Imperial Guard Forces: Darkwing
Ork Forces: Badelaire
The Scenario
To keep things interesting, we decided to roll a D6 just before the battle to determine who would be the attacker and who the defender. After that, we also rolled a D6 to determine which board edge would become the attacker's. This would force us to think on the fly, and more importantly, force us to choose more balanced armies before the game, rather than focusing all of our efforts into optimizing the army for the role that it was going to play.
Imperial Guard Briefing
Darkwing: In last battle with Imperial Guard—vs. Tyranids in Cityfight, I went with an entire Infantry Company, which served me rather well. This time, on an open field, I definitely wanted some armor to support my infantry.
To free up some points for armor, I only took two Infantry Platoons, with the obligatory Command Platoon. Within the Command Platoon I took a Fire Support Squad of Heavy Bolters, and a pair of Mortar Squads, with which I hoped I could bombard the tightly packed masses of Orks.
For my armored forces, I was eager to try out my Hellhounds—so I took both of them. They should be very effective against the lightly armored Orks. I also took a Leman Russ for some more conventional support.
With some leftover points, I bought a squad of Stormtroopers. I also bought for them both the Deep Strike and Infiltrate abilities as I wanted to have the ultimate flexibility depending on how I would deploy them.
I did not spend many points on any close combat upgrades for my squads, as against Orks I felt that they would do little good. Instead I focused on shooting upgrades—I made every infantry squad and the Heavy Bolter squad Sharpshooters, and I bought lots of Grenade Launchers as well. In my Command HQ Squad I also took a Missile Launcher, to add a small amount of anti-tank firepower in addition to my Leman Russ. Not that I expected Badelaire to take any tanks, but he would almost certainly have some light vehicles like warbikes, wartraks, and perhaps a trukk.
Since we went into this battle without knowing who would be the attacker and who would be the defender until just before the battle, I had to think about both possibilities. The Imperial Guard are an excellent defensive army, so if I ended up at the defender, I would simply try to hunker down and shoot, trying to attrit the Orks enough so that when they reached my lines, they would not have enough left to take the objective away from me.
If I ended up at the attacker, my task would be much harder. My Hellhounds should do fine on the attack, but my other units would have a more difficult time. Most of my infantry will have to advance, forcing them not to fire until I get very close to the enemy—but getting close is playing into the hands of the orks. Despite this, I can still deal out a certain amount of damage on the way in. Once my Heavy Bolters and Mortars are set up, I can constantly pound any Orks on defense, while my Hellhounds and Leman Russ trundle forward dealing death and hopefully weathering any rokkits that Badelaire will have. By the end, hopefully I will have killed enough orks that I will be able to make a dash for the objective by the end of the battle.
Ork Briefing
Badelaire: To put my feelings on this battle into their proper context, this one is following close on the heels of my disastrous fight against Darkwing’s Tau army. On top of that, I had recently seen a battle between Darkwing’s IG and a Tyranid army, so between the two I’ve been building a lot of respect for the danger massed-fire shooting armies have against Orks and other light-armored assault armies. On top of this, we had decided that at the beginning, we’d determine who was the attacker and who was the defender. Therefore, we wouldn’t be able to min-max our armies out for either offense or defense. Since I feel that Orks are somewhat dependent (more so I think than other armies) on the “more of X and none of Y is better than a little of both” approach, not knowing if I’ll be running into the guns or standing back and defending ground makes the fight uncertain at best.
Well, time to build my list. In the past, I have usually gone down the force org chart and put in everything I want, and then I go back and trim things down until I get the point total I need. However, since the defender only gets Troops and Heavy Support to start off with, I decided to first take all of these that I want, then take any elites or fast attack if I have the points left over. If I’m the attacker, then taking some footslogging elites wouldn’t be a problem. But if I’m the defender, then they’ll have to walk on later, and that’s a lot of points sitting on the sidelines. In the end, I went with two large units of slugga boyz, one with rokkits and one with big shootas, and a unit of shoota boyz, also with big shootas. I also took two medium-sized gretchin mobs with rokkit-toting slavers, and a burna boyz mob with a mek toting tankbusta bombs and a kustom force field. This gave me five rokkits on the field on turn one, which will be important because Darkwing is bound to have at least one Leman Russ tank and one Hellhound, and I’ll need to kill both of them early on.
