1250pt Tournament at Local Gaming Store

This is an old tournament report that I posted on a forum long ago but for the sake of posterity I am posting it here. That being said it uses the 3rd edition Ork codex.

The event was held at The Gamer's Sanctuary in Flint, MI. I used to live in Flint and know several of the gamers there so I try to get up there for 40k events whenever I can. This particular event was about the 4th time the organizers ran it and it's been centered on Imperium vs. non-Imperium battles to form an on-going narrative.

In my first appearance I used my Space Marines to go 3-0. This was to be my 2nd event appearance and I decided to take my favorite army this time! They allowed you to make two 1250pt army lists and choose which one to use based on who you fought.

There were about 20 or 22 players. I was told I was the only Ork player to ever appear in the history of the event to date. There was 1 Imperial Guard, 1 Necron, 1 Tau, 3 or 4 Eldar, 1 or 2 Tyranids, and the rest Chaos and Space Marines. The tables were 4x4.

I made lists under the assumption that I'd be facing mostly Space Marines and my alternate list to take on Imperial Guard... little did I know the organizers (who I've had many a classic battle against back in the day) had other ideas and saw it fit to have non-Imperium armies fight each other for the first few rounds. Orks will fight anyone! Bring it!

My 1250pt list that I used in all 3 games:
Warboss Fridgechukka -mega-armour, iron gob, cybork body, boosta, shootier shoota.
Big Mek Duruk Da Fixxa- kustom force field, mek tools, 2 grot oilers, shootier slugga.

16 Slugga Boyz -3 rokkits, +1 Nob -power klaw, rokkit, iron gob.
11 Slugga Boyz -3 rokkits, +1 Nob -choppa, rokkit, big horns, 3 ammo runts.
25 Grots, +1 Slaver -choppa, rokkit, squighound.

8 Trukkboyz, +1 Nob -slugga, power klaw, big horns. Trukk -rokkit, red paint, grot riggers, armour plates.
9 Trukkboyz, 1 burna. Trukk -rokkit, red paint, grot riggers, armour plates.
1 Warbuggy -skorcha, grot riggers.

Looted Leman Russ -hull lascannon, armour plates, grot riggers
Killa Kan -big shoota, armour plates.
Killa Kan- big shoota, armour plates.*

*Thanks to Skumgrod John AKA Boss Kong Bundy for loaning me the Trukks and the Kans!

Basically I tried to take as many rokkits as I could. Fridgechukka would hang back and hitch a ride with one of the Trukkboy units. They would be the 1st wave and pounce on turn 2 if possible. The Killa Kans and Skorchas were expendable and distractions to draw fire away from the boyz... the Big Mek would accompany the Kans, fixing them as needed. The bulk of the army would advance destroying any vehicles at range then act as the 2nd wave of close combat attackers around turn 4... that was the plan anyway.
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Round 1... FIGHT!
Mission: Get scoring units into your opponents deployment zone for victory point bonuses.
Opponent: Necrons. I haven't played against tin 'eadz in years...

Necron list:
Necron Lord -Staff of Light, Nightmare Shroud, Resurrection Orb, +something else.
x2 12 Warriors
3 Destroyers
2 Monoliths! Seriously! At 1250 points.

I made a comment to my friend that I'm glad I'm on the bad guy side because I don't have to fight that Necron army with the 2 Monoliths... well guess what happened? I knew right away I was pretty screwed and would need lots of luck.

WARNING! Rant coming: I'm sure my opponent is a nice guy and I honestly don't care if someone brings a list like this, it's allowed by the rules so more power to you. BUT... My biggest pet peeve... I will never understand why people come to a tournament that haven't played the game in ages, it's insulting to your opponent. We had to go over several rules such as targeting IC's, effects of gauss weapons, assaults on vehicles, etc. Come on! If you go to a tournament at least know your own army! I come to play, not spend an hour explaining rules.
rant over...
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He put his Warriors and Lord in a building with a Monolith on either side. My plan was to go for the phase out obviously, but the open terrain meant casualties were gonna be heavy slogging across the board.

The Twin-Towers of Gouda.

Ork deployment.

Turn 1
Pretty ineffective shooting from the Monoliths, the Particle Whips scattering and killing just a few grots and orks, the Destroyers kill the Skorcha.

