The second game of the Double Trouble tournament saw my Orks partnered with Hendrick and his Dark Angels. We would be facing Luke's Howling Griffons space marines (Luke of Darksun Life fame) and Steven with his Raven Guard (yay, more cover saves!).
My army consisted of (green on the maps):
Warboss- Eavy Armour, Power Claw, Shoota, Bosspole, Stikkbombs (with B2)
Painboy- Urty Syringe, Dok's Tools (with B1)
25 Ork Boyz- Sluggas, Choppas, inc. Nob with Power Claw and Bosspole (B1)
11 Ork Boyz- Sluggas, Choppas, inc. Nob with Power Claw and Bosspole (B2)
Trukk- Big Shoota (T)
Runtherd and 15 Gretchin (G1)
Runtherd and 11 Gretchin (G2)
3 Warbikers (WB)
Warbuggy- TL Rokkit (W)
Warbuggy- TL Rokkit (W)
Looted Wagon- Killcannon, Ard Case, Big Shoota (LW)
For my warlord trait, I rolled on the tactical table and got forward planning, allowing me to discard our first turn maelstrom cards to re-draw 3 new ones.
Hendrick's army consisted of (blue on the maps):
Librarian- Bike, Meltabombs, Force Sword, Mastery level 1 (with RB)
5 Tactical Marines- Bolters, Plasma gun (TS1)
5 Tactical Marines- Bolters, Plasma gun (TS1)
Drop Pod (DP)
5 Tactical Marines- Bolters (TS2)
6 Ravenwing Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant with meltabombs (RB)
Whirlwind (W)
Deredo Dreadnought- Aiolos Missile Launcher, Anvilus Pattern Autocannon Battery, Twin-linked Heavy Flamer (DD)
His warlord trait was Courage of the Lion, giving the Dark Angels a Fearless bubble. His psyker got Hallucination and Psychic Shriek.
Luke's army consisted of (in Red and Yellow on maps):
Librarian- Mastery Level 1, Bike (with B1)
5 Tactical Marines- Missile Launcher, bolters (TS)
5 Scouts- Bolters (SS)
Landspeeder Storm- Cerberus Launcher, multimelta (LS1)
3 Bikers- 2 Grav guns (B1)
3 Bikers- 2 grav guns (B2)
3 Centurions- Grav Cannons and hurricane bolters (C)
Drop Pod (DP)
Luke's warlord trait on the strategic table was to force us to discard one random maelstrom card once per game. His psychic powers were Terrify and Psychic Shriek.
Steven's army consisted of (in black on maps):
Chaplain- Jump Pack (with VV)
8 Vanguard Veterans- Relic Blade, 3 Storm Shields, 2 Lightning Claws, Thunder Hammer, Power Fist, Meltabombs (VV)
5 Scouts- Camo cloaks, 4 sniper rifles, Veteran sergeant with Nihilus (S1)
5 Scouts- Bolt pistols, combat weapons, sergeant with combi-melta (S2)
Landspeeder Storm- Multimelta, Cerberus launcher (LS2)
5 Tactical Marines- Meltagun, sergeant with combi-melta (TS2)
Razorback- TL assault cannons (R)
His warlord trait forced us to take a Leadership test if we wanted to charge is warlord and his unit.
The Orks and Dark Angels definitely had the numerical superiority, but we were the slower of the two armies. I was worried about all the mobile units that would be able to keep away from my Orks for most of the game. I was also worried about the two Cerberus launchers that could cause havoc with my army. I wasn't too worried about Luke's massed grav weaponry, but it would be some concern for Hendrick's force.
In a throwback to 3rd edition, this mission would use table quarters for deployment. We rolled off for which objectives to use- mine or Luke's awesome Epic Land Raider objectives. Luke won the roll off, so we used his. He joked that this roll decided the game, we would need to see. We placed the objectives as shown below:
Luke and Steven won the roll for table quarter and chose the side with the two objectives in the deployment zone. They also won the roll for deployment and chose to go first.
The Raven Guard deployed the Razorback (with tactical squad embarked) in the ruins beside the objective and the Vanguard squad with Chaplain behind them and far away from the Orks. Luke deployed his tactical squad (the first models he ever painted, taken specially for the tournament) in the woods besides the second objective, with the two bike squads forward in the deployment zone.
In reply, I set up the large ork mob in the centre, ready to advance on the enemy army. The trukk mob (with Warboss attached) went to the right, along with the Looted Wagon and one warbuggy. The Gretchin grabbed one objective in our deployment zone, while the second unit went to grab another to the north of our deployment zone, supported by the warbikers. Hendrick deployed his Dreadnought in the ruins with the Whirlwind behind it next to the grots. The Ravenwing and tactical squad deployed in the back of our deployment zone, spread out to prevent Luke's drop pod from landing safely.
Luke then infiltrated his Landspeeder Storm to the north of our deployment zone, while Steven deployed the sniper scouts in the ruins to the south to grab another objectives and his Landspeeder Storm in front of Luke's.
