1850 Battle Report in Louisville!

Time for another battle report, thanks to Lexington of Aurora Chapter!  I went down to visit him in Louisville, KY.  We ended up playing an 1850 pt. game at The Louisville Game Shop.

We played Spearhead (board quarters) and Sieze Ground (d3+2 objectives, we had a total of 3).  Lexington played Orks, I played Azure Flames Space Marines.  Here’s what we took.

Bozeman – Azure Flames Space Marines

-Zeraf Antonius (counts as Cato Sicarius)

-Assault Terminators x 5 (THSS)

-Land Raider Crusader with Multi-Melta and Extra Armor

-Tactical Squad x 10, Power Fist, Bolter Flamer, Flamer, Missile Launcher in a Rhino with Extra Armor

-Tactical Squad x 10, Power Fist, Bolter Flamer, Flamer, Missile Launcher in a Drop Pod

-Scout Squad x 5, Power Fist

-Land Speeder Storm

-Land Speeders x 3, Multi-Melta, Heavy Flamer

-Ironclad Dreadnought, replace meltagun with heavy flamer, in a Drop Pod

-Dreadnought, two Twin Linked Autocannons

Lexington – WAAAAGH! Zagdakka!

-Zagdakka, Warboss, Bike, Power Klaw, Stikkboms, Attack Squig, Bosspole

-Nob Bikers x 5, Painboy, WAAAAGH! Banner, 4x Power Klaws, Grot Orderly

-Boyz Mob x 12, Nob, Power Klaw, Bosspole, Shootas in a Trukk with a Red Paint job

-Boyz Mob x 12, Nob, Power Klaw, Bosspole, Sluggasin a Trukk with a Red Paint job

-Tankbustas x 12, Nob, Power Klaw, 2x Tankhammas

-Burna Boyz x 14, 2x Meks with Rokkit Launchas

-Battlewagon, Deff Rolla, Red Paint Job

-Battlewagon, Deff Rolla, Red Paint Job

-Stormboys x 10, “Chukka Khan” (counts as Boss Zagstruk)

-Wartrakk, Twin linked Rokkit Launcha

-Big Mek, Burna, Attack Squig, Kustom Force Field

Lexington got to set up first in the upper right.  Going from left to right are: shoota boys in a trukk behind the trees, wartrakk, battlewagon with Burnas inside, trukk with Slugga boyz, battlewagon with Tankbustas, Nob Bikers with Zagdakka.  For me in the lower left, left to right, are a tatsquad by their rhino, Land Raider Crusader with Terminators and Antonius, Dreadnought on top of building, and Land Speeders behind building.  Lexington was going to go first, but thanks to Cato Sicarius’ re-roll, I siezed the initiative!

Bozeman – Azure Flames Turn 1

The first thing I did was drop the Ironclad Dreadnought in Drop Pod right in front of the battlewagons.

HI.

Next, I zoomed the land speeders to my right, moved the Rifledread and put a wound on a Nob Biker, moved up the Land Raider and popped the Slugga Boyz trukk with a lucky shot!  3 out of 12 survived and the 3 were pinned! Tatsquad Missile Launcher fired, but the Shoota Boy trukk made its cover save.

Lexington – Orks Turn 1

The Nob Bikers and Tankbustas moved out toward the Land Speeders.  Shooting from both squads managed to kill one Speeder.  The Tankbustas assaulted, but whiffed.  Lexington shouted at them.

FAILURES!

Meanwhile, the Deff Rolla Battlewagon with the Burnas tries to ram through the Ironclad’s Drop Pod, but it only does one hit, which does not glance the Pod.  The Trakk drives around the Battlewagon and shoots at the Ironclad, to no effect.  The Shoota Boyz trukk moves out behind the building towards my left.

Bozeman – Azure Flames Turn 2

Tatsquad in Drop Pod arrives, becomes 2 combat squads.  They burn the Tankbustas down.  Land Speeders and Dreadnought concentrate on the Nob Bikers, doing only 2 wounds after FNP.  Ironclad Dreadnought assaults the battlewagon and WHIFFS.  It’s a zone of failure over there!  Land Raider moves up and puts a Crew Stunned result on the Tankbusta’s Battlewagon.  Tactical Squad moves into their Rhino.

Lexington – Orks Turn 2

Nob Bikers eat the Land Speeders, remaining 3 Slugga Boys charge the Ironclad and don’t do much.

