“What is there to gain by attacking the Space Marines? I’m telling you, Ork, that engaging the Marines is tactical suicide.”
The scrawny Tau's face remained impassive as the Ork leaned into his face, grinning a huge, toothy grin.
“’cauze deys comin' for us first. Youze boyz are gonna get krumped unless we stomp em first! Dat's right kunnin, dat is"
The Warboss couldn't say that he enjoyed his mercenary agreement with the Tau most of the time. It was mostly a lot of sitting around and being told by his Tau employer that no, he couldn't play frisbee with the drones, or no, he could not use one of those "dead ard" suits for a proper lootin' job. Occasionally, he'd have to fight local fauna, or some of those Imperial humies. He'd even squashed a rival Warboss and his boyz once. Nothing too challenging, until today, when his Tau handler had told him to prepare his biggest boyz. Space Marines were coming.
Space Marines were tough. Space Marines were killy. Space Marines were fun.
"I'm gonna go assemble me boyz. You'd better be ready with some of yer own gitz; we'ze may not have enuff dakka to kill dem humies"
The Warboss secretly hoped that even the Tau didn't have the requisite firepower to outright destroy the invading Space Marines. He still wanted to get stuck in with his Power Klaw.
---
Hello dakka! I played a 750 point game with a friend recently.
We played the Eternal War mission Big Guns Never Tire. My Warlord Trait was preselected (Bellowing Tyrant?), while my opponent had the one Codex trait that gave him Stealth and Outflank. (can't remember which saga).
We are still learning 7th, and things like the Psychic Phase are still not quite second nature to us yet. We made a few mistakes and I forgot a lot of rules (such as the new WAAAGH rules), so bear with us.
My list was:
Combined Arms Detachment:
Primary Codex: Orks
HQ:
Warboss Grukk FaceRippa (Stormclaw, Warlord)
Troops:
Ork Boyz Mob:
Nob (Power Klaw)
X10 Boyz
Heavy Armor
Gretchin
Heavy Support:
Battlewagon (KillKannon)
Tau Allies:
HQ:
Fireblade
Troops:
Fire Warriors:
1 Shas’ui
9 Fire Warriors
Heavy Support:
Broadside Squad:
X2 Broadsides (x2 Plasma, x2 Early Warning Override, x1 Target Lock)
His list was:
HQ:
Rune Priest
Elites:
Wolf Guard (4
TH/
SS Termies, 1
LC/
LC Termie)
Troops:
x2 10 man squad of Grey Hunters (extra
CCW, 2 Plasma Guns)
1 5 man squad of Grey Hunters (naked)
He won the roll to deploy and take first turn. We did roll for first turn night fighting.
My opponent deployed as such:
And I deployed like this:
I won the roll to seize the initiative (trolololo).
Turn 1 Xeno Alliance
The Warboss snickered as one of the Grot loaders fell to the deck with a loud SPLAT, crushed beneath a shell that had slipped from his personal Battlewagon's killkannon. The Tau were moving into position to give him and his Boyz fire support while they took the fight to the Space Marines. The Warboss smiled, revealing his stained yellow teeth, as the Killkannon roared, sending a high explosive shell screaming towards the Space Marine positions.
My Tactical Objective this turn was to grab Objective 2, which was the unpainted Killa Kan on the table.
I moved my Battlewagon and Grots up a bit. Shooting saw me claim a few Grey Hunters with combined fire from the Battlewagon, Fire Warriors, and Broadsides.
Turn 1 Space Wolves
Cocking a huge eyebrow, the Warboss leaned forward, staring through the periscope as the Space Wolves began their march forward, trying to outflank his Battlewagon. Shots began pattering off of his armored transport like rain. As the struggling Grot, still pinned beneath the heavy shell, almost succeeded in escaping, a pipe burst right in the small Orkoid's face, nearly burning it clean off. The Warboss' guffaws almost shook the Battlewagon itself.
My opponent scooted the two big squads of Grey Hunters up. His Tactical Objective was to take Objective 5, which was the lone Railgun.
One squad had side arc shots on the Battlewagon. The Plasma Guns knocked a single hull point off of the vehicle.
Turn 2 Xeno Alliance
"Youze gits can't do anything right! DIS is how you use a big gun!" the Warboss snarled, punching the Ork gunner square in the face as he took the alien's seat. His huge fingers squeezed the trigger, blowing several of his enemies into paste.
I still didn't have my Tactical Objective.
I scooted the Battlewagon up again. Grots were holding objectives, and all was good on that end for movement.
I fired the Battlewagon at the Grey Hunters, which killed a few more of them. The Tau forced a lot of saves on the second Grey Hunter squad, which went to ground to save a few of their members from the Broadsides.
Turn 2 Space Wolves
Another steam pipe burst as the Space Marines fired on his Battlewagon. The Warboss' eyes narrowed as the Space Marines cheered suddenly, coinciding with the arrival of a squad of the killiest Space Marines around. Terminators.
"Looks like dem Tau gits are about to get smashed" he mumbled. Turning around to his Boyz, assembled in the Battlewagon, he pointed at the Terminators and laughed as if he'd just heard the funniest joke in the universe. The Boyz, apparently finally seeing the humor in the situation, began to laugh along with their leader as the Fireblade in charge of his Fire Warriors swallowed past a lump in his throat.[/img]
My opponent attempted to deep strike behind my Battlewagon, but mishapped. I put him right in front of the Broadsides and Fire Warriors, fully expecting that 30 Pulse Rifle shots, 4 TL Plasma, and 2 TL Railgun shots could finish them.
