Thursday 9 November 2017

Battle Report 123- 2000 pts White Scars vs Orks

This week's battle report sees my White Scars take on Rhys' Orks in a 2000 pts Maelstrom of war mission. 

This was the first time I had taken on Orks in 8th edition, so was interested to see how they would fare against the White Scars. This game was played at Battle Bunker and we were playing Tactical Escalation (number of cards equal to turn number) with Vanguard Strike deployment. 

My army consisted of:
Battalion Detachment
Khan- Moondrakken (K)
Lieutenant- Master-crafted Bolter, Chainsword (L)
10 Tactical Marines- Meltagun, Bolters (TS1)
Rhino- Storm Bolter (R)
5 Tactical Marines- Flamer, Bolters (TS2)
Razorback- TL Assault Cannons (Rb)
5 Scouts- Camo Cloaks, Sniper Rifles (S1)
5 Devastators- 4 Missile Launchers, Armorium Cherub (D1)
5 Devastators- 4 Heavy Bolters, Armorium Cherub (D2)
Stormtalon- TL Assault Cannons, Typhoon Missile Launcher (ST)
10 Sternguard Veterans- Special Issue Bolters (S2)
Drop Pop- Storm Bolter (DP)
10 Vanguard Veterans- 3 Pairs Lightning Claws, 2 Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields, 5 Bolt Pistols and Chainswords (VV)
6 Scout Bikers (SB)
5 Bikers- 2 Meltaguns, Power Axe (B1)

A bit of a different White Scars army to try out, not so many Bikers this time round. I decided to take a unit of Devastators with Heavy Bolters after seeing how well they have done in my regular opponent Maurice's Crimson Fists army. I also extended the Vanguard Veterans to 10 models to give me a bit more combat punch and decided to try out the Stormtalon as well. 

My warlord was Khan and he took the Tenacious Survivor warlord trait (I don't think he could take the White Scars trait as I was using Index Khan). 


Rhys' army consisted of:
Battalion Detachment
Ghazghkull Thraka (G)
Weirdboy- Warpath (W)
Weirdboy- Da Jump (W)
30 Boyz- Nob, Sluggas, Choppas (B1)
30 Boyz- Nob, Sluggas, Choppas (B2)
30 Boyz- Nob, Sluggas, Choppas (B3)
10 Gretchin (G1)
10 Gretchin (G2)
Nob- Waaagh Banner (N)
10 Tankbustas (T)
25 Stormboyz (S)
Battlewagon- Ard Case (B)
Morkanaut- Kustom Mega Kannon, Kustom mega-blasta, 2 Rokkit Launchas, 2 Twin Shootas. (M)

A lot of boyz and some tough transport units to try and take out. Hopefully my Devastators would be up to the task of stopping the Orks before they got to my lines. 

We set up the objectives as shown below:

I won the roll for deployment and chose the side with the most objectives. Rhys set up first, the deployment order was as follows:
  1. Grots (LHS)
  2. Vanguard Veterans (reserve)
  3. Grots (RHS)
  4. Drop Pod (Sternguard Veterans)
  5. Ork Boyz
  6. Heavy Bolter Devastators
  7. Ork Boyz
  8. Missile Launcher Devastators
  9. Battlewagon (Tankbustas)
  10. Lieutenant
  11. Morkanaut (Ghazghkull, 2 Weirdboyz, Nob)
  12. Scouts
  13. Stormboyz
  14. Razorback (Tactical Squad)
  15. Ork Boyz
  16. Rest of my army. 
I split my army in two to try and force the Orks to split their focus between the two sections. I put the Scouts (squad and Scout Bikers) on the right flank, in or behind the ruins. On the left flank, I set up the bulk of my force, the Devastators and Lieutenant in the ruins. They were flanked by the vehicles, with Khan and the Bikers behind the ruins to move out later in the game. 

Rhys spread his three Ork unit across his deployment zone, supported by the other Ork units. The Morkanaut went on the left flank, so my Missile Launchers could hopefully take care of it before it got to my lines. 

