda

 

Field Tale: “Cat and Maus”

Location: Ruined City of Grendel's Hollow, Planet Velkrad III
Combatants: Hellhammer Super Heavy Tank Maus vs Ork Stompa DA STOMPY GOB
Outcome: Urban artillery ballet with a 300-ton punchline.

It was supposed to be a cleanup op.

Velkrad III’s upper hives had already fallen, and Grendel’s Hollow was little more than a smoking crater where hive towers once clawed the sky. The 13th were mopping up the last of the Ork holdouts. Spirits were high. Shells were low.

Then DA STOMPY GOB showed up—an Ork Stompa patched together from refinery wreckage, railguns, and what looked like part of a Titan’s shinplate. Big, loud, and way too close.

Enter: Maus.

Too big for most roads. Too heavy for most bridges. Too dangerous for most commanders. But not too stubborn to hunt an Ork in his own scrapyard.

DA STOMPY GOB

With Captain Hawley at the controls and Tech-Priest Rozz clinging to a maintenance hatch screaming something about sacred machine spirits, Maus stalked into the ruin-choked streets of Grendel’s Hollow.

What followed was less a battle and more a game of urban chess played with demolitions.

Maus would fire—one shell.
A building would collapse.
No Stompa.

Stompa would fire—five shells.
Two would miss. One would hit a statue. The other two accidentally destroyed a fellow Ork buggy.

Every alley became a hunting lane. Maus would disappear into rubble clouds, then reappear a block over. DA STOMPY GOB roared in frustration, leveling entire city blocks trying to pin Maus down.

That’s when the Rat Catchers sprang the trap.

A section of underhive foundation had been rigged with mag-mines earlier by Sump Dogs of Squad 3. When the Stompa finally lumbered over it in pursuit, Maus rolled out of concealment at point-blank range.

“Say cheese,” came the vox from Captain Hawley.

One shot. Right between the armor plates of the Stompa’s central tower.

The Hellhammer round turned DA STOMPY GOB into a cloud of green fire and badly aimed limbs.

Maus rumbled through the smoke, its hull scorched but intact, turret rotating like it had all the time in the world.

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Since then, the crew of Maus have scrawled a tiny Ork glyph on the turret, underneath the words:

“Cat caught it.”