We failed to seize the initiative and they took the first turn.
TURN 1- HOWLING GRIFFONS/RAVEN GUARD
On their first turn, Luke and Steven drew Take Point 4, Take Point 5 and Take Point 6.
The drop pod carrying the Centurions crashed into the ruins beside the two Landspeeder Storms, the squad inside moving out to gain sight on the Ravenwing. The Landspeeders moved up to support them, while the rest of the Howling Griffons bikes advanced on the Orks.
In the shooting phase, the Cerberus Launcher of the front Landspeeder fired at the grots, killing 8 of the unit and blinding them. The second Landspeeder Storm fired at the warbuggy, destroying it with its multimelta. The scouts embarked fired at the grots, killing another one of the squad. The Centurions fired at the Ravenwing, but their jink saves ensured that no bikers fell.
The Tactical squad fired their missile launcher at the Looted Wagon, but failed to cause any damage. The Scout squad in the ruins fired their sniper rifles at the Warboss' trukk. All five shots hit the target. Steven then managed to roll 3 sixes to penetrate the vehicle 3 times, then rolled a further six to blow it up and kill 6 of the squad embarked. I may have issued a string of expletives at this point at his amazing rolls, that prompted NafNaf on the table behind me to remark- "Bad result, Mike?"
This was annoying. Some amazing dice rolls from Steven had blown up my trukk and stopped an almost certain first turn charge on the Howling Griffons bikers.
At the end of their turn, they scored Objective 4 for 2 points and discarded objective 5.
TURN 1- ORKS/DARK ANGELS
In our first turn, we drew Take Point 3, Take Point 6 and Big Choppers (destroy a unit in assault). We could get Point 6, but were unlikely to get the other two this turn. We decided to activate my warlord trait and re-drew the cards, getting Secure Objective 1, Secure Objective 2 and Dominance (control 2 objectives and twice as many as your opponent). We went from possibly achieving one objective to not being able to realistically achieve any (our opponents currently controlled 4 objectives, including objectives 1 and 2 on their side of the board).
The large Ork mob moved to engage the Centurions, backed up by the Grots and warbikers (I would have gone for the Raven Guard, but it would have taken me at least 3-4 turns to get to them). The Warboss led the remnants of his squad towards the Scouts that had blown up his ride. The Ravenwing advanced towards the centre of the battlefield.
The drop pod carrying the tactical squad arrived. The plan was to place it beside objective 2, but the pod scattered the full 12". Fortunately, the tactical squad was able to make up the distance to contest the objective.
In the psychic phase, the Dark Angels Librarian cast Hallucination on the Centurions, periling in the process, but suffering no damage. The Centurions shrugged off the psychic attack without harm.
The Ravenwing bikers fired on the centurions, hitting them once with their snap shots but failing to wound (on a 2+! I was afraid this is how our luck was going to go for the whole game). The warbikers fired at the Raven Guard's Landspeeder Storm, glancing and penetrating it once, but the 2+ jink saved them from harm.
The Looted Wagon fired at the Vanguard Veterans, its killcannon killing two of the elite warriors and wounding the Chaplain. The Warboss ran with his unit, hoping to close the distance on the enemy targets. The warbuggy fired at a bike squad, killing one of the unit. They passed their morale test.
The tactical squad from the drop pod fired at the opposing tactical squad, killing two of the squad and claiming the objective. The Deredo Dreadnought fired at the Vanguard Veterans, killing another two of the elite warriors.
In the assault phase, the large Ork mob attempted to charge the Centurions, but failed the 8" charge, even with my re-roll on one die. The grots succeeded in charging the Centurions, hoping to tie them up for at least one shooting phase. The Centurions struck at the grots, killing two of the squad. The grots could not harm the mighty centurions and they lost the combat, but passed their morale test and succeeded in holding up the Centurions.
The warbikers charged the Landspeeder Storm, but were unable to harm the vehicle in combat.
At the end of our turn, we scored objective 2 for 2 points and discarded dominance.
VICTORY POINTS:
Howling Griffons/Raven Guard- 2
Orks/Dark Angels- 2
TURN 2- HOWLING GRIFFONS/RAVEN GUARD
In the second turn, Luke and Steven drew Bring it Down (destroy an enemy vehicle) and Hold Your Own (have units in their deployment zone and no enemy units) to go with Take Point 6 from last turn.
The Howling Griffons bikers converged on the Ork warboss advancing on the Scouts, while the Vanguard Veterans moved to engage the Dark Angels tactical squad in their deployment zone. The Raven Guard tactical squad disembarked from their Razorback and moved to engage the drop pod.
On the right flank, the Raven Guard Scouts disembarked from their transport, the Landspeeder Storm moving away to safety. The Howling Griffons' Landspeeder Storm moved towards the central objective, moving flat out to secure it.
