| November 22, 2003 RTT hosted by the Pittsburgh Iron Legion |
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Chris Merritts - Orks
This scenario used normal Victory points rules for determining the outcome of the battle. The special rules for the scenario were Gravitational Instability. At the beginning of each turn 2d6 were rolled and the turn number was added to the total. If the sum was 10 or less then there was high gravity and -d6" movment for ALL models, units, or vehicles If the sum was 11-12 then normal movement applied. If the sum was 13 or higher then there was low gravity and +d6" movement for all models, units, or vehicles.
Note: Prior to the game Chris and I talked about the Trial Vehicle Rules and their effects on units in transports. Chris commented that the newly released TVR in the latest Chapter Approved book were somewhat different than the rules posted on Games Workshops Australian website. He said he thought that the newly released rules changed the rule about automatic pinning of units that had to disembark from destroyed vehicles. Chris graciously suggested that we use the latest versions of the TVR for our battle since it would help out my Wyches in the Raiders. This was a nice gesture on Chris's part and I agreed, especially given the problems that my Wyches had with being pinned in the first game.
Chris's Ork army consisted of a Warboss, two large squads of Slugga Boyz, two squads of Shoota Boyz, a large Gretchin squad, a Flash Gitz squad, some Lobbas, 2 pairs of Warbuggies with Rokkits, and a Leman Russ tank. Chris commented before the game that his Ork army was atypical because it was equipped to be more of a shooting-style army instead of the assault-style army favored by most Ork players.
Setup was in 12" wide deployment zones along the long edges of the battlefield. The battlefield itself consisted primarily of featureless desert with a few small ruins scattered about and a large rock outcrop that dominated the right side. The outcrop was the only piece of terrain that actually offered any cover to my raiders. Chris had to deploy first and placed his looted Leman Russ tank near the left side of the outcrop. I placed all of my Raiders on the right side of my deployment zone to use the outcrop to screen them from most of Chris's Ork units. My fast assault units like warpbeasts, hellions, and jetbikes were deployed on the left side of my deployment zone so that they clear path to assault the nearest Ork units.
Battle description:
We rolled to see who got first turn and I actually won the roll. This was a bit of shock to me since it was the first time in the past 6 tournament games that I got to go first. Things were looking up until I rolled to see what the Gravitational instability would be. I rolled a total of 9, which meant that there would be high gravity and a -d6" reduction in movement for everybody.
I started by advancing my warpbeats and hellions toward the nearest units. My three warpbeasts squads had movements of 0,1, and 2 inches because of the high gravity. Even with fleet-of-foot movement one of the warpbeast squads moved a whopping 1". I turboboosted my jetbikes 20" toward the Ork lines. One of my Wych raiders advanced 22" and turned broadside to screen the rest of my raider transports from the Slugga Boyz squad and Warbuggies. The remaining raiders advanced and fired their dark lances at the Shoota Boyz squad on the rock outcrop and killed two of them.
Chris began his first turn by checking for breakdown on his looted Leman Russ. Unfortunately, the crew of the looted vehicle had a problem and it lurched forward unexpectedly. This later interfered with its shooting and caused it to miss when it fired at my jetbikes. The lobbas had much better success and were able to destroy my HQ raider and kill 3 wyches in the retinue in the crash. The warbuggies fired their rokkits at the nearby wych raider and caused it to crash, which killed 4 of the 10 wyches onboard. The Shoota Boyz on the outcrop fired on another wych raider but were unable to penetrate its armor with their big shootas. There remaining Ork units concentrated all of their firepower on the nearby jetbikes, but were only able to destroy 3 bikes. The jetbike squad was Crazed from their combat drugs so they did not fallback from the hail of Ork fire .
