Conflict at the Sino-Habs
Ultramarines XIX Company [Apologist] vs. Waa! Nuzzgrond [Bob Hunk]
The Land Raider's interior was bathed in a warm red light, and Sergeant Quillon led the squad in devotions before the shrine. Wafting the smoke from the incense burner over his face, he made a short, silent prayer for the spirit of the Land Raider, Orion's Blade. As senior Sergeant in the formation, he had been deployed in the war machines rather than the more familiar Rhino transports. He didn't intend to lose them.
At a short burst of the interior alarm, Quillon turned. Brother Antimon turned his face to Quillon.
'Orks?' The sergeant nodded.
'Orks. Always Orks.'

Scenario
3000pts Tournament Scenario.

Battlefield
6 x 4ft

The short edge at the top of this image is the East.

Armies Used
Ultramarines, XIX Aethon Company
Rules used: Net EA Codex Astartes; Dobbsy's current trial changes:


+++
Waa! Nuzzgrond, Scourge of Ullanor Secundus

Rules used: Net EA Ghazghkull's War Horde


+++
Objectives and Deployment
Imperial Deployment

The Ultramarines deployed on the Southern edge, with Land Raider Support and Tactical Two securing the route to the Sino-Orthodox Cathedral (top of shot; this is the Ork's Blitzkrieg objective).
Meanwhile, the remainder of the Ultramarines massed on the South-west, with Assault One and Tactical Three providing a force in reserve in the centre. The Imperials picked out a command bunker on the extreme North-west and an AA point on the central canyon, deep in the ork half.

Ork Deployment

With the kunnin' plan written down carefully in big letters, the orks massed in the North. Dregkart and Wazzdakka led their Blitz Brigades in on the North-west, and the remainder of the ork forces deployed out of their battlewagons, clustered in the North-east, the Stompa mob anchoring the flank. The Big Boomerz set up directly opposite the Imperial Blitz, and secured the road in from the North (this was the Imperial Blitzkrieg objective).

One of the ork objectives were set up in the taller building in front of the Ultramarines Vindicators on the left of the pict-capture of the Imperial deployment (see above), and the other on the Western door of the Sino-Orthodox Cathedral.

_________________
Industrious, red-robe wearing member of the PCRC

Turn 1
With the roar of ramjets, the Starfire Skybears Thunderbolt squadron swooped up, patrolling the skies on a Combat Air patrol after receiving frantic scramble orders from Captain Mercian (ominously the Imperials failed their first order check and had to use the Supreme Commander reroll!).

In response, Squiggles led his Supa-Skwadron in a Ground Attack on Tactical Two. Protected by their heavily-armoured Land Raider transports, no casualties were sustained by Tactical Two, and the Skybears were unable to down any of the ork fighta-bommas.

Codicer Herzog ordered his Devastators forward into cover on the western flank, the marines deploying from their Rhinos in good order as Ancient Titus stomped up.


Eager to close with the enemy, Stompy and da Stompas doubled forward towards the West gate of the Sino-Orthodox Cathedral.


As Captain Mercian darted his formation forward to claim the objective in the tall ruin, the Hunter fired a shrieking missile into Dregkart's Blitz Brigade, causing no damage beyond startling a buggy driver.


Laughing at his underling's discomfort, Dregkart doubled his Blitz Brigade forward and opened up on Tactical One. Diving into cover, no casualties were caused.


Keen to ensure his ladz weren't left out, Wazzdakka's Blitz Brigade rushed round the intact buildings on the double, intensifying the fire on Captain Aethon's beleaguered position. A spiralling missile, trailing oily smoke, crashed into one of the Rhinos, detonating it in an ugly blue-green explosion.


Coming to Tactical One's rescue, Predator Support advanced and targetted Dregkart's flank, their heavy autocannon fire sending two buggies tumbling.


On the Eastern flank, Grimtuff's Dakka Ladz began to trundle forward, hopping into their wagons then deploying in good order as they doubled forward towards the objective behind the massed Land Raiders.


Determined to drive off the circling Blitz Brigade, the Vindicators advanced and tore up two more Buggies with enormous detonations.


A misheard order – followed by an irate Nuzzgrond throttling his communications grot – caused the Big Boomers to Hold rather than set overwatch, despite a repeat of the orders from the Warboss!

Sallying to the rescue of Mercian and Tactical One, Tactical Three advanced towards and attacked Dregkart's Blitz Brigade. As the fire intensified around them and a squadron of bikers were cut down, Dregkart ordered the retreat, his troops' morale broken. They fled North, finishing between the Triumphal Arch and the ravine.


