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BATREP: Elysians vs. Orks, 2700 pts
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Author:  Honda [ Tue Feb 14, 2006 9:20 pm ]
Post subject:  BATREP: Elysians vs. Orks, 2700 pts
Battle Report ? Elysians vs. Orks, 2700 pts

This is a map exercise I played against myself to get a feel for how the Elysians might fare against what is arguably one of the more aggressive lists I?ve faced. The list I am playing was used against me in another game and it just munched my Tau (see the EA Focus HQ/Tau forums for a report). The Orks for their part, aren?t expected to do anything really fancy, just try to beat the Elysians into "bitz". I should also admit up front that I haven't played Orks before, so those of you reading this with a greenish tint to your skin, cut me some slack. ?:/

The idea behind a map exercise is to observe behaviors in units (at least for me, that?s the purpose). So, I'm trying to see how the Elysian list actually operates in the "field".

So ?who? wins or loses, isn?t as important as ?why? they did or did not. It's a learning experience. You will also note that this isn?t a tournament style of game, more of a special scenario or campaign game. In this game, the Elysians are going to try to contest the bridge and become an obstacle to the Orks continued progress to other battlefields. The reason I picked this type of scenario, is that being an elite type of formation, the Elysians would only be committed if the task is tough and the success of the mission critical. I wouldn?t expect the Elysians to be committed to battle ?willy-nilly?, but saved for extreme circumstances as in their part of the Taros campaign. So that is the ?fluff? reason for fighting the battle.

Note that the objective markers have been placed so that they make ?tactical? sense, not adhering strictly to tournament rule set up. I will be using the tournament guidelines for scoring as well as requiring the Orks to eliminate any units that have a zone of control touching the bridge.

Elysian Order of Battle

1-Regimental HQ, 1xSC, 5xValk, 8xInf, 525
2-Storm Trooper Co, 8xST, 4xValk, 350
3-Storm Trooper Co, 8xST, 4xValk, 350
4-Drop Infantry, 1xCommand, 8xInf, 225
? Drop Sentinel, 4 x Drop Sentinel, 125
5-Drop Infantry, 1xCommand, 8xInf, 225
? Drop Sentinel 4 x Drop Sentinel 125
6-Drop Infantry 1xCommand, 8xInf 225
? Fire Support Pltn, 4xFS, 100
7-Vulture Sqdn, 4xVult, 300
8-Thunderbolt Sqdn, 2xThunderbolts, 150
9-Thunderbolt Sqdn, 2xThunderbolts, 150

Ork Order of Battle

1 x Uge Mob, (Big Mob-1, 30 stands, incl. 6 Nobs)
2 x Big Mobs, (Mob-2 & 3, 1 x Nob, 8 boyz)
1 x Speed Freeks (Bikes, 18 vehicles)
2 x Blitz brigades (Blitz-1 & 2, 6 x gun wagons, 6 x flak wagons)
1 x Stompa mob (Stompas, 4 x Stompas)
1 x Uge Gun Mob (Gunz-1, 15 Big Gunz, w/3 x Soopa guns)

Initial Deployment

The Orks deployed heavily around their Blitzkrieg objective to protect against a first turn drop of troops, however, set up so that they can take advantage of the road to get across the bridge which is an objective.

As part of the scenario, the river can only be crossed at the bridge so holding or denying use of the bridge is extremely important.

The Elysians deploy in the lower left corner, looking for opportunities.

To be continued?
Author:  Honda [ Wed Feb 15, 2006 3:30 am ]
Post subject:  BATREP: Elysians vs. Orks, 2700 pts
Turn 1

Elysians win the Strategy roll and elect to have the Orks go first. With nothing nearby to stop them, the Orks choose to activate the Bikes and get them on their way. The bikes double and scoot on up the road.

The Elysians activate a T-bolt squadron and place them on CAP (and before you ask, that?s just SOP with me. I played it as if I didn?t know what the Orks were fielding).

The Orks double a blitz brigade.

The Elysians decide to try a ground attack with TBolt-2 and zoom in on the bikes, shooting as they go. The Ork flak shoots one fighter down, but the remaining fighter scores two kills. However, with the size of the formation, the loss is hardly noticed.

