Final Waaagh! 3rd Edition Codex

All hail the 3rd edition Ork codex and it's 9+ years of glory!

The time has come for Waaagh! 3rd edition codex! For 9 years you have served well, but it is time to move on to... err... greener pastures. What more fitting way to say farewell then an 1850pt. Rouge Trader Tournament? This would be the first RTT for my foot sloggers in many many years. But I was determined to go out in style even if I only got 3 turns in...

This event took place in December of 2007.





My list
Warboss Fridgechukka -Mega-armour, cybork body, iron gob, kustom shoota (more dakka, shootier).

11 Flashgitz -kustom job: shootier, 4 big shootas. Nob -big shoota, iron gob.

21 Sluggas -3 rokkits. Nob -power klaw, rokkit, cybork body, iron gob.
14 Shootas -3 big shootas. Nob -big shoota, boss pole.
10 Tankbustas -3 rokkits. Nob -rokkit, big horns, 3 ammo runts.
10 Burna Boyz -4 Burnas. 1 Mek -kustom force field.
20+ grots. Slaver -rokkit, squig hound.

9 Trukkboyz. Nob -power klaw, big horns. Trukk -rokkit, red paint, grot riggers, armour plates.
Warbuggy -Skorcha.
Warbugy -twin-linked rokkit.

Looted Leman Russ -hull lascannon, grot riggers, armour plates.
Battlewagon -Zzap gun, 2 twin-linked big shootas, red paint, grot riggers, armour plates, turbo boosta.
7 Lootas -3 lascannons.

Fridgechukka the Mega-boss would be leading his horde one more time into the fray. He'd be hitching a ride with the Trukkboyz to get stuck-in ASAP. The Flashgitz are one of my most favorite units... they miss a lot, but I love the unit and I love rolling a ton of dice even if they don't ever hit. I brought a variety of boyz from the codex. The usual big mob of Slugga boyz, a Shoota boy unit to add to the wall of dakka from the Flash Gitz, the Burna Boyz to roll in the Battlewagon, the Tankbustas for well... tankbustin'... and of course the game winners... da grots 'o doom! That's 5 different Troop selections, too bad I don't own any Stikkbommaz! Also present was my infamous Big Red Trukk, my favorite buggys, and my good old faithful Battlewagon which has never left my side (points permitting) and the ubiquitous Looted Leman Russ. Also appearing would be my Lootas with lascannons! My Lootas are another unit that I love but would rarely see action due to ineffectiveness... but forget all that today. This list wasn't about being effective or optimized... it was about taking some of my favourite units to the battlefield one last time!

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GAME 1
Mission: Alpha level. Loot Counters FTW.
Opponent: Eldar

Eldar List:
Farseer
Autarch
6 Banshees -Exarch. (mounted in Falcon)
6 Fire Dragons -Exarch. (mounted in Falcon)
2x 10 Dire Avengers -Exarch. (mounted in Waveserpents)
Wraithlord.
2x Falcons -All the trimmings.

There were 4 loot counters and 4 large building ruins, 1 in each table quadrant. The first thing I notice on all the tables is the serious lack of terrain. If not knowing the rules of the game/your army is my biggest pet peeve then having less then 25% terrain on the table is close behind. I think there was an issue in procuring enough terrain though so I won't gripe... too much :-P Also most of these pictures were taken by the event organizer.

I knew that I would have to be lucky to take out the Falcons or they would just zoom in and contest any loot counters they pleased and win the game with a last turn objective grab.

TURNS 1-2
Eldar win the roll for first turn but give it to me (yup, they plan to zoom in and do an objective grab FTW.) I roll double 1's for the grot's difficult terrain movement and it stalls my advance as I don't want to venture the boys out in the open just yet. Nearly everything is out of range to shoot and the Russ fails to wound the Wraithlord with a well placed Battle Cannon shot.

The Farseer rolls: 1,1,3 for it's psychic test and is insta-killed as his Ghosthelm fails to save his mind being krushed by Mork (sorry, but I had to laugh at that). The Trukk gets popped and the Battlewagon glancing 6ed.


I miss with just about every shot in turn 2 and get shot up some more.

TURNS 3-6
Disembarking and blade storming Dire Avengers exact their toll on the boyz but get krumped along with all the other Eldar infantry over time.
Megaboss Fridgechukka accounts for a squad of Dire Avengers and the Fire Dragons by himself!

With all the Eldar vehicle upgrades and fast movement the best I could ever do was stun the Falcons, then they would fly off and recover behind one of the large buildings. Then come back and blast me. Then get stunned again. Then Fly off again behind the area terrain. Rinse. Repeat. And claim 2 counters in the final turn.

The Wraithlord which took 2 wounds from Loota lascannons made 9 3+ saves(!) from massed Big Shoota fire over the course of the game to claim a third objective and victory for the Eldar as I only had my Russ claiming an objective.

The only other above half-strength unit was the Lootas as the majority of my force was blasted away by massed shuriken and twin-linked scatter lasers.

End Result
Eldar win 3-1 Loot Counters.

Da Aftamaff
The double 1's to start the game for the grot's movement set the tone for the game. My shooting was awful considering the volume of dice. And when I did damage the Falcons, one damage dice was always a 1 or 2 from the Holo-field rules. But that's the way it goes.

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GAME 2
I was really excited when I found out that my next game was against the other ork player there. His army was absolutely stunning and every model but 1 was converted in some way he said. He had similar ideas with the final Waaagh! 3d Edition Codex. While my army was heavy on my favorite specialist units, his was heavy on the boyz. We used his Big Mek model as the Take and Hold objective as neither of our armys had one and you could just see two rival ork hordes fighting for the services on the Big Mek to make them the best weapons to beat the other boyz with! It should be an interesting match-up, though I knew we would probably not be able to finish the game...

