Council of War june 14: Game 2 Eldar vs Orks 1500

Game 2 and my Eldar face a horde of Orks joined with an Orky lord of war which isn't a Stompa. The Eldar must face a Kill Bursta in a 1500 point game of Crusade (4 objectives) with hammer and anvil deployment. The ork force is beautifully converted, you gotta check it out.

For Game 1 of this event click here.

The Armies

Eldar 1498

Spiritseer – 70 w/ Dire Avengers (Warlord: can't remember)

[protect, conceal, embolden]

Warlock – 35 w/ Guardians

[conceal, protect]

10 Dire Avengers – 130

Wave Serpent – 135

Holo field, twin-linked scatter laser

10 Guardians – 110

Scatter laser

Wave Serpent – 135

Holo field, twin-linked scatter laser

5 Fire Dragons - 110

Wave Serpent – 135

Holo field, twin-linked scatter laser

7 Warp spiders – 133

Fire Prism – 125

WraithKnight – 240

Heavy wraith cannons

2 War Walkers – 140

4x Bright lance

This event occurred the weekend before the 7^th edition Ork codex came out so this list is from the 4^th edition codex, it’s important to make the distinction as a few changes have been made which wouldn’t make sense with the new dex.

Orks 1493

Warboss – 130 (Warlord: 3 units take a pinning test) w/ Mega nobz

Mega armour, boss pole, cybork body, attack squig

20 Boyz – 175

Nob (power claw, eavy armour, boss pole) 2x big shoota

20 Boyz – 175

Nob (power claw, eavy armour, boss pole) 2x big shoota

5 Mega Nobz – 215

3x kombi skorchas

BattleWagon - 120

Deffrolla, big shoota, grot riggas

11 gretchin – 43

Slaver

12 Lootas – 180

Mek

Big Trakk – 50

2x big shoota

Kill Bursta – 405

Bursta Kannon, skorcha, twin-linked big shoota

The Mission

The organisers rolled for the mission and we have crusade for this game, with 4 objectives. The deployment type was hammer and anvil (which is a little awkward when all the tables are lines up next to each other, but we dealt with it).

After placing down the 4 objectives (bottom right of the photos, middle, top left in a ruin and far left outside a ruin) we roll for deployment zone and I won, picking the one with 2 objectives already in the deployment zone. We then rolled for who deploys first and again the eldar win. 

As he has a 7 inch D weapon (don’t you laugh) I was scared of how much damage it can do with each blast, so I placed all of the wave serpents behind cover so if he steals the initiative they at least have a chance to survive. The Dire avengers are in the bottom one, then fire dragons and guardians at the top. The wraithknight goes forward in the centre so he can hopefully get a few shots off straight away. I hide the war walkers behind cover and the fire prism goes at the very back. You can’t see them but the warp spiders are hiding inside the ruin in front of the wave serpents.

To counter this he deploys the Kill Bursta behind a ruin so it can’t really get shot at. The battle wagon full of nobz goes straight at the front ready to charge my wraithknight. A unit of boys goes on each side of the table and the lootas deploy inside the Big trukk. The grots are inside the lord of war.

Before the game my spiders take a pinning test and fail. They start the game pinned.

Steal the Initiative: No

Night fight: turn 1

The Battle

Eldar turn 1

The war walkers come out from cover to shoot at the battle wagon as I want the nobz on foot, the wraithknight edges forwards so he’s out of charge range turn 1 as well. All of the wave serpents move to be able to see the Big trukk as I want the lootas dead this turn if I can help it as the lord of war is to awkward to get a shot on.

4 beams of light from the war walkers only manages to get 2 glances on the battle wagon but the wraithknight manages to get a single penetrating hit which explodes the tank for first blood. No orks are harmed in the explosion though. It takes the combined fire of 2 wave serpents to wreck the big trukk, despite using scatter and serpent shields, and the final serpent only kills 1 loota. Not a very productive turn as I needed more of those lootas dead before they start wrecking my tanks.

Orks turn 1

Tide forwards! Both boy mobs and the nobs go straight forwards towards my lines. The kill bursta moves out from the cover towards the bottom of the table.  

Both mobs run instead of shooting leaving that to the big guns. The kill bursta shoots at the wraithknight but it scatters wide landing onto a wave serpent and catching 2 warp spiders. I elect to jink with the serpent but he rolls a 6, wrecking it without cover saves. The 2 warp spiders caught in the blast die as well, despite their cover save. Aiming at the bottom wave serpent the lootas fire 22 shots at it, the serpent elects to jink which saves it from getting wrecked as he got 2 glances and a pen, but the 2+ cover save ignores everything (jink, holo, night fight for the 2+).