On top of my Troops, I decided to take a Dreadnought with big shoota and scorcha, and a trio of lobbas with a few extra krew. The dread will be insane versus any infantry Darkwing has (especially with that skorcha), and if it manages to hit a tank with a klaw, it’ll do some serious hurt. I had considered giving it a rokkit and big shoota, but I don’t know if it’s such a good idea giving it one weapon that’s anti-infantry, and another that’s anti-tank – best to stick with all of one type of weapon and leave it at that. My only worry is that as soon as the dread sticks its head out, it’ll get blown to pieces by IG heavy weapons and tank shells. The Lobbas, while useless vs. his armor, will be good against his troops as long as I can keep them from being killed themselves by either mortar fire or flank attacks.
As for the rest of my choices, I decided to stick with my basic Warboss toting his choppa and kustom shoota. He’s generally not all that effective but he might be able to tie up a squad or soak some fire, so we shall see. I will be leaving all my elites at home, since as I mentioned earlier there’s a good chance they’d be off the board for a turn or three, and they’re just too expensive to leave trudging across the table for most of the game. Fast Attack will consist of a trio of bikes and a trio of big-shoota carrying wartraks, because they will be good against small groups of infantry and, if lucky, might be able to get shots into some rear tank armor and do a little damage (although they are likely as not to just become a fire magnet for a turn and then die).
Now, how are we going to win this game? If I’m the attacker, I’ll be starting with everything on the board, and with all my “assault” heavy weapons, I’ll be able to rush his lines while firing on the way in. Orks are so superior to IG in assault that all I’ll need is just a handful of boyz in amongst his lines to cause some major problems, so I’m not too worried about casualties (especially with the gretchin screening my troops). Unlike the Tau mission, Darkwing’s IG will be a lot closer to me, and lasguns, even in large numbers, don’t make me nervous the way all those pulse rifles did. He’ll probably have plenty of heavy bolters and grenade launchers, but hey, what’s life without a little danger? At least I’ll have everything on the board at once, and I can at least try to focus my fire on one or two IG squads at a time in order to cripple his ability to fire back. The tanks will be a big problem, but once I’m in amongst his lines, all those template weapons will become a lot less effective. We can at least hope. What I might have to force him to do is choose between shooting at close, but less dangerous troops like my gretchin and shoota boyz, and my more vicious units like slugga boyz and my dread. Shoot the peons up close, and you’re giving the tough guys behind more time to close in. Shoot the tough guys and the peons will then swamp you. On Darkwing’s board it’s only twelve inches from where I’ll end up on turn one and the outer edge of his deployment zone, so if he forms up anywhere near my end of the board I’ll likely be amongst his lines by turn three, IF the boyz can weather his shooting. Time will tell.
What I’m more concerned with is winning as the defender. I won’t have to footslog to the objective, but I will be bunched up into a nice fat kill-zone for all those template weapons. I’ll have to spread my boyz out as much as possible or risk taking huge losses in the first couple of turns from ordnance, mortar, and flame-cannon fire. I’m also going to have to probably sacrifice a few units (like my grots…hah!) by throwing them at his lines and force him to decide whether it was more important to shoot the boyz on the objective, or the boyz rushing his lines. I might keep a squad (like my shoota boyz) in reserve anyhow so they can move up on my objective and support whoever stays behind (probably lobbas and burna boyz, maybe the dread), to sweep any IG infantry who’ve made it to my lines from the objective. In essence, my forces would be split into three parts – those I sacrifice to slow the IG down, those who stand on the objective and shoot, and those who come up from the reserves to support those defending the objective in case they’re in trouble. What makes me nervous about this plan is that it will force me to break my units into three different formations, and Orks don’t work well in small contingents. I guess we’ll just have to go for it and see what happens.