In the psychic phase, the Howling Griffons' Librarian cast Psychic Shriek at the Ork mob in front of them, liquefying the minds of all but the Warboss, leaving him alone and outnumbered.
The Howling Griffons' tactical squad and Raven Guard tactical squad targeted the enemy drop pod, but could not harm it with their krak missile or meltaguns.
The grav bikers fired at the Looted Wagon. Some amazing to wound rolls from Luke saw the vehicle wrecked by the grav fire. The other bikers fired at the Warboss, wounding him twice and leaving him on a single wound.
The sniper scouts fired at the warbuggy. Another phenomenal round of rolling from Steven saw the buggy wrecked by the sniper rifles, thanks in part to the Nihilus rifle carried by the Sergeant (seriously, my White Scars sniper scouts do bugger all in my games, this squad were taking out my army on their own!).
On the other flank, the Raven Guard Scouts fired at the Ork warbikers, but failed to wound them with their bolt pistols.
In the combat phase, the Raven Guard Scouts assaulted the warbikers, one of the Scouts dying to overwatch fire. Both sides struck at one another, but were unable to cause any wounds and the combat was drawn.
The Centurions killed another grot for no loss in return. The Runtherd must have been an expert at his craft as the grots passed their morale check and held yet again!
The Bikers that fired on the warboss attempted to assault him, but failed to make the distance.
The Vanguard Veterans assaulted the Dark Angels Drop Pod and Tactical Squad, easily wiping out both units with their superior combat equipment.
At the end of their turn, Luke and Steven scored all three maelstrom cards for 6 points.
TURN 2- ORKS/DARK ANGELS
This turn we drew Objective 3 and Bring it Down (destroy an enemy vehicle) to go with Take Point 1.
The large Ork mob moved up on the Centurions, while the Warboss moved into the ruins to engage the sniper scouts.
In the psychic phase, the Dark Angels Librarian attempted to cast Hallucination on the Howling Griffons bikers, but failed to manifest the power.
The Deredo Dreadnought fired at the Landspeeder Storm, destroying the Howling Griffons' transport. It fired its missile launchers at the Vanguard Veterans killing another one of the veterans. The Ravenwing bikers fired at the Howling Griffons Scouts, killing three with their grav weaponry and causing the unit to flee.
The large Ork mob charged the Centurions and Raven Guard Scouts. The Scouts struck at the boyz, killing one, while the Centurions killed another two of the grots. The Ork Bikers killed two of the Scouts, the Ork boyz killed two more scouts and two Centurions. The combined Space Marine forces lost the combat and the Centurions fell back from combat, while the Scouts remained locked in combat.
The Warboss declared a charge on the Sniper Scouts. Based on Steven's rolling, I fully expected him to die to overwatch fire, but he survived and made it in to combat. The Scouts struck at the warboss, but failed to take his final wound. The Warboss vented his fury at the Scouts, hitting them 4 times but only wounding twice (despite needing a 2+) and killing the two scouts. The unit failed their morale test and fell back off objective 1.
At the end of our turn, we scored Take Point 1 and Bring it Down for 2 points.
VICTORY POINTS:
Howling Griffons/Raven Guard- 8
Orks/Dark Angels- 4
TURN 3- HOWLING GRIFFONS/RAVEN GUARD
This turn, Luke and Steven drew Secure Objective 1, Take Point 3 and Witch Hunter (kill an enemy psyker).
One bike squad moved up to engage the Warboss, the Scouts moving to join them. The other bike unit moved after the Ravenwing bikers.
The Raven Guard Landspeeder Storm moved towards to centre of the battlefield to escape the Ork horde.
The Librarian launched a psychic shriek at the Warboss, but failed to wound him with the attack.
The Centurion fired at the Ravenwing bikers, but failed to harm the jinking riders. The other unit of grav bikers fired at the Ravenwing, but failed to wound the jinking riders once more. The Sniper sergeant fired at the Nihilus, penetrating the walker and stunning it. The rest of the snipers fired at the Ravenwing bikers, killing one of the squad.
The bike squad assaulted the Warboss, killing the Ork warlord. The Raven Guard scout killed one Ork before he was brought down my the massed greenskin attacks.
At the end of their turn, they scored Take Point 3 and chose to hold off on scoring Secure Objective 1 for next turn to gain the bonus points.
TURN 3- ORKS/DARK ANGELS
This turn, we drew Objective 5, Objective 6 and Pile On (have a unit from each army in the one combat).
The large Ork mob moved up on the Centurion, while the warbikers moved up to engage the Landspeeder Storm. The Librarian moved to take point 6, while the Ravenwing Bikers moved up on the Howling Griffons bikers.
In the psychic phase, the Librarian attempted to cast Psychic Shriek on the enemy bikers, but the attack was denied. He then failed to cast Hallucination on the two Scouts in the centre.
In the shooting phase, the Warbikers fired on the Landspeeder Storm, wrecking the enemy vehicle with their dakkaguns. The Deredo fired at the two enemy bikers, but failed to hit with its snap shots. The Whirlwind fired at the two scouts, killing one of the squad (I think this was the first casualty the Whirlwind caused in the game).
