Battle Report 10/17/00-10/21/11

This.  This is how 40K is supposed to be.  Fun.  Competitive.  Suspenseful.  Intense.  Aggressive.  I've had some good games.  I've had some not so good games.  Never have I had a game that was clearly anyone's to win right up until the end.  This was a game where we each had bad rolls, but the dice were not an issue.  The deciding factors were the strategic and tactical decisions we made, and how we used our forces, not the fickle whims of the dice gods...well except for ONE fickle whim.

My buddy Steve spent the week working the graveyard shift, and was home during the day.  As he lives about 5 minutes from where I work it was another opportunity to get together and game.  These weekly games are quite interesting.  We split the game up into hour long blocks.  Monday is usually setup, with Tuesday - Friday being the actual rolling of dice.  What makes it interesting, is that with the carry over, we spend a lot of time thinking about the game, so we are really prepared for our moves.  Each of us was devising game plans and strategies throughout the week that we would apply with great intent when lunchtime hit.

As is natural for us, Steve played his Blood Ravens, I played my Orks.  We decided to throw a wrinkle into the game by trying out some home-brew Blood Raven rules.  Blood Ravens like their Librarians, but rather than allow them to field a bunch of Librarians, we allowed Steve to upgrade his Tactical Marine Sergeants to be Sgt. Librarians.  They each had access to one Librarian skill, but not the biggies (Gates of Infinity and Vortex of Doom).  Each Sgt. Librarian cost an additional 50 points.  I'm not sure this really played out in this game, but the thinking is that by giving the Sergeants limited Librarian skills it reflects the progression of Space Marines through the ranks of the Librarian heavy Blood Ravens without causing substantial game balance issues.

Another note on our lists.  We went 1500 points, and surprisingly both of us didn't bring any type of Walkers.  Normally Steve has some sort of Dreadnought in his army, and I rarely run without either the Deff Dread and/or Killa Kans.  This was not something that we planned ahead of time, it's just an interesting coincidence.

Hit the jump for the turn by turn recount of the action.


Scenario: Capture and Control
Deployment: Pitched Battle
Armies: Steve's Blood Ravens v. my Orks

Steve:  Blood Raven Space Marines - 1500 Points
HQ - Librarian in Terminator Armor - 175 pts
Elite - Terminator Assault Squad w/Sergeant & Land Raider w/Chronus - 550 pts
Heavy - Thunderfire Cannon w/Techmarine Gunner - 100 pts
Troops - Scout squad w/Sergeant Telion - 135 pts
Troops - Tactical Squad w/Sgt. Librarian & Rhino - 270 pts
Troops - Tactical Squad w/Sgt. Librarian & Rhino - 270 pts

Me: Orks - 1500 Points
HQ - Warboss w/bosspole - 95 pts
Elites - 10 Lootas - 150
Troops - 10 Nobz (w/PKs & Big Choopas) w/Painboy, Waaagh! Banner & Trukk - 495
Troops - 20 Shoota Boyz w/Nob, Big Shootas, & Battlewagon - 330
Troops - 30 Slugga/Choppa Boyz w/Nob - 220
Fast Attack - 3 Deffkoptas - 210

Looks like that flyer missed the landing platform....by a lot...

We decided with the Sgt. Librarian trial we would use a standard mission and deployment from the 5th Edition 40K rulebook rather than trying something from the Battle Mission book or a 4th edition mission/deployment.  We rolled and ended up with the aforementioned Capture and Control mission with the Pitched Battle deployment.  I won initiative, deployed first, Steve followed (neither of us kept anything in reserve), and when he didn't steal initiative the game was afoot.

And in this corner we have some trees behind Ork barricades...okay yeah

the imperial outpust on the plateau was the coolest part of the terrain.

Since we did all the setup and deployments Monday, I spent that evening going over my rulebook, and discovered why I've heard several people go nuts about how good the Deffkoptas are.  I did not realize until I was studying up on the special rules of my units that I could move them 24 inches in the scout move by combining the Turbo Boost and Scout special rules.  So I did just that, which set the tone for the game.

My half of the board, as always my Orks are strung out beyond where the camera can see.

Turn 1
By moving my Deffkoptas so far in the scout move, I was able to move them within shooting range of the Thunderfire cannon.  I decided to run my mob of 30 boyz across the board towards my capture point, and moved my Trukk and Battlewagons forward.  What happened next is the best round of shooting I have ever had.  It started out with my Koptas immobilizing the Thunderfire cannon.  I was hoping to destroy it outright because I was afraid of what it would do to my Loots bunched up on the top of the building they were in.  I then immobilized one of Steve's Rhinos with the Big Shoota on my Trukk, and the Lootas wrecked the other Rhino.  My Battlewagon then immobilized the Land Raider.  In the first turn I had effectively turned Steve's army into a foot slogging army with no mech to speak of.  I tried to assault Steve's Thunderfire Cannon with my Deffkoptas but I was between a half an inch to an inch too far away.

