Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Bat Rep 5: The Red Brotherhood vs. Da Blitzdreg Boyz: 1050 Points


ARMY SELECTION: 1050 Points

Da Blitzdreg Boyz: Battle Forged Combined Arms Detachment (Phil)
  • Warboss Filgakk Skullsplitta: 'Eavy armor, shoota, power klaw, boss pole, Da' Lucky Stikk
  • Painboy
  • Mek: Kustom mega blasta (attached to shoota boyz)
  • Mek: Kustom mega blasta (attached to shoota boyz)
  • 'Ard Boyz: 12 boyz with 'eavy armor. 1 Big Shoota. Nob with boss pole and power klaw.
  • Slugga Boyz: 20 boyz. 1 Big Shoota, 1 Rokkit Launcha. Nob with boss pole and power klaw.
  • Shoota Boyz: 14 boyz. 1 with rokkit. Nob with boss pole.
  • Grotz: 17 gretchin. Runtherd with squighound.
  • Kommandos: 10 boyz. 1 with burna. Nob with boss pole and power klaw.
  • Bikes x 4
  • Warbuggy with twin-linked rokkits
  • Skorcha Trakk
  • Killa Kan with rokkit launcha 

Filgakk Skullsplitta and Da Blitzdreg Boyz

The Red Brotherhood: Battle Forged Combined Arms Detachment (Pete)
  • Company Captain with Artificer Armor and a Chapter Relic sword that gives Rampage
  • 5 Terminators. 1 Assault Cannon
  • 10 Tactical Marines. 1 Plasma Gun. 1 Plasma Cannon.
  • 5 Tactical Marines. 1 Flamer.
  • 7 Devastator Marines. 2 Heavy Bolters. 1 Lascannon. 1 Missile Launcher. 
  • Land Raider Crusader with multi-melta.

Commander Kane and his detachment of the Second Company.


PRE-GAME
Maelstrom of War - Cleanse and Control (3 Tactical Objectives at a time)
Random deployment type: Dawn of War
Pete wins roll to select table edge and chooses the north edge.
Pete wins roll for first turn and elects to deploy and go first.
Phil rolled for Night Fighting and didn't get it.

Warlord Traits:
Orks - "Dust of a Thousand Worlds" (units within 12" of Warlord get Move Through Cover)
Marines - "Master of Fate" (when your tactical objectives give random VP, you can re-roll)


The battlefield from the east. Objectives are marked with yellow circles. Deployment zones with white dice and green dice.

View of the battlefield from the north with Objectives marked. Pete chose this deployment zone.















DEPLOYMENT


View of deployment from the east. The Marines deployed first.
Marine Deployment and Strategy:
It looks like the Marines were going for a Refused Flank where they could concentrate more fire on a smaller portion of my army. He had one squad mounted in the Land Raider Crusader and the Terminators in Reserve ready to Deep Strike where needed. This left him with a pretty small force on the table to begin the game.

View of deployment from the west. 
Ork Deployment and Da Plan:
Knowing that my mostly footslogging army would have to hold the Objective Markers that were spread out all over the battlefield, I once again elected to deploy along my entire table edge. This would allow some of my mobz to reach whichever objectives I drew. Plus, with my entire army starting at the edge of my deployment zone and advancing, I hoped to present too may targets for the Marines to deal with effectively at long range, ensuring at least some mobz would make it to Pete's lines with enough boyz left to do some damage.

I knew the land Land Raider Crusader would be very problematic for my Orks. I only had four models in my army that could damage it (three nobs with Power Klaws and my boss). Rather than have my Kommandos Outflank, I decided to Infiltrate them as close to the tank as possible (18"), in some hard cover for protection on that first turn of shooting. I also deployed the 'Ard Boyz and their nob right behind them, figuring at least one nob could make into charge range of the tank.

I deployed the grotz in a long line to shield both the 'Ard Boyz and the Sluggas. As usual, I put the Painboy and Warboss in the 20-strong Slugga Boy mob to create a very tough unit in the center of the battlefield. The Warboss in the center so his Warlord trait would allow the Sluggas, 'Ard Boyz and Gretchin to all roll an additional d6 when moving through difficult terrain. The Shoota Boyz deployed on the left flank where they could threaten the Devastators and keep them from concentrating too much fire on my main advance. The bikes and buggy would provide mobile fire support, while the Skorcha would stay in reserve and use Outflank to zip in and grab an objective late or provide some disruption.

