News: No news is good news...

Login  |  Register

Author Topic: 1250 Orks Vs Daemons: Bloodbath!  (Read 2167 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Wyddr

  • Author Eminence: Hereticus Liber Daemonica | Fio'shas Shi
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5254
  • Country: us
    • My blog about SF/F stuff
  • Armies: Daemons, Imperial Fists, Tau, Ksons, Vostroyans
1250 Orks Vs Daemons: Bloodbath!
« on: February 9, 2017, 11:08:43 PM »
1250 Orks Vs Khorne Daemons: Bloodbath!

Gabba Naz-Finga, the Prophet-Wot-Brung-Us-North, struggled with a waking vision. Him and the boyz - all of them, spilling across the rolling plains of the garden-world for as far as the eye could see - rampaging ever onward, ever northward, towards the place where the air smelled of brimstone and the sky turned red. There, on a black plain surrounded by moldering ruins, was a great cauldron filled to the brim with boiling blood. It glowed with power, and the boyz charged, choppas high, to crush it, cast it down, smash it to bitz.

But before the cauldron could be cast down, a legion of gaunt warriors, fiery blades clutched in their hands, leapt from within it. The green tide met the crimson wave and blood and gore soaked the ground. Orks died in obscene numbers. They were driven back.

Only to charge again. The boyz, thundering across the waste, again faced with those terrible blades in the hands of those gaunt warriors. Again the orks died. Again they charged.

Gabba became aware of a great, booming laugh echoing from the depths of the cauldron. He struggled against the waves of demons, clawing and bashing and shooting his way to the artifact's rim. He found himself staring down into a bottomless abyss of fire and violence--death and gore without end and without beginning. The roiling stuff of Chaos itself. Gabba bellowed into the warp his challenge. "WOT'S SO ZOGGIN' FUNNY, YE GIT?"

The voice did not answer, but the laughs became louder, deeper, more terrible somehow. Around him, the daemonic horde again slaughtered the boyz, advancing into their withering firepower with no sign of fear. Gabba was filled with unspeakable rage. "You listen here, you zoggin' horny-headed git! I'm Gabba Naz-Finga, the Prophet-Wot-Brung-Us-North, and it don't matter HOW many times you kill me--I'llz be back, see? And I'll be comin' for you, unnerstand! And I'm gonna kick yer stinking teeth out yer stinkin arse, even if it takes me a million tries!"

The voice from the abyss spoke only one word in response: GOOD.


Roboknee and I got in the third game of this latest campaign arc in our ongoing narrative campaign (read about it here). This one culminates in the ork horde reaching the Blood Vault only to find it already open--split open by the orks' own violence. This is, of course, what the orks wanted. Or...is it?

The armies were as follows:
The Incursion of Unferth the Betrayer
Chaos Daemons Daemonic Incursion:
Murderhorde

Unferth the Betrayer (Herald of Khorne) on Bloodthrone w/Grimoire of True Names, Locus of Wrath (Warlord: Glory of Battle) 
The Knights of Blood (4 Bloodcrushers w/Banner of Blood, Bloodhunter w/Greater Etherblade)
The Knights of Brass (4 Bloodcrushers w/Banner of Blood, Bloodhunter w/Greater Etherblade)
5 Flesh Hounds
10 Bloodletters
10 Bloodletters
10 Bloodletters
10 Bloodletters
10 Bloodletters

Daemon Flock
5 Furies

The Ork Horde of Gabba Naz-Finga
Ork Horde Formation
Warboss w/Big Choppa, 'Eavy Armor, Bosspole, Finkin' Cap (Strategic Genius) (Warlord: Like a Thunderbolt)
Big Mek w/Kustom Force Field, Kustom Megablasta, Mega Armor
Warphead, Lv 2 (Da Jump, Warpath, Frazzle)

19 Slugga Boyz
20 Slugga Boyz w/Nob (Bosspole, Big Choppa)
15 Shoota Boyz w/Nob (Bosspole, Big Choppa)
15 Lootas
6 Warbikes w/Nob (Bosspole, Big Choppa)
5 Mega Nobz (4 x Klaw + Shoota, 1 x Killsaws)

Mission, Terrain, and Deployment
In our little tradition of trying out little-used missions from various GW publications over the years, this one would be Black Crusade. It's a kill points mission, but armies begin play only 9" from the center line of the board, all units have the Stubborn and Preferred Enemy special rules, and any non-vehicle units that get completely destroyed get placed in ongoing reserves to come back immediately thereafter. With two horde armies on the board, this was going to be a bloody one. At first glance, I'm at the significant disadvantage of having no shooting whatsoever against the fairly robust ork shooting phase. On the other hand, anything of his I knock out has to come in off his board edge whereas everything of mine can deepstrike.

