After a long absence flirting with various Privateer Press games, I dusted off my Rusty Ruiners (not sure that’s a good word/name) and got back into 40k. As mentioned previously, I signed myself up to take part in a Planetary Empires campaign down at Charing Cross Gaming Club. I had chosen to challenge Paul (EdSmahsa) and his Ork army. Before the game, Paul had gone through what bonuses I could get for holding certain tiles on our map. I was holding a Hive City and other bits, I would be receiving + 150 points to add to my army, a bonus for my reserve rolls, and a chance to give up to three of my units special abilities.
Unsure of the make-up of Paul force, I took the following:
Necron Lord with Resurrection Orb and Destroyer Body.
3 x Wraiths
6 x Immortals
14 x Warriors
13 x Warriors
13 x Warriors
4 x Destroyers
3 x Destroyers
3 x Heavy Destroyers
2 x Tomb Spyders
I felt fairly confident with this list as I had a shooty core of Warriors and Immortals, and then my Destroyer Flying Circus to move around and cause a bit of trouble. That was until I saw what Paul was taking! Paul hasn’t mailed me his list yet, but from what I can remember there were:
Four trukks full of Boyz
Four Bike including big boss guy (forget his name)
Shokk Attakk Gun plus lots of Gretchin.
Snikrot.
We rolled for deployment (Spearhead), mission (thingy kill points thingy) and set-up (Paul won and I couldn’t seize the initiative either). The Trukks and bike all set-up in a line almost at the edge of their deployment zone, making sure that at least one Trukk was looking to try and out flank me. The Shokk Attak Gun stayed back but it was close enough to threaten me from the start. Snikrot stayed back in reserve.
I set up two small cores of firepower (one of two units of Warriors and the other with the Immortals and remaining Warriors) in the centre of my zone, while the Wraiths looked to cover my left flank and my Flying Circus to go out to my right.
TURN 1
Paul made a general (and scary) advance towards my front line. One Trukk went to hunt my Wraiths and another went to hold up any potential Destroyer advance. There was some cannon fire from the Trukks but with very little effect. The Shokk Attak gun surprised everyone with an accurate shot, but gave no surprises when my Warriors shook it off.
I decided that my core units were not going to move at all and just sit and fire. The Wraiths took cover from the oncoming Trukk on my left flank. The Destroyers moved out and poured fire into first immediately into the first visible Trukk (which subsequently blew up and killed half the Boyz onboard) and then into the bikes (causing a miserly single wound). Their shooting could have had a calming effect on me by being a tad more effective. As it were, it was down to the massed fire power of my Warriors and Immortals. Combined they managed to disable a single Trukk and take out the weapons on another. No comfort to be had there either.
TURN 2
Paul was forced into disembarking two of his Trukks, but didn’t mind as they were pretty much in charge range. Which is what they did. 24 Boyz charged directly into the centre of my force. The Trukk on my left advanced and unloaded, while the ejected Boyz on my right charged the Destroyers. The bikes also made a charge on my Immortals. A little bit of shooting saw the Shokk Attak gun surprise again. This was also an accurate, but ineffectual shot. The large mob of 24 Boyz decided to shoot before they engaged. This had managed to put some of my tin pots on their backs temporarily. Combat came along and hurt me very much. My Wraiths 3+ Invulnerable saves were no match for 11 Boyz, not including the Nob (44 attacks!). To my right, the six Boyz who were thrown from their destroyed Trukk charged the first unit of Destroyers and took down two. The bikers charged into the Immortals with devastating results. Not one of the Elites were left standing. Then came the big one Pauls two units of Boyz charged forward as one. They targeted my Warrior unit. Paul and I decided to treat this as one big combat. 24 of his Boyz vs 14 of my Warriors. We worked out that without the Nobs, Paul would roll a hefty 88 attack dice. I can’t remember how many of my trashcans fell but it was about a quarter of them. Naturally they just wanted to rest a little.
My turn was fairly easy. No Wraiths on my left. My Immortals gone. My Warrior core engaged. All that I could do before resuming combat was to move and fire upon Paul’s bikerz. My Destroyers managed to whittle the Speedfreeks down to the Nob and one other. My Destroyer unit that was engaged got cut down which unfortunately meant the those six Boyz would be able to charge next turn and cause more havoc. My only hope would be for my Warriors brave warriors to allow themselves to be killed which could possibly set-up a kill-box allowing my two remaining units of Warriors to catch the Orks in a deadly cross-fire. Sadly this didn’t happen due to a good saving throw and a Tomb Spyder nearby. Only half of the unit now remained.
TURN 3
This turn like last turn saw Paul fail his reserves roll which meant that Snikrot could not come in and damage my fire base. Paul then looked to cause more mayhem with his bikes as they charged into my Destroyers with his Power claw wielding Nob taking a couple down. The Boyz in the middle finally took down the Necron roadblock only to look down more than two down Gauss Flayer barrels. On my right, Paul’s ‘Destroyer-Hunter’ Boyz engaged another unit (this time my Heavy Destroyers) with good effect. None were left standing/hovering.
My turn was looking very bleak indeed. With most of my Flying Circus down and out and my Wraiths and Immortals dead as well, outcome of the fight would come down to how long 26 Warriors and a Tomb Spyder could hold out against a practically unscathed Ork horde. The shooting phase was over pretty quickly as I only had a total of 52 to hit rolls to make. The C’Tan were not smiling on me as most of the shots bounced off of the Orky armour plating (!?!?). But several Greenskins DID die, but not enough to cause a Panic test in either mob. This left the last of my Destroyers to fight off their opponents. They proved that they are not combat specialists and were torn apart. There also was the last charge of my Necron Lord against the Warboss on his bike. He managed to wound the big guy, but was then lost the last of his own wounds.
ORK WIN
As it was nearing closing time at the club, we had to wind our game up here. Which I was quite thankful for as I didn’t want it to be a complete massacre. Paul getting the first turn was my downall. He was able to get all of his Boyz in and do what they do best and chop enemies to pieces. I was also thankful for not facing Snikrot. While never coming up against him before, I know that Snikrot can be quite a painful fellow. If I had first turn I would have properly set up a kill zone to trap the Orks, probably making it easier for me. My Wraiths didn’t have the chance to be as effective as the last time I used them. The Flying Circus would have tried to take down the Trukks before they reached me, causing the Greenskins to come to me on foot. Thay also could have zoomed around and been a general nuisance.
A heavy loss for me allowed Paul to try and take one of my territories on the map, which he did successfully. I now have to make this up against some one else. The bright side of this battle was the fact that my Metal-heads did not phase out. Could this be the start of a good habit.