Bozeman – Azure Flames Turn 3

Land Speeders Storm arrives, hides.  Combat Squad with Power Fist charges and kills Battlewagon.  Other squad moves toward objective.  Land Raider and Rifeldread move up but shooting does nothing to Nob Bikers.  Ironclad kills an ork, squad does not break.

Lexington – Orks Turn 3

Wartrakk hightails it towards my left.  Battlewagon with Burnas moves up and burnas the combat squad with 38 wounds.  Ouch.  “Chukka Khan” arrives, and assaults the other combat squad, removing them as well!  Ironclad finishes off the Sluggas.  Nob Bikers kill the Rifledread.

Bozeman – Azure Flames Turn 4

Ironclad assaults the Burna Battlewagon, kills it but most Burnas are OK.  Land Raider Crusader kills all the Stormboyz but “Chukka Khan and one other guy.  They break, but Chukka kills the remaining Stormboy and holds.  Tatsquad in Rhino moves up.

Lexington – Orks Turn 4

Nob Bikers and “Chukka Khan” move behind the building.  Burnas move toward Land Speeder Storm, but Rokkits only give it a Crew Shaken result.  Wartrakk moves behind the Shoota Boy Trukk.

Bozeman – Azure Flames Turn 5

Ironclad flames and assaults Big Mek and Burnas, kills most of them but they do not break.  Antonius and the Terminators assault the Nob Bikers and kill them, no casualties.  Tatsquad in the upper left jumps out to claim objective.  Land Speeder Storm zooms to the objective in the upper right.

Lexington – Orks Turn 5

“Chukka Khan” assaults the Terminators, kills one, and dies.  The Shootas move up, shoot the Tactical Squad which falls back out of assault range, due ot a poor armor save roll.  Game Continues to Turn 6.

Bozeman – Azure Flames Turn 6

Tatsquad moves up and flames Shootas to death.  Other movement to support.

Lexington – Orks Turn 6

Trukk hides and Trakk zooms to the right.  Game continues to turn 7.

Bozeman – Azure Flames turn 7

Trukk is killed by Land Raider.

Lexington – Orks turn 7

Buggy contests objective by scouts.

Final Score: Azure Flames 1, Orks 0.

Bozeman’s Thoughts: That was a great game, worth the 6 hour drive.  It went surprisingly fast too!  I probably should have combat-squadded the Rhino tatsquad, but it didn’t matter.  Zagstrukk is a GREAT Ork Character and I can’t wait to make an Ork list with my Zagstrukk stand-in, Rukkstud ‘Andfoot.  I am also impressed by the 15 Burnas in a Battlewagon tactic, which WILL KILL ANYTHING toughness 5 or lower, guaranteed.  In the end, there were a few good luck moments, such as losing 3 tactical marines so I could fall back using Combat Tactics.

Lexington’s Inane Ramblings

Combat Tactics is important, and I forgot it!

This was a nice game with a lot of swing to it. Things looked grim after the first turn, and my subsequent inability to remove even one pesky Ironclad from my own deployment zone, despite the earnest but lacklustre the attempts of a Deffrolla, was disappointing to say the least. The second and third turn rally was particularly Orky in both destructive capacity and haphazard luck, and the end turned into the kind of gritty slog that tests one’s brainpan a bit.

This list continues to be fun and surprisingly killy in places, as it has for the tenure of a small campaign we’ve been running ‘round these parts. The Burna Boyz in a Battlewagon is the sort of thing that should scare anyone not within the thick candy shell of a transport, and even the more ethically-equipped Nob Biker squad can dish out punishment like several angry mechanical bears. Eric played with his trademark stoic loyalty to statistical norms, and I’m usually pretty happy to even contest against it, given my own propensity to go for the stupidly improbable but highly entertaining. It was a nice time.

It was that one forgetful moment that knocked things from a win to a tie, as it often can be. Combat Tactics is a rule I usually regard as a little too corner-case, but if forgotten and/or cannily deployed, it can make a real difference, as you can see here. I’ve got a vanilla Space Marine Chapter (along with a skeletal blog for their theoretical exploits), so it’s great to see it perform a real function.

Stay safe, children, and I apologize for accidentally subjecting you to endless shots of my crotch throughout this battle report. We’ll have a group or a session or whatever. We’ve all gone through something terrible today. Let the healing begin.