I move the Trukkboyz without the Nob forward 25" to take cover on the flank behind a small ruined building, if it survives the 2nd turn I can assault the Detroyers. My Warboss hops in the other Trukk but I carefully stay out of line of sight in my deployment zone. My Slaver takes out a Destroyer with a rokkit, I love this guy. All my other rokkits are only in range of the Monoliths and do nothing, the Russ takes out a few Warriors despite them being packed together... (4+ cover from the building, + Res Orb = Not a lot of dead Necrons.)

Turn 2
The Monoliths move forward and start reaping green souls with their Flux Arc Projectors but my Grots and big Slugga unit stand firm despite the casualties piling up. A Kan gets blown to pieces by a Particle Whip shot. My Trukk miraculously survives (thanks to good armour plate rolls) but is Stunned, however the boyz can still get out and assault hurhurhur!

I continue to slog it forward and then make a critical error, I move my Trukk with Boss out in the open as there is nowhere else to go and he needs to get stuck in ASAP as we're running short on time and it's only turn 2 (see: Pet Peeve)! I'm confident that I can prevent the Monolith closest to it from destroying it and learn too late that the bloody thing can still fire the Particle Whip even if it's Stunned, and I did stun it with concentrated rokkit fire. The Trukkboyz get out of their stunned Trukk and wipe out the Detroyers and consolidate behind a wall ready to charge into some Warriors by the building next turn if they survive the gauss frying they are sure to get. I assault the other Monolith with my Slugga Nob's power klaw but do nothing.

Turn 3
Trukkboyz with Boss gets Ordnance 6ed Pfff, stupid Monoliths, grumble, grumble. More orks and grots die to Gauss and Flux Arc death, but they don't run. Orks don't fear death you tin 'ead! The last Killa Kan gets immobilized and it's big shoota blown off.

Another fusilade of rokkits immobilizes one of the Monoliths, Hoozah! I got about 5 Trukkboyz left and they assault into the Warriors and kill 2 while the remaining 6 Warriors kill 2 boyz in return. The few survivors from the other Slugga unit move off the Monolith and into assault range of the building crawling with Necrons but promptly roll double 1's on difficult terrain and just stand there. My Big Mek fixes the immobilized Killa Kan. Job's a good 'un!

Time is called. I killed the Destroyers, Immobilized one Monolith, killed 6 Warriors from 1 Squad, and 3 or 4 from the other.
He killed my Warboss, over half the grots, over half the big Slugga unit, obliterated the Trukkboyz with Nob and destroyed the Skrocha and a Killa Kan.

End Result
Minor Defeat for the Orks.

Not much I could do against 2 Monoliths in a 1250pt game with open middle terrain in 3 turns. If the game continued, the Monoliths would have done me in for sure, but then I would have played more cautiously and not have rushed in as recklessly as I did if we were playing a six turn game and if I had had full knowledge of the Monolith's cheese (I also forgot it was a Skimmer and therefore can't block LoS to troops on the ground behind it)... ah well, live and learn. And yes, I lost the roll for Deployment Zone choice and First Turn...

Game 2
After the dual Monolith debacle there was no where to go but up. Only to find I'm up against Mechanized Eldar in the hands of a competent general! Great! I was pretty excited to see terrain in the middle of the board, at least there will be some tactics involved in this game. Now all I needed was some luck on the Glancing Damage table...

Mission: Nominate any unit to get off your opponent's table edge for bonus Victory Points.
Terrain: Hilly on the sides with a big ruined building in the middle.
Opponent: Mechanized Eldar. Da Panzees!

Eldar List:
Farseer -shuriken pistol, Witchblade, Ghost Helm, Rune Armour, Runes of Witnessing, Spirit Stones, Doom, Guide, Eldritch Storm, various Craftworld appliances.

4 Howling Banshees +1 Exarch -Executioner. Wave Serpent -Vectored Engines.
5 Fire Dragons. Wave Serpent -Vectored Engines.

10 Dire Avengers +1 Exarch -Dire Sword, Shimmershield, Defend. Wave Serpent -Vectored Engines.
3 Guardian Jetbikes, 1 has a Shuriken Cannon.

1 Fire Prism -Shuriken Cannon upgrade, Holo-field, Vectored Engines.
1 Falcon -Shuriken Cannons all around, Vectored Engines.

Eldar deployment.

Ork deployment.

TURN 1
I went first and I raced my army forward aiming to get into the big central ruins and 4+ cover ASAP. I concentrated fire on the Jetbikes, the only thing in range and wiped them all out.

