02 March 2009

Weekend Madness

My friends and I got in a team game on Saturday night. 750 pts. per player, deployment quarters, Capture and Control. I was playing with a guy who just got Daemonhunters against an Ork and Chaos team. They won the first turn. When I saw the Ork player setting up opposite to my ally's Inquisitor, I knew we were in trouble. The lists are as follows, minus the other guy's wargear because I don't remember it off the top of my head.

I took a new list:
1 Captain -- Artificer Armour, Digital Weapons, Melta-bombs
1 Tac Squad (10) -- Standard "freebie" loadout
1 Scout Sniper Squad (6) -- Camo cloaks, Heavy Bolter
1 Land Raider
1 Whirlwind

My ally's list:
1 Inquisitor Coteaz w/ Retinue -- 1 Gun servitor, 2 familiars, 1 Acolyte
1 Dreadnaught -- standard
2 Grey Knight Squads (5) -- Incinerator
1 Grey Knight Terminator Squad (4)

Ork Player's list:
1 Weird Boy
1 Warboss
2 Boyz Mobs (30)
1 Loota Squad (12)

CSM Player's List:
1 Chaos Lord (who would later transform into something...else.)
1 Abaddon the Despoiler
2 Khorne Berserker Squads (8)

The actual report may not be accurate in the number of turns that it took, but this is what I remember happening.

Turn 1
Chaos: Moved Abaddon and one squad of Berserkers forward from behind LOS blocking cover. Abbadon was by himself.
Orks: Moved both Boyz squads, one with the Warboss in it, the other with the weirdboy in it. Warboss mob ran, Weirdboy rolled for a power and got teleportation. It failed, and his mishap was that we got to place his squad anywhere on the table. The daemon prince got very confused as a large mob of Orks showed up at the back with him out of nowhere. The Lootas shot at and destroyed the DH Dreadnaught. Profanities and cries of "I'm bringing out the Tau next time!" followed.
Space Marines: Tactical squad with Captain sat inside the Land Raider, tensed for the battle. The Land Raider was not within line of sight for enemies, so waited as the assault units came to it. Shot at Khorne Berserkers with scout snipers, but failed to kill any. The Whilrwind let forth a volley at the Warboss's mob, but scattered 11", only killing 1 Ork. Much groaning ensued.
Daemonhunters: Shot with the one Grey Knight squad that was in range and with the Inquisitor. Few kills, as many 1s were rolled. More profanity.

Turn 2

Chaos: Realizing that he was about to move right in front of my Land Raider's two TL Lascannons, Abaddon decided to go back where he came from. Both squads of Berserkers moved normally, the one moved previously moved closer to me, and the other squad emerged from behind the shack to get next to the Ork Lootas. The Chaos Lord transformed into the most disturbing Daemon Prince of all, the dreaded Lord Borden Milkbottleus Proxius! Using his happy cow psyker powers, he flew over terrain and began to assault my Land Raider. He scored only the one hit, which mercifully only shook the vehicle.
Orks: The Ork squad with the Weirdboy did not do anything this turn, as it was in a good position to hold an objective. The squad with the warboss moved forward, however, and ran towards the Grey Knights. The Lootas began shooting at the Land Raider, but failed to accompish anything.
Space Marines: Thoroughly hacked off that the Borden milk bottle had scratched the paint job on his brand new Land Raider, Captain Tycho and his squad piled out of the vehicle and filled the Demon full of lead, causing three wounds. True to form, the few snipers available hit but failed to wound the massive beast. The Whilwind managed to kill more Orks from the Warboss' mob, but the scatter dice was unkind again and only 4 Orks were slain.
Daemonhunter: An orbital bombardment came in, which managed to kill a single Loota. Joy. Also, the Grey Knight Terminators showed up in time to shoot the milk bottle to death, preventing it from destroying my Land Raider next turn. The Grey Knights pumped the charging mob of green-skins with stormbolter fire before the only squad available. Disappointment was the word of the day when he realized that Lord Coteaz was 2/10ths of an inch too far away to assault the green tide. Wounds were taken on both sides, slaying more Orks and 4 Grey Knights.

