Hjaltland LI vs Orks

I finally managed to yet a game in this year, its only taken 4 months but I did it. It was also the first time I had been able to use my Christmas presents. I have been looking forward to using my mat and terrain for a while and I was not disappointed. Ill cover the mat and terrain properly in another post, but right now ill get on with the game.

It was a maelstrom of war mission, mission 4 to be precise. 1500 points of the imperials finest verses the scum of the universe, the orks. My list was fairly standard, Creed and his ccs with MoO, a second ccs with 4x plasma, two platoons of two squads, one with flamers and autocannons and one with just flamers. These were backed up the the ever dependable wyverns and the valkyrie and vendetta of the navy. I also took 2 ml1 psykers and 2 priests. 

My opponent went for a very aggressive ork list, with 5 trukks, 4 with boyz in heavy armour and one with the warlord (possibly ghazghkull thraka)  and 4 meganobs, plus the mad doc himself. He also had a cannon, I can't remember which one, possibly the traktor kannon, and two bombers.

The table pre-deployment

The table post deployment

The ork deployment, simple and easy.

My deployment, nothing much different from usual.

I missed what warlord trait my opposition had, but I know that he got two, one fixed and one from the strategic traits I believe? But I could be wrong on that. For my warlord trait I rolled relentless for the command squad and D3 units outflanking. I decided that this want the best options and rerolled, and ended up with exactly the same traits, so it was meant to be. I rolled a 3 for the D3 outflanking units and decided to outflank two squads and a priest.

My psykers both rolled on Divination, as always, and ended with Scriers gaze and perfect timing. One is pretty useless and one good, as it means I could issue a different order and effectively double up, ie cast ignores cover and order bring it down on the quadgun, and hopefully kill off the bombers nice and early. The plan was a sound one, shame the dice didn't agree.

Turn 1

Opponents cards - 25 (objective 5), 44 (ascendency), 46 (domination)
Scored - none
Discarded - 46

My cards - 15 (overwhelming numbers), 22 (objective 2), 54 (hungry for glory)
Scored - 15, 22, stole 25
Discarded - 54

54 - challenge

As the game began, my opposition did what was expected of an ork player, and when head long towards the enemy. It was at this point I realised I have made a monumental error of judgment, I had let my opponent go first and by that I mean, I won the toss and chose to go second. This was something that would come back to haunt me many times in the game. Anyway, ork movement done, there was little else to do, so it was on to my turn.

My turn started pretty well, I pulled out some good cards, however things started going down hill after that! I failed 3 out of 4 orders, one with creed! And my last order went through on a double 1! Great. My shooting dice were just as good, missing with a lot and and failing a lot of armour pen rolls. In total I managed to take only 3 hull points, including one explodes result thanks to the trukks being open topped. This explodes result also took out 5 Orks, but still left 4 trukks pretty much unscathed.

The orks advance

The green tide advances

Turn 2

Opponents cards - 12 (an ork card, issue a challenge?), 24 (objective 4), 44 (ascendency)
Scored - 24
Discarded - none

My cards - 13 (strength in unity), 34 (objective 4), 51 (overwhelming firepower)
Scored - 51 (2)
Discarded - 13


My opponent called a waaagh this turn, and maneuvered all his troops for the charge. Overwatch managed to take a few Orks down, but with 3 squads charging the central blob squad, there was only so much I could do. The assault was pretty devastating, taking outvlarge portions of the blob squad. Now, at this point I made another mistake, that's the trouble with not playing for a long time! I had a priest in the squad yet forgot he had both zealot and war hymns, so no rerolls to hit and not rerolls to wound, which, while it wouldn't have meant I won, would have been very helpful in taking down a few more Orks.

The assault

Assaults all along the line

The aftermath of the ork charge

As a result of the charge, I was on the back foot, a small portion of my guard survived just long enough to be wiped out during my assault phase. The only highlights were the wyverns destroying the remaining ork squad on the right flank, using the heavy flamer. I think it got used more in this game than I've ever used it in the past.

A lot less guard

not a pleasant sight! 

The skies above the battlefield also became quite congested this turn, with both ork bombers and the valkyrie and vendetta arriving this turn. The vendetta made a quick impact by destroying one of the bombers but the valkyrie did little as the MMRP's scattered all over the place.

the wider battlefield

The cards were starting to turn against me at this point though, as I only scored one card, bringing my total to 5 to 1. I also realise that I played the cards slightly wrong, as I have always discarded cards at the beginning of my turn, but if I read it right the other day, you do so at the end of your turn. So I might have been able to stop my opponent getting at least 1 point.

Turn 3

Opponents cards - 12 (challenge), 44 (ascendency), 66 (big game hunter)
Scored - 44 (3), stole 34
Discarded - 12

My cards - 12 (fix bayonets), 14 (hold your ground), 46 (domination)
Scored - 14
Discarded - 46

14 - half units in deployment
12 - charge

By this point I was worried that I was lacking troops to deal with my cards. Although my opponent was also suffering as well. His cards this turn were not to concerning, but it showed that me had a lot of options that I didn't.

