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Ok, this was a two on two affair at our local game club in Reading, some time ago now. I still have four more batreps to do since then... Luckily I wrote most of this up closer to the time we played! Still - I apologise in advance for any inaccuracies! Any comments most welcome. Enjoy!

DA DARK ANGELZ (ORKS)
[HQ] Big Mek, Kustom Force Field, Burna (105pts)
[EL] 9 Kommandoz including 2 Burnas plus Snikrot (205pts)
[TR] 11 Shoota boyz (Big Mek attached) including Big Shoota and Nob with Slugga, Powerklaw and Boss Pole in a Trukk with Big Shoota, Boarding Plank, Reinforced Ram and Red Paint Job (161pts)
[TR] 12 Shoota boyz including Big Shoota and Nob with Slugga, Powerklaw and Boss Pole in a Trukk with Big Shoota, Reinforced Ram and Red Paint Job (162pts)
[FA] 2 Deffkoptas with twin linked rocket launchas and one with a Buzzsaw (115pts)
TOTAL: 748pts

IMPERIAL GUARD
[HQ] Straken, Priest, 2 Bodyguard, Veteran Squad with 3 Meltaguns in Chimera with Multilasers
[TR] Veteran squad with 3 Meltaguns in Chimera with Multilasers
[TR] Veteran squad with 3 Meltaguns in Chimera with Multilasers
[??] Psyker Battle Squadron in Chimera with Multilasers

DARK ANGELS
[HQ] Chaplain, Plasma Pistol
[TR] 10 Tactical Marines, Heavy Plasma, Flamer, Veteran Sergent with Chainsword.
[TR] 10 Tactical Marines, Multimelta, Meltagun, Veteran Sergeant with Powerfist

TAU
[??] 2 Crisis Suits with Twin Linked Flamers.
[??] 5? Pathfinders in Devilfish
[HS] 3 Battle Suits with Twin Linked Railguns, ability to split fire.
[HS] Hammerhead with Railgun, Fletchette Launchers

MISSION & DEPLOYMENT: Capture & Control, Dawn of War

PRELUDE
Orks/IG win roll off and elect to go second. Tau/DA place objective back right. Orks/IG place objective centre right - effectively dictating that the majority of the action would take place on the right.

Tau/DA deploy Chaplain and two tactical combat squads near Ork/IG objective and two tactical combat squads near own objective - all in cover.

Orks/IG deploy Big Mek in Trukk with Shoota boyz, Big Shoota and Powerklaw Nob opposite Ork objective.

TURN 1
Tau Railgun tank, Broadsides and Devilfish move on top left to centre. Devilfish drops Pathfinders in terrain. Two tactical combat squads run on either side of the Tau/DA objective. Chaplain switches squads and moves forward. The squad he left tries to find a target for the plasma cannon, but it is still too dark.

Big Mek Trukk rumbles forward and disembarks in front of both tactical units. Second Trukk with Shootas and Powerklaw Nob moves flat out to come in behind. Four Chimera move on, centre to right, Vets, Psyker Battle Squad, Vets and Straken and command squad. Ork shooting kills a marine. Ork multi assault goes horribly wrong - Chaplain and marines tear through 6 boyz for the loss of 4, the chaplain saving a single Powerklaw hit. Nob attempts to restore discipline, but the unit is run down. Left - Chaplain plus three marines in one squad, plasma cannon plus marine in second.

DA/TAU: 1 Objective (2 KP), ORKS/IG: 0 Objectives (0 KP)

TURN 2
No Tau/DA reserves turn up, possibly due to Master of the Fleet. Tau Railgun tank moves forward to spot the leftmost Vet Chimera. Devilfish moves foward. Top combat squads that ran on previously move down. Chaplain and squad move down. Shooting sees centre Vets Chimera destroyed, left Vet Chimera loses it's weapon, right Vet/Command Chimera shaken, both Trukks destroyed - taking a marine with them. Chaplain and squad multi assault Vet/Command Chimera and disembarked Trukk boyz - murdering them (lost combat by 5, Chaplain saves two Powerklaw attacks, cut down in sweeping advance) and consolidating into cover.

Deffkoptas arrive on the left flank behind the Hammerhead. Snikrot plus Kommandos arrive behind the Tau/DA objective and the two combat squads there. Straken plus Vets disembark ready to lay into the Chaplain plus squad, their Chimera continuing on upwards without them. Other Chimera move forward at combat speed. Left most deploys Vets in front of Devilfish. Psyker Chimera and footslogging Vets move up. Deffkoptas miraculously manage two pens on the Hammerhead rear armour, destroying it, without taking damage from the fiery explosion. Kommandos kill a marine before wiping one combat squad in assault and causing the second to flee, taking up positions behind the barricades the marines had been defending. Deployed Vets on the left manage little on the Devilfish. Psykers fail Perils of the Warp, resulting in one or two being shot. Footslogging vets bring down the plasma cannon marine near the Ork/IG objective. Straken issues orders to cause rerolls of successful cover saves and he and his unit rapid fire into the Chaplain and marines - reducing them to just the Chaplain with a single wound - but only then realising they can't charge him!

