After a few months of not playing, I finally roped my friend into a game of Epic. He's pretty new to the game so I was giving him a fair bit of help. He definitely needed it too - he insisted on playing Orks and for some reason our Ork army has a terrible, terrible track record.
This was also a test of several different proposed rules changes:
* Baneblade main gun increased to 2 shots
* Baneblade crit changed to "1 additional point of damage"
* Ork Battlefortress gains the Oddboy power field upgrade from the EUK list
* Ork Skorcha save reduced to 6+
Here were the lists we used:
Baneblades and Friends, 3000 POINTS
Steel Legion (NetEA Army Compendium v2014)
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REGIMENTAL HQ [625]
Supreme Commander, 12 Infantry, 7 Chimera, 2 Ogryns, Chimera, Hydra
SUPER-HEAVY TANK COMPANY [600]
3 Baneblade, 2 Ogryns, Hydra
THUNDERBOLT FIGHTERS [150]
2 Thunderbolts
THUNDERBOLT FIGHTERS [150]
2 Thunderbolts
ARTILLERY BATTERY [250]
3 Manticores
ARTILLERY BATTERY [250]
3 Basilisks
SENTINEL SQUADRON [100]
4 Sentinels
SENTINEL SQUADRON [100]
4 Sentinels
INFANTRY COMPANY [375]
Commander, 12 Infantry, Hydra, Griffon Battery (3 Griffons), 1 Sniper
INFANTRY COMPANY [400]
Commander, 12 Infantry, Fire Support Platoon (4 Fire Support), 2 Snipers
Oddboyz on Parade, 2990 POINTS
Ghazgkhull Thraka's War Horde (NetEA Tournament Pack 2013)
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FIGHTA SKWADRON [150]
3 Fighta Bomba
FIGHTA SKWADRON [150]
3 Fighta Bomba
LANDA [200]
MEKBOY STOMPAMOB [500]
3 Stompa, Supa Stompa
KULT OF SPEED [200]
2 Warbuggy, 3 Skorcha, 3 Warbike
WARBAND [470]
2 Nobz, 6 Boyz, 2 Grotz, Battlefortress, Oddboy, Flakwagon, 2 Gunwagon
BLITZ BRIGADE (BIG) [350]
2 Flakwagon, 6 Gunwagon, 2 Oddboy
MEKBOY GUNZMOB [195]
5 Big Gunz, Nobz, Flakwagon
WARBAND [200]
2 Nobz, 6 Boyz, 2 Grotz
WARBAND [375]
2 Nobz, 6 Boyz, 2 Grotz, 4 Battlewagon, Flakwagon
BLITZ BRIGADE [200]
Oddboy, 3 Gunwagon, Flakwagon
SETUPTerrain was deployed ahead of time by agreement, and then we rolled to see who picked their side. Naturally the Ork player chose the side he was already standing next to, because who feels like moving?
The Orks garrisoned their Big Gunz and their foot Warband in the middle of the board in ruins, holding the two forward objectives on the Ork side:
The IG player garrisoned his infantry company on foot and one Sentinel squadron on his right flank in the cathedral to hold the objectives on his side:
The rest of the Ork deployment consisted of the Mekboy Stomba formation (BTS) in the center with the Battlefortress containing the Ork Warlord and the other battlewagon Warband and gunwagon mobs on the flank, ready to sweep towards the cathedral. FYI the Supa Stompa rolled up 4 power fields and the experimental Battlefortress Oddboy rolled a miserable 2 power fields (so much for that!)
The IG went with a classic deployment in their center, artillery squadrons ringed by a Sentinel screen (the little command tank in the center is actually an objective market). The Regimental HQ (BTS) was deployed on the left, ready to advance into the Ork objectives in the center, a second foot Infantry Company was deployed in the center with Griffons and a Hydra to provide a base of fire, and the Baneblade company was on the right, ready to move up to support the infantry in the cathedral.
Turn 1Orks won the roll-off for first turn. They doubled their Stompas forward into the buildings in the center.
The IG player was concerned about the Ork Landa and attempted to put his first T-bolt formation on CAP - and failed! It's never fun using your SC re-roll on your first activation, but it seemed worth it to keep the Orks from getting air superiority. The T-bolts went on CAP on the right flank, ready to support the Baneblades or cathedral objective (the two likely targets, it seemed).
The Ork player bided his time, activating the smaller gunwagon formation and doubling forward to shoot at the garrisoned Sentinels. Every shot missed.
Guard activated Manticores, hitting the warband in battlewagons for two dead grots - this was a hot run of armor saves.
The Ork player was extremely wary of the garrisoned infantry company on overwatch and played too cautiously in turn 1. He doubled his big gunwagon formation but kept outside 45cm and hit the infantry company with the Oddboy cannons for a single casualty.
Guard sustained fire with Basilisks into the warband in battlewagons for no kills - these guys seemed impervious to artillery fire this turn.