My plan was to sit back and let the Orks come to me. I had most of the objectives in my half, so hopefully I could draw some good maelstrom cards to pick up an early lead. I would pepper the Orks with my superior firepower and then use my assault elements to finish them off as they got close. 







I chose not to seize the initiative and Rhys took the first turn. 

TURN 1- ORKS
In the first turn, Rhys drew Supremacy (control three objectives). 

The Ork tide moved up to engage the White Scars' position. On the right flank, a unit of Grots moved up on the objective. One unit of Boyz advanced 1". Rhys used a command point re-roll, but rolled another 1, only moving the Boyz 7". The other Ork Boyz units also advanced into the central ruins and beside them. On the right flank, the Stormboyz managed to advance 6" on the Scouts. Ghazghkull led his warriors out of the Morkanaut, moving up to support the Boyz.



The Weirdboyz turned their attention on one unit of Boyz. One cast the Warpath on the unit, while the other cast Da Jump, moving himself and the unit towards the White Scars' Razorback. Rhys congo-lined the Ork mob out to stay in range of the Ork characters to gain their buffs in the ensuing phases.



In the shooting phase, the Tankbustas opened fire on the Scout Bikers, wounding them 5 times and killing three of the Bikers.
The Slugga Boyz opened fire on the Razorback, wounding it once, but failing to get past its armour. The Morkanaut fired on the Missile Launcher Devastators, killing one of the squad. The Stormboyz fired at the Scout Bikers, wounding them once.

The Ork Boyz charged the Razorback, moving a great 11" and swarming the enemy vehicle. The Stormboyz attempted to charge the Scouts, but failed to make the charge (a tough blow for Rhys).

The Ork Nob struck at the Razorback, wounding it twice with its Uge Choppa. The Ork Boyz then struck with their massive 78 attacks! They managed to hit and wound 25 times. I failed 12 saves and the Rhino was destroyed. One of the Tactical Squad perished in the destruction, the rest of the squad moving to contest the objective. I chose not to move out of range of the mob, so that I would contest the objective and deny the Supremacy points. The squad consolidated into the Tactical Squad.


At the end of his first turn, Rhys scored First Blood.

TURN 1- WHITE SCARS
In my first turn, I drew Psychological Warfare.

The Scout Bikers moved up on the Stormboyz, while the other Biker squad moved up on the Orks on the left flank. The Stormtalon stayed in place to improve its accuracy, while Khan stayed to support the Devastators. One Tactical Squad fell back from the combat with the Orks, while the second Tactical Squad moved up to engage the Greenskin menace. The Drop Pod carrying the Sternguard arrived on the battlefield, landing to support the Scout Bikers on their attack on the Stormboyz.



The Stormtalon opened fire on the Ork mob on the left flank. The Assault Cannon killed six, while the Typhoon Missiles killed another 6. The Tactical Squad in the ruins opened fire, killing another two of the mob, including the Nob.
The Bikers fired their Bolters at the squad, killing 8 of them. The two members of the squad turned their Meltaguns on the Weirdboy, wounding him three times with one of the powerful shots.


The Heavy Bolter Devastators fired at a second unit of Ork Boyz, killing 7 of the squad with their firepower. The second Devastator squad fired Frag Missiles at the same squad, killing another 5, after using the Armorium Cherub. The Lieutenant fired at the Ork Boyz on the left, killing one more of the squad.

On the right flank, the Sternguard opened up on the Stormboyz. The Sternguard used the Masterful Marksmanship stratagem to kill 12 of the Stormboyz. The Scout Bikers fired on the squad, killing four with their Bolters and three with their Shotguns. The Sniper Scouts opened fire on the Grots, killing 6 of the squad after a great round of shooting.


In the charge phase, the Bikers assaulted the Weirdboy, while the Scout Bikers charged the Stormboyz.

The White Scars Bikers were able to strike down the Weirdboy. The Scout Bikers were able to kill off the rest of the Stormboyz.


In the morale phase, one of the Ork Mobs was wiped out, another Mob lost one Boy and the Grots mob was wiped out. This scored me D3 points for Psychological Warfare, and I was fortunate enough to roll a 3 for my score.

