This week's battle report was 1500 pts of my Dark Angels Ravenwing army facing off against Sebastian's Orks. When I arrived at Dundee Wargames club, I found that our 6'x4' board had been laid out with the foamboard cityfight terrain that I had recently brought to the club, providing plenty of cover for the Orks and some lovely dangerous terrain for all my bikers. We rolled up The Relic as the mission we were going to play.
My army consisted of:
RAVENWING STRIKE FORCE-
Sammael (in
CS)
Librarian- Mastery level 2, Bike (in RB1)
6 Command squad- Champion, Apothecary, Ravenwing standard (
CS)
5 Ravenwing bikers- 2 Grav guns, sergeant with meltabombs (RB1)
5 Ravenwing bikers- 2 meltaguns, sergeant with meltabombs (RB3)
5 Ravenwing bikers- Flamer, sergeant with meltabombs (RB2)
5 Ravenwing bikers- Plasma gun, sergeant with meltabombs (RB4)
RAVENWING SUPPORT SQUADRON (RSS)-
Darkshroud- Assault Cannon
3 Ravenwing Landspeeders- Heavy bolters, assault cannons
For this battle, I decided to field an all Ravenwing force. The Ravenwing strike force consisted of Sammael leading a full Ravenwing command squad. I took a Librarian on a bike to lead one of the other bike squad and was keen to see what his powers could do against the Orks (technically not a legal choice in the strike force, but my opponent was kind enough to let me field him). I took 4 bike squads to fill out the strike force, each squad with different special weapons to face whatever the Orks could throw at me. The last choice in the army was a formation I was wanting to test out, the Ravenwing support squadron. I was keen to see how the Ravenshield ability would work out and thought that this was a great chance to test it (the Ravenshield allows the support squadron to fire overwatch at a friendly Ravenwing unit being charged within 24").
My psychic powers were; Mindworm, Seed of Fear and Righteous Repugnance. Seed of Fear would be great against the Orks, forcing them to fail more morale checks would mean more casualties for the mobs. Righteous repugnance would also be very useful for giving the command squad the extra attacks to deal with any large mobs I may come up against.
Sebastian's army consisted of:
ORK DREAD MOB FORMATION-
1 Mekboy
1 Painboy
Gorkanaut
Morkanaut
3 Deff Dreads- Scorchas
3 Killa Kans- Rokkits
3 Killa Kans- Grotzookas
3 Killa Kans- Big shootas
Dakkajet- 3
TL Super shootas
Oh dear. That was not what I was expecting. This could be a tough fight for the Ravenwing as I didn't have a whole lot of anti-armour firepower in the army. Fortunately, I gave all my sergeants meltabombs, so that may give me some advantage in combat. My best weapons against the walkers would be the plasma talons of the command squad, the volume of shots I could put out would hopefully be able to damage the larger Ork walkers. The other silver lining is that the Deff Dreads were only AV12, so I may get lucky with some krak grenade hits in combat if I get charged. My mobility bonus over the Orks would allow me to quickly grab the objective, but once I had it I would be limited to only 6" a turn, so that bonus would disappear.
Sebastian won the roll for deployment and allowed me to go first.
I placed the Command squad, the Grav gun squad and the flamer squad in the centre, ready to pounce on the relic. The meltagun squad and plasma gun squad went on the right flank and the speeder squadron went on the left flank.
Sebastian set up the Gorkanaut directly opposite the Relic, with the Morkanaut behind it. A couple of Deff dreads and a unit of Kans backed up the large walkers in the centre. The Rokkit Kans went in a set of ruins to the right of the Nauts and one Deff Dread and unit of Kans deployed opposite the bikers on my right flank.
I scouted forward with all but the Command squad, eager to get to grips with the Ork walkers. My plan was to quickly grab the Relic using the speed of one of my bike squads. If I allowed the Morkanaut or Gorkanaut to get it, I would have real trouble getting it off them. Once I had the Relic, I would move away from the Ork line, using my other bike squads to try and kill the walkers or as buffers that would slow them down in combat.
Deployment
Sebastian failed to seize and I got first turn.
TURN 1- RAVENWING
The bikers gunned their engines and advances on the Ork mob, the Grav gun squad moving up to claim the Relic in the centre of the board.
In the shooting phase, the Ravenwing opened fired on the clanking wall of armour, hoping to cause enough damage to stall the advance. The meltagun squad opened fire on the Kans in front of them, one penetrating hit destroying one of the Kan's power claws. The grav guns fired at the Gorkanaut in front of them, if the mighty beast could be immobilised, it would cause chaos in the Ork lines. Despite hitting 5 times, the grav guns could not penetrate the armoured bulk. The Landspeeder squadron fired at the nearest Dread, the mighty assault cannons succeeded in stunning the Ork walker.
Not a great first turn for the Ravenwing, they had grabbed the Relic, but the lack of anti-armour firepower meant that only one Dread was preventing from moving in the next turn.
TURN 1- ORKS
With smoke belching and gears clanking, the Ork mob advanced on the black riders. The Gorkanaut moved towards the grav gun squad, joined by a Dread and a mob of Killa Kans.
In the shooting phase, the Gorkanaut opened fire on the grav gun squad, it's massed firepower succeeded in killing two of the bikers, despite their best efforts to Jink (it was at this point that I discovered that Walkers can now fire all their weapons in the shooting phase rather than just two as it was previously. I wasn't aware of this as most of my walkers only have 2 weapons anyway). The Rokkit Kans and Grotzooka kans added their firepower to the attack, killing the two grav gun marines in the squad. On the Ork left, the Deff Dread and Killa Kans fired at the meltagun squad, one biker falling to the big shootas of the Kans.
With the shooting done, the assaults began. On the left flank, the Dread assaulted the meltagun bikers, their overwatch fire doing nothing to halt the rampaging beast. The Kans attempted to follow the Dread's lead, but their shorter legs meant that the could not cover the distance as quickly (the Kans failed their charge). The faster bikers launched their grenades at the hulking walker, but could not penetrate its armour. The Dread stumbled as he was harassed and only killed one biker (Sebastian only hit with one of his 5 attacks from the Dread). The Ravenwing withdrew from the combat, moving towards the centre of the board.
In the centre, the Gorkanaut attempted to charge the bikers. With a 7" charge required, Sebastian rolled
2D6 and came up with a 5 and a 1, just short of the required distance. Using the Ork's special rule, he chose to re-roll the 1 and came up with......another 1! The charge had failed! Fortunately, the nearby Dread was able to make his 10" charge and crashed into the two remaining bikers, easily wiping them out in combat to give First Blood to the Orks.
For the rest of the battle report and more photos, check out
http://standwargaming.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/battle-report-13-1500-pts-dark-angels.html
