1500 Orks vs. Eldar: Desperate RaidIt's been a while since I've written one of these but I'm happy to be doing it. After McComas and Wyddr's game, McComas wanted to play another game and I was happy to oblige with Boyz. So we met up at a local game store and had at it. The lists:
Eldar ForcesFar-Flung Craftworld Battalion: Mobile Fighters, Students of Vaul
HQ:
Warlord: Farseer Skyrunner : Guide, Doom, Seer of the Shifting Vector, Shuriken Pistol, Singing Spear, Smite, Twin Shuriken Catapult, The Weeping Stones
Spiritseer: Protect/Jinx, Shuriken Pistol, Witch Staff, Kurnous' Bow
Troops:
2x Guardian Defenders:
10x Guardian Defender: 10x Plasma Grenades, 10x Shuriken Catapult
Rangers:
5x Ranger: 5x Ranger Long Rifle, 5x Shuriken Pistol
Elites:
Striking Scorpions [5 PL, 105pts]
4x Striking Scorpion: 4x Mandiblasters, 4x Scorpion Chainsword, 4x Shuriken Pistol
Striking Scorpion Exarch: Biting Blade, Crushing Blows, Mandiblasters
Wraithguard:
5x Wraithguard: D-scythe
Fast Attack:
Warp Spiders:
4x Warp Spider: 4x Death Spinner
Warp Spider Exarch: Surprise Assault, Two Death Spinners & Powerblades
Heavy Support:
Fire Prism: Prism Cannon, Twin Shuriken Catapult
Dedicated Transports:
3x Wave Serpent: Twin Shuriken Cannon, Twin Shuriken Catapult
Ork ForcesBad Moons Battalion
HQ:
Big Mek in Mega Armour: Big Boss ('Ard as Nails), Extra-Kustom Kustom Mega-Blasta, Power Klaw, Super Cybork Body
Warlord: Warboss in Mega Armour: 'Uge Choppa, Might is Right, Big Shoota, Da Krushin' Armour
Troops:
2x Boyz:
Boss Nob: Power Klaw, Slugga, Stikkbombs
9x Ork Boy W/ Shoota: 9x Shoota, 9x Stikkbombs
Boyz:
Boss Nob: Power Klaw, Slugga, Stikkbombs
9x Ork Boy w/ Slugga & Choppa: 9x Choppa, 9x Slugga, 9x Stikkbombs
Elites:
Meganobz [12 PL, 150pts]
Boss Meganob: Kustom Shoota, Power Klaw, Stikkbombs
4x Meganob: Kustom Shoota, Power Klaw, Stikkbombs
Tankbustas (Boom Boyz):
Boss Nob: Rokkit Launcha
11x Tankbusta: 11x Rokkit Launcha
Fast Attack:
DeffKoptas:
5x DeffKopta: Kopta Rokkits, Slugga, Spinnin' Blades, Stikkbombs
Heavy Support:
Lootas (Smoky Gubbinz):
10x Loota: 10x Deffgun, 10x Stikkbombs
2x Spanner: Kustom Mega-Blasta, Stikkbombs
Mek Gunz:
Mek Gun: Kustom Mega Kannon
Mek Gunz:
Mek Gun: Kustom Mega Kannon
Dedicated Transport:
2x Trukk: Big Shoota
MissionWe grabbed the city battlefield table at our local gaming store and rolled for a mission from the Nachmund Mission Pack. We got the mission, Desparate Raid, in which our forces must move into enemy territory to gather much needed supplies. There were two primary objectives, controlling objective markers and controlling objective markers in enemy deployment zones. For secondary objectives we both chose Bring it Down (points for vehicles destroyed) and Rise the Banners High (points for actions taken on objective markers). The Eldar chose Scrye (points for psychic actions taken at objective markers) and I took Stranglehold (points for controlling more objective markers) for my orks.