| Ork Forces | Points | |
| Warboss (1) | 84 | |
| Shoota Boyz with Nob (19) | 211 | |
| Slugga Boyz with Nob (Klawfreek's Mob) (24) | 274 | |
| Slugga Boyz with Nob (20) | 244 | |
| Burna Boyz with Mekboy (11) | 129 | |
| Gretchin with Slaver & Squighound (16) | 69 | |
| Gretchin with Slaver & Squighound (16) | 69 | |
| Warbikes (3) | 90 | |
| Wartraks (3) | 138 | |
| Big Gunz Battery (11+3 lobbas) | 113 | |
| Dreadnought (1) | 83 | |
| Total Points: | 1504 | |
| Imperial Guard Forces (F Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Rgt) | Points | |
| Command Platoon: Command Squad (5) | 305 | |
| Command Platoon: Mortar Squad (6) | ||
| Command Platoon: Mortar Squad (6) | ||
| Command Platoon: Fire Support Squad (Heavy Bolters) (6) | ||
| 2nd Infantry Platoon: Command Squad (5) | 327 | |
| 2nd Infantry Platoon: Infantry Squad (10) | ||
| 2nd Infantry Platoon: Infantry Squad (10) | ||
| 2nd Infantry Platoon: Infantry Squad (10) | ||
| 3rd Infantry Platoon: Command Squad (5) | 305 | |
| 3rd Infantry Platoon: Infantry Squad (10) | ||
| 3rd Infantry Platoon: Infantry Squad (10) | ||
| 3rd Infantry Platoon: Infantry Squad (10) | ||
| Stormtroopers (10) | 140 | |
| Hellhound (Clamor Necis) | 125 | |
| Hellhound (Mors Crucians) | 115 | |
| Leman Russ | 187 | |
| Total Points: | 1504 | |
The Imperial Guard moved onto the battlefield on the wooded side, moving through cover. A unit of Stormtroopers had already taken up position in the trees on the left flank, well ahead of the main force.
The 2nd and 3rd Infantry Platoons moved onto the battlefield in a long line, making their way among the copious amounts of trees. The Command HQ unit appeared on the far right flank. On the left flank the Heavy Bolter Teams moved to set up positions in the woods, with the Leman Russ appearing to their left. A mortar team and a Hellhound each appeared on either flank.
The Orks mass around the objective
The Leman Russ spotted the Dreadnought, and opened fire with its battlecannon in the hopes of destroying it before it could do much damage. The shot was off target and landed on Gretchin Mob 1, behind it and to its left, killing four of them. The Hellhound on the left flank, the Clamor Necis, fired its Inferno Cannon ahead of it, killing two Gretchin and one Ork in the Slugga Boyz unit behind them. The other Hellhound, the Mors Crucians, fired its Inferno Cannon, Heavy Bolter, and Pintle-Mounted Stormbolter at the other Gretchin Mob, accounting for four of them. The remaining fire from the Imperial Guard consisted of Grenade Lanchers at the two Gretchin Mobs, killing two in the Gretchin Mob 1 and six in Mob 2. The 1st went to ground, while the 2nd stayed put. The Ork Slaver of the Gretchin Mob 1 managed to regroup his squad with the help of the Squig Hound. The Dreadnought moved and towards the Mors Crucians, putting some woods between it and the Leman Russ. Klawfreek’s mob of Slugga Boyz moved forward, off the hill and behind Gretchin Mob 2. The Burna Boyz shuffled around slightly in place.
Gretchin Mob 1’s Slaver fired his rokkit at the Mors Crucians, hitting and stunning the crew. Gretchin Mob 2’s Slaver fired his rokkit at the Clamor Necis, and succeeded in hitting, but failed to penetrate. The rokkit boyz in Klawfreek’s mob fared better, hitting the Clamor Necis and destroying its Inferno Cannon and stunning the crew.
The Dreadnought fired its big Shoota at Mortar Squad 1, but missed. The Lobbaz opened fire, and their shells landed squarely on target on Command Squad, 2nd Platoon (C/2), and 2nd Squad, 3rd Platoon (2/3), killing 1 from C/2 and four from 2/3. Both squads passed their pinning tests and continued to advance.
The Imperial Guard right flank scattered in the face of the approaching Ork Dreadnought, several of the squads moving into the woods.
Every Imperial Guard Squad with a Grenade Launcher that had a shot opened fire with Krak Grenades at the Dreadnought, hoping for a lucky damaging hit, but although four of them hit, none of the grenades damaged the walker. 1st Squad, 2nd Platoon (1/2), the Stormtroopers, and Command Squad, 3rd Platoon (C/3) all fired on Gretchin Mob 2, killing seven of the Gretchin and the Squighound, leaving the Ork Slaver as the last survivor—he would not survive long, however. The Leman Russ fired its Battlecannon again, hitting the Ork Slaver, killing him and three orks from Klawfreek’s Mob. Both Mortar Squads opened fire on Klawfreek’s Mob, Squad 1 killing two of them, while Squad 2 missed completely.
