In The Lore Explainer, we take a deep look at the lore behind our favorite games, movies, and books, and talk about the story behind them and sum up what you need to know and how you can find out more. In this article and the next, we’ll be looking at the lore behind the Sanctus Reach campaign in Warhammer 40,000.
Only two years after sixth edition, Warhammer 40,000’s seventh edition released in June 2014, bringing with it not just an updated ruleset but an entirely new approach to campaign books and the Warhammer story. Prior to the launch of seventh edition, Games Workshop had dabbled in story-driven campaigns releases with Codex: Armageddon and Eye of Terror back in third, with Forge World books, and Crusade of Fire and the Apocalypse books in sixth, but otherwise these releases had been pretty sparse.
That changed in seventh edition, which gave us multiple campaign releases per year, each introducing not just new rules (and formations, a uniquely terrible seventh edition army construction mechanic). Between 2014 and the launch of eighth edition in 2017 Games Workshop released a whopping fourteen campaign supplements, starting with The Red Waaagh! and ending with Gathering Storm III: Rise of the Primarch. These books together pushed the story of the Warhammer 40,000 universe forward, adding new lore, fleshing out older stories, and ultimately setting the stage for the seismic shifts in the game’s setting.
The Red Waaagh!
The first of these campaign books was The Red Waaagh!, billed alternatively as the Dawn of the Sanctus Reach campaign. This first part of the campaign deals with the conflict between the Imperial Guard and the orks of Waaagh! Grukk, and this book was released shortly after the introduction of Imperial Knights and Gorka/Morkanauts to the game, so those units are featured prominently in the story and rules. On top of new rules for Formations, Red Waaagh! has the entire story of the campaign and ten missions which allow players to tell its story through the campaign’s major battles. These missions also served as the reintroduction point for Planetstrike missions to the game, laying out rules where one player takes the role of attacker, dropping their units in from the sky onto the defender’s fortified positions.
The titular Waaagh! here is Waaagh! Grukk, led by the Ork Warlord of the same name. Grukk’s not much of a character in any real sense; he has a backstory that involves him ripping open a drop pod and killing a unit of marines, then not getting murdered by the chapter’s attempts to kill him in return. Grukk’s flagship is The Wrath of Gork, a big mass of scrap painted with the still-bleeding limbs of Grukk’s enemies.
Credit: Pendulin
Alaric Prime
The Sanctus Reach System boasts six planets, five of which fell to Grukk before the real fight of the campaign began on Alaric Prime. Alaric Prime is a Knight world known for its insanely stifling laws – no law on the planet has ever been repealed, and the list of resulting laws is hilariously restrictive, including ordnances against yawning in daylight hours or pointing at the stars in the night sky. The result is that two thirds of the planet’s population have been incarcerated in massive island prisons.
Alaric Prime is ruled by a group of feuding noble houses, more interested in oppressing their populations and fighting civil wars than paying attention to the rampaging orks running through their system. By the time they put aside their squabbling to mount defenses and call for help, many were worried that it was already too late. Using ancient technology powered by an astropath trapped in stasis (the astropath died almost immediately upon being removed from stasis), they sent out a call for aid.
Of course, doing this was illegal, and almost led to planetwide civil war until they received word that a unit of Cadians led by Castellan Stein would be arriving to help them fortify and defend against the oncoming Ork menace. The Cadians take a very no-nonsense approach to getting things set up and get the planet ready to go by the time the Orks arrived, improving morale and forcing the knightly houses into an uneasy truce. Then just as defenses had gone up and noble houses were starting to make wagers about whose knights would slaughter the most Orks, the Waaagh! descended, crashing into the planet like a tidal wave.
The Sanctus Reach Campaign
The Sanctus reach campaign was split into eleven missions, each detailing a key moment in the fighting for the planet.
1. The Red Waaagh! Descends
The Orks make planetfall on Alaric Prime, descending on trails of fire and eager to get stuck in. They made Alaric’s Sacred Mountain their primary target, attacking in so many waves that the Imperial gun batteries were rendered useless. At the same time the sky was joked with dogfights as Ork Dakkajets outnumbered and outgunned the Imperial Thunderbolts.
2. The Knights Strike Back
Although reeling from the initial blow, the Imperial defenders launch a counterattack, led by the Knights of three noble houses – Velemestrin, Brahmica, and Kestren. House Kestren’s knights Paladin were led by Lord Gaulemort and, working together, the houses systematically cut a swathe through the Orks as they strode into the fray. Unfortunately while they were caught up in their killing they failed to notice the Orks beginning to part around them, swarming behind them and cutting them off from their Cadian allies, whose vox-orders to return to the lines were muted by the arrogant nobles. That’s when Grukk showed up and landed his personal craft on top of them, completely crushing one of the knights beneath its bulk. The re-energized Orks charged back into the Cadian ranks, no longer slowed by the big guns of the Knight households who had ranged too far afield. They broke open the Cadian lines and surged through. Meanwhile the knights had to contend with a Stompa.
