Greetings! So I brought my Orks out tonight, and caught a game with a local named Sean. We settled on 2000 points, my Orks against his
CSM, and set to bring glory to Khorne!
My list:
Ghazghkull
Big Mek
KFF
Klaw
8 Lootas
8 Lootas
8 Lootas
19 Boyz
Shootas
1 Big Shoota
Nob
Klaw
'eavy Armor
Bosspole
18 Boyz
Nob
Klaw
'eavy Armor
Bosspole
10 Nobz
1. Painboy
2. Power Klaw
3. Klaw/'eavy Armor
4. Klaw/'eavy Armor/Banner
5. Big Choopa
6. Big Choppa/'eavy Armor
7. Big Choppa/Bosspole
8. Big Choopa/
TL Shoota/Bosspole
9. 'eavy Armor
10. Standard
Cybork Bodies
Stikkbombz
Trukk
Red Paint Job
Reinforced Ram
3 Warbuggies
Rokkits
Deffkopta
Rokkits
2 Deffkoptas
Rokkits
Battlewagon
Deff rolla
2 Big Shootas
Red Paint Job
Armor Plates
Boarding Plank
Grot Riggers
Battlewagon
Reinforced Ram
2 Big Shootas
Red Paint Job
Armor Plates
Boarding Plank
Grot Riggers
His list:
Kharne the Betrayer
Sorceror /w Mark of Nurgle
16 Khorne Berzerkers
Power Fist
16 'Zerkers
Power Fist
7 Plague Marines
2 Meltaguns
Power Fist
7 Plague Marines
2 Meltaguns
Power Fist
Predator w/ Triple Las
Predator w/ Triple Las
The battlefield:
Brown is area terrain, black indicates terrain that blocks
LOS. The white area is ruins, partially elevated to block
LOS.
We roll up mission and deployment, and end up with the following:
Mission: Seize Ground (5 objectives)
Deployment: Pitched Battle
CSM wins the roll-off, and elects to go first. Chooses the side on the top of the picture. We deploy as follows.
Pre-Game Thoughts
He's got some really scary stuff in that list. Berzerkers in that unit size will absolutely wreck face on boyz, and even the Nobz need to be careful. Those Plague Marines are tough to take off an objective once they sit their fat butts on one too. It's going to come down to who charges who. If I charge my Boyz into combat, they should be able to deal enough damage on the charge, combined with denying him
FC, to allow my Klaws to clean up.
The main thing I have going for me is mobility. His 'Zerkers are stuck footslogging, and I've got open-topped, red painted vehicles, plus Ghazghkull's Waaagh! If I play this right, there's no reason I shouldn't be able to get the charge. Also, his anti-tank is mainly limited to quality of shots, with only 6 lascannons and 4 meltaguns. My
KFF is going to work well here. Plus, Lootas just absolutely love eating AV11. I like my odds in the tank-busting area here.
But I had better be careful, because if Kharn gets the drop on any of my units with some 'Zerkers at his back, I might as well scoop up the unit right away.
Waaaagh! for the Waaagh! god!!!
Scout Moves
Deffkoptas proceed to turbo-boost/scout towards his left side Pred, and end up 12 inches away.
Orks attempt to seize the initiative, and proceed to STEAL
IT!
YES!
Orks turn 1
Woot! Stole the initiative. I better get to work on these Predators so I can keep my mobility advantage.
First move of the game, move one of my warbuggies over terrain towards his right side Predator. Dangerous terrain roll =
. Wrecked buggy to start things off.
It's okay, because things have to get better.
Proceed to move my 'Koptas into the side arc of his left side Pred. Remaining two buggies scoot up and to the right, giving me side arc on his right side Pred, but giving him cover as well.
My Trukk drives up 19", while my Battlewagons play a much more conservative 7". Every vehicle is under
KFF protection.
Onto shooting. Solo Deffkopta can't hit the left side Pred, although the squad of 2 explodes it! Explosion hurts nothing. Lootas on the left side open fire at the Rhino without the Sorc, but only manage to shake it. Lootas on the far right can't hurt the right-side Pred, and the Rokkit Buggies wiff also. Central Loota squad takes aim at the front armor of the Pred, get a few hits, and
for a glance. Glace result in a 3, taking off the T/L Lascannon.
Not a bad turn. Got rid of one Pred, and the other is reduced to only 2 Lascannons, neither of them twin-linked.
CSM turn 1
Left side 'Zerker squad (without Kharn) moves towards my Koptas. Right side squad goes towards the Nobz Trukk. Rhinos split off in similar directions.
PM's with the Sorc go right, other
PM's come towards my deployment zone.
His shooting sees only 1 Lascannon hit on my Trukk, which proceeds to roll a
to penetrate, and a
on the damage result. My Trukk can't shoot next turn! He pops smoke on both his Rhinos, and runs with the Zerkers. Both squads roll
for movement. Can you see where this is going?
Orks turn 2
Alright, with my Trukk about halfway up the table, I can definitely make a charge on his Zerkers with Kharn, so I say what the heck, and go for it. Trukk goes straight for Kharn, Nobz get out, and are very very close to the Rhino. Battlewagons stay stationary. I don't want to commit my Boyz yet. Let's just see what happens with the Nobz. I know they won't die in one turn. Rokkit buggies move into the right-side Pred's side arc, and the Deffkoptas all backpedal away from the other Zerker squad.
Shooting. Rokkit buggies can't even scratch the pain of the Pred, right side Lootas do nothing, but right-side Lootas score 2 glances, giving me 2 weapon destroyed results! The Predator is stripped of Lascannons, and no longer a threat. Central Lootas move on to the Rhino near my Nobz, and blow it up! With the
PM's so close to his 'Zerkers, I can get a multi-charge off. Left side Lootas try to open his smoked Rhino, but can't get past cover. Neither can the Koptas.
