1500 Orks vs. Iron Hands: Tactical EscalationHaving the 5th of July off, McComas and I got together for another battle. This time he wanted to try out Maelstrom missions and I was happy to oblige. We grabbed the city ruins table again and got to it.
Iron HandsIron Hands Battalion
HQ:
Captain on Bike w/ Thunder Hammer & The Shield Eternal
Techmarine on Bike w/ Chainsword & Storm Bolter
Troops:
5 Scouts w/ Camo Cloaks
10 Man Tactical Squad w/ Missile Launcher & Flamer, Sergeant w/ Chainsword & Combi-Flamer
10 Man Tactical Squad w/ Missile Launcher & Flamer, Sergeant w/ Chainsword & Combi-Flamer
Elites:
Apothecary on Bike w/ Teeth of Terra
4 Company Veterans on Bikes w/ Storm Bolters & Storm Shields w/ Sergeant w/ Chainsword
2 Dreadnaughts w/ Twin Heavy Bolters
Heavy Support:
Thunderfire Cannon w/ Techmarine Gunner
Flyer:
Stormtalon Gunship w/ Twin Assault Cannon & 2 Heavy Bolters
Dedicated Transport:
2 Rhinos w/ Hunter-Killer Missile & 2 Storm Bolters
Ork ForcesBad Moons Battalion
HQ:
Warboss on Warbike w/ Attack Squig, Shoota, Da Killa Klaw, The Best Armor Teeth Can Buy (trait)
Big Mek on Warbike w/ Choppa, & Kustom Force Field
Troops:
30 Shoota Boyz w/ Boss Nob
10 Slugga Boyz w/ Boss Nob
10 Slugga Boyz w/ Boss Nob
10 Slugga Boyz w/ Boss Nob
Heavy Support:
2 Traktor Kannon
2 Traktor Kannon
15 Tankbustas
Dedicated Transports:
3 Trukks w/ Big Shootas & Wrekin' Balls
Bad Moons Battalion
HQ:
Weirdboy (Warphead) w/ Warpath & Fists of Gork
Weirdboy w/ Da Jump
Troops:
10 Grots
10 Grots
10 Grots
MissionSince McComas wanted to try out Maelstrom I let him roll for the mission and we got Tactical Escalation. Each round we would be drawing objectives until we had as many as the round. Thus we'd only draw one the first round. We also picked an objective type each which would score us more victory points when completed. McComas picked Take & Hold and I picked Orks.
DeploymentWe set up 6 objectives, 1 was near the center of the map, 2 was in a ruin in the south southwest, 3 was in a ruin in the north northeast, 4 was on a building in the southeast, 5 was in a ruin in the western center of the map, and the last was in the northeast corner. McComas picked the northern edge of the board, controlling objectives 2 and 6. I deployed on the southern edge, holding objectives 3 and 4. McComas finished deploying first and chose to go first and I failed to seize the initiative.
Main Ork Forces
Main Iron Hands ForcesIron Hand Air Power and ArtilleryTop of Turn 1The Iron Hands decide to split their main forces, the dreadnoughts and rhinos move south up the main road while the bikers head east to support the stormtalon. WIth precision the combined fire of the the Iron Hands eliminates the grots holding objective 4, destroy a trukk and the boyz that were inside it. They also manage to kill 3 boys from the 30 boy blob and 4 wounds off of a traktor kannon. No objectives were completed but the Iron Hands drew first blood.
Iron Hands 1, Orks 0
Iron Hands Roll Out
Goodbye GrotsBottom of Turn 1The orks retaliate by surging forward to engage the pesky humies. The tankbustas jump behind enemy lines and show off their stuff, destroying 1 rhino and 1 dreadnaught. The warboss charges the other rhino and destroys it with de killa klaw, completing an Orks objective to destroy a unit in the fight phase, earning 2 vp. 3 Marines are slain, trapped in the burning wreckage of the Rhinos.
The blob of boyz manages to kill 2 scouts with all their dakka. In the eastern front, the trukk and boys assault the captain but not his biker entourage. hoping to strike a major blow. 2 Veterans give their lives to prevent the captain from taking damage. Finally, 3 traktor cannons strip the stormtalon of 7 wounds.
Iron Hands 1, Orks 2
Orks Move to Engage
Tankbustas Jump behind enemy linesSurround the BikesTop of Turn 2The Captain withdraws from combat and he and his entourage move to support the remaining dreadnought and the tactical marines that survived the rhino explosions. Along the way the apothecary resurrects a veteran biker and the techmarine repairs the dreadnought for 3 wounds. It was my mistake of not engaging the veteran bikers, apothecary and techmarine with my trukk and boyz that let the bikers be able to fire and fight this round. The bikers and dreadnought manage to blow up a trukk and smash the boyz inside.
Meanwhile, the snipers drop down a few levels in their ruin to take control of objective 5 in hopes of holding it for 2 rounds. They manage to strip the Weirdboy of 3 wounds with accurate fire. The stormtalon flies toward the center of the map to strafe the warphead. Thanks to the protection of the Big Mek's kustom force field all but 3 shots that could have hurt him are harmlessly deflected leaving him alive to smite another round.
