Chapter Summaries

Cheng Mingrui struggled to hold back the Necrons as their snipers, heavy melee forces, and central Pyramid targeted him. Kidd began preparing a giant Krakka Teleporter to bring Morkanauts and Gargants to the battlefield, while the Pyramid charged a devastating attack focused on Cheng Mingrui.

• Kuka’s growing psychic power and the Waaagh! field strengthened the Orks, helping them overwhelm Necron forces until the central Pyramid erased large groups with white flashes.
• Deathmark Warriors pierced Cheng Mingrui’s defenses with accurate Gauss fire, while the Pyramid opened its gates and sent more Necrons into battle.
• Cheng Mingrui asked Kidd to send Morkanauts and Gargants as fire support, but learned that nearly all were unfinished or unable to move.
• Skorpekh Destroyers and a Skorpekh Destroyer Lord charged Cheng Mingrui, forcing him to fight while the Pyramid locked onto him.
• A Mekboy proposed building a huge Krakka Teleporter, and Kidd ordered the Boyz to construct it to bring the Morkanauts and Gargants into the battlefield.
• The Pyramid’s crystal charged for a prolonged attack and unleashed white light centered solely on Cheng Mingrui.

Cheng Mingrui survived the Pyramid’s blast after killing the Skorpekh Destroyer Lord, and the Greenskins’ Waaagh! drove the Necrons back. As the awakened Pyramid rebuilt its forces, Cheng Mingrui summoned the Ork Mech corps and a Gargant to join the battle.

• Cheng Mingrui emerged badly wounded from the crater with the Skorpekh Destroyer Lord’s head, causing the Greenskins to surge forward and shatter the Necron battle line.
• Clever Git brought Cheng Mingrui to safety, where Painboys treated his injuries while he recalled how he had escaped the Pyramid’s blast.
• Kidd asked Cheng Mingrui for a location so he could teleport in the Morkanauts and Stompas, and Cheng Mingrui modified a Communicator into a teleportation Locator.
• The Pyramid unleashed another attack, destroyed Ork vehicles, reassembled Necron troops, and rose into the air as the tomb awakened.
• Cheng Mingrui activated the Locator, bringing in several Morkanauts and a Gargant, whose Mekboys immediately opened fire on the Necrons.

Cheng Mingrui’s Orks destroyed the Necron Pyramid and overran the tombs, after which he prepared to dig deeper and strengthen his forces. On Number 3, Iron Claw finished building up his army and prepared to launch a major Waaagh! as the human fleet withdrew from Number 4.

• Kidd ordered the Gargant’s batteries to fire, and their salvo shattered the Necron Pyramid and crippled the Necrons throughout the tombs.
• Cheng Mingrui awoke to find the Necrons nearly wiped out, praised Kidd, and received Gork and Mork’s oracle to keep digging deeper.
• Cheng Mingrui planned to repair the Big Digga and improve his weapons, infantry, and Power Armour before the next battle.
• Pex began withdrawing the human fleet from Number 4 after Cornwall warned that the Orks on Number 3 were getting out of control.
• Iron Claw built up his forces in the Rainforest while Chuck mistook Iron Claw’s deliberately sacrificed Boyz for signs of human victories.
• Iron Claw decided his army had enough equipment and numbers to begin a major Waaagh!.

Ork forces launched attacks on cities across Number 3’s Southern Hemisphere, leaving General Chuck under pressure from Governor Cornwall to hold the front. Iron Claw secretly planned to exploit the Garrison Force’s response and strike at its commander, while Chuck’s staff focused on the apparent main offensive on the right flank.

• Cities across the Southern Hemisphere called for aid as Orks attacked, and Cornwall warned Chuck to stop them from crossing the equator or face execution.
• Iron Claw assigned Ork bosses attack routes and ordered them to gather before a target city.
• Iron Claw revealed to Goldtooth that the attacks were bait for the Humies, allowing him to slip through a gap and kill their boss.
• Goldtooth agreed to lead his Sneaky Boyz and Gretchin in helping Iron Claw create the gap.
• Chuck’s staff assessed that the main Ork attacks targeted the right flank, while the weaker attacks on the left could be held with reinforcements and militia.

Chuck planned an aggressive campaign against the Orks as their advance drove refugees toward Pioneer City. When the militia opened fire on refugees to keep the city’s defenses clear, an Ork Bike attacked and broke through their line.