3. The Fall of House Kestren
Out from Grukk’s flagship, The Wrath of Gork, trundled a massive Stompa warmachine piloted by Grukk himself. The Stompa took down one knight, then locked in combat with Lord Gaulemort. And in one of the book’s coolest moments, Grukk hopped out of the Stompa head and landed on the head of Gaulemort’s knight and began trying to tear his way into the cockpit. He ordered his knights to hold their fire but a Ser Sylvost of House Velemestrin decided to ignore that order, dropped a battle cannon shell into the side of Gaulemort (nice shooting, asshole), and gave the Warboss the opening he needed. Grukk tore open the cockpit, ripped Gaulemort out and tore the guy in half. The other knights of House Kestren were destroyed in the ensuing chaos and all told only three Knights survived the encounter, though the Stompa had been destroyed as well.
4. Enter the Steel Host
This mission sees the surviving three knights attempting to break through the Ork lines to rejoin their Cadian allies. What ultimately saved the day for them and stopped the Ork advance was the arrival of The Cadian 1562nd, the “Steel Host.” Acting as support for the 1651st’s Infantry, they advanced on the Ork horde, drew them out into firing lanes, and bought the Imperial defenders a reprieve and time to fall back to a fortified position.
5. The River Runs Red
Running south to the Great Estuary of Alaric Prime’s largest continent is the Boiling River, a river of toxic, bubbling chemicals that can burn the skin off anyone foolish enough to take a dip. As the Imperial forces fell back, Castellan Stein’s plan was now to use the river and its bridge as a bottleneck, slowing the Ork advance while shelling them with artillery to buy time for an ordered withdrawal. This went smoothly at first, and Ork bodies piled up on the riverbanks until the Orks attempted to swim across, dying in the process or being slowed to where they could be easily picked off. Grukk’s arrival on the battlefield once again changed things, as he personally smashed through the Ogryns on the bridge while his Weirdboyz teleported units across the river and directly into the Imperial lines. Only timely intervention from the nights of House Degallio saved the day, giving the Cadians and their Militarum Tempestus Regiments time to regroup as the Orks were finally rebuffed.
Isle Degallio
The Cadian forces at the Boiling river weren’t just saved by the arrival of the knights of house Degallio; they were saved by the entire island. Isle Degallio is not a naturally-occurring formation but instead a massive seaborne vessel capable of moving, and for that reason it’s often referred to as the Iron Island. As the knight house rushed to the aid of the defenders, they steered the entire island into the the Great Estuary, to the mouth of the Boiling River where it blocked the river and allowed them to deploy scores of knights into either side of the conflict.
6. The Clockwork Massacre
Grukk’s assault had been blunted, and the Imperium hoped to gain the upper hand by drawing him into the open. Joined by the Freeblade Gerantius, they lured Grukk into a battle on the slops of Sacred Mountain. Gerantius charged into Grukk’s wagon, Castellan Stein’s men lobbed a bunch of grenades at the Ork Warboss when he climbed out, and then the Freeblade finished him off by stepping on him and kicking his battlewagon at his corpse.
Having lost their fearless leader, Grukk’s horde broke, splintering as the disparate clans making up the Waaagh! now fought amongst themselves, vying for power. As the tribes fought, the Cadians would divide and displace them, breaking them into smaller and more manageable forces which could be killed. The book here offered a nice little headshot and description of each tribe leader, from Baddfrag the Tank Boss to Big Redd da Warphead. None of them are particularly noteworthy as the new leader of the Red Waaagh! would be a Big Mek named Mogrok.
Waaagh! Mogrok
A know-it-all git from the Bad Moons, Mogrok had been the power behind Grukk’s throne all along, building him the powerful war machines and kustom force fields that had allowed Grukk’s forces to even make it to Alaric. Mogrok was basically biding his time to usurp Grukk anyways and had been steering the Waaagh into more and more dangerous threats for some time. With Grukk dead, Mogrok took the opportunity to seize power, and started laying traps for his human adversaries – a war of kunnin’. Mogrok kicked things off by picking the biggest fight he could, attacking the largest contingent of the Cadian guard, drawing other Orks to his banner and becoming the new Waaagh! boss.
7. Flight of the Morkanauts
As Mogrok’s forces crashed into the Cadians’, the skies overhead were choked with gigantic rust-ships that descended onto the battlefield and dropped massive balls of scrap onto the rear guardsmen ranks. What the Imperial defenders first thought were merely blunt projectiles were actually Morkanauts, which whirred to life and began pummeling the Cadian armies from behind.
8. Attack of the Wreckin’ Crew
As the rest of the tribes mobilized under Mogrok’s banner, Skyboss Wingnutz led the aerial assault, bombing the knight forces and creating cover for the Speed Freeks as the defenders scrambled to ready their anti-air defenses.
9. Battle for the Oasis
After re-igniting the conflict between the Imperium and Ork forces, Mogrok used his kustom tellyporta to move halfway across the planet, to the Savannahs bridging the Sacred Island (the mainland of Alaric Prime) and the island of House Velemestrin. There he coordinated with Tankboss Badfrag to enact a Kommando strike on the Cadian base, leading to its successful capture and the looting of scores of vehicles.