The mighty Land Raider Crusader deploys near the large hill with the transmitter beacon objective. The Captain and a Tactical squad ride inside.
The Devastator squad deploys on a central hill with good fire lanes.

The Ork Warbikes begin on the left table edge, hoping to swing around the rocks and hit the Marines with a flank attack.

Filgakk and his trusted nob Grodzag Skartoof anchor the center of the Ork line.

The Kommandos infiltrated a bit forward of the Ork line, mostly behind the hard cover of the rocks. They had their eyes on the big red 'umie tank and wanted to get the glory of taking it down!

The Kommandos look across the hill at the Land Raider, thinking what a great big explosion it will make when they wreck it!

The Ork Warbuggy begins on the edge of the hill with the Comm Station objective, ready to move where it is needed.

Commander Kane surveys the oncoming Orks from his command vehicle, giving orders to his troops through the helmet radios.
Space Marine Turn 1:
Pete draws his Tactical Objectives and gets: Kingslayer, Secure Objective 3 and Big Game Hunter (kill a vehicle).


No units moved. The Tactical squad was out of range except for the Plasma Cannon, which missed.

The Devastators open fire on the Shoota Boyz and kill five. The Orks pass morale thanks to Mob Rule.


The LRC fires everything into the Kommandos hiding in the rocks. Due to their 3+ cover save (thanks to Stealth and hard cover), the mighty tank only manages to bring down four of the green beasts. They also pass morale due to Mob Rule.

Overview at end of Marine Turn 1. 
The Marines did not accomplish any Objectives. Pete turned in Secure Objective 3 (the ammo crates near the Shoota Boyz in the west).

Marines: 0
Orks: 0

Orks Turn 1:
I drew Assassinate (kill a character), Secure Objective 5 (the transmitter beacon on the east hill), and Blood and Guts (kill a unit in close combat).

I felt I weathered the first turn of shooting well and with some good Mob Rule rolls due to my Bosspoles, neither unit broke.


All of my infantry units ran forward. I debated running the Kommandos straight at the tank and the Objective marker, but when I rolled a poor run result, I had them use the extra movement to move backward back into hard cover for another turn instead.


The Rokkit Buggy killed a Devastator, continuing his amazing hitting streak, and the Kan missed.
The Kommandos inch forward and keep their heads down for another turn, waiting for the right time to strike.
The horde surges forward yelling and firing their sluggas into the air. 

The Shoota Boyz run forward to get into range. The Kan and Buggy return fire at the Devastators, managing to inflict a casualty.
The bikers turbo-boost forward, using the big hills for cover until they can get in firing range with their Dakkagunz..

Overview at the end of Orks Turn 1.

The Orks were not able to accomplish any Objectives. I turned in "Blood and Guts" because I figured I wasn't going to be killing any squads in close combat in the next turn or two. I got Supremacy (hold twice as many Objectives as your opponent, with a minimum of two). This was something my widespread horde could do: deny the center of the board to the Marines while holding multiple markers!

Marines: 0
Orks: 0


Space Marine Turn 2
Terminators did not arrive from Reserves.
The plasma Tactical squad moves back to be 24" from the Slugga Boyz.


The Land Raider moves forward to get a clear line of sight to the Kommandos and fires on the Orks again. However, with some weapons firing Snap Shots due to moving, only two Kommandos are killed. When the remaining Kommandos start to run from the huge tank, the Nob kills two and the last boy wisely decides to stay and fight!

The Devastators fire into the advancing Shoota Boyz again and kill six of the vile xenos, leaving only two boyz, the nob and the two meks. But they hold their ground.

The Plasma Tactical squad fires into the Gretchin and kill six, but the Grotz manage to pass their morale. However, they are now drastically out of unit coherency and need to spend next turn moving sideways to regain coherency.

Overview at end of Marine Turn 2.
The Marines once again did not accomplish any of their Tactical Objectives.

Marines: 0
Orks: 0

Orks Turn 2:
Skorcha did not arrive.

At this point, I had lost about 25 models and only killed 1 Marine, but thanks to some good morale dice, my army was still advancing and I knew I still had plenty of boyz to wreak havoc in melee. My goal for this turn was to accomplish Supremacy by controlling two Objectives since the Marines had none.