• Chuck commanded six hundred thousand troops and prepared to attack the Orks, while Governor Cornwall’s decree had created a twenty-million-strong civilian militia.
• More than a million Orks advanced from the Rainforest, driving refugees toward Pioneer City.
• Pioneer City’s militia captain refused to admit the refugees and ordered his men to shoot when the crowd surged against the cordon.
• An Ork Bike attacked the refugees, killing nearly a hundred people before charging toward the militia.
• The militia fired on the Bike but struggled to hit it, and its Shoota killed more than a dozen militiamen.
• The Ork Bike smashed through the defenses and launched rockets that engulfed the militia line in fire.

Chuck committed most of his Planetary Defense Force to an encirclement plan while Pioneer City struggled to withstand mounting Ork attacks. When a hundred-thousand-strong Ork vanguard reached the city, its defenders opened fire, but the Greenskins proved far tougher than ordinary weapons could handle.

• Chuck ordered Pioneer City to hold while he sent five hundred thousand Planetary Defense Force troops to flank and encircle the Orks, leaving only a hundred thousand to defend Capello.
• Pioneer City suffered growing casualties and shortages as refugees were forced into the militia and assigned to dangerous sectors.
• A roughly hundred-thousand-strong Ork vanguard led by a Boss riding a Giant Squig Warbeast charged toward Pioneer City.
• A Defense Force officer urged the militia to stand firm and ordered the defenders to fire all their weapons as the Orks advanced.
• The defenders' ordinary guns had little effect on the resilient Orks, though concentrated las fire slowed their charge somewhat.

Chuck refused to reinforce Pioneer City properly or pause his offensive after the city's defenses collapsed, instead forcing the Planetary Defense Force to launch an underprepared attack. The offensive advanced at first, but supply and ammunition shortages mounted as Chuck insisted the troops keep moving.

• Orks swiftly broke through Pioneer City's first and second defensive lines, inflicting heavy casualties on its defenders.
• Chuck rejected advice to abandon his encirclement plan, expelled two staff officers who questioned his orders, and sent reinforcements to Pioneer City while ordering an immediate armored attack.
• Planetary Defense Force units began their attack before vehicle inspections and resupply were complete, while Banshees bombed the scattered Orks.
• The human forces advanced smoothly for several days, routing Ork bands and reaching halfway to their objective.
• The offensive strained supplies, left the Banshees with less than a fifth of their ammunition, and forced spearhead units to rest and reorganize, but Chuck ordered them to keep attacking.

Iron Claw led his Orks through an underground route to launch a surprise attack on a human city, relying on Goldtooth and the Sneaky Boys to clear the way. He smashed through the city's defenses and destroyed a Leman Russ Tank despite its cannon blast.

• Iron Claw chose a left-flank route and agreed to Goldtooth's plan to attack a city beside the railway.
• Goldtooth's Gretchin dug a tunnel to the surface, where Sneaky Boys prepared to disable the city's defenses.
• Iron Claw roared and charged toward the city with his Ork army.
• The Sneaky Boys silently killed the sentries and cleared barricades as Iron Claw's force approached.
• Iron Claw charged through the city's walls, bunkers, and land mines.
• A Leman Russ Tank hit Iron Claw in the chest, but he kept charging and sheared off its turret with his Killer Axe.

Iron Claw captured a human city and prepared to lead his Daft Air Corps toward the human commander, while Pex’s fleet encountered an early-arriving Imperial fleet. Pex agreed to meet Commissar Kester despite fearing that the Imperials would discover him and his offspring.

• Iron Claw left Goldtooth to lead the Boyz and the Waaagh! while he prepared to pursue the human commander by air.
• Iron Claw revealed the Daft Air Corps’ scrap-built planes and ordered them to carry his best Boyz.
• Pex’s Expeditionary Fleet detected a Warp emergence and faced an Imperial fleet led by the Emperor-class battleship Harbinger of Doom.
• Commissar Kester identified himself as commander of the Imperial reinforcements and summoned Pex aboard the Harbinger of Doom.
• Pex accepted the summons and traveled by shuttle, fearing that the Imperials would discover and purge him and his offspring.

Kester briefed Pex and Cornwall on the Tyranid and Ork threat moving toward the Euronia System and ordered them to hold it as long as possible. The system’s defenses were already strained by Orks multiplying on Number 4.

• The Imperium’s attempt to turn the Tyranids against the Orks strengthened both enemies and left the Ork Sector poised to threaten the eastern defensive line.
• A Leviathan Hive Fleet contingent changed course toward the Euronia System, and pursuing Orks followed in ships built from asteroids and scrap.
• Kester told Pex and Cornwall that they had to defend the Euronia System until the surrounding sectors could strengthen their lines, with a Space Marine Chapter on its way to reinforce them.
• Cornwall feared the system could not withstand the attackers, while Pex remained composed as Kester reviewed his record of service.
• Pex admitted that his expedition had failed to eliminate the Orks on Number 4, where they were multiplying in underground fortresses.