The Imperial Guard arrive on the scene
Dakkaboss’ Shoota Boyz Mob arrived, as did the warbikes and another Slugga Boyz mob. The boyz mobs entered the battlefield in the center and advanced. The warbikes arrived on the Ork right flank, and turbo-boosted behind the large rock formation. The Burna Boyz shuffled behind the rocks to the Ork right, while Klawfreek’s Mob of Slugga Boyz advanced toward the Leman Russ and the Stormtroopers. The Dreadnought continued to advance towards the Mors Crucians. Gretchin Mob 1’s Ork Slaver fired his rokkit at the Mors Crucians but missed. Klawfreek’s Mob fired all three of their rokkits at the Clamor Necis but all missed. The Lobbaz hit right on target again, killing seven guardsmen from 1/2 and pinned them.
The Ork Dreadnought approaches the Imperial Guard's right flank
The Dreadnought plowed forward and charged 3rd Squad, 2nd Platoon (3/2), and tore three of them apart; the guardsmen stayed and fought, hoping to buy time with their lives and allow their fellow guardsmen to escape.
The Guardsmen’s right flank continued to scatter in the hopes of getting away from the Ork Dreadnought, and Mors Crucians did the same, moving towards the center of the line. The Stormtroopers advanced out of the woods, preparing to hose Klawfreek’s mob with short range fire. The Leman Russ stayed put so as not to mask the Heavy Bolter Squad behind it.
The entire Imperial Guard left flank opened fire on Klawfreek’s mob. The Stormtroopers killed two, while 2/3 and C/3 killed four between them. The Clamor Necis missed with its heavy bolter, but the Heavy Bolter Squad did better and killed three of them. The Leman Russ fired with its Lascannon, Sponson Heavy Bolters, and the pintle-mounted Heavy Stubber, killing five more. Both Mortar Squads also fired on Klawfreek’s mob, one squad of three completely missing (again) while the other killed a single ork. That left only Klawfreek and a pair of rokkit-armed Orks left. C/2 and 2nd Squad, 2nd Platoon (2/2) both fired on Gretchin Mob 1, killing six total and wiping out the unit. 3rd Squad, 3rd Platoon (3/3) fired on the Lobbaz with their grenade launchers but missed.
The Ork Dreadnought tears apart 3rd Squad, 2nd Platoon
In the assault, the Dreadnought killed three more Guardsmen from 3/2. The surviving four turned to flee, only to be cut down by the Dreadnought, which turned to face the Command HQ Squad.The Ork Wartraks arrived, turbo-boosting up the Ork left flank. The Shoota Boyz and Slugga Boy reinforcements continued their advance up the middle. The Warbikes moved forward, through the arch of the large rock formation. The Burna boyz moved to follow the bikes. Klawfreek’s mob—all three of them--continued to advance on the Stormtroopers.
The Ork Dreadnought unleashed its Skorcha on the Command HQ Squad, but flames spread to engulf 3/3 as well, killing one member of the HQ Squad and five from 3/3. The Warbikes fired on the Stormtroopers killing three of them and softening them up for Klawfreek’s inevitable charge. The Lobbaz continued with their perfect accuracy and smashed into 2/2, killing nine of the guardsmen and pinning the sole survivor.
In the assault, Klawfreek charged the Stormtroopers, and he and his two mates slaughtered six of them, leaving their Veteran Sergeant as the sole survivor. The guardsmen predictably did absolutely nothing in return. The Ork Dreadnought charged the Command HQ Squad, killing three of them, leaving just the officer facing the huge ork behemoth.
Turn 4
Again, 3/3’s grenade launcher missed the Lobbaz. C/2, C/3, and 1/2, all fired on the Burna Boyz, and the grenade launchers did a little damage, killing two of them. The Clamor Necis fired at the large mob of Shoota Boyz beyond the objective, felling one of them with its Heavy Bolter. The Heavy Bolter Squad fired on the Lobbas, just drawing a bead on some of the crew, and killed a pair of the Gretchin. The Mors Crucians fired at the Burna Boyz, and killed one of them with its Heavy Bolter. The Leman Russ opened fire with its Lascannon, Heavy Stubber, and Heavy Bolters, and succeeded in wiping out all three Warbikes. Mortar Squad 1 fired on the Lobbaz, and managed to kill three Gretchin, while Mortar Squad 2 completely missed the Burna Boyz. Mortar Squad 2 had failed to hit a single target yet in the battle.
