Recaps

Gray returned to the base after leading the Space Marines and Apocalypse Tanks in a pursuit that killed millions of Orks, and Anrida and Mendeleev welcomed him. The Art Student praised Gray, Anrida, and Mendeleev for their roles in the victory and toasted with them.

• Gray led the Apocalypse Tanks and Space Marines in pursuit of the fleeing Orks, killing more than ten million before returning to the base.
• Mo Tuo celebrated the victory with Gray, who warned that the remaining Orks still had powerful war machines.
• Anrida and Mendeleev welcomed Gray as the tank battalion returned, and Defense Force personnel cheered him.
• Gray, Anrida, and Mendeleev entered the flagship and met the Art Student, who praised their performance in the battle.
• The Art Student raised a toast to victory, and the three officers toasted with him.

Copperhead Boss learned that humie tin cans had killed Iron Bull in the underground world and sent a messenger to Crooked Mouth Boss with the news. He then led his boyz into battle, and the Upper Hive's defenses collapsed.

• Copperhead Boss learned that Iron Bull had been killed by a humie tin can boss in the underground world.
• Copperhead ordered an Ork boss to take boyz and report the discovery of humie tin cans to Crooked Mouth Boss.
• After realizing Crooked Mouth Boss might take command of the coming fight, Copperhead decided to conquer the Upper Hive before joining the battle underground.
• Copperhead grabbed his power axe and charged toward the front lines with his guards.
• The Orks' fighting spirit surged as Copperhead joined the battle, and they smashed through the human defensive line.

Crooked Mouth rallied the Greenskin bosses to attack Hive World Two after learning it had humie tin cans, then had Big Head teleport them there. The teleport malfunctioned, leaving their mechs badly damaged and Big Head dead.

• A Greenskin boss told Crooked Mouth that Hive World Two had humie tin cans and that one had killed Iron Bull, exciting Crooked Mouth into preparing for battle.
• Crooked Mouth upgraded the messenger’s power armor and ordered Big Head to summon Bloodhand, Sneaky, Shock Gun, and the other Greenskin bosses.
• Crooked Mouth threatened to exclude any boss who refused to join, and the gathered bosses headed for Hive World Two while Bad Tooth stayed behind to guard the warship.
• Crooked Mouth and the other bosses entered their mechs, and Big Head attempted to teleport them to Hive World Two.
• Big Head’s head exploded during the teleport, leaving Crooked Mouth’s Gargant and the other mechs badly damaged when they arrived on Hive World Two.

A teleportation accident killed Big Head and badly damaged Crooked Mouth’s meks, delaying the Orks’ arrival at Hive World Two. After regrouping at the Underhive entrance, Crooked Mouth ordered the Orks to attack the human base.

• Crooked Mouth learned that Big Head had died during teleportation and that more than a dozen Greenskin bosses were dead, while the surviving meks were heavily damaged.
• Gaia reported that over ten million Orks had landed on Hive World Two, and the Art Student sent Anrida, Gray, and Mendeleev to prepare for war with ample supplies.
• Three days later, Crooked Mouth arrived with his half-repaired mek and learned from Copperhead that the humans were in the underground world.
• Crooked Mouth reached the crowded Underhive entrance, where the Greenskin bosses gathered to greet him.
• Crooked Mouth ordered the Orks to attack the human base, and they charged into the underground world.

Art Student awakened 1.5 million engineering robots and brought them out to help defend the base from the massive Ork offensive. He rallied the soldiers and ordered them to continue preparing for battle, leaving them confident that the robots would weaken the Orks first.

• Art Student ordered Gaia to awaken all 1.5 million engineering robots and arm them to wear down the Orks.
• Art Student left the base with the robot army, and the soldiers knelt in reverence before him.
• Art Student raised the soldiers to their feet and urged them to resist the Imperium and fight for humanity.
• Gray led the soldiers in a vow to overthrow the False Emperor, and Art Student ordered them to finish preparing for battle.
• Anrida reported that the officers were ready, and Art Student explained that the robots would join the fight; Anrida said their presence increased his confidence.

The Art Student gave Anrida and the other commanders control of a vast force of robots, then discussed Tina’s role as the future leader of an Untouchable Adeptus Custodes force. When the Greenskin Mek’s Orks attacked the base, Anrida’s robots met them with devastating fire.

