750 Point Orks vs. Eldar, Run 'em Down!The Orks managed to smash the Eldar scouting force in the previous battle of the the campaign. You can read more about the campaign
here. The Orks are now free to rampage across the planet, or so they think. The Eldar dispatch another force to try to blunt the spread of the Orks across their maiden world.
Eldar ForcesAutarch w/Wings, Banshee Mask, Lasblaster, Scorpion Chainsword (Warlord)
10 Guardians w/Warlock, Scatter Laser
--in Wave Serpent w/Scatter Laser, Shuricannon
10 Guardians w/Warlock, Scatter Laser
--in Wave Serpent w/Scatter Laser, Shuricannon
5 Warp Spiders
6 Swooping Hawks w/Exarch
Orks PillagersWarboss w/ Bosspole, Warbike, Powerklaw, Da Finkin' Cap (Conqueror of Cities & Pronceps of Deceit)
Painboy w/ Warbike & Grot Orderly
7 Warbikers w/ Boss Nob w/ Big Choppa
Deffkopta w/ TL Rokkit & Buzzsaw
Deffkopta w/ TL Rokkit & Buzzsaw
12 Boyz w/ Boss Nob w/ Bosspole & Power Klaw
--in Trukk with Reinforced Ram
12 Boyz w/ Boss Nob w/ Bosspole & Power Klaw
--in Trukk with Reinforced Ram
Mission, Terrain and DeploymentWe played at a local gaming store. The terrain was a temperate wilderness with forest along one long edge and ruins along the two short edges.
The map is cut into quarters with an objective in the center and two others in the center of the two quarters that armies are not going to be deployed into. There is a 9" bubble around the central objective that armies cannot be deployed inside at the start of the Battle. Victory Points are only based on control of objectives at the end of the game.
During deployment only fast attack units may be placed on the board. All other units are placed in reserve. Units in fast transports can deploy in the first round on a roll of 4+. Afterward the usual reserve rolls apply.
The Eldar wins the roll off and picks the corner of the map with ruins and places his Warp Spiders in the ruined building with complete blockage of line of sight. The swooping hawks are held in Reserves along with his guardians.
I deploy my warbikers, warboss and pain boy in a diagonaly line along the bubble around the central objective and my two deffkoptas along both edges of the bubble along the edge of the deployment zone and scout them 12 inches closer to the Eldar, one on each flank.
The Eldar fail to seize the initiative.
Select Pictures of the battle can be found
here in case they don't show up in the post.
DeploymentDeploymentTop of Turn 1I fail all my reserve rolls, so no boyz for me this turn. I move my deffkoptas up the board in hopes of swinging around and shooting at the warp spiders but can't get into line of sight. My units are out in the open but feel okay about the toughness of my bikers.
Bottom of Turn 1One Unit of Guardians in a Wave Serpent arrives from reserves. My opponent deploys it outside the ruins and moves it 6 inches along the far end of the board to give it line of sight to my bikers. The Warp Spiders jump to the outside of the ruins to also gain line of sight on my bikers. The Wave Serpent fires its scatter laser and shuricannon to little effect. The Warp Spiders have better luck, damaging on initiative. I fail most of my saves, both cover and feel no pain, and lose 3 bikers and take one wound off my Boss Nob. I pass my morale test and keep on rolling.
End of turn one, three bikers downTop of Turn 2I make both of my reserve rolls and both my trukks speed onto the map, rolling into the trees in the movement phase and moving flat out in the shooting phase. The orks are tightening the noose around the Eldar who have very little space to maneuver at the far end of the board. One Deffkopta moves to the edge of the ruins, the other approaches the ruins and the bikers move 12 inches so they can fire at the warp spiders. The bikers fire and the Spiders flicker jump back into the ruins and the bikers lose line of sight, cursing at the panzees. One Deffkopta has line of sight on the spiders now and gets a lucky rokkit shot at the spiders and kills one.
Circling for the killBottom of Turn 2The last Eldar Reserves both arrive this turn. The Wave Serpent comes in close to the middle edge on the long side of his deployment zone, lining up the bikers and ignoring the deffkopta that's about 12 inches from him. The other Wave Serpent shifts a few inches into a trench in the map, also lining the bikers up in its cross hairs. The Warp Spiders jump out from cover, their options open for the shooting phase. The Swooping Hawks deploy behind my units. The Ork trap is sprung, they are surrounded and can assault in any direction if they survive the onslaught about to be unleashed upon them. In the shooting phase the Wave Serpents fire their shields, lasers and cannons at the warbikers in hopes of knocking them down. The shields only get a 3 and a 5 on the number of shots they get out of two 2d6 rolls. Due to armor and feel no pain the bikers take no wounds from the shields, and with jinking after turbo boosting and FNP take no damage from the lasers or cannons. The swooping hawks toss a grenade on the bikes, killing the nob and taking a wound off the Warboss. The Warp Spiders shoot at one of the trukks and cause one pen, shaking the crew and boyz inside. They then move after shooting to bubble wrap the Warp Spider in the trenches. I was surprised as my opponent at how well I weathered his onslaught. If the shields had done one wound the bikers would have been immobilized.
