Hi! It's time for another battle report, third one in my series. Today I battled one veteran who isn't that accustomed to the fifth edition. He ran an orks army with a very casual attitude so I guess our lists match. See what happens when my kroot get to taste the very flesh they have taken as their own. Oh yes, pardon for the bad, bad pictures, I once again blame the lighting.
I decided to try some new things. I took Krootrot and burnas.
Master shaman - Weirdboy: warphead 85
Stalkers - 10 Kommandos: Krootrot - Snikrot, 2 burnas 215
Yellow/red Carnivores - 20 Boyz: shootas, nob, powerklaw, bosspole, 2 big shootas 170
Master Shaman's Carnivores - 20 Boyz: shootas, nob, powerklaw, bosspole, 2 big shootas 170
Trukk Carnivores - 10 Boyz: shootas, nob, powerklaw, bosspole, 1 big shoota, trukk 140
Vultures - 10 Stormboyz: nob, powerklaw, bosspole 160
Krootoxen and kroot hounds - 3 Kannons 60
Krootrot and his newly converted burnamates.
The opponent used whatever he had at hand as his army is somewhat outdated (some models had to be proxied). A decent and fluffy list.
Warboss: 'eavy armour, cybork body, bosspole, power klaw, t-l shoota 105
8 Lootas: mek w/ kustom mega blasta 120
8 Nobs: painboy, 8 'eavy armours, cybork bodies, 5 power klaws, trukk w/ armor plates, grot riggers, red paint job 480
10 Boyz: shootas, 2 big shootas 70 (Yes, 2 big shootas. He had to modify his list at a moment's notice so I let it slip.)
21 Boyz: 'eavy armour all around, 2 big shootas, nob w/ power klaw 265
We rolled for mission and got Seize Ground with just 3 objectives.
After the objectives were placed we got Dawn of War deployment.
I got to go first on a roll of 6.
I chose to leave everything off board while he put down both of his boyz squads as close as they could get. Note his lucky charm surveying the field of war. My left side objective was beneath the shoota boyz. The crates in the middle portrayed the second objective and the last one was there behind the 'ard boyz.
Tactical assessment before turn 1: I left my usual fast units in reserve (trukk kroot, stalkers and vultures) and hoped to win the game with them as usual while the troop kroot take to brunt of the damage. I wasn't feeling too bad because the enemy wouldn't fire on the first turn as the lootas carried heavy weapons. The boyz units were also quite isolated from each other, although the enemy preferred to put his eggs in but two baskets. I couldn't let this decieve me. I guess it's because of the fifth edition that there are so many deathstars around (belial+terminators and this squad of nobs, both weighing half of the total army).
He failed to seize the iniative and so it began.
Kroot Mercenaries turn 1:
Both of the kroot carnivore squad walked in centrally and headed for different targets. The shaman's squad taking on the 'arder boyz while the yellow/red kroot levelled their kroot rifles on the shoota boyz. My trusty support slogged in the middle and dug in, preparing to shoot at a now-absent enemy trukk. The shaman decided to leave the comic relief to a later stage and only gave his kroot an orgasmic burst of power, increasing their attacks by one. His squad tried to spot the 'ard boyz but failed by a half an inch. The yellow/red kroot did exactly the same because both squads rolled 18". 6 inches of movement plus 18" of spotting equals to 24" which isn't mathematically quite enough, as my opponent pointed out.
Deathskulls turn 1:
The kitted-out trukk filled with armed to the teeth nobs sped towards the 'ard boyz. Lootas found a nice place on my left flank and settled there. Yep, that's his whole army on the board now. The 'ard boys moved forwards as one might have guessed. In the shooting phase the first (at least I think so) mistake is revealed: my opponent thought that his shootas could shoot up to 24" like in the last edition. Undaunted, my opponent shot down 2 kroot from the shaman's squad with combined fire. First blood! So he passed the turn to me.
Kroot Mercenaries turn 2:
Trukk kroot and vultures came in and got into position to find out whether the boyz really were that 'ard. The shaman's squad also got closer to them.
The other squad of kroot continued walking towards the small squad of shoota boyz and shot two of them down. The shaman got 'ere we go but I decided to re-roll and got waagh which was pretty useless at this point as I did not want to get any closer to the nobs than what was needed. The krootoxen were well prepared and got three hits on the enemy trukk, netting me two penetrating hits after cover saves. I was very delighted when the results were weapon destroyed and stunned but my opponent spoiled my fun as he pointed out that the trukk had extra armour plating on it. Damn! The rest of my shooting totaled to 7 dead 'ard boyz although the shaman's kroot got amazing 13 wounds on the unit. My vultures charged the decimated enemy and fought to a draw with them. The favoured child (read the last episode) really turned the tide for me as he killed 3 of the 5 'ard boyz killed by the unit himself.
