Orks Drift Battle Report MKII

Many moons ago there was a fearsome battle at Orks drift. See here – 

https://imperialrebelork.wordpress.com/2019/01/24/orks-drift-battle-report/

Now, just over three years later, a similar battle has taken place but this time the map happens to be, almost, exactly the same as the famous Rorke’s drift from 1879 January 22nd. Below you’ll see the original defence map of Rorke’s Drift (top) and my setup (bottom).

The 31st Stouthearted Praetorian Guard were assigned with guarding munitions at Orks drift. The 701st BannaRoff light infantry unit known as The Forlorn also joined the redcoats lead by the fearless and dancing extraordinaire Captain Michael Flatley. 

Unbeknownst to the Imperial Guard two enemy armies of the imperium mustered around the ridge lines behind rocky outcrops all around the outpost preparing to attack. 

The Mission: 

The Stouthearted (IRO) were to survive a total of five turns with at least ten men remaining. 

The Tau and the Orks (played by my eight year old daughter Willow) were to try and wipe every imperial guardsman off the face of the planet.  

Key details/rules: 

1. The Guard are crazily outnumbered.

2. Barricades could only be passed by destroying them first. Roll 4 5 6 to destroy and the Guard had to roll 4 5 6 to rebuild. This was a fun little rule. 

3. If one area, say the hospital, was destroyed or overrun any surviving troops had to rally with other units. 

4. While behind barricades or in buildings Imperial Guard could only be hit on 6’s. Out of cover they could be hit on 5’s and 6’s. 

5. Tanks (on both sides) had an 18inch range with an explosion radius of 3inches. Luckily there was only one Ork tank and one Guard tank but still it was a bit scary haha. 

Here’s the map again for two reasons. 1. So you have an understanding of what’s where etc to help you follow through the battle report and 2. So I can simply show off my Rorke’s Drift setup again haha. It excites me. 

Here’s some shots of the brave men defending Orks Drift pre-battle and the enemy sneaking up on them. 

The Forlorn defending the south wall with a Leman Russ as backup.

Lieutenant Bromhead

I used an mdf building from my wild west project for the hospital and storehouse. worked well I reckon.

Lieutenant Chard in the redoubt

Turn 1: 

It was just after 4pm when a plume of dirty smoke was spotted near some small Rocky Mountains in the north-east by bugler Kevin. At first Kevin was a little confused, not unusual for him, but then he caught a glimpse of the source of the smoke… A crappy old looted Ork tank. Kevin snapped into action and tooted his bugle (which sounded like a small monkey being trod on) to alert the garrison. 

Men darted to their defence positions and readied their weapons. 

Imagine the Imperial Guards surprise when, instead of Orks attacking from the North-East, a unit of Tau warriors attacked from the South-West. 

In one swift move the Tau had destroyed a section of defence wall and came piling in and engaged in hand to hand combat with the green coated, tricorn hat wearing Forlorn. Luckily, as the Forlorn are hardcore veterans, they made light work of the Tau. 

Suddenly another ten man unit of Tau came charging in the same attack pattern and hit the same spot as the first. Despite being ready for them the Forlorn suffered a few casualties before slaying the entire unit. Captain Flatley, alone, took out three of the Tau with his Laspistol. Then the Forlorn repaired the damaged wall and dumped the Tau carcasses unceremoniously over it. 

Captain Flatley (right) dealing out some punishment.

Then the Orks came trudging out of their hiding place and the stouthearted tank took aim on the Ork rust bucket of a tank. A direct hit but the looted machine didn’t quite meet its demise. The stouthearted tank then took aim on eight Orks sneaking up on their defences on the south wall beside the storehouse. BOOM six of the eight Orks were killed. 

Turn 2:

The Ork tank shot at the defences in the North-east and three of the shots were too high but the fourth was a direct hit and the mealie bag and timber wall blew apart, also killing private Beckett. 

An Ork mob came charging in swinging chainaxes and roaring like wild animals. 

Trooper Horrigan (the flag bearer) was cut down easily leaving only Bugler Kevin and another trooper by the name of Jenkins to defend the North-East. Jenkins shot dead one greenskin before being hacked to pieces. 

Then something wonderful happened…

Bugler Kevin, in hand to hand combat, killed seven Orks!!! Both my daughter and I were amazed but as she was playing the Orks and Tau she wasn’t quite as excited as I was haha. 

The last Ork beat Bugler Kevin to death with his own Bugle but he and his heroism would go down in history. 

Sergeant Bourne took on the last greenskin but was sadly turned into mince meat pretty quickly. 

Angry at the loss of both his bugler and of sergeant Bourne, Lieutenant Chard leapt out of the redoubt and engaged with the savage Ork. It was actually a tough fight for both the Ork and Chard but Chard finally decapitated the brute. However, before he could return to his position in the redoubt the Ork Champion called BludKleevah turned up and grunted angrily at Chard. 

Chard battling Kevins murderer.

Chard pressed the button on his chainsword and it whirred to life. He looked at the monster and said, “Let’s dance”. BludKleevah swung his mighty sword down hard at Chard but Chard rolled away and then skewered the monster in the stomach. BludKleevah fell to his knees and struggled to hold onto his intestines as they spewed out onto the ground. Chard smiled and then drove his chainsword into the back on BludKleevahs neck killing him. 

Chard and BludKleevah go toe to toe.

The imperial guard tank fired a single shot at the Ork tank and, this time, completely destroyed it. 

Turn 3:

Over on the west side a Tau battlesuit blasted at the hospital and blew its roof off killing a trooper inside. The battlesuit fired another three times but did no damage at all. The guardsmen defending the hospital fired back but missed all their targets. 

Before being able to rebuild the defences on the North-East wall two more mobs of Orks came streaming into the compound and engaged in more hand to hand, this time with the troops in the redoubt plus Lord Flashheart (not pictured). 

The melee was intense but somehow, despite insurmountable odds, the redcoats held on and managed to vanquish the Green tide but lost all but one redcoat from the redoubt. Sadly Lieutenant Chard and Flashheart fell in the chaos. 

The Guard tank spotted yet another Ork mob creeping towards the eastern defences and opened fire killing all of them in only two shots.   

It was at this point, feeling somewhat exasperated at some unfortunate rolls of the dice, little Willow chose to retire from the game. As a gamer I wanted to continue to crush my enemy but as a Dad I said, “Of course darlen, let’s get some ice cream and watch some telly”. 

My favourite moment of the game was after it ended and Willow came up to me and shook my hand and said, “Good job Dad.” 😊

I’ve always taught her and my other girls to play to play hard and play to win BUT that it doesn’t matter if they don’t win and that it’s about having fun. Therefore it was a proud moment as a Dad that she wasn’t a sore loser. Minutes later though she did remind me that she retired so it wasn’t exactly a loss haha. That’s my girl. 

I thoroughly enjoyed setting this game up and playing it in a historical type fashion. 

It’s inspired me to 1. Watch Zulu for the billionth time and 2. Get stuck into my Rorke’s Drift project (with actual redcoats and Zulu warriors). 

Cheers 

IRO