Crusade of Alamodia IV: Siege of Saint Antonius

This is a battle report from the recent Campaign my friend Jason and I played, for more details you can view the following posts right here on My Dice Hate Me!

Crusade of Alamodia IV Campaign: An Introduction
Crusade of Alamodia IV Campaign: Battles 1 thru 3
Crusade of Alamodia IV Campaign: Battles 4 thru 6

Battle Briefing:

This battle represents an all out city fight for control of Saint Antonius, the victor here will have a major advantage going into the final battles.

Playing the Battle:

- Mission Type: Firesweep (Cities of Death)
- Deployment: As per scenario
- 1750 pts per side, Standard FOC
- OMEGA size battlefield

Special Rules:

The Victor of this battle has gained a major strategic advantage and may choose  the deployment for Battle 5 


With the Hill Country secured, fighting has now moved into the city of Saint Antonius. Marshal Haas' victory was short lived as Waaagh! Skulzbasha quickly re-organized, the launched an attack on the city, where both sides now must fight for control of the city and its star-port.

Once the board was set up we both picked our Stratagems. Jason took Tank Traps, Combat Engineers and a Wrecker for his Dreadnought. I chose the sufficiently Orky stratagems of Sewer Rats, Booby Traps and Demolition which I placed on the Administratum building with round 3 as its target round to blow!

Marshal Haas deployed his forces in the northeast corner near a chemical factory, many of them taking cover in the canal system. Grubak Skulzbasha deployed his mounted forces  along with a few foot sloggers in the southwest  corner where he was immediately able to claim two buildings.  The rest of the army was going to be moving through the city's sewer system.


The Templars moved first sending crusade squads toward several buildings, but only claiming one. They also took a few potshots at my vehicles but caused no problems. Then my turn came and I realized that Jason had done an excellent job of blocking my vehicles into my deployment zone by creative placement of his Tank Traps! This did not deter Grubak as he just ordered the trukks to drive through the ruined buildings. 

The Templars then decided to make the push. While his smaller squads were running to claim buildings, his sent his heavy hitters straight through the center of the board at my line. This meant I was now staring down a unit of Assault Terminators with Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields as well as a Dreadnought and the Emperor's Champion with a large Crusade squad.


The Templars then opened up their shooting and managed to wreck Gruback's trukk. 

The Orks turn started off really well as all of my reserves decided to find their way through the sewers on the first attempt. One unit of Boyz came up deep in the Templars deployment zone right near the chemical factory. The other came up on the North side of the board just outside the only building the Templars currently had claimed. THe final unit of Boyz came up in the Northwest corner to claim  and defend a building that a Templar Crusade squad was heading towards. The Boys in the other trukk who had claimed the Administratum Knew they didn't want to be in that building next turn so they charged the Sword Brethren squad just outside where they were efficiently butchered. The Sword Brethren squad then consolidated into the doomed building, not knowing the fate that lay ahead :)

My plan with the Sewers did exactly as I hoped it would, Jason immediately began pulling back his Crusade Squads to deal with my new Units. I truly believe this is where the game turned too the Orks favor. The Templars moved into assault range but were not able to destroy either mob of Boyz, which is exactly what I needed to happen.


The momentum continued for the Ork as Turn 3 started with explosive charges bringing the Administratum down on top of the Sword Brethren killing all but 3 of the veterans. Further shootinf from a large unit of Shoota boyz put their numbers down to 2. The good luck with shooting continued as my Tank Bustas launched 5 rockets into the Dreadnought turning the ancient warrior of the Emperor into nothing more than a crater in the road. This left the Terminators very alone in the middle of the battlefield, but that didn't last long as Grubak (this time donning Mega Armour) and his Nobz (with a painboy) assaulted the Terminators, along with the Deff Dread who just couldn't help himself.

The Templars were able to finish off the Orks near the Chemical Factory as well as the other Boyz in their deployment zone but not without sustaining some heavy casualties in the process and pulling The emperor's Champion and his unit from the center where the fighting was. The remaining Sword Brethren crawled through the rubble of the now ruined Administratum. Then Jason's dice began to abandon him at the worst time. 


In the battle with Grubak and the Dread, he starting failing 2+ armour saves. This only got worse as he then failed to cause any wounds with the remaining Thunder Hammers. His one saving grace was that his Chaplain was able to off two nobz with his attacks. The Templars could feel the tide of the battle shifting out of their favor but remained true to the Emporer and fought on, attempting to gain victory from and inevitable defeat!

On my turn Gruback was able to finish off the Terminators and their Chaplain. Now free to look for more carnage, The warboss moved towards the Emperor's Champion. For the first time in the game my Boom gun had line of sight and was able to launch a direct hit on the large Crusade squad led by the Emperor's champion, inflicting almost 50% casualties to one of only two complete squads left for the Templars.


The other was about to fall to the oldest trick in the book against a Templar Player. The was a full crusade squad that had been methodically moving from building to building along the northern edge of the board. It had finally come to the last building which I occupied with a mob of Boyz. I had managed to also get my Kans to slip away from the main battle heading on a cross street to intercept the squad. In my shooting pahse I blasted away with my bi shoots and rocket. I only killed one Templar but that is all it took to trigger their Righteous Zeal, forcing them to charge into the Killa Khans, a unit the had no hope of defeating.

The game was winding down now. My Kans finished off the crusade Squad. Furthing shooting from my Shoota Boyz and the Boom Gun reduced the Emperor's squad even further and forced them to charge Gruback, his Nobz and the Dread. By the end of the round the rest of the squad was dead including the Emperor's champion. The Orks were able to claim one of the Templars buildings and as if the Dice Gods felt pity for the Templars the game ended with a merciful roll of 2 and the end of the 5th round. Final Tally Orks = 6 buildings, Templars  = 1. 


Jason and I both had a blast during this City fight. He realized that my use of the sewers really threw off his plan, as he took units that were committed to other duties, back to deal with the new arrivals. Then the bad dice rolls for the Terminators didn't help and then my boom gun put the final nail in the coffin.


This was easily the most fun battle we have had thus far in the campaign. I contained moments of comedy, moments of drama, some spine tingling action and epic battles. This will be in my memory as one of my all time favorite games of 40K for years to come.


As always, thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read my blog. Please feel free to leave a comment and I will be posting a slide show below of all the pics from this Cities of Death game.

- Meatball