We began turn two by checking the Graviational Instability and heavy gravity was in effect again. I moved the warpbeasts forward and was able to get the center unit in assault range. The other two units moved total of 2 and 3 inches respectively including their fleet of foot rolls. The Hellion squad did not do much better when it only moved 6" and still was not in assault range. One of the surviving wyche raiders advanced 7" along the right side of the battlefield and the wyches onboard disembarked. The took cover behind the wreckage of downed raider nearby. The survivors of the downed raider advanced and used fleet of foot to insure that they would be in assault range of the nearby Slugga Boyz squad. The remaining Wyche raider made an 18" move and positioned itself broadside next to the Shoota Boyz squad on the rock outcrop. The jetbikes advanced toward the Leman Russ and fired at it with their blasters. One shot missed and the other failed to penetrate. In the assault phase the jetbikes and warpbeasts assaulte the Gretchin squad and Flash Gitz behind them. The combined assault inflicted heavy casualties on the orks including the loss of the slave master. The Gretchin made a fallback move while the warpbeasts consolidated into the nearby Slugga boyz squad. One warpbeast and one jetbike were lost in the assault. The Wych squad on the right side assaulted the Slugga Boyz and killed several of them while taking one casualty in return. The remaining Ork in the squad piled in and completely surrounded the 5 remaining Wyches.
I began turn three by checking the Graviational Instability on the battlefield and once again heavy gravity was in effect. The two remaining warpbeast squads made galant efforts to get into assault range but only succeeded in moving 3" each including their fleet-of-foot movement. The Hellions however, were able to get into assault range and moved to engage the nearby unit of Shoota boyz after first killing two with splinter fire from their hellglaives. The HQ squad moved along the edge of the rock outcrop to get in postion to assault the Leman Russ with their haywire grenades on the next turn. The remnants of the wyche squad on the rock outcrop moved above the Leman Russ so that they could fire on it with their blasters. Both shots found their mark nad the Leman Russ was destroyed in a massive explosion. The intact wych squad on the right side advanced across the crashed raider and used fleet of foot to get into assault range of the nearby Slugga Boyz squad. They assaulted the squad and killed many orks while losing 4 wyches in return.
Chris began his third turn by killing another wych in my HQ with a volley from his Lobbas. The Slugga boys in the middle of the battlefield opened fire on the warpbeast squad that was approaching and killed two beasts. The Flash Gitz and Shoota Boyz on the rock outcrop shot and killed the remnants of the wych squad on the outcrop. During the assault phase the Shoota Bozy killed the Hellions that had engaged them. The Slugga Boyz on the right side of the battlefield took more casuatlies from the Wych squad they were fighting but managed to kill all by two of the Wyches in the squad.
We began turn two by checking the Graviational Instability and heavy gravity was in effect again (surprise!). The warpbeast squad on the left side of the battlfield finally got into assault range and moved to attack the Shoota Boyz that had just killed the Hellion squad. The warpbeast squad on the right side of the battlefield moved a total of 4" including fleet of foot and took cover behind a crashed raider. I decided to leave my HQ where it was behind the rock outcrop since they would not be able to get into assault range of any Ork units. During the assault phase the Shoota Boyz destroyed the warp beast squad while only taking light casualties. The Slugga Boyz on the right side of the battlefield killed the remaining wych and succubus in close combat while losing three more members of their squad, which had been reduced to 6 models from 30.
Since I only had two units left on the battlefield at this point I offered to concede the victory to Chris, which he accepted. It had been another bloody defeat for the Wych Cult of Strife.
Final Results and Analysis:
This battle was another massacre for my Wych Cult. Had it not been for Chris agreeing to drop the pinning rule for crashed transports, I suspect that things would have been even worse for my wyches (if that is possible.).
The Gravitational Instability rule for this scenario was the key factor that made this a devastating loss for the Wych cult. The heavy gravity disrupted the entire flow of my army's movement and forced my units to assault the Orks in a piecemeal fashion. This almost always spells doom for dark eldar because their units need to assault in a coordinated fashion to support each other. Dark eldar win assaults by using their mobility to gang-up and outnumber their opponents. They need to deliver a "knock-out" punch in the initial assault because they tend to have very little staying power in protracted close combats. This certainly proved to be the case with Chris's Orks as his large squads were able to absorb the casualties caused by my initial assaults, and then his Orks destroyed my squads when they counter-assaulted with greater numbers.
I congratulate Chris on his hard-won victory. Who knew that Orks could be shooters instead of assaulters?