Land Raider Support set overwatch on the East.

Spitting fury, Nuzzgrond ordered his forces to double forward on the East to support Grimtuff.

The Iron Vulcha stood down, the Stormboyz inside settling into their seats and preparing their stikkbommz.

Finally, Reclusiarch Highheart waved Assault One onwards, high boosts of their jump packs sending them arcing across the battlefield, deep into the ork half; threatening the fleeing Dregkart and surrounding Wazzdakka.


END OF TURN ONE
Imperial Objectives – 1
Ork Objectives – 1
Contested Objectives – 1
Imperial Victory Conditions – n/a
Ork Victory Conditions – n/a

In the end phase, Tactical One and the Land Raiders rallied, leaving them with 0 blast markers and ready to fight.
Dregkart's Blit Brigade rallied, with 4 blast markers remaining; as did Grimtuff's mob and the Big Boomerz – both of whom ended with 0 blast markers.

_________________
Industrious, red-robe wearing member of the PCRC

Turn 2
Gaining the strategy roll again, the Astartes continued to harry the Blitz Brigades on the East. Tactical 3 brought only two buggies slewing to a broken halt with a sustained fire order, even with the crossfire bonus from the outflanking Assault One.


"Zoggin' eck!" cried Wazzdakka, as Devastator One also unleashed a sustained wall of fire, under Herzog's direction. Three buggies and a gunwagon collapsed into melted heaps of slag and scrap metal; and the formations turned tail and fled; Wazzdakka shaking his fist at the stony-faced Marines.


In response, Dregkart led his Blitz Brigade back into the fry, engaging Assault One. Heavily outnumbered, but well-prepared, Highheart and his men cut down a stand of bikes and two gunwagons in return for two stands of assault marines. The round ended in a draw; but the second round saw the Astartes triumphant: the loss of another bike stand for no kills broke the orks' spirit and they retreated.

The long shadows of Stompy and the Stompas doubled along the central road, and a high-pitched squealing heralded their fire on Assault One. Ducking into cover, none of the Astartes died!


In urgent retaliation, Vindicator support advanced and attacked the Stompa mob, bracketing them with devastating firepower and bringing two of the collosal machine to the ground. The rest lost their nerve, turned about, and ran back the way they had come.

Squiggles and his Supa Skwadron failed to get airborne; doubtless owing to some careless runt forgetting to refuel the fighta-bommas. They stood down and removed all their blast markers.

With no enemy airpower available, T'Moro led the Skybears in a ground attack on Wazzdakka's broken Blitz Brigade in the North-west, resulting in a fantastic five kills for the gallant Sky-Captain and his wingman.


Grimtuff's mob doubled forward to attack Tactical 2. This activated Land Raider Supports' Overwatch, which resulted in one boyz stand and three battlewagons being reduced to piles of ash and smoke. In the confusion, the intended attack had gone awry, and no casualties were caused to Sergeant Quillon and his men.


Unfortunately for the jubilant Ultramarines of Tactical 2, Grimtuff's attack was just a feint. Sailing in on the looted Thunderhawk, Iron Vulcha, the Rokkiteers launched an air assault:

... which resulting in five tactical stands and two Land Raiders being torn to smithereens; while only three Stormboy stands were scattered in return. Tactical 2 fell back hurriedly, Sergeant Quillon and his remaining men scorched and bleeding as they embarked the remaining Land Raider.


Meanwhile, on the West flank, Captain Mercian and Tactical One doubled up to support Assault One; the Hunter taking a potshot at the Stompas. While no hit was caused, the panic amongst the broken crew led them to abandon one of the Stompas owing to the blast marker.


Mercian ordered Predator Support to cut across the centre and shore up the Eastern flank – the objective must be held! Gunning their engines, the tanks marched across to end up at the main entrance to the Sino-Orthodox Cathedral, next to the Plaza d'Aquilla.


Nuzzgrond, full of wrath, ordered his formation round the Cathedral, where they opened up on Tactical 2; wiping out the Land Raider and remaining infantry stand. Sergeant Quillon's head opened up at a stray shell; and everything went black...

On the other side of the field, Assault One marshalled, buoyed by the presence of their Company Captain and Reclusiarch. They jumped to claim the anti-aircraft post objective near the ravine.


The Big Boomaz spotted the jump pack contrails of Assault One and opened up with sustained fire. Due to the distance and plentiful ruins, coupled with the orks' notorious 'marksmanship', no casualties were caused, though Highheart still ordered his men to dig in.


