Whilst in Edinburgh for my fourth Fringe Festival, I stopped in at a board game cafe called Games Hub, the sort of place I wish existed in my hometown. They had a bit of 40k stuff for sale so I picked up Index Xenos 2, Escape wanting to try out Orks as their second army. By now, I've read a bit about how blob units seem to perform well in 8th, so let's put that to the test...
The Lists
Since I used Death Guard last mission, this time I decided to try out the Primaris Marines. The models-per-army discrepancy is a thing that exists.
Master Bryss' Doom Legion (32 Power)
Captain in Gravis Armour
-Boltstorm gauntlet, master-crafted power sword
5x Intercessors
5x Hellblasters
3x Inceptors
-6x Assault bolters
EscapeToTheSea's Badrukk's Freebootas (32 Power)
Kaptin Badrukk
30x Boyz
-Sluggas and choppas, 3x big shoota, power klaw
10x Gretchin
1x Deffkopta
-Kopta rokkits, bigbomm
5x Flash Gitz
I don't know when the good Kaptin got promoted to a HQ choice (and when BS 4+ Orks became a thing), but I am certainly not going to argue with him. Points-wise, the Orks are at 555 whilst the Primaris Marines are guesstimated at 582 (the only model I'm not certain about is the Captain as the rest can be costed from the values given on GW's website). It looks like the Ork army's performance will depend on the actions of the Boyz mob, but we shall see.
For once, no game-wide misplays! Whoo!
Setup
This time, the battlefield is made from game mats and hole-plugging paper overlays. It's not quite professional yet, but it'll do at 44" by 44". Once again we rolled four objectives, with our Warlords both taking the Inspiring Leader trait. The Orks deployed first, putting Badrukk and the Boyz on the white space whilst the Grotz 'n' Gitz went for the red brick. Meanwhile, I left the Inceptors in orbit whilst everyone else set up to deal with the Boyz.
Turn 1
The Orks roar forward, big shootas putting a wound on the Intercessors and snazzguns getting a Hellblaster. The Kopta sets up to drop the Bigbomm next turn.
In the Marine turn, the Inceptors drop down to pincer the Boyz mob. The Hellblasters drop the Kopta with overcharge fire, killing one of them, whilst the In-units cut the Boyz down by -14, with another lost to Morale. Unfortunately, this has resulted in the Inceptors not being in charge range any more...
Turn 2
The Ork retribution is swift and painful. Badrukk's shooting and the charge of the Boyz kills two Inceptors and drops the Sarge to one wound left. Meanwhile, the now-stationary Flash Gitz wipe out the Hellblasters with their newly accurate snazzgun salvo.
With the Hellblasters gone, it's up to the Captain to engage the Flash Gitz. The Intercessors stay with their objective and can only watch as the Inceptor Sergeant is overwhelmed by Ork Boyz, who are now running back towards the bloo plastick humies.
Turn 3
Alas, the fact that Badrukk's Da Rippa does two damage even without Overchargin' means that Ork gunfire put paid to the Captain's brave efforts. With just four Intercessors remaining, can the Space Marines turn this five-turn game aro- ahaha no.
This is how the game ends. With all the Marines dead.
Result: Major Ork victory
Thoughts: Yeah, maybe trying to wear down the strongest unit first was a bad move. By leaving the Flash Gitz alone, they were able to cause me significant damage. Not to say that the Boyz did too badly either, even with half their lot gone.
Perhaps next time, a bigger game. Once that's done, I should be able to give a decently opinionated review of 8th, right?