Turn 3
Chaos: More movement for the Berserkers, and for Abaddon as well. One squad managed to get into close combate with the 4 GK Terminators. After the blood hit the dirt, only 2 Khorne Berserkers were left, and no Terminators.
Orks: The weirdboy cast Fizzle after moving his squad away from his psyker, and I watched in horror as 5 brave Space Marines were instantly killed around my Captain. I failed the morale test, and the Captain and his squad hit the dirt. The Orks then mopped up the lone Grey Knight they were locked in combat with after the Lootas killed one of Coteaz's familiars.
Space Marines: Twin-linked Lascannon and twin-linked heavy bolter death streaked towards Abbadon the despoiler, causing him 2 wounds. The snipers attempted to finish him off, but as per usual, even though they wounded him they failed to kill him. The Whirlwind helped thin the ranks of the Orks a little more, but not enough to save the Daemonhunter's host from assured destruction at the hands of the Warboss' Mob.
Daemonhunters: After a quick move and round of shooting from the sole remaining Grey Knight squad, Coteaz and company charged into close combat, singing praises to the Emperor as they went. Though a few Orks were killed, Coteaz and Co. were hewn down except for Coteaz himself, who was left with one wound. The Orbital Bombardment killed a few Orks.

Turn 4
Chaos: Abaddon rushed forwards and assaulted my Captain and his squad after moving both Berserker squads. The dark one killed the remaining marines outright, save for the Captain, who caused another wound against the traitor. The Captain elected to fail the morale test using "Combat Tactics," and safely got away from the I6 monster in black armor. The remaining two berserkers which had killed the terminators moved towards and then assaulted my land raider. I simply laughed as he attempted to harm it with chainaxes.
Orks: The now weirdboy-less mob moved within the requisite distance to hold an objective. The weirdboy cast Fizzle again, and took out three of my sniper scouts. The Lootas accomplished a whole lotta' nothin', but Coteaz was slain in his resolving close combat.
Space Marines: I moved the remaining three scouts to within range of my objective. Darned if I was going down without a fight! Now imagine, if you will, the look of stunned horror Abbadon must have had when realized that vehicles (sans walkers) are never considered to be locked in close combat. Imagine his revulsion and pain as it once again turned both TL lascannons and TL heavy bolter on him and deluged him with fire, killing him. My captain did not fare so well, as he shot at but failed to hit the two Berserkers who were now reconsidering the wisdom of assaulting a land raider. Finally, the Whirlwind took out a few more Orks, thinning the Warboss' mob and hoping to keep the Grey Knights viable for a little while longer.
Daemonhunters: Infurated at losing the inquisitor, after bombarding the camping Ork mob from orbit, the Grey Knights unloaded with their stormbolters and incinerator as they rushed forward to meet the Warboss, each one of them raising their halberds high and plunging them deep into the greenskin's chest, killing him. Three more men were killed in the backlash of the attack, but the Grey Knights had avenged the death of the Inquisitor.

Unfortunately, that's as best I remember. The details get fuzzy after that because it was so late, and I'm sure I've left out some details as it is. What I do know, however, is that we lost, but we had some excellent highlights.

Things I learned from this game:

* My new Whirlwind held the right flank as the Orks were getting out of close combat with the last of my ally's 5 models (he was only able to field 20 models total,) by destroying 7 of the last 9 Orks. Da boyz ran for it after that. Lesson learned: Whirlwinds are devastating against Orks, if you can roll well. 2 Whirlwinds would be preferable so if one misses you've got a decent chance of hitting with the other.

* Scout Snipers are not worth the points unless you have 10 of them and one of them is Telion (or a Telion equivalent.) The only reason I took the scouts was because I had to drop some points in order to field my Whirlwind, but I should be able to take a 5-man Tac squad with bolters for that purpose instead of getting 6 scouts that failed to kill anything during the course of the entire game!

*Land Raiders are beasts. I like them. However, even they have to be protected sometimes. Mercifully, I was able to kill everything that could have penetrated its armor. In retrospect, I should have put the scouts in the Land Raider and sat it on top of the objective to try and force a draw, but he had too many berserkers around for that to have been feesible.

I'm already excited about playing another match! The Dawn Crusaders have some honor to regain.