Topic: Report from the front lines

[Demonhunter23]

Well, after a very long time I finally finished putting together my first ork army (I honestly don't think I will ever get to painting them all) and have had two games at 1750 points with mixed results. I am not trying to make excuses, but I think getting used to playing orks sort of put me at a disadvantage which was compounded by me not really knowing a lot about the Eldar (except that I really hate them) in the first game which I lost. The second game against marines was tough, or at least it felt tough, but in the end I won by a large margin. Both opponents are very experienced and in my opinion good players. My list in both games was;

HQ
Warboss with PK on warbike

Warboss with PK on warbike

Elites
10 Lootas

Troops
6 Nob Bikers including 1Pk, 1 PK with Waaagh Banner, 1 Big choppa, 1Big Choppa with Boss Pole, 1 Choppa and a Pain Boy with Grot Orderly

6 Nob Bikers including 1Pk, 1 PK with Waaagh Banner, 1 Big choppa, 1Big Choppa with Boss Pole, 1 Choppa and a Pain Boy with Grot Orderly

20 Slugga boyz including 1 Nob with PK

20 Slugga boyz including 1 Nob with PK

Heavy
Battlewagon with 2 big shootas, deff rolla, armor plates and red paint job

Battlewagon with 2 big shootas, deff rolla, armor plates and red paint job

My post is acting buggy so I will talk about the games in following replies.

[Demonhunter23]

Game one was against Eldar and included I think?

Eldrad

A big squad of Warlocks wit a mix a several weapons including several singing spears? also some heavy duty flamer type weapons

3 wraithlords with flamers and missile launchers and some sort of wraith swords that let them re roll to hits

a vyper with scatterlaser?

3 squads of dire avengers (i think) each in a skimmer transport with scatter lasers

Again, because I don't know the Eldar well, it is hard to remember exactly what was what, but that is the basic idea.

The mission was single objective and table quarter deployment. My first mistake I think, was in placing my objective in the far corner of my quarter. Looking back on it, I think I should have placed my marker as close to the center of the battlefield to limit the distance I would have to cover in holding or contesting both objectives,. My opponenet placed his about as far back in his quarter as he could.

Without getting into maps or drawings, the basic flow of the battle was me trying to encircle his forces with my bikers and boyz mounted in the battlewagons. The lootas did pretty well placed in cover and shooting like crazy at his warlock squad and then also at his transports blowing up one of them in the 3rd turn. My foe focused on shooting at my bikers but also worked at falling back to try to get me to over reach myself and then counter charge. He did manage to charge one of my bike squads with a wraithlord and killed 3 bikers but then fell to my counter attack.

One battlewagon shocked another of his wraithlords and survived his death or glory attack and killed the wraithlord with several str 10 hits. A lot of shooting wounded Eldrad and hurt the Warlock squad.

The game took a turn for the worse for me in the 4th turn when I charged his 3 remaining warlocks and one wraithlord with a full biker squad. He killed 2 nobs with his wraithlord and I rolled very poorly and he made a lot of saves so that in the end I lost combat by 1. I failed my leadership test and he swept me, taking my one unwounded warboss as well as several bikers in one terrible shot. After that, I was able to finish off Eldrad, but with 2 squads of avengers and turbo boosting transports, he was able to hold his one objective and contest mine.

I am curious if anyone has some solid advice on dealing with things like Wraithlords given the list that I am using? The one thing I will do differently in the future in similar cases is not spread out my assaults as much. If I had just attacked his wraithlord by itself, I would have had a better chance of surviving the assault and not losing more than half my squad to a sweep.

Any and all suggestions are welcome. Hopefully my report of the battle was not too confusing.

[Demonhunter23]

Game 2 was against marines. My Opponent's list included;

Pedro Kantor

Chaplain Cassius
5 assault terminators, 2 with lightning claws 3 with Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields

Ironclad Dreadnought in a drop pod

10 Stern Guard in a drop pod with combi flamers

2 10 man tactical squads with plasma cannon and flamer in each

2 razorbacks with twin linked lascannons

landraider redeemer

The mission was annihilation and the set up was Dawn of War. He won the roll and made me set up first. I decided to hold everything in reserve, my thought being to limit the amount of targets he could have when he placed his drop pods.

Without getting into all the details, I thought I would highlight things that I thought were important. One big mistake I think my opponent made was that he combat squaded his tactical squads. I guess his goal was to maximize the use of his plasma cannons while getting his flamers to the front , but in the end he just gave me more kill points.

One big mistake that I made was that I misjudged the distance his landraider mounted Chaplain and asault terminators could cover. He really laid into one of my biker squads and warboss.

One thing that I really underestimated was how well a squad of boyz can do though. In the end I think the most important part of my winning the game was that a round of shooting from 20 boyz followed by an assault really takes its toll as they were able to kill 4 assault terminators and Cassius who had one wound left before they charged.  Winning that assault ultimately broke my enemy's back.

Anyway, I think I am learning more about how to run my list, but would still welcome any comments or questions as well as advice from anyone else who runs a similar llist.

[Joshiantor 98]

In my past experience I have been able to pepper wraithlords with rokkits but then I have only ever had to fight one at a time. Maybe boy swamp and just rely on the power claws to destroy him.

 Ultimately a pretty enjoyable read unlucky lose though better luck next time eldar in my experience have not been one of the easiest armies to beat. Well done for beating the space marines though.

[Droofus]

I am curious if anyone has some solid advice on dealing with things like Wraithlords given the list that I am using? The one thing I will do differently in the future in similar cases is not spread out my assaults as much. If I had just attacked his wraithlord by itself, I would have had a better chance of surviving the assault and not losing more than half my squad to a sweep.

Honestly, the best way to kill wraithlord is through judicious use of klaws.  On the charge, 2 (waagh bannered) nobz with klaws should cause enough wounds to kill a wraithlord.   Otherwise, I'd recommend using your boyz to engage the 'lords.   

I'm assuming you left the boss out of base contact with the lord to avoid the insta-kill?

Anyway, good reports!  I love to hear about a wraithlord getting run over by a deffrolla 

[Demonhunter23]

Thanks for the responses. With regard to the assaults with the wraithlords, the time he charged me, I actually did bring around my boss into base to base, but he attacked the squad to try to get the most kills I guess. The assault when I charged him, I actually split my assault and kept my boss away from his wraithlord and had it in base to base with the warlocks.

What I have been thinking about is the concept that based on what type of opponent I am facing, I can't be too greedy with my assaults. What I mean is, that even though my bikers are a very strong assault unit, against a wraithlord or a squad of assault termies, I need to calm down and just assault the one squad. If it comes to fighting a regular marine tactical squad or non assault focused eldar or even guard, then maybe I can engage in multiple combats.

One other silly point, in both games I continued to forget to use my grot orderlies, I really need to pay more attention.