And given that Pete was fielding his Space Wolves it was sort of Halloween themed - wolves are Halloweeny, right?
I fielded almost all of my Orks in a 1400 point list for 5th edition 40k which has some glaring issues: namely, mobs that are too small and a distinct lack of anti-tank capability or anti-power armour weapons.
Warboss
Big-Mek with Shokk Attack Gun
Goffs (Nob, 15 Slugga & Choppa)
Bad Moons (Nob, 9 Shootas, 2 Big Shootas)
Evil Sunz (Nob, 9 Slugga & Choppa, Trukk)
Grotz (Runtherd, 24 Gretchen)
Nobs (2 Slugga & Choppa, 1 Power Klaw, 3 Kombi-Skorcha, Painboy, Trukk)
Deff Skulls Tankbustas (6 Rokkit Launchers)
Warbuggies (Skorcha, 2 Big Shootas)
Big Guns (2 Lobbas)
Killa Kan
Gobsmasha (Looted Wagon with Boomgun)
We were playing the annihilation mission (which wasn't great news for my easy to kill mobs) and I deployed first, putting my Mek in a good firing position and the Goffs clscreened by the Grotz, ready to get stuck in.
Pete turned up with a Space Wolf force ready to rumble (I may get details mixed up):
Wolf Priest
10 Blood Claws
10 Grey Hunters (with Wolf Banner)
9 Sky Claws
5 Wolf Guard
5 Scouts
3 Thunder Wolves
Venerable Dreadnought
Predator
Vindicator
He started by deploying his Wolf Priest with the Blow Claws and the Grey Hunters. He put all of them in cover and out of sight of my Shokk Attack Gun.
I clearly had him scared...
Ork Turn 1
There's not much to report other than my army arrived and rushed forwards, the Nobs' Trukk helping them to get up to support the Goffs, followed more sedately by the Bad Moons and Killa Kan.
One of my flanks was secured by the Buggies and Tankbustas, whilst the Gobsmasha and Evil Sunz patrolled the other.
Space Wolf Turn 1
The Sons of Russ arrived in force and proceeded to hide from most of my 'horde', heading down the flank guarded by the buggies.
My two big shootas and Skorcha were going to make all those power-armoured transhumans backed up by a tank pay for their cowardice.
Meanwhile, in the centre, the Blood Claws ploughed into the Grotz and, in an outcome that will surprise nobody, slaughtered all of them with no damage done in return.
One-nil to the Space Wolves, but they had fallen into my kunnin' trap.
Ork Turn 2
Waarrrgghhh!
Orks surged forwards and the Goffs and Nobz barrelled into the Blood Claws, cutting them and the Wolf Priest down, but losing lots of Orks in return before consolidating back into cover to await the inevitable countercharge if the Thunder Wolves.
Meanwhile the Buggies and Tankbustas managed to slay a smattering of Marines (certainly not enough), the Gobsmasha obliterated a single Thunder Wolf and the Shokk Attack Gun began it's long series of missing its target...the Vindicator.
I shall not be mentioning the Big Mek again.
However, at this point I was leading 2-1. Let's hold on to that thought.
Space Wolf Turn 2
The Space Wolf main force advanced on my flanking units of Buggies and opened fire.
Somehow these lightly armoured vehicles weathered the storm, but all three were shaken, stunned or immobilised and so hadn't given up their kill points...yet.
In the centre, my hopes of repelling the Thunder Wolves were dealt a somewhat fatal blow when the Vindicator managed to drop a shell on top of my Nobz unit, killing them all, along with the Warboss.
When the Thunder Wolves ploughed into Goffs, there just weren't enough bodies to hold them back and the Boyz were beaten, ran down and eaten.
Pete was now 4-2 up an I wouldn't be seeing the lead again any time soon.
Ork Turn 3
Everything that could opened fire on the Thunder Wolves who proceeded to pass an offensive amount of armour and cover saves.
The only achievement of the turn was a humble Lobba immobilising the Venerable Dreadnought.
Space Wolf Turn 3
Now, things got messy.
The Grey Hunters charged into the Tankbustas, wiping them out in close combat; the Sky Claws hacked at the Skorcha, leaving it immobilised and weaponless, and the Predator blew up my Wartrakk.
The jammy Thunder Wolves pounced on the Gobsmasha, and tore it open with a power fist.
Meanwhile, the Scouts finally showed up, shoving a melta-bomb up the exhaust pipe of the Evil Sunz Trukk, killing all but four of them.
The Space Wolves were now leading 7-2 and was running out of things to throw at them.
Ork & Space Marine Turn 4
The writing was on the wall. Although the Killa Kan managed to finish off the Thunder Wolves at last, I had nothing left to give.
The Sky Claws pounced on the Lobbas and the Bad Moons were only saved from annihilation by tactical removal of casualties.
We called the game with the score at something like 9-3 to the Space Wolves.
***
So, I lost. However, I was pretty certain that this would be the case and the game was really good in firming up a few things that I need to address:
1) my mobs need to be bigger to be able to stand their ground;
2) I probably need to put theTankbustas in one of the Trukks to get them closer quicker;
3) more power klaws.
More importantly, it was apparent that there's something about losing with Orks that feels different. Narratively, they're just enjoying the scrap, and so you do the same.
If you get into the Ork mentality, you can't actually lose.
That's what I'll be telling myself, anyway.
No comments:
Post a Comment