The Stormtrooper Sergeant is surrounded and killed by Klawfreek
The Stormtrooper Veteran Sergeant faced off against Klawfreek and his boyz, swung his sword, only to have his arm lopped off by Klawfreek’s Power Klaw. He and his boyz then tore the Veteran Sergeant to pieces, and advanced through the woods towards the Leman Russ. The Imperial Guard officer bravely faced off against the Dreadnought, despite the fact that he could do nothing to hurt it. He vainly attempted to evade its attacks, and it promptly picked him up with its power klaw and dismembered him with its buzzsaw. The Shootas and Sluggas advanced behind the Lobbaz, while the Burnas held their position behind the large rock formation, ready to pounce on anything that got close to the objective hill. The Warboss finally arrived, running up behind the Sluggas and Shootas in the center. The Wartraks advanced, cresting the hill overlooking 3/3. The Dreadnought shifted its attention towards Mortar Squad 1, while Klawfreek moved through the woods towards the Leman Russ.
The Company Commander faces the Ork Dreadnought all alone
The Dreadnought fired its Skorcha on Mortar Squad 1, killing five of them. The Wartraks opened fire with their twin-linked Big Shootas, killing three from 3/3. Klawfreek’s mob fired their two rokkits at the Leman Russ, but despite the close range, they both missed. The Lobbaz fired again, and once again were deadly accurate, killing five from 2/3, 1 from C/3, and 1 from 1/2. Both 2/3 and 1/2 were pinned by the explosions. The Slugga Boyz fired on 3/3 with their big shootas, killing two and wiping out the squad. The Shoota Boyz fired with their big shootas at C/3, killing three of them. Klawfreek’s mob assaulted the Leman Russ, and Klawfreek reached up with his power klaw and clamped down on the Battlecannon’s barrel, crushing it and stunning the crew of the tank in the bargain.
Turn 5
The last survivor of C/3 fled, as did the last survivor of 2/2. The last survivor of Mortar Squad 1 panicked and fled the battlefield completely.
The Heavy Bolter Squad fired at Klawfreek’s Mob, trying to kill them before they could completely destroy the Leman Russ, only managed to kill one of them. Mortar Squad 2 attempted to help, and perhaps aided by the line of sight and ridiculously short range, actually scored a hit this time, but killed only one of the Orks, leaving Klawfreek unscathed and able to wreak his vengeance on the helpless Leman Russ. C/2 fired on the Burna Boyz with a frag grenade, but only managed to kill one of them. Both Hellhounds fired on the Shoota Boyz, and killed a pair of Orks between them.
Klawfreek ripped his way into the Leman Russ and set off its ammunition, causing it to explode in a fireball—the explosion wounded Klawfreek, but he proceeded to walk it off.
The Dreadnought advanced towards 1/3, ready to flame its next victim. The Wartraks moved towards the center of the battlefield, looking for targets. Klawfreek advanced on the Heavy Bolters. The Warboss, Shoota Boyz and Slugga Boyz advanced on the objective.
Klawfreek destroys the Leman Russ
The Dreadnought unleashed its Skorcha on 1/3, killing five of them—the survivors panicked and fled away from the walker. Klawfreek fired his slugga at the Heavy Bolter Squad, but missed. The Wartraks fired on C/2, and killed three of them. The Lobbaz fired on Mortar Squad 2, and, as usual, were right on target. Fortunately for the guardsmen the shots killed but a single guardsman, but it did succeed in pinning the Mortar Squad. Klawfreek proceeded to assault the Heavy Bolter Squad, and amazingly the guardsmen brought him down before he could kill any of them.
Turn 6
The last survivors of C/3 and 2/2 fled off the battlefield, while 1/3 managed to regroup. The last survivors of 2/3 and C/2 began to run away, however. The Clamor Necis, in a last, desperate effort, gunned its engine and roared up the hill in an attempt to claim the objective. 1/2 and the Mors Crucians also advanced towards the hill, attempting to support the Clamor Necis. The Heavy Bolters and 1/2 fired on the Shoota Boyz, killing three orks. The last survivor of C/2, armed with a Grenade Launcher was falling back, however he managed to fire a krak grenade at one of the Wartraks, destroying it. The Mors Crucians fired on the Wartraks as well, and managed to immbolize one more, as well as destroying its weapons.
