Was hoping to do a Tau playtest today as one of my friends had the day off... but the Tau weren't updated so I decided to take one of my "minor" lists out for a spin.  

Selected the Blood Axe Mercenaries and went to work wrangling Orks into Imperial vehicles... and then our resident Marine player asked me how many Marine bikes I had... turned out the answer was: "Not enough!"  *laugh*

Not sure I'll get this written tonight, but I'll post the armies.  As well, the camera was acting up and I won't know if the pictures turned out until I recharge some batteries.

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Rules Used

Epic Update 2008
NetEA Recommendations
Blood Axe Mercenaries v1.2

Armies Used

Da Rumblin’ Raiderz – 2995 points

Kommando Warband
2 Nobz
6 Kommandos
2 Grotz
4 Chimera

Big Taktical Warband - BTS Goal
8 Nobz
4 Grotz
3 Gunwagonz
2 Battlewagonz
2 Land Raiders

Big Mekanized Warband 1
2 Nobz
6 Boyz
4 Chimera
2 Gunwagonz
2 Oddboyz
2 Soopagunz

Big Mekanized Warband 2
2 Nobz
6 Boyz
4 Chimera
2 Gunwagonz

Big 'Eavy Armour
4 Leman Russ
2 Land Raiders

Big 'Eavy Gunz Brigade
6 Basilisks

Fighta-Bommerz 1
5 F-Bs

Fighta-Bommerz 2
5 F-Bs

Nomad Space Marine Rapid Deployment Force – 3000 points

Strike Cruiser
1 Strike Cruiser

Bike Detachment 1
5 Bikes

Bike Detachment 2
5 Bikes

Bike Detachment 3
5 Bikes

Bike Detachment 4
5 Bikes

Bike Detachment 5
5 Bikes

Bike Detachment 6
5 Bikes

Terminator Detachment
4 Terminators
1 Librarian

Thunderhawk 1
1 Thunderhawk

Thunderhawk 2
1 Thunderhawk

Thunderhawk 3
1 Thunderhawk

Thunderhawk 4
1 Thunderhawk

Thunderhawk 5
1 Thunderhawk

Thunderhawk 6
1 Thunderhawk

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Battlefield:

The Blood Axes are "kunnin' as an Ork" and have Strategy Rating 3.

4x6; Marines chose edge deployment

Deployment:

Strike Cruiser designated for Turn 1.

Marines kept everything in reserve, with each Bike Detachment being transported by the appropriate Thunderhawk.

No garrisons were placed by either side.

Remaining deployment as shown:

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Turn 1

No teleports.

Strategy Roll: Space Marines

The Strike Cruiser announces the presence of Marines by dropping an Orbital Bombardment centred on one of the ruins near the Ork road.  The ‘Eavy Gunz and ‘Eavy Armour are both hit, but only a Looted Basilisk is destroyed.



Thunderhawk 1 then zooms down to deploy Bike Detachment 1 and they air assault the ‘Eavy Gunz taking out 3 Basilisks and forcing the broken survivor to back off.



Realizing the Marines actually intend to fight, Fighta-Bommerz 1 goes on CAP…

And, not to be out-done, Fighta-Bommerz 2 does the same… no re-rolls needed!

Thunderhawk 2 dives down to air assault the ‘Eavy Armour Brigade.  Fighta-Bommerz 1 zip around to try and stop them, but only manage to place a Blast marker and lose a Fighta-Bommer!



It’s hammer time for the Marines as a single Looted Leman Russ survives the fray and the Looted Basilisk crew also bail out in the face of such an onslaught.



Thunderhawk 3 drops to the deck to air assault the Kommandos Warband.  Fight-Bommerz 2 is able to do 1DC damage to the Marine aircraft before it lands… but it is not enough as 2 Grots, 3 Chimera, and 4 Kommandos eventually fall to the Marines’ attack.



Feeling left out in the breeze, Mekanized Warband 1 doubles, losing a Chimera to engine trouble, but able to bring both Soopagunz to bear on Bike Detachment 1… but also able to catch Bike Detachment 2 and Thunderhawks 1 and 2 in a series of blasts!  Detachment 1 loses 1 Bike and breaks while Detachment 2 loses 4 Bikes and breaks.



The Warlord has to yell quite loudly over the explosions to get the Taktical Warband to engage Thunderhawk 1 and, intermingled, Bike Detachment 1.