Terrain was relatively simple--three ancient ruins on the board (East, West, and South). About board center is what I'll call a "blood cauldron" (a goblet full of red beads to help us keep track of KPs), a big wall in the north and also one in the SE. Beyond that, scatter around a few craters and some small hills and you've got a fair amount of LOS blocking terrain and a little bit of cover.

I deploy first. I choose to deploy in the south and weight my force towards the west, placing both the Bloodthrone as well as all the Bloodcrushers behind the western ruins. Four groups of bloodletters then fan out along the deployment line, including one atop the southern ruins. One group of bloodletters and the Furies remain in reserve--I plan on deepstriking them. The Flesh Hounds deploy just in front of the Bloodcrushers and scout forward to act as speed-bumps/spoilers.

The orks put the warbikes along the eastern flank, then the Lootas to the west of them (behind the east ruins) commanding firelanes down the center of the board. The Big Mek goes with them (giving the whole crowd Slow and Purposeful, thanks to his armor). The Warboss and the 19 Slugga boyz go just to the west of the Lootas, then the Mega Nobz, then the other Slugga boyz. The Shoota Boyz w/Warphead deploy in the rear of the Ork DZ, but Da Jump means they won't stay there long.

Deployment


Daemons DZ
A dangerous west flank
Ork DZ

Turn 1
I start the game out on a bad footing when the Orks seize the initiative from me, meaning I'm almost certainly going to give up First Blood. Given how close I think this game is likely to me, that might be crucial.

Fortunately, my daemon saves keep me from losing *too* much. The Lootas did manage to blast a unit of Bloodletters off the board--not much to be done about that--but the combined firepower of the Bikes and the Shoota Boyz (who teleported across the map to ambush my east flank) was insufficient to totally wipe out the easternmost bloodletters, leaving two alive. Likewise, the meganobz charged my Flesh Hounds but failed their fear check, meaning they only killed 3 out of five dogs and lost a wound themselves. Given that Stubborn was in effect for every unit on the battlefield, the two hounds kept the Nobz locked in combat. Beyond that, the slugga boyz advanced as far as they were able, the Warboss's unit running into short range from my own lines--an over-extension I would make certain to have them pay for.

Top of Turn 1


The Orks advance across the board
The Shoota boyz teleport into position

In the bottom of the first turn, it's my time to hit back. Given the Murderhorde's special rules, my units work best in teams, so I decide that using overwhelming localized force is wise. Reinforcing this is the fact that, while my troops hit like a ton of bricks, allowing even a few orks left alive after I strike could result in significant casualties. I throw both groups of Bloodcrushers into the mega nobz, quickly wiping them out with 12 AP2 attacks from the Bloodhunters. In the east, I charge both of the full bloodletters squads on the ground into the Warbosses unit. I lose some boyz to overwatch and (I think) to the Warboss's choppa, but the entire ork unit is wiped out in very short order (holy crap, do I love the Escalating Bloodlust rule!).

The two remaining bloodletters in the easternmost unit move simply as a speed bump for any attempt for the bikes to squeeze through the gap between the wall and the ruins. The bloodletters I'd lost deepstruck more-or-less back in the exact same position they had been shot off. Finally, the Bloodthrone moved behind the southern units, using the newly arrived bloodletters as cover and using the Grimoire to bless the self-same bloodletters to save them from another Loota volley. This, as it turns out, was a small tactical error on my part, since I'd forgotten about the Greenskin Hordes rule, but I'm getting ahead of myself...

Oh, and in the Warp Storm, Nurgle decided to fart upon the warbikes, killing 1. So, thank you, grandpapa.

Bottom of Turn 1


I just slaughtered 25 orks and a Warboss here
Coulda charged with these guys, but why give them the overwatch satisfaction?

Turn 2
In turn 2, the Warphead uses Da Jump again to teleport the shoota boyz behind my Bloodthrone (he takes a wound from Perils, fyi). They scatter badly, though, causing them to fire only snap shots and killing one guy in difficult terrain. All they score is a single glancing hit on the chariot's rear armor. The Warbikes blow away those last two bloodletters, predictably enough, while the Lootas retreat moderately and fire at (something) but I don't remember what--the casualties were ultimately immaterial.