Kester pressed Governor Cornwall for the truth about Number 3, where Chuck’s armored advance had been surrounded by Greenskins and the southern defenses were collapsing. As Orks overwhelmed the trenches, the Planetary Defense Force faced attacks from every direction and more Greenskins emerged from the rainforest.

• Kester reassured Cornwall and persuaded him to reveal the true situation on Number 3.
• Cornwall reported that Chuck’s force had been encircled in the south, while most Greenskins had left Pioneer City to seek a bigger fight.
• The remaining Planetary Defense Force troops fortified their positions with tanks and trenches as Orks attacked them for three days.
• Greenskins breached the defenses, destroyed a Leman Russ Tank, and Banshees set sections of the line ablaze.
• More lost Greenskins charged out of the rainforest toward the battlefield, drawn by the Waaagh!

Orks devastated the Southern Hemisphere as refugees fled toward Capello, and Chuck withdrew into a bunker with a loaded pistol after learning how badly the war had gone. Kester ultimately postponed judging Chuck and ordered him to concentrate his troops in Capello until reinforcements arrived in three days, while Pex remained aboard the Harbinger of Doom.

• Orks destroyed nearly ten cities, while fleeing humans suffered further casualties from panic, infighting, and attacks along the roads to Capello.
• After Cornwall ended their communication, Chuck locked himself in a bunker room and loaded a pistol as he feared his failure would condemn his family.
• Kester condemned Chuck’s attempt to encircle the Orks, but Pex defended Chuck’s past record and urged that he be allowed to hold Capello.
• Kester ordered Cornwall to direct Chuck to gather his troops in Capello and hold it until reinforcements arrived in three days.
• Kester asked Pex to remain aboard the Harbinger of Doom, and Pex agreed.

Cheng Mingrui’s Orks overwhelmed the Necrons on Number 4, but Kidd discovered a strange hollow void deep beneath a tomb. Cheng Mingrui gathered his strongest fighters and Mekboys to investigate it.

• Cornwall gave Chuck one last chance to hold Capello, promising his family would be spared if he could hold until reinforcements arrived.
• Cheng Mingrui’s Boys turned their attacks on Necron tombs into a lottery-driven contest, with the Orks choosing which Big Digga to follow.
• Cheng Mingrui’s Gorkanaut devastated a Necron formation, and the Boys used Gork’s Face to sweep away the remaining Necrons.
• Kidd told Cheng Mingrui about a vast, lightless hollow detected deep underground, and Cheng Mingrui ordered Kuka, Rambo, his Slaughter Squad, and several Mekboys to join him.

Cheng Mingrui led his Ork Nobz through a Necron gate and discovered murals recording a hidden history from after the War in Heaven. He began documenting them while sending Kidd, Dio, and Kuka ahead to fight Necrons without damaging the walls.

• Cheng Mingrui led his Nobz through the tunnels, where Kidd found a Necron gate and began trying to open it.
• Dio burned through the gate with an Eye of Mork, and Cheng Mingrui led the Orks inside.
• Cheng Mingrui felt a strange pressure in the Black Hole Region and grew alarmed as he studied the murals.
• Cheng Mingrui ordered Kidd, Dio, and Kuka to search ahead and fight any Necrons without damaging the walls, then recorded the murals.
• The murals described a postwar Paradise Era and blamed Orks for most daily wars, while the Triarch Council grew weary of the Genius Boyz Association's promises to restrain them.

Cheng Mingrui learned from the murals that the Necrons and Aeldari had devised a gradual gene weapon to make Orks increasingly violent and diminish their Brainboys. After he found no further murals, Afentis captured him in a Stasis Field and questioned him.

• Cheng Mingrui read that the Aeldari helped the Necrons foresee the Orks' collapse and develop a targeted gene virus against Brainboys.
• The murals explained that the virus would spread through Ork generations by enhancing their urge to fight until violence eroded their reason and wisdom.
• Cheng Mingrui searched the hall for more murals, then prepared to leave and catch up with Kidd and the others.
• A green pillar trapped Cheng Mingrui in a Stasis Field, and Afentis emerged to confront him.
• Afentis identified himself as a Necron Technomancer, questioned Cheng Mingrui about the attack on his dynasty, and asked whether he was a Brainboy.

Cheng Mingrui fought Afentis while questioning him about Ork history and Gork and Mork, then Rambo helped him overpower the Necron technomancer. Afentis shattered the hall with his scepter and trapped Cheng Mingrui in a mist-shrouded dimensional prison.

