1500 Orks vs. Iron Hands: Retrieval MissionAfter our last game, Mccomas wanted to get a battle in with his Iron Hands Space Marines and I was happy to oblige with my orks. We once again headed to a local gaming store, grabbed a table and had at it.
Iron HandsIron Hands Battalion
HQ:
Captain on Bike w/ Thunder Hammer & The Shield Eternal
Techmarine on Bike w/ Chainsword & Combi-Flamer
Troops:
5 Scouts w/ Camo Cloaks
10 Man Tactical Squad w/ Missile Launcher & Flamer
10 Man Tactical Squad w/ Missile Launcher & Flamer
Elites:
Apothecary on Bike w/ Teeth of Terra
3 Company Veterans on Bikes
2 Dreadnaughts w/ Twin Heavy Bolters
Heavy Support:
Thunderfire Cannon
Flyer:
Stormtalon Gunship
Dedicated Transport:
2 Rhinos w/ Hunter-Killer Missile & 2 Storm Bolters
Ork ForcesBad Moons Battalion
HQ:
Warboss on w/ Attack Squig, Kustom Shoota, Da Killa Klaw, Brutal but Cunning (trait)
Big Mek on w/ Slugga, Choppa, & Kustom Force Field
Troops:
30 Shoota Boyz
30 Shoota Boyz
30 Shoota Boyz
Heavy Support:
2 Smasha Gunz
2 Smasha Gunz
15 Lootas
Fast Attack:
3 Deffkoptas
Bad Moons Battalion
HQ:
Warphead w/ Warpath & Fists of Gork
Weirdboy w/ Da Jump
Troops:
10 Grots
10 Grots
10 Grots
MissionMccomas wanted to play another Eternal War mission before trying out Maelstrom missions in 8th, so we randomly rolled for mission and got Retrieval Mission. We alternated setting up 4 objectives, 1 in a building in the northwest corner, 1 in a building in the southeast corner, 1 in a building in the eastern edge of the map, and the final objective in the open just to the west of the center of the map.
DeploymentHaving won placed the last marker Mccomas rolled for deployment and we got Dawn of War. He chose to deploy his forces in the Southern half of the map, consolidated in the Southeast corner around the objective marker there. I deployed my orks along the northern edge of the board, mostly directly across from the Iron Hands but with a group of Grots holding the objective in the northwest corner of the map. Mccomas won the roll off to go first and I failed to seize the initiative.
That doesn't look like a lot of Iron Hands
That's a lot more OrksPay no attention to the Grots in the BuildingTop of Turn 1The core of the Iron Hands army (rhinos, dreadnoughts and bikers) advance straight across the battlefield. The rhinos and dreadnoughts pop smoke and the bikers take cover behind them. The stormtalon flies forward and targets the squad of boys in the ruins in the northeast corner of the map. The storm talon, along with fire from the thunderfire cannon and missle launcher from a tac squad, manages to kill 9 boys. The scout squad targets the Warphead and manage to take 3 wounds off the psyker.
The Iron Hands roll forward and pop smoke (smoke not shown)
Only a few boys go downBottom of Turn 1The orks are happy that the Iron Hands are coming towards them. The depleted unit of boys, followed by the Warboss and warphead, advance toward the soon to be destroyed Rhinos. The lootas open fire, taking 90 shots at the 2 rhinos, killing one and almost finishing off the other. The smashas open up and finish off the second rhino and some of the marines inside that survived the explosions. The grots, in shocking fashion, manage to kill a marine. The boyz, urged forward by the Warboss' roar of WAAAGH!, charge the three surviving marines and wipe out two and the third's faith in the emperor fails him, forcing him to withdraw from the battle.
A second group of boyz are jumped behind enemy lines. Their shooting manages to wipe out one 5 man squad of marines and they charge the techmarine gunner manning the thunderfire cannon and fail to wound him.
Orks 1 (First Blood), Iron Hands 0
Cleaning up after destroying the Rhinos
Boyz behind enemy linesTop of Turn 2It's time for the Iron Hands to take their revenge on the savage Orks. The dreadnoughts lumber toward the boyz in front of them, obliterating 9 boyz with bolter fire before pulverizing the final three boyz into fine paste in close combat.
All the bikes surge forward and target the both units of grots with heavy bolter fire, forever cutting short the grots celebration at killing a marine in the previous round. Without grots to shield them, the lootas lose four to fire from the Stormtalon. The scouts again target the warphead and manage to explode his head before too much warp energy would do it for them. The techmarine gunner falls back to the second floor of the ruin and the tac squad holding the third floor opens fire on the boyz in the back field killing only about 3 boyz.
In close combat, the veterans lose one member to overwatch before killing the solo loota on the ground floor of the ruin. The rest are out of combat since the bikes can't get to the higher levels of the ruin. The captain and the techmarine demolish one smasha gun before the Warboss heroically intervenes and pastes the apothecary with Da Killa Klaw while his attack squig enjoys a fine dinner of bike tires. He then consolidates into the Techmarine, ready for next round. All in all the Iron hands do some serious damage to the Orks but there are always more boyz.