The Burna Boyz moved towards the Clamor Necis, while the last Wartrak boosted its way over to the objective, directly in front of the Clamor Necis. Both the Slugga Boyz and the Shoota Boyz managed to begin climbing the objective hill, while the Warboss moved up behind the Lobbaz. The Dreadnought continued to follow 1/3, heading back towards the objective.
The Dreadnought fired its big shoota at 1/3, killing one guardsman. The Lobbaz fired on Mortar Squad 2, again right on target, killing four of them and pinning the last survivor. The Burna Boyz assaulted the Clamor Necis, and the Mekboy attempted to plant his tankbusta bombs while the Burna tried to burn its way through the Hellhound’s armor, but they were unsuccessful.
Turn 7
The last survivor from 2/3 fled the battlefield, with the last survivor of C/2 on his way as well. 1/2 and 1/3 advanced. The Clamor Necis nudged its way onto the objective, while the Mors Crucians continued to advance closer.
C/2 tried to fire a grenade at the Slugga Boyz but missed. The Mors Crucians fired its Inferno Cannon, Heavy Bolter and storm bolter at the Burna boyz, and managed to wipe them out. The Heavy Bolter Squad fired on the Shoota Boyz, and killed one of them. 1/2 fired on the shootas, and the Sergeant’s Storm Bolter killed one of them. The Clamor Necis fired its Heavy Bolter at point blank range at the Wartrak, and missed.
The Wartrak gunned its engine and spun around directly behind the Clamor Necis, while the Shoota Boyz moved onto the objective, and the Slugga Boyz moved up next to them.
The Wartrak proceeded to open fire at the Clamor Necis’s vulnerable rear armor and immobilized it as well as stunning its crew. The Lobbaz fired their shells and landed directly on target on the Heavy Bolter Squad, killing four of them. The Shoota Boyz assaulted the Clamor Necis in their haste to close on the objective, but it was impervious to their blows.
Turn 8
The last survivor of Mortar Squad 2 fled off the battlefield, while the last survivor C/2 continued to fall back. The two members of 1/2 moved onto the large rock formation, hoping to take some shots at the orks near the objective. The Mors Crucians moved between the Wartrak and 1/2, attempting to maneuver around the Wartrak to try to make a break for the objective. The survivors of 1/3 also moved towards the objective.
The last Heavy Bolter Team fired on the Wartrak, destroying its twin-linked big shoota. The Mors Crucians fired on the shootas, destroying three orks from the Shoota Boyz, one grot, and one of the Lobbaz. 1/2 fired on the Shootas, and a frag grenade killed two of them.
The Dreadnought advanced on 1/3, while the Shootas, who had been very much mauled by the recent fire, backed off, allowing the Slugga Boyz to move onto the objective. The Wartrak drove fearlessly directly in front of the Mors Crucians.
The Warboss advanced and fired on 1/2, killing the grenade launcher armed guardsman. The Lobbaz fired on the Heavy Bolter Squad, landing right on target and killing one of them. The Dreadnought fired its Skorcha on 1/3, killing three of them, and the last survivor of 1/3 fled.
Turn 9
The Mors Crucians, in its last desperate gasp, gunned its engine in an attempt to make it by some rocks and get around the Wartrak so that it could fire on the Slugga Boyz on the objective hill. Unfortunately, it barely got going when it was immobilized on the dangerous terrain. 1/3, C/2, and the last survivor of the Heavy Bolter Squad all fled off the battlefield, and the last survivor of 1/2, the veteran Sergeant, began to fall back as well. The Clamor Necis fired its Heavy Bolter at the Sluggas ahead, and killed one of them. The Mors Crucians fired its weapons, but most of the targets that it would have preferred to hit were screened behind the Clamor Necis. Still, the Mors Crucians killed two grots and the Warboss.
The final, desperate attempt to claim the objective
Most of the Orks settled in on the objective, while the Dreadnought plowed into the rear of the Mors Crucians, and proceeded to tear it apart with its close combat weapons. By this point, the only thing left alive on the battlefield for the Imperial Guard was one Veteran Sergeant, wisely falling back, and the crew of the Clamor Necis, who would be at the mercy of the Ork horde, now swarming over the hill…
Ork Debriefing
Badelaire: Well, definitely a tense game. I was thinking as we went into the fight that it wasn’t looking good for my boyz, especially since I wound up putting two squads in reserve for the sake of spreading out my deployed units as much as possible. A few turns in, once the stormtroopers had been dealt with and my dreadnought was wreaking havoc in Darkwing’s flank, I thought I had the game made, and then around turn six, I thought I had lost it again because I had nothing (well, almost nothing) to kill his armor with except a sickeningly slow dreadnought slogging it back towards the objective.