His rampage through my limes continues with the destruction of my command squad by the mega nobz, although he missed a few points (d3) by not charging and killing my warlord I a challange and instead flaming them to death. This saved me a few points, however he gained 3 points for ascendancy and stole one of my cards.

the orks advance

With the death of my warlord, my plasma command squad went for a bit of a hail Mary and dropped close to the ork warlord to try and plasma the guys to death. It didn't quite work as I only managed to take down 2 of the nobz, not quite what I had hoped for. The wyverns took out the remains of another ork squad.

Reinforcement arrive

The reinforcements

The last of my forces also turned up this turn, but turned up a bit far from where I needed them. It was probably another mistake to reserve and outflank the squads, but this game was turning in to a game of mistakes. Again the valkyrie did pretty much nothing again, as the MRP'S scattered massively again.


Turn 4

Opponents cards - 32 (objective 2), 64 (assassinate), 66 (big game hunter)
Scored - 32, 64
Discarded - none

My cards - 12 (fix bayonets), 21 (objective 1), 63 (scour the skies)
Scored - none
Discarded - 12

It was at this point the game was starting to turn as were started off at 6 - 5 in my favor, but the cards had other ideas.

My opponent started his turn by bombing my wyverns and immobilizing one of them. With little else to do, he chose to charge my remaining command squad and my reserve squad. The command squad was destroyed by the the nobz, but the reserve squad managed to do quite well. The ork bomber finally got to drop its payload, striking the wyverns and immobilizing one.

Its busy in the skies

Vendetta manoeuvring for a kill shot

My turn consisted of taking what positives I could, which weren't many. I maneuvered to strike at the ork warlords squad, which proved to be successful. I was also able to eliminate the last ork on my left flank. My only worry was that I failed to destroy all the mega nobz with the warlord, leaving one still alive.

In position

The bomb run

Despite slaying the warlord, things were looking bleak. With only one blob squad, two flyers and two wyverns, one of which was immortalized, on the  my options were limited. However my opponent had 4 trukks, 1 mega nobz, a bomber and a kannon, a lot less troops, but far more mobility. At this point we were 6 - 7 in objectives but 8 a piece with secondary objective (warlord and first blood)

Turn 5

Opponents cards - 21 (objective 1), 45 (supremacy), 66 (big game hunter)
Scored - 21, 45 (3), 66, stole 21
Discarded - none

My cards - 23 (objective 3), 52 (blood and guts), 63 (scour the skies)
Scored - 63
Discarded - 52

It was at this point that the cards deserted me, with my opponent drawing 3 cards he could achieve, plus steal 1 of mine and I drew only 1 achievable card. Being that this was turn 5, I was not overly hopeful.

With so little on the table, the turns were quick. The last of the mega nobz charged and destroyed the wyverns and he moved his bomber. He didn't need to move anything else as he was already in position for gaining supremacy.

The wyverns finally die

My turn was just as quick, moving forward with the reserved squad and moving my fliers around, taking down the bomber with the vendetta in the process. as it was the only objective I could achieve, I thought I'd better achieve it!

the only troops in the field, notice the missing ork bomber?

At this point we rolled for turn 6 and we continued.

Turn 6

Opponents cards - 15, 23 (objective 3), 43 (hold the line)
Scored - 15 (1)
Discarded - none

My cards - 23 (objective 3), 25 (objective 5), 45 (supremacy)
Scored - none
Discarded - none

opponent error - read 43 wrong

Turn 6 and the fun continued. By this  things were dire. It was 7 - 14 and I could score a maximum of 7 points if I was  (the objective I had and two d3 cards). As it was my opponent drew 2 achievable cards that would give him an unassailable lead. He did however give me a small lifeline by reading one of the cards wrong.

For hold the line he went forward in to my  deployment zone, rather than back in to his. A simple miss reading but it did mean that with some luck I could draw. He also decided to take out my quad gun for the fun of it, well, there was little else for the mega nobz to do.

I got my revenge by blowing the nob to smithereens by the vendetta. Iboostedthe valkyrie in to the enemy deployment zone for line breaker. And thus ended the game.

Not a lot left

The trukks advance

The Kannon

At the end of the game, I had the blood squad, with about 15 guardsmen left and the two flyers, my opponent had a kannon and 4 trukks. If we had played out turn 7, the result would have been the same as I couldn't take out more than 1 trukk and he could disperse easily to the objectives. In the end, I could have tabled him, but it would have taken about 5 more turns, so  impossible task in 1 turn.

Overall score -
16 (14 objectives, Warlord and Linebreaker)
10 (7 objectives, First Blood, Warlord and Linebreaker)

No i don't normally do follow up posts to batreps, but this time I think its needed, as I made so many mistakes during the game, both before and during, that I think its merited. So look of for the follow up soon.