The city of Kriegengrad has been in a constant state of siege for 50 years. The ork invasion that first landed on the outskirts of the city has never been completely defeated, but has managed to drag on and on as fighting block-to-block has moved the front line back and forth throughout the city. The few remaining citizens live like rats, cowering in holes while explosions rock the city day and night. Areas of the city have been levelled, rebuilt and levelled again, sometimes by orks, sometimes by the Imperials, and sometimes by the poor wretches that call Kriegengrad home. Hannibal's Crossing is an area of the city where an ancient bridge crosses the River Nairn. On one side of the river is an overgrown wooded area that has been infested with Orks for decades. Traditionally they have made raids across the river, but after a major offensive the previous year, they managed to hold a section of the city, and have constructed a few of their crude buildings. The area has become a staging point to launch attacks deeper into other areas of the city, and Imperial command has decided that it must be wiped out. Several detachments of Space Marines and Imperial Guard have been deployed with orders to seek and destroy any orks on the north side of the river and secure the area. This game was played on March 8, 2001 and involved 7 players all using 500 point armies; three ork players vs. four imperial players. Sprinkled throughout the board were various randomly-drawn objectives; fortune favoured the Imperials as they drew objectives that allowed them to place them in their end and sit on them to gain morale. The orks however had to run all over the place and get smacked, which they did with wild abandon. Turn one - Speed Freeks boot it across the battlefield towards enemy objectives while Marines creep along in the cover of buildings. Comments from Imperial players such as "What the?" and "Hey, they're fast!" were heard as the Freeks bore down on them like rabid skunks in heat. A large motorized ork detachment takes up a position on the Freeks' flank. Many units still in reserve on both sides. Turn Two - The Freeks get slapped down by Imperial Guard and they run and hide in ruins. Nice puffy blast markers erupt as Leman Russ tanks do their thing. Orks get more reserves, but they are not all that motorized, and have to slog along towards the bridge. Marines get more reserves and they ease their way forward. An enormous Ultramarine detachment (500 points) decides to smoke the orks on the Freeks' flank. They shoot, and there is much puffyness. they assault and there is great croakage, followed by a broken ork unit running away and hiding. Another detachment of Speed Freeks tried to assault them before they attacked, but they just sort of bounced off and got puffy without so much as a "huh?" from the shell-heads. Turn Three - The remnants of the Freeks do what damage they can tearing around to the rear of the Imperial Guard. They land a few death ray hits, but basically get whittled down by the humie gitz. The broken ork unit unbreaks, and goes on overwatch, but they have nothing to shoot at. Meanwhile, the main Space Marine force has snatched their Rescue objective and abscond with it to their end zone. They get some lovin' from the Ork big gunz, and back away as a very large mass of fighty orks with Dreadnoghts, Squiggoths and Boarboyz crosses the bridge. Turn Four - Lost and scared and alone, the remaining Death-Ray Speedstaz have no choice but to ace a few guardsmen units that are sitting on their keisters at the back. The Guard do the honourable thing, and blow up the Freeks. Meanwhile, the Ultramarines are massing near the bridge and are getting ready to pound the puff out of the fighty horde that's trying to slog it over the river. The Big Gunz take a chunk out of them first, but it doesn't help all that much. The Ultramarines skrag almost an entire detachment of fighty boyz. Good thing there are so very many more coming along behind. Another mass of footsloggers makes it into a large building in the city, only to get wailed on by cranky Marines. Many grots died on that day I can tell you! Turn Five - Ok, it's not funny anymore. 1:30 in the morning, and we are all getting a bit too puffy. The Ultramarines get smacked and smacked and smacked until we finally get to place the Dreaded Big Puffy on him. That's a large blast marker, worth 5. His dreads croak, his tanks croak, his devastators croak; all he has is a few squads and about a million rhinos. He flees, but there are other Marines that step in to close the deal on the fighties. Meanwhile, the smouldering remains of the other ork detachment make a desperate grab for the objective that the freeks went after before. The Guard are disappointed that they have to take back the same objective yet again, but that's what they get for not paying attention. Turn Six - The Guard close in on the Orks, and they exchange a bit of light puffyness before the Orks pounce on them and open up their last remaining can of whup-ass. Three Leman Russ tanks bite it in the ensuing melee, while only one unit of da boyz is lost. The orks lose the combat and get broken in a way that doesn't get fixed. The remaining fighties on the bridge get so puffy that they can see straight as they are pounded into mush by a lot of Marines that shoot them with guns. The Big Gunz continue to hurt anything in range, but the tide of Skum cannot be stopped. Da Boyz decide that the best way to win this one is to run away, so that is what they do. Result - Imperial Victory MVP - Jeff's Big-Assed Ultramarine Detachment Orks Final Morale - 24 / Imperial Final Morale - 43 Dylan - March 9, 2001