+ inload: Ambush at Kalkriese – Ultramarines vs Orks part IV: the result! +

+ inload: Ambush at Kalkriese – Ultramarines vs Orks +

+ The preamble and background for this battle can be found in the inload below. +

+ The first and second parts of the report itself can be found in the inload below. 

+ The face that launched a thousand pitfights – Warboss Gashbag of the Teknorkracy +
+++

+ Extracted from the post-action report of Legionary Vispanion, squad Secundus. +

+ Practical: Turns 3–4 +

+ Mark 0.32: The Seekers prepare to receive a charge. A cry of Hold Fast goes up over the vox net, but overwatch fire fails to bring down the brutes. +



+ Meanwhile, we of Secundus were also engaged; the orks dual-pronged trap complete. Buoyed by Highheart's presence, and brandishing our combat blades, we eagerly cut into the lightly armoured orks. Their ranks thinned during their charge, we bring them down with light losses. +



Mark 0.36: The dreadnoughts of Adamantine Talon tear into the orks, slowly wading through the baying hordes to extinguish their leaders. Brother Strix loses power to his fist as the ork mechanical specialist cuts vital hydarulics. +



+ Mark 0.45: Our feigned retreat meant we were fully engaged to the north-east, driving outwards from the market square. The orks were manfully continuing their drive forward, but mercifully the terrain was hampering their heavy armour. +

Mark 0.47: Lieutenant Pullo relayed reports to Holion as he emerged from the cover of the alehouse; the Master of Signals' viewpoint proving handy in the increasingly thick dust kicked up by the swirling combat. +


+ Brother Techscion charges into the rear of the ork leader's retinue, smashing their medical specialist into a wet bag of leathery green mush. However, the Apeasians, veterans of dozens of campaigns, were torn down one after another, and the Warlord and his cronies bellowed their anger to the skies. +


+ In the south, the ork infantry warily avoid our Contemptor as he finishes off the ork walkers. +

+ Mark 0.49: Squad Quintus charges forward to relieve the beleagured Brother Strix. One by one, the orks' ranks thin – too slowly, as they take a number of Quintus with them. +

+ Brother Techscion is, in turn, outflanked. Ork cavalry crash into his more vulnerable rear – it was with a sigh of relief that I saw their primitive bombs prove ineffective. Techscion himself was obviously feeling secure, as his focus on the enemy Warlord and his bodyguard continued. +

+ With our foes driven off – the whole mob of them gunned down as the survivors fled – we turned to support the Seekers of the Apaesians. Too late – the Apaesians lay slumped and unmoving on the floor, their armour battered and broken. In turn, however, the ork commander was flattened by a blow from Techscion; his retinue scattered. +

+ Simultaneously, Holion, Highheart and the surviving Breachers of Viginti prepared themselves for the charge as our heavy support emerged from the cover of the building. +


Mark 0.50: Ork reinforcements continued to move in from the north and south; a low-flying aircraft of some sort opening up on the Breachers – to little effect – and a new unit of orks pouring out of a transport on the western side of the market square. However, it was becoming clear that the impetus of hte ork ambush had been broken. With their leaders incapacitated or engaged in combat with Squad Quintus and Brother Strix, the greenskins were wavering.  +


Mark 0.52The orks weren't giving up – they were as stubborn as they proved deadly. Our Deredeo, having turned to bring his guns to bear on their cavalry, was hammered from behind by the ork heavy machine guns; which knocked the dreadnought first to his knees, then left him sprawling in the dust, unmoving. +


+ Mark 0.53: The southern forces advanced, continuing their attempts to engage even as we mopped up the demoralised survivors in the marketplace. The battle had swung in our favour, but it was at this point that I believe it was won – and by typical orkish ill-discipline. Their heavy armour cranked their turret cannon to target Lieutenent Pullo and the Corinthians... +


+ ... but the shell sailed wildly off-target and detonated amidst their newly-deployed unit facing the surviving Seekers of the Metaeans! With nearly a third of their remaining forces reduced to little more than spatters on the armour of our veterans, the fight seemed to ebb from the greenskins. +


Mark 0.63: The surviving orks slunk away, their armour swerving about and accelerating away and the infantry ducking away down side streets as we consolidated, chasing them away with occasional pot-shots. +

+++

+ Imperial victory +

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