The Orks start to recognize their predicament if they don?t get enough units close to the bridge to support the assault and continue to press their way forward.

The next blitz brigade lines up and doubles up to the bridge. The Elysians respond by moving the Vulture squadron over.

Realizing that the gun mob doesn?t have any targets, they double over to prepare to support a Turn 2 push across the bridge.

The Regimental HQ, misses the first time, but doubles successfully with the SC re-roll.

The Orks get the feeling that Drop troops are going to show up next turn and so double Mob-2 onto the bridge. As if to prepare for the eventual assault, Storm Trooper-2 doubles over behind the Vultures.



The Uge Mob triples on up the road to ensure that they are well positioned for next turn. Storm Trooper-1 doubles behind the RHQ, thus ending the Elysians moves.

The Orks double the Stompas and Mob-3 and get everything lined up for a big push. The Elysians wonder if they?ve got enough stuff to stop them.

In the Rally phase, in what could become significant, the Ork bike mob does not rally and leaves the three blast markers.
Author:  Honda [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 4:00 am ]
Post subject:  BATREP: Elysians vs. Orks, 2700 pts
Turn Two



With a ?Who Dares, Wins? attitude, the Elysians air drop (i.e. teleport) ?two Drop troop squads, Drop-2 gets in Ok, but one Sentinel gets a blast marker, while Drop-3 gets two blast markers, but the support squads come in Ok.

And now, the $64,000 question. Who gets to go first? For the strategy roll, the Orks get a 5 and the Elysians get a 3. The Elysians are not excited.

Orks being orks, they decide to start the turn with a bang and jump on ?da ?umies?. The mob on the bridge rolls successfully to engage Drop-3 and away they go. Mob-2 pulls in parts of the bikes and Drop-2 & 3 with their supporting units add to the mix.

Big Scrum #1

Orks do 5 kills, Elysians do 5 kills, each have +7 to resolution, they tie with sixes, so in the second round, the Orks do 2 kills, the Elysians do 6 and Mob-2 is destroyed. Drop-3 is reduced to two units and the support formation. Drop-3 consolidates in a position where it can offer crossfire support to Drop-2.

The Orks roll to retain initiative, roll a 2 and fail, placing a blast marker on the Bike unit and get very angry at the dice god, Dork.

Seeing an opportunity to interdict the Orks advance, the Elysians sustain fire on Blitz-1 with the Vulture squadron, causing 6 kills which breaks the unit (6 remaining).

So, the Orks double Blitz-1 over to Drop-2 and start ?da cunnin? plan?, scoring 1 kill on Drop-2. The Orks roll to see if they retain initiative with Mob-3. Successful, they engage Drop-3. Mob-3 causes 6 kills wiping out the unit, and takes 4 kills, which leaves them with 4 BM, and they consolidate, 5 cm.

Stormtroopers-2 activate, do a single and fire on Mob-3 and wipe them out.

The Orks double up to the bridge and decide to introduce Drop-2 to the vagaries of Ork fire discipline. One would think that needing to hit on +7 shouldn?t cause much concern for the potential targets. ?Unfortunately for the Drop troops, the Ork fire is anything but vague and they score 4 kills on the unit and leave 5 BM.

Stormtroopers-1 activates and triples over to the Elysian left most objective to be within 30 cm of the broken blitz unit (Blitz-1).

The Gunz mob doubles forward and finds it?s Soopaguns within range of Drop-2 and with 6BP, causes 2 more kills and places 4 BM, thus breaking the unit.

The Stompas decide to play it a little cagey and double back to the Ork Blitz objective. The Elysian RHQ decides to triple over to the right and prepare for the next turn.

As a last parting shot, both the T-bolts activate and kill four more vehicles, leaving them at 2 vehicles left. In a final slap to the face, the Ork Blitz-1 does not rally, but Drop-2 does.
Author:  Honda [ Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:45 pm ]
Post subject:  BATREP: Elysians vs. Orks, 2700 pts
For those of you who clicked on the map link for Turn Two, I've fixed the link and the map should display correctly.

Sorry for the technical issues.
Author:  primarch [ Sun Feb 19, 2006 9:58 pm ]
Post subject:  BATREP: Elysians vs. Orks, 2700 pts
Hi!