The Eldar split their army and hug each table edge moving forward to encirlce my army. The Banshees and Fire Prism on my right facing off against the Killa Kans, Big Mek, and the small Slugga boy unit, everything else on my left. The Eldar immobilize the Skorcha buggy and Destroy the non-Nob Trukkboy Trukk, but I lose only 1 boy and disembark into the big central buidling. A Killa Kan and my Looted Russ also get Stunned. Who knew 5 vehicles could pack so much firepower?

TURN 2
This big building which I though would bring salvation is becoming a real pain and forces a bottleneck for my other Trukk preventing it to move as far as I want too. The grot riggers fail to fix my Skorcha. The whole army moves forward and are at the edge of the big building. I end up immobilizing the Falcon AND the Banshee Wave Serpent from massed rokkit fire.

The Eldar make their move. The Dire Avengers led by the Farseer disembark and the Farseer Dooms my big Slugga unit and Guides the Dire Avengers. About 10 or so Orks and grot shields total are killed from all the skuriken. The Russ gets it's Battle Cannon blown off by the Falcon. The Fire Prism Detroys a Kan. The Banshees disembark and assault the grots and small Slugga unit, but only a few orks can fight due to careful positioning on the charge. The Banshees win and all the Orks and grots pile-in. A good sacrifice on my opponents part as it forces the big long line of grot shields to move to the far right, taking them out of the fight on the left flank and exposing my boyz to the Dire Avengers.

TURN 3
The grot riggers fail to fix the Skorcha again, which sucks because I could have cooked the Dire Avengers good and proppa. Good difficult terrain rolls see my Trukk boyz get into assault range of the Dire Avengers even though their are only a few boyz left, Dire Avengers strike first and kill 'em all. I decide to drive through the buidling with my other Trukkboy unit, I pass the dangerous terrain roll and disembark and assault the Fire Dragon Wave Serpent but can't hit it with my Nob's power klaw and now they are sitting ducks. What's left of the consistently 'Doomed' big Slugga boy unit assaults the immobilized Falcon and the Nob tears it to shreds with his klaw. The Banshees are wiped out and my grots consolidate and attempt to encircle and protect my few remaining Slugga boyz in the small unit.

The Fire Dragon and Dire Avenger Wave Serpents retreat back to their DZ. The Farseer Guides the Dire Avengers once more and my Nob led Trukkboyz are shot down to an ork. The Skorcha Buggy is finally destroyed and my last Killa Kan is Stunned by the Fire Prism.

TURN 4
My small Slugga boy unit has 6 orks left, 4 of which have rokkits and the Fire Prism gets Shaken by them, preventing it from firing next turn. The Slaver with the Rokkit glancing 6's the Dire Avengers Wave Serpent! Hoozah! I really love my Runtherd. Whats left of my Big Slugga boy mob charges the Dire Avengers being led by the Farseer and my Warboss finally makes it into combat too with a good mega-boosta roll but promptly whiffs in close combat rolling 1's to wound on his only 2 hits, but that was after I rolled 3 straight 6's for my Slugga boyz armour saves against the Dire Avenger attacks! My Nob with the power klaw that shredded the Falcon promptly brained the Farseer! That ork ate his wheat-squigys for breakfast! Despite this pounding the Dire Avengers held their own just above half strength.

Time was called and my opponent chose not to take his final turn, which was just as well for him as the Dire Avengers would have been finished off more then likely and he only had a Fire Dragon Wave Serpent available to shoot anything.

KRUMP!

I killed the Farseer, Howling Banshees, Guardian Jetbikers, 1 Wave Serpent, the Falcon, and immobilized another Wave Serpent.
He Killed over half the Big Slugga boy unit, both Trukkboy units save one Trukk, Destroyed the Skorcha Buggy and 1 Killa Kan. The Looted Russ was damaged but mobile and the small unit of Slugga boyz and grots were both 1 model above half strength!

End Result
Minor victory for the Orks.

Now dat was a good fight! Power Klaw Nob and Runtherd rokkit FTW! Doom + Guide + Shuriken = lots of dead orks. Neither of us concentrated on the mission at all and I honestly forgot all about it. His messenger unit was the Dire Avengers and mine was the Nob-led Trukkboyz. My opponent was one of the better generals present and had a very good knowledge of the rules, still we only got 4 turns in.

