First Battle Report - Orks vs Eldar 1000pts

Well it looks like my promise of at least one post per week has already been broken, but to make up for it, here's a biggie: My first battle report! Enjoy...

Game Setup and Deployment

The game type and deployment were rolled up first, making the game Annihilation (kill points) with the Spearhead (table quarters) deployment. The roll off to see who goes first was won by Denny and his Eldar, and he chose to go first, selecting the table quarter with the tower and covered walkway for cover.

He deployed towards the centre of the board, with one squad of guardians occupying the covered walkway on the left flank and the other in cover on far right. The Farseer, joined by his Storm Guardians, was deployed in the centre, backed up by the Wraithlord and Avatar. The Jetbikes were set up on the left, using the tower for cover, with the Dire Avengers behind the tower ready to jump out when needed.

 

The Orks, predictably, deployed as close as possible to the Eldar line. The large mob of shoota boyz set up opposite the Guardians on the covered walkway, with the Deffkoptas (each a separate unit) spread across the line. The Trukk (containing the Warboss and Nob bodyguard) and the Battlewagon (containing the large mob of 20 Slugga Boyz) were positioned in the centre. The Lootas deployed in the ruins behind the Ork line, which offered a good field of fire.

Turn One

The Orks came close to seizing the initiative with the roll of a 5, so the Eldar went first.

Eldar

First things first, the Farseer cast Fortune of the Avatar, making it pretty much unkillable for the ensuing turn.

In the movement phase, the Eldar army took a collective step backwards, putting a bit more distance between them and the choppas of the Orks ahead of them. The only exceptions were the Guardians on the walkway, who held their ground, and the Jetbikes, who were the only unit to advance, getting their shuriken cannon into range.

The shooting phase came around and the Wraithlord targeted the Trukk. It's missile launcher failed to hit, but this was made up for by it's scatter laser, which wrecked the truck and spilled its contents onto the field. The Warboss was going to have to foot-slog it - a good result for the Eldar.

Next up, the Eldar pumped fire into the Deffkoptas. Unfortunately the weight of shuriken fire only managed to put one wound on the Deffkopta on the Orks' left.

With nothing else left to shoot, the Jetbikes got their extra move in the shooting phase, hopping back out of the reach of the Orks.

Orks

The Orks' predictability continued, with pretty much everything rushing forwards as fast as possible, the Battlewagon in the centre spearheading the advance straight towards the Eldar centre. The Deffkoptas kept to a 12" move to allow them to fire.

The only Ork unit not to move, the Lootas at the back, let rip at the Wraithlord. Rolling a 5 for their rate of fire, they managed to put out an impressive 15 shots, but failed to cause any damage to the Wraithbone construct.

Following up to this, the Deffkoptas unleashed a volley of rokkits, also at the Wraithlord, causing a wound between them. The Warboss' retinue fired off their only rokkit at it too, however it whizzed off over the horizon somewhere, missing entirely.

Finally, the Shoota Boyz on the Orks' right targeted the Guardians on the platform. Despite a fistful of dice, they only managed to cut down two of them due to some fluky cover saves.

Turn Two

Eldar

Once again Denny's first action was to Fortune the Avatar.

Their second movement phase was much like the first, with the majority of their infantry and monstrous creatures taking another step backwards into the corner, away from the advancing Orks. The Guardians on the platform continued to hold their position, whilst the Dire Avengers took up positions in cover around the tower below them.

The Eldar shooting phase was a little more successful than their last. The Guardians on the ground fired their scatter laser at the wounded Deffkopta, taking it's final wound and destroying it. Next up, the shuriken cannon on the Jetbikes took a shot at the central Deffkopta, causing 3 wounds. Tom picked up his dice and went to make the saves... With a resounding roll of a triple one, the 'Kopta was torn to pieces in a hail of spinny-shuriken death.

Next up, the shuriken cannon with the Guardians on the platform had a cheeky side-shot on the Battlewagon. Exclaiming "Come on cheerful elf!" (he is a strange man...), Denny cast his dice and proceeded to fail miserably to do any damage at all.

Finally the Wraithlord directed his attention at the recently (forcefully) disembarked Warboss and retinue, causing a wound with it's scatter laser and turning one into a greasy smear with a krak missile.

The Dire Avengers made a run move to get further back out of the way behind the tower, and during the assault phase the Jetbikes jumped a little further back too.

Orks

The Ork turn began with another surge forward with the Battlewagon powering ahead of the main body of the Ork army, which was now completely on foot. The remaining Deffkopta hopped up onto the covered walkway, ready assault the Guardians up there later in the turn.

The Lootas were first to fire, getting off another 15 shots at the Wraithlord, however once again they failed to cause any wounds. The Shoota Boyz towards the centre fired at the Jetbikes ahead of them, blasting one out of the air. The Warboss and his bodyguards decided to make use of the shooting phase to gain a few inches, running in towards the heart of the Eldar line. Finally the Deffkopta launched a Rokkit as he swooped in, making a mess of one of the Guardians.

The assault phase came around and the Deffkopta charged into the Guardians on the walkway. Despite the Ork pilot's Furious Charge, the high Initiative of the Guardians meant they still struck first. With a decent fistful of dice and the Warlock's witchblade, Denny had a decent chance of taking the Deffkopta out before it could strike, but luck wasn't on his side and he failed to cause a single wound. In return, the Deffkopta took down two of the guardians on it's attack run, winning the combat.

The Guardians were not impressed with this at all and decided to make a run for it, failing their break test (they were just an inch out of the Avatar's Fearless bubble!). The Deffkopta gave chase and mowed them down as they tried to escape, wiping out the unit. This did not bode well for Denny.