The Gretchin ran sideways to get back into coherency. They tried to stretch out to claim the transmitter beacon Objective, but they were just short.

The big mob of Slugga Boyz ran forward, past the confused and scurrying Grotz. They got close enough to the canister objective in the forest to claim it.

The 'Ard Boyz did not have much room to maneuver between the hill and the other units so they walked forward and fired their Big Shoota at the Tactical squad, doing nothing.

The Shoota Boyz held the Ammo Crates for my second Objective. They fired their Rokkit and two Kustom Mega Blastas at the Devastators and killed two. The Warbikes swung in from the flank, and killed two more, including the sergeant, which accomplished Assassinate!

The Orks continue to run forward and claim the canister objective.
The bikes and Shoota Boyz close in on the Devastators, their combined fire taking down four of the marines.


The bikes roar forward in a hail of dakka!

The last two Devastator marines hold their ground despite the odds.

Overview at the end of Orks Turn 2. The green wave is closing in.
I rolled a d3 for achieving Supremacy and got a 2. I also achieved Assassinate for the Devastator sergeant.

Marines: 0
Orks: 3

Space Marine Turn 3:
The Terminators arrived from Reserves. Pete tried to place them on the round hill behind the main Ork battle line, but he rolled a 12 and they scattered off the edge of the table and into Ongoing Reserves!

The Plasma Tactical squad fires into the Slugga Boyz and kills eight and wounds the Nob.

The Flamer Tactical squad disembarks in order to add their firepower and kills two more boyz and the Nob and also wounds Filgakk. The flamer also kills an unfortunate 'Ard Boy standing too close!

The Land Raider Crusader moves and then fires at the Slugga Boyz, killing two more Orks and wounding the Warboss again. 

Kane and the Suicide Squad disembark from the Land Raider and pour fire into the Orks.


After their shooting killed two Ork boyz and the nob and wounded the Warboss, Kane and his men charged into the flank of the Ork line. One Marine is killed by Overwatch fire.


The huge Ork was enraged by the numerous bullet and flamer wounds from the Marines' shooting. 

He passed multiple Feel No Pain and Look Out, Sir! rolls to (just barely) survive the onslaught of shooting so he could participate in the melee.

Kane was able to inflict a final wound on Filgakk before the wounded Ork could strike back. At least he went down fighting in close combat!

The mighty Commander Kane struck down the vile Ork leader. His men piled in to the remaining Orks. The Orks swarmed in, killing two Marines in retaliation.

Victorious... for the moment.

Despite losing their Warlord, the Orks fight on ferociously. The combat is a stalemate.

Overview at the end of Marine Turn 3. The big green blob is vastly reduced, but the Orks are now in close combat!

This turn, the Marines achieved Kingslayer (Pete used his Warlord trait to re-roll the d3 for 3 VP!), and also got Slay the Warlord (+1 VP) and First Blood (+1 VP) Secondary Objectives. The Red Brotherhood made their big push this turn and caused a lot of damage, but with the Terminators being delayed due to a Deep Strike mishap, they didn't quite have the punch to fully decimate the Ork center.

Marines: 5
Orks: 3

Orks Turn 3:
Well, Pete made his move and hit my Orks right in the mouth, but like true Orks, we shrugged it off and now it is time to hit back! The goal this turn was to finally charge in and do some damage! I also needed to Secure Objective 5 (under the Land Raider) and Objective 3 (the ammo crates held by my Shoota Boyz).

The Skorcha arrived from the east flank and zoomed closer to the Plasma Tactical squad.

On the Ork left flank, the Shoota Boyz advanced slightly while still holding the ammo crate objective and shot the last two Devastators. The Rokkit Buggy and Warbikes fired into the Plasma Tactical squad and killed two. Excellent Orky shooting from the left flank!

Meanwhile, the Grotz advanced toward the transmitter beacon objective under the Land Raider and were able to secure it for the Orks due to being Troops with Objective Secured.

The Kommando Nob and his last boy charged the LRC, but his Power Klaw could not penetrate the massive armor.

The 'Ard Boyz charged into the melee in the center of the board.


Looks like a fair fight, right? But thanks to Objective Secured, these little buggers got me a VP!


The Marines fought bravely despite overwhelming odds. The Captain wounded the Painboy before he and his men were dragged down and chopped to bits by the angry onrushing 'Ard Boyz.

