So first I find myself on Table 1...Wow..after a 4 year hiatus from Orks I have already exceeded my expectations. My tactical errors have made my games difficult but I have been able to pull out a couple wins anyway. Turns out my first round opponent did very well in the second round and we were paired up again...the TO changed the pairing I ended up staying on the same Table as the second round...Table 2.
Mission 3: Adepticon 2011 Combat Patrol Mission 1: But The Universe is a Big Place...
Deployment: Dawn of War
Objectives:
- Primary: The player with the most scoring units wholly in their opponents deployment zone a the end of the game achieves this objective.
- Secondary: The player with the most Kill points achieves this objective.
- Tertiary: the player that controls the most table quarters at the end of the game achieves this objective..remember it is the quarter that the majority of the unit is in.
- +1: Clear the LZ: No enemy units within any part of your deployment zone at end of game.
- +1: Lead By Example: Have your commander on the battle field at the end of the game.
My opponent was a nice guy named Tom or "Noxx" on the boards. He was running Space Wolves. His List:
- Rune Priest; Living lightening, murderous Hurricane
- Rune Priest: Jaws, Living Lightning
- Thunder Wolf Lord: Runic Armor, Thunder wolf, Frost Weapon, Storm Shield, Saga of the Bear
- Wolf Guard pack: 2 red shirts for Long fangs, 3 with combi melta and pwr fist
- Wolf Scouts: 5 with melta gun
- Wolf Scouts: 5 with melta gun and one with mark of wulfen
- 8 Grey Hunters, melta gun, wulfen, banner, rhino
- 8 Grey Hunters, melta gun, wulfen, banner, rhino
- 8 Grey Hunters, melta gun, wulfen, banner, rhino
- 5 Grey Hunter, flmr?, Las/plas razorback
- 4 thunder wolf Calvary all with different load outs
- 6 Long fangs 5 Missile Launchers
- 6 Long fangs 5 Missile Launchers
- 6 Long fangs 3Missile Launchers, 2 Lascannons
I took my big infantry boyz mob and lined them up across the board center in the thought to push him back into his board edge (18") as far as possible.
He deployed one Grey hunter unit with the MH rune priest behind a rock on my left flank.
I don't recall if he attempted to seize or not, but I started my first turn. I brought my Battlewagon and trukks on midfield and the remaining units on my left flank, kannons took the center. I spent some time worrying about his wolf scouts (Mistake No.3 Worrying about a small component versus a large one).
I expected him to deploy aggressively on my left flank to support his deployed rhino. He instead deployed all of his units on my far right flank. He did put a long fang squad mid field in some rubble. He let off a MH shot into my large infantry unit....killed a few...but now they will move in difficult and dangerous terrain in my next turn. Not much more shooting due to Dawn of War.
My turn two. (Mistake No.4 and 5. Continuing to worry about the unknown wolf scouts and allowing MH to keep me from moving my infantry squad). So, I was on a role of poor decisions here. I decided to not move the large strung out infantry squad, this saw me kinda bunched up and really, really decreased my forward movement. I knocked off some Space wolves here and there, but nothing major.
Tom's wolf scouts both came in...one coming in on my left flank and one wherever he wanted. They assaulted the kannons and lootas killing both units....Ah, my wolf scouts never, never work this good...but, that is me. His long fangs got in stride and took out some more boyz and I believe a trukk...but was not overwhelming.
From here I was playing catch up. I finally got an assault off and charged the Mega Nobs and Ghazzy into the Wolf Calvary and Wolf Lord...Over the next few turns they slapped and tickled each other...eventually the mega nobs died as did the Wolf Calvary..leaving the wolf lord and Ghazzy at end game (Mistake No. 6 charging the Nobs in with Ghazzy).Later, I attempted to get an assault off on the midfield long fangs..which was pretty pivotal as it would have tied up some shooting and gave me more KP's...but I was an inch short. It also brought up a rules issue regarding the need to roll difficult terrain to charge if most of the unit is not in cover. We worked it out and thus the Orks were sitting ducks to next round shooting.
There were some more moving around, shooting and assaulting, but the game was pretty much decided at that point.The Primary ended up a tie, the Space Wolves won handily on KP's, We either tied or I won the tertiary..can't remember, of the battle points we both received +1 with our commanders alive.