VICTORY POINTS:
Orks- 1
White Scars- 3

A great start for the White Scars, dealing a powerful blow to the Orks after Rhys was unfortunate enough to fail a charge with the Stormboyz.

TURN 2- ORKS
In his second turn, Rhys drew Secure Objective 3 to go with Supremacy.

The remains of the Ork mob on the right moved up towards the White Scars Bikers. The other mob moved across the ruins to target the Scout Bikers, supported by the Battlewagon and the Ork characters advanced to support them. The Morkanaut advanced 6" towards the White Scars lines.



In the psychic phase, the Weirdboy cast Warpath on the Ork Mob on the right flank.

The Morkanaut opened fire on the wounded Tactical Squad, getting 12 shots with the Blasta after using a Command Point re-roll. Despite the vast number of shots, only one White Scar was wounded and perished. The Big Shoota managed to kill another of the squad.

The Ork Mob fired on the Bikers, hitting 5 times, but failing to wound. The other Mob fired their Sluggas at the Scouts, wounding them three times, but failing to get past their armour. The Tankbustas loosed their Rokkits at the Rhino, wounding it three times and taking it down to a single wound! Ghazghkull fired at the damaged Tactical Squad, killing one more of them.

In the charge phase, the Boyz charged the Bikers and Scout Bikers. The overwatch fire of the White Scars killed three Orks in one mob and two in the other.

In the fight phase, the Ork Nob struck down two of the Bikers. The other members of the squad struck, killing two of the Bikers and leaving the Sergeant on a single wound. The other Mob struck at the Scout Bikers. The Nob managed to kill one of the Scout Bikers.

The Ork Boyz amassed a massive 96 attacks thanks to the Warpath, easily slaying the last two members of the squad. The lone White Scars Biker Sergeant struck at the Ork Mob, killing two of the squad.


At the end of his turn, Rhys scored no points.

TURN 2- WHITE SCARS
In my second turn, I drew Secure Objective 3 and Secure Objective 6.

The Biker Sergeant fell back from combat with the mob, as Khan and the Tactical Squads moved up to engage them. The Sternguard and Stormtalon moved up on the second mob, while the Vanguard Veterans landed besides the objective near the Battlewagon.



The Stormtalon fired at the Ork mob, killing 5 with the Assault Cannon and three with its Frag Missiles. The Sternguard used the Masterful Marksmanship stratagem and punished the Ork mob, killing 14 of the squad in support with the Scouts.

On the left flank, the Devastators fired at the Ork mob, wounding 7 and killing seven of the squad. Khan fired at the same mob, killing another of the squad. The Tactical Squads fired at the mob, killing all but the Nob, who was left on one wound. The Lieutenant fired at the Nob and managed to slay him with his Master-crafted Boltgun.

The other Devastator Squad fired at the Battlewagon, hitting and wounding once, but the shot was saved. The Vanguard Veterans and Drop Pod added their firepower, but failed to do any damage.

In the charge phase, the Sternguard assaulted the Battlewagon. The Vanguard Veterans attempted to assault the squad, but failed to charge, even with a command point re-roll.

The Sternguard struck at the Battlewagon, wounding them twice. The wagon struck back, wounding the White Scars twice, but failing to get past their armour.

At the end of the turn, Rhys used two command points to auto-pass the morale test on the central Ork mob. I scored one point for holding Objective 3 and discarded Objective 6.

VICTORY POINTS:
Orks- 1
White Scars- 4

TURN 3- ORKS
In his third turn, Rhys drew Blood and Guts (kill a unit in assault) to go with Secure Objective 3 and Supremacy.

The Gorkanaut advanced 6" towards the Vanguard Veterans, while the rest of the Ork Boyz and characters moved up on the Sternguard.

The Weirdboy cast Warpath on the Ork boyz to boost their combat proficiency in the coming clash, Rhys using a command point re-roll to succeed.

The Ork Boyz and characters fired on the Vanguard Veterans, but failed to do any damage. The Morkanaut fired at the Vanguard Veterans too, but failed to do any damage.