Finally, the tankbustas lose 1 boy to fire from a tac squad. Overall, a good turn but no victory points were earned.
Iron Hands 1, Orks 2.
Bikers Fallback to Support the Main Force
Priority Target AcquiredBottom of Turn 2I draw 2 easy objectives, More Speed, Go Faster, an orks objective to advance 3 units and Overwhelming Firepower, to kill units in the shooting phase. A unit of grots advance back to objective 3 and another unit advances toward objective 4. Both weirdboys advance since it doesn't hurt their ability to cast, so I gain 2 VP. The tankbustas destroy the dreadnought to get 1 VP. They then charge and beat 3 tactical marines to death, eliminating that squad.
Meanwhile, the Warphead fails to smite the Stormtalon, leaving it to the traktor kannons to destroy it, automatically causing it to crash and burn, wounding themselves and the Warphead. The Waross and a damaged trukk assault the biker squad and manage to strip a few wounds off of the captain and apothecary, but not kill anybody before falling as the bikers retaliate, giving the Iron Hands a vp for Slay the Warlord.
Fainlly, the blob of boys, through fire power and gun butts, smash the scouts off of objective 5.
Iron Hands 2, Orks 5
The Boss' Last Stand
Zog Off, Dis is Ours!Top of Turn 3The Iron Hands begin to slowly turn the tide this turn, removing many ork units and depleting others. The biker entourage manages to shoot 10 boyz, and smash 5 tankbustas in combat, as well as the Big Mek. The tac marines kill off the last trukk boys and the thunderfire cannon kills 2 traktor kannons, earning a vp for the emperor buy destroying 3 units.
Iron Hands 3, Orks 5
Weren't there a lot more orks before?
Bottom of Turn 3I get another good draw. The surviving tankbustas withdraw from combat into a ruin to gain 1 vp for being behind enemy lines. I get 3 vp from the dwindling blob of boys on objective 5, 1 from secure and 2 from the ork objective grab the loot. That's about the only good things from this turn.
The blob of boyz takes cover in the ruin and their shooting is wildly ineffective. The traktor kannons and the warphead's smite kill 2 tac marines. The weirdboy smites few wounds to the bikers and the warphead tries to fight the bikers, powering himself with the fists of gork, killes a veteran and gets smashed for his efforts. Even though I'm losing units, I'm still building a solid VP lead.
Iron Hands 3, Orks 9
Those Bikers are pretty tough.
Take Cover BoyzTop of Turn 4Things start moving faster now and the Iron Hands continue to deplete the ork forces. The bikers kill all but 5 boys and take control of objective 5, setting up to defend it and earn victory points next turn. The 3 squads of tactical marines wipe out the warphead, 2 tankbustas, and a traktor kannon with a missle. the thunderfire cannon destroys the grots that had just taken objective 4 at the end of the previous turn.
Iron Hands 3, Orks 9
Setting Up for Victory
Bottom of Turn 4I have very few units left by now and they aren't very effective. The Weirdboy decides to try to smite the captain and fails instead of jumping the boyz out of the ruin. The boyz are ineffective in shooting and will probably die if they assault, so hold tight. I luckily score a vp for holding the line, having 3 units in my deployment zone (grots, mek, and 2 traktor kannon)
Iron Hands 3, Orks 10
To Jump or to Smite?
Top of Turn 5The Iron Hands systematically continue to kill off my orks. The techmarine and apothecary kill off the last boys in the ruin. The Captain and the Last Veteran kill the Weirdboy on their way to objective 1 in the center of the map. The Tactical marines, who haven't moved all game, kill the last tankbustas. The thundefire cannons kills two grots. By holding objective 5, the iron hands earn 3 vp there as well as an easy vp for holding objective 6 by the thunderfire cannon. I think I miss another point somewhere, but all of a sudden the score is much, much closer.
Iron Hands 9, Orks 10
Earning those Sweet Victory Points.
Bottom of Turn 5At this point I have 3 units left and draw 5 objectives, only 1 that I can achieve if I'm lucky, Advance. I need to have no units left in my deployment zone to earn a VP. The Mek and traktor kannon both make their advance rolls with movement to spare. The grots just manage to advance out of the deployment zone, earning me a final vp. If the game ends, I win. The game doesn't end.
Iron Hands 9, Orks 11
The last stand.
Top of Turn 6This round the Iron Hands destroy the rest of my units and draw enough attainable objectives to score 4 vp. I get one more vp for achieving more priority objectives but it's not enough to tie the game.
Running Down the Grots
Final Score:
Iron Hands 13, Orks 12
Post MortemThis, and the last game against Wyddr, have been two of the funnest games I've played so far in 40k. They were back and forth battles throughout the whole game and felt like real battles.
This list was made because I thought I was going to be facing off against McComas' Eldar forces. The Traktor Kannons would be useful against his Wave Serpents and the Trukks would offer some mobility to grab objectives. That said, the kannons did well against the Stormtalon but after that, weren't too effective against the marines. The trukks weren't bad, I was able to get into combat quicker but I think I need to use them together instead of splitting them up. The tankbustas also made a good show against the rhinos and dreadnoughts but I think 15 lootas would have been better in this battle.
Thanks for reading, and as always, thanks to my opponent.