Since the recent Orks vs Eldar battle report, I've managed to solicit a few thoughts from the players, Denny and Tom. It was an entertaining game to watch, pretty much hinging on a single dice roll, as is any good battle. So without further ado, here are the armies involved, and Denny and Tom give us their opinions...
Denny - The Eldar
Army List
Avatar - 155pts
Farseer - 100pts
- Fortune
- Runes of warding
10 Dire Avengers - 167
- Exarch
- Twin shuriken catapults
- Defend and bladestorm
10 Storm Guardians - 127
- Warlock
- Destruction
- 2 flamers
10 Guardians - 119pts
- SpritSeer
- Singing spear
- Embolden
- Scatter laser
10 Guardians - 120pts
- Warlock
- Destruction
- Shuriken cannon
3 Jetbikes - 76pts
- Shuriken cannon
Wraithlord - 135pts
- Scatter laser
- Missile launcher
Total: 999pts
The Plan
Denny: The heavy weaponry takes out fast moving units then thins the boyz on foot as they advance. The Avatar provides a Fearless bubble (and the Farseer provides added protection for the Avatar). He can also intercept small mobs and use his spear to take out any Trucks that get too close.
The army will retreat for as long as it can. Once the boyz close, the Guardians/Avengers counter-attack with shuriken catapults, flamers, Destruction and Bladestorm. The army then assaults what‘s left, which is not ideal but better than the alternative. The Avatar and Farseer led Storm Guardians should have a shot against smaller mobs, and the Wraithlord can hold up any non-power claw led boyz. The Avengers have a shot against a small mob too, assuming I remember their Defend power (which I didn‘t!).
The Jetbikes run as distraction, provide a Trukk busting heavy weapon, and can hopefully block the boyz assault with their large base size and superior movement (preventing a Waaagh!). Again, the Avatar should stop them making a break for it.
Three Warlocks are blatant overkill (unless Destruction proves otherwise), but I’ve just finished painting them and wanted to try them out. Ideally I’d take a Grav Tank instead to add flexibility and speed. Really need to get one painted...
Tom - The Orks
The army will retreat for as long as it can. Once the boyz close, the Guardians/Avengers counter-attack with shuriken catapults, flamers, Destruction and Bladestorm. The army then assaults what‘s left, which is not ideal but better than the alternative. The Avatar and Farseer led Storm Guardians should have a shot against smaller mobs, and the Wraithlord can hold up any non-power claw led boyz. The Avengers have a shot against a small mob too, assuming I remember their Defend power (which I didn‘t!).
The Jetbikes run as distraction, provide a Trukk busting heavy weapon, and can hopefully block the boyz assault with their large base size and superior movement (preventing a Waaagh!). Again, the Avatar should stop them making a break for it.
Three Warlocks are blatant overkill (unless Destruction proves otherwise), but I’ve just finished painting them and wanted to try them out. Ideally I’d take a Grav Tank instead to add flexibility and speed. Really need to get one painted...
Tom - The Orks
Army List
Warboss - 95pts
Warboss - 95pts
- Power klaw
- Eavy armour
- Bosspole
7 Nobs - 210pts
- Power claw
- Painboy
- 2 big choppas
- Shoota-skorcha
- Shoota-rokkit launcher
- Eavy armour for everyone
Trukk - 35pts
20 Slugga Boyz - 170pts
- Nob
- Power klaw
- Bosspole
- 2 rokkit launchers
Battlewagon - 105pts
- Zapp gun
20 Shoota Boys - 170pts
- Nob
- Power klaw
- 2 big shootas
3 Deffkoptas - 135pts
5 Lootas - 75pts
Total: 995pts
Da Plan...
Tom: Playing Orks, and having the tactical prowess of an Ork myself, the plan mostly consisted of getting into combat with the Eldar as soon as possible while taking minimum casualties [Jon - No surprises there - especially coming from Tom...]. The Deffkoptas were going to try and draw fire while popping anything big on the way in, before assaulting to tie up units if needed. The Shoota boyz on foot would provide some fire support on the way in, and a second assault wave after the mounted units. So with all this in mind, I lined up my boyz as far forward as possible!