• Afentis offered Cheng Mingrui information in exchange for answers and explained that the gene virus had permanently changed the Orks and ended the Brainboyz’ use of their intelligence.
• Cheng Mingrui asked whether Gork and Mork existed, then broke through the stasis field and attacked Afentis with Gork’s Fist.
• Afentis blocked Cheng Mingrui’s attack and questioned him about his identity and how he controlled his violent impulses.
• Rambo emerged unexpectedly and cut Afentis into pieces, while Cheng Mingrui caught the technomancer’s head.
• Cheng Mingrui realized Afentis was likely the dynasty’s ruler and told Rambo to destroy the scepter, but Afentis used it to shatter the hall and trap Cheng Mingrui in a dimensional prison.

Cheng Mingrui used his Krakka Teleporter and Cogitator Templates to map the dimensional prison and contact the other trapped Ork Bosses. After learning that the prison held multiple levels and time flowed differently inside, he faced a pack of reptilian monsters as they emerged from the mist.

• Cheng Mingrui projected a positioning wave with his teleporter and located Kuka, Kidd, Rambo, and several Heavy Nobs in the dimensional prison.
• Cheng Mingrui connected with Kuka, who and the Mega Bosses defeated a giant crocodile-like monster with Gork's Fist and a Waaagh!-empowered assault.
• Cheng Mingrui learned that Kuka had been trapped for three days and had already fought nearly ten monsters, while the prison was large and divided into multiple levels.
• Cheng Mingrui contacted Rambo and Kidd, marked their locations, and found that he was the last to arrive and the only one who had not yet met a hostile monster.
• Cheng Mingrui failed to establish a clear connection with the Boys outside, then saw dozens of raptor-like reptiles charge through the mist and prepared to fight them.

Cheng Mingrui realized that the Dimensional Prison’s spaces were merging, which could help him locate an exit, and rallied the Orks to fight through the monsters as a divine trial. Meanwhile, Chuck prepared Capello’s defenses and gathered its scattered Planetary Defense Force units.

• Cheng Mingrui killed the first wave of raptor-like monsters with his Power Fist, then used a Magnetic Probe to scan the Dimensional Prison.
• After a second wave appeared alongside a tremor, Cheng Mingrui concluded that the prison cells were merging and that their convergence could make the prison easier to locate.
• Cheng Mingrui ordered Kidd, Kuka, and Rambo to smash the monsters and follow the fog, telling the Orks that Gork and Mork had made the prison a trial.
• The Orks believed Cheng Mingrui’s explanation and fought with renewed Waaagh! fury, while Kuka transformed into a giant and charged into battle.
• Chuck prepared to prove his loyalty to the Imperium, armed Capello’s militia with Lasguns, and requisitioned aircraft to gather the scattered Planetary Defense Force units.
• Chuck relied on the surviving forces and heavy artillery in Pioneer City, since his earlier recklessness had cost him the Planetary Defense Force’s main force.

Chuck fortified Capello and blocked southern refugees from entering as he prepared to hold the city until Commissar Kester's Astra Militarum arrived. Meanwhile, Daft's Ork air corps approached Capello with Boss Iron Claw and his Nasty Boyz aboard, preparing to descend on the city.

• Cornwall sent Chuck reinforcements, including an armored division with seven hundred Leman Russ Tanks, and Chuck assigned his forces to defend Capello while conscripting militia.
• Chuck barred refugees from entering the city and fortified roads and intersections, planning to hold Capello for three days while refugees distracted the Orks.
• Daft's air corps flew toward Capello with Boss Iron Claw and his Nasty Boyz aboard, while Daft argued with his co-pilot about the flight's security.
• Iron Claw contacted Daft and demanded to know their location, and the co-pilot confirmed that the planes were five minutes from the city.
• Daft ordered the aircraft to descend and prepare to dive toward Capello.

Daft’s Ork Air Corps caught Capello by surprise, bombing the city and dropping Iron Claw and his Nobs into battle. Daft’s plane came under heavy fire as the Planetary Defense Force set up a Heavy Stubber.

• The Capello radar station detected Daft’s aircraft, but the Command Centre dismissed the warning as a routing error.
• Daft led the Ork Air Corps into a dive and ordered Iron Claw and his Nobs to drop into Capello with their Rocket Packs.
• Daft’s planes bombed the city, while civilians fled and Planetary Defense Force soldiers scrambled to organize defenses.
• Daft flew low over the city as ground forces fired at his plane, and his co-pilot and a Gretchin turret returned fire.
• A Planetary Defense Force squad opened fire on Daft’s cockpit with a Heavy Stubber.