• The Art Student transferred command of the robots to Anrida, Gray, and the other commander, and told them to continue directing the battle.
• The Art Student explained that Tina’s Untouchable abilities made her suitable to lead a future force of Judgement Custodes.
• The Greenskin Mek led a massive horde of Greenskin Boyz into the Underhive as Anrida and the others finished their preparations.
• Anrida ordered the robots to open fire when the Orks approached the base.
• The robots’ shells devastated the Orks, while the Orks’ artillery caused only limited damage through the robots’ Void Shields.

Crooked Mouth led his mechs into the Ork charge, where a giant engineering robot fought an Ork-piloted Gorkanaut. After both war machines damaged each other, the robot chose mutual destruction and unleashed a blast that obliterated everything nearby.

• Crooked Mouth charged forward with his mechs despite the Greenskin boys crowding their path, and the war machines crushed Orks as they advanced.
• An Ork Gorkanaut attacked a giant engineering robot, and the two war machines charged at each other while their weapons killed Orks and robots around them.
• Their Void Shields canceled out at close range, but the Gorkanaut's deflection field blocked the engineering robot's attacks while the robot's energy barrier stopped the Gorkanaut's barrage.
• The engineering robot and the Gorkanaut fought in close combat, damaging each other until the robot's processor calculated that mutual destruction was the best option.
• The engineering robot seized the Gorkanaut, overloaded its power furnace, and fired a vast energy column through it before its remaining shells detonated, vaporizing everything within ten thousand meters.

The Greenskins and engineering robots fought fiercely as Crooked Mouth piloted his Gargant through the battlefield, destroying robots with ease. Gray ordered the remaining robots to concentrate on Crooked Mouth, and the battle continued with the Greenskin boss still rampaging.

• A fifteen-meter engineering robot overloaded a Deff Dread’s Void Shield and destroyed it and its Ork pilot with lasers and bombs.
• Engineering robots and Greenskin war machines destroyed one another, with some robots self-destructing before their reactors were taken out.
• Crooked Mouth destroyed engineering robots with his Gargant, including one fighting a Gorkanaut, and continued charging through the battlefield.
• Gray considered a boarding assault against Crooked Mouth but followed Art Student’s instructions to use up the engineering robots first.
• Gray ordered the engineering robots to prioritize the Greenskins’ largest war machine and use self-destruction attacks against Crooked Mouth’s vehicle when possible.
• Engineering robots converged on Crooked Mouth, but he kept destroying them as the Greenskins grew more savage.

Chapter Master Bartos and the Imperial fleet reached the Teda Galaxy, where psychic and communication scans could not reveal what had happened on Hive World Two. As the Navy fought Bad Tooth’s Ork fleet, Bartos led an assault force toward the apparently Ork-free planet to investigate.

• Bartos learned from Kosoz that Teda I and Hive World Three had been breached, three Ork spacecraft remained in the system, and Hive World Two was impossible to observe psychically.
• Bartos found that Archie could not contact Hive World Two and informed General Mailong, who had no explanation for the anomaly.
• Bartos left one company of Space Marines to help Mailong fight the Ork fleet and led the remaining forces toward Hive World Two.
• Bad Tooth led his three space hulks to attack the Imperial fleet, and the two sides began fighting in space.
• Bartos saw no Orks on Hive World Two and chose to lead the First and Second Companies down to investigate while Kosoz stayed behind to support them.

Gray and Mo Tuo used a teleportation beacon to board Crooked Mouth’s Gargant and destroy its power reactor, forcing it to crash. Gray’s squad fought its way toward Crooked Mouth, and Gray faced the Ork boss in the stairwell as Mo Tuo and the Space Marines joined the fight.

• Bartos sent two hundred Space Marines into drop pods, while Crooked Mouth’s Gargant continued smashing engineering robots across the battlefield.
• Mo Tuo teleported a beacon into the Gargant’s power chamber, then Gray and his squad teleported there and destroyed the reactor with plasma fire.
• The Gargant lost power, its legs collapsed, and its upper body crashed to the ground.
• Gray led his squad up through the Gargant, where they encountered Copperhead on the stairs; Gray killed him with a Plasma Pistol shot.
• Crooked Mouth rushed toward the stairs with his Power Hammer and fought Gray, while Mo Tuo led the other Space Marines into the cockpit.