The Ork mob charged the Centurion, killing the enemy warrior for no loss in return.
At the end of our turn, we scored Objective 5 and Objective 6 for 2 points and discarded Pile On.
VICTORY POINTS:
Howling Griffons/Raven Guard- 10
Orks/Dark Angels- 8
Some good scoring in this turn had brought us back into the game.
TURN 4- HOWLING GRIFFONS/RAVEN GUARD
This turn, Luke and Steven drew Objective 1 and Play the Mission (hold 3 objectives) to go with Objective 3 from last turn.
The Howling Griffon bikers moved up to engage the Ravenwing Bikers, while the Raven Guard Tactical squad disembarked from the Razorback to target the Warbikers. The Scout snipers moved to secure objective 1.
The Librarian cast Psychic Shriek on the Ravenwing Bikers, but the attack was blocked.
The Razorback fired its assault cannons at the Librarain, wounding him once. The Scout snipers snap fired at the Librarian, but failed to hit. The two biker units fired at the Librarian. The first unit did no harm with their snap shots, but the second unit hit and wounded with all six of their grav gun shots. There was nothing the jinking Librarian could do and he perished to the hail of fire.
The Howling Griffons fired a krak missile at the Deredo, but failed to cause any harm to the enemy vehicle.
At the end of their turn, Luke and Steven scored 3 points for holding Objective 3 for 2 turns and scored Play the Mission for 5 points this turn.
TURN 4- ORKS/DARK ANGELS
This turn, we drew Witchhunter and Take Point 1 to go with Secure Objective 4 from last turn.
The Warbikers moved after the Scouts in the crater in front of them, while the Ravenwing advanced on the Librarian and his squad.
The Whirlwind fired at the sniper scouts, but the shot scattered off target. The Ravenwing bikers fired at the Librarian's squad, killing two of the bikers with their grav guns. The Deredo Dreadnought fired its weapons at the squad, killing the last biker and wounding the Librarian. The Ork Warbikers fired at the Scouts, wiping the unit out.
In the assault phase, the Ravenwing bikers charged the Librarian to try and take his final wound. The Hammer of Wrath attacks failed to kill him, so the bikers struck at the Librarian but only managed to hit with 1 of their 6 attacks and failed to kill him. The Librarian was unable to kill any bikers, so the combat was drawn.
The large Ork mob charged the drop pod, easily wrecking it.
At the end of our turn, we discarded objective 1 and decide to try and hold Objective 4 for 2 turns.
VICTORY POINTS:
Howling Griffons/Raven Guard- 15
Orks/Dark Angels- 8
TURN 5- HOWLING GRIFFONS/RAVEN GUARD
This turn, they drew Objective 1, Objective 4 and Objective 5.
The lone biker moved up to support the Librarian, while the tactical marines advanced on the Ork Warbikers.
In the psychic phase, the Librarian cast Terrify on the Ravenwing Bikers. The Dark Angels failed their morale check. This raised an interesting rules query. The Ravenwing were locked in combat with the Librarian, would they flee as a result of the failed test and would the Librarian need to perform a sweeping advance? As it was, we rolled for it and decided that the Librarian would sweeping advance. As it was, the Ravenwing were able to outrun the Librarian and fled off the board.
In the shooting phase, the Librarian turbo-boosted back to the ruins behind him. The Tactical squad and Razorback fired on the warbikers, killing two of the jinking bikers. The last member of the squad passed his morale test. The second tactical squad fired a krak missile at the Dreadnought, but failed to hit.
At the end of the turn, Luke and Steven scored all three maelstrom cards for 3 points.
TURN 5- ORKS/DARK ANGELS
In our final turn, we drew Witchhunter and Finish Him (kill an enemy character) to go with Objective 4 from last turn.
The grots and lone Warbiker moved up on the lone grav biker from the Howling Griffons squad. They fired at him, but failed to wound him and he survived the game.
In the final shot of the game, the Deredo fired all its weapons at the Librarian. He was only a single wound and if we killed him, we would score Witchhunter and Finish Him. The Autocannons and missile launcher wounded the Librarian 6 times. Luke only needed to fail one 4+ cover save for him to die. Naturally he passed every save and the Librarian also survived to deny us the maelstrom points.
The game ended there and we scored 3 points for holding objective 4 for 2 turns.
VICTORY POINTS:
Howling Griffons/Raven Guard- 18
Orks/Dark Angels- 11
We totalled up the Blood Points lost for each army to give:
Orks- 304 BPs
Dark Angels- 395 BPs
Howling Griffons- 613 BPs
Raven Guard- 294 BPs
The totals for each side were:
Orks/Dark Angels- 907 Blood Points
Howling Griffons/Raven Guard- 699 Blood Points
So yet another loss on Maelstrom Points but a win on Blood Points for my team.
