Sanctus Reach, Mission 1

And we are (finally) underway! The two supplement books that make up the Sanctus Reach Campaign tell a good story of an Ork invasion of a Imperial Knight World. The missions are varied and a have good flow to them, each one a highlight of the "historical" war.

Mission 1 is The Red Waaagh! Descends. The Orks making planetfall against Imperial defenders using the revised Planetstrike rules. I took two platoons of Guardsmen with heavy weapon sections in support to start in the fortifications. A pair of Leman Russ tanks and three Sentinels were my reserve force. Matt, the Knight commander had a Paladin and a Errant, also starting in reserve to avoid the first turn bombardment.    
Mrs. Blackheart started the Firestorm bombardment and did a lot of damage to the defenders, notably most of my anti-aircraft assets and heavy weapon squads. Then the ladz came from the sky, and using the Heavy Duty Drop Stratagem, two Deff Dreds and a unit of three Killa Kanz came with them.
She chose suicidally dangerous drop sites. To our dismay, they paid off and Facerippa with his meganobz, plus a unit of Boyz landed inside the walls of the firebase.
I took my lumps, and waited for the reinforcements to arrive. Sadly they came piecemeal and died the same way. Mrs. Blackheart was able to mass her forces and with a well timed Waaagh, spelled doom for the Knights and any hope for the defenders.
The Orks paid a very heavy price but in the end the Imperials ran out of troops first and the Firebase fell to the invading horde.
The battle did not go our way at all, but it was a tense, fast moving affair. It always seems to come down to reserve rolls. If the Knights had shown up together we would have had a real chance to hold onto the base and win. Maybe.