My opponent dumped all 8 dice into Living Lightning in the Shooting Phase, succeeding with a Perils, losing a wound to the Warp in the process.
Shooting took another hull point from the Battlewagon.
Turn 3, Xeno Alliance
[i]Still chuckling at the thought of Terminators ripping his employers to shreds, the Warboss urged his Boyz forward, piling out of the Battlewagon with cheers and whoops of excitement. Behind him, weapons fire told the Warboss that the Tau had engaged the Terminators, leaving him wide open to begin his own charge.
"Get stuck in, ya gitz!" he yelled, rushing towards the Space Marines. As he closed the distance, the Warboss saw the close combat weapons, pelts, and general wild look of these particular Marines. The Marines met the Orks halfway with their own counter-charge, and as the Warboss spotted the one Marine with the great glowing axe, he knew that destiny had brought him here to fight the Imperium's finest.
No words or verbal challenges were necessary. The two opponents met, clashing weapons. The Marine's blade bit into the Warboss's shoulder, but the great Ork fought on past the pain as he dropped an axe kick right onto the Marine's head. The Marine, sprawled prone, looked up in time to see the Ork's massive Power Klaw looming over him. With an almighty, triumphant roar, the Warboss tore the Marine straight in two, his blood cascading down his armor.
I disembarked the Boys and Warboss from the Battlewagon.
The Tau managed to kill 2 of 5 Terminators (at which point I knew I was fethed). The Boyz somehow picked off two Grey Hunters with ridiculously accurate Slugga fire.
I made my charge against the Grey Hunters and challenged the Rune Priest with the Warboss. While he did one wound to me, I insta-death'd him in return with a STR10 attack.
The Boyz meanwhile whiffed pathetically, losing a fair number of Boyz to the counter-attacking Space Wolves. I made my leadership check, and remained stuck in combat.
Turn 3 Space Wolves
An almighty cry from behind the Warboss alerted him to another incoming charge. The remaining Space Wolves were rushing towards him, chainswords drawn.
"You think you got me where ya wants me? Nobody corners an Ork! Show me what 'yer made of!" the Warboss yelled as the Marines were upon him, and the battle was joined...
My opponent didn't shoot or use any psychic powers this turn.
He succeeded with both charges; one with the Grey Hunters against the melee in the center, and one against the Broadsides/Fire Warriors with the Terminators. Even with a disorderly charge, he still beat the Tau and forced both squads to run. While the Broadsides were killed to a man, the Fire Warriors retreated off the table.
I won combat in the center thanks to the Warboss continuing to roll like a boss and the Nob getting his act together. We remained tied in combat, and the number of Space Wolves kept dropping. However, I was beginning to run dangerously low on Boyz.
Turn 4 Xeno Alliance
Swinging his Power Klaw over his head, the Warboss slammed several Marines backwards with the sheer brute force of his attack. As his Nob was dragged under the sheer weight of the Marine assault, the Warboss continued to yell and shout, slamming his weapon left and right and throwing his powerful body around. After a few moments, the Warboss realized that he was alone. No more Marines remained. With a snort, the Warbos shrugged, turning his attention to the last remaining Terminators.
I moved the Battlewagon up, firing it at the Grey Hunters in the back corner. I killed 3 of them, and the remaining 2 failed their leadership check, running off the board! I strung the Gretchin out and popped shots off at the Terminators, of which one lost an armor save and died.
The Warboss defeated the last remaining Grey Hunters in close combat, consolidating towards the Terminators.
Turn 4, Space Wolves
The sight of Gretchin being slaughtered always brought a tear to the Warboss' eye. The Space Marines threw themselves into the puny Grots before him, scattering them like confetti.
My opponent moved the Terminators up towards the Gretchin. Assault was swift and brutal, with the Grots being predictably destroyed in
CC. The survivors somehow held.
Turn 5, Xeno Alliance
With an almighty roar, the Warboss threw himself at the Terminators, catching the first one off guard. His Power Klaw flashed, smashing the Terminator's armor and splattering the Warboss with blood.
I moved the Battlewagon towards the back objective, but immobilized myself in cover, failing to catch the objective. The Warboss moved up, shooting to get into
CC with the Terminators. In assault, I did not take any wounds, while nuking the last
TH/
SS terminator.
Turn 5, Space Wolves
The last thing the Warboss saw was the final Space Wolf Terminator rearing back with his Lighting Claw, lopping the great Ork's head off with one epic blow. The huge Ork smiled, knowing that he was about to die in a way that befit the way he lived; violently, quickly, and in a fantastically awesome manner.
We skipped directly to the assault phase. The Lightning Claw Terminator took the last wound off the Warboss, then consolidated back onto the objective. The game did NOT go on after this point.
The final breakdown was:
Me: First Blood, Slay the Warlord
Space Wolves: Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker, 1 Objective Held
Victory went to the Space Wolves!
Post-Battle analysis:
We have to remember that the Psychic phase is now a thing. It's hard to teach old dogs new tricks sometimes, as I'm still piddling along in 5th somehow. My opponent and I were expecting to activate Force Weapons during the Assault Phase. We then remembered that the Psychic Phase happens still.
I should have been more aggressive with the Killkannon. Maybe dropping the squad so it could threaten the back objective while pressing the middle one would have been smarter.
Thanks for reading!
