Bludteef's Return: Ultramarines vs Evil Sunz

Three centuries ago, the Imperial world of Bagot Prime was attacked by an Ork Warlord, Bludteef. Beaten off and thought long-dead, all signs are pointing to his re-emergence. An Ultramarine strike force assembles to crush this growing menace before it can get out of control. But is it already too late?

Pootle and Kraken here to road test two armies that are new to both of us this edition. Kraken will be commanding the Ultramarines, whilst I lead (and some of them really are lead) my old Ork army from 1st Edition.

Waaagh Bludteef!

My Orks have been languishing in a box in my parents' loft for over 25 years. I'd dug the (even older) marines out to bolster the more recent releases but I’d assumed the Orks weren't capable of fielding an 8th Ed army (another box containing vehicles has gone AWOL unfortunately). However Kraken persuaded me to take another look, and lo! There's plenty of scope for a Boyz-heavy list!

My old Warlord, Bludteef came out to play, tanked up with Da Killa Klaw relic (like a Power Klaw but a flat 3 damage rather than D3 and can reroll wound rolls), the Brutal but Kunnin warlord trait (reroll failed hit rolls in combat and adding 1 damage when charging) and spending a CP on Da Biggest Boss to increase wounds and attacks by 1 and giving him a 4+ invulnerable save.

Two 25-strong boyz mobs and some Grots for troops plus a small Nobz unit to give some harder hitting stuff and a couple of Warbuggies to zoom around gleefully shooting up into the air.

I added second battalion of Grots to give me 5 more CPs to play with, led by two Weirdboyz.

Battalion (Evil Sunz):

HQ - Warboss, Attack Squig, Kombi-Rokkit, Power Klaw, Warlord (Brutal but Kunnin), Da Biggest Boss (1CP), Relic: Da Killa Klaw
HQ - Big Mek with Kustom Force Field
Troops - 25 x Boyz, Nob with Choppa and Killsaw, 23 x Sluggas & Choppas, 1 Rokkit Launcha
Troops - 25 x Boyz, Nob with Choppa and Power Klaw, 24 x Sluggas & Choppas
Troops - 10 x Gretchin
Elites - 5 x Nobz, Boss Nob with Choppa & Killsaw, 1 x Choppa & Power Klaw, 3 x Choppa & Power Stabba
Fast Attack - Warbuggy,  Rack of Rokkits
Fast Attack - Warbuggy,  Rack of Rokkits

Battalion (Evil Sunz):

HQ - Wierdboy, Da Jump
HQ - Wierdboy, Warpath
Troops - 10 x Gretchin
Troops - 10 x Gretchin
Troops - 10 x Gretchin

1,000 points, Power Level 52, Battalion + Battalion - Da Biggest Boss = 12 CPs

Blue Tactical

This is a pure filth army, this. Having been kicked about by Ultramarines several times in the past, I was rubbing my hands with glee at the list of painted models Pootle sent me. Finally! All the bolt weapons in the world, but this time, they shall serve me!

It's a shooty castle list, the polar opposite of the Orks. Where they can hop about and swarm in combat, this list is going to sit tight and shoot. I'm fairly sure the Orks are going to reach me sooner or later, though, so the Warlord traits and such are there to help me counter-punch. Nobility Made Manifest allows bikers or infantry to perform Heroic Interventions as though they were characters, and with the Aggressor power fists on the back line, that could be handy. 

The Librarian's spells - good lord, the Ultramarines have some nice options! A spell that makes CPs? One that works like the original Smite from 2nd Ed, where you knock off wounds by beating Ld on two dice? Yikes. 

Not much moving about, so perhaps a rather simplistic and dull army to take? But the fun is in positioning the castle so it can withstand waves of Orks and still function, so knowing who to send out to buy a little time and when to do it. 

Ultramarines Battalion Detachment, 1000 points, 8 CP

• HQ - Captain, Warlord w. Nobility Made Manifest trait, Purgatorus bolt pistol relic, Power Maul 
• HQ - Lieutenant, Master Crafted Bolter, Power Sword
• HQ - Librarian, Storm Bolter and Force Stave, Telepathic Assault and Scryer's Gaze powers
• Troops - 5 x Scouts w. sniper rifles
• Troops - 5 x Intercessors w. bolt rifles
• Troops - 5 x Tactical Marines, Storm bolter and chainsword for Sarge, Missile Launcher
• Troops - 5 x Tactical Marines, Chainsword for Sarge, Heavy Bolter
• Elites - Dreadnought with heavy flamer, close combat weapon and assault cannon
• Elites - 3 x Boltstorm Aggressors
• Heavy Support - 3 x Devastator Centurions with twin Heavy Bolters and Nipple Bolters

Mission and Terrain

It's a straightforward Schemes of War battle tonight. We're both trying new armies, so keeping extra rules to a minimum seems wise. 