Warboss Fridgechukka was not having a good day... da tin 'eadz had blew up one of his Trukks which had pinned him under the burning wreckage. By the time he dug himself out da fight was over and da tin 'eadz wuz gone. Then in da scrap with da panzees, his zoggin' power klaw malfunctioned... more then likely damaged from da Trukk when it blewed up last fight. Fridgechukka would have to talk to da Mekboyz about dat... and by talk he meant bust some 'eadz togetha.

But if it was one good ting it was dat dere were many enemys to duff on dis planet and Mork be damned if Fridgechukka would be denied his proppa amount of troffeez!

Game 3
Finally some Space Marines to fight! My opponent is a good guy who I know. A funny story is that over-hearing him and another dude talking about Warhammer 40k in one of my University classes rekindled my passion in the hobby several years ago... He also won best Imperium general at a previous tournament. I was confident in this battle as Terminator armour doesn't hold up too well against the all-mighty choppa.

Mission: Bonus victory points for killing HQ selections. Table quarters deployment.
Opponent: Dark Angels Deathwing.

Dark Angel list:
Belial -Master of the Deathwing.
Belial's Deathwing Terminator Squad -1 Lightning Claw, 1 Assault Cannon.
Dreadnaught.
x2 Terminator Squads -1 Lightning Claw, 1 Assault Cannon.
5 Ravenwing Bikers -2 Melta guns, +1 Sgt, Power Weapon, Telleport Homer.

I win deployment zone choice and I get a nice big 2 story building to deploy in leaving the Dark Angels with a decidedly bare deployment zone, he deploys his Dreadnought right up front to push me back in my quarter and his bikes behind the dread and that's it, the rest is deep striking.

TURN 1
Dark Angels get first turn and Belial and his retinue and another Terminator Squad Deep Strike down by the Raven bikes. Opening fire kills about a half dozen grots and assault cannon fire destroys a Killa Kan.

My small Slugga boy unit destroys the Dreadnaught (2 penetrating and a glancing hit from 4 rokkits, no ammo runts used!) The other Slugga boy unit takes out a biker with a rokkit. The Looted Russ blows apart 2 Terminators as several 1's are rolled for armour saves!

TURN 2
The last Terminator Squad comes down. Dark Angel fire takes out another half dozen grots and about 8 or 9 Orks but no one runs. He fails to destroy the Killa Kan thanks to bad assault cannon rolls. It's rarin' to krump!

More massed shots see off about 4 Terminators, my opponent is rolling 1's like it's his job. The Killa Kan charges, kills the only Terminator in it's attack zone and drags the other surving 2 of the squad into combat. My opponent misjudges my 12" charge range and my big Slugga boy mob assaults the newly arrived Terminator Squad. I WAAAAGH! and wound 7 times and he fails 6 4+ saves wiping out the Terminators completely! I then consolidate into the bikes. Around this time my opponent goes and gets new dice...

TURN 3
Only Belial and his unit are unengaged. He makes a strategic withdraw and destroys my Skorcha buggy in the meantime. My Killa Kan strikes twice, wounds twice, the Terminators fail their 5+ invulnerable save twice. My Slugga Boyz dispatch the remaining bikers with help from the power klaw Nob.

TURN 4-6
The Dark Angels are down to Belial and 3 or 4 Terminators. He tries to shoot again the Killa Kan closing in on them but does nothing to it. My Warboss and Trukk boyz pounce from behind cover and get stuck in at last along with the invincible Killa Kan. The Terminators are eventually hacked down to a man and only Belial remains with one wound facing my Warboss who was wounded by Belial. Belial can't hit him let alone wound him to seal the deal, even with his master-crafted power weapon... Warboss Fridgechukka unleashes the fury of 3 wounding S10 hits which utterly crushes the Dark Angel Master and gives the Orks the Massacre!

Fridgechukka gets anuvva troffee!

The Dark Angels wounded my Warboss, shot up over half the grots and big mob of Slugga boyz, and destroyed the Skrocha and a Killa Kan.

End Result
Massacre for the Orks.

My opponent (Dez) is a great sport to play against. I can't say I would have had as much fun if I had his dice rolls, they were absolutely horrid, it seemed that a 1 for an armour save came up 50% of the time and you would expect an AV11 Kan to die after 3 rounds of rending ass cannon. The mis-judgement on my assault range sealed the deal as choppas are just broken against 2+ armour saves...