As the Landa disengaged, Hunters from Tactical One and the Devastators homed in; one striking home to cause a damage point.

END OF TURN Two
Imperial Objectives – 3
Ork Objectives – 1
Contested Objectives – 0
Imperial Victory Conditions – n/a
Ork Victory Conditions – n/a

Successful Rally
Grimtuff (0)
Rokkiteers (1)
Assault One (0)

Failed Rally
Dregkart (Broken)
Stompy and the Stompas (Broken)

_________________
Industrious, red-robe wearing member of the PCRC

Turn 3
Winning the strategy roll once more, Mercian quickly ordered Land Raider Support to thin down the advancing orks on the East flank. The gunners acknowledged the order, and opened fire on Grimtuff's mob. When the smoke cleared, two grot stands, two boyz stands, two flakwagons, two gunwagons and a single battlewagon had been removed in a conflagaration! Grimtuff swiftly led his forces back across the centreline.


Determined to keep the pressure high, Mercian ordered Predator Support to target Nuzzgrond, but all of their fire missed, frustrated by the undulating ground and their high speed.

The Rokkiteers engaged Land Raider support, resulting in the loss of one tank and one stormboy unit. Nevertheless, the Land Raiders won the engagement, and the Rokkiteers scampered back towards the North road, broken.

Nuzzgrond opened fire upon Vindicator support, desperate to create some form of opening and get the orks back in charge; but no hits were scored.


In return, the Vindicators performed a sustained attack on Nuzzgrond, killing a nobz stand and a gunwagon.


Back in the air, Squiggles and his Supa-Skwadron raced down the canyon – pursued by an ineffectual Hunter missile from the Devastators – and attacked the survivors of Assault One. Hunkered down in their defensive positions, no casualties were caused.


Covered by the Squiggles' advance, the Iron Vulcha swept in and launched an attack on Tactical One, which saw a Tactical stand laid low.

With his battlefield awareness swollen by his psychic powers, Codicer Herzog consolidated his position on the west by advancing into the enemy half and claiming the bunker amongst the intact buildings. A single long-range Hunter shot at Nuzzgrond's formation destroyed another Battlewagon.


Seeing their forces falling back in disarray, the Big Boomerz hunkered down on Overwatch.

With only one large formation of orks in a battle-ready state, and even that surrounded by virtually intact Astartes formations, it looked like the game was up for the Orks. Tactical Three targetted Nuzzgrond's formation with sustained long-range fire that killed two boyz stands and one nobz stand.


The Skybears then swept in on a Ground Attack, killing a grot stand plus destroying a battlewagon and gunwagon. The orks' fighting spirit left them and they fell back to friendly lines.


Tactical One then put the final nail in the ork's coffin by advancing relentlessly on the stompa mob and wiping out the remnants.


END OF TURN Three
Successful Rally
Tactical One (0)
Land Raider Support (0)
Vindicators (0)
Dregkart (2)
Grimtuff (0)

Failed Rally
Rokkiteers (Broken)
Wazzdakka (Broken)

Imperial Objectives – 5
Ork Objectives – 1
Contested Objectives – 0

Imperial Victory Conditions – Take and Hold, They Shall Not Pass, Defend The Flag
Ork Victory Conditions – Break Their Spirit

Imperial Victory!
Captain Mercian rued the loss of Quillon and the Land Raiders, but casualties were almost inevitable. Victory was his; and twice itself for bringing home near-full numbers.

_________________
Industrious, red-robe wearing member of the PCRC

great battle report, a very enjoyable read. It was interesting in that it read like the Marines were using an advancing gunline, rather than the typical assaults, to push the Orks back.

A good read, thanks for posting.

PS - I like the cathedral and the arc; where are they from? (yes, I know, Paris, I meant the models!)

Very enjoyable read and great pics that illustrate the game well !!

Look forward to reading more...

Ant..

Great bat rep!

I'm going to repeat SpeakerToMachines - where're the Parisian buildings from??

Thanks for the nice comments
...any tactical tips, pointers or questions? Bob and I have been playing for about a year now, but we're the only players, so our 'metagame' is quite small. We'd both appreciate some thoughts on list selection, tactics and further expansion

Regarding the buildings, they're 3D puzzles, made from card.
Pop out world
Note that the scale is not quite consistent between the different bits, but a lot of them are suitably monolithic and over-the-top for 40k. They're nice and affordable, and quick and simple to build. I got mine from Amazon, where each was about £8–10.

