Rynn's World Campaign 3rd Encounter (Part 3)- Till The End.

The Second Battle at the Farm

Part II: Alarm in the Night

The shriek of the alarm shattered the silence.

Floodlights blazed to life around the abandoned farmhouse as signal flares arced overhead, turning the orchard into a landscape of harsh shadows and dancing light. The Blood Axe Kommandos had lost the advantage of surprise.

Now they intended to win through violence.

The first volley was directed at Veteran Sergeant Diego Navarro, who had inadvertently wandered to within a few paces of an entire mob of Orks. Slugs ricocheted from his armor as the greenskins poured fire into him from almost point-blank range.

Fortunately for Navarro, years of experience had taught him that a good conversion field generator was worth its weight in adamantium.

Every shot was turned aside.

Apparently the Emperor was watching over him...

...or perhaps He simply wasn't finished laughing yet.

Elsewhere, the Blood Axe Nob and his plasma-armed accomplice stepped from cover and unleashed blasts of superheated energy into the Mac-Guphin Engine. The experimental machine groaned under the punishment but stubbornly refused to die, suffering only a single wound before the plasma weapons overheated and required time to recharge.

The remaining Kommandos concentrated their fire on the Scouts occupying the farmhouse.

From the hillside, the hidden heavy stubber gunner joined in, raking Navarro's position with heavy fire.

The Veteran Sergeant simply refused to cooperate with the Orks' plans.

Again, every hit was absorbed by his crackling power field.

With the defenders finally alerted, the Crimson Fists sprang into action.

Reinforcements were called.

Three warriors answered.

Unfortunately for the defenders, fate had one final joke prepared.

The Heavy Bolter Scout, the Sniper Scout, and the Chaplain all entered from the southern table edge... the one furthest from the fighting.

The Heavy Bolter Scout immediately set up a firing position while the Chaplain and Sniper advanced cautiously through the darkness, trying to close the distance before the battle was decided without them.

Navarro withdrew from the encroaching mob, raised his boltgun, and prepared to exact a measure of revenge.

Above him, the Scouts on the second floor hurried into proper firing positions at last.

The Crimson Fists unleashed a disciplined volley.

When the smoke cleared...

Not a single Ork had fallen.

YOU GO BOYS!

The Blood Axes, delighted with this unexpected turn of events, wasted no time pressing their advantage.

The plasma gunners ducked into cover to allow their weapons to cool while the Kommando Kaptain charged directly toward the Mac-Guphin Engine, his massive power fist crackling with destructive energy.

At the same time, a lone Kommando demonstrated exactly why Blood Axes are unlike any other clan. Rather than charging through the front door, he quietly climbed the outside wall of the farmhouse, slipped through an unattended upstairs window, calmly drew his bolt pistol, and shot one of the startled Scouts before anyone could react.

It was a remarkably un-Orky thing to do.

The firefight continued to rage, but it was in close combat that the battle reached its turning point.

Veteran Sergeant Diego Navarro had become almost impossible to kill at range. His conversion field flashed again and again as it absorbed every shot the Blood Axes directed his way.

Then the Orks stopped shooting.

Two Kommandos charged.

Navarro fought with the determination expected of a Crimson Fist veteran, but even he could not prevail forever. When the melee ended, the Sergeant had fallen and the surviving Kommando stumbled away, undoubtedly wondering if every Space Marine was that difficult to kill.

Moments later came the decisive blow.

With a single thunderous strike of his power fist, the Blood Axe Kaptain smashed the Mac-Guphin Engine into a heap of twisted, smoking wreckage.

The mission had been accomplished.

At that point, there was no longer any path to outright victory for the Crimson Fists.

Neither of us, however, had any interest in ending such an entertaining game.

Borrowing from the Necromunda rules, we agreed on a new objective. If the Marines could inflict enough casualties to force the Orks to bottle out before they escaped the table, we would declare the battle a draw.

Upstairs in the farmhouse, the surviving Scouts charged the Kommando who had murdered their brother moments before. After a desperate struggle, another Scout fell, but the remaining Crimson Fist finally struck the greenskin down.

Outside, every available Marine opened fire.

The farmhouse erupted in flashes of muzzle fire.

Bolts screamed through the night.

The Heavy Bolter roared.

The Sniper fired.

The Chaplain added his own bolt pistol to the chorus.

According to the law of averages...

...someone should have hit.

The law of averages apparently serves Gork and Mork.

Every single shot missed.

We blamed the emotional trauma of losing the Mac-Guphin Engine.

Meanwhile, the Blood Axes decided that discretion was the better part of victory. Most of the surviving Kommandos sprinted for their own table edge, disappearing into the darkness with the objective accomplished.

Only three remained behind.

The Nob.

The Kaptain.

One stubborn Kommando.

As they reached the shelter of the orchard, we checked the casualty count.

Amazingly, the Marines needed to kill just one more Ork to force a bottle test.

Every available gun immediately targeted the Blood Axe Nob carrying the plasma gun... the very greenskin whose opening shots had crippled the Mac-Guphin Engine and set the night's disaster in motion.