So with that I ended up going 2-1. The final placements were based on total Victory points and in no small part due to the final battle I ended up 4th overall out of 20+ when I peeked at the final VP list, not too shabby. I was about 90 points behind 3rd place overall which was my skumgrod, Boss Noteef and his Word Bearers (his orks were in a state of disrepair at the time). 1st place for the bad guys was a World Eaters army I think and 1st place for the Imperium was a Space Wolf-esque army which was 1st overall.

Good times, thanks to JonC and Greg for putting it on!

Crimson Clovers vs Noteef's Orks

Since the last battle against John's Space Marines and having recently started reading the Horus Heresy novels, I was itching to play my Space Marines.

I found the time to travel out to my friend Dan's (AKA Boss Noteef) and take on his Orks in an 1850 point battle. I used my current 1850 point list.

He had a Warboss and a Big Mek with a Force Field leading the army. A large unit of Tankbustas and Mega-Armoured Nobz in a Trukk as Elites. 'Ard Boyz in a Trukk, 20 strong Ork mobs (x3) and a Deff Dread rounding out the Troops. A small unit of Stormboyz and a squadron of 3 Warbuggys with Twin-linked Rokkits. For Heavy Support there was a Battlewagon with 4 Big Shootas and a Kannon and a unit of 3 Killa Kans and another unit of 2 Killa Kans all with Big Shootas.

I won a Strategy Rating roll-off and elected to play a straight up Seek and Destroy mission as I didn't fancy my chances of holding objectives against the Ork horde. All our missions are Gamma level as Alpha is just too boring and Escalation is just too retarded.

I had my army split into two factions, but not too spread out as that's not the way to fight a horde. My Devastators and the melta-gun combat squad were my furthest units on my right, holding down a large building ruin that was slightly to the right of center of the battlefield. They were supported by an Attack Bike and the HB Razorback with the Dreadnought lurking between two buildings nearby. This group faced down 5 Killa Kans and 20 Boyz, all protected by the Big Mek.

Everything else was deployed on my left side of the battle field... the Twin Las Razorbacks and missile launcher combat squad in the far left corner had a good field of fire.


TURNS 1-2
Dan won the dice roll and took first turn. He shot a ton of Big Shootas at my marines and scored several hits but had piss poor rolls to wound and no marines were taken out of the fight on the first turn. Much the same happened in turn 2 but a few casualties were scored.

I concentrated fire on the Ork armour. The Warbuggy squadron was first to go as they were the most immediate ranged threat for my Crusader. I decided to also deal with the Killa Kans ASAP even if it meant directing Heavy Bolter fire meant for the Boyz at them. I succeeded in immobilizing 2 out of 3 Kanz. In Turn 2 the Battlewagon was Destroyed along with 6 or 7 Shoota Boyz that were being transported in it. I couldn't get a bead on the Trukks as Dan did well to keep them out of LoS behind the Battlewagon...

TURN 3
The Horde was bearing down but still out of Waaagh! range... the Trukks broke cover and fortunately for me the 'Ard Boy Trukk immobilized itself in a large crater (gotta take that Reinforced Ram), but the MANz Trukk with the Warboss in tow pulled in close against a large building, threatening to rip apart my army next turn if something wasn't done... Dan continued with some interesting rolls... scoring 8 rokkit hits out of 12(!!!) with his Tankbustas but then failing to roll a 6 to score any glancing damage on it...

I didn't want to commit the Anointed (AKA Death Company) to combat so soon but had no choice. The Land Raider Crusader lurched forward and all but annihilated the remaining Shoota Boyz as they pulled themselves from the wrecked heap of their Battlewagon... the Anointed were then disgorged with the intent on charging the Tankbustas. But my plasma squad that had been moving across the roof of the large building peered over the edge and saw the MANz Trukk below... waiting to pounce. I scored 3 bolter hits and a plasma hit. All 3 bolter hits then proceeded to glance (yes three 6s, life isn't fair) and the Trukk was destroyed dumping the MANz out in charge range of the Anointed who along with the Chaplain and Librarian wiped out all the MANz in their kill zone... leaving only the Boss and a single MAN who despite the carnage did not flee.


TURN 4
The Orks surge forward with a mighty Waaagh! and engage the Marines on multiple fronts:

The Anointed get charged by one of the mobs of Slugga Boyz and the Deff Dread. The Librarian struck first and used his Force Weapon to slay the Warboss with a single blow! The Chaplain with his Krak Grenades and the Anointed with their rending rage failed to bring down the final MAN or the Deff Dread who clobbered the Librarian in vengeance. The Power Klaw Nob killed 2 marines and the Orks won combat. The Fearless marines failed a No Retreat! armour save and a battle brother was swallowed up by the green tide.