Steve's half of the board, or as it was called after my first turn of shooting: parking area A

Steve was not a happy camper when his turn started.  He deployed his Tactical Marines out of his wrecked Rhino and his Terminators out of the immobilized Land Raider.  He made the first unsuccessful attempt to restart the immobilized Rhino (he never did restart the thing).  Steve was able to use Gates of Infinity to get his Librarian and Terminators behind my Battlewagon before dropping a Vortex of Doom on it.  The Battlewagon was destroyed and I lost a couple Orks in the resulting explosion, and the squad failed it's leadership test and was pinned.  Steve unleashed his Land Raider's guns on my Orks and took out some more.  He shot at the tower my Lootas were in and shook it, but then dropped 3 of the 4 Thunderfire Cannon blasts right on top of the Lootas and left a bloody mess on top of the tower.  Steve then hit the Trukk with a destroyed roll.  I got a Kareen! on the Ramshackle table (first time I think I've ever gotten that).  I ran my Trukk really close to Steve's Tactical Squad and took out one of his Marines, while I lost 1 Nob and wounded another in the resulting explosion.  He shot at the Nobz with his Tactical Marines and took out 2 more Nobz.  His Scouts wounded 2 Orks, and Telion targeted the Nob with the Ork Boyz, and wounded him once. The Boyz passed the pinning test.

 And Parking Area B

In assault Steve attacked my Shoota Boyz around the Battlewagon with his Terminators.  He was able to assault without engaging the Nob with the PK.  He easily won that assault and I failed the initiative and started to fall back.  Steve wiped the squad on a sweeping advance, but even if he hadn't I was well below 50% and would not have been able to regroup anyway.  Steve assaulted my Nobz with his Tactical Marines.  I wiped the entire squad without taking a wound.  What he did hit with I was able to shrug off because of Feel No Pain.


Turn 2
I shot at and destroyed the Thunderfire Cannon, and then assaulted the Techmarine and defeated them.  I ran the Nobz toward the Bastion with Steve's objective marker in it.  Across the board my Ork Boyz continued their run towards my objective marker.

What we have here is a failure...

...to inflict any wounds on my Nobz

Steve tried to get his Terminators closer to my mob of 30 Ork Boyz to keep them from getting to my objective.  Unfortunately his Gates of Infinity was slightly off.  He also tried to drop a vortex of doom on the Orks, but it scattered off to miss them. He deployed his other Tactical Marines and fired at my Deffkoptas and killed one leaving another with one wound.

Turn 3
I called Waagh! this round so I could move and run my Nobz and Warboss to get close enough for me to assault the Bastion.  The assault shook the Bastion keeping his Scouts out of the mix.  Across the board I continued to run my Ork Boyz towards my control point.  My biggest mistake was not moving my Deffkoptas.  I can't really remember what my thinking was going into the round, but in the end by not moving them they were too close to his Tactical Marines when the shooting failed, I decided to take a chance and assaulted the Tactical Marines so I could take advantage of the Furious Charge! rules.  Unfortunately the equipped buzzsaw made my initiative 1 and the Koptas died before being able to do anything.  Actually I had 3 wounds left, and that's what Steve got after saves were made.

These Shoota Boyz didn't do much but die.  At least the Battlewagon (can't you tell that's a Battlewagon?) took care of the Land Raider.

Steve decided to use Gates of Infinity to move his Terminators close enough to assault my Ork Boyz and keep them from massing around the control point (by this time I had 1 or 2 Ork Boyz within 3").  He had earlier failed a Perils of the Warp test (I'm thinking in Turn 2 but it might have been Turn 1).  Either way, Steve failed his test and the Librarian died.  So Steve moved his 6 inches and was close enough to get 1 of the Terminators to assault 1 of my Ork Boyz.  Steve was pretty inconsolable at this point for having wasted his Librarian's last wound on an unnecessary Gates of Infinity.  I tried to comfort him with the knowledge that had he not tried the Gates of Infinity he would have failed the roll on the sure to come Vortex of Doom, but that didn't seem to help much.  In the assault we both missed with our attacks, but the damage was done, Steve had effectively pulled me off the control point.  The Tactical Marines moved closer to my Nobz and fired at them with the flamer.  He took out 1 Nob, the rest again shrugged off the wounds either with their invuln save or the Feel No Pain rule.

I keep trying to get out, and they keep pulling me back in.  Oh wait, let's Orkify that Godfather quote.

"I keeps tryin' ta get to da control point, but the pink 'umies in their armor dat keeps us from squishin' dem

keeps pullin' us offa da  point and back into da fight."