DeploymentI won the roll off for Attacker/Defender and chose to be the defender and took the western short end of the table for my deployment zone. I thought it had slightly better lines of sight for my Tankbustas, Lootas, and Mek Gunz. I placed a unit of Shoota Boyz on each objective in my zone, as well as a mek gun. On the northern objective I placed my lootas, on the southern my slugga boyz. The big Mek and Tankbustas in a trukk parked by a carte on the southern edge of the board, ready to shoot at any Eldar to enter it's field of view. The Eldar deployment zone had enough ruins to provide cover for all his units except one Wave Serpent. We then rolled off to see who would start the fight and the Eldar won to start the battle, continuing my tradition of losing this roll in every 9th edition battle so far.
Ork Deployment
Eldar Deployment, Waiting to StrikeTop of Turn 1Having won the roll off, the Eldar forces are forced to move from cover. The Wave Serpent with the Wraithguard moves from cover to just get within range of the northern midfield objective. The Scorpions and Spiritseer move onto the Northern Eldar objective to Raise the Banners and Scrye the objective marker. The Rangers and Farseer do the same on the Southern Objective Marker. The Spiritseer suffers perils of the warp while scrying the objective marker, seeing the horrors of war that have already happened at the site, but still succeeds performing the ritual. The two Wave Serpents with Guardians and the Fire Prism move from cover to engage the orks at Range. The Fire Prism takes off 7 wounds from the norther Trukk Carrying the Warboss and MegaNobz. The Wraithguard Wave Serpent destroys the Northern Mek Gun, which amuses the boyz, seeing a couple grots blow up. The Southern Wave Serpetn takes 6 wounds off the Tankbustas Trukk. The Eldar score 6 points from Scrying and 1 point from destroying a Mek Gun.
Score: Eldar 7, Orks: 0
The Eldar move to engage
One Mek Gun Down, two trukks woundedBottom of Turn 1Now that the Eldar have shown their faces, the Orks move to engage the enemy. The Lootas and Slugga Boyz move into ruins in front of them. The MegaNobz and Warboss disembark from their trukk. The rest of the army holds its ground. The Mek Gun shoots at Wraithguard Wave Serpent doing 7 wounds to it while the MegaNobz charge it, finishing it off with their power klaws. The Tankbustas shoot from their Trukk, destroying the Wave Serpent on the southern Eldar objective, blowing up 4 Guardians with it and causing one more to flee. The Orks score 4 from Bring it Down and 3 from Stranglehold.
Score: Eldar 7, Orks 7
Orks on the Move
MegaNobz Make the ChargeNo More Wave SerpentTop of Turn 2The Eldar begin their Counter attack. The Wraithguard, Striking Scorpions, and Spiritseer all move toward the MegaNobz on the northern midfield objective. The last Wave Serpent and the Farseer move onto the southern midfield objective. The Rangers on the southern Eldar objective retreat to the ruins for cover again while the depleted Guardian squad moves to the Northern objective to secure it. The Warp Spiders arrive from reserves, their deathspinners ready to eradicate the Boyz holding the northern Ork objective, which they do with ease. The Wraithguard use their D-scythe to do the same to the MegaNobz and then Battle Focus onto the objective. The Fire Prism destroys another Mek Gun, again to cheers from the Boyz watching more grots melt. The Farseer smites the trukk on the southern midfield objective, taking off the last 3 of its wounds. I spend a point to reroll the roll for explosion, which succeeds, allowing me to play the stratagem Careen, to allow it to make a move before it explodes, dealing 3 mortal wounds to the Farseer and 2 to the Wave Serpent. The Farseer retaliates by shooting the Slugga Boyz in the building in front of him, killing 2 of them. Th Eldar end up scoring 4 points for the primary objective, 3 from Scrye, 3 from Bring it Down and 2 from Raise the Banners for a total of 12 points.
