About a two weeks ago a mate and I had a quick game of Epic to help him get his head around the rules. Previously he'd only played once in a multiplayer battle and was keen to get an understanding of how his orks played. I wanted to get back to my long suffering salamanders and so this was an opportunity to get some experience with marines after mostly playing against them for the last few years
Ork Forces were:
Uge Warband
Gargant
Stormboys
Big guns
Blitz Brigade
3x fighta bombers
(all this done in a week!)
Salamanders force:
Tactical + Sup Comd & razorbacks
Tactical + Incinerator and Hunter
Devastators
Terminators + Chaplain
Bikes
Vindicators + Hunter
(at this stage all my salamander specialist vehicles/infantry were unbuilt)
Deployment:
Orks garrison the stormboys & warband near two objectives in the fields whilst the big guns take up a commanding view in one of the buildings. Blitz and Gargant are then set up in the central rear. Salamanders spread out some but avoid the far side of the river.
For something different I teleport the terminators on turn 1 near stormboys on the flank.
Turn 1 the SM get initiative and double up with the vindicators to fire on the stormboys before assaulting with the terminators. This sees all but one storm boy removed (he was too far away for hackdowns) and a single terminator lost. The vindicators and terminators consolidate back towards the objective.
In response the fighta bombers fire on the terminators but this only causes another BM.
The marines then chance the overwatch fire of the big guns and double up to get in FF range for next turn. The overwatch is useless - typical orks - and the SM dash under their guns for no losses. The marines firepower is rushed though and only the heavy flamers on the incinerator and hunter do any damage, killing a big gun in the building and destroying the flack wagon parked outside.
The orks then commit their blitz brigade from its position in reserve and they fire into the vindicators for no effect but before the Marines can react the warband surges forward and catches the terminators and vindicators in an intermingled assault. The marines loose and fall back from the horde of orks but do cause a number of casualties.
With elements of the warband in the SM half the devastators move into some bunkers and open fire, unfortunately most have their LOS blocked and only 2 fire for devastating results (VTIC) - see photo
The gargant then moves up at speed and fires some wild shots at the marines in the city, the shots go wide and the marines prepare to assault the building. To help out the second tactical formation also double up in range of the building - its shooting is minimal but that is now 2 tac formation within 15cm of the big guns. The last activation sees the bikes march over to support the devastators should they need to assault the warband.
Rally phase sees the stormboys fail but everyone else rallies.
Turn 2 I get ready to roll over the big guns but then roll a 1 for strategy and the orks get the drop on me - Doh.
Clearly a cunning ork, the warlord halts his Gargant and zeros in on the marines in the city. Tons of HE later a pile of broken marines and vehicles litter the ground. The remaining few marines fall back to their own board edge.
Determined to stop the warband, SM devastators double up and fire on the warband at close range causing a kill and BM. The Marine bikes then charge in and the combined fire breaks the warband for the loss of 2 bikes.
The biliz brigade then move over and fire on the bikes during their reorg post assault. This fire kills a further bike and breaks them. The bikes attempt to flee deep into ork territory for a 3rd turn blitz grab but before that can happen a flight of fighta bombers attack and wipe them out.
The rallies SM vindicators then double back into position to attack the blitz brigade but cause no hits but they fall back from supression. The supreme commander and his tactical formation then assault the big guns before they can shoot. After storming the building and killing all within, the marines make a tactical retreat outside to put the building between them and the Gargant.
Final move sees the terminators march back toward the objective they cleared of stormboys earlier.
All SM rally as do the warband and blitz but the loan storm boys still refuses to rejoin the fight.
Turn 3
The vindicators double after the blitz brigade and cause another kill then the terminators engage the surviving guns wagons and kill them all. A Terminator is lost in the fight though and the chaplain decides to again consolidate back toward the obj.
The Gargant stops around the building and shoot up the marines in hiding, cover saves many but they still loose 2 vehicles and a stand. As they recover from the blast, fighta bombers scream down and strafe them killing more marines - at least now every body has a ride again!
The devastators set overwatch on their objective in case the warband tries to retake it but instead they spread out to contest the two objectives in their own half. Overwatch fire hurts them a little but they still have a sizable number of boys and remain undeterred. They then fire everything in range at the terminators who's armour saves them but the chaplain thinks his numbers too small and pulls back.
Final moves see the supreme commander and his lads mount up and race past the slow moving Gargant to occupy a position near the ork blitz. The other tactical formation, now rallied attempts to clear the orks from a city objective in order get T&H but they fail to activate and marshall instead.
End result is a 2:0 win to the salamanders, claiming Blitz and They Shall Not Pass - just
The game was a good learning experience for us both and helped blow out some cobwebs for me as I've mostly been playing 40K of late. The orks could have forced a 4th turn with some luck but in the end killing each other got the better of us.
Thanks for reading