AFTER-BATTLE THOUGHTS
There are some games where after the first turn you know your opponent is going to roll brilliantly while you are going to struggle to do anything and this was one of those games.
Thanks to Luke, Steven and Hendrick for an interesting game. I think I was a bit miserable after the first turn for most of the game, but it seemed like my Orks couldn't do a damn thing for most of the game.
The sniper scout squad with the Nihilus rifle were definitely the MVPs for the Raven Guard army. Blowing up my trukk with sniper fire on turn 1 was pretty damn demoralising, with half the squad being lost in the first shot of the game. This seriously hampered the Warboss and led to his quick death at the hands of the Howling Griffons bikers.
I think the differences between the luck for both sides in the game was exemplified by the two drop pods. Theirs landed directly on target and ours scattered the full 12" in the first turn of the game. Added to Luke's final saving throws of the game, where he did not fail a single 4+ save on 6 wounds just wrapped up the game for me.
I'm not sure what we could have done differently to try and win the game on maelstrom points. Luke and Steven had the much more mobile force and were able to grab most of their objective cards easily, whereas we always seemed to draw cards that were miles away. The deployment zones helped them significantly too, having two objectives in their own zone and one in the ruins just outside, whereas we only had a single objective in our deployment zone and the rest were further away.
I was torn in the game whether to send the large Ork mob after the Vanguard Veterans or the Centurions. The enemy tactical squads, Razorback and Vanguard Veterans were about 30" from the large Ork mob in our first turn. Sending them after them would have taken at least 3 turns for them to cross the distance. It may have been worth it, as there was not too much firepower there to whittle down the mob and we could have scored some of our objectives later in the game.
I think we should have been more aggressive with the Ravenwing Bikers and second tactical squad. The bikers and tactical squad were deployed by Hendrick at the back of our deployment zone to protect against the drop pod carrying the Centurions, but this kept them out of the game for too long and they didn't really do much. In fact, I don't recall the second tactical squad doing a single thing the whole game. The Whirlwind was equally as useless, I think causing a single wound over the course of 5 turns.
Not everything went poorly in the game. The grots holding up the Centurions for 2 rounds of combat was quite amusing as I think everyone expected them to die easily without the support of the large mob.
So two games down and one more to go at the tournament. Would it be another draw or would the Orks be able to pull out a win?
Double Trouble 2016
Army List and Thoughts
Game 1- Orks/Eldar vs Daemons/Raven Guard
Game 2- Orks/Dark Angels vs Howling Griffons/Raven Guard
Game 3- Orks/Daemons vs Iron Hands/Dark Eldar
Tournament Army Review
The drop pod carrying the Centurions crashed into the ruins beside the two Landspeeder Storms, the squad inside moving out to gain sight on the Ravenwing. The Landspeeders moved up to support them, while the rest of the Howling Griffons bikes advanced on the Orks.
In the shooting phase, the Cerberus Launcher of the front Landspeeder fired at the grots, killing 8 of the unit and blinding them. The second Landspeeder Storm fired at the warbuggy, destroying it with its multimelta. The scouts embarked fired at the grots, killing another one of the squad. The Centurions fired at the Ravenwing, but their jink saves ensured that no bikers fell.
The Tactical squad fired their missile launcher at the Looted Wagon, but failed to cause any damage. The Scout squad in the ruins fired their sniper rifles at the Warboss' trukk. All five shots hit the target. Steven then managed to roll 3 sixes to penetrate the vehicle 3 times, then rolled a further six to blow it up and kill 6 of the squad embarked. I may have issued a string of expletives at this point at his amazing rolls, that prompted NafNaf on the table behind me to remark- "Bad result, Mike?"
This was annoying. Some amazing dice rolls from Steven had blown up my trukk and stopped an almost certain first turn charge on the Howling Griffons bikers.
At the end of their turn, they scored Objective 4 for 2 points and discarded objective 5.
TURN 1- ORKS/DARK ANGELS
In our first turn, we drew Take Point 3, Take Point 6 and Big Choppers (destroy a unit in assault). We could get Point 6, but were unlikely to get the other two this turn. We decided to activate my warlord trait and re-drew the cards, getting Secure Objective 1, Secure Objective 2 and Dominance (control 2 objectives and twice as many as your opponent). We went from possibly achieving one objective to not being able to realistically achieve any (our opponents currently controlled 4 objectives, including objectives 1 and 2 on their side of the board).
The large Ork mob moved to engage the Centurions, backed up by the Grots and warbikers (I would have gone for the Raven Guard, but it would have taken me at least 3-4 turns to get to them). The Warboss led the remnants of his squad towards the Scouts that had blown up his ride. The Ravenwing advanced towards the centre of the battlefield.
The drop pod carrying the tactical squad arrived. The plan was to place it beside objective 2, but the pod scattered the full 12". Fortunately, the tactical squad was able to make up the distance to contest the objective.
