Combat Patrols
Today I popped down to the workshop for a few combat patrols against Chris. We planned to give our ToFG armies a game, plus a test game for some Winds of War lists. This was more useful for Chris than me - he's still refining his Winds of War list, whereas I have committed to a fluff based list and started converting already! :oP
Game 1 - ToFG vs ToFG
Chris has a LOT of heavy weapons in his army. I charged my truks as far as I could, with the Stormboyz following them for cover. The first Lascannon squad killed one truk, along with half the squad inside. The other Lascannon squad pegged the other squad... with half the boys inside, and half the following Stormboys. More than half my army had evaporated in one round of shooting. For Str 3 against T4, he rolled a lot of wounds. By the time I got the remnants into combat they didn't have the required numbers, and then when the commander laid in with his power fist it was swiftly over. I was trying to take a consolation prize by killing the commander with my power klaw ork, but the git passed two 5+ invulnerable saves. Git.
The Truk, which carries Orks, (and if todays game is anything to go by, high explosives and jerry cans full of petrol fumes) that made such a brief appearance...
I also had to say that Chris rolls on the Ramshackle table were uncanny. The ramshackle table takes a wrecked or explodes result, and makes it into
1-2 - still explodes
3-4 - goes 3D6" in a random direction, THEN explodes
5-6 - falls apart but no damage to the Orks
Out of three exploded results (over both ToFG list games) Chris rolled a 1 or 2 each time. On the fourth truk he got 2 destroyed results, so rolled two dice, rolling a 5! But also a 2. You take the lowest result. Git!
Game 2 - Winds of War vs Winds of War
I took my fluffy Winds of War list, which I have to admit I don't expect to do all that well with, but so long as it looks good ;o)
My penal legion rolls were disappointing, as I rolled assault lasguns on both. This would be excellent for holding a defensive position around an objective, but for simple killing each other it's only marginally better than normal guardsmen (and NO better in combat) However, Chris combining his squads did give me hope. If I could tie up that big squad, I've negated most of his army...
I kinda figured my priest was screwed on this one as I wanted my army to outflank, but I deployed him anyway. Chris fired 8 krak missiles at him on turn 1, but he passed all the cover saves he was required to make. With a good run roll, he moved 12" closer, and also used a building to reduce Chris LOS. Chris moved his sentinals nearer to the edge to get a single shot at him, and rejoiced as he killed him... until I pointed out the rosarius gave him a 4+ invulnerable, which he passed :oP
My storm troopers (with first round of shooting causing pinning) came in and tried to cause the uber squad some problems. Managed to do some damage between them and the penal legions, but they passed their morale check to avoid being pinned.
Chris command squad came in and attacked my storm troopers, killed some but they held. My chimera then tried to tank shock his army off the table (Chris was perilously close to his board edge) but again he passed his morale check. On the bright side his sentinals death or glory attack merely shot a weapon off, the sentinal was duly creamed. The priest and penal legion went to the aid of the strm troopers, while the other penal legion picked a fight with the uber unit, hoping to tie them up for a while.
By the time the fight involving Chris command squad had been decided in my favour, the chimera had been immobilised, the storm troopers were down to a single plasma gunner, and the priest joined the half squad of penal legion. They advanced on the uber mob that was locked in combat with my penal squad. Now my plan at this point was to hold him in combat with the penal legion while the other penal legion moved up to reinforce. The Storm Trooper would try to hurt the sentinals, with support from the immobilised Chimera. Unfortunately the penal legion, needing to pass a morale check on Stubborn Ld 8, failed and ran. Chris used his consolidate move to put some distance between him and my remaining forces. I knew I couldn't reach him now without suffering a horrendous amount of fire. However, seeing his unit was down to 23 models (under half str, so at least giving me half points) I decided to try to gain points in other ways. I charged the sentinals. Now only the priest could hurt it, with a 6 followed by a 6 to glance from a frag grenade, but I figured he'd kill one guardsman a turn and my stubborn Ld8 squad should be ok. I figured if I got half points for his infantry, full for his command, and maybe took his sentinals to under half the original unit strength, I may have a chance. At the time the surviving storm trooper and penal legion meant he'd only scored points for about half my army... it was still quite close. Of course, my penal legion failed their stubborn Ld 8 (again!) so I conceded defeat. With only a sentinal remaining I figured they'd be locked in combat forever and there was no way my immobilised chimera and solitary storm trooper could take out enough of the remaining guardsmen.
In this game 2 crucial Ld tests for Chris were passed (avoiding being pinned when my forces first arrived, then avoiding falling back off the table when tank shocked.) I was faced with two similarly crucial Ld tests (keep him in the fight so I can reinforce, later keep me in the fight so I can't get shot! :oP) and failed them. That's just the way things go sometimes.
