Turn One
Kyle had the Warlord, and my luck is notoriously bad, so I had him make the Strategy Roll. We tied. The rules say that in the event of a tie, the side that lost the roll last turn gets it this time. The rules don't say what to do if you tie on Turn One, and before I could recommend that we use the "player with the next birthday" solution recommended in the rules, the Marine player suggested a reroll. I followed the "smile and say, 'whatever you say'" rules suggestion and so we rerolled. And tied again. 
We rolled a third time and the Orks won initiative for turn one. Making the most of the opportunity, and celebrating the lack of air defences, I had the Fighta-Bomma Sqwadron scream in to shoot up the Tornados on the far West flank. I only rolled one hit, which was saved, and I thought to myself, "it's going to be one of those days then... oh well." My, how I was wrong!
The unopposable strafing run, however ineffectualy it was this time, must have shaken the resolve of the Marine commander. Instead of choosing to use the Tornados to delay the advance in the West, he doubled the Tornados (and their whopping one blast marker) over behind the hill containing the other Tornados. This action caught me completely off guard, and I wasn't entirely happy with it. I wasn't expecting to have the West and its TnH objectives all to myself, and the Tornados which I was planning on air assaulting had escaped. Not having any better idea, I bought time by having Kyle double his Koptaz up and hide behind the now abandoned copse of trees.
The Devastator detachment advanced up to the ruin right in front of them, and fired at the Eastern Warband, getting five hits. One boy saved, leaving 2 dead boyz, 2 dead groz, and 3 blast markers. As Kyle has previous experience with these Land Speeders (all bad), he doubled the 'Uge BB up (intermingling with the Eastern Warband, and providing some cover to da Boyz, at my suggestion) and shot at the second Tornados. All the Flakwagonz and some of the Gunwagonz were out of range (because he had spread out in case the East Warband needed some supporting fire), and he wasn't able to roll any 6's, so the only outcome was placing a blast marker.
Tactical D advanced up, deployed in a line (with the infantry touching the tanks) and shot at the 'Uge Blitz Brigade, scoring hits on two Gunwagonz and 1 Flakwagon. One Gunwagon saved, so 3 blast markers. To make sure I got some use out of my Oddboyz this turn, I doubled the BBB up near the Koptaz in the gap between the two forests and shot at the second Tornado detachment. I covered all 5 Tornados with the barrage templates, but I only managed to hit two of them, leaving the detachment with 4 blast markers.
Tactical C did the same thing that Tactical D did, landed five hits on the 'Uge BB, but three tanks made saves, leaving two more Gunwagonz dead, the blast marker count at 6, and the formation unbroken (for now).
At this point, the Tactical formation with the Supreme Commander is sitting all alone against the back edge of the board, with the infantry still in the transports. I decide that now is a good time to conduct an air assault. The Landa comes screaming in, drops in front of Tactical A, disgores the Evil Sunz Warband straight into base contact, and I manage to trap 5 of the Tactical stands inside their transports (the last Razorback is just out of my reach). In the assault, I trade 2 Boyz for 2 Razorbacks and the Rhino, and 2 Marines die inside their transport, making the Orks up by 5. Both sides roll 6's, and the Supreme Commander's Tacticals (and the Marine's BTS goal) are completely obliterated (one Marine stand dies when it's transport is hacked down)! WAAAGGHH!!! I consolidate back over the Landa to put Boyz between it and Marines, and I spread a little towards the Marine Blitz objective. This ends up being a mistake.
Tactical B advances and shoots at the 'Uge BB just like the previous two, scoring two hits on Gunwagons and two hits on Flakwagons. One Gunwagon saved, but the formation finally breaks, and the remaining 4 Gunwagons and 1 Flakwagon withdraw behind some nearby ruins.
At this point, I decide to bring the Bad Moon air assault down on the second Marine TnH objective. There are only 3 Tornados left in the formation guarding the objective, they have a load of blast markers, they haven't moved yet, and backup is only a move or two away. As you can see, I keep my Grotz back, because I expect I'll need them in the next few turns (and I was right!) so I trade 2 Boyz for 1 Tornado in the assault, putting me up by 3. I roll a 6 again and a second Tornado detachment evaporates! Truely Gork and Mork are smiling on me!