Mission: Gamma level. Take and Hold.
Opponent: Orks

Ork List:
Megaboss.
Painboss -Cyborks.
Small unit of 'Ard Boyz.
2x Large units of Slugga Boyz.
Large unit of Shoota Boyz.
medium-sized unit of grots.
2x Trukkboyz units.
Looted Leman Russ.
3x Killa Kans.

TURN 1
The game was played on the same table as my last game. I got first turn. My opponent wanted to have our Looted Russes engage in a duel with each other but like a weedy git I opted to drop a pie plate on all that mass of boyz and unleash a torrent of dakka instead!

He promptly glancing 6ed my Looted Russ with his Looted Russ on the next turn haha, just.

TURN 2
I advance slowly and don't commit any forces yet as I try to whittle down his numbers with my superior dakka destroying a Trukk full of boyz baring down on my firebase. My Lootas blew his Looted Russ apart with uncanny accuracy. Ah... sweet, sweet revenge. While his horde continues to advance and trade barbs.

TURN 3
I advance and shoot more... the grots are practically on top of the objective now intending to be a future speed bump for a counter-charge. I assault his 'Ard Boyz with my Trukkboyz and there is no clear winner. Fridgechukka is on-board with the Burna Boyz in the Battlewagon... content to stay in it's safe confines and burn the other boyz down to a more manageable number...


Somewhere in my 3rd turn the time warning is announced and it looks like we're only going to get 3 turns in. I suggested we not even play our last game so we could finish this one... It was just starting to get interesting! He rushes everything forward, kills a few more things and charges his Trukkboy Nob (the last surviving memeber of the unit) into cover against my Shoota Boyz. I attack with 5 Orks and do no wounds... he attacks back with his power klaw and his 5 attacks hit and kill all 5 orks to end the game!



End Result
I had the lead in Victory Points by about 150 or so, so we just called it a draw.

Da Aftamaff
I could imagine both our Warbosses grabbing the Big Mek and pulling him apart in an over-zealous tug of war! It would have been nice to get the whole 6 turns in but with around 250 models to push around and talking a bunch about orks, there was just no way. Too bad, cuz I think my boyz could have pulled it out! But this was all in good fun and a draw is fitting.

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GAME 3
Time for the final battle of 3rd edition! I was determined to go out in style (and win atleast one game!). I would be up against a familiar foe: Space Marines... with a twist: Daemonhunters.

Mission: Omega level. Recon.
Opponent: Space Marines with Daemonhunter allies.

Space Marine List:
Chief Librarian. -Storm of Wrath, Fury of the Ancients.
Inquisitor Lord -about a half dozen henchmen.
3x Dreadnaughts -various load outs. Atleast 1 was Venerable.
2x Daemonhosts.
2x 10 man Tactical squads in Rhinos.
1x 10 man Tactical squad on foot.
5 man Scout squad.
Landspeeder.
5 man Devastator squad.

I'm pretty sure you can't take Daemonhosts with Space Marines... oh well, the guy certainly wasn't looking for an edge so I didn't care. Also loaded with Elites, probably took some Marine trait to allow it.

Escalation was in full effect. I started with pretty much my entire army on the board while my opponent's Dreadnaughts, Rhinos, and LandSpeeders were not. Lucky me! We said that the small terrain pieces that dotted the middle of the board could not be shot through by infantry and were difficult terrain, this added a bit more strategy to deployment and movement then just line up, charge, and shoot.

TURN 1
My opponent's firepower is crippled by Escalation and only a handful of orks die in Turn 1. My first turn saw me concentrate on the Devastators and kill all but 1.

TURN 2
My opponent's Escalation rolls see only one 4+ roll for a Dreadnaught, again only a few orks die to shooting.

My Escalation rolls are a flurry of 4+ rolls getting me almost everything in reserve. The newly arrived Dreadnaught gets severely crippled from rokkit fire, the last Devastator is downed, as are the Scouts and a Daemonhost.

TURN 3
Again Escalation only gets a Rhino unit and another Dreadnaught. Casualties are still light and the ork horde is poised to overrun the poor Marines...

The Dreadnought that came on gets blasted apart, as does the Rhino carrying the Marines though none of them die in the crash, the final Daemonhost also gets unceremoniously gunned down. My dice are on fire, rolling a continous salvo of 5's and 6's.

TURN 4-6
The piece meal arrival of the Space Marine forces and my hot dice are too much. My orks steamroll to an easy victory. Highlights from the last few turns include: Fridgechukka krumping an entire Tactical Squad by himself. The grots wounding the Inquisitor on the last turn of the game!

The Marines are left with a wounded Librarian and Inquisitor, and just a handful of Marines from one of the Rhino squads. While I only lost over half the Tankbustas, all the Trukkboyz, and the Rokkit Buggy.

End Result
Orks win big.

Da Aftamaff
Well, what can I say? I've been on the receiving end of the old Escalation screw-over. It ain't pretty and my dice were plasma-hot. Where were they in my first game? My opponent was a really nice guy despite this pummeling and was not upset at all. Cheers to him.

I ended up going 1-1-1 and had a great time. I think the army performed better then the 1-1-1 record would indicate and I'm very pleased Fridgechukka personally got some good krumpin' in. Everyone I played was a top notch sportsman. Overall winner was a Tyranid 'stealer shock list I think and the Best Army went fittingly to my ork opponent from Game 2.

Way to go out on a high note boyz! Bring on the new codex!