In the aftermath of that
awful tournament, I felt the need for some light relief, and so I approached a friend of mine from the club. Simon and I always have loads of fun when we play, primarily because we have very similar approaches to the game. Simon used to play a lot of tournaments, but quit the scene when he lost patience with the Power Creep in 5th Edition (at which point it was less of a creep and more of a cascade).
Because I tend to play easy-going, friendly armies, Simon felt able to give his long-neglected Orks some action and I was delighted to see that in addition to being one of my favourite factions, his army was almost fully painted
and comprised of alternative, 3rd-party models, meaning we had a really entertaining evening of play, and that I got plenty of good pictures. I was taking the opportunity to run some of my Imperial Guard (seen much earlier in the thread), along with some sturdy Raven Guard. The game was meant to be 1500pts, but once I'd done some adding up, it transpired that I'd only brought about 1250. Nevertheless, on with the show.
In Turn 1, Simon seized the Initiative, which was fine by me. He hammered up the field with his Trukks and Deffkoptas, and his big, scary Kanz and Dreadz swarmed through the midfield. The Deffkoptas opened up on my Veteran Guardsmen, who had taken up positions in the ruins on my side of the board, sitting on objectives and poised to Go to Ground. They did so and weathered the fire. The Warboss' retinue also moved up in their Trukk, but they were a while off yet. And I had a Predator ready to pop their flimsy transport. In my turn, I positioned my Tactical Squads and Dreadnought forward before doing just that, wrecking the Trukk with a Combination of Lascannons and an Autocannon and leaving the Meganobz on foot. I then put rounds into the Trukks on the my flank and marched my Guardsmen up to scythe through the spilled Boyz and claim the right-hand-side of the board.
I'm a big fan of my Guardsman blobs. This one was just forty-men, owing to poor maths on my part, but still pretty formidable.
This was the kind of model Simon had brought. Made of paper, no less!
I love the Deffkopta models. Shame they've never been released on their own. This Squadron took a lot of fire in the first turn, failing their Morale check and fleeing right to the back of the board.
Turn 2 began with Simon's Boyz rallying and getting into position to lay into my infantry on the right flank. The Kanz and Dread had moved up so far that they had no chance of charging my Dread, which had been unable to move last turn having debarked from its Pod, meaning the Ancient retained the initiative for what promised to be a deadly assault. On the left flank, Simon's Deffkoptas failed to rally and flew off the board, while the Warboss and his Meganobz made for the central objective, which I had sent a Tactical Squad to claim from the Gretchin. In my side of the turn, they took wounds from my Veterans and Predator, but kept on shuffling. Meanwhile, my Guardsmen and other Tactical Squad poured fire into the Boyz on the right flank. I also moved both of my Rhinos up, one to cut off the narrow corridor through which the Killa Kanz were advancing, and the other to block the charge from the remaining Trukk Boyz.
The remnants of the Tankbustas were able to line up a volley. My Dread took it like a fifteen-foot Iron Lung on acid.
This is a great use of Rhinos. I always look for opportunities to control my enemy's movement.
And a subtly different tactic is screening. Remember kids, waste a 35pt vehicle, not a 170pt Tactical Squad.
Turn 3 saw the armies clash in earnest. The Kanz, frustrated by a Rhino, headed in the opposite direction, and wiped out a tactical Squad with their Grotzookaz. A mob of Shoota Boyz on the right flank destroyed a Rhino in short order, while their Trukk made for the centre, (I expect the driver remembered his orders at the last minute). Meanwhile, my Guard blob swarmed over the Shoota Boyz, an avalanche of bayonets turning the Orks into a fine mince. My remaining Tactical Squad gave a huge effort to reach the centre objective, but failed their 3" charge, instead giving the encroaching Meganobz an awkward look.
These Kanz were a real threat at the beginning of the game. By the beginning of Turn 4, their presence had been thoroughly wasted.
Blitzkrieg Boyz! Love these models.
The Blob is triumphant. The Blob is supreme!
In Turn 4, our armies were actually largely spent. The Killa Kanz has achieved so little that they seemed to just give up on trying to get through the ruins. The Meganobz struck my Tactical Squad, not quite wiping them out. My Autocannons immobilised the remaining Trukk, meaning it wouldn't be claiming any objectives, and my Dreadnought took a Hull Point off the Deff Dred before charging it for the other two.
this was long-awaited, and it went my way. What a great game!
The Kanz, however, got nothing at all. They just stood there with their bottom lips thrust out, lamenting their lack of a fight.
This was a disappointment, but I'd won on secondary objectives, and held all of my own.
And that was it. Just a full evening of fun with friends. In a contrast to the truncated, rushed games of the tournament, this was fast, brutal and tactical, with both armies clashing like old foes should. Though it was a decidedly low-scoring game, my victory came from a First Blood for the Warboss' Trukk and a Linebreaker from my Dreadnought, while Simon had failed to score at all. Still, a hugely enjoyable game with plenty of action.
And I have another such game lined up this week at the club. Stay tuned for details.