In the psychic phase, the Dark Angels Librarian cast Hallucination on the Centurions, periling in the process, but suffering no damage. The Centurions shrugged off the psychic attack without harm.
The Ravenwing bikers fired on the centurions, hitting them once with their snap shots but failing to wound (on a 2+! I was afraid this is how our luck was going to go for the whole game). The warbikers fired at the Raven Guard's Landspeeder Storm, glancing and penetrating it once, but the 2+ jink saved them from harm.
The Looted Wagon fired at the Vanguard Veterans, its killcannon killing two of the elite warriors and wounding the Chaplain. The Warboss ran with his unit, hoping to close the distance on the enemy targets. The warbuggy fired at a bike squad, killing one of the unit. They passed their morale test.
The tactical squad from the drop pod fired at the opposing tactical squad, killing two of the squad and claiming the objective. The Deredo Dreadnought fired at the Vanguard Veterans, killing another two of the elite warriors.
In the assault phase, the large Ork mob attempted to charge the Centurions, but failed the 8" charge, even with my re-roll on one die. The grots succeeded in charging the Centurions, hoping to tie them up for at least one shooting phase. The Centurions struck at the grots, killing two of the squad. The grots could not harm the mighty centurions and they lost the combat, but passed their morale test and succeeded in holding up the Centurions.
The warbikers charged the Landspeeder Storm, but were unable to harm the vehicle in combat.
At the end of our turn, we scored objective 2 for 2 points and discarded dominance.
VICTORY POINTS:
Howling Griffons/Raven Guard- 2
Orks/Dark Angels- 2
TURN 2- HOWLING GRIFFONS/RAVEN GUARD
In the second turn, Luke and Steven drew Bring it Down (destroy an enemy vehicle) and Hold Your Own (have units in their deployment zone and no enemy units) to go with Take Point 6 from last turn.
The Howling Griffons bikers converged on the Ork warboss advancing on the Scouts, while the Vanguard Veterans moved to engage the Dark Angels tactical squad in their deployment zone. The Raven Guard tactical squad disembarked from their Razorback and moved to engage the drop pod.
On the right flank, the Raven Guard Scouts disembarked from their transport, the Landspeeder Storm moving away to safety. The Howling Griffons' Landspeeder Storm moved towards the central objective, moving flat out to secure it.
In the psychic phase, the Howling Griffons' Librarian cast Psychic Shriek at the Ork mob in front of them, liquefying the minds of all but the Warboss, leaving him alone and outnumbered.
The Howling Griffons' tactical squad and Raven Guard tactical squad targeted the enemy drop pod, but could not harm it with their krak missile or meltaguns.
The grav bikers fired at the Looted Wagon. Some amazing to wound rolls from Luke saw the vehicle wrecked by the grav fire. The other bikers fired at the Warboss, wounding him twice and leaving him on a single wound.
The sniper scouts fired at the warbuggy. Another phenomenal round of rolling from Steven saw the buggy wrecked by the sniper rifles, thanks in part to the Nihilus rifle carried by the Sergeant (seriously, my White Scars sniper scouts do bugger all in my games, this squad were taking out my army on their own!).
On the other flank, the Raven Guard Scouts fired at the Ork warbikers, but failed to wound them with their bolt pistols.
In the combat phase, the Raven Guard Scouts assaulted the warbikers, one of the Scouts dying to overwatch fire. Both sides struck at one another, but were unable to cause any wounds and the combat was drawn.
The Centurions killed another grot for no loss in return. The Runtherd must have been an expert at his craft as the grots passed their morale check and held yet again!
The Bikers that fired on the warboss attempted to assault him, but failed to make the distance.
The Vanguard Veterans assaulted the Dark Angels Drop Pod and Tactical Squad, easily wiping out both units with their superior combat equipment.
At the end of their turn, Luke and Steven scored all three maelstrom cards for 6 points.
TURN 2- ORKS/DARK ANGELS
This turn we drew Objective 3 and Bring it Down (destroy an enemy vehicle) to go with Take Point 1.
The large Ork mob moved up on the Centurions, while the Warboss moved into the ruins to engage the sniper scouts.
In the psychic phase, the Dark Angels Librarian attempted to cast Hallucination on the Howling Griffons bikers, but failed to manifest the power.
The Deredo Dreadnought fired at the Landspeeder Storm, destroying the Howling Griffons' transport. It fired its missile launchers at the Vanguard Veterans killing another one of the veterans. The Ravenwing bikers fired at the Howling Griffons Scouts, killing three with their grav weaponry and causing the unit to flee.
The large Ork mob charged the Centurions and Raven Guard Scouts. The Scouts struck at the boyz, killing one, while the Centurions killed another two of the grots. The Ork Bikers killed two of the Scouts, the Ork boyz killed two more scouts and two Centurions. The combined Space Marine forces lost the combat and the Centurions fell back from combat, while the Scouts remained locked in combat.
