Managed to get another playtest in of the Albert Orkstein Gargant list.
Trialled in particluar the following items;
1. Gargants @ 600pts
2. Gargants/Stompas being able to take 2 upgrades each
3. Big Lobba Upgrade
My List was:
Great Gargant
Zzap Gun
Lifta Droppa
Twin Soopa Gun
Gargant
Extra Shields
Zzap Gun
Zzap Gun
Gargant
Extra Shields
Zzap Gun
Big Lobba
Supa Stompa
Extra Shields
Soopa Gun
Soopa Gun
Loota Warband
2 x Killa Kans
Bommer
Bommer
Fighta Sqwadron
I was up against tc63 and his newly won Chaos Army from the recent EUK tourney. The was tc's first game with the list and he starts to get to grips with it, but needless to say I was surprised to have a slight activation advantage despite running a Gargant list! (tc's list was something like; Banelord/Termies/Termies/Ret on foot/Ret in Rhinos/Ret in LRs/Daemons)
Turn 1 saw tc edge his mech Rets up either flank, while I pushed everything forwards in the middle. Everything that could targetted the Banelord, and by the end of the turn it was down to a single Powerfield after rallying in the end phase.
Turn 2 saw tc drop some terminators right next to my pair of regular gargants, well within combat range.... However I won the roll off for first activation. This gave me a tough choice; did I take the chance to engage the termies before they could get into CC and summon a load of nasty gribblies, OR did I go after the Banelord while it was sat in front of me with just one powerfield...
In the end I concluded that as Gargant lists struggle to contest many objectives, I was better off going after the Banelord as it was the BTS.
To this end I managed to pull off a sustain fire with the dual Zzap Gargant and did 4pts (plus the shield) of damage. I then retained with the Great Gargant which doubled and between the Zzap and the Lifta Droppa managed to take down the last of the DC. Boom.
Now I just had to bend over and take the termie assault like an Ork!
tc wasted no time is summoning a bunch of daemons and engaging the two (intermingled) Gargants in CC. When the dust settled both of the Gargs had taken damage, and tc had lost a lot of his assaulting force. I lost the roll off, and the gargants (with a few fires between them) legged it.
Meanwhile the Mech Retinues had moved up around the hill in the middle of the board (and the objectives I was trying to capture) and surrounded my GG....
Turn 3 began with tc63 dropping his next bunch of termies in near my GG, and winning the Initative roll. Que more gribblies. After much death on both sides (and more fires, curse it!) I lost the combat, and the termies were broken too.
I managed to take out the Rhino Mech Retinue in an engagement, while the Zzap Gargant planted itself on the hill to recontest the objectives and lay waste to a couple of units in the LR Retinue.
Meanwhile my bommers and fighta were making a nuisance of themselves and whittling away the remaining CSM units. (In fact I was having so much fun doing this without much AA to threaten me, I clean forgot to land a Bommer on tc's Blitz! whoops...)
The Gargant with the Big Lobba had fled a couple of times by this stage and was sat on tc's blitz. Sadly the fires that were burning were enough to finish it off...
It went to
T4, and I was able to break the depleted CSM units that were able to contest objectives, while keeping hold of both T&H obj.
It finished 2-0 to the Orks (BTS, T&H)
It was an enjoyable game, I could have ended it sooner had I remembered to land a bommer on the Blitz. I can see myself having more run-ins with tc63 and his new Chaos army as he comes to grip with it better too....
I should also add that tc63 had a fantastic knack of rolling sixes and putting out the fires in my gargants in each end phase - he put out far more than not! Thanks mate
So, thoughts on the bits I wanted to try out:
I was happy with how the Gardgants performed at 600pts. They are still nowhere near a Gargant, but I did feel more comfartable with them vs running several Supas in my last 4 playtests. I can see me following RichardLs approach to his ATML list and dropping the smaller w/e and taking an activation hit in favour of more durable gargants.
Big Lobba. I only got one shot off with it before the Gargant was broken in T2, never to rally. I'm still not 100% sold on it in it's current guise, but will give it more run outs.
2 Upgrades/swap choices. Extremely happy with this; I felt that while there were still some limitations, I could still customise the loadout of each Gargant how I wanted it.
Be interested to hear other peoples thoughts on any of these aspects.
Cheers
Reedar