Bolts flew into the trees.

Most disappeared harmlessly into branches and leaves.

Then one Scout, carrying nothing more exotic than a standard boltgun, stepped into short range.

One hit.

One wound.

One failed save.

The Nob collapsed.

Everything now depended on a single dice roll.

My son gathered the dice for the bottle test.

The Kaptain needed to hold.

He rolled.

Seven.

The Blood Axe Kaptain barked an order, and under both the Necromunda gang rules and our hybrid 40K interpretation, his successful leadership kept the remaining Kommando in the fight.

Or rather...

...in full retreat.

The Kaptain and his last surviving companion vanished into the darkness, mission accomplished.

We both agreed that somewhere between the orchard and the extraction point, the Kaptain almost certainly turned, waved something profoundly offensive at the Crimson Fists, and disappeared into the night laughing.

Result: Ork Victory

The Mac-Guphin Engine was destroyed.

The farm was lost.

The Blood Axes escaped.

But somewhere on Rynn's World, another small band of Crimson Fists survivors had written a new chapter in the long, desperate defense of their dying home.

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 The Setup for this Game can be found here

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Part 1 of this battle can be found here

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The First battle for Rynn's world can be found here

The second battle for Rynns's world can be found here

Rynn's World Campaign 3rd Encounter (Part 2)

The Quiet Before the Storm

With the Mac-Guphin Engine hidden among the abandoned farm buildings, the Crimson Fists established a small security detachment while the remainder of the patrol continued their rounds elsewhere in the valley.

Veteran Sergeant Diego Navarro stood watch over the experimental generator with four Scout Marines. Three of the Scouts occupied the second floor of the old farmhouse, giving them commanding views across the surrounding fields. Another Scout remained at ground level with Navarro, guarding the generator itself. Elsewhere, Veteran Sergeant Luis Ortega continued his patrol with the remaining Scouts and the force's Chaplain, ready to respond if the alarm should ever sound.

Across the valley, unseen in the darkness, the Blood Axes were already moving.

Fifteen Orks emerged silently from the northern edge of the battlefield, spreading out in an extended skirmish line before slipping into the orchard. Taking full advantage of the darkness, the greenskins advanced beneath the trees while a lone Ork lugging a heavy stubber climbed the nearby hill. Finding an excellent firing position, he settled into concealment and patiently waited for the signal to open fire.

The rest of the Kommandos crept steadily toward the farmhouse.

Thanks to the Raid scenario's sentry rules, the Scouts were blissfully unaware of the approaching danger. Instead of acting normally, each Marine wandered according to random movement and facing rolls, producing one of the funniest sequences either of us has ever seen on a tabletop.

The three Scouts assigned to the second floor abandoned their carefully prepared firing positions and wandered into the middle of the room, where they formed a neat little circle facing one another.

Apparently, the tactical discussion of the evening had become considerably more interesting than guard duty.

Meanwhile, Veteran Sergeant Navarro abandoned his position in the farmhouse doorway and stepped back inside. After a few purposeful strides, he came to a halt... facing a completely blank wall.

Whether he was contemplating the teachings of Rogal Dorn, reviewing tomorrow's patrol schedule, or simply questioning every decision that had led him to this lonely farm on Rynn's World, no one can say.

Perhaps he was wondering why the Chapter never issued coffee.

We'll never know.

The final Scout decided the open field looked far more interesting than the carefully defended objective and casually wandered out into the night.

The Blood Axes, hardly believing their luck, continued their advance.

With not a single Scout actually watching the approaches, the Orks reached the farmhouse completely undetected. The Blood Axe Nob and one particularly enthusiastic Kommando carrying a plasma pistol peeled off toward the Mac-Guphin Engine, clearly intending to reduce the priceless Imperial device to molten scrap. The remaining Kommandos slipped around the side of the farmhouse while the heavy stubber gunner settled into overwatch from his hillside position.

At this point, the Scouts finally began behaving... slightly more professionally.

The three Marines upstairs drifted back toward their original positions.

Unfortunately, the scatter dice had one last joke to play.

All three ended their movement facing the wrong direction.

Outside, Veteran Sergeant Navarro stepped through the farmhouse doorway, produced what we can only assume was a well-earned lho-stick, and gazed peacefully across the silent countryside. The random facing roll left his back toward an entire mob of Blood Axe Kommandos now only a few yards away around the corner of the building.

Fortunately for the defenders, the sentry rules state that enemy models ending their movement within a sentry's Initiative distance are automatically detected at the end of the turn.

Navarro finally noticed.

Somewhere in the darkness, a challenge was shouted.

Klaxons began to wail.

Floodlights snapped to life.

Signal flares streaked into the night sky.

The peaceful silence of the abandoned farm vanished in an instant.

The Second Battle at the Farm had begun...

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The setup can be found Here

Rynn's World Campaign 1st Encounter Here

Rynn's World Campaign 2nd Encounter Here