Turn 4
Steve had me pinned between his Bastion with his Scouts and his Tactical Marines.  I was really worried about this because if I went after one the other would have a shot at me.  But then I remembered the Warboss was independent so I split the Nobz off from the Warboss and went after the Tactical Marines leaving my Warboss to work on the Bastion.  The Warboss shook it again, keeping his scouts out of the mix.  My Nobz assaulted Steve's Tactical Marines and again I wiped them out, and consolidated back towards the Bastion.  The Assault with the Ork Boyz continued, and Steve won that part of the turn by 5 wounds so my Orks were being sliced through easily (which I knew would happen).

The Nobz were caught between a rock and a hard place, or as they'd put it

"...a buncha squishy 'umies and a 'ard building that we like ta shake." 

Steve had a shot on one of my Nobz from his immobilized Land Raider.  He hit, but I made the cover save.  The assault continued with my Ork Boyz continuing to lose numbers.

Turn 5
My Warboss and Nobz Destroyed the Bastion, bringing it down.  Steve lost all but 1 Scout in the explosion.  My Ork Boys were wiped by his Terminators, but I was able to take 2 of the Termies with me.

Even though it looks like that Scout is trying to get a shot on the Nobz, he was actually

trying to recreate the scene from "Teen Wolf" (the original Michael J. Fox movie for all you kids) where

Fox's character "surfs" on the top of a running van. 

Steve's remaining scout recovered and moved into the Land Raider, while his Terminators ran towards my Nobz and Warboss.

And here comes the Termies

Turn 6
With Steve's Terminators coming towards me I split my Warboss off from the Nobz and assaulted the Termies.  I took out 2 of the last 3 Termies.  Steve failed Morale and fell back.  I moved my Warboss underneath the landing platform.

And there go the Termies

Steve deployed his Scout out of the Land Raider and moved it into 3 inches of the control point.  His last Terminator regrouped and assaulted my Warboss finishing him off.

"Shhhh.  Be vewy vewy quiet.  I'm hunting Wawboss. Hehehheheh."

And that was it.  The one fickle whim of the dice gods was achieved that game.  The game ended at Turn 6 with the supposed auto-tie mission resulting in a tie.

Probably our most cinematic battle, The wounded Warboss against the lone Terminator.

I had several thoughts on the game.  First of all, my next purchase will be a Painboy.  I was proxying him to see if I liked him, and holy crap.  My Nobz not only lasted longer, they lasted the entire game and were a key unit for my army.  The Deffkoptas were also much more effective for me this game.  They have normally been nothing but bullet sponges for me, but this time they took out Steve's Thunderfire Cannon.  I also loved having the Lootas in the building.  The last few times I had tried to have them in a Battlewagon, but that didn't work out so well.  This time they died quickly, but they wrecked a Rhino.

We are both crammed up against that wall to get in the 3" radius to get control of the point.

Steve's Librarian and Thunderfire Cannon continue to be pains in my neck.  Thankfully they bowed out early enough in the game to give me a chance.  Unfortunately the Sgt. Librarians were not really tested because their abilities really didn't have a chance to do anything.

As the game ended Steve's remaining units were an immobilized Rhino, an immobilized Land Raider,

One Termie off under the platform, and that last little scout tucked up tight against the wall.

The biggest rule we messed up was Sweeping Advance.  There were three instances and two different mess ups.  The first was by not paying attention to the fact that it says some types of Armor disallow the Sweeping Advance.  So Steve had looked at his Terminators in the codex, but not the Terminator armor.  Both times really didn't have much impact because both squads were well below 50% and were not going to be able to regroup.  The final mess up was when I failed to even attempt a Sweeping advance on his last Terminator.  In the end it didn't have much impact other than giving us a great cinematic moment when they battled underneath the landing platform.  However had we gone to a 7th turn it could have been huge.  Assuming I had won the sweeping advance, my Warboss would have moved back towards the Bastion.  I could have then tried to get him around to assault the Scout.  Yes he would have likely died when the Battlewagon shot at him, but if I could have taken out the Scout then the game would have been a win for me.  Of course this is all theoretical, since Turn 7 never happened.

As the game ended, my remaining unit was these last 3 Nobz and a wounded Painboy.

Speaking of winning, this is the 2nd game I've played Steve where if it had ended at Turn 5 I would have won.  This time at the end of Turn 5, my Nobz (which were a troop choice) were the only scoring unit within 3 inches of Steve's control point.

With all that said, and even with the resulting tie, this was the hardest fought game I've played.  We were aggressive.  So many times the game turned not on a dice roll but on decisions we both made concerning how we would react to how the game played out.  By far, this was the funnest game of 40K I have ever played.  And, after not faring so well in our last big game day, even though I got a tie I feel much better about my army.  Unlike the tabling at the hands of the Grey Knights I didn't know, or at the hands of the Chaos Marines because Jason had a great game, or at the hands of the Tau because James is a %&#*($# piece of @*%#&*(% on a %%&*(@! sheep %&%&*(@ with a %#^(*&$#(@ pig in a %*(#)$#)! and of course the anal beads too.