The Tankbustas assault the Land Raider Crusader and attach 6 Tankbusta bombz to the hull of the Crusader but only 1 succeeds in breaking through the armour and Stunning the mighty vehicle...

The Stormboyz and 'Ard Boyz engaged in a joint venture in shredding the Rhino to bits... trapping 4 Marines inside while the other 6 manage to stumble out of the back ramp.

The other mob of Slugga Boyz surge forward to engage the marine Dreadnought by literal millimeters but are not able to get the Power Klawed Nob into the fight just yet as the Dreadnought squishes 2 boyz. Their numbers ensure the Slugga Boyz will be fighting for some time...


My Devastators destroy the squadron of 2 Killa Kans in spectacular fashion, both scoring penetrating 6s. The Razorbacks and Marines on the roof concentrate fire on the small but deadly unit of Stormboyz leaving only the Nob and a single Boy who turn tail and runz fer it.

Calling on the Power of the Machine Spirit the Stunned Crusader guns it directly forward a full 12", tank shocking the Tankbustas who are Fearless with their numbers... 1 Tankbusta is ran over by the massive machine in the ulitmate attempt of Death or Glory Hogging as yet another Tankbusta bomb fails to harm the Land Raider... My Attack Bike attempts to buy time for the Crusader to recover and charges headlong into the Mob of Tankbustas killing one and suffering a wound leaving the combat a stale mate...

The Chaplain and Anointed fail again to hurt the Deff Dread in combat. The Deff Dread whiffs against the Chaplain scoring only a single hit which is deflected by the Chaplain's Rosarius. 2 more marines are killed by Power Klaw and the Orks win the combat again, dragging down another Fearless marine.


The combat against the marine Dreadnought sees 2 more Boyz crushed but is immobilized by the Nobz Power Klaw as the fight continues...


TURN 5
Impatient from the fact that the Mek has failed to fix the 2 immobilized Kans the mobile Kan leaves the unit to engage the melta gun combat squad closing in and squishes a marine bringing them uder half strength, but the Sergeant destroys the maching with his Power Klaw and closes in on the Big Mek...

The Chaplain and final Anointed fall to the Deff Dread and sea of Boyz, which sees the lone MAN consolidating onto the roof, engaging the plasma gun squad of marines while the Attack Bike and Tankbustas remain engaged. The 'Ard Boyz assault the remains of the Rhino Tactical squad pulling themselves out of the wreckage. Power Klaws and Fists send body parts flying in all directions... the Orks win the combat causing the Sergeant and a single brother to flee from the combat in an attempt to regroup.

The Tactical squad remnants continue to fall back as the 'Ard Boyz are within 6" but they stop inches from the table edge as the 'Ard Boyz are sent fleeing in the shooting phase from casualties inflicted by a Razorback and the missile laucher combat squad.

The Crusader turns aroud and brings it's weapons to bare on the Deff Dread but fails to inflict any damage to the ork war machine. One of the Razorbacks targets it and scores a glancing hit with it's twin-linked lascannon which destoys it with a glancing 6.

The MAN in combat on the roof succeeds in krumping a single marine before he himself is brought down by the sergeants Power Fist.

The melta gun combat squad which is down to the marine with the melta gun and the sergeant pummel the hapless Big Mek in combat while the Power Klaw Nob fails to hit the marine Dreadnought with any attacks as the ancient warrior crushes 2 more of his boyz.


TURN 6
The Slugga Boyz turn to face the Crusader to assault it and succeed in tearing off the Hurricane Bolters with 2 glancing hits from the Nobz Klaw. The Tankbustas are able to finally drag down the Attack Bike as the other unit of Slugga Boyz continue their futility and are only able to Shake the marine Dreadnought.

The final 2 Marines of the Rhino squad are able to immediately rally thanks to the ATSKNF rule and concentrated fire from them, the Razorbacks, the plasma gun squad on the roof, and missile launcher combat squad massacres the Tanbustas to an ork.

The HB Razorback and other Attack Bike which had moved into position to engage the unit of Sluggas assailing the Crusader all open fire and are able to bring the unit of Slugga Boyz assailing the Crusader below half.

In the final assault phase the Power Klaw Nob succeeds in detroying the marine Dreadnoughts close combat weapon but not before 2 more Boyz are pulped, bringing that unit under half strength also.