The Ork mob charged the Sternguard Veterans, joined by Ghazgkull. The Ork warlord slew five of the squad. I was able to remove half the squad to stop the Ork mob from attacking. The Battlewagon managed to kill one of the squad. The Sternguard struck at the Wagon, but failed to do any damage. I passed my morale test.

At the end of his turn, Rhys scored no points.

TURN 3- WHITE SCARS
At the start of my third turn, I drew Secure Objective 1, Secure Objective 2 and Secure Objective 5.

The Sternguard fell back from the combat, as the Vanguard Veterans moved up on the Ork mob and Ghazghkull. Khan and the Biker Sergeant moved up on the Grots mob in the ruins, Khan advancing to get into range.



The Scouts fired at Ghazgkull, hitting him four times, but failing to wound. The Vanguard Veterans fired on the Ork boyz, killing one.

Khan fired on the grots, killing three (I used the White Scars Stratagem to allow him to fire and assault after advancing). The Stormtalon fired at the Weirdboy, killing him off.

The Devastators fired their Missile Launchers at the Gorkanaut, but failed to do any damage. The Heavy Bolter Devastators targeted the Battlewagon, wounding it twice.

The Vanguard Veterans charged Ghazghkull and the Ork Boyz, while Khan charged the Grots.

The Vanguard Veterans struck at the Ork Warlord, doing two wounds with the use of one command point re-roll. One wound got through, doing 3 damage on Ghazghkull. Half of the other Veterans were unable to damage him, while the others managed to kill two of the Boyz.

On the other flank, Khan killed three of the Grot squad. The Orks struck back, Ghazghkull killing four of the Veterans. The Boyz struck and were unable to do any damage. The Grots attacked Khan, but failed to do any damage.

At the end of my turn, the Grots were wiped out by morale, and I scored all three objectives.

VICTORY POINTS:
Orks- 1
White Scars- 7
End of the game. 

Rhys decided to concede at this point. I was far ahead in points and much of the Ork army had been taken out.

AFTER-BATTLE THOUGHTS
Thanks to Rhys for a fun game against the Greenskin threat.

I think this was a tough match up for the Orks. The deployment type did not help, as it allowed me to sit back and unleash my firepower on the squads for as long as possible. In addition, Rhys placed his objectives clustered around the ones I had already placed, allowing me to choose the side with the four objectives and forcing him to come to me to get them.

We spoke about the deployment after the game. I think Rhys should have been more aggressive with the Morkanaut, deploying it on the front line and going after my firebase as quickly as possible. There was little in my army that could seriously hurt it in the shooting phase and it would have made a serious mess of my lines had it got there.

Rhys was also really unlucky to fail the charge with his Stormboyz. I think he needed a 7" charge, which he failed even with his 'Ere We Go re-roll. They would most likely have taken care of the Scouts and Scout Bikers, demolishing my right flank. This was a big break for me, allowing me to send the Scout Bikers and Sternguard to take them out.

I would also have considered not using Da Jump on the Ork unit. Keeping the three mobs together would have forced me to focus fire on one unit, doing less damage as they were at further range. Going after them in one might have overwhelmed my lines and caused me real problems.

I need to get my Orks on the tabletop at some point, see how they perform. I will also be looking forward to when their codex will come out to see what they get in terms of Clan rules and stratagems.

I hope you enjoyed the battle report, the next one will be White Scars vs Tyranids. 

2 comments:

  1. Good stuff Mike, you make a really interesting point about da jump - it seems to be the default response of Ork players to use it as early as possible in the game to launch something forward, but I think you're right, a coordinated assault by several mobs at once would be far more devastating, even if they had taken some damage on the way in.

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    1. Yeah, I think the urge is to get to combat as soon as possible, but this just allows focus to be placed on a single unit. If I was going to use it in this game, I would have deployed the Stormboyz with the unit using Da Jump. This would have given me two big, powerful units to have to deal with quickly, while the other Ork mobs adavnced.
      The Scouts could probably have been ignored, as their sniper rifles were unlikely to do much to the Ork hordes, while the Scout Bikers could have been easily dealt with by the Tankbustas (those guys are brutal!).

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