Aliens vs. Humans

40k Battle
Mission: Annihilation
Deployment: Dawn of War
Size: 1,000 points
Forces: Tau/Ork coalition vs. Cadian Imperial Guard

This week was a one-off game with long time adversary Andy and newcomer Chris M. (not to be confused with either Chris P. or Chris O. as mentioned before). Chris M (we'll call him Chris3) has recently got back into 40k and is working on a horde of Orks, a welcome addition to the group as no one has played the greenskins yet.

Andy has become the latest caretaker in the massive Guard army that Ray started, and it was time for him to test their might, so we had two new armies hitting dirtside. I couldn't really justify my Dark Angels allying themselves with Orks versus Guard, so my Tau came out of retirement acting in an "advisory role" to the Orks.


The Ork Horde arrayed for battle


The Tau advisory attachment


The massive Imperial Guard forces


The three commanders of the battle


Warboss Killgaz defiantly stands atop a hill, taunting the 'umies


An Ork truk loaded down with Nobz


A Lady Commissar leads her boys in battle


The Nobz take heavy shooting casualties

Turn 1
Cadians: Mortar fire from one of the heavy weapon teams explodes near the open-topped Ork Truk, but is only effective in killing a single Boy on the ground; the Boys' mob mentality keeps them from being pinned however. A lascannon shot homes in on the lone XV88 Broadside, but find their mark off as the XV88's Shield Drone valiantly swoops in front of the 'freem' beam and sacrificing itself into slag. Finally, to conclude wave after wave of shooting, another Cadian mortar zeros in on the Ork Truk again, this time destroying it in a flaming wreck, or so we thought. The Truk being "ramshackle" saved its Nob passengers (and subsequent collateral damage) in the end, but was still lost.

Tau/Ork: In a surgically precise shot from across the table, the XV88 Broadside disables the Stormtrooper Chimera's heavy flamer. With such firepower it would've been nice to see the transport in flames, but a 'weapon disabled' shot would do. The green tide surged forth, firing their Big Shootas wildly, with the middle mob killing a single trooper, and the mob on the far right ineffective against the Stormtroopers in the woods.


Fire Warriors disembark their Devilfish

Turn 2
Cadians: The humans began their turn unleashing the newest weapon in the Guard arsenal; orders. With the "Fire on my target!" order, the lascannon team sent the XV88 spiraling into oblivion as it wasn't able to withstand the instant kill freem power. Next the heavy stubber gunner on the Stormtrooper Chimera pounded round after round towards Warboss Killgaz, but to no effect. Next up was the "First rank, FIRE! Second rank, FIRE!" order, which inflicted heavy casualties to the advancing middle mob. To complete this devastating round of enemy fire, the left flanked Cadian unit took out three Nobz. The only bright side here was that Andy's Ratling snipers were so well hidden...he forgot to use them!

Tau/Ork: Once the Tau disembarked the Devilfish, they opened fire on the left flanked Cadians who just shot up the Nobz. Only the Pulse carbine armed leader could fire, but effectively did so by killing a single trooper and pinning the entire unit. Next the XV8 suited commander stepped forward, launching his missile pod and Plasma rifle at the Chimera. The Plasma rifle missed, but the missiles screamed home, destroying the transport, with a few Guardsmen not able to escape. On the other side of the table, the telltale WAAAAAAAGH!! sounded out, and the Ork rush was full on. Andy and I haven't seen the Orks in action, so it was a jaw-dropping scene to say the least. Against the Stormtroopers, the Mob raced into melee, with an eye-popping 61 attacks, 40 of which actually hit. Of the forty dice rolled to wound, only one failed to do so. With the Stormtroopers taking a staggering 39 wounds, their fate was sealed and then ground under the heels of clunky Ork boots. The middle Mob raced forward to, but their success was only marginal, but still managed to slaughter nine Guardsmen, and send the rest fleeing from the fight. To cap off a sickeningly successful hand-to-hand round, the Warboss, who acted true to form all game, charged the Stormtrooper Chimera head on and managed to bring it to a grinding halt, wrecking it in place.