The Orks are left with only 2 squads of Slugga Boyz under half strength at the end of the game.

Thoughts: Well, the Emperor definately blessed the Land Raider Crusader in this game and in the end it was it's extreme luck that helped me win by as much as I did. Dan hit a lot with shooting but could not wound and what few times he actually penetrated any armour couldn't roll high on the damage tables. He also had some truly horrid rolls to hit with his Power Klaws. Seriously, the Land Raider Crusader should have probably been destroyed or crippled the turn 8 rokkits hit it, and if not then, then when 7 Tankbustas bombz detonated on it... but the machine would not die! Not to mention the marine Dreadnought which withstood 5 rounds of combat with the Power Klawed Nob! Things like that aren't supposed to happen but it did and I was able to stall the orks in combat and pick them apart. Thanks to the glorious sacrifice of my Heroes, Anointed and Attack Bike. These brave brother's actions will be recorded with honours in the Hall of Heroes. For the Emperor!

Space Marines

Like so many Warhammer 40,000 gamers it was the Space Marines that drew me in back in the day. The first thing I bought was the 1st edition box set of 30 plastic Space Marines. These came with Ultramarine transfers and so I painted them appropriately. Shorty after that I remember reading a battle report between Blood Angels and Eldar in an issue of White Dwarf. Inspired, I bought the pewter box set of Death Company but I ended up trading them for some long forgotten models... orks of some variety more then likely.

It's funny how Space Marine models seem to come into your possession easily even if you don't intend on starting an army of them as by the time 2nd edition came out I was in full Orky swing... but I had amassed a decent sized Ultramarine army that saw action every now and then.

In 3rd edition I went on a mini-marine kick and re-structured/painted my Space Marines into a new chapter: Cobra Marines. With the color scheme and naming inspired by G.I. Joe's arch-enemy.

When the new 4th edition Space Marine codex came out I was determind to finally paint a complete force. My gaming group contained many Chaos armies and a demon-hunting Inquisitor Lord by the name of BeJesus had entered my army along with the Purity Above All trait to ensure my Space Marine chapter was free of the taint of Chaos. With a fresh red paint scheme the Crimson Clovers were born and death to the foes of the Imperium was dealt out, culminating in a 3-0 showing in a 1250pt local tournament.

When 5th edition was coming and a new Space Marine codex looming... I had been using the Blood Angel Codex .pdf to represent the Crimson Clover's in anticipation and had even used the Dark Angel codex a handful of times for S&G's. But when the 5th edition codex came out for Marines the options were nigh infinite and I re-named my chapter yet again... The Crimson Cobras were born who also went 3-0 in another 1250pt local tournament. Go marines!

Currently I have 3500pts of Space Marines and roll out Crimson Fist style every now and then with Pedro Kantor (my Chapter Master's name is Jaim Kreese).

Battle vs Marines: 4-19-08

I pitted my current 1850pt ork army against my friend John's (AKA Boss Kong) Space Marines this past weekend.

He brought a Space Wolf inspired list but used the trait system in the Marine Codex to give certain Tactical squads Furious Charge and Counter Attack/True Grit. His list contained a suped up Captain, Deep-Striking Terminators, Dreadnought, 2 Razorbacks with 6 man Tactical ML/Flamer, the aforementioned traited-up Tactical squads, a Land Raider and a Devastator squad. All his Tactical squads were led by plasma pistol and power fist/weapon toting Vet. Sgts. it seemed too.

We played a Gamma level Cleanse mission. I won the dice roll for Deployment and First Turn and despite raining down 2 Ordnance Templates (the Killkannon Battlewagon moved 12" so the Tankbustas could shoot at the Land Raider, but they failed to do anything) and a slew of dakka... I succeeded in only killing a single Marine and crippling the Dreadnought.

John's shooting was equally dismal as only 3 Slugga Boyz died and a single Big Shoota was blown off the Deff Rollin' Battlewagon. It was a good day to be an AV14 vehicle as lascannon fire just bounced off the Battlewagons.

The 'Ard Boyz unloaded into the Marines lines and ended up taking out the two 6 man Tac squads, the Devastators, and chased down a Razorback detroying that in the furthest table corner over the course of the game. And they finished OVER half strength capturing that table quarter! Definate MVPs of the game.