Some great moments? My dread surviving the ordnance shot against it on turn one and making it through turn two’s fusillade of grenade launchers without even a glancing hit, in order to plow into the IG lines with impunity. It was also great to see my lobbas perform so amazingly well – they killed well over twice their point value by the end of the game. The dreadnought did well, but I still have to say the lobbas were definitely my MVPs for the battle. On top of this, my opening rokkit barrage did spectacularly well considering how awful their shooting usually is, and Klawfreek really was the star of the infantry, taking on the stormtroopers, wiping them out, then plowing on to kill the Russ and finally making it to the heavy bolter squad before being taken out. Hmmm, maybe I should buy him some heavy armor as a present for his good performance…
And what about my mistakes? Well, I think I used my bikers pretty poorly, although I don’t know exactly what else I would have done with them, the fast is that they really didn’t contribute a whole lot before getting gunned down. The same goes for my burna boyz – they spent the whole game huddling under cover, soaking the occasional pot-shot, and then rushed out against the tank, only to die in a gout of hellhound flame. Oh, and once again, my warboss was next to useless – gotta get that guy a trukk so he doesn’t spend the whole battle huffing and puffing to the fight, only to get immediately gunned down once he gets there.
Overall, I think it was a great game. Luck was on my side with regards to the Ork shooting, but Darkwing was still crafty enough to really make me work for it through the whole nine turns.
Imperial Guard Debriefing
Darkwing: By Turn 4 I thought I was doomed, but by Turn 6 a glimmer of hope appeared. But with the game continuing turn after turn all the way to Turn 9 (the maximum possible), what little hope I had slipped away.
My first surprise was seeing Jacob’s Dreadnought. I had been so used to seeing him use only Warbikes, Wartraks, and trucks as his vehicles, I must admit that I totally forgot about his Dreadnought...so I was really worried about it from the start. Aside from my Leman Russ and the Missile Launcher in my Command HQ Squad, I had precious little that could take it out, and since I didn’t have time to set up the Missile Launcher, I rapidly found myself in deep trouble. Once my Leman Russ failed to hit in Turn 1, it was free to go on a rampage, wreaking havoc and collapsing my right flank.
Getting the wooded side of the board turned out to be trouble as well, as my guardmen got bogged down and were forced into tight bunches—perfect targets for Badelaire’s Lobbaz, which simply could not miss this battle. They ended up killing 39 guardsmen in the battle—more than a platoon’s worth.
My own mortars were a bitter disappointment. Badelaire had more room to spread out his troops, but I also couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn—when your templates all land on empty space, it matters little just how spread out your enemy is. Badelaire also got lucky with his rokkits early on, taking out the Inferno Cannon on one Hellhound, and stunning the other on Turn 1. After that, the rokkits went to their usual (non) effectiveness, but by then the damage had been done.
On Turn 3, I unleashed everything I had on Klawfreek’s mob, but as I failed to wipe them out, they proceeded to destroy both my Stormtroopers and my Leman Russ with ease. Klawfreek passing his morale check helped, of course.
In the end, all I had left was my two Hellhounds, which were making a desperate dash for the objective. The first one got there, but was then immobilized, making it ineligible to claim the objective. The second one now had to maneuver around it, making it that much harder, and by Badelaire’s smart using his last Wartrak as a road block, I had to drive through dangerous terrain to get around it. Of course, I rolled a 1 on the terrain test, and that finished my chances.
What would I have done differently? One big problem was that damn dreadnought—I probably should have gotten a meltagun or something instead of the missile launcher—but I foolishly forgot how close the enemy would be at the start of the battle. As it was, the Dreadnought was on me before I could do anything about it. My guardsmen got slaughtered by the incoming fire, but I had to keep them moving forward if I was to have any hope of claiming the objective. Of course, moving them forward among the trees just meant they would get bunched up, and in getting bunched up they got pounded by Badelaire’s Lobbaz.
Despite all the misfortunes I suffered, I came pretty close to pulling through the in the end, with my Hellhounds nearly winning the day. If only the rest of my army would last as long as they did…
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