The Orks lose a Grots, a Gunwagon, and a Land Raider, but take out Thunderhawk 1 and a total of three Bikes… the fight is so bad, that Thunderhawk 2’s crew abandons their craft as well!  The Orks reposition to get closer to the enemy.

Thunderhawk 4 lands near Mekanized Warband 1, drops off Bikes 3, catching the Orks in a crossfire, but doing no damage.

Mekanized Warband 2 doubles from their position to fire on Thunderhawk 3.  The Marine war engine breaks and the crew bail out because of the nearby Orks.

Thunderhawk 5 then air assaults Mekanized Warband 1… they lose three Bikes in the process, but only a single Nob and his Chimera escape… the carnage so brutal that a nearby Kommando unit heads for the hills.



Thunderhawk 6 ground attacks the broken Mek Warband 1… causing the Nob to flee…

End of Turn:

Thunderhawk 5 stays landed and fires on Fighta-Bommerz 2 as they fly home.

All other aircraft leave safely.

Bike Detachments 1 and 2 remain broken.

Mekanized Warband 2 fails to rally.

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Turn 2

The Terminators show up right in the heart of the Ork army.



Strategy Roll: ORKS!

The Taktical Warband sustains fire on the Terminators… placing a single Blast marker.

Mekanized Warband 2 then engages the Terminators in a firefight with lots of support… and kill… a single Terminator.



They lose 2 Gunwagonz, 3 Chimeras, and a Boy as the Marines win by “2â€Â

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Turn 3

No teleports.

Strategy Roll: Marines

Thunderhawk 4, empty, performs an air assault on the Taktical Warband… it goes for two turns… the Marines unharmed the only the Warlord surviving for the Orks!

Thunderhawk 5 dives down to finish off the Ork Warlord… and there are no more Orks on the battlefield!

Hoping for some kind of revenge, Fighta-Bommerz 2 strafes the out-in-the-open Terminators… and take out the Librarian!

Not to be outdone, Fighta-Bommerz 1 strafes the Terminators as well… and takes out the two remaining units!

The remaining Bike Detachments march to take various objectives…

End of Turn:

All Marines rally… and there’s no Orks left to rally.

Score:

Orks 1 (BTS) vs Space Marines 5 (All) – Decisive Marine Victory!!

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So, to address your query:  A single Looted Chimera broke down...  the rest of the Looted Vehicles were taken out by enemy action!  *SIGH*

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That.was.brutal.

And very interesting from a SM perspective. That's a lot of Thunderhawks to be throwing down on someone. I wonder if the SM player would have been as bold with Eldar fighters and AA on the table?

All the same, it is another perspective on how the SM ought to be played, i.e. direct and brutal.

As to the Orks, a very characterful list and it could potentially be a very interesting one to model.

A couple of comments:

1. I've noticed that Kommandos are a little bit tougher now with the 40K Codex, given the addition of a certain special character. Might you consider giving the Kommandos First Strike (in a limited way) to add a little punch to the Kommandos?

2. Again, just an observation, but given the penchant for some breakage of your vehicles, is their an attendant cost reduction on them to help compensate?

Cheers and thanx for sharing the report.

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- 23rd Elysian Drop Regiment

OUCH That game really hurt the orks. Thanks for the report.

I've found that when a force turns up ready for Marine Air Assaults then the marines are sneeky and so things like garrison Terminators.

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Brutal style indeed on the SM side! Almost khornate in execution ... some purity checks are in order!

Since the Marines controlled the flow of action in this game, I believe the Blood Axe Mercs could not play to their strengths which limits the amount of useful information that could be gleaned form this battle? What do you think, Chroma?

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You know, that is hilariously astute and precognative...  might have to schedule a purity check yourself!

The "Nomad Marines" that my friend plays (and he used to play them in 40k as well) are a White Scars Successor Chapter that have gone a bit "independent" over the decades... one of the storylines we developed with them was that some of their Chaplains have been slowly turning towards Khorne, while their Librarians are trying to maintain purity... we've always talked about putting together a campaign to decide "what happens", but haven't done it yet.

And, yeah, the Marines dominated from the get-go... I guess I should've taken Flakwagonz instead of Battle/Gunwagonz... *laugh*

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I would not have passed any purity check since Slaves to Darkness ... at first my Guardsmen turned Traitor and started sporting skull runes then an assault force of World Eaters began to assemble. Still got them all, though I haven´t played 40k since 2nd Ed.

Guess I can tell fellow Khornates by their actions!

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