The real disappointment here is the western sluggas charging the Knights of Brass (bloodcrushers). Now, on paper, a pack of Escalating Bloodlust-boosted Bloodcrushers will win combat against a group of 20 slugga boyz, especially with Preferred Enemy involved (they kill something like 10+ orks before they strike then only take 8-ish wounds back), but I'd failed to account for the Greenskin Hordes rule, which gives a big pack of orks hammer of wrath hits a little more often than 1/6th of the time. Of course he gets it (my opponent's dice were HOT this game. Red, red hot.) and my crushers are smacked with 12-13 hits before they can strike, killing one crusher and then the rest get dragged down from the weight of attacks. I do still manage to nab 9 greenskins on the way out, but I *should* have anticipated this charge and used the Grimoire to boost their saves last turn instead of pointlessly boosting an ancillary bloodletter unit. Ah well - will do better next time, I suppose. 

Oh, and this map is missing it, but the Meganobz returned this round, coming in along the west flank, and the Warboss+boyz did the same, coming in behind the Lootas.

Top of Turn 2


See! The Mega Nobz return!
AND the Warboss + Company
Gonna have to deal with these gitz sooner or later
The Orks slaughter the Knights of Brass, but they have walked into a trap...

In my half of the turn, I am reasonably certain the Lootas are toast, so I pull my Bloodthrone out from behind the ruins and charge it into the slugga boyz along with the Flesh hounds and two separate groups of bloodletters. Those 11-12 orks are green mist so fast I don't even make it all the way through my attacks. The bloodthrone, after devouring a few orks, realizes they're basically vegetable and therefore regains no lost hull points. The bloodletter groups consolidate to form a bubble wrap around my warlord.

Meanwhile, the Knights of Blood and another group of bloodletters assault the Lootas and quickly behead the Big Mek and cut down all the orks in very short order. The bloodletters consolidate into a skirmish line between themselves and the oncoming Warboss + slugga boyz (see? I'm learning!).

Finally, the Knights of Brass and the Bloodletters I'd lost last turn drop back onto the board, setting up another ambush for the Warbikes to ride into--the former atop the southern ruins, the latter just behind the eastern ruins--one way or another, if the warbikes enter that part of the board, they're dead next turn. The Knights of Brass are blessed by the grimoire, too, making them hard to take out even with the potent guns of the bikes. Oh yes, and my other reserves - the furies and the 5th column of bloodletters - do not arrive. Suits me.

Bottom of Turn 2


More Reinforcements!
No more Lootas
Protecting the Warlord

Turn 3
Well, turns out I *still* haven't quite wrapped my head around the bonkers rules of this scenario, because here come the Lootas again. They march right on with the Big Mek again (granting them S&P) and they go and blow the crap out of my poor warlord (the only dude on the table who *doesn't* regenerate each turn). Crap. Oh, also the Slugga boyz I'd just wiped out come in beside the Warboss's unit--great.

The Warboss and his buddies assault the winged bloodletter squad in front of the Knights of Blood and, predictably, blast and chop it apart with only 3 orks killed in the process. The Warphead tries to Frazzle one of the bloodletter groups to the south of my warlord and does so, but melts his own brain in the process (perils again), killing him. This does not deter the shoota boyz, though, who shoot up and then charge that bloodletter squad into oblivion. The mega nobz charge the bloodletters to the north of the chariot and crush them, as well, but take a wound in the process. Finally, the Warbikes shoot and charge the Knights of Brass, killing one of them, but the Knights turn around a slaughter every single bike in short order. A bloody turn, all told.

Top of Turn 3


Before the ill-fated charge
The Warboss about to krump more daemons
amphetamine parrot - they came BACK!
The center of the board looks a bit...empty

This turn I have a lot of Bloodletters dropping in from the sky, including that fifth group I had to roll for. I opt to drop most of these units in my DZ, keeping them clear of ork guns and setting them up to regain control of the mid-board, should I need to. The one that is dropped most aggressively is in the east, where I land them at about the edge of the ork DZ in the hopes of sweeping in and backing up the Bloodcrusher's inexorable advance.