The Boyz take down the Stormtroopers with reckless abandon


Warboss Gazkill kills...a tank


Tau missiles wreck the other Chimera

Turn 3
Cadians: The tide had turned for the Guard, who found themselves on the ropes rather quickly. The Senior Officer began shouting his orders from the front lines, with not one, but two "Get back in the fight!" rallies successfully unpinning one unit, and bringing another back from running off the table. The unpinned Cadians took out three Fire Warriors with their combined Lasguns, and another three fell to their grenade launcher, a heavy blow for the Tau! The rooftop Ratlings, finally done with their Turn 2 snack break, decided to put their stubby sniper rifles to work, felling the rampaging (but wounded twice already) Warboss Gazkill. Next, the platoon command squad charged the middle Mob of Orks, but their timing was off and the Ork countered the charge by elminating the entire command squad. Finally, the Cadian Company Commander led his men into the Nobz, showing them 'how it's done' by wiping out the remaining Orks with his Power sword.

Tau/Orks: The XV8 commander, at seeing the Warboss go down, concentrated his fire on the Ratlings in cover, managing to wipe them out to the man, err, Ratling. The Orks, being out of charge range, turned to their shootas, killing one of the mortar teams, the rest broke morale and ran off the battlefield. In the middle, three members of the company command squad fell in melee before three of the Boyz fell again to the company commander's Power sword attacks. He was finally brought down by Ork choppas.


Charge! The Commissar hacks down the remaining Orks


"Nice shooting Hambone!", "Thanks, Sticky Buns!"

Turn 4
Cadians: After heavy casualties to their center line, the Cadians manage to wipe out the Mob of Boyz in the middle of the table. On the left flank, more Cadians charged the Devilfish, their courage bolstered by the Melta-bombs they were carrying. They didn't realize the Devilfish was equipped with Flechette dischargers, but it was a hardly a concern as the cloud of metal shrapnel only managed to kill two Guardsmen. After that slight delay, the Melta-bombs were planted, and the Devilfish's engines were rocked by the hit, immoblizing it were it stood. Its landing gear keeping it from crashing to the ground.

Tau/Ork: With the Orks tidying up things on the other side of the field, the remaining Tau leveled their technologically superior Pulse rifles at the Melta-bomb wielding Cadians and kill seven of them, breaking their morale and causing them to flee.


Fire!

Conclusion
It was a solid win for the Tau/Ork coalition outscoring the kill point total by three more than the Cadians. What looked like it would be a devastating game inflicted by Guard fire turned ugly when the Orks got into position to do what they do best, fight in melee. It was a fun game overall, and I think we all learned a lot about our respective armies too, what to do next time, and maybe a few things to avoid. It was kind of obvious that none of us were too versed on the rules, and a thousand point battle easily took about three times as long as it should. It all comes down to practice though, I can't wait for the next one!

Match MVP
There were many heroes of the battle, like the opposing Commissar, cutting swath after swath with his Power sword through the greenskin ranks. What about Warboss Gazkill? He never took a cover save, and hulked about the board killing everything in his path, even troop transports. For me, I'm going with the Tau commander ('cause it's my blog, mwahahaha) but not without merit. He managed to blow up a Chimera, just like Gazkill, but he also destroyed the Ratling snipers in one turn (avenging Gazkill).

Moment of the Game
This had to be the assault on the Stortroopers. Once we started doing the math, and realized the Ork Mob was bearing down with sixty one attacks we took a step back and realized just how effective Orks were in combat. Not only that, but defying the odds, 39/40 rolls were wounding hits. If you can keep your Orks in one piece across No Man's Land and get them to close in melee, you're going to be happy. If you're an Ork player that is.


Here's a (blurry) bonus pic of Andy's Imperial Guard in all their glory