Game 3 - Winds of War 2 vs ToFG
This time Chris tried a mechanised list. As stated in his blog he made the mistake of driving towards me. This got me in combat on turn 1. Needing 6s to hit yes, but at least this time I had plenty of bodies to get me those 6s. Ripped a multilaser off one chimera and blew up another. Some well placed flamer shots hurt my squads, but I managed to steadily advance on his firebase. His chimeras tried to make a fighting retreat but my Orks were nipping at their heels. The stormboys roared on ahead and killed some infantry, but took plenty of fire in return from the Lascannon squad. With a few men left it looked like the game was easily in Chris favour (I have a nob and 3 boyz. Chris had 2 chimera, a squad and a heavy weapon squad.) Things did not go as expected...
The few remaining Orks wiped out the infantry squad, but fire from the chimera and lascannons took out the remaining boyz. The nob pasted a chimera (leaving it an empty box which he finished off in Chris assault phase) and was out of LOS of the lascannons. Chris forgot to move the other chimera, but celebrated wildly when I failed my armour save. I then pointed out that a Nob has 2 wounds... he then ripped apart the other chimera. Not knowing relative scores, I charged across the battlefield along the defence lines. A good run roll got me right to the end of the wall. The lascannons opened up - the one that wounded, I passed the cover save on. We rolled the dice, game over. Just to see what would have happened, he fired at me - and failed to kill the nob. I moved out... but was 6.5" away, so couldn't assault. SO we checked the scores.
Chris Lascannon squad was 105 points. The margin for victory (10% for a draw) was 50 points. My nob surviving meant he only scored half points for that squad. 112, divided by 2, 56. 49 points behind Chris - a draw! It was a hilarious rampage by the Nob, and highly entertaining.
Ork Nob with Power Klaw FTW... well, For The Draw actually. But highly entertaining!
Game 1 - ToFG vs ToFG
Chris has a LOT of heavy weapons in his army. I charged my truks as far as I could, with the Stormboyz following them for cover. The first Lascannon squad killed one truk, along with half the squad inside. The other Lascannon squad pegged the other squad... with half the boys inside, and half the following Stormboys. More than half my army had evaporated in one round of shooting. For Str 3 against T4, he rolled a lot of wounds. By the time I got the remnants into combat they didn't have the required numbers, and then when the commander laid in with his power fist it was swiftly over. I was trying to take a consolation prize by killing the commander with my power klaw ork, but the git passed two 5+ invulnerable saves. Git.
The Truk, which carries Orks, (and if todays game is anything to go by, high explosives and jerry cans full of petrol fumes) that made such a brief appearance...
I also had to say that Chris rolls on the Ramshackle table were uncanny. The ramshackle table takes a wrecked or explodes result, and makes it into1-2 - still explodes
3-4 - goes 3D6" in a random direction, THEN explodes
5-6 - falls apart but no damage to the Orks
Out of three exploded results (over both ToFG list games) Chris rolled a 1 or 2 each time. On the fourth truk he got 2 destroyed results, so rolled two dice, rolling a 5! But also a 2. You take the lowest result. Git!
Game 2 - Winds of War vs Winds of War
I took my fluffy Winds of War list, which I have to admit I don't expect to do all that well with, but so long as it looks good ;o)
My penal legion rolls were disappointing, as I rolled assault lasguns on both. This would be excellent for holding a defensive position around an objective, but for simple killing each other it's only marginally better than normal guardsmen (and NO better in combat) However, Chris combining his squads did give me hope. If I could tie up that big squad, I've negated most of his army...
I kinda figured my priest was screwed on this one as I wanted my army to outflank, but I deployed him anyway. Chris fired 8 krak missiles at him on turn 1, but he passed all the cover saves he was required to make. With a good run roll, he moved 12" closer, and also used a building to reduce Chris LOS. Chris moved his sentinals nearer to the edge to get a single shot at him, and rejoiced as he killed him... until I pointed out the rosarius gave him a 4+ invulnerable, which he passed :oP
My storm troopers (with first round of shooting causing pinning) came in and tried to cause the uber squad some problems. Managed to do some damage between them and the penal legions, but they passed their morale check to avoid being pinned.
Chris command squad came in and attacked my storm troopers, killed some but they held. My chimera then tried to tank shock his army off the table (Chris was perilously close to his board edge) but again he passed his morale check. On the bright side his sentinals death or glory attack merely shot a weapon off, the sentinal was duly creamed. The priest and penal legion went to the aid of the strm troopers, while the other penal legion picked a fight with the uber unit, hoping to tie them up for a while.
By the time the fight involving Chris command squad had been decided in my favour, the chimera had been immobilised, the storm troopers were down to a single plasma gunner, and the priest joined the half squad of penal legion. They advanced on the uber mob that was locked in combat with my penal squad. Now my plan at this point was to hold him in combat with the penal legion while the other penal legion moved up to reinforce. The Storm Trooper would try to hurt the sentinals, with support from the immobilised Chimera. Unfortunately the penal legion, needing to pass a morale check on Stubborn Ld 8, failed and ran. Chris used his consolidate move to put some distance between him and my remaining forces. I knew I couldn't reach him now without suffering a horrendous amount of fire. However, seeing his unit was down to 23 models (under half str, so at least giving me half points) I decided to try to gain points in other ways. I charged the sentinals. Now only the priest could hurt it, with a 6 followed by a 6 to glance from a frag grenade, but I figured he'd kill one guardsman a turn and my stubborn Ld8 squad should be ok. I figured if I got half points for his infantry, full for his command, and maybe took his sentinals to under half the original unit strength, I may have a chance. At the time the surviving storm trooper and penal legion meant he'd only scored points for about half my army... it was still quite close. Of course, my penal legion failed their stubborn Ld 8 (again!) so I conceded defeat. With only a sentinal remaining I figured they'd be locked in combat forever and there was no way my immobilised chimera and solitary storm trooper could take out enough of the remaining guardsmen.