I couldn't touch the Land Raider (which detroyed my Killkannon Battlewagon) through the first 4 turns (but I got it in Turn 5 when the Trukk Boy Nob and Gargunki finally caught it) and his Captain and one of the suped up Tac squads unloaded from it and slaughtered the Slugga Boyz for only 2 losses in return through 3 rounds of combat. Caught in the open half of them were then gunned down by the Lootas after a dismal roll of armour saves. The Marine Captain would get his revenge though... wading through a hail of fire to dispatch the Big Mek and then single handedly see off the Lootas.

The Terminators deep struck after the Lootas but deviated out of LoS and had to settle for gunning down half of the Shoota Boyz instead. The Shoota Boyz shot back and failed to do anything and then assault them much to John's surprise. After a good turn of combat I did 9 wounds (yay Furious charge) and John promptly rolled four 1's for armour saves and the last Terminator fled from combat... but as the Terminator fled he shot the remaining Shoota Boyz with his Assault Cannon and broke them! The Terminator subsequently rallied because of the ATSKNF rule but was gunned down by the fleeing Shoota Boyz who stopped just inches from the table edge... John had once again rolled a 1 on only two wounds from shooting...

The Marines were left with only their heroic Captain on his last wound at the end of the game... The Orks had won a decisive victory.

Thoughts: I can't remember the last time I've lost to Marines using Orks. Hopefully their new codex will help them out with points reductions and free traits like Counter Attack would help. Not everyone wants to use cookie cutter lists with Drop Pods, Min/Max Las/Plas and/or 'mech-out' with 3 Predators and Land Speeders to have a fighting chance with Marines and you shouldn't have too. John had a chance, but after losing 1st turn and not being able to take out the Battlewagon loaded with 'Ard Boyz it was an uphill battle from turn 2 on.

The traits were great and helped the Marines from completely folding in combat, but they are too expensive. While the Terminators were unlucky it wasn't like a 1 in a million chance what happened to them... they got bested by a unit that is exactly HALF their point cost...

Once John gets Waaagh! Kong Bundy in order I'll play him using my Marines and see how it goes...

2000pts: Orks

This list can and will change from time to time. My current krumpy list is as follows:

HQ: Warboss Gargunki (105 Pts)- Power Klaw, Shoota, Stikkbombs, 'Eavy Armour, Bosspole, Cybork Body.
HQ: Warboss Fridgechukka (115 Pts)- Power Klaw, Twin-Linked Shoota, Mega-Armour, Bosspole, Cybork Body.

Elite: 8 Burna Boyz (150 Pts)- Burnaz (x8), +2 Mekboyz- Kustom Mega Blasta (x2), Mek's Tools (x2).

Troops: 7 Nobz (313 Pts)- Choppa (x3), Slugga (x6), Big Choppa (x2), Power Klaw (x2), 'Eavy Armour (x7), Bosspole (x1), Waaagh! Banner (x1), +1 Painboy- 'Urty Syringe, Dok's Tools. Stikkbombz (x8).
transport: Trukk (45 Pts)- Big Shoota, Red Paint Job, Reinforced Ram.
Troops: 4 Mega-Nobz (180 Pts)- Shoota-Rokkit Combi (x3), Shoota-Skorcha Combi (x1).
transport: Trukk (45 Pts)- Big Shoota, Red Paint Job, Reinforced Ram.
Troops: 26 Boyz (217 Pts)- Shootas, Big Shoota (x2). +1 Boyz Nob- Power Klaw, Slugga, 'Eavy Armour, Bosspole.
Troops: 19 Boyz (185 Pts)- Choppa & Slugga, Rokkit Launcha (x2). +1 Boyz Nob- Power Klaw, Slugga, 'Eavy Armour, Bosspole.
Troops: 19 Boyz (185 Pts)- Choppa & Slugga, Rokkit Launcha (x2). +1 Boyz Nob- Power Klaw, Slugga, 'Eavy Armour, Bosspole.
Troops: 19 Boyz (185 Pts)- Choppa & Slugga, Rokkit Launcha (x2). +1 Boyz Nob- Power Klaw, Slugga, 'Eavy Armour, Bosspole.

Heavy Support: Battlewagon (145 Pts)- Kannon, Big Shoota (x1), Armour Plates, Deff Rolla, Grot Riggers, Red Paint Job.
Heavy Support: Battlewagon (130 Pts)- Kannon, Big Shoota (x2), Armour Plates, Reinforced Ram, Grot Riggers.