Cool, thanks for posting it!

Primarch
Author:  Honda [ Mon Feb 20, 2006 3:14 am ]
Post subject:  BATREP: Elysians vs. Orks, 2700 pts
Start of Turn 3

Turn 3


Needing to reinforce the area controlling the exit off the bridge, Drop-1 lands in the woods to the right of the road and the attached Sentinels form a skirmish line across the road in front of the Ork Blitz brigade.

The roll to see who goes first becomes extremely significant again. The Elysians roll a 6 and the Orks a 2. The Elysians elect to go first.

Stormtrooper-2 engages the Blitz brigade and calls for support from Sentinel-2 and Drop-1. With all the shooting that the Elysians bring to the fray (all 4 Sentinel MW miss), only four vehicles are killed, and four kills are placed on the Stormtroopers. Orks lose the assault 6 to 13, break and are reduced to 1 vehicle. The Stormtroopers take four BM. In a brave gesture to stop the green tide, the Stormtroopers consolidate onto the bridge in an attempt to keep the Orks from piling over.

Not wishing to leave their brothers alone in the face of overwhelming numbers, Stormtrooper-1, retains the initiative and deploys to fire on the bike unit. ?In spite of the fact that seven bikes are killed, plus the additional BM for being shot at, the bikes do not break. Not a good turn of events for the Elysians.

The Orks look around at the buffet of opportunities and decide to jump on the Stormtroopers guarding the bridge. So the Gunz mob rolls successfully to Sustain on Stormtrooper-1 and the hail of lead and energy begins. The infantry are wiped out to a man and only one Valkyrie survives, placing 9 blastmarkers (two from the Soopa gunz barrage) and the unit breaks.

Excited by the open road ahead, the bike mob opens up the throttles of their bikes and engages the Sentinels straddling the road?much to the Sentinels surprise and/or chagrin. The Sentinels are wiped out without causing any casualties in return and the Bikes consolidate further up the road.



The Elysians are now in a bit of a pickle. The large Ork mob has not activated yet and there is very little that might keep it from gaining the bridge. Deciding to tackle low hanging fruit first, the Vultures activate and single to the Bike mob and cause only two kills, but those, plus the BM for shooting are enough to break the formation. However, being good Orks, they continue to press into enemy territory in the hopes that they might rally at the end of the turn.

The Elysians opt not to retain and hand over the turn to the Orks. The Orks (singing, ?Itz now er neva!?) opt to single and unload their weapons on Drop-1. The Ork Unbelievably ?Uge mob scores 10 hits, only four are save (due to being in the woods), breaking Drop-1.

The cagey Elysians decide to activate Drop-2 and exact some measure of revenge on the broken bikes, which are precariously close to an objective should they rally. Two more hits drop them down to 5 bikes remaining.

The Orks only have one more unit to activate, that being the Stompas, so they Marshal in place and continue to guard the Ork Blitz objective. (Obviously, there?s not a lot they can do right now and at least they can hold/contest the Blitz).

The Elysians take over. Well, when in doubt, call in aircraft?or at least try. The single T-Bolt formation fails its activation and removes the blast marker. The second does not and ground attacks the ?Uge mob on the bridge, causing one kill.

It?s time for the Regimental HQ to take their shot and see if they can drive the Orks off of the bridge. So the RHQ singles over to the mob, and kills 6 and places 13 BM in total, but with 22 stands remaining, it isn?t enough to break the Mob.

End of Turn Three

So, if we look at the scenario conditions, the Orks have cleared the bridge from any zones of control, but if I add in the GT scoring, it looks like a 0-0 score, indicating that a fourth turn should be played.

What I find interesting is that the Orks have pushed deeply into the Elysian side of the board, but are quickly running out of units to sustain the push. From the Elysian perspective, all the ?one shot? wonder weapons are gone and the only units capable of counter-attacking with some degree of effectiveness are Stormtrooper-1 and the RHQ, although the Vultures and Thunderbolts are still somewhat potent.

The next turn should be quite interesting.