In the south, bloodletters and Knights of Blood charge and slaughter the shoota boyz (though I lose 3 bloodletters to overwatch). The Flesh Hounds and Knights of Blood smash into the slugga boyz and the Warboss. I kill every single damned ork there except the warboss, who winds up sitting on one single stinking wound. Thanks to Stubborn, he doesn't go anywhere, despite losing combat by a zillion.   

Bottom of Turn 3


Stupid, stubborn warboss!

Turn 4
By this point, the game has been taking FOREVER (this is what happens when two horde armies can never actually take casualties), so we declare this is going to be the last turn since it's already midnight and we both have to work in the morning. The Warphead, Shoota boyz, and warbikes come in from the NE and gun down that aggressively-postured bloodletter unit in short order. The Mega nobz charge a group of bloodletters in the board center but can't quite put them all down (failed a fear check, I believe) and the bloodletters, to their credit, take down one nob in the process.

The real show, however, is the combat between the Flesh Hounds, Knights of Blood, Warboss, and now the damned Slugga boyz charging in, who *again* get to activate the Greenskin Hordes rule and do some 15 hammer of wrath hits. Many, many dice are rolled and, when the smoke clears, I've killed the warboss and somehow killed enough orks in the charging squad to *win* combat by a couple points. They fail the morale check, their nob is dead, and they run for it. The lone remaining Knight of Blood runs them all down. Boom.

Top of Turn 4
 

Because of that one combat, the point totals, which had been neck in neck, pull away in my favor. I'm leading by 2. I drop the Furies into his DZ, just for Linebreaker, and opt not to risk any more combats (though I might have been able to take down his bikes with the crushers and hounds and almost certainly could have wiped out his Meganobz with the Knights of Brass). My opponent concedes the game.

Bottom of Turn 4


Final Score
Orks: 10
Daemons: 13

Post Mortem
Good grief, what a bloodbath! I counted it up, and my units slaughtered some 120+ orks in this game and lost about 65 themselves. I'll say this for the Murderhorde--it hits *hard.* It takes some doing to embarrass orks in close-combat and this army was doing it over and over and over again. I probably would have done better than I did were it not for how hot my opponent's dice were--he was rolling 5s and 6s like crazy. I did better mostly because the bloodletters were quick enough to *prevent* him from rolling any dice at all much of the time.

The mission, overall, played to my opponent's strengths over my own--he had shooting, he had fewer, larger units, and that meant when his units came back, he was already damaging me on the turn he arrived. My chief advantages were that my units could deepstrike (often without scattering, thanks to the icons on the bloodcrusher units) and my opponent's Independent Characters were easy killpoints for my terrifyingly effective Bloodhunters (6 high WS, high Str, Low AP, mastercrafted, hatred, preferred enemy attacks, anybody?). Even still it was a near thing. Had the game gone on longer, I'm not really sure how it would have gone in the end. My instinct says he would have won. Then again, if this had been a standard kill point game with no returning units, I would have tabled him by turn 3 or so.

Anyway, that was a hell of a game and a lot of fun. Thanks for reading and thanks, as always, to my opponent!

Offline Scorn

  • Supreme Archon of Commorragh | Nasty Sky Juice | Title (and/or) Whore |
  • Ancient
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2912
  • Country: 00
  • Armies: Craftworld Eldar
Re: 1250 Orks Vs Daemons: Bloodbath!
« Reply #1 on: February 10, 2017, 04:01:00 AM »
I just picked up an old copy of the Battle Missions book, this one looked interesting.  Neat to see it played out.

Thanks for the write up!
Rejoice.  Despair. 
Fate does not care.
Each knotted mind entwined. 
Each soul another's bind.
And blind though we are led. 
In time we do know when, to cut a thread.
-Erfworld

Offline Wyddr

  • Author Eminence: Hereticus Liber Daemonica | Fio'shas Shi
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5254
  • Country: us
    • My blog about SF/F stuff
  • Armies: Daemons, Imperial Fists, Tau, Ksons, Vostroyans
Re: 1250 Orks Vs Daemons: Bloodbath!
« Reply #2 on: February 10, 2017, 10:42:56 AM »
I just picked up an old copy of the Battle Missions book, this one looked interesting.  Neat to see it played out.

Thanks for the write up!

You're very welcome!

Re: the mission
I think, on the one hand, we brought armies very much in keeping with the mission's basic premise, which made it more fun. Somebody running Scat-Bikes that refresh every turn would make this no fun at all. Or regenerating Wraithknights. Some house-ruling ought to be in order.