So, the Orks
Tom went on to win the tournament, and my round 1 opponent took second with his Black Templar's. I believe I finished 4th or 5th.
Tom was a good guy to play and would play him again any time. So three good games overall, no problems. Very nice. For the record...a tournament where I faced no Grey Knights and Grey Knights did not win the tournament...Hey! someone record that somewhere by gosh.
Here was the army spread:
- 2 GK
- 2 Eldar
- 2 Orks
- 2 Space Wolves
- Chaos Deamons
- 1 Chaos Marine
- 1 Ultra Marines
- 1 Ravenwing
- 1 Black Templar
- 1 Blood Angels
When all the awards where done...we came to the "Door Prize" and I actually came away with a $20 store credit! Bam! Some loot is going home with me after all! Very nice indeed.
K. Let's talk about what I did wrong in this game. My rusty Ork play did cost me this game. The natural resiliency of the Orks could not pull my out of the tail slide I put my army in.
Mistake No.1: "Failure to Read the Table"
- If you have not heard this term, it applies to your overall understanding of the mission, evaluation of both lists, the actual terrain, mission type and deployment. So, what should I have noticed right off? First, I have 6 troops to his 4. In this mission my winning conditions meant if we did no damage to each other and simply both moved into our opponents deployment zone I would handily win. In fact, he had to kill three troops to make it a tie. I should have instantly realized this. Also, my troops are faster than his, save the big mob...that right should be deployed first at midfield...so 1" later that have achieved mission requirements. This means I could have used the rest of my army to screen and protect my troops...K. big Duh! here right off.
Mistake No.2: "Deciding to go First"
- Most of the time this would not be such a bad idea facing all that firepower that could strand my boyz on foot and make them easy pickings. But this was Dawn of War and no long fang shooting was going to happen to his turn two. This also would have allowed me to react to his deployment (see above why this is important). I could then have protected my shooty elements better.
Mistake No. 3: "Worrying about a small component vs a large one"
- I worried too much about the Wolf Scouts. It affected my forward progress. You should always concentrate on the real...that which is actually on the table at that time...over what MAY come in and bother you. All that worrying accomplished nothing, other that to help my opponent. It certainly did not protect any of my units, the scouts got to what they wanted anyway. The squads that I tried to hang back to protect them would have been better to move forward. Again refer to Mistake 1 "reading the table". The smarter thing to do would have been to move and run for two turns the Lootas and Kannons setting them up..over mid line (see the mission) and making the scouts unimportant.
Mistake No. 4-5: "Continue to worry about the unknown and allowing my movement to be controlled by my opponent":
- Once I realized my mistake with the infantry squad, I should have accepted my losses and moved them out of the way and advance normally. I should have high tailed it towards his isolated rhino squad and midfield long fangs. When I did assault. I should have saved my Waagh and actually ran right past his thunder wolf squad and lord and crash into his long fangs...leaving only Ghazzy to beat up on that squad.
Mistake No. 6 "Procedural Errors"
- These were many. But handing the MAN's to the Wolf Calvary was a mistake. As mentioned they should have just ran past them and took out Long Fangs. However, I had a few what I call "Procedural Errors". This means the mistake applies to the application of, versus the decision to. For example when I did charge the combined unit of Wolf Lord and Wolf Calvary, I put a nob in base to base with the Lord..that gave many more I6 swings on the unit. If possible I should have isolated the Lord or not got into base to base at all with my Nobs with him..That way Ghazzy could beat him up using his 2+ save and all nobs could have beat up on the Calvary. The small things you do when assault/responding to assault/disembarking can really affect your success and you need to refine them.
This game was hugely winnable by me and that always really bugs me! But, hey, you need those losses to really teach you a thing or two!
All three games did give me a good idea of what the Orks are capable of and really how I want to go in my list for the 2100 Hundred Ork Project. It did show me where the Orks are strong and weak and where my game play needs to improve.
In part IV we will look at:
- What list I should have taken.
- How I should have run it.
- My general thoughts on Ork units.
- My controversial thoughts on what the best build is for a trukk boyz squad.
All for now and thanks for the read,
BDS
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