End of Turn 3
Author:  Honda [ Mon Feb 20, 2006 2:55 pm ]
Post subject:  BATREP: Elysians vs. Orks, 2700 pts

If a part of the formation is engaged, the whole formation is part of it. So your Drop-1 could use counter charge move to bring units into firing range. However if you lose (although you might get the formation size bonus), then the whole formation is broken (eg. the Drop-1 itself).


I considered bringing Drop-1 into the assault, but didn't want to give up their position in the woods. So I sacrificed the Sentinels...which is kind of tough if you're a sentinel.

They ended up not being the speed bump that I thought they'd be, though they limited the advance of the bikes. OTW, I probably would have tripled the bikes down deep to give the Elysians something to think about while I moved up the other mobs.

Ok, thanx for the feedback.
 

:p
Author:  Tactica [ Mon Feb 20, 2006 7:07 pm ]
Post subject:  BATREP: Elysians vs. Orks, 2700 pts
The Orks deployed heavily around their Blitzkrieg objective to protect against a first turn drop of troops, however, set up so that they can take advantage of the road to get across the bridge which is an objective.

As part of the scenario, the river can only be crossed at the bridge so holding or denying use of the bridge is extremely important.

The Elysians deploy in the lower left corner, looking for opportunities.



I'm suprised at how far away from the road the Elysians deployed. That huge hill 325 and forest in front of them seemed like a great deployment for hte 4 starting Elysian formations. I wonder if they were thinking 'flank' early on but changed their mind. Maybe this was an attempt to misdirect... 'yourself' in deployment? Considering the road was the only way to pass and it was a critical objective for the scenerio, seems odd to deploy so far away. 120cm Vultures can do some damage on turn 1.

This has elements of the defense of Bastogne in WWII by Easy Co of the 501st airborne...

In that historical battle, 7 roads into and out of Bastogne, Allies circle the city in the perimeter woods. German Nazi Panzer, Tiger, heavy artillery and infantry will be assaulting all sides as they make an attempt to take the city, which is a strategic point for mobilizing the armor and redeploying for the remainder of the battle. Easy company would defend the woods for over a month (December 44 into January 45... little amunition, no winter clothing, limited rations) The closest field medical facility was Bastogne itself.

The allies won.

However, in this scenerio - we see a reversal of roles. The Orcs (Axis) hold the city (Bastogne) and the Elysians Drop Troopers (Easy Co paratroopers) are dropping in to gain access to one of the bridges on the perimeter that lead to the city (one of the 7 roads into and out of the city!)

OK - the way I see it in my twisted version of reality anyway!

:)

So, good set up in an alternate universe of 'what if' with a very futuristic fantasy twist of course... but I digress though... so reading on...



Author:  Tactica [ Mon Feb 20, 2006 7:22 pm ]
Post subject:  BATREP: Elysians vs. Orks, 2700 pts
The Elysians activate a T-bolt squadron and place them on CAP (and before you ask, that?s just SOP with me. I played it as if I didn?t know what the Orks were fielding).


CAP for me is one of those losing propositions in the current system. Its easy to 'draw' the CAP air formation into your flak field of fire if you hold out. Better to Intercept from my experience.

The Elysians decide to try a ground attack with TBolt-2 and zoom in on the bikes, shooting as they go. The Ork flak shoots one fighter down, but the remaining fighter scores two kills. However, with the size of the formation, the loss is hardly noticed.

Unless they are the main fighting element, I find that planes are better left to the latter activations so you can keep them alive and so you can capitalize on broken, near broken formations, artillery in hiding, and they always serve as a moral conflict for the enemy when deciding whether to attempt a flanking manouvre or simply seperating from the main fighting element.

Its easier to keep them alive as you can gauge their flight and disengagement paths without having to worry about enemy moving to position into your disengagement path after you've already approached.

Its typically easier to target the weak and broken as they are usually running in the backfield somewhere and the blast marker on broken usually starts adding up quickly enough to get your plane's points back.

The artillery can be a huge pain for the Tau. One should work to eliminate such threats, but as they are typically in the backfield with the majority of deployments, to be safe - you usually have to plan carefully to eliminate flak umbrellas, then move in after the majority of the army has advanced.

