Kaptin Gavrin's forces, having enjoyed successful outings against the Tyranids and Gorgag Deathkiller's Orks, were returning to their camps when they found themselves assaulted by a mobile Tau force featuring battlesuits, tanks, and APCs. The Tau pounced upon the Orks in the woods, firing as the Orks advanced and laying waste to their battlewagon. It was the first sign of a long day.
The Orks, having seen their main vehicle blasted and the Warboss's retinue of Skarboyz decimated, were immediately disheartened. They moved forward as they could, attempting to take down some of the Tau with firing. All they managed was to take out a handful of drones. The Tau advanced with their suits, firing upon the Orks and blasting the Painboss's trukk. Orks died to burst cannon fire, and pulse rifles spat death for a couple of Cyborks as a Fire Warrior team dropped from the back of a Devilfish. That team died quickly, as the Cyborks and the remnants of another Ork mob assaulted them. The Fire Warriors were ripped apart, and their Devilfish was brought down with a tankbusta bomb placed by the Nob.
The Tau reacted quickly, stitching those mobs with firepower, blasting the Skarboyz and other Orks, and then retreating away. The furious Orks charged forward, reaching the Broadside battlesuits and tearing them apart. The stealth teams, unable to penetrate the armor of the Orks' Basilisk, were blasted by its Earthshaker cannon and began to retreat. The rest of the Tau force fired upon the Orks, killing the majority of the Orks that were left. Another Fire Warrior team disembarked, but was torn apart in a vicious combat. The last Fire Warrior team disembarked from their vehicle, killing the Orks nearby with massed firepower, leaving a handful of Orks trying to hide amongst the trees. The Basilisk spat death for one Crisis suit and a pair of gun drones.
The Tau pressed home their advantage. Kaptin Gavrin and his lads were surrounded. They faced down the barrels of a Hammerhead, but its gunner lost his cool at the sight of the Ork warlord. Round after round missed, all of its weaponry firing harmlessly into the woods surrounding the warlord and his boyz. The Crisis battlesuits, Devilfish, Fire Warriors, and now rallied Stealth teams opened up on the Orks, killing even more of them. The Orks tried to hide, but to no avail. As the Basilisk fired wildly, seeing Tau vehicles coming for it, the Tau closed in on Kaptin Gavrin and the handful of Orks left with him. They fired and fired, killing all of the Orks except the warlord.
The details become fuzzy afterward, but what is certain is that the warlord, his banna waver Snikit, and the Basilisk escaped the Tau. As the Orks would tell the tale, the Warboss charged through the woods, the Tau unable to kill him with their firepower, and slaughtered the last few remaining Tau, battlesuits and all. The Earthshaker spelled death for the Tau vehicles, bringing them low as well. But these are the tales of an Ork warlord who has been known to produce propaganda films and distribute them amongst his fellow Orks. It is just as likely that he found a spot where he could not be located, and slipped away, with the Basilisk retreating at full speed.
Players: