1250 Point Orks vs. Ad Mech: Open WarUncle Tungsten and I got in a friendly match this past weekend since the first phase of our campaign had finished. We both wanted to get more battles under our belt and try some new units in 8th edition. I also wanted to try out the Open War deck instead of one of the missions from the core book.
Ad Mech Forces (Mars)Tech Priest Dominus w/ Eradication Ray, Macrostubber and Omnissian Axe (Warlord)
Tech Priest Enginseer w/ Omnissian Axe and Servo Arm.
5 Skitarri Vanguard w/ Radiation Carbines
5 Skitarri Vanguard w/ Radiation Carbines
5 Skitarri Vanguard w/ Radiation Carbines
Cybernetica Datasmith w/ Gamma Pistol & Power Fist
2 Sydonian Dragoon w/ Taser Lances
2 Kastelan Robots w/ 3 Heavy Phosphor Blasters
2 Onager Dunecrawler w/ Eradication Beamers
2 Armiger Warglaives w/ reaper chain cleaver, thermal spear and heavy stubbers.
Orks ForcesWarboss w/ Power Klaw, Shoota & Attack Squig (Warlord w/ Legendary Fighter)
Big Mek w/ Kustom Force Field
Weirdboy w/ Da Jump
30 Shoota Boys w/ Boss Nob
30 Shoota Boys w/ Boss Nob
10 Grots w/ Grot Blastas
10 Tankbustas w/ Rokkit Launchers
3 Meganobz, (2 w/ Kustom Shootas & Power Klaws, 1 w/ Dual Killsaws)
10 Lootas
3 Killa Kanz w/ Kustom Mega Blastas
MissionUsing the Open War deck we drew cards for deployment, objective and twist. We didn't get to draw a ruse card since the power levels of both are armies was the same, 81, which was a surprise.
Objective: Drawn & Quartered. We took turns setting up 4 objective markers that had to be more than 12" from the center of the board, more than 6" from an edge, and more than 18" from any other objective. At the end of each turn players score 1 VP for each objective they control. The player with the most points at the end of turn 5 wins.
Deployment: Like Hammer and Anvil but without the no moans land between armies.
Twist: Eager for the Fight. All units add 2" to their movement and add 1 to all advance and charge rolls.
DeploymentThe Battle is about to begin.
Ork Point of ViewYou can fit a lot of Orks under a Force FieldI won the roll off to start placing the objectives (4 blue rimmed piles of gear made by Uncle Tungsten). I placed my first objective behind a large wall and my second objective behind a bunker. My opponent placed his first objective along the center line and the second inside the ruins of a building. Uncle Tungsten won the roll off to pick his deployment zone and chose the half of the board with fewer objectives and placed most of his forces in the back third of the map. I placed most of my forces at the edge of the deployment zone except for my grots on 1 objective and tankbustas behind a wall in case Uncle Tungsten seized initiative. I finished deploying first and and chose to go first and Uncle Tungsten failed to seize.
Top of Turn 1The twist for this battle, additional movement, was really a boon for me in this battle. I advanced my left hand group of boyz up the flank to engage the dragoons, enginseer and 1 unit of vanguards. The kanz moved up to shoot and charge a dunecrawler. The warboss advanced so the boyz would be able to charge the dragoons and company. The other group of boyz moved up so they could fire on a dunecrawler. Everything else held place and in the Psychic Phase the weirdboy jumped the tankbustas into the ruin to fire into the assorted vehicles the Ad Mech deployed. He also took 3 mortal wounds from jumping the tankbustas.
THe shooting phase was pretty lackluster. The advancing boyz killed one vanguard. The lootas got 1 volley of shots off (despite a re-roll) and did no damage to a dunecrawler. The other boyz plinked off 2 wounds from one dunecrawler and the kanz missed their shots. The tankbustas, with Dakka Dakka Dakka, scored 10 hits and 4 wounds, all unsaved. With a reroll my opponent managed to make 1 save and the dunecrawler survived with 2 wounds left.
In the assault phase a kan took 4 wounds in overwatch from the eradication beamer before doing 3 wounds in combat. The boyz took out the vanguard and did a couple of wounds to the dragoons while loosing 7 boyz to the dragoons. With consolidation they managed to prevent the dragoons from falling back. I controlled 3 objectives to take a quick lead.