Score: Eldar 19, Orks 7
The Warp Spiders Arrive
No More BoyzMegaNobz about to dieTrukk Careens into the Eldar!Bottom of Turn 2The Shoota Boyz on the southern Ork objective move west into cover to take aim at the Warp Spiders that just destroyed their kin on the other objective. They manage to kill 2 of them, hoping the Lootas will be able to destroy the rest. I made my first mistake here, splitting the Lootas fire between the Wraithguard and the Warp Spiders. I should have focused entirely on the Warp Spiders to take away the threat in my back field. In the end, the Lootas only killed one Wraithguard. The Big Mek gets on top of the Crate he was hiding behind and along with the Tankbustas take 7 wounds off of the Wave Serpent on the southern midfield objective. The Slugga Boyz move from cover and the Boss Nob takes 4 more wounds off the Wave Seprent but not enough to kill it. The Warboss declares WAAAGH and advances on and charges the Farseer, impaling the enemy on his Krushin' Armour, dealing 3 mortal wounds and killing the Farseer before having a chance to attack. In the backfield, the Deffkoptas arrive from the skies and take control of the southern Eldar objective. Here is where I make my second mistake, attacking the Fire Prism, to no effect, instead of attacking the Scorpions. I end up scoring 4 for the primary, 2 for Banners and 3 for Stranglehold this round for a total of 9.
Score: Eldar 17, Orks 16
Zog off, dis is our Objective
No more FarseerFire from CoverTop of Turn 3This is the beginning of the end. The Warp Spiders take control of the northern Ork objective and take aim at the Shoota Boyz that attacked them, turning them into a fine fungal puree. The Spiritseer and the Wraithguard comibine fire to eliminate the Lootas that were hiding in the ruins near the northern midfield objective. The Guardians in the damaged Wave Serpent disembark before the Wave Serpent falls back from the boyz on the Southern Midfield objective. They kill the remaining Slugga Boyz and battle focus onto the objective, claiming it for the Eldar. The Fire Prism moves toward the middle of the battle field and unleashes two shots on the Warboss, who shrugs off one but fails to shrug off the second, even with a re-roll, but luckily takes minimum damage from the shot, 3 wounds. The Rangers move back onto the southern Eldar objective to reclaim it from the Deffkoptas, while the Scorpions move in for the kill, easily destroying the Deffkoptas in close combat. In the combat phase the Warboss Heroically Intervenes into the Guardians and decapitates 5 with his 'Uge Choppa. The Eldar score 13 points this round; 4 from the primary, 1 from Banners, 3 from Scrye, and 5 from Bring it Down.
Score: Eldar 32, Orks 16
The Eldar move in for the kill
Warp Spiders on the MoveNo more Koptas or BoyzBottom of Turn 3With only 3 units left, there is not much for me to do. The Big Mek barely manages to finish off the Wave Serpent in front of him in the shooting phase before the Warboss finishes off the remaining Guardians in the Combat phase. The Tankbustas shoot at the Fire Prism but barely take off a few wounds. I score 3 points this round; 1 from Banners and 2 from Bring it down. At this point I concede, seeing that there is no way for me to make up the widening gap in points.
Score: Eldar 32, Orks 19
The Final Stand
Final Score: Eldar 32, Orks 19
Post MortemWe finally managed to have a game go longer than 2 rounds before it was decided. This is a running thought from the games Wyddr, McComas and I have so far played in 9th edition. That said, this was a very back and forth game and very brutal. The Tankbustas were the most consistent unit throughout the battle, doing damage each round. The Kustom Mega-Kannon Mek Gunz did fine, taking fire away from more vulnerable units while doing some damage the one round they were able to fire. As for Boyz, they are not worth the points you pay for them. Their slightly higher toughness and poor armor save
means nothing in a game with so many high strength/high AP weapons.
Tactically, I already mentioned I should have focused on the Warp Spiders in my deployment zone and firing on the Scorpions with the Deffkoptas in turn 2. If I had done that, I think this game could have gone on a little longer. I will have to remember that for the next battle.
My opponents army seemed well balanced; tough, mobile, and deadly. They were able to pretty much multiple units in every round past the first one, and score points for each of their objectives round after round. It was a well played, fun battle all around and a great way to spend a Saturday.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed reading the report as much as I had playing. And as always, thanks again to my opponent.