The Green Menace!

Hey guys!  Craig's already covered it but I thought i'd add my own report on the great 600pts game we had on Thursday night.  Despite the way it went (south, quickly) we both had a really good time and learnt a bunch of stuff about our armies.

See you after the break!

So, the game was a classic match up of Orks and Dark Angels at 600pts.  I was pretty sure I was going to be out-numbered in the game so went for volume of shots, this turned out to be a very good idea, maybe too good.

My list was;

Librarian (lvl1)

Command Squad with Apothecary and Standard of Devastation

10-man Tactical Squad all with bolters

5-man Combat Squad with plasma gun

5-man Veteran unit with melta, 2 combi-melta, combi-flamer and combi-plasma

3-man Ravenwing Black Knight squad

So long as I kept the Tactical squad in range of the Standard they'd be able to output a horrific 40(!) bolter shots at 24", with the Librarian casting Prescience on them they'd be re-rolling misses too.  It would also mean the Command Squad itself would get 24 shots, but as it turned out they didn't fire a single shot!

Craig took;

Grukk Faceripper

Weird Boy (lvl2)

12 Boys with boss nob, 'eavy armour and big shoota

11 Boys with boss nob, 'eavy armour and big shoota and Trukk (red paint job, boarding planks and big shooter)

Def Copta with twin linked rocket launcher

Killa Kan with big shoota and kan klaw

Lots of boys, lots of big shoota's, a better psyker than me and Grukk.  I really didn't rate my chances once he reached me, so I had to put all my efforts into making that an impossibility.

We played with Tactical Objectives as we both love the mechanic and ended up with the Spoils of War mission.  This one is a bugger as your opponent can steal your objective cards!

We actually deployed at the same time this time round, we wanted to see if it made a difference to how it worked, ultimately I don't think it really helped, we just did what we would have done anyway.

I used the full extent of my deployment zone, I didn't want Grukk chaining between my units, I needed to make sure I could keep some clear space for him to flounder in.  Conversely, Craig set up almost entirely at one end of the board, I had hoped he wouldn't do that as it would make it difficult for me to bear down on him with the volume of fire I needed, facing one unit of 12 at a time is one thing, two is a totally different problem!

Turn 1

Craig went first, he charged up my left flank towards the combat squad and moved his weird boy and unit into a wood for some cover.  The killa kan moved directly for the tactical squad and the def copta went into cover, finding safety from the black knights.  Shooting amounted to a fat lot of 2 wounds, both from big shoot'as, both saved.  Grukk's trukk turbo-charged closer to the Combat squad.  No assaults.

I moved the vets onto an objective and the black knights forwards to draw out the def copta, the combat squad moved up and occupied the ruin in front of them and got a firing angle on the trukk, and using rapid fire scored 4hp of damage, all glances, leading to a wrecked! result.  The tactical squad opened up on the boys and Grukk as they fell out, felling 6 of them and causing them to lose coherency.  The boys fell back, Grukk held firm.  The Black Knights took a wound from the def copta.  The command squad and vets had no targets in range so did nothing more.  No assaults.

Craig: 0

Me:    1

Turn 2

The routed boys kept on running! Grukk moved around the corner of the ruin towards the combat squad, the weird boy's unit moved through the woods but stayed inside, the cover an attractive option for the 6+ on the weird boy and gained an Objective.  The killa kan moved forwards again and the def copta moved to intercept the black knights before they could close with the kan.  Grukk shot the combat squad but failed to do any damage, the killa kan scored a wound on the tactical squad but it was saved, I chose not to jink against the copta and suffered a loss for it.  The weird boy's failed to score a hit.

Big moment! Grukk charged the combat squad!  This was where the game changed, and not in the way either of us expected.  I rolled overwatch, I got double 6 on the plasma and three 6's on the bolters.  The bolters failed to do any damage but the plasma shots both hit hard.  Grukk made charge range and had to weather a hail of fists, sadly, he failed to do so and died before he could swing his claw. (Craig said I lost two marines, after Grukk died we rolled to see what would have happened if he'd lived. He would have killed two marines).  The combat squad consolidated back into the ruin after gaining Slay the Warlord.

The black knight's moved forwards and gunned down the def copta granting First Blood, the vets moved out of their cover and towards the killa kan, they shot a single long range plasma shot, using up a combi weapon, and scored an Immobilised result.  The combat squad failed to score and hits on the weird boy's unit, the command squad had nothing in line of sight.  The tactical marines fired into the woods at the weird boy and his unit.  40 shots, 35 hits, 22 wounds.  Thee died to failed saves, then a really rather heroic Ork succeeded in making and stopping seven look out sir! rolls before his luck ran out.  The remaining wounds weren't stopped and the whole unit was wiped out. No assaults made. I'd grabbed a few Tactical Objectives to add to the tally.

Score

Craig: 1

Me:    7

Turn 3

Craig failed to rally the running boys, the killa kan dropped a wound onto the vets but they shrugged it off.

The vets moved towards the kan and finished it off with a salvo of melta fire, the black knights moved closer to the fleeing boys and then turbo-boosted to close the gap, grabbing an objective on the way.  I also stole a Tactical Objective from Craig in the process and gained an extra for killing the kan.

Score

Craig: 1

Me:     10

Turn 4

The boys saw the black knights bearing down and rallied for a bit of fisty cuffs! They failed to lay any wounds down on them with the big shoota though and ended up just shy of charge range.

The black knights surged forwards and dropped a boy with a grenade, the plasma talon on the other knight failing to cause any damage.  The command squad moved onto an objective and scored two Tactical Objectives for it.  

The black knights charged the boys, overwatch failed to hit and they made range.  Hammer of wrath failed to get a wound, only one of the four boys fell, no wounds came back.

Score

Craig: 1

Me:    12

Turn 5

The black knights failed to score a wound, the boys caused two but both were saved.

The black knights finally managed to kill off the boys, gaining a Tactical Objective and Linebreaker.

Final Score

Craig: 1

Me:    14

Wow, that was as brutal! Craig had the worst rolls I've seen since my last game with Alun where my plasma guns had all self-destructed by the end of turn 2.  Neither of us expected Grukk to die before getting an attack in and think that that was the pivotal moment.  If he'd survived and killed off the combat squad in my turn 2 then in his turn 3 the tactical squad would have been receiving a charge.  I doubt even 40 shots overwatch would have stopped him and then the weird boy and his unit would have been bearing down on my command squad alongside the killa kan.

We also both agreed that Craig did nothing wrong, it was all down to the dice rolls being so lopsided and that the addition of a trukk or looted wagon for his weird boy would have meant they reached me and done so quickly.

I learnt that 600pts is a pretty fun game size to play at.  Its restrictive as all hell but that forces you to get creative.  I rarely use the bolter banner as its expensive and easily sniped but at 600pts its like having four tactical squads instead of the one and with prescience it's a hailstorm of death.  I'd probably drop it in a future game in favour of a heavier hitting weapon or two though, the killa kan threw me right off and if he'd managed to evade the vets I had pretty much nothing to try and bring it down with.

The game re-affirmed my love of the black knights.  The only truly perfect unit in the current DA codex, they're kitted and costed just right, pack a mean punch and are sturdy to boot.

A good night all round, even if it was almost completely one sided.  Craig's already challenged me to a rematch which I've accepted, lets hope the dice gods are less fickle!

Good Hunting!