Score: Orks 3 to Ad Mech 0
It's a krumpin' party
Krumpin' Party ResultsJumpin' TankbustasNot so cowardly grotsOrks on the moveBottom of Turn 1On Uncle Tungsten's turn he pulls back his dunecrawlers, one falls back and the other moves toward his tech priest for healing. The warglaives move up, one shooting at the boyz, the other at the Kanz. One group of vanguard moves to engage the tankbustas and the other moves forward on the high ground. The forward warglaive fires into the boyz in the center of the board and other warglaive takes aim at the kanz. The kastelan robots fire into the central boyz as well. I lose 1 kan, 9 boyz and 4 tankbustas to shooting. In assault I lose 3 more boyz to the warglaive but the tankbustas kill 3 of the vanguard. I use 2 CP to make sure the tankbustas pass their morale. I interrupt the assault phase to have my boyz fight the dragoons and enginseer first and detroy one dragoon and take 1 wound off the enginseer without losing a boy. No victory points are scored this turn for my opponent.
Score: Orks 3 to Ad Mech 0
Ad Mech star to thin out the orks
Boyz vs. ArmingerEnd of the roundTop of Turn 2I move my warboss within charging range of the warglaive in close combat with my boys and the weirdboy closer to the center objective to maintain control of 3 objectives. The kanz moved closer to the dunecrawler to shoot and charge again. The meganobz were jumped to the the back of the board to threaten the kastelan robots and datasmith. The shooting phase was again a wash. The kanz missed, the lootas again got 1 volley off (with another failed reroll for more shots), and the meganobz missed their shots on the robots.
In the assault phase, the kanz were eradicated in overwatch. I was a little overconfident with those grots. The warboss softened up the warglaive for the boyz so they could take it down with massed close combat weapons. The other boys managed to wipe out the enginseer and Dragoon and consolidated towards a dunecrawler. The meganobz failed their charge and took a wound in overwatch.
Score: Orks 6 to Ad Mech 0
Kanz about to be Eradicated in Overwatch (pic courtesy of Uncle Tungsten)
One Arminger down, one to goClosing in on the enemyBottom of Turn 2Unlce Tungsten repositions his warglaive to fire on the tankbustas and then charge them. The dunecrawlers move forward to shoot at the boyz in the center of the map while the vanguard move to engage the boyz on the flank. The enginseer moves to intercept the meganobz. The dunecrawlers and Robots take out all the boyz in the middle of the board except the nob and the vanguard kill one boy on the flank in the shooting phase.
In the assault phase the the tankbustas manage to kill the last arminger in overwatch. The dunecrawler engaged with the warboss does no damage and the boyz wipe out the last vanguards. The enginseer takes 2 wounds from the meganobz but keeps them stuck in combat. No objectives were controlled again this turn.
Score: Orks 6 to Ad Mech 0
Ad Mech move to engage
Arminger dies in overwatch, Meganobz fight an EnginseerEnd of the TurnUnfortunately the store had to close and we could not continue the battle again. We had placed terrain and deployed our armies much quicker this battle than last time but closing time caught us by surprise. The higher point total might have played a small part of it. But the game was starting to go much quicker as units came off the board. We talked about the game and continuing I would have moved the boyz closer to a dunecrawler and techpriest. The lootas would have fired on that dunecrawler and the tankbustas on the Robots. The weirdboy would have moved up to get within smite range of the dunecrawlers too.
Final ScoreOrks 6
Ad Mech 0
Post MortemI enjoyed using the Open War deck, it was different from the core missions and deployments. I think the deployment and twist for this battle definitely helped me out more than my opponent. I was able to get into close combat quickly and threaten from multiple areas at once.
Tankbustas continue to shine with the Dakka, Dakka, Dakka stratagem. Kanz are not a good choice for anti-tank, they get too few shots in the shooting phase and have trouble hitting in the fight phase. I feel down on the lootas due to bad dice luck on their number of shots each round this game. The meganobz didn't get to do much but they do look cool, so I'll probably try them again.
As for Uncle Tungsten, he did a good job of protecting his flanks from Da Jump but think he could have done a more to play the objectives. Deploying back was a good move to make it harder for me to get into close combat but he left the objective in his deployment zone open. If he chose the other deployment zone to begin with he could have held 3 objectives and made me come to him to take control of them.
All in all, it was another fun game despite having to cut it short again. Uncle Tungsten continues to improve with every game and I look forward to our next battle. Thanks for reading and thanks again to my opponent.