Turn Three

Eldar

Denny began his turn casting Fortune on the Avatar yet again.

The Jetbikes began the movement phase by shifting over towards the Eldar right flank, clearing a path from the Avatar to the Battlewagon bearing down on it. The Avatar then moved up to within charge range, with the Wraithlord right behind him. Finally the Guardians, Storm Guardians and Dire Avengers moved up to pounce on whatever emerged from the Battlewagon - assuming the Avatar could crack it open...

The shooting phase kicked off with the Avatar launching his spear at the Battlewagon ahead of him. With a Ballistic Skill of 5, and a melta attack at short range, this should have been easy. Seconds later and the spear was vibrating in the ground just short of it's target - the Avatar had fluffed it with a roll of a one to hit! This was bad news.

With the Warboss and Nobz getting rather too close for comfort, the Jetbikes launched a volley of shuriken into them, causing a wound. The Guardians on the ground backed this up with their own shuriken catapults, causing another two wounds including one on the Warboss himself. Lastly the Wraithlord also directed its fire at the Warboss's mob, this time failing to cause any damage.

The final unit to shoot in the Eldar turn was the Dire Avengers. With the Battlewagon’s boyz still embarked, the Exarch commanded his squad to target the Shoota Boyz with a Bladestorm. Loosing some thirty-two Ballistic Skill 4, Strength 4 shots, the veritable deluge of shurikens dropped 15 out of the 20 boyz, decimating the mob. The remaining boyz weren't too bothered about this however, and passed their break test. I guess they never liked those guys anyway.

The assault phase came around and the Avatar thundered into the Battlewagon. Needing sixes to hit, since the vehicle had moved it's full 12" the previous turn, he only managed to hit the thing once. This was enough however as it's strength of 6, plus rolling 2D6 for armour penetration meant he managed to puncture the hull of the vehicle. The Battlewagon was wrecked, with 7 of the Slugga Boyz inside killed in the resulting explosion.

The Orks had taken a fair number of casualties this turn, but unfortunately for Denny they weren't really the right casualties...

Orks

Tom now had the best part of his army in a position to get that all important assault in this turn. This did not look good for Denny.

Firstly, the Warboss and his Nobz moved around the crater towards the Guardian unit and Jetbikes on the Eldar right. As these two units were so close together, it would be easy to engage them both in the assault phase.

Meanwhile the Slugga Boyz recently ejected from the Battlewagon had a crater to negotiate. A decent Difficult Terrain roll of 5" got the mob through and within charge range of the Storm Guardians. There was enough space for them to get to their target without having to get the Avatar involved, since it had charged forwards in the Eldar turn.

The last Deffkopta and the surviving Shoota Boyz moved up to assault the Dire Avengers - this should at least keep them tied up for a bit.

The Lootas managed to dish out yet another 15 shots, again directed at the Wraithlord. Finally their firepower proved effective, taking the last two wounds off the giant and destroying it. Next, the Nobz fired off a volley of shoota and slugga fire, taking down 5 of the Guardians, whilst the Deffkopta and Shoota boyz let rip into the Dire Avengers, killing 3.

The Assault phase began with Shoota Boyz and Deffkoptas charging the Dire Avengers on the Ork right. The Slugga Boyz in the center charged the Storm Guardians to their front and finally the Warboss and his bodyguard caught both the Guardians and the Jetbikes on the Eldar right. Everything in the Eldar army was now locked in combat apart from the Avatar who was looking lonely standing all by himself in front of the wrecked Battlewagon.

The combat involving the Dire Avengers came up first, and their high Initiative once again ensured the Eldar struck first, dropping one of the Shoota boyz before they could strike. In return the Deffkopta killed one, followed up by the boyz and their nob who nailed another four between them. The Dire Avengers had lost by 4 (partly because Denny neglected to employ the Exarch’s Defend power), but were made fearless due to the close proximity of the Avatar. They wouldn't run but instead had to take a further four wounds, and after a flurry of poor rolls they all lay dead.

Next up the Slugga Boyz against the Storm Guardians in the Center. As usual, the Eldar struck first, managing to bring down 4 of the incoming boyz with the help of their Warlock and the Farseer. The boyz had the benefit of Furious Charge and a huge number of attacks, despite being reduced to 9 models. The storm of Strength 4 hits wiped the Guardians out to a model, the Eldar army's commander along with them.

The last combat, involving the Warboss and his lads went much the same way. They took a single wound from the combined attacks of the Guardians (including their Warlock) and Jetbikes before the weight of the charging Nobz mob wiped out the lot.

With a cheeky follow up move the Slugga Boys managed to surround the Avatar, preventing him from being able to assault anything juicy. The remaining Shoota Boyz along with the Nobz consolidated towards this ring of green, ready to assault the next turn.

Turn Four 

Eldar and Orks

Surrounded and with few options, the Avatar speared one of the Slugga Boyz before charging in. He managed to cleave through three of them, suffering no wounds in return. Amazingly the remains of the unit managed to hold on, passing their break test despite their Leadership being reduced to 4!

During the Ork turn, they piled in with everything they had available. The Avatar directed its attacks at the Nobz mob, causing 2 wounds, before the sheer weight of boyz ensured its demise under a pile of green bodies and a hail of choppas...

A crushing victory to the Orks, with not a single model remaining on the Eldar side!

Conclusion...

Actually I think that's quite enough for one blog post. I'll see about some thoughts on the game from myself and the players in a future post in the next couple of days.

Comments on the report would be great - I'd like to hear what people think of the format and style. Battle reports could become a regular thing if people like them.

Update: Conclusion now posted, along with details of the armies involved.