Bleak Pilgrimage
2013 Season 2
Warhammer 40,000 Campaign
Artax System, Vae Salubrious Subsector
The Great and Powerful Warboss Nokk, the Ineffable Gullet, is an accomplished Black Skull Ork raider captain. His meks have just finished his ships on the planet Tangrus III. Now dominated by xenos orks, the planet gave up most of it's raw materials to the mekboys a long time ago. The ork raider's fleet is sizable...and as a warboss, Nokk has quite a reputation amongst many of the ork tribes present in the sector.
He has attracted an even larger Waaagh! After absorbing other Black Skull bands on Nokk and stamping out the other tribes, those orky warriors quickly gave him fealty. After readying his horde to leave the tainted planet of Tangrus III, he pointed his ships directly at Vae Salubria itself. Inexplicably, as he was about to give the order to engage the warp drives - something strange happened.
The Umbral Master, Galean of the Alpha Legion, appeared alone on Nokk's bridge. After casually killing a few of the boyz that rushed him, the sorcerer called for parley. Amused, Warboss Nokk decided to listen. It was well, for Galean had forseen the ork flotilla jumping directly into a powerful warp storm. As this would derail Alpha Legion plans for that part of the sector, Galean offered his services to the Warboss. He would guide the fleet to Vae Salubrious safely and quickly, if the orks would only harass Imperial outposts along the way.
So be it, said the great Warboss.
As the fleet left the Naograssa subsector, the Mechanicus deep space outposts at Artax picked up the warp ripple. Broadcasting a plea for help, a single Blood Angels strike cruiser appears at the Artaxian orbitals. The Sword of Erebus ordered the stations to be on alert, and that the Blood Angels would avert the coming disaster, whatever it was.
We begin the campaign just as the Ork fleet arrives in the Artax system. It's too big for the Sword of Erebus and the few Imperial escorts to attack directly. However, opportunity soon presents itself. As battleplans are drawn, Captain Salerio of the Blood Angels 5th Company identifies the target of this campaign, plain as the light of the Emperor.
The ork flagship Dumstah must be destroyed. If it continues on its present course, it will go past Abraxia to Vae Salubrious itself. The Sword of Erebus must now make a bleak pilgrimage to the holy shrine world, and make sure the orks don't get there by disrupting the fleet. Now, a running game of cat and mouse will play out across 3 star systems. If the Blood Angels fail...the shrine world will be crawling with orks, defiling and plundering orks.
The Emperor protects.
Campaign Rules
The campaign will be scored as normal Battlefield Influence, save there are only 2 factions. Players can bring allied forces as they like, and in some scenarios will be restricted in their force selection. Any number of players can play in a campaign game. Each week, a scenario will be played with a Game Master. The Game Master will set up the terrain and objectives, as well as decide deployment zones and adjudicate "hidden" special rules the players will have to contend with.
As we play games with Narrative Game Masters, it will open up many new sorts of game play for us. Many games from forgotten yesteryear were set up to have Game Masters, and we're going to reconnect with that interesting sort of gaming by having an entire campaign run in the Narrative fashion!
Each week will see the execution of a prearranged scenario. You'll still deploy as normal, but the objectives and battlefields will be more fixed. Each scenario will have interesting events and conditions that aren't usually possible in a normal game, and / or each army will receive extra equipment or forces. Each scenario is designed to be as balanced as possible while still driving the narrative forward.
As in all these games where a Game Master is used, he is the final arbiter of the rules. Players might not like surprise conditions that adversely affect their game, but be assured everything is planned out ahead of time to not give one side or the other a great advantage during any one game. The Game Masters won't be playing in this campaign, so have no reason to hinder one side or the other.
The campaign will proceed as a standard Season 2 game, beginning on April 1st and ending on July 1st. The player faction with the highest Influence score wins the campaign!
Campaign Updates
- (4.7.13) - Warp Drop Into Artax
- The Imperial Guard garrison of an orbital station at Artax is taken completely by surprise and destroyed by Nokk's flotilla. There is nothing left of the south quadrant orbital defenses but debris.
- (4.14.13) - Artaxian Plunder
- The Raiders see the poor state of the Artaxian defenses and rampage around the southern sector's most populous cities for almost a week, stealing almost everything of value and depopulating the area.
- (4.21.13) - Set Course for Abraxia!
- The timely arrival of Inquisitor Kylan disrupted the plans of the Alpha Legion, and as a result the ork fleet is delayed by warp storms. The Blood Angels are commanded to intercept the flotilla before it attacks Abraxia.
- (4.28.13) - Attack on Station 29-IM:8
- Attacking the next station in the Abraxia system, the orks fall upon a beleaguered Lumisi regiment in a vicious blitzkrieg! The Blood Angels had been waiting with scout units on the ground, patient for the planetfall that would soon come. However, the ork force was simply too large, and the Imperials narrowly lose Station 29-IM:8 to the hordes of Nokk.
- (5.5.13) - On the Rok
- The Blood Angels attempt to land directly on one of the ork roks, but cannot get past the fusillade of orky firepower defending the landing zone!
- (5.12.13) - The Green Tide
- Near Station 29-IM, the Blood Angels rally with other crusader marines to beat back the greenskins, but they are forced to yield when the center is overrun by killa kans and 'ard boyz!