We are building our decks. For my part, I ditch all the Defend cards and as many move-type objectives as I can, just keeping the Secures because some of the Ultramarines special cards act as multipliers for them. This gunline needs to kill stuff, so I'm hoping for draws of cards like No Prisoners and Overwhelming Firepower as often as possible. 

Pootle has set up a fantastic ruined foundry, nestling in a bowl of hills!

Deployment

Once the objective markers are out, I win the roll to pick attack or defence. I choose to defend, and pick the South edge with the ruined foundry as I'm not really geared to rush out and grab things! This means Pootle is setting out first, which lets me react to his placement. 

I had hoped to be able to place second and hide most of my troops, however that's not to be. I decide to place most of army on my left flank, leaving only the Warbuggies and a unit of Gretchin on the ride (hiding behind the hill) and ordering on of the Boyz mobs to get into the Tellyporta (for 2CPs). Everyone else camps behind the smaller hill, out of sight of the industrial complex, which is OBVIOUSLY where Kraken will castle up his marines.

Seeing that big mob of Orks, I decide to avoid the lovely fort in the centre and go for broke. Yeah, I denied a flank, what a surprise! It's also a dare, though - will the Orks rush my gun-line, or will they sneak through the trees and give me a bit of extra time to react?

The missile squad hold the centre, at least, more to extend the deep strike bubble than anything else. Everyone else forms a solid castle in the ruins. Characters in the middle, big guns at the back and the troops along the front with the Dreadnought. 

Still, at least I get to go first and get my Boyz out of sight of all those guns.

Catastrophically, I steal the first turn!

 Ultramarines Turn 1

What a rubbish draw of cards I start with! I mean, going first is a massive and unexpected boon, so I can't grumble that much. Taking a mulligan is still the way forward, and I end up putting Follow the Codex, Master the Warp and Secure Objective 1 (hidden) out. Follow the Codex scores me d3 if I get score two others in a turn. I've already got 1 with the marines in the fort, so let's hope the Librarian is competent. 

I blow out the bubble in my turn, moving the front line up to hold 4 and put guns in range, then the Librarian generates a CP with his Scryer's Gaze. Shooting-wise, I'm keen to get rid of the Gretchin so they can't soak hits later, but the Dreadnought and Librarian only manage to pick three of them off. 

Then the snipers take a pair of wounds off one of the Weirdboyz before the Centurions open up on the Boyz mob, striking nine of them out after Pootle decides not to protect them. The Gretchin think about running away just long enough for Bludtoof to murder one of them, then I score the objectives and I'm done. 

Objectives scored: Follow the Codex (1), Master the Warp (1), Secure Objective 1 (1)

Evil Sunz Turn 1

I too get a bad draw of cards initially with nothing I can achieve at all. So I also mulligan and put
Supremacy, Secure 3 (on top of the big hill) into play, along with Defend 5, which I keep hidden.

Given I lost nearly half a Boyz mob to half the Centurions’ firepower (their Hurricane Bolters were out of range), running forwards into the face of the Aggressors seems a bad life choice, so I try to sneak around the other side of the hill. Unfortunately there are so many Orks that I'm not going to be able to get out of sight. Sigh. At least I've got a couple of units of Gretchin in front so have the option of the Grot Shield stratagem. Bludteef also orders one of the Grot units to creep along the wall of the old Ork building to start defending objective 5, though he's not particularly hopeful that they'll escape the attention of the Marines...

On my right the Gretchin start strolling up the hill towards objective 3, but they've been distracted by someone selling Squigs so one of the Warbuggies has to roar up onto the hill to see what's going on.

When they see all the Marines, they shout to their comrades in the other Buggy, who  scream into the centre of the deployment zone desperate to pass on the message that there appear to be a lot of blue Beakies sitting over in the ruins. It's possible that this warning is a bit late...

Objectives scored: Supremacy (1), Secure Objective 3 (1)

Ultramarines Turn 2

A much better draw this time, not just for this turn but some keepers for later. Unflinching Heroism goes out (don't fail any morale tests for two turns, think I can manage that!) along with Hold the Line (simples) and a hidden Assassinate, just in case the Scouts can pick someone off. 

I'm pretty much set up where I want to be now, but the Dreadnought and Librarian keep moving forward. They're good bait, I reckon, too powerful to ignore but also not the meat and drink of the gunline. 

The Libby manages to get his Telepathic Assault off on the nearest Gretchin, which proves just as deadly as you'd expect. Five of the little wretches explode, some more then get shot up, but the rest are invisible behind the building after that. 