DA/TAU: 0 Objectives (6 KP), ORKS/IG: 0 Objectives (5 KP)


TURN 3
Crisis suits turn up and drop down next to the Kommandos. Left most tactical combat squad moves back towards the Kommandos and the Tau/DA objective. Right most tactical squad moves down towards the Ork/IG objective. Broken tactical squad is too close to Kommandos and flees off the board. Devilfish retreats and deploys drones. Broadsides split fire, taking down a Deffkopta (causing them to flee) and missing a Chimera. Devilish and drones return fire at the Vets for minimal casualties. Crisis suits and tactical marines flame and rapid fire Kommandos, reducing them to Snikrot with one wound, who promptly decides to be elsewhere. Chaplain assaults Straken's unit, killing both bodyguards before falling to the combined might of Straken plus Priest. At this point the Orks number a wounded Snikrot and single Deffkopta, both fleeing...

Deffkopta continues to fallback, and is out of range of the Devilfish. Snikot falls back further into the forrest. Left most Vets re-embark, the Chimera moving to the right using the centre ruins as cover from the Broadsides and bringing it alongside the Psyker Chimera which simply pivots in order to fire both weapons. Footslogging Vets run into the forrest where Snikrot is hiding. Straken and Vets stay in cover near the Ork/IG objective. Right most Chimera moves at cruising speed up the field towards the right most tactical squad. Psykers fail Perils of the Warp again. IG shooting is pretty much ineffective against marine armour.

DA/TAU: 0 Objective (8 KP), ORKS/IG: 0 Objectives (6 KP)

TURN 4
Landspeeder turns up and attempts to land directly behind the Vet and Psyker Chimeras bottom centre but scatters towards bottom left outside of heavy flamer range. Crisis suits and left most tactical squad move towards the Vets and Snikrot in the forrest, ready for more flamer action. Devilfish moves down towards the Landspeeder, bringing side Chimera armour into view. Right most marines move down towards the Chimera and Ork/IG objective. Shooting sees the Psyker Chimera destroyed - the Psykers pinned, and for their first successful leadership test, decide to hang around to be flamed next turn... Tactical squad and Crisis suit flamers clear the forrest, killing Snikrot and reducing the Vets to three meltagunners, who grimly resolve to exact revenge. Sergeant with Powerfist top left fails to hit the Chimera in assault.

Ork Deffkopta continues to flee. Left most Vets Chimera moves up and disembark in front of the flamer bearing Combat squad. Meltagunner Vets move up through the forest, within 3" of Ork/IG objective. Straken plus command break cover to try to get to the far right combat squad, also on top of the Ork/IG objective. Top right Chimera attempts tank shokk through combat squad towards Crisis Suits, but is wrecked by the Sergeant's Powerfist. Three melta gunners in the forest instakill the two Crisis Suits. Top middle Vets put down two marines, but are now at their mercy... Straken plus command Vets fail to assault Marines...

DA/TAU: 0 Objectives (10 KP), ORKS/IG: 1 Objective (7 KP)

TURN 5
Landspeeder and Devilfish move up into better firing positions on the Psykers. Top middle combat squad moves to flame Vets in retaliation. Right combat squad moves into a position to assault Straken. Leftmost Vets and Psykers are wiped. Broadsides, finding targets difficult, split fire, finishing off last Deffkopta and Vet Chimera. Combat squad doesn't find Straken easy and loses combat but stays stuck in.

Running out of time, we simply conclude the assault between Straken and the Marines, which ends in the Marines wiped.

DA/TAU: 0 Objectives (13 KP), ORKS/IG: 1 Objective (8 KP)

ORK/IG VICTORY?

We thought this game only went 4 turns, but writing it up I can't see how it could not have gone 5... Which means, had we rolled for a 6th turn and failed, we actually would have won free and clear! Another turn would most probably turned this to a draw or even a loss - we only had 3 vets claiming our objective, and no ability to stop the 3 last marines hiking it to theirs... or their remaining firepower...

Lessons learnt:

Combat squads - only two should have been deployed, not four!

Tau/DA shared a FOC - but Tau didn't bring mandatory HQ or Troop.

After having so much success in a previous game against Deathwing (striking first, outnumbering two to one) - normal Tactical Marines, one on one, presented a much greater challenge - that first combat really didn't go well!

The Chaplain was the man of the match. In future (and something a future game has also iterated) - I think targeting special characters with some Powerklaw love would be most advised!

I do like going second in Dawn of War with Orks - good chance of starting in charge range (with a Trukk) and not being sighted to be shot at. Still, it does feel like a suicide unit - possibly not the best idea putting the Big Mek there...