The mind game should never be dismissed either. Harder to pull off in a map excersize of course, but nonetheless, if you know the enemy has air elements in reserve, you are less likely to risk a flanking manouvre or any such move which will segment the force affording the enemy air to capitalize on your remote position. Thus, leaving aircraft in reserve will force the enemy to calculate and second guess flanking opportunities lest he generate blast markers or risk breaking.

These are my experiences with aircraft anyway. (and I like aircraft!) :)

Tbolts on the other hand are nowhere near what they are in 40K. So, many will ignore the threat and only begive to worry if they have formations broken in the open.

Regards to the roads - well, live and learn... chalk it up to lots of break downs with the orky equipment! :)



Author:  Tactica [ Mon Feb 20, 2006 7:27 pm ]
Post subject:  BATREP: Elysians vs. Orks, 2700 pts
Turn 2

With a ?Who Dares, Wins? attitude, the Elysians air drop (i.e. teleport)  two Drop troop squads, Drop-2 gets in Ok, but one Sentinel gets a blast marker, while Drop-3 gets two blast markers, but the support squads come in Ok.

And now, the $64,000 question. Who gets to go first? For the strategy roll, the Orks get a 5 and the Elysians get a 3. The Elysians are not excited.


Wow - summon arrow craziness! LOL... cool!

OK, well sucks for the Elysians to heavily commit on turn 2 - and just have to lose the turn strategy!
Author:  Tactica [ Mon Feb 20, 2006 7:30 pm ]
Post subject:  BATREP: Elysians vs. Orks, 2700 pts
Quote (Honda @ 17 Feb. 2006 (21:00))


cont'd turn 2 affairs...

Orks being orks, they decide to start the turn with a bang and jump on ?da ?umies?. The mob on the bridge rolls successfully to engage Drop-3 and away they go. Mob-2 pulls in parts of the bikes and Drop-2 & 3 with their supporting units add to the mix.


I'm suprised the orcs didn't go for a double to get close to and 'shoot the umies' to add blast markers, then follow-up with a retain to engage to maximize the odds of combat in E:A.
Author:  Honda [ Mon Feb 20, 2006 7:39 pm ]
Post subject:  BATREP: Elysians vs. Orks, 2700 pts

I'm suprised the orcs didn't go for a double to get close to and 'shoot the umies' to add blast markers, then follow-up with a retain to engage to maximize the odds of combat in E:A.


...and I quote from the beginning:

>>I should also admit up front that I haven't played Orks before, so those of you reading this with a greenish tint to your skin, cut me some slack.  <<

Maybe even if you don't have a greenish tint.  :p
Author:  Tactica [ Mon Feb 20, 2006 7:42 pm ]
Post subject:  BATREP: Elysians vs. Orks, 2700 pts
Quote (Honda @ 17 Feb. 2006 (21:00))


The Gunz mob doubles forward and finds it?s Soopaguns within range of Drop-2 and with 6BP, causes 2 more kills and places 4 BM, thus breaking the unit.

The Stompas decide to play it a little cagey and double back to the Ork Blitz objective. The Elysian RHQ decides to triple over to the right and prepare for the next turn.

As a last parting shot, both the T-bolts activate and kill four more vehicles, leaving them at 2 vehicles left. In a final slap to the face, the Ork Blitz-1 does not rally, but Drop-2 does.

Well - wow Turn 2, as often is the case, was the money turn here. So much happened.

The only thing I can say is the stompas appeared to waste a lot of time and not much else.

Their movement IMHO means one should use a turn 1 attempt to triple them to a good position - and that usually means you will have to use the SC to make it happen with them. When it doesn't happen, that means they become a 'hold the line' force for the blitz. SO I usually like to attempt to get them to grips because they are so good and their weapons are so effective, but if the dice God DORK is messing with me, then they are an excellent force to stretch out and hold the blize objective with while placing blast markers on whatever moves in range. I just didn't get the feeling that the stompas had much impact for their points in turn 1 and turn 2.

On the other hand, IG thrown to the orcs are interesting. I'm still suprised the Elysians pulled off that first combat but again - see my comments about dumping some blast markers on them first. From the looks of things, it would appear the orcs satisfactorily repelled the drop assault onto the bridge in turn 2. Not good for the Carcas god's forces... I mean "EMPORER PROTECTS!" (usually... errr hopefully!) :)
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