This was how the close combat began.
End of the top of turn 2.
Deathskulls turn 2:
His nobs rode in to reinforce the 'ard boyz. I thought they would be just fine alone but it never hurts to be sure, especially when it's about the life or death of a scoring unit. Other units remained stationary and then the lootas began blasting away.
Rolling a 3 for the number of shots, they targeted the krootoxen and found out that there was no cover to hug for them. All that was left was 3 kroot hounds that passed a morale test. Notice that those lootas have weaponry that was available for them in the last codex, got to love them!
Before the nobs came to help their fellow warriors.
And after, with no ork casualties taken.
End of turn 2.
Kroot Mercenaries turn 3:
The trukk kroot moved a bit but tried to remain in range. The shaman's kroot fell back a bit as they had seen the death of their comrades and the other kroot continued doing the same as before, moving to get the shoota boyz. Now's the time for the shaman to shine: He, once again, got a portion of his brain eaten by daemons of the warp and trying to recover from that, he focused his shooting on a nearby kroot *Sigh*. If that was the bad news, the good news was that the shoota boyz were reduced to a mere big shoota boy who passed morale and the shaman's squad again shot spectacularly, inflicting 14 wounds on the 'ard boyz and breaking the few boyz left.
End of my turn 3. The four boyz were falling back and they were removed shortly after. Lesson of the turn: bosspoles are worth it.
Deathskulls turn 3:
The nobs WAAGH! like madmen and assault the slow-moving trukk. The trukk Kareens 15" to the right and explodes there, pinning the kroot inside. Should the trukk model be removed and replaced with a crater? Meanwhile the lootas put some hurt on the approaching carnivores.
These nobs kill everything they touch.
Kroot Mercenaries turn 4:
A new hope! Krootrot and his buddies arrived near the nobs as they were in almost perfect teardrop formation. I got 18 burna hits plus some pistol shots and only got 3 wounds off the unit. That's not enough! Then I cowardly decided not to assault them but instead delaying the nobs a turn. This was otherwise a pretty boring turn, the lone big shoota boy got killed and the shaman failed his psychic test (he was now joined to the 3 kroot hounds). The enemy trukk again escapes all harm with its inpenetrable hull.
Notice my ingenious formation. I did that in order to get as many attack against the orks as I could while trying to decrease the amount of damage taken. Also I left krootrot in the middle of the kindred to get him wherever I would want: against the squad or the boss alone. But alas no assaulting happened.
End of my turn 4.
Deathskulls turn 4:
The lootas popped 4 kroot from the yellow/red kroot. The stalkers got utterly obliterated by the nobs. The turn were getting shorter and shorter.
This pretty much sums the player turn.
Kroot Mercenaries turn 5:
Ok, this was possibly the last turn so I moved my squads on objectives and tried to surround them so that the enemy couldn't contest them, I was particularly afraid of the indestructible trukk. Even the 3 hounds and the shaman moved in its way. In the shooting phase the shaman finally got to do something worthwhile and blasted the trukk a bit but couldn't even glance. The lootas got battered and went to ground, losing 5 of the squad. Then, finally the shaman's personal kroot glanced and killed the enemy trukk, sending it kareening towards the hounds and the shaman. The vehicle exploded 5" and caught both of the nearby units inside the blast radius, killing all four models despite going to ground. I think the kroot wanted some revenge on the shaman for always screwing up their plans.
End of the top of turn 5. The grots+shaman were between the trukk/chimera and the carnivores.
Deathskulls turn 5:
At this point it was certain that the kroot would win and so my opponent went for glory and wiped my trukk kroot. This ends the game.
End of the game. Units left on the ork side were the lootas and the insanely powerful nobs. Of my army there were only the two bigger units of kroot carnivores.
Objective 1, captured by my yellow/red kroot.
Objective 2 tightly in my control. The last objective was far away from anything.
The teddy bear did not help the orks enough :(
It was a pretty good game. I got super lucky with my shooting at 2-3 occasions. Had the opponent played his nobs a little better (sending them in the middle of my kroot), he could have won pretty easily. It's really hard to say. But it is for sure that it would have been better to not go to ground with the lootas as they were in range to contest on their turn. This had no effect on the result anyways.
MVP: Vultures. I mean, who else... they always get the surprise attack on the enemy. The carnivore squads weren't that bad too, they finally had good targets for their guns (slow weakly armoured units that have little shooting).
Shame on Krootrot and his stalkers. They did the most damage to the nobs but that amounted to 1 dead model and then just died away. Snikrot's ability, however, was superb which means they'll definitely see more of the battlefields of the 41st century.