Reserves arrive, the boyz are surroundedTop of Turn 3It's time to Waaagh! One Trukk moves closer to the Wave Serpent in the trench, skirting around the Warp Spiders when they disembark. They run in the shooting phase so they're only 1" away when it's time to charge. The other trukk turns around, moves closer to the swooping hawks and disembarks, ready to charge the winged panzees. They shoot at them and miss all their shots. The bikers close on the Warp Spiders and shoot, the spiders flicker jump 10" back to the ruins, leaving one visible to the bikers. Of 15 shots at a 6 with re-rolls only one hits, 1 out of 30. There's a nice outline of the Spider in the walls behind him. One Deffkopta shifts closer to the Wave Serpent by the ruins and the second moves toward the Wave Serpent that just entered last turn.
Onto the Assault Phase. The boys assault the Wave Serpent and under the weight of 44 attacks manage to wreck the transport, causing the Guardians to emergency disembark into what will come to be known as, the murder pit. Since they all couldn't get out in a regular disembark move they are unable to perform any actions for the rest of the turn. The deffkopta was going to charge the Wave Serpent as well but failed it's charge roll.
The murder pitThe other unit of boyz charges the hawks and loose 4 to overwatch. Due to the Autarch's banshee mask my boyz succumb to fear every, single, assault phase until they kill him in the top of turn 4. In combat I loose 1 wound and he looses 2 and we stay locked in combat.
Fear the wingsThe bikers charge the hawks and make the distance because we rolled off to see if the trenches are part of the ruins, and able to move through them as part of my trait, and I win the roll. So, they charge, lose nothing to overwatch and take out 3 Spiders and sweep the last one on a failed leadership test.
The other Deffkopta misses with his rokkit and charges the Wave Serpent. It takes off one hull point with it's buzzsaw, surprising my opponent.
Bottom of Turn 3The Eldar don't have a lot of choices right now. The guardians are trapped in the murder pit unable to take any actions this turn, the remaining Wave Serpent is being threatened by the Deffkopta, and the hawks are stuck in combat with the boyz.
The Wave Serpent backs up away from the Deffkopta and tries to shoot it down before it can assault again. The Eldar manage to take one wound off of the deffkopta and looks in trouble.
The Hawks continue to fight the boyz and loose combat 3 to 1, the banshee mask keeping the boyz from really wailing on them. The boyz make their leadership test and stay locked in combat and things continue to look grim.
Top of Turn 4The Deffkopta moves back to within an inch of the Wave Serpent, shooting and missing with it's rokkit launcher. in Assault it hits twice with the buzzsaw, causing a pen and rolling explodes. The Wave Serpent goes up in flames, taking the Kopta with it and half the guardians inside.
OrkakazeThe Boyz and the Hawks continue their grapple. I lose this round but the Nob manages to get two hits with his power klaw and the Autarch fails on of his saves an dies instantly, stopping that damn banshee mask from instilling fear into his boyz. I finally manage to pass a moral test with this nob and the fight goes on. My opponent was hoping to win this combat, to free up his last two hawks but that didn't happen.
The trukk that was hit previously moves toward the central objective, as does the second deffkopta.
The bikers move toward the guardians in the murder pit and the other unit of boys move over the wreck of the Wave Seprent to get closer to charge. The boyz take pot shots with their pistols and do nothing. The bikers spray the guardians with more dakka and wipe out 8. The boyz move to charge, needing a 3 since they have to drop down into the trench. They roll a 3, even with a reroll, whew. The Guardians take out 1 ork on overwatch and then concedes that combat since I will be making 40 attacks on the charge with the boyz, not including the nob. The boys consolidate back toward their trukk, ready to get on board next round.
Bottom of Turn 4Things are looking very grim. The Guardians move toward the third objective, getting in close and taking pot shots at the trukk sitting at the central objective, failing to damage it. The hawks continue their fight but without fear the Nob and one Boy manage to wipe the last hawks out.
At this point my opponent concedes, the best he can score is 3 points, with his 1 unit left on the board
Final ScoreOrks 6
Eldar 3
Post MortemMy opponent was again shocked at how fast the Orks could move and how they were able to keep up with his Eldar. I'm still getting used to it myself, this is the third time I've done a Speed Freak list. The Warbikers were a tough nut for him to crack except with his Warp Spiders. High Toughness, okay Armor for Orks, Cover and Fell no Pain is a tough combo. He admitted he probably shouldn't have focused most of his attacks on turn 2 on the bikers. Also, Koptas with buzzsaws are pretty nasty. Thanks to guys on the ork boards that have been suggesting them to me.