The rest of the shooting concentrates on the incoming Boyz. Once again, I take out the Gretchin first, with the Tactical Squad at the front leaving a mere one alive. I reckon that's enough to take care of the screens and start hosing down the threats. 

But I'm wrong! Those two live Gretchin prove pretty handy - one of them soaks up a wound on the Nobz, leaving them unscathed after a rather tame round of shooting from the Dreadnought. The rest of the shooting is pretty brutal, leaving a mere four Boyz standing, but I can't see the rest to finish them off. And the last remaining Gretchin on the other side means I can't target the visible characters with my last shots, so they petulantly shoot it away instead. 

Spot the difference: Before...

...after

Pootle seems very pleased with this, and I suddenly remember that he can bring back all those dead boys with a Stratagem. No! He's somehow tricked me into killing his Boyz! It's a trap!

Objectives scored: Hold the Line (1)

Evil Sunz Turn 2

This is a crucial turn: I can make contact with the marines and my reinforcements can teleport in. On the objectives front, I keep Defend 5 hidden and add Secure 2 and Defend 3. The Gretchin on my right creep up onto the top of the hill to take over sentry duty from the Warbuggy, who zooms down into the centre, desperate to start shooting at something.

This is the turn that my the Boyz mob can come out of the Tellyporta, and I am also going to play Unstoppable Green Tide for 3CPs and remove the last couple of Boyz on the table and bring a fresh unit onto the board elsewhere.

I consider Da Jumping the Nobz unit, but in fact they are able to advance to within 8" of the Dreadnought so that’s the better option. Bludteef needs to get within 6” to enable them to charge and he scoots round the other side of the building and ends up only 5” away from the target.

I’m confident that Bludteef and the Nobz will easily dispose of the Dread and the Librarian, but that will leave them sitting in front of a lot of guns. I have a “Kunnin' Plan”.

Will Da Kunnin' Plan turn out to be even better than Baldrick's Best...?

I now need to bring my reinforcements in. Unfortunately Kraken’s plan to castle up in the corner has been very effective as I can’t now outflank him; my only options are to bring troops down in front of the marines or way out the other side of the industrial complex (with an 11” charge due to terrain). I decide to leave the Boyz in the Tellyporta for another turn and bring the Unstoppable Green Tide down only a few inches in front of where they were before (I only realised when writing this up that Unstoppable Green Tides have to come on from the edge of the table, so really this must have been the Tellyporta mob and I spent 3CP on Unstoppable Green Tide to no avail).

First of all the Warbuggy and Bludteef fire off their Rokkits at the Aggressors in the hope that the flat 3 damage might knock one over. Despite quite a few hits (and Dakka Dakka Dakkas) the Rokkits either fail to wound or bounce off armour.

The Warbuggy starts off by charging the Tactical Marines and Intercessors to eat overwatch. He loses a couple of wounds on the way in, but I tag both units. The newly arrived Boyz then make their charge into the Tacticals but, rather uncharacteristically for Orks, I don't try to swamp them: I try to charge so I can wrap three Orks round each marine and hope that I don't kill them so that my Boyz then can't be targetted the following turn (I'm also hoping that this mob will be nearer to most of the Marine guns than Bludteef, so he'll be safe too).

On my left both Bludteef, the Nobz and even the Gretchin make successful charges on the Dreadnought and the Librarian. We start off with Bludteef, who tears the Dread into small pieces - he's seen these things before. The Nobz also drop the Librarian with ease and then the Gretchin pile in and consolidate forwards so they're in front of both units.

The Librarian takes a final piece of Bludteef with him as he dies, knocking off a lone wound with Honour the Chapter. This adds to the two wounds he's already lost to flamer overwatch from the Dread. Still, good to lead the way as a commander!

Five Boyz kick out 30 attacks (I'd cast Warpath on them earlier without remembering that I didn't want to maximise my attacks) and manage to kill the Sergeant. Kraken keeps the Heavy Bolter marine alive because I've forgotten that the Captain and Lieutenant can heroically intervene and mash the Buggy; when that duly happens there's a route for the Heavy Bolter Marine to escape combat. Rats!

Objectives scored: Unflinching Heroism (Ultramarines, 1)

Ultramarines Turn 3

The cards I drew last time are still lurking in hand, ready to strike - out comes No Prisoners and Kingslayer. This is going to be a crunch turn, I suspect, I'll either clean up with firepower or drown in Orks next turn. 

In the event, my dice are rolling very hot indeed. Keeping in Tactical Doctrine, the Ultramarines pull back, shuffle about a bit to restore rerolls to the castle, and play Fall Back and Re-engage