I decide to be bold, and throw the Nobz at the Zerkers and the
PM's, taking on two units of Cult troops, plus 2 independent character. That's what I pay the big points for!
Blight Grenades make my whole unit gimped on number of attacks, but I make up for it with FANTASTIC saving throws. Kharne, Sorcerer, Zerkers, and the
PM's all inflict only 3 wounds, scattered amongst my Nobz. All Fist and Force Weapon attacks are successfully saved. Additionally, Kharn decided to help me out a bit by hitting and killing 3 of his own 'Zerkers. My Nobz don't roll great on the regular attacks, but the Klaws function fantastically, Instant Death-ing the Sorc, killing 2 Zerkers, 2
PM's, but sadly failing to put a save on Kharn. I win combat by 5, and he loses 1 more
PM, and 2 more 'Zerkers to No Retreat! saves. We stay locked.
CSM turn 2
My last turn was just absolutely brutal on him. He has no long ranged anti-tank left, and about half of his army is either dead or locked in
CC with diversified Nobz. He drives in only Rhino 12" towards the central objective, hoping to get a shot off on the Battlewagon next turn, I guess. His Zerkers move onto the left-side objective.
His one highlight here is ramming his Predator into my Rokkit Buggies, managing to immobilize --> wreck one of them.
Shooting-wise, he has nothing to do but shoot Bolt Pistols are my Deffkoptas, but horrible to-wound rolls says otherwise. His dice are just not doing him any favors.
In close combat, he manages to kill 2 Nobz (one with 2
CCW's, and one Big Choppa), although in return, he losses 1 or 2
PM's, 1 or 2 'Zerkers (these might have been from combat rez), and Kharn eats a Power Klaw to the face, Instagibbing him. I win by 2, and we stick around.
Ork turn 3
At this point, I'm thinking forget the objectives, and just go for the table. I've got enough turns to make it happen.
First, I ram his Rhino with my Deffrolla battlewagon, scoring a penetrating hit with the ram, plus 3 with the Deffrolla. I wreck it.
PM's get out, and Ghazghkull disembarks solo, determined to show the lads why he's da boss!
Deffkoptas move more than 12" but less than 24" away from the Zerkers to shoot them, and the 1 buggy left moves onto the side arc of the Predator that killed his buddy.
The Shoota boyz decide to move towards the Nob combat, and get out.
KFF stays inside like the coward he is! They charge the
PM's, and Ghaz charges the newly disembarked
PM's, who lost one man to Loota fire.
Combat sees Ghazghkull chew through 4
PM's, taking 1 wound from the fist in return. No Retreat! forces the fist to take a save, which kills him, leaving Ghazghkull staring down one measly Plague Marine, who is undoubtedly wishing he chose a different day to go about spreading Nurgle's Rot.
On the other side of the
LOS blocking terrain, the last of the
PM's bit it, and the Zerkers are reduced down to just 2 men, and the fist is killed through No Retreat. Boyz consolidate, as their only opponent is dead. Nobz all pile in towards the two poor servants of Khorne, who prepare to glorify the Blood God with their deaths. Nobz are reduced down to 6 members, though.
CSM turn 3
At this point, he only has a single Berserker squad left, and 1 Plague Marine about to be turn to smelly shreds. He moves towards my Nobz, but can't get close enough to charge them.
Ghazghkull finishes off his comabt, and the Nobz win and consolidate towards towards the last vestiges of the enemy.
Ork turn 4
I bring Ghazghkull, the remaining 6 Nobz, and the 17 surviving Shoota Boyz towards the Zerkers. I call the Waaagh! and get everyone within easy charge range.
We all charge in, and despite a defiant showing by the Zerkers killing off 3 Nobz and 7 Boyz, they all fall to the combined might of the Greenskins. I kill some with the Nobz, a few with the Boyz, and the Klaws + Ghaz deal exactly enough wounds to kill off the squad.
Result: Orks win through annihilation!
Post-game thoughts
It played out very similar to how I thought it would. Seizing the initiative and having early success with my anti-tank pretty much sealed the deal that I would get to charge where, and when, I wanted to. The Nobz killing off the 2 squads plus characters certainly provided a serious nail in the coffin, but I think what the takeaway is from this game is that when my mobility allows me to dictate where and when I charge, Orks are an extremely, extremely tough army to beat.
Additionally, Sean's
CSM list lacked
MSU, which tends to be a slight weakness of Orks. Larger chunks of elite troops tend to be very vulnerable to Mech Orkz, I have found.
MVP
At first I was going to give this to my Lootas, who dealt a resounding blow in stripping his Predator and blowing up the
PM Rhino, setting up the multi-charge.
In the end, though, the MVP award has to go to the diversified Nobz. They killed 16 Khorne Berserkers, 7 Plague Marines, Kharn the Betrayer, and a Nurgle Sorcerer. I mean, come on, that's insane.
As a side note, this was one of those games where my dice didn't do much of anything to really hurt me, and Sean's dice failed him at some crucial times.
But, at the same time, I think at least a small part of that comes back to dice rolling. My army allows me to through a bunch of dice out there. In just about every unit but the Rokkits, I'm relying on quantity over quality, and quantity, as they say, as a quality all its own. It's called the law of averages
At the same time though, it did leave a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. When the dice go one way, it becomes less of a battle of skill and more of a landslide effect.
Thanks for reading!
13'000 points ish (13/3/9) 