- (5.19.13) - I've Got Bettah Loot to Pillage Elseplaces!
- The orks prepare to flee the well prepared Imperial defenses, then discover that they aren't so well prepared. The final ork assault before the flotilla departs Abraxia takes a massive toll on the Space Marines who attempted to follow them back to their ships.
- (5.26.13) - Breach
- The Blood Angels attempt to land Assault Group Salerio on the main hulk of the ork fleet. The orks are prepared, however. After the hull breach, only a handful of marines and supporting Imperial Guard live to carry out the assault.
- (6.2.13) - Reaction Swarm
- The hulk's superstructure is weakened as orks comb the decks for space marines. However, so few are left that the orks never encounter them where they can bring their full force against the valiant marines.
- (6.9.13) - Destruction Derby!
- The attacking Imperials score a lucky break when their scout forces demolish several key structures inside the hulk, throwing the ork coordination (such as it was) into chaos.
- (6.16.13) - Heart of the Hulk
- Almost all of the Imperials aboard the Ork hulk die in a futile attempt to assault the main reactor. The Orks barely notice there are enemies on the ship.
- (6.26.13) - The Last Hope of Salubrious
- What started as a heroic assault on the ork fleet became an absolute disaster for the Blood Angels chapter. As the ork fleet hurtles towards the last warp jump of it's crash course for Vae Salubrious, the Assault Group Salerio withdraws from the hulk. Their ship is barely noticed by the ork fleet and still almost destroyed. The last remaining Blood Angels send an astropathic warning to the Salubrious jump point, and escapes the pursuing ork ramships.
Campaign Results
Orks Win the Campaign!
Tough luck for Assault Group Salerio! The Imperials suffer another crippling loss with the failure of the defense effort. Now, a fleet of ork ships stand poised to invade Vae Salubrious itself!
The Black Skull Raiders, manned by none other than Jerry Wargate, tore through the opposition this time. Watch out for more ork heavy equipment in the form of battlewagons and dakkajets next time, as the ork horde is swelling as we speak. Emeraldwulfe's Assault Group Salerio will have to return for revenge for their brothers in the next round of this saga. Therein we will battle for the defense of Vae Salubrious itself!
"So's then I tellz him, 'Relax, buddy. I'ze not gunna bash yer hed in, ol' Snakrot'," Nokk slowly intoned to Morgutz, his right hand nob, with a morbid grin. "I sez 'instead I'ze gunna take ten o' yer teefs, two o' yer fingurz...and that shiny dakkagun thar." He slowly patted the silvered weapon now cradled in his thick, green, clawed hands.
Morgutz took a deep swig of his gloomdraught beer. "You let 'im off on da cheap, boss." The nob licked the foam from his nasty ork lips as Nokk slowly nodded. "Tiz a good fing he makes such good 'draughts." Nokk nodded more eagerly, lifting his reverie from the powerful new weapon.
"Yerp." the Warboss declared before tossing back his own beer laden mug. Of course he had his nobs nab up Snakrot's barrels, as well as claiming those teeth and fingers Nokk believed he was owed. Truth be told, the Warboss couldn't really remember what it was Snakrot owed him for. Not that it mattered much.
Suddenly, the entire ship rocked with a horrible blast. Lights of many different colors flare all around, and horrible klaxons started going off. A blast of steam jetted from somewhere overhead, but both Nokk and Morgutz were more concerned with how much of the gloomdraught they had spilled.
"WHAT DER MORKIN GORK WAS THAT??!!" Warboss Nokk yelled as he shot bolt upright to his feet. Whatever it was, the danger seemed to have passed, for no more explosions were forthcoming. The klaxons still blared however, and Nokk quickly shuffled to the control podium and slammed his claws down on a big red button. Immediately, the klaxons ceased and the normal lights restored.
"Lost mer beer..." lamented the distaught Morgutz. If a nine foot, six hundred pound ork nob could ever said to be sad, at that moment Morgutz was indeed. He stared at the floor where the foamy substance had landed after the violent jarring the bridge had just taken. Upon seeing Morgutz in this condition, Nokk cast about for his own lost mug. When he saw it empty, tipped over on the ground, he couldn't help but experience a similar feeling.
Just then, two meks ran inside to Nokk's command bridge. Nokk glared at them, and they shrank from his gaze.
"Apologies Boss, we had a little...err...problem." one of the meks began to stammer.
"What kind of...problem?" the Warboss growled menacingly.
"Errr...." the same mek continued, and the other one gave him a vicious elbow nudge. "Beakies, boss. Beakies on the ship."
"What??" Nokk grabbed for his new dakkagun, and Morgutz was almost cheered up at the prospect of fighting the big humans.
"It's ok, Boss...it's all under control now." the other mek spoke up for the first time.
"It iz, izzet?" The Warboss glared at them, his towering hulk literally gazed straight down into thier wide and fearful eyes, which stared straight up at Nokk's smoldering pits of red. The horror on the mek's eyes betrayed their full belief in what they told the Warboss, and he was satisfied. "Fine den."
The Warboss abruptly turned back to Morgutz. "Get me cup thar, Morgutz. I'll get da barrel out again!"