Gray and the twelve Star Space Marines killed Crooked Mouth inside the Gargant, breaking the Greenskins’ morale and turning the battle into a rout. Gray’s forces pursued the fleeing Greenskins while rival bosses fought over who would become the strongest.

• Crooked Mouth charged Gray, but Gray and the twelve Space Marines surrounded him and attacked together.
• Mo Tuo severed Crooked Mouth’s leg, and the Space Marines cut off his remaining limbs before Gray beheaded him.
• Gray displayed Crooked Mouth’s head from atop the Gargant and announced that the war was won.
• The Greenskins panicked after learning Crooked Mouth was dead, and many fled while the robots destroyed those who stayed to fight.
• Crooked Mouth’s bodyguard bosses fled with their followers as rival Greenskin bosses battled for supremacy.
• Robots, soldiers, Apocalypse Tanks, and Space Marines pursued the fleeing Greenskins and killed them in large numbers.

Nack’s Star Space Marine squad pursued fleeing Greenskins and encountered a Defenders Chapter squad, which mistook them for heretics. The two sides fought, and Nack cut down the enemy squad captain as the battle continued.

• An Apocalypse Tank and a five-man Star Space Marine squad slaughtered fleeing Orks and Greenskins.
• Nack noticed that the unfamiliar gunfire came from figures whose height and equipment did not match Space Marines.
• Nack and the Defenders Chapter squad captain identified each other as enemies and opened fire.
• The Star Space Marines and Defenders Chapter Marines charged through the street, trading gunfire before drawing their melee weapons.
• Nack severed the Defenders Chapter captain’s Chainsword and cut him in two, then charged into the enemy ranks.

Nack’s Star Space Marines defeated two squads of Astartes and reported the Imperium’s arrival to Gray. After learning that an Imperial fleet was driving back the Orks, Art Student ordered his forces to abandon the planet and prepare to leave.

• Nack and his four teammates killed fifteen Astartes Space Marines from the Defenders Chapter, suffering no casualties.
• David reported that his squad had also fought Astartes, killing ten while one of his men was seriously wounded.
• Gray halted the pursuit of the Orks and ordered the Star Space Marines to pause operations after learning that an entire Astartes Chapter had arrived.
• Art Student asked Gaia about the Imperial reinforcements and learned that the Imperium had sent a battle barge, a battleship, three cruisers, and five frigates.
• After seeing that the Imperial Navy was defeating the Ork fleet, Art Student ordered Gray to cover the retreat and told Anrida and Mendeleev to prepare their forces to depart.

The Defenders Chapter discovered heretics in the Underhive and redirected its forces to destroy them. Kosoz teleported Third Company toward Bartos, but severed limbs bearing the Chapter’s insignia appeared beside the Chapter Master, leaving him demanding answers.

• After learning Imperial reinforcements had arrived, Anrida and Mendeleev recalled their troops to the warships to prepare to leave the planet.
• Odyn told Bartos that battle-brothers had encountered powerful heretics in the Underhive and sent him their combat recordings.
• Bartos ordered Kosoz to lead the Chapter’s remaining forces against the heretics, setting aside the investigation into what had blocked Kosoz’s psychic power.
• Kosoz gathered Third Company and teleported them toward Bartos while other company captains prepared orbital deployments.
• Severed limbs bearing the Defenders Chapter’s insignia appeared beside Bartos, who demanded to know what had happened.

Bartos led the surviving Astartes Space Marines toward the heretics’ base, believing them responsible for the losses and the piles of Ork corpses. Gray’s Star Space Marines ambushed them with artillery and charged under Void Shield cover, leaving both sides’ heavy infantry advancing toward a close-quarters clash.

• Odyn urged Bartos to avenge the fallen, and Bartos ordered the surviving Astartes Space Marines to continue pursuing the heretics.
• A Star Space Marine reported that the Astartes were approaching the base, and Gray ordered his forces to remain hidden and attack from behind once battle began.
• Odyn and Bartos interpreted the Ork corpses as evidence of a heretical ritual as the Astartes approached Art Student’s base.
• Bartos warned the Astartes of danger, and they took cover as artillery shells struck their route.
• Gray led more than a hundred Star Space Marines in a charge protected by Void Shields, and Odyn sent fifty First Company veterans forward to meet them.

