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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 6:51 pm
Posts: 127
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Saim-Hann Eldars versus Orks
I am not sure if Shawn's Orks are the Speed Freeks or just vanilla Orks, but here was Shawn's list:
'uge Warband with War Boss (500 pts)
'uge Mob of Big Guns with Odd Boyz (400 pts)
2 Blitz Brigades (6 Gunwagons and 6 Flakwagons) (350 pts ea)
Kult of Speed (13 Bikes, 1 Buggie, and 2 Skorchas) (350 pts)
1950 pts
Here was my Saim-Hann list:
Wind Rider War Host (1 x Wild Riders, 1 x Farseers on Jetbikes, 8 x Jetbikes, 3 x Vypers)
Wind Rider War Host (1 x Wild Riders, 1 x Farseers on Jetbikes, 11 x Vypers)
Guardians (6 x Guardians, 3 x Wave Serpents)
Guardians (6 x Guardians, 3 x Wave Serpents)
Falcons (5 x Falcons)
Engines of Vaul (2 x Cobras)
1950 pts
As usual, my goal is to move the Vyper formation up to within 15cm of a target and hit them with the Scatter Lasers, then engage with the Jetbike formation. This would give me roughly 8 4+ rolls and 18 5+ rolls in a Firefight, with everyone saving on a 4+. Given that I would likely be fighting Ork Nobz, I figured Close Combat was out.
Guardians were there for cheap activations. Falcons were there because it just feels like you are supposed to have them. The Engines of Vaul were there because I need to learn that section of the rules and needed to beef up my points to match Shawn's. 
Honda set out the terrain before leaving. I can't possibly give a map of it, but suffice it to say that there were lots of small patches of woods out there. Small as in "hide one or two Falcons behind it" type small. Don't get me wrong, I liked it - it was really different. There was two big patches of woods, one on each side, but the terrain was chopped up, without providing a lot of cover for whole units to hide.
Shawn deployed two units in garrison: the monstrous 'uge Warband and the 'uge Mob of Big Guns (hereafter 'the Boyz' and 'the Guns'). The Boyz deployed very far forward, seemed like it was almost to the halfway point, and just covered a huge area. The Guns deployed in the center, in a big patch of woods close to, but not close enough to, my Blitz objective. The Bikerz were deployed behind the big patch of woods (maybe there were two?) by the Blitz objective and the Guns. Finally, there was a Blitz Brigade on each flank.
I deployed my EoV on my left flank behind my one patch of woods on my side. On the opposite flank I deployed my Falcons behind a hill. (Okay, now that I think more about it, there were about two large patches of LOS-blocking terrain on each side.) In the center, on the Blitz objective, I dismounted one Guardian formation. Slightly to the left of that was the other Guardian formation, but mounted (when's the last time you saw that in 40K?). Between them and the EoV were my two Wind Rider Hosts, pretty much out in the open.
I don't know anything about how Orks play under Epic, so I knew I was in for a few surprises as I found out what units could do. I did have the foresight to ask the armor, firefight, and close combat values of the Boyz and Blitz Brigades.
Turn 1
I win the strategy roll and move out an EoV and shoot at the Boyz. Gotta' find out what this thing does. I take it easy by moving, shooting, then moving back. Basically, it put a blast marker on the Boyz. That must have woken them up (they were lounging around a fuel depot at the time) as they suddenly advance and blast my Vyper formation, killing a few stands.
At this point, things already don't look good. My support is hurt, so my chances of losing the assault just increased. Something tells me to look at the Guardian stats (ancestral spirits maybe?) and I realize that my 'militia' actually has a firefight of 4+, as do the Wave Serpents. 8 4+ rolls sound better than 10 5+ rolls, so I advance the Guardians to within 15cm of the Boyz and cut loose with the Wave Serpents scatter lasers (another blast marker). I then charge with my Jetbikes into the Boyz.
Ah, the stories that will be told of that battle! 16 4+ rolls and 5 5+ rolls. I got something like 8 kills and beat him by 6 in the combat results. The Boyz pulled off (approx) 14 stands before it was all over, just enough to break the formation. (The Jetbikes only lost 3, I think.) The Orks took off in a panic.
Now, here is where we made our mistake. I had made a comment about "I wonder if I should follow them up". That caused Shawn to look through the rules and his conclusion was, unfortunately, that if I consolidated to within 15cm of his broken formation, they would be destroyed. Heck, I wasn't going to pass that opportunity up, even if it put my Jetbikes out there to receive a countercharge without support. This was 16 bloody stands! So I pursue, the Boyz and the Supreme Commander are destroyed, and I pass the activation to Shawn.
The Blitz Brigade on that flank charges the Jetbikes, which immediately "go high" (except for the Chieftain and the Farseer). So, I am sitting with 13 4+ rolls, two of which are MW, and he is coming back with 12 6+ rolls. I have 4+ saves and he has 5+ saves. You can probably do the math. Needless to say, the Jetbikes get worn down a little more, but they destroy all but 3 stands of the formation, which breaks and runs. Of course, this time the Ork is a little more clever and kills off the closest stands so if I pursue, I would not be able to catch and destroy the routers. Instead, they withdraw back behind a small woods.