On the other hand, this mission takes forever in that I don't think we realize how much shorter turns 3+ are compared to turns 1 and 2, especially if you're throwing a lot of infantry on the board.

Finally, the "comes back every turn" thing requires a whole different tactical mindset that's hard to wrap your head around. I basically lost my Warlord because I knew the Lootas were toast. I just failed to appreciate that they could just walk right on next turn and blow me away.

I give this mission a 6/10--cool idea to try once, wouldn't want to play it often or even necessarily again. 

Offline Roboknee77

  • Ork Boy
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Junior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 240
  • Country: us
  • Armies: Orks, Sisters
Re: 1250 Orks Vs Daemons: Bloodbath!
« Reply #3 on: February 10, 2017, 11:06:57 AM »
This was a really fun battle and like Wyddr said, my dice were blessed by Mork, or possibly Gork, by the way they were rolling.

It was a close game and if I had realized that each death of an IC was worth a point I wouldn't have brought so many to the battle.  I was also expecting more Tzeetch Daemons than an all Khorne Bloodhorde.  Regardless, I had fun, which is the point.

My post game observations, seizing the initiative might have gotten me first blood but allowed Wyddr to assault since I rushed my units forward.  A mistake I will learn from the next time I see Khorne on the field.  Also, turn order priority for shooting is something I need to think about more.  In the first round I should have shot with the bikers first then the shoota boyz, instead of the other way around.  I could have possibly wiped out one of his units instead of leaving two hidden behind a wall that the bikers couldn't hit since the didn't have LOS.

Last thought, the Weirdboy.  I finally get what Wyddr means about the levels of randomness for the Psychic phase.  I also got a lesson in how to determine how many dice to roll for Warp Charge to lesson the chance of Perils of the Warp.  More dice does not equal better since my Boyz head asploded due to my rolls.  Da Jump was definitely a fun power and useful in this game.

Anyway, thanks for listening to me ramble on and thanks again to Wyddr for writing this up and hosting the battle.  Next up, a break from Daemons and seeing what's all the fuss about the Tau.

Online Irisado

  • A Light in The Grim-Darkness ~ Guns Don't Kill People, Copyright Stats Do | Farseer | Reporting Live! from the Crime Scene | Somewhat behind the times
  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 11480
  • Country: gb
  • Soñando debajo del arco iris
  • Armies: Administrators must not play 40K
Re: 1250 Orks Vs Daemons: Bloodbath!
« Reply #4 on: February 10, 2017, 06:08:02 PM »
That was a crazy game!  I have to admit that I wouldn't be a great fan of that type of scenario.  Still, it looks like you both had some fun with it, and I loved the narrative opening.  Thanks for the report.
You haunt my in-box like an ex-girl friend could only dream of.

The Forum Rules - Please Read and Remember Them.

Soñando con una playa donde brilla el sol, un arco iris ilumina el cielo, y el mar espejea iridescentemente

Offline The GrimSqueaker

  • The Badger on the Road | Staff Infection Officer | Debased Vassal Slayer | Title Barfly | XOXOXO Gossip Girl | Bent Over
  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 19053
  • Country: nz
  • From the Fourth Necromantic House
Re: 1250 Orks Vs Daemons: Bloodbath!
« Reply #5 on: February 10, 2017, 09:50:16 PM »
He had me at Murderhorde.
Quote from: @TracyAuGoGO
Tact is for people who are too slow witted to be sarcastic.
Drink
Knights Tippler
Quote from: Surviving the World
If you can't make fun of something, it's probably not worth taking seriously.

You have to love the smell of science in the morning. It smells of learning.... or perhaps a gas leak.

Offline Looshkin

  • Aspect Warrior
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Full Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1117
  • Country: gb
  • Once held an Utter Fear of Tiny Diamonds
  • Armies: I 'play' Eldar. Or at least horde unpainted models
Re: 1250 Orks Vs Daemons: Bloodbath!
« Reply #6 on: February 12, 2017, 09:09:44 AM »
Great report Wyddr, of what seemed to be an incredibly fun, bonkers game.

Please forward the maps to White Dwarf as a not too subtle suggestion for their Bat Reps.

Cheers guys!
WD127 - Started a Love Affair my Wallet Just Can't Cope With...

 


Powered by EzPortal