_________________
Industrious, red-robe wearing member of the PCRC

The Ork player could make his blitz brigades less vulnerable by not including Light Vehicles in them. It makes them targettable by AP weapons, which often have better to hit numbers than AT ones. The LVs could be used to form small Kults of Speed, upping the Ork activation count, which would make the entire army more lethal. These extra activations would also allow him to take a single big blitz brigade with two super weapons. A large BB is harder to break and the soopa guns pack more of a punch when fired together in a single activation. Tje two warbands could do with similar trimming. Use only the needed number of transport vehicles to mount the ork infantry and use any excess vehicles to form small Blitz Brigades that can be used to place balst markers, enable cross fires and support assaults with thier decent (for orks!) FF values. The Landa was well handled, but mounting only the Storm Boyz in it wastes four transport slots. Consider transporting a foot warband in the Landa instead, allowing you to attack juicier targets with greater numbers. Or just get more Storm Boyz! They are after all mobile and can keep on moving, assaulting and claiming objectives after the initial assault.

Over all the Ork player seemed to have trouble getting into the flow of the game, with his formations being targeted one by one and driven off. Try supporting the advances of the main mech warbands with some serious fire power, like the stompas or BBs, to put some BMs on the marines. Also, include more small formations that can zip forward to draw fire off of the main assault units. The marine player then must choose whether to ignore them and be subject to a dribble of blast markers and crossfires, or dela with them and leave the heavier ork formations intact. Also, the Ork player seemed very eager to jump the gun and roar forwards at high speed, setting him up for heavy return fire from the untouched and unsuppressed marine formations. Try to use the first turn for more maneuvres, setting up the game for better assault opportunities in turn 2. Good fire support formations and some small cheap throw away formations makes this a lot easier. And don't include two BTS formations, that makes the Marine's job that much easier...

_________________
"Don't use finesse, if force will solve the problem."

- Lieutenant General Michael O'Neal

Expansions for the Ork player could be:

Get your own Landa! It's a very useful tool for the Ork army, which lacks artillery and teleporters, to get some means of attacking the deep end of the board. If ypu really like it, get two.

Get some Killa Kans for the Stompas. They are dirt cheap points wise and really adds to the durability of Stompa formations, since the greater numbers make them a lot harder to break, making sure that your big bad war machines don't break so easily.

Get a Gargant! A Gargatn can really take some damage and can be used to draw fire, ancor your line, support your other units etc, etc. While most ork units are relatively lightly armoured, the Gragant can take heavy firepower on the chin and keep going.

Get some more Big Guns. When used en masse, they start being a bigger threat and can be used for area denial in your own table half.

_________________
"Don't use finesse, if force will solve the problem."

- Lieutenant General Michael O'Neal

Thanks for the feedback Ares, it's very helpful. You're right, I did have trouble getting into the flow of this game. I like the idea about reorganising the Blitz Brigades and Kults, I'll try that next game. I only realised that I had two BTS formations as we were deploying, I'll definitely try to avoid that in the future!

I agree about needing Kans to support the Stompas and more Stormboyz in the Landa; those oversights were just down to lack of models. Normally I do also field a Gargant and more Big Gunz, but we were playing a smaller game than usual.

I'm sure we'll be back with another battle report sometime soon.

_________________
Plastic Crack Rehab Clinic

No problems, we Warbosses have to stick together.

Check out the threads on Ork taktiks in the Strategy board, and read Jaldon's excellent army building guide in there as well. It's about building efficient combat teams of cooperating formations and using them in conjunction to achieve a good overall effect. I usually have one big assault unit (Warband, Mech Warband) supported by a heavy unit to lay down prep fire (Big guns, BBs, Stompas) and a light unit (KoS) to effect crossfires and fire support during assaults. Two of these "companies" usually give me flexibility and strength to act offensively. Other units such as landas, aircraft and gargants round out the force and give me options and variations.

If your opponent lets you, you could proxy stuff to try them out beforehand.

Look at some Soopa Guns for your BBs. Macro weapon barrages are good versus ground pounder Marines, who rely om their power armored infantry for their main combat strength. 4 BP barrages with no armour saves is not what they want to face.

Looking forward to the next report! Keep it up, both of you.

_________________
"Don't use finesse, if force will solve the problem."

- Lieutenant General Michael O'Neal

All fine by me

Thanks for the feedback, Ares – it's very helpful.

_________________
Industrious, red-robe wearing member of the PCRC