- Commander (Combi-Melta and Relic Blade) and Command Squad (Power Sword, Power Fist, Flamer, Meltagun, Apothecary), all in a Razorback
- Tac Squad w/ a multi-melta and a plasmagun in a Rhino
- Tac Squad w/ a lascannon
- 9-man Sternguard Vets in a Drop Pod
- 6-man Devastator Squad (2x Plas, 1x Missile) in a Razorback with TL-Las.
- Epistolary Librarian in Termy Armor with Avenger and Null Zone. He was embedded with...
- 5x Terminators w/ Hv Flamer
- 5x Scouts with Bolt Pistol and CCW, Sergeant w/ Power Weapon. They were loaded into a...
- Land Speeder Storm w/ Hv Flamer
- Assault Marines x5 (Flamer, Powerfist Sergeant)
Campbell's army was something like this:
- 1x Nob Biker Squad
- 2x Warbike Squads
- 2x Trukks with 12 Boyz each
- 3x Battlewagons with 20 Boyz each
- 1 Squad of 10x Kommandos w/ Character (I forget who)
- 1 Squad of 10x Lootas
I'm sure Campbell had some nice toys in there, and all the Boyz and Warbike squads came with Power Klaw equipped Nobs. Campbell, if you want to chime in on your list or make any amendments to the writeup below, let me know. And thanks for a great game!
Game was Capture and Control with 4 objectives, Spearhead deployment. We played with mostly large ruined buildings, one of which sat center-map. Campbell won the roll and opted to go first. He chose the corner that left me in the corner without an objective (1 of the 4 objectives was center table). I deployed to give myself cover saves, leaving the Devastators out of their Razorback and putting them inside a ruin instead. I scout moved the speeder and its cargo to the unoccupied quarter on my side of the table. I also combat-squadded the 10-man tac squad that had the las-cannon. I left the lascannon behind a barrier midfield and deployed the other 5 marines behind the empty Razorback. This was a really smart move that I later wasted.
First turn, the Nob Bikers took the bait and went for the land speeder. They blew it up but the Scouts inside were fine and ran for some nearby ruins. All of the Battlewagons and Trukks moved as fast as possible towards me. But Campbell split them up when trying to circle the ruin. Two Wagons and one Trukk went towards my table edge (and towards the 5-man Tac squad with the Lascannon). The other Wagon and Trukk went the other way, along with his two squads of Warbikes. They all went flat out or cruising speed and so had no firing. The Lootas took up out a couple of marines standing in the open, but that was about it first turn.
On my turn, I had some really good targets. I opted to focus my attack on the table quarter on Campbell's side that now held two Warbike squads, one Trukk, and one Wagon. I dropped the drop pod next to one Warbike squad and deployed the Sternguard in rapid fire range. I moved the Rhino and deployed the Tac squad inside in rapid fire range of the Trukk. I deployed the Command squad immediately and moved them within assault range of the Battlewagon. I embarked the lonely 5-man Tac squad inside the TL-Las Razorback and moved it 6". The Sternguard did a good job and took out most of one Warbike squad. Unfortunately, everyone else just sucked. What I wanted was to bust open the Trukk, but I had to expend the firing of both Razorbacks and the entire Dev Squad to destroy it, and when it exploded it only killed a couple of Boyz inside. And they didn't get pinned. The Tac squad then rapid-fired into it, but didn't get many hits and they made most of their cover saves. Finally, the Command squad assaulted the Battlewagon. They destroyed it with a PowerFist hit without blowing it up. Their shots with the Meltagun and Combi-melta accomplished nothing. Other shooting (scouts, tac marines) was ineffectual. I was really disappointed in my dice this turn, because if I had decent dice rolls, I could have taken out a Warbike Squad, a Trukk full of Orks, and a Wagon full of Orks. Instead, I managed to take out the transports but not do much to the Orks inside.
On turn 2, my Command squad was assaulted by both Boyz squads. Actually my Command squad survived, thanks to Feel No Pain. The second Warbike squad shot the Sternguard, inflicting a couple of wounds and giving them the opportunity to fall back out of assault range. Yay combat tactics! Half of his army was tied up trying to kill my scout squad and my 5-man Tac squad. This was a good waste of his resources. On my half of turn 2, I counter-assaulted with my 10-man Tac squad. I also disembarked the 5-man Tac Squad and ran them into the fray too, and this was just a stupid thing to do. It was only later that I would realize that this was the mistake that lost me the game. That squad could have stayed inside the Razorback and easily rolled up on an unoccupied objective nearby, but instead I let them get tied up in an assault, where they would die, along with all the rest of my Troops, on Turn 3 or 4.
Turn 3 brought in his Kommandos, followed by my Deep Striking terminators (who made short work of the Kommandos). I had killed off most of the Warbikes, and Campbell actually forgot to move the Nob Bikers on turn 3. By this time, the other Wagons had made their way around and unloaded their cargo, which meant 40 more Boyz into the massive fray in the middle. This humongous multi-unit pileup took forever to resolve but was a lot of fun! The marines actually did surprisingly well, winning most of the combats and inflicting a lot of Ork casualties. Unfortunately, they just got worn down due to sheer number of dice rolls. Eventually they lost a combat and failed their leadership rolls, and since they were surrounded, were unable to fall back and were destroyed.
At this point, I still had Sternguard, Terminators and Librarian, Devastators, and all my transports, but no Troops. I had done a substantive amount of damage, though the Nob Bikers were still unscathed, and Campbell still had lots and lots of troops. Knowing that playing for a draw was a longshot, I conceded.
It was a really good game - only the second time I've played against Orks in all of my games. I'd like to face off against them again. I did make some smart tactical decisions - encouraging Campbell to split his forces and making good use of transports - but ultimately my mistake with throwing away the 5-man Tactical squad is probably what cost me the game.
I find that it still difficult for me to see these mistakes until I see the consequences of them (sometimes two or three turns later). Well, I'm still learning!
