Same EC list as Playtest 1. This time the titans and knights had initiative 2+ to bring them in line with the LatD

Lists:

Orks, 3000 points (NetEA 2012 Tournament Pack):
1. Buggies/scorchas
2. Buggies/scorchas
3. Gunwagons w/MW BP
4. Gunwagons w/TK
5. Fightabombas (3)
6. Fightabombas (4)
7. Stormboys (8)
8. Landa
9. Mob with Warboss
10. stormboys with scorchas
11. Big guns with some MW barrage (BTS)

Emperor’s Children 4.0x, 2995 points:
1. Retinue, Warlord, Rhinos, Stalker 365 pts.
2. Retinue, 2 noise marine (replacements), rhinos, stalker, 340 pts
3. Retinue, 4 noise marine (replacements), rhinos, stalker, 365 pts
4. Armored company, 8 EC predators, 400 pts
5. Hell knights (6) 450
6. Questar 300
7. Questar 300
8. Chaos Thunderhawk 200
9. Retinue, dreadnought, icon bearer 300

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Let us playtest like the Greeks of old... You know the ones I mean

TURN 1
Strategy EC
Questor doubles, lays BM on gunwagons (not pictured – my camera battery died and I had to switch to my phone)

Fighta bombas go on CAP


Retinue Doubles


Storm boys with scorchas doubles


Another retinue doubles



Gunwagons with TK shots advance, snipe the Questor that thought it was safe, and break it.




Predators double, lay a BM on some gunwagons. Way to go guys.


…And get assaulted in the face by a landa full of stormboys for their trouble.


Miracle of miracles, 5 6’s on 8 rolls, only three casualties in return, and the preds emerge victorious!


The other questor tries to reduce the gunwagons’ firepower and knocks out two


Fighta bombas try to finish the broken questor off and fail


Another retinue doubles


Gunwagons marshal, negating all the questor’s hard work


In the face of all that MW and TK, the knights boldly double into concealment behind some buildings


The war boss’ mob marches into the other side of the town


Standing down is for p*ssies, so the T-hawk goes in, and promptly get’s bounced by the ork CAP. One of the Fightabombas get’s shot down, and the CAP just lays a BM. Lucky T-hawk!!


Retinue plus dread disgorges and BtB’s as many buggies/scorchas/whatever the hell they are as possible.


Increadibly unlucky Retinue fails to hit much, saves almost nothing (including a DC on the t-hawk), and loses the combat. A bad day for air assaults, it turns out.


Big guns marshal (the had been on overwatch)


So do the buggies that slaughtered the air assault retinue. Like the combat never even happened.


Buggies double and lay a BM on the preds


T-hawk flies away with some BM, as do the two FMs of fighta bombas

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Let us playtest like the Greeks of old... You know the ones I mean

TURN 2




Good thing the EC have a good Strategy Rating, as this could get ugly. Oh wait, what’s that? Orks win strategy anyway? Fantastic.


War wagons try to sustain, fail, but fully squash the Questor anyway (it used to be where that BM is in the background, kind of symbolic, yes?) That kinda stung.


Phew, the orcs failed in the first activation. Crisis averted, even though the EC lost a titan. Lets sock it to ‘em boys!!! Let’s get those preds out of harms way with a marshal and move them to support an assault or something…
…And the preds fail. The EC elect not to use the reroll this early in the turn


Buggies/scorchas double and take out a knight


Orks retain and engage with the war boss mob


The knights kill three grots, lose the assault and break. Yay BTS! You go girls!!


Pesky T-hawk Topper Harly goes in for a ground attack on the big guns, taking one out


Fighta bombas pick on the surviving questor, laying a BM.


…which fails its activation and breaks, even with the SC re-roll. I’m running out of ways to sarcastically say “good job guys” in a creative way.


Retinue advances and takes out 2-3 buggies/whatever.


Gun wagons advance and take out a rhino and stalker. Jerks.


That retinue marshals


Miscellaneous ork LVs advance and lay a BM on a retinue. Stupid unidentifiable ork models


Retinue returns fire and lays a BM of its own. Take that!