The Warboss declared a charge on the Sniper Scouts. Based on Steven's rolling, I fully expected him to die to overwatch fire, but he survived and made it in to combat. The Scouts struck at the warboss, but failed to take his final wound. The Warboss vented his fury at the Scouts, hitting them 4 times but only wounding twice (despite needing a 2+) and killing the two scouts. The unit failed their morale test and fell back off objective 1.
At the end of our turn, we scored Take Point 1 and Bring it Down for 2 points.
VICTORY POINTS:
Howling Griffons/Raven Guard- 8
Orks/Dark Angels- 4
TURN 3- HOWLING GRIFFONS/RAVEN GUARD
This turn, Luke and Steven drew Secure Objective 1, Take Point 3 and Witch Hunter (kill an enemy psyker).
One bike squad moved up to engage the Warboss, the Scouts moving to join them. The other bike unit moved after the Ravenwing bikers.
The Raven Guard Landspeeder Storm moved towards to centre of the battlefield to escape the Ork horde.
The Librarian launched a psychic shriek at the Warboss, but failed to wound him with the attack.
The Centurion fired at the Ravenwing bikers, but failed to harm the jinking riders. The other unit of grav bikers fired at the Ravenwing, but failed to wound the jinking riders once more. The Sniper sergeant fired at the Nihilus, penetrating the walker and stunning it. The rest of the snipers fired at the Ravenwing bikers, killing one of the squad.
The bike squad assaulted the Warboss, killing the Ork warlord. The Raven Guard scout killed one Ork before he was brought down my the massed greenskin attacks.
At the end of their turn, they scored Take Point 3 and chose to hold off on scoring Secure Objective 1 for next turn to gain the bonus points.
TURN 3- ORKS/DARK ANGELS
This turn, we drew Objective 5, Objective 6 and Pile On (have a unit from each army in the one combat).
The large Ork mob moved up on the Centurion, while the warbikers moved up to engage the Landspeeder Storm. The Librarian moved to take point 6, while the Ravenwing Bikers moved up on the Howling Griffons bikers.
In the psychic phase, the Librarian attempted to cast Psychic Shriek on the enemy bikers, but the attack was denied. He then failed to cast Hallucination on the two Scouts in the centre.
In the shooting phase, the Warbikers fired on the Landspeeder Storm, wrecking the enemy vehicle with their dakkaguns. The Deredo fired at the two enemy bikers, but failed to hit with its snap shots. The Whirlwind fired at the two scouts, killing one of the squad (I think this was the first casualty the Whirlwind caused in the game).
The Ork mob charged the Centurion, killing the enemy warrior for no loss in return.
At the end of our turn, we scored Objective 5 and Objective 6 for 2 points and discarded Pile On.
VICTORY POINTS:
Howling Griffons/Raven Guard- 10
Orks/Dark Angels- 8
Some good scoring in this turn had brought us back into the game.
TURN 4- HOWLING GRIFFONS/RAVEN GUARD
This turn, Luke and Steven drew Objective 1 and Play the Mission (hold 3 objectives) to go with Objective 3 from last turn.
The Howling Griffon bikers moved up to engage the Ravenwing Bikers, while the Raven Guard Tactical squad disembarked from the Razorback to target the Warbikers. The Scout snipers moved to secure objective 1.
The Librarian cast Psychic Shriek on the Ravenwing Bikers, but the attack was blocked.
The Razorback fired its assault cannons at the Librarain, wounding him once. The Scout snipers snap fired at the Librarian, but failed to hit. The two biker units fired at the Librarian. The first unit did no harm with their snap shots, but the second unit hit and wounded with all six of their grav gun shots. There was nothing the jinking Librarian could do and he perished to the hail of fire.
The Howling Griffons fired a krak missile at the Deredo, but failed to cause any harm to the enemy vehicle.
At the end of their turn, Luke and Steven scored 3 points for holding Objective 3 for 2 turns and scored Play the Mission for 5 points this turn.
TURN 4- ORKS/DARK ANGELS
This turn, we drew Witchhunter and Take Point 1 to go with Secure Objective 4 from last turn.
The Warbikers moved after the Scouts in the crater in front of them, while the Ravenwing advanced on the Librarian and his squad.
The Whirlwind fired at the sniper scouts, but the shot scattered off target. The Ravenwing bikers fired at the Librarian's squad, killing two of the bikers with their grav guns. The Deredo Dreadnought fired its weapons at the squad, killing the last biker and wounding the Librarian. The Ork Warbikers fired at the Scouts, wiping the unit out.
In the assault phase, the Ravenwing bikers charged the Librarian to try and take his final wound. The Hammer of Wrath attacks failed to kill him, so the bikers struck at the Librarian but only managed to hit with 1 of their 6 attacks and failed to kill him. The Librarian was unable to kill any bikers, so the combat was drawn.
The large Ork mob charged the drop pod, easily wrecking it.
At the end of our turn, we discarded objective 1 and decide to try and hold Objective 4 for 2 turns.