Overview at the end of Orks Turn 3. The center and west of the table now belong to the Orks. 
The Orks Secured Objectives 3 and 5 for two Victory Points and achieved Slay the Warlord for one more. I drew cards to Secure Objectives 3 and 4 and Behind Enemy Lines (get a unit in the enemy deployment zone).

Marines: 5
Orks: 6

Space Marine Turn 4:
The Terminators arrived automatically this turn.

Plasma Tactical squad kills four Slugga Boyz.
LRC kills two 'Ard Boyz.


The Plasma Tactical squad fires into the oncoming Orks, hoping to drive them back.

The Terminators teleport in behind the Shoota Boyz. Surprise!

After a barrage of storm bolter and assault cannon fire, nothing remains of the Orks except splattered gore.

Better late than never!

Overview at the end of Space Marine Turn 4. The Slugga Boyz are whittled down, but there are still plenty of angry 'Ard Boyz approaching.

View from the west at the end of Space Marine Turn 4. The Terminators evicted the Orks off the ammo crate objective, denying them a VP on their next turn.
The Space Marines did not accomplish any of their objectives this turn. Pete turned in Secure Objective 1 (fuel depot) and got Secure Objective 2 (the canisters in the woods).

Space Marines: 5
Orks: 6

Orks Turn 4:
At this point, I felt I was in control of the game. Although Pete still had two big threats on the table with the Terminators and the Land Raider, I had enough units with enough mobility to accomplish my objectives and maintain my lead in Victory Points. This turn, I was trying to secure Objective 4 and get Behind Enemy Lines.

The Painboy left the decimated mob of Slugga Boyz and joined the larger mob of 'Ard Boyz where he could add more value.

Everything on the west flank shot at the Terminators (buggy, kan, bikes), but they did nothing.
Everything on the east flank shot at the Tactical squad ('ard boyz, grotz, and skorcha), but they did nothing. So when shooting fails... charge!

The 'Ard Boyz charged the Tactical squad and thanks to Feel No Pain, did not take any casualties from Overwatch. The Marines killed one 'Ard Boy and the Orks killed three Marines in return.

Everything fires on the Terminators with no effect.
The Kommando Nob charges the tank again, this time inflicting two glancing blows and knocking off two hull points.

The Painboy and his new mob charge in. The Marines lose combat, but hold.
Overview of the end of Orks Turn 4. The Orks control the center of the board with the Marines spread around the periphery.
The Orks secured Objective 4 (the Comm Station) with the Warbuggy and also achieved Behind Enemy Lines with the Skorcha. You gotta love those fast vehicles for accomplishing Tactical Objectives. My objectives for next turn were to secure Objectives 1 and 3, and Ascendancy.

Space Marines: 5
Orks: 8

Space Marines Turn 5:


The Terminators could not hurt the Killa Kan with their shooting so they charge in. The Kan kills one Terminator, but is easily destroyed in return by their Power Fists.
The Terminators turn the Kan into a smoking wreck and finally score that Big Game Hunter objective!


The LRC kills the last two Kommandos that have been battering on the hull for the last two turns and then fires into the Gretchin, killing 8 (including the Slaver) and the rest wisely flee.

Overview at the end of Marine Turn 5. One Marine is killed in melee.
By driving off the grotz, the Space Marines secured Objective 5 with the Land Raider.And they finally got Big Game Hunter by killing the Kan.

Space Marines: 7
Orks: 8

Orks Turn 5:
The Warbuggy decides to try to drive down a very steep cliff in order to secure Objective 3, but is unfortunately immobilized by a failed Difficult Terrain check! The bikes move backwards in order to secure Objective 1.

The Gretchin fail to rally and keep falling back.

The west flank again fires everything (bikes, buggy, Slugga boyz' big shoota) at the Terminators with no effect.
Everything fires on the Terminators, but the Orks cannot penetrate the Tactical Dreadnaught Armor.


The melee rages on. FNP saved two more boyz and the Ork nob killed two Marines. Marines pass morale again.

The Orks secured Objective 1 (the fuel depot) this turn. I then drew secure Objective 4 (I just moved my buggy away from that objective and it got immobilized! D'oh!).

Space Marines: 7
Orks: 9

We rolled for an extra turn and got it.

