The Defence of Cassius Prime: Iron Warriors vs Orks

With the advice of his Warphead Eadbasha, Warboss Gravedigga brought his new Waaagh to Cassius Prime with some fast moving elements and heavy weapon support in the form of Warbikers and Tank Bustas.

Knowing that the Iron Warriors would be entrenched and ready for the Orks packing heavy weapons, the Orks would have to hit hard and fast and be able to take on the armor of the traitor legion.


The Warpsmith knew the Orks were coming.  He mustered his forces and knowing pure firepower may not be enough he decided to unleash a new unit on his newly arrived foes.  He unleashed the Unfleshed.  A 5-strong unit of mutated beasts, essentially spawn of chaos.


The mission was Purge the Alien, 2000 points.  The deployment was Vanguard Strike and there would be no night fight.

The Deployment.

The Orks chose their deployment zone and deployed first.  The Iron Warriors would set up second in response and would allow the Orks first turn (I failed my seize the initiative roll).

Deploying in the far left corner gave the Iron Warriors plenty of distance from the main Ork force.  It would force their foot-slogging element to slog all the way across the board.  The Iron Warriors fire power would be able to shoot their main force for many turns in a row before they got the charge.

Ork Commandos infiltrated next to the statue and moved up towards the Iron Warrior's flank on turn 1.

One the far left flank the main foot component of the Ork force would slowly work their way towards the Iron Warrior's line.  Warphead Eadbasha would continuously fire off psychic powers while being shielded inside a large unit of boyz.

A squad of tank bustas was embarked in a battle wagon with Warboss Gravedigga.  The first turn they fired off 13 rokkits into an Iron Warrior predator stripping off one hull point.

The first thing the Iron Warriors would do is unleash their spawn upon the commandos.  The combat went in the Spawn's favor and they won the first round.

The rest of the Iron Warrior force shifted around.  Some rhinos moved forward along with a squad of 5 raptors into the middle.  Some shots were fired but not much was accomplished in the first Iron Warriors turn.

Turn two brought the arrival of the outflanking Deff Koptas.  They found the right board edge to move on from.

Also in turn 2 a 20-man Storm Boyz squad attempted a deep strike.  They scattered and suffered a deep strike mishap.  Unfortunately for the Orks, they would all die via a bad dice roll.

The two large squads of boyz moved forward.

The Bikers move off to their right to attempt a long flanking maneuver, noticing the commandos were having issues they were hoping that their presence would help.

As the DeffKoptas fly overhead, they drop off some bigbomms, hitting a squad of Raptors and killing two.  One bomb clipped a rhino and couldn't hurt it.

The second bomb hits a squad of marines in a ruined building.  The power armor of these marines are up to the task and they are not injured in the attack.

In the Iron Warriors turn two the Raptors fly forward and shoot the Battle Wagon.  Their shots fail to penetrate the armor of the rumbling beast so they decide to charge, hoping their grenades will do the job.

Their grenades would not be enough and the Battle Wagon would remain mobile.

The Warpsmith and his chosen disembark from their rhino and the predator turns 180 degrees to fire on the Deff Koptas.  The marine squad in the ruins also add their firepower.  After the smoke clears, one Kopta remains.

The Spawn won the combat against the commandos leaving only the nob who broke.  As he was running to the table edge, the spawn continue forward and are met by warbikers.

The Battlewagon then moves to its right.  Warboss Gravedigga then disembarks to confront the Raptors who attacked his ride in the previous turn.  The Tank Bustas in the Battlewagon then unleash a flurry of rokkits at an Iron Warriors rhino, blowing it up.

Warboss Gravedigga prepares to charge the raptors.

The Orks continue shooting by lobbing a shell at the marines between the two rhinos from their Looted Wagon.  It kills a few marines.

Gravedigga assaults the Raptors and the champion of the Raptors foolishly challenges Gravedigga.  The champion whiffs leaving Gravedigga unscathed.  He then swings back and pulps the Chaos champion.  The remaining Raptors decide that discretion is the better part of valor and break and run.  Gravedigga lets them go.

The other squad of Raptors assaults the Battlewagon.  Overwatch fire blows away two of the three Raptors leaving one lone jumpacker to try the assault.  He barely scratches the Ork tank.

The Iron Warriors move to focus on the large Ork squads advancing up their right flank.  After several squads and tanks fire, a large number of Orks meet their maker.  But they continue to advance.

Warphead Eadbasha unleashes his psychic fury and blows up a rhino.

The Marines on the left flank prepare for a charge by the warbikers, who earlier dispatched the spawn.

The Battlewagon moves to its left and Gravedigga assaults the new Raptor.

The large Ork squads begin to get too close for comfort.

The looted wagon again fires on the marines, this time it is more effective.

The Warbikers wipe out the marine squad.

The Warpsmith and his chosen move closer to the Warbikers in their Rhino, then disembark and fire with 3 flamers and the Burning Brand of Skallathrax leaving only one biker.

The Orks are within charge range and a squad of cultists arrive from reserve.  The cultists and the marine squad open fire on the Orks, killing a good number of them.

The Slugga Boyz with Warphead Eadbasha continue to advance with the Looted Wagon in support.

Gravedigga advances on the Chaos lines but is out of range to assault.

The Ork Shoota Boyz assault the marine squad.  They remain locked in combat for at least another assault phase.

The Raptor regroups and lends its fire to the marine squad onto Gravedigga and their combined firepower kills Gravedigga.

The firepower from the Iron Warriors force Eadbasha and his remaining Slugga Boy squad to break and flee from the battle.

Iron Warriors achieved First Blood and Slay the Warlord while the Orks had Linebreaker.

The final tally is Iron Warriors 7, Orks 8.  

The Orks have established themselves on Cassius Prime and the Iron Warriors will need to push back and contain the Ork menace.

Until then.............