Gray and the Star Space Marines fought Bartos’s Astartes Space Marines in the Underhive, killing most of them and ultimately defeating their Chapter Master. The surviving Astartes launched a desperate final assault, but the Star Space Marines killed them all, suffering minor injuries among half their number.

• Gray dodged a Cataphractii-armoured Astartes’s fire and killed him with a Plasma Pistol, while the Star Space Marines cut down about half of the first fifty attackers.
• Bartos led more than a hundred Astartes out of cover, and both forces engaged in close combat.
• Gray and Bartos exchanged accusations about the planet’s defense before resuming their duel.
• Gray cut Bartos in half, prompting the surviving Astartes to charge the Star Space Marines in a suicidal bid to avenge Bartos and Chief Librarian Kosoz.
• The Star Space Marines killed all the pursuing Astartes, and half their own number sustained minor injuries.

Gray and the Star Space Marines defeated the pursuing Astartes and prepared to leave Hive World Two, while robots and the remaining Orks continued fighting across the planet. As the warship readied for warp travel, Nack was left mortified after his comrades discovered he read romance stories.

• Gray told David that he would send Nack on similar missions next time, and Nack reluctantly accepted.
• The Star Space Marines gathered samples from the fallen Astartes, celebrated their victory, and Gray ordered the engineering robots to keep fighting the Defenders Chapter and surviving Orks.
• Gray led the Star Space Marines back to the base, where they found that the administrative department had already evacuated everyone to the warship.
• Gray teased Nack about reading romance stories, and David, Mo Tuo, and the other Star Space Marines joined in, leaving Nack embarrassed.
• Gray called Nack to the warship, and Nack hurried aboard as its hatches sealed and it prepared for warp travel.

Art Student prepared the warship and its passengers to leave the Hive World, then ordered a spatial teleportation after Gray and Mo Tuo returned with the Star Space Marines. The warship appeared three light-years from the Teda Galaxy, leaving the Imperium unable to pursue it quickly without Warp travel.

• Hogood arranged for the civilians in the base to board the warship, and Mendeleev confirmed that the teleportation beacon had found a safe destination.
• Gray and Mo Tuo returned with the Star Space Marines and reported that they had killed all the pursuing Astartes Space Marines.
• Gray presented Art Student with biological samples collected from the Astartes, and Art Student praised the Star Space Marines and promised them rewards.
• Art Student ordered Mendeleev to depart, and the operators activated the warship's energy tower, gravity field, and shields.
• Mendeleev initiated spatial teleportation, sending the warship from the underground base to deep space three light-years from the Teda Galaxy.

Art Student led the battleship from the Halo Stars into Segmentum Pacificus, where he chose to build up their forces before attacking a nearby Imperial star system. The crew began preparing to gather asteroid materials and construct more warships so they could seize and hold the system safely.

• Gray and the bridge managers marveled at deep space as Art Student reflected that humanity deserved freedom among the stars rather than life under the Imperium’s rule.
• Art Student told Mendeleev to take the battleship from the Halo Stars toward Segmentum Pacificus, and Mendeleev began the voyage using cautious spatial jumps.
• After more than two months of travel, the battleship arrived near an unfamiliar Imperial-controlled star system, with over a dozen other systems within a hundred light-years.
• Gray and Anrida eagerly volunteered to attack, but Art Student said they should first gather materials from nearby asteroid fields and build more warships.
• Art Student planned to capture the star system only after they had enough ships to hold it and control Mandeville Point against Imperial reinforcements.

Art Student ordered his subordinates to train recruits, cultivate administrators, and learn warship construction while Gaia began building a vast space dock. Gaia produced a million 3D-printing robots to gather materials and assemble the dock as Art Student returned to researching a spatial-folding magazine.

• Art Student told Gray and Anrida to train new recruits and promised them stronger equipment, while he directed Mendeleev to train more naval personnel.
• Art Student ordered Hogood and Anglie to cultivate administrators and told Anglie to learn warship construction with Gaia’s space dock project.
• Art Student instructed Gaia to begin constructing a 100-kilometer space dock, which Gaia estimated would take three years.
• Art Student returned to his laboratory to continue work on the Spatial-Folding Magazine.
• Gaia created 10,000 printing robots, which gathered asteroid materials and supplied Gaia with resources to make more robots.
• After their numbers reached one million, the printing robots began constructing the space dock.