10. The Klaw of Mork
As the war raged across the Sacred Island, Mogrok was working day and night on a new superweapon: The Klaw of Mork. This massive traktor beam stretched into the sky and ensnared the Frozen Comet, tearing it from its low orbit and dragging it into a collision course with Alaric Prime. Although too late to stop this initial firing, the Imperium sent a collection of Tempestus Scions under the command of Tempestor Prime Salem Whitlock, to disable the Klaw’s shields and destroy the gun and the massive rust ship housing it. The Scions were ultimately successful, destroying the Bad Gob and its terrible super-weapon before beating a retreat on a Valkyrie.
11. The Imperium Sallies Forth
Although his superweapon was destroyed and the comet knocked off course – set to land in the ocean far from the fight, Mogrok was still in charge of the Waaagh! and led an assault on the Sacred Mountain and Fortress Alaric. The defenders, spearheaded by the remaining knightly houses of Alaric Prime, rushed out to meet them, intent on bringing the fight to the enemy.
This was what Mogrok wanted – he’d laid a trap to lure out the nobles, with Tankbustas lying in wait. They descended on Sylvost Velemestrin’s knight, destroying him utterly as they took rokkits to the weak points of his legs. And wouldn’t you know it, none of the other knights nearby could spare the time to help him.
Then there was Mogrok’s other plan – he sent a rust ship on a collision course with the oncoming comet, colliding with it and adjusting its trajectory with a multi-megaton explosion to collide with the flank of the Fortress Alaric. The Imperial forces saw this and ordered a retreat, attempting to take whatever shelter they could in the mountain and raise shields before it was too late.
The Final Outcome
The fragments of the comet smashed into the fortress, vaporizing a massive chunk of the mountain and opening a hole for the surviving Orks to flow into. Yeah, a lot of Orks died but Orks are pretty expendable and their way was now open to destroy the remaining Imperial defenses.
As the Orks streamed into the fortress and the Cadians despaired, they looked to the skies. What they first assumed was metoric debris from the comet raining down to the planet’s surface were actually the contrails of Imperial Drop Pods. They may yet be saved.
The Rules
Released in July, 2014, The Red Waaagh! release coincided with the release of the 7th edition Ork Codex released one month prior and closely followed the release of the seventh edition in May 2014. It’s also clearly intertwined with the 6th edition release of Codex: Imperial Knights (March 2014) and Astra Militarum (April 2014), and works to bridge the gap between the rules of those books – which are designed for sixth edition – into the framework of seventh edition, adding formations for each. The Adamantine Lance lets you run three knights for a benefit, while the Guard gained The Steel Host (tanks) and Rampart Detachment (Ogryns) Formations, and Orks got the Gorkanaut Krushin’ Krew and Mogrok’s Bossboyz, a collection of Big Meks and Warbosses with a Weirdboy to represent Mogrok and the tribe leaders under his command.
The other major rules update here is addition of planetstrike rules, which have one player take the role of Attacker, dropping their forces in from orbit, while the Defender gets to set up defended positions before the game to be assaulted. Both players have access to special abilities called Stratagems to do things like drop in additional bombardments before arrival or digging out fortified positions. There’s only one Planetstrike mission here, but all of the campaign missions use Planetstrike rules to account for Orks constantly dropping in from their rust-ships. In the same way that the formations in the book make heavy use of the game’s three most recent releases, these make heavy use of the (relatively) new fortification sets Games Workshop had released – specifically Imperial Bastions and the Aegis Defence Line.
The missions themselves are pretty neat and varied. They’re very story-driven in a way that current campaign books just don’t do, in that they will have strict force requirements – Attack of the Wreckin’ Krew for example needs to include three Ork Flyers to represent Skyboss Wingnutz and his Krew. Flight of the Morkanauts needs three Morkanauts. They also require large fortified positions and in their maps make heavy use of terrain pieces like the Fortress of Redemption and Wall of Martyrs, while they’re all drawn to be set up on a table made with the Realm of Battle tiles. You could play these missions with modern rules, and for the most part they hold up OK, but they’ll need some adjusting to work in a modern context. My personal recommendation is to replace the baseline Planetstrike rules with the ones from the 9th edition Crusade book, Containment – you can find our review of that one here. There are some extra rules you’ll want to adapt on a per-mission basis, but going through all of those here is a bit beyond our scope. Most of the rules have easy analogues in tenth edition, i.e. for Night Fighting you can model that by giving every unit Stealth on the first turn of the game. If you like you can use variable game length for these as you like, since they’re all designed to potentially end after five turns but some may clearly have six-seven rounds in mind.
The stand-out misison here is The River Runs Red, which requires a river feature and a bridge for the Orks to cross. The river itself is deadly to the models crossing and it’s a cool mission conceptually, without a ton of extra rules cruft to make things too complicated.
Next Time: Hour of the Wolf
The forces of the Imperium had a faint hope with the arrival of the Adeptus Astartes, and that’s where we’ll pick up next time, looking at the second part of Sanctus Reach, Hour of the Wolf. We’ll also look at some of the tie-content for Sanctus Reach before that, looking at the novels early next week and the 2021 PC game adaptation this weekend.
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