VICTORY POINTS:
Howling Griffons/Raven Guard- 15
Orks/Dark Angels- 8
TURN 5- HOWLING GRIFFONS/RAVEN GUARD
This turn, they drew Objective 1, Objective 4 and Objective 5.
The lone biker moved up to support the Librarian, while the tactical marines advanced on the Ork Warbikers.
In the psychic phase, the Librarian cast Terrify on the Ravenwing Bikers. The Dark Angels failed their morale check. This raised an interesting rules query. The Ravenwing were locked in combat with the Librarian, would they flee as a result of the failed test and would the Librarian need to perform a sweeping advance? As it was, we rolled for it and decided that the Librarian would sweeping advance. As it was, the Ravenwing were able to outrun the Librarian and fled off the board.
In the shooting phase, the Librarian turbo-boosted back to the ruins behind him. The Tactical squad and Razorback fired on the warbikers, killing two of the jinking bikers. The last member of the squad passed his morale test. The second tactical squad fired a krak missile at the Dreadnought, but failed to hit.
At the end of the turn, Luke and Steven scored all three maelstrom cards for 3 points.
TURN 5- ORKS/DARK ANGELS
In our final turn, we drew Witchhunter and Finish Him (kill an enemy character) to go with Objective 4 from last turn.
The grots and lone Warbiker moved up on the lone grav biker from the Howling Griffons squad. They fired at him, but failed to wound him and he survived the game.
In the final shot of the game, the Deredo fired all its weapons at the Librarian. He was only a single wound and if we killed him, we would score Witchhunter and Finish Him. The Autocannons and missile launcher wounded the Librarian 6 times. Luke only needed to fail one 4+ cover save for him to die. Naturally he passed every save and the Librarian also survived to deny us the maelstrom points.
The game ended there and we scored 3 points for holding objective 4 for 2 turns.
VICTORY POINTS:
Howling Griffons/Raven Guard- 18
Orks/Dark Angels- 11
We totalled up the Blood Points lost for each army to give:
Orks- 304 BPs
Dark Angels- 395 BPs
Howling Griffons- 613 BPs
Raven Guard- 294 BPs
The totals for each side were:
Orks/Dark Angels- 907 Blood Points
Howling Griffons/Raven Guard- 699 Blood Points
So yet another loss on Maelstrom Points but a win on Blood Points for my team.
AFTER-BATTLE THOUGHTS
There are some games where after the first turn you know your opponent is going to roll brilliantly while you are going to struggle to do anything and this was one of those games.
Thanks to Luke, Steven and Hendrick for an interesting game. I think I was a bit miserable after the first turn for most of the game, but it seemed like my Orks couldn't do a damn thing for most of the game.
The sniper scout squad with the Nihilus rifle were definitely the MVPs for the Raven Guard army. Blowing up my trukk with sniper fire on turn 1 was pretty damn demoralising, with half the squad being lost in the first shot of the game. This seriously hampered the Warboss and led to his quick death at the hands of the Howling Griffons bikers.
I think the differences between the luck for both sides in the game was exemplified by the two drop pods. Theirs landed directly on target and ours scattered the full 12" in the first turn of the game. Added to Luke's final saving throws of the game, where he did not fail a single 4+ save on 6 wounds just wrapped up the game for me.
I'm not sure what we could have done differently to try and win the game on maelstrom points. Luke and Steven had the much more mobile force and were able to grab most of their objective cards easily, whereas we always seemed to draw cards that were miles away. The deployment zones helped them significantly too, having two objectives in their own zone and one in the ruins just outside, whereas we only had a single objective in our deployment zone and the rest were further away.
I was torn in the game whether to send the large Ork mob after the Vanguard Veterans or the Centurions. The enemy tactical squads, Razorback and Vanguard Veterans were about 30" from the large Ork mob in our first turn. Sending them after them would have taken at least 3 turns for them to cross the distance. It may have been worth it, as there was not too much firepower there to whittle down the mob and we could have scored some of our objectives later in the game.
I think we should have been more aggressive with the Ravenwing Bikers and second tactical squad. The bikers and tactical squad were deployed by Hendrick at the back of our deployment zone to protect against the drop pod carrying the Centurions, but this kept them out of the game for too long and they didn't really do much. In fact, I don't recall the second tactical squad doing a single thing the whole game. The Whirlwind was equally as useless, I think causing a single wound over the course of 5 turns.
Not everything went poorly in the game. The grots holding up the Centurions for 2 rounds of combat was quite amusing as I think everyone expected them to die easily without the support of the large mob.
So two games down and one more to go at the tournament. Would it be another draw or would the Orks be able to pull out a win?
Double Trouble 2016
Army List and Thoughts
Game 1- Orks/Eldar vs Daemons/Raven Guard
Game 2- Orks/Dark Angels vs Howling Griffons/Raven Guard
Game 3- Orks/Daemons vs Iron Hands/Dark Eldar
Tournament Army Review