Eldar turn 2

The loss of a wave serpent in a single shot is horrible and rather rare, that tank has to die. Admittedly here I lose focus and get too caught up with destroying the lord of war so I regret a few moves I make but more on that later. I push the wraithknight straight up to the nobs and the war walkers move to see them as well, the plan is kill as many nobs as possible, then charge in the knight to kill everything else off and force him to target the knight with his strength D which probably won’t kill him a single shot. I warp jump the warp spiders towards the boys running at them. The wave serpents move around and the guardians move to get closer to the crashed Aquila for cover.

Psychic phase and the warlock casts conceal on the guardians without trouble but then suffers a perils of the warp and dies casting protect on them.

Unloading a torrent of shots the warp spiders manage to kill 4 boys then run back towards the ruin that sheltered them before. Shots from the war walkers only manage to down a single nob thanks to poor aiming, they run away from the approaching mob of boyz. Firing both heavy D cannons the wraithknight also fails to even hit the meganobz, my plan might not work now. A sneaky shot from the fire prism manages to take a single hull point off of the lord of war. Again combining fire the 2 wave serpents target the lootas but with 1 only having snap shots I only bring down 3 of them and they pass their moral test.

Hell with it, the wraithknight charges into the mega nobz, hoping I can get enough kills to just live this turn. I manage to hit twice out of 5 attacks.... well done bro, and 2 die, I really 4 to die. They attack back and cause 5 wounds, that was lucky. I jump the spiders back into the ruin again.

Ork turn 2

After losing a few of their number the lootas are out of coherency so a few of them move to get back within 2 inches of another model. Again moving to target another serpent the kill bursta move 12 to its right (up the photo). Both mobs of boyz move forwards again.

The Orks call their WAAAGH! A different but just as powerful roar erupts from the gun on the kill bursta as it targets a wave serpent but with true ork accuracy it scatters off and hits the fire prism and guardians but still clips the intended target. The prism elects to jink and avoid damage but 2 guardians die and the wave serpent fails to jink out the way and explodes, the dragons are fine but get entangled in the remains of their tank, pinning them. The lootas shoot at the other wave serpent forcing it to jink, they get a few glances on it but it passes its jink save. After all is said and done the guardians run for it.

Assault phase and both mobs declare a charge, the boyz manage to get off a 10 inch charge on the war walkers and an 11 inch charge on the wave serpent (thanks to the waagh!). Against the wave serpent the boys alone wreck it with their number of attacks forcing the dire avengers out. The other mob lose a single ork to the war walkers attacks then the boys wreck one but thankfully the nob is out of combat range. Wraithknight v snobs and boss ends with the nobs being stomped into the ground but the warboss kills the wraithknight with ease.

Eldar turn 3

Rethinking their tactics, the guardians rally, and move towards the ruin next to the back objective. In a combined attacked the warp spiders jump to the other side of the ruin while the dire avengers move into the ruins so they can see the ork boyz.

Psychic phase and the spiritseer fails to cast any powers, I manage to roll all 2’s and 3’s. These things happen.

Shooting phase and the dire avengers start shooting the ork boyz, they manage to get enough wounds to reduce the mob by 7 models, the spiders then add their fire power and kill everyone but the nob. Faced with so much fire power the nob hoofs it and runs back to his deployment zone. The spiders run as well going back towards the ruin.

Assault and the spiders attempt to jump but roll very low and 2 are stuck outside the ruin. The combat between the walker carries on as 2 orks die and the nob fails to hit the walker.

Orks turn 3

The nob carries on running, while at the back the warboss joins up with the lootas for safety. Pushing the attack towards my objective the kill bursta moves forwards.

Rolling 2 on the D3, the lootas fire at the fire dragons, wanting to kill them before they can do any damage to the kill bursta, but the dragons armour proves true and not a single warrior dies. Firing its kannon at the fire prism the lord of war clips the warp spiders as well. The shot hits but the prism is able to jink out the way, unfortunately 3 spiders die though.  

Assault and again the walker kills 1 boy and the nob gets a single penetrating hit but it bounces off the force field.

Eldar turn 4

It’s getting rather desperate now so both the warp spiders and fire dragons go on a kill mission trying to stop the kill bursta before it does any more damage. Getting a large jump the spiders move 15 inches while the dragons go through the crashed Aquila. Getting ready for next turn the dire avengers reposition themselves while the guardians get into the ruin.