Art Student developed and tested a Spatial-Folding Magazine that held 100,000 rounds without increasing its weight. After confirming the technology worked with different ammunition, he ordered Gaia to mass-produce the magazines.

• The warship's management staff trained recruits and newcomers as Lord of the Stars's forces prepared for further expansion.
• Art Student finished a Spatial-Folding Magazine that held exactly 100,000 bullets while remaining as heavy as an empty magazine.
• Art Student fired a Heavy Ripper Rifle at a small Void Shield and nearly overloaded it in less than half a minute.
• Art Student concluded that the magazines could let Star Space Marines overwhelm Terminator Armour's Void Shields with concentrated fire.
• Art Student tested enlarged magazines with other bullets and shells, then instructed Gaia to mass-produce them.

In 941.M41, the Art Student’s faction continued building a fleet and tested its Earth-class Dreadnoughts against replicated Ork war machines. The Dreadnoughts won, though one sustained minor damage.

• The Art Student’s space dock began constructing an Emperor-class Battleship, four cruisers, eight frigates, and sixteen destroyers, with completion expected in three years.
• Four Star Space Marines piloted Earth-class Dreadnoughts across an asteroid planet, testing their weapons and defenses by destroying 3D-printed fortresses.
• The Earth Dreadnoughts charged a force of replicated Ork Deff Dreads and Gorkanauts, using their shields to withstand the incoming fire.
• The Earth Dreadnoughts tore apart the Deff Dreads with their claws, Melta Cannons, anti-aircraft guns, and plasma cannons.
• A Star Space Marine’s Earth Dreadnought defeated a Gorkanaut after gradually breaking its defenses, sustaining minor damage in the fight.

The Art Student and the officers watched the Aerospace Fighter test after discussing their shortage of trained pilots and personnel. Eight fighters demonstrated their weapons by destroying asteroids with Three-Phase Torpedoes.

• Gray praised the Dreadnoughts but lamented that few qualified pilots could operate them.
• Anrida explained that powerful weapons needed skilled operators and admitted that only sixteen pilots could fly eight Aerospace Fighters.
• Mendeleev revealed that he lacked enough Navy personnel to crew the twenty-nine warships expected to enter service in three years.
• The Art Student redirected the officers to the Aerospace Fighter test, and Anrida ordered the squadron to begin.
• Eight Aerospace Fighters launched from the Lord of the Stars flagship and fired lances at small asteroids.
• The fighters launched Three-Phase Torpedoes at massive asteroids, and the warheads destroyed them in violent explosions.

Art Student’s fleet completed its preparations and studied the civil war on Star Sea I World, where nobles and the planetary governor fought over resources and taxes. After hearing the intelligence, Art Student decided to intervene and save the people caught in the conflict.

• Art Student praised Gray and Anrida for their forces’ performance in the weapons test and ordered them to keep selecting talented pilots.
• Three years later, all twenty-nine warships were completed and gathered around the Lord of the Stars Flagship.
• Milos briefed Art Student’s managers on the Star Sea Galaxy and the civil war between the nobles and the governor on Star Sea I World.
• Milos explained that the nobles had rebelled over the governor’s attempt to seize the planet’s resources, while the nobles’ anti-tax promises drew support from the poor.
• Mendeleev explained that the nobles saw their remaining resources as their last dignity, and Art Student declared that they would go save the people of Star Sea I World.

Gray and the officers prepared to conquer the Star Sea Galaxy, deciding to first seek its surrender while readying an assault if negotiations failed. The fleet prepared to depart under orders from Mendeleev.

• Art Student approved the deployment, and Gray, Anrida, and Mendeleev assembled the officers aboard the Radiance of the Stars.
• Gray shared Milos's intelligence about the Star Sea Galaxy and asked the officers whether to attack or seek surrender.
• Anrida proposed offering surrender first to secure the galaxy's population, with an assault as a fallback, and Mendeleev agreed.
• Gray said surrendered nobles would not regain their privileges, and the officers supported his position.
• Mendeleev ordered the officers to return to their stations and prepare to depart.