The Assault Detachment closest to me decides to get a little payback for the Emperor, and engages the Evil Sunz, getting two stands into contact. I make the fatal mistake of counter-charging away from the Tornado support fire without noticing that puts me in 15 cm range of the Tacticals. Both of them. Support fire comes pouring in, and even though I rolled a 5 on combat resolution, all the Evil Sunz evaporated. I don't think that the Marine player thought about declaring the Landa as intermingled with the Boyz, so it was left on the field, with a blast marker. I only managed to kill one of the Assault marines, and they consolidated into the nearby ruins for some cover.
Not much was left to do this turn. The West Warband took a double and executed a wheel manuver to keep unbroken ZoCs from the East Warband to the Westmost hill while still moving up to the Westmost Marine TnH objective. The second Assault Detachment doubled across the back of the Tacticals, and ended up on the edge of the Bad Moon's hill to provide supporing fire the next turn. The East Warband advanced forwards (taking the SC reroll to do it) and hit each of the tanks in Tactical B; one Razorback made its save, but 5 of the infantry stands were now without cover, and the detachment had 5 blast markers.
End Phase
The Ork air forces retreated off my side of the board, and everybody but the 'Uge Blitz Brigade made their rally rolls. That meant that all blast markers were back off the board, except for one on Tactical B.
Turn Two
The Marines win the Strategy roll handily and the remaining Tornados engage the Bad Moonz. Due to distance and the hillside blocking line of sight, they only get supporting fire from the 4 Assault stands, 2 Razorbacks, and 1 Tactical Marine. The Marines rolled very, very poorly, and only kill 1 Grot, but they made up for it by saving all four hits that I did in return! No kills (well... none that matter), and both sides have no blastmarkers, so I was up by 1. We then both rolled 6's again! Four broken Tornados withdraw to the Marine Blitz objective, the three supporting detachments each get a blast marker, and the Orks don't!
The Marine player is now fairly desperate to push the Bad Moonz back, so he sustains with Tactical D and engages them again. This time, only the Assault stands can lend support fire, two of Tactical D's transports are left at the bottom of the hill (where they have no LoS), and he fails saves for three of the tactical stands in the assault, while only taking out 1 Nob, 2 Boyz, and the last Grot (I knew I was going to need those this turn!). I was up 2, and we both rolled 5's. Another Tac squad and a Razorback get hacked down, the Assault Detachment earns another blast marker for supporting a failed assault, and the broken remnats of Tactical D retreat right next to the Tornados! WAAAGGHH!!!
I double the Big Blitz Brigade over beside the Bad Moonz where I can lend support to an assault on Tactical C, catch the entire formation under the barrage templates from my Soopagunz, and kill 2 Tacticals, 1 Rhino, and 2 Razorbacks. There are now 7 blast markers on 6 marines. I ask Kyle to double his Koptaz around behind Tactical C and catch them in a crossfire now that two of the stands have lost their cover. He does so, manages to hit one stand (which obligingly fails its save) and the broken remnants of Tactical C join Tactical D and the Tornados!
The Devastators sustain fire at my Big Blitz Brigade (sadly, the Land Raider has no LoS), and score 4 hits. I make 1 save, leaving the formation battered, but unbroken and in a position to lend supporting fire to both the Koptaz and the Bad Moonz. The 3 squad Assault Detachment has no blast markers, sustains the initiative with an engage action on the Koptaz, and trys their best to stay out of support range of the Big Blitzers (well... almost; the Marine player must have wanted the BBB to earn a blast marker for supporting a losing assault). They get too close, and 4 Gunwagonz together with the Koptaz score 3 hits. The Assault stands fail all their saves and evaporate, taking only one Kopta with them! WAAAGGHH!!! WAAAGGHH!!!
At this point the Marine player quite sensibly conceded. I was going to suggest that we at least play out the turn, just so I could see a 'Uge Warband sustain fire on 5 Marine Tactical stands in the open, but then I realized that none of the Ork's air power had activated that turn. It would just be too cruel to force the Marine player watch the carnage of two Landaz and four Fighta-Bommaz shooting his broken detachments.
|
It wasn't immediately obvious that what he was doing, however, and the sad little 4 Kopta Brigade deployed next to my Big BB. Kyle deployed the 'Uge BB (our last on-board deployment) in the East, to give some support to that flank. Here are links to pictures of the West Half and the East Half after deployment (as seen from the Ork's side).
, but I think hackdowns are supposed to represent units fleeing or surrendering. I think that I'll post to the