Psychic phase and I roll a 1 for the dice and once more fail to cast any powers... getting real old.

Its desperate now, so the fire dragons run and shoot at the front armour of the kill bursta but fail to do anything (needed 6’s to glance), the spiders run then shoot at its side armour but do nothing.

Assault and the warp spiders jump into the ruins next to the lord of war. In the walker vs boyz combat the walker kills 1 before getting a power klaw to its force field generator causing it to explode and kills 8 boys for their trouble.

Ork turn 4

A few of the lootas can’t see the warp spiders so they move to see them. The grots in the kill bursta jump out and make a grab for the objective in the centre.

Firing its skorcha on the warp spiders the kill bursta kills 1 spider. Attempting to kill my troops it fires its kannon on the guardians but it scatters onto the fire prism which gets wrecked. The shootas fire at the fire dragons but fail to do anything. Rolling a 3 the lootas cut down the warp spiders with the weight of their shots. Really wanting to fire dragons to die the grots shoot at them as well but fail to do any damage.

Attempting to charge the fire dragons the boys declare a charge but the fire dragons kill the front boy. They attempt to charge though cover but don’t roll high enough to reach them.

Eldar turn 5

Now the fire dragons have to avoid both the boyz and grots in order to get closer to the kill bursta. The dire avengers move up to target the boyz. Hiding inside the ruin the guardians make sure no one can see them.

I roll high for the psychic dice and actually cast some powers. The dire avengers get both concealed and protect. But the orks deny embolden.

Running 6 the fire dragons get a few models in melta range and get an explodes result on the kill bursta taking off 4 hull points and immobilising it (a special rule for the tank). Shuriken fire from the dire avengers gets 11 wounds on the boyz but they g2g and only 4 die.

Ork turn 5

The warboss leaves the lootas and goes after the objective in front of them. But the lootas move forwards to see the dire avengers.

It takes a bit of checking the rules but we figure out the kannon can only see 45 degrees and so can only just see the dire avengers it hits but thanks to conceal I have a 3+ cover save and only 2 die. The boyz, grots and big shoota from the kill bursta shoot at the fire dragons but they all fail to do any damage. The lootas run 2 inches.

Rolling to see if the game carries on...

Eldar turn 6

At this point I am in trouble, I need a lot of things to go my way if I am going to pull a victory out of my ass. The fire dragons get closer to the kill bursta while the dire avengers move towards the grots.

I cast both embolden and protect on the dire avengers.

I roll to run the dire avengers and get a 2, I re-roll it and get 1. They shoot at the gretchin and they go to ground and only 2 die... I needed a few more than that. The guardians move out of cover a little to shoot the boyz but only kill 2, but it’s enough for a moral test (which they pass). The fire dragons shoot at the kill bursta and take another 2 hull points off it, leaving it on 1.

Assault and the fire dragons charge the lord of war and get its last hull points off with melta bombs. I pray it scatters onto the grots but it goes the wrong way and hits the lootas, killing 4.

Ork turn 6

The boyz grab the objective in the ruins.

The grots shoot at the fire dragons but do nothing, the lootas fail on the dire avengers.

We roll to see I it carries on (please do I need turn 7 to win) but it doesn’t happen.

End of Game

Orks: 10 (3 objectives, line breaker) – Eldar: 4 (1 objective, first blood)

Ork Victory

Post-Battle

Well I lost that game for myself in deployment. I got too caught up on the kill bursta and panicked too much. By risking the wraithknight in a rather stupid combat that cost me a fair bit. My whole plan was just terrible. Looking back I think I know what I should have done.

First of all my warp spiders should have used deep strike, if they came in turn 2 behind the kill bursta (which is rear armour 10) on average they should wreck it in a single shooting phase. IF that happened turn 2 I would have been in a much better position. If they didn’t come in till later it just would have meant I didn’t risk the wraithknight straight away and given him more targets, so less chance of the serpents dying. Speaking of which, I should have brought the wave serpents back hidden from the lootas and just killed a mob of boyz each turn denying him the opportunity to grab any objectives with them. Allowing him to bring his boyz up lost me the game, it’s that simple.   

Hind sight is 20/20 and all that but I’m a little disappointed that I let this happen. Well at least now with the new codex I won’t get cocky thinking I can just kill orks later on as they will hit combat even faster.

All in all though I loved this ork force, practically every model was converted and it did look beautiful, you don’t see many death skull forces about and it’s a shame as they are in my top 2. My opponent was great this game and it was a pleasure to lose to him.

Next game next Friday. Hope you enjoyed.