Last evening, there was an epic last stand played roughly according to the "All-Around Defense" rules from the 5th Edition Combat Missions expansion, featuring a 1,250-point Iron Hands force (aka "Blood" Hands, based on the 5th Edition Blood Angels Codex) and a 1,500-point Ork force. However, it turned out to be much more one-sided than expected...
“This is Thunderhawk Aeterna Vultur to all Imperial forces… we’re going down… repeat: we’re going down…”
What had begun as a routine rescue operation turned into a bloodbath of smoke, fire, and roaring Orks within a matter of hours. The Iron Hands’ Thunderhawk—hit by Ork anti-aircraft fire and heavily damaged—was forced to make an emergency landing. Its machine spirit wailed as a Techmarine desperately tried to stabilise the reactor.
The Terminators took up positions around the front access ramp. Storm Bolters rattled through the dusty twilight as Ork hordes charged in from all directions. First came the swift vanguard — screeching bikers hunting down the right flank like hyenas. A massive hail of bullets pounded into the veterans’ armour, and within the first few minutes of the battle, two Terminators fell.
Then the right-flank defensive line collapsed completely. The Ork bikers charged straight through the barrage of fire, bringing down more veterans, until only a single veteran remained standing. Although the biker squad was eventually wiped out, where disciplined firing lines had stood just moments before, four smoking Crux Terminator suits now lay scattered across the sand.
“Right flank collapsing! Collapsing! They’re breaking through!”
The Iron Hands, however, did not yield and struck back with all their might. On the left flank, Scriptor Varrdon led another Terminator squad against Ork commandos in a small grove of palm trees. The fire, however, caused little damage — the Greenskins crouched between the trunks, cursing. So the Scriptor ordered a close-combat assault.
Bones splintered and Ork blood vaporised under the Scriptor’s psionic energy weapon and the Terminators’ power fists. Within seconds, the entire Kommandoz squad had been wiped out. In the centre of the battlefield, the Storm Terminators charged towards an Ork pick-up truck. The impact was brutal. Power fists smashed the engine block and the driver’s cab simultaneously. The truck exploded in a ball of fire, hurling burning Orks through the air and leaving the survivors crouching dazed in the dust.
For a brief moment, it seemed as though the Marines might hold their ground. But then more and more Ork reinforcements appeared, whilst the Iron Hands’ reinforcements failed to materialise. Among other things, a massive Big Trakk appeared — rusty, riveted with iron plates and littered with the trophies of slain enemies. Standing on its flatbed was a gigantic Warboss with his personal guard of Ork-Nobz. Their bellowing voices drowned out even the thunder of the cannons. Killakoptaz circled overhead.
The Orks unleashed a hail of bullets after another at the Terminators, closing in steadily until finally the entire mob struck in close combat. Energy fists clashed with Choppas and gigantic Power claws. The Terminators fought to the last man — and were wiped out.
Things were no better on the left flank. One Terminator fell after another as they desperately held their ground against an overwhelming mass of Orkboys. Every shot and every blow felled Greenskins, yet for every Ork killed, three more appeared...
As more Ork reinforcements appeared on the horizon, the truth became inescapable. The Thunderhawk was lost. The remaining Terminators retreated while fighting, step by step, as the Orks surged triumphantly across the battlefield.
Later rumours suggested that the Orks had not destroyed the Thunderhawk. Instead, they had towed the wreckage back to their mek-workshops. Weeks later, Imperial scouts reported sightings of a mad new flying machine above the front lines: a heavily armed, flying orkish monster trailing plumes of black smoke and adorned with crudely painted runes.
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