Slaughter At Forge Valley – A Future Force Warrior Battle Report

So a couple of weeks back Da Skooderia and the Hazzard 1977th took to the field for some old school 2nd Ed action, and whilst it was fun and lots of stuff blew up, it does have to be said old style 40k feels a bit clunky. 8th seems to have gone some way towards streamlining but it’s still hampered by the IGOUGO turn structure, which feels much more suited to Napoleonic or fantasy regimental manoeuvring.. probably due to 40k having it’s roots in Warhammer Fantasy!

So for a while now we’ve been playing around with a re-skinned upgraded version of the Apocalypse: Earth ruleset, moved forward a couple of hundred years into the future as mankind begins it’s exploration beyond the solar system – Earth is divided between three superstates, NATO (covering the Americas, Europe and Australasia), the People’s State (former Holy Soviet Empire, Empire Of Japan, Asian Communist Federation) and the Caliphate (India, Africa, Middle East) while some rugged individualist movements out in the colonies are beginning to press for full independence from the homeworld.

But mankind is not alone in the wilderness of space. There is the vast decaying empire of what we once called the Greys, who seeded life across the galaxy millions of years ago but lost their empire in a titanic struggle with an extra galactic threat that devastated the galaxy while humanity was struggling to make fire, there are isolated pockets of rogue AI constructs bent on continuing a war fought millions of years ago, whispered rumours of extradimensional entities with powers undreamt of and of course the perennial threat of the Orca, essentially a race of overgrown bacteria who live for destruction.

Anyway- the fluff is still in its infancy, but the game engine is pretty soid, so we decided to stat up our Guard and Ork forces, which would now represent forces from the People’s State Liberation Army  and the Orca tribe infecting the world of Hazzard Prime.. we used the same table layout as last time, with the plasma reactors as the objective.

The table laid out – Orca nearest the camera, PSLA furthest edge.

As before, I took Da Skooderia and Dan rolled out the PSLA, and we both reprised our plans from the last game – Orca would pitch forward with their elite troops while the Boyz and Dreadnaught moved up in support, while Seb Metal and Kimi Rorkonnen would loop around in a flanking manoeuvre. Meanwhile the PSLA would be lead by their Russ, squads Alfonso and Beauregard moving through cover while the command element in their Chimera APC would dash forward and engage the Orca with their heavy short range firepower and squad Cletus would provide heavy fire support with missile launcher, autocannon and laser cannon.

Orca deploy using cover to shelter them..

Boyz ready for the advance

Dreadnaught keeping its head down…

PSLA infantry use the woods for cover

Squad Cletus and Russ MBT anchor the centre

Chimera APC with PSLA command element waiting for the order to charge..

The Orca won the initiative and elected to move first.

“Big Red” performs an expert Tokyo drift to pull in behind the ridge, using the terrain for cover as it delivers Warboss Enzo Ferrorki, Bigboss Dino Ferrorki and the Nobz Mob “Da Management” onto the plasma reactors

“DIS SHINY FING IS MIIIIIINE!”

Whoops, wonky camera angle – Russ MBT gets in a flank shot on the Dreadnaught, immobilising it. Seeing as the poor Dread can’t actually see anything, this renders it pretty much ineffective for the rest of the game… This chap is due some karma next game!

Big Red is immobilised by a side laser cannon shot from the Russ

…and autocannon fire downs a Nob, suppressing Da Management. The General living up to his name today!

PSLA Command team debus onto the warehouses by the plasma reactors, People’s Mystic, Captain, Lieutenant and Political Officer dive into cover while plasma rifles down a Skarboy and heat cannons set the trees by Red 7 on fire!

Kimi Rorkonnen and Felipe Masha suddenly find their field of fire obscured as the trees erupt in flame!

Red 5 sprays dirt as Seb Metal floors the throttle, bringing his Warbuggy around in a flanking manouevre

Orca infantry spray shooter fireas they hustle up towards the plasma reactors to support the Nobz, Warboss and Bigboss

On the hill behind them, Dok Nikky Louda lines up a sot with his laser cannon

Squads Alfonso and Beauregard infiltrate through the woods, while Squad Cletus drop more Nobz but lose their autocannon loader, suppressing his team mate

Seb Metal pulls Red 5 around and vapourises Squad Cletus’ laser cannon team with his twin linked autocannons

The General bulldozers his way in, gunning down Boyz right, left and centre

The Chimera guns down Skarboyz at near point blank range

Kimi and Felipe line up Red 5’s heavy heat cannon and roast the Political Officer, Lieutenant and People’s Mystic!

PSLA HQ gets it’s revenge – battle rifle, heat cannons and plasma rifles demolish Red 7, Kimi and Felipe turned into a fine green mist!

Having seen his compatriots gunned down by the Chimera, da Dok lines up a superb laser cannon shot, destroying it in a spectacular fireball!

The demise of Red 5 – caught out in the open by a sharp witted missile launcher team from Squad Cletus

Warboss and surviving Nob assault the Russ – Nob gets himself killed accomplishing precisely nothing, but the Warboss at least manges to jam the General’s turret..

Close quarter fighting around the objectives… Mystical sci fi alien tape measure making a cameo appearance in the background!

Squads Alfonso engage Da Furst Mob with concentrated laser rifle fire

While Squad Beauregard pull off a real coup, wounding and suppressing the Warboss himself!

Even with a jammed turret, the General is still a force to be reckoned with – Furst Mob is virtually wiped out

Da Dok does it again! Laser cannon fire hits the rear armour, causing a chain reaction of explosions that rips the mighty tank apart!

Da Mek bellows his defiance, raking Squad Beauregard with fire as the PSLA infantry capture the Warboss and begin to hustle him off the table..

 

Warboss Enzo Ferrorki, a prisoner of the PSLA!

Da Boyz put up a stiff fight, but as Turn 5 dawns we’re down to 4 boyz while the PSLA have almost a full platoon…

Smashed and burning armour around the objectives, it’s been a lose fought game!

So there we have it – as Turn 5 dawned, the Orca still held one objective but with only a couple of unwounded boyz against almost a full platoon of PSLA infantry it was clear what the result was going to be… the Dok marshalled his 3 remaining boyz and motioned them to slip away – after all, someone was going to have to pull of a rescue to get the Warboss back, right?

FFW is still very much a work in progress, and we’ll be developing the rules and fluff as we go, but I’m pleased to say it’s first outing was a rip roaring success, providing a game that felt much faster and more lethal than our 40k dabbling – I think we may be on to something here!

So, til next time – stay thrifty out there, we’ll be back soon!