Nothing else of note occurs. The Falcons and the second Blitz Brigade swap shots, but that is about it.
Turn 2
This turn is kind of hazy. I was still giddy from crushing two formations in one turn with my Jetbikes and my feral side was kicking in. This was going to be a cake walk! (Ooops, should not have said that...)
The first real action is the Blitz Brigade on my right charging the Falcons, which they crushed, but not without his losing a hefty portion of his formation.
Meanwhile, in the center, the Bikerz had moved out into the open on turn one, so they were looking mighty juicy to my Wind Riders. I move the Guardians into the center, within 15cm of the Bikerz to support the charge by the Jetbikes and ... the Jetbikes fail to activate! Oof! The Jetbikes move up anyway to support the Guardian, as they could be charged by the Bikers. Instead, the Guns blast them off the face of the planet, with one little routing Wave Serpent heading for cover. (Remember that detail, it becomes important later!)
The Vypers charge over towards the Blitz Brigade, as does the second Guardians. The EoVs start moving towards the center.
Turn 3
Again the Jetbikes try to pin the Bikerz down in engagement. And THIS time, the Gunz and the Blitz Brigade are intermingled, so I can basically wipe out the entire core of his army in one assault. The second Guardian formation advances to support, gets in position and ... the Jetbikes fail to activate AGAIN! Rolled two '1's in a row for them. This time the Guns blast the Jetbikes, sending them scurrying away, broken, and the Bikerz charge the Guardians, destroying them.
I am looking at the board and I realize that had I pushed back the Bikerz on either turn 2 or 3, I would have won the game right then. I send one EoV to each of the Blitz Brigades' remnants and break them.
My Jetbikes do not rally, so the Orks will get a Break the Spirit objective next turn.
Turn 4
The Orks don't have any options left. With two unbroken formations - the Guns and the Bikerz - they can only do so much. The Guns blast my Cobra at the Blitz objective, but because they did not move far enough, they cannot contest the objective if I move something there. The Bikerz, on the other hand, hold to contest one of his objectives on my side.
My Vypers fail to activate (another '1'), so I cannot charge the Bikerz and dislodge them. We are even at 1-1 in VPs.
Remember that Guardian formation that was betrayed by the Jetbikes not charging? That one little now-unbroken Falcon zooms across the board to within 15cm of the Blitz objective and wins me the game. How's that for 200 points!?!
Analysis
Shawn said it well. "Now I have respect for those Jetbikes, because in 40K they are terrible." (Or something like that.) Yes, it is hard to argue with a 35cm move, 4+ FF, 4+ Save, and the ability to turn any assault into a FF.
It is unfortunate that the way we ruled was wrong, as it had a great impact on the game (obviously). I am not sure what would have happened if he had stayed on the board. One could speculate of course. If I had pursued (which I was considering anyway), they would have been sucked into the engagement with the Blitz Brigade, yet providing no support. They would have withdrawn again, IMO, and they were already within a withdraw move of the board edge. Who knows. Staying within 30cm of them would have hurt them in rallying.
The Guardians were the real surprise for me. If you read my posts on "Using Saim-Hann" I really only considered them for cheap activations. Put them in terrain and hold an objective. Instead, I used them aggressively. It paid off once, but not the other two times, due to failed activations of the charges. Had it gone according to plan, the extra 8 4+ rolls would have kicked butt.
I forgot to use my Avatar, again. I also forgot the Wave Serpents have Reinforced Armour, so I had more armor saves coming.
All in all, I like the Cossack feel on the Saim-Hann. I can't wait to get the Shining Spears into my units. That makes the unit 500 pts and 16 stands strong.
The only thing the list lacks is variety, but that is probably not surprising given their list in 40K. (I probably need to start playing my Space Marines, just so I don't burn out on Saim-Hann too quickly.)
The list looks like it is pretty much going to be cookie-cutter. Wind Riders coupled with Guardians and an Armor Troupe. I have some Fire Prisms coming in, so we'll see how they fare. Also, my next experiment is with a Dark Reaper formation (have you seen their FF?) outfitted with Falcons. (I would use Wave Serpents, but 6 stands just sounds so brittle.)
I am still not convinced that the Vyper-heavy formation is of value. Running two Wind Riders in tandem, with one being Vypers and the other being Jetbikes and Shining Spears means (in a Firefight):
3 4+ rolls in support
10 5+ rolls in support
8 5+ rolls
8 4+ rolls
- or - 11.44 hits
In Close Combat, it would be:
3 4+ rolls in support
10 5+ rolls in support
3 5+ rolls
14 4+ rolls
2 4+ MW rolls
- or - 11.79 hits and 2 kills
Change that out to a Jetbike formation without Shining Spears supporting and you get 12.33 hits in FF and 12.63 hits and 2 kills in CC. Almost a full hit added. Trade that with firing 8 Vypers in support, typically at a -1 to hit (for Advancing), so that is 8 6+ rolls or 1.33 hits. So, you get two blast markers on your opponent instead of one. The main thing is that the opponent has AT LEAST one before you engage, so I see the two formations being roughly equivalent when there are no casualties. The difference comes when the roles are reversed and it is the Vyper formation that must charge.
Well enough of that. My brain aches and it is late.
Dale
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Have keyboard, will travel.
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