In this game 2 crucial Ld tests for Chris were passed (avoiding being pinned when my forces first arrived, then avoiding falling back off the table when tank shocked.) I was faced with two similarly crucial Ld tests (keep him in the fight so I can reinforce, later keep me in the fight so I can't get shot! :oP) and failed them. That's just the way things go sometimes.
Game 3 - Winds of War 2 vs ToFG
This time Chris tried a mechanised list. As stated in his blog he made the mistake of driving towards me. This got me in combat on turn 1. Needing 6s to hit yes, but at least this time I had plenty of bodies to get me those 6s. Ripped a multilaser off one chimera and blew up another. Some well placed flamer shots hurt my squads, but I managed to steadily advance on his firebase. His chimeras tried to make a fighting retreat but my Orks were nipping at their heels. The stormboys roared on ahead and killed some infantry, but took plenty of fire in return from the Lascannon squad. With a few men left it looked like the game was easily in Chris favour (I have a nob and 3 boyz. Chris had 2 chimera, a squad and a heavy weapon squad.) Things did not go as expected...
The few remaining Orks wiped out the infantry squad, but fire from the chimera and lascannons took out the remaining boyz. The nob pasted a chimera (leaving it an empty box which he finished off in Chris assault phase) and was out of LOS of the lascannons. Chris forgot to move the other chimera, but celebrated wildly when I failed my armour save. I then pointed out that a Nob has 2 wounds... he then ripped apart the other chimera. Not knowing relative scores, I charged across the battlefield along the defence lines. A good run roll got me right to the end of the wall. The lascannons opened up - the one that wounded, I passed the cover save on. We rolled the dice, game over. Just to see what would have happened, he fired at me - and failed to kill the nob. I moved out... but was 6.5" away, so couldn't assault. SO we checked the scores.
Chris Lascannon squad was 105 points. The margin for victory (10% for a draw) was 50 points. My nob surviving meant he only scored half points for that squad. 112, divided by 2, 56. 49 points behind Chris - a draw! It was a hilarious rampage by the Nob, and highly entertaining.
Ork Nob with Power Klaw FTW... well, For The Draw actually. But highly entertaining!
From the effectiveness of Chris firing I discovered something in these games. Extra armour on the truks is a waste of points. Sure I wanted to be able to keep the truks moving if possible, but generally Chris had the firepower to obliterate the truk. The extra armour was rather redundant.
All in all, good to have a game with my Orks. Now they have to go back to Bugrit and Ereyoo for some more truks. Slightly less explosive ones this time...
I think you have to put something on that Nob, like a piece of chassis or some battle honours somehow. It was one of the best last stands I've seen for a long time.
ReplyDeleteI think we both learnt alot from those games, as they're the extremes of what we expect to face with regards to assault and firepower.
Tell you what when it comes to me adding a warboss to my force I'll say it's the same guy ;o)
ReplyDeletelooks like you guys had some fun, nice to try out the tournament armies though. Good to see some photos of your models though ginge, they look like you best painted as of yet.
ReplyDeleteI concur with that Ken. He's even put "snow" around the lower hull of the Trukk now and it looks really good. Considering he's only had a month to do the lot he's done an amazing job and, like you said, done the best he's ever done.
ReplyDeleteMine, on the other hand, looked awful even for a quick paint job. I keep swinging between liking my colour scheme and hating it. I wanted to be drab but I failed to make it look like a desert, so may switch it calling it "wasteland" lol.
Have to see what they look like up close and personal. cant expand ginges pictures.
ReplyDeleteAnji emailed the pics to me, I'll forward the email on to you so you can download them for a closer look. There's about 40 odd pictures in the email, I just chose the best ones :oP
ReplyDeleteAt the time of taking the picture, I hadn't weathered the truks, want to get Anji to do some pics of them and the Stormboyz for me when they're complete, but given the turnaround time on taking the pics and getting them off the camera and sent to me I think I'll have to rely on Rich verifying I've completed my project at the club on monday, and put them on the blog at a future date.
Well I've managed to undercoat and base coat 2 suits and four drones today. So not too bad. Hopefully with the weekend fast approaching an having a few extra hours to spare I might be able to get it finished. Who knows?
ReplyDeleteYou could get the basics down and say they're done? Go back after ToFG or when you have more time and finish the details.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to spend more time on this next run of Guard. It'll mean I'll have to re-do my last lot of guys at some point but they're just not good enough even for my standards!