Da Game
Tom: The Battlewagon did well at surviving everything that was thrown at it until it has delivered the boys - serving it's purpose perfectly. The Deffkopta taking out an entire unit of guardians in assault once again proved to me how valuable these versatile flying units can be! [Jon - The Deffkopta's high toughness/decent save meant the Guardians had real difficulty causing any wounds]
The Trukk getting taken out early on gave Denny a little more time to avoid the Nobs mob. This didn't really matter in the end, but it was a big worry at the time [Jon - They managed to keep up with the Battlewagon with run moves anyway]. The Wraithlord proving almost unkillable in the shooting phases was annoying too, but then again I was shooting at a rock hard model with Orks, so what was I expecting?
The Trukk getting taken out early on gave Denny a little more time to avoid the Nobs mob. This didn't really matter in the end, but it was a big worry at the time [Jon - They managed to keep up with the Battlewagon with run moves anyway]. The Wraithlord proving almost unkillable in the shooting phases was annoying too, but then again I was shooting at a rock hard model with Orks, so what was I expecting?
In the end it was a good win, and I'm pleased with the outcome [Jon - You should be - it was a massacre!]. Some good boyz died and a few Trukks fell apart but in the end everything went to plan. I can't help but wonder what would have happened if Denny had deployed a little further back, giving him a few more turns shooting. I think it could have been a very different battle altogether...
Conclusion
Jon: This was a thoroughly entertaining game to watch, and actually hung in the balance right up to the Eldar's third turn (out of only four), despite how things turned out.
When the Avatar fluffed his to-hit roll when lobbing his spear at the Battlewagon, Denny's game collapsed entirely - he was left high and dry in front a wall of Orks. Subsequently, Tom managed to get his pretty much his entire army into assault, engaging most of Denny's army and delivering a hammer blow that he had no chance of recovering from.
The Eldar could have done some real damage to the Ork troops if they had gotten the chance. As I have witnessed before, massed shuriken catapult fire (especially including the Dire Avenger's Bladestorm power) can slaughter entire Ork mobs in a single turn's shooting phase - the entire Ork army could potentially have been decimated in one go. They only really get once chance to unleash this however, considering their 12" range - if you can shoot them, they can charge you.
The Orks can do similar amounts of damage in a single turn. For them however it happens with massed attacks and Furious Charge in the assault phase. Assuming they don't all get gunned down on their way in. The game could really have gone either way, depending on which side managed to pull off their devastating coup de grace.
This time around enough Orks survived to get into combat and that was that. Had the battlewagon gone down, both the Slugga Boyz riding it and the Shoota Boyz on foot could have been seriously depleated, enough to mean Denny could have been confident an assault would finish them off. With the Avatar lending a hand, Denny could really have mopped up and left the Warboss and Nobz till last when he could concentrate his entire army on them and destroy them.
So a massacre in favor of the Eldar was very possible. Seeing as how both armies had the potential to practically destroy their foe in a single phase, I think this would have been a crushing victory for whichever player managed to deliver their knockout blow. Unfortunately for Denny, this time around it was Tom and his Green Tide.
Conclusion
Jon: This was a thoroughly entertaining game to watch, and actually hung in the balance right up to the Eldar's third turn (out of only four), despite how things turned out.
When the Avatar fluffed his to-hit roll when lobbing his spear at the Battlewagon, Denny's game collapsed entirely - he was left high and dry in front a wall of Orks. Subsequently, Tom managed to get his pretty much his entire army into assault, engaging most of Denny's army and delivering a hammer blow that he had no chance of recovering from.
The Eldar could have done some real damage to the Ork troops if they had gotten the chance. As I have witnessed before, massed shuriken catapult fire (especially including the Dire Avenger's Bladestorm power) can slaughter entire Ork mobs in a single turn's shooting phase - the entire Ork army could potentially have been decimated in one go. They only really get once chance to unleash this however, considering their 12" range - if you can shoot them, they can charge you.
The Orks can do similar amounts of damage in a single turn. For them however it happens with massed attacks and Furious Charge in the assault phase. Assuming they don't all get gunned down on their way in. The game could really have gone either way, depending on which side managed to pull off their devastating coup de grace.
This time around enough Orks survived to get into combat and that was that. Had the battlewagon gone down, both the Slugga Boyz riding it and the Shoota Boyz on foot could have been seriously depleated, enough to mean Denny could have been confident an assault would finish them off. With the Avatar lending a hand, Denny could really have mopped up and left the Warboss and Nobz till last when he could concentrate his entire army on them and destroy them.
So a massacre in favor of the Eldar was very possible. Seeing as how both armies had the potential to practically destroy their foe in a single phase, I think this would have been a crushing victory for whichever player managed to deliver their knockout blow. Unfortunately for Denny, this time around it was Tom and his Green Tide.
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