Storm boys move around in the woods a bit. Way to be decisive.


Big Guns marshal


Surviving storm boy from landa marches toward the ork blitz

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Let us playtest like the Greeks of old... You know the ones I mean

TURN 3




Strategy EC

Retinue Engages the scorchas/buggies:


And wins


On a retain, the other retinue sustains and lays a BM. Nice shootin’, Tex.


Fighta bombas go on CAP.


Knights fail and regroup


Big guns sustain and take out a couple of units in a retinue


Another retinue doubles and lays a BM on the storm boys


The war boss moves to secure DtF


In a last gasp to attempt to go to turn 4, Topper Harley the T-hawk goes in for a landing/ground attack. The CAP is activated, and his luck runs out. He loses his remaining DC and augers into the trees



Buggies double onto the Blitz (those preds never rallied, and are broken), orks win 3-0 with Blitz, DtF, and TSNP.

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Let us playtest like the Greeks of old... You know the ones I mean

END OF GAME

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Let us playtest like the Greeks of old... You know the ones I mean

Impressions: Definitely not my best showing. It’s been a while since I’ve lost 3-0 in turn 3. Thank you to uberChris for playtesting and taking me to school. Well, maybe not so much the last part.

The knights are still scary, but Initiative 2+ can be a real wet blanket as I found in this game (for the titans too). Against opponents with some TK ability, they feel a lot more vulnerable. They are also susceptible to clipping in engagements and the 5+ RA isn’t much to write home about in that situation. More testing is needed. I think I need to try these where they aren’t the BTS, so I’ll use them with less fear of giving up a victory condition. I’m not sure if their relatively poor performance has something to do with timid use on my part.

The fearless T-hawk does bring a capability to the table that typically isn’t there, but I’m not sure that it’s world-beating or broken as of yet. I guess it could have saved me to get beaten in turn 4 if it hadn’t gotten shot down

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Let us playtest like the Greeks of old... You know the ones I mean

Interesting to see the knights quelled more in this game. Would be worth trying as non-BTS as you say, even though they could not be so aggressive this game they still didn't lose much by the looks of it – 1 knight and some DC off the rest?

Like the shot of the thawk stuck in a tree.

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AFK with real life, still checking PMs

Thanks for the report! Looked lile a cool game!

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https://epic40ksweden.wordpress.com/

"You have a right to be offended" - Steve Hughes
"Your feelings are hurting my thoughts" - Aron Flam

Nice battle report. I particularly Ike the Thunderhawk in the trees!

It doesn't seem to me like anything is particularly broken, and I think you need the t-hawk to be fearless to offset how much easier it is to break chaos vs. imperial vehicles.

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That's not a moon....it's a space station....

I really enjoyed the write-up, thanks.

Insert broke record here --> I loved the Thunderhawk in the trees!

Joel

I think a scout screen and/or a formation in support would have helped the knights performance in that game.

I feel that a fearless T-Hawk is problematic. Only larger, more costly WE transports are currently fearless which is understandable. Instead of being destroyed in a failed engagement like all other DC 2/3 landers would be, the fearless T-Hawk can fly off board and then come back on a roll of a 4+ (or on a 1+ during the next turn if it fails). On turn 3 or 4 it can contest objectives and/or get "they shall not pass" (even if it's broken on the ground and later rallies). It can also shoot at or engage vulnerable enemy formations that might be out of reach of Chaos ground formations, potentially changing the outcome of the game, when it should actually be a scorched wreck on the field. I see the possibility of multiple, inexpensive, fearless T-Hawks wreaking havoc at the end of a game when formations and A.A. capabilities are usually degraded.

I would have to disagree with "robbypk" about the cost of a non-fearless T-Hawk for a Chaos list. Allowing Chaos to take a T-Hawk is to give the list a very potent ability that it has never had. Chaos has plenty of great perks already, so paying 200 points for a unit and an ability that is normally the domain of loyalist marines is just "the price of doing business" as far as I see it.

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"Live off the land. Go to find war. Kill wot comes close. The old ways are best." - Grodd, Ork Snakebite Runtherd