The aftermath of multiple combats
The boyz are in deep trouble against a dreadnoughtBottom of Turn 2A group of orks arrive from the tellyporta, coming in near the objective on the eastern edge of the map. They open fire on the scouts and manage to kill three to avenge the death of the warphead. The remaining weirdboy smites the Stormtalon for 3 wounds after moving closer to lootas and smasha guns.
The three deffkoptas also arrive from reserve ineffectively shoot at the stormtalon before charging the flyer. Their blades only manage to look cool but also do nothing in combat.
The lootas manage to kill the final two veteran bikers and the smasha guns kill two of the tac marines holding the objective in the southeast corner. Below the tasc squad, the boys surround the thunderfire cannon and begin the long, hard, multiple round process of demolishing it. The smasha guns kill off two members of the last tac squad.
Finally, the Warboss proves how killy Da Killa Klaw is by pasting the techmarine biker before setting his sights on the Captain.
The rare aerial close combat
Everybody wants to see the Warlords fightTop of Turn 3The Marines are mostly stationary except for the stormtalon and dreadnoughts. The Stormtalon flies toward the gretchin holding the northwest objective and easily lays waste to the cowardly grots. One dreadnought moves on the boys that just arrived from the tellyporta and only manages to four total in shooting and assault. The boys take a few wounds off the nought in retaliation. The other nought joins the captain in facing the Warboss. The boss does nothing against the captain but in a fit of rage before dying rips the dreadnought to shreds. In the southeast corner the boyz continue their slow fight against the thunderfire cannon. The remaining scouts take aim at the Big Mek and take off half his wounds. Another smasha gun is destroyed by a missle from the lone surviving tac squad.
Da Boss is Sandwiched between a Nought and a Captain
Orks 1, Iron Hands 1 (Slay the Warlord)
Bottom of Turn 3Other than the deffkoptas the orks are mostly stationary this round, happily in combat (or happily out of it in the case of the lootas.) The deffkoptas fly back toward the Captain to try and avenge Da Boss. The Weirdboy smites the Captain for three wounds while the koptas lose one of their own in combat.
The lootas are ineffective against the stormtalon and the smasha guns miss all their shots at the tac squad. In combat the the boyz finally manage to destroy the Thunderfire cannon and consolidate up a floor to engage the techmarine gunner. The tellyported boys finish off the dreadnought and move toward the scouts, and an objective.
Movin' on up...
One dead dreadnoughtKoptas on the CaptainTop of Turn 4The Iron Hands are on the ropes with only a few units remaining. The stormtalon continues to shine by taking out the lootas, eliminating one ork threat. The Captain smashes another deffkopta in combat while the techmarine loses a wound to combat against the boys. The snipers finally miss a target after moving from their perch on the higher levels of a ruin.
Stormtalon returning to finish off the lootas.
Bottom of Turn 4Things are moving faster now as there are fewer and fewer Iron Hands. The tellyported boys finish off the scouts with a volume of shoota fire while claiming an objective. The weirdboy finishes off the Captain with a mighty smite, dealing 6 mortal wounds, that even his cybernetic enhancements can't save him from. The techmarine gunner takes 2 more wounds from the boyz.
Orks 2 (Slay the Warlord), Iron Hands 1
A few more wounds off the techmarine gunner
Top of Turn 5The stormtalon hovers in front of the weirdboy and opens fire, vaporizing the psyker and deny me the chance to jump him onto an objective in my turn. The techmarine gunner finally falls in combat and the boys again consolidate up a floor to engage the last three tac marines and control the objective there. At this point my opponent concedes.
Say goodbye to the Weirdboy
Zog off, dis is ours!Final Score:
Orks 8, Iron Hand 1
Post MortemThis was a fun game overall and my opponent fought well. In the end the Iron Hands couldn't stand up to the higher number of orks. I was concerned when his bikers got into my gun line but the Warboss being able to heroically intervene was key. While he finally fell to the Captain, I did learn a valuable lesson about fighting against somebody with an invulnerable save.
It was also a learning experience as some issues in close combat we've never encountered before came up. First, the two dreadnoughts both assaulted boyz and the first dread wiped them out and then consolidated. We weren't sure if the second dreadnought could consolidate too since it didn't actually fight in combat. I thought no, but we rolled off and my opponent one so we let it. After the game, checking the core book and the errata, I think I was right, since the second dread no longer had a target to fight, it technically was ineligible for the fight phase and thus the consolidate move as part of the phase.
Second, The veteran bikers killed one loota in close combat so I removed the only one on the ground floor of the ruin and they couldn't consolidate into the second floor. The lootas were no longer within an inch of the bikers so they didn't fight. I checked the errata and found out I was right about that.
Anyway, thanks for reading and thanks to my opponent! I look forward to trying out Maelstrom missions with you next time.