Space Marines Turn 6:

The LRC wipes out the Gretchin in order to fulfill a Tactical Objective to kill a unit.



The Terminators charge the Ork bikes. Overwatch does nothing, but somehow the bikes kill TWO Terminators in close combat and only lose one in return!?!
The Orks kill two more Marines and the lone survivor flees from combat.
Overview of the end of Space Marine Turn 6. 
The Space Marines killed a unit for one Victory Point, closing the gap.

Space Marines: 8
Orks: 9

Orks Turn 6:
The Skorcha Trakk raced over to finally secure Objective 3.

The mob of 'Ard Boyz, guns down the last Tactical Marine who fled from combat last turn.
The combat between the Warbikes and Terminators continues. 
Somehow the Terminators again fail both of their saving throws and are killed by bikes with S3 AP- attacks! Crazy!

Overview at the end of Orks Turn 6. All the Marines have been killed except the Land Raider Crusader.
The Skorcha claimed Objective 3 for another Victory Point, making it just about impossible for the Marines to catch up.

Space Marines: 8
Orks: 10

We rolled for another turn and got it. At this point, we figured there was probably no way Pete could catch up two VPs in one turn to make it a draw, but we figured we would play out his last turn just to see what happened.

Space Marines Turn 7:
The Land Raider Crusader decided to at least take revenge on the greenskins before departing the field. It opened fire on the 'Ard Boyz with all weapons and killed seven of the last eight, with the lone Ork failing morale and running.

The tank also secured Objective 5 again for a final Victory Point for pride. There was no need to play the final Ork turn as I had nothing left in my army that could damage the tank in any way.

Remaining Models:
Orks: 3 Warbikes, Skorcha, Immobilized Warbuggy, 4 Slugga Boyz.
Marines: Land Raider Crusader with 2 hull points remaining.
(Pete actually had more points of models left on the table despite losing in Victory Points).

Final Score:
Space Marines: 9
Orks: 10

ORKS WIN!


POST-GAME ANALYSIS:

Phil (Orks):
That was quite a fun game, with a lot of action where both armies had their chance to show what they could do. Although both sides inflicted pretty even amounts of damage on each other, I was able to accomplish more Tactical Objectives due to having more units, more mobility and an agressive push that gave me control of the center of the table for almost the entire game.

On the other side, I felt that Pete occassionally got too focused on winning the war of attrition instead of accomplishing his objectives. He could have accomplished Big Game Hunter early in the game, but he chose to focus his fire on my boyz instead. The boyz were definitely the bigger threat to his army so it made sense to target them, but given that he would struggle to get around the board to secure objectives, he needed to accomplish all the "kill a unit" objectives he could. Also, by keeping his Tactical squad in the LRC and his Terminators in Reserve, he was without half his firepower for his first 2 - 3 turns. In such a small game, it may have been too big a portion of his force held off the table. On the other hand, both units were able to inflict serious damage when they struck. But again, they killed a lot of Orks, but they did not allow him to accomplish his objectives on the turn they arrived on the field.

Ork MVP: I probably have to go with the Painboy. My Slugga Boyz were able to absorb a massive amount of firepower (both shooting and close combat) on Turn 3 due to the Painboy. He really helped my ceneter hold against Pete's big push during the critical moment of the game. He then continued to help my boyz survive in Turns 4 and 5 against the Plasma Tactical squad, even switching over to the 'Ard Boyz once the Slugga Boyz were depleted. Although the bikes certainly deserve a mention for killing four Terminators in close combat, that was definitely more a result of Pete's terrible armor save rolls than anything special they did!

Ork Disappointment: Everything in my army performed well and did what I needed. If I had to pick something, it would be the Warboss since once again, he was not able to kill anything before being shot up and then killed in melee before he could strike back.

Key Moment: Pete made a big push on his Turn 3 to break my center and it almost worked. The combination of the large plasma Tactical squad, the Land Raider Crusader and the Suicide Squad jumping out to shoot and assault with the Captain inflicted some serious casualties. If his Terminators would have landed where he wanted them and added their fire, he may have killed enough of my horde to fizzle my counter attack, especially if his Termies could have broken the 'Ard Boyz to keep them from assaulting his leader. When the Terminators finally arrived, they were able to wipe out the Shoota Boyz to deny me a VP, but it was too late to turn the tide in crucial central melee.