After sitting through an intense bombardment, the battlewagon warband doubled forward, keeping outside the IG company's overwatch range (keeping this formation and the Battlefortress formation outside 45cm was a crucial mistake and one I should have helped him with, as it meant there was no chance of an Engage action until turn 3 at best).
The Guard player waited the Orks out, putting the second Sentinel formation on overwatch.
Now the Orks doubled their Battlefortress forward, but again not far enough to be a thread turn 2 to the infantry company.
The Guard responded by doubling the Baneblade company up. The Ork big guns took their overwatch shots at it for no damage, and the Baneblades proceeded to hammer the Battlefortress at 45cm range, taking out both power fields and doing one point of damage. The switch to two shots on the main gun made these tanks a real threat at this range.
Finally the Ork player brought in the first of his Fighta Bombas. Neither player realized, but the Hydra with the Baneblade company was extremely exposed, all the way on the right flank with no other AVs to take hits. The Ork player instead decided to whittle down the BTS and try to get to their Hydra. He brought the fightas in on the guard left flank, losing one Fighta Bomba to flak, and took out a chimera.
The Guard player tried to activate his second Tbolt formation to counter the Ork Fightas and failed again! Must be some bad weather on the way over.
Sensing weakness, the Ork player brought in the second Fighta Bomba squadron and hit the Regimental HQ again, taking out another Chimera but failing to hit the Hydra at the center of the formation.
The Guard player finished out the turn by doubling the HQ and the second infantry company up into ruins in preparation for an assault on the center objectives.
Every Ork formation rallied and cleared their blast markers this turn, while the Guard were left with blast markers
on the Sentinels and HQ.
Turn 2Here's where things really go downhill for the Orks. They won the roll-off and doubled their Stompa Mob through the ruins to paste the Baneblades, but after some abysmal rolling did no damage.
The Guard player finally got his second Tbolt on CAP. Barring some serious changes in AA cover and/or every Ork Fighta Bomba squadron activating this turn in spite of piles of blast markers, the Landa would probably not be making an appearance.
The Guard player retained the initiative. The Ork Battlefortress would be in range this turn to assault the Baneblades, if only someone would take care of that pesky Sentinel screen. So the Guard player sustained fire with the Baneblades into the Battlefortress formation, splitting shots between the Battlefortress and the attendant gunwagons. The Ork player had left the infantry inside last turn, trusting to the power fields to keep them safe. But with only 2 DC left, the Battlefortress died a quick death and
every infantry base inside failed their armor save, including the Warlord. The lone remaining Flakwagon retreated, broken, to sit in cover near the Ork blitz.
Post MortemAt this point it was looking pretty rough for the Ork player. Even though most of his formations were alive and well, they were very poorly positioned to take any further objectives until turn 3. A few more activations were carried out but I didn't bother recording them, because my friend was not really feeling it and it was clear the best course of action was to quit and go out drinking.
Not that the Guard player deployed or played perfectly, but the Orks seemed to have a bad time of it. Besides the fact that the Ork/Guard matchup is always going to be rougher for the Orks turn 1, I believe the Ork player made a few mistakes that are worth pointing out:
1. Targeting the BTS with the Fighta Bombas rather than picking off the Baneblade Co.'s Hydra was a mistake. This was the obvious weak point in the AA screen although neither player saw it at the time. The Guard player was extremely worried about that Landa and taking out that Hydra would have exposed the entire right flank, if not the back field, to an air assault.
2. Not doing everything in his power to set up for a turn 2 assault, if not a turn 1 Landa engagement against the garrisoned infantry company. They were fairly exposed on the Guard player's right flank with only the Baneblade Co.'s hydra and a single Tbolt squadron on CAP to protect them. The battlewagon warband could have doubled into Firefight range turn 1, and the Fighta Bombas could have cleared out the AA and possibly drawn off the Tbolts, making a potentially suicidal Landa assault possible.
3. If not a Turn 1 Landa assault, the Ork player at least needed to be looking ahead to getting the warband and gunwagon formations ready for a Turn 2 assault somewhere. The center looked like it could hold or counterattack successfully with the Stompas supporting, but the Ork player's entire battle plan hinged on the Ork player taking the cathedral and rolling up the Guard's right flank. Giving the Guard player several additional activations to batter the Battlewagon warband put that plan in jeopardy.
In theory the Orks could have tried to shift their focus, leaving the slow Baneblade and infantry companies to sit and taking their mobile forces to the opposite flank to counterattack the Regimental HQ in Turn 3. The game wasn't really over yet, but having fun is important and the Ork player had ceased to have fun when the Battlefortress exploded ignominiously.
For what it's worth, we played again the next day - my Orks vs. his EUK Tyranids. He won handily and seems much more engaged with Epic since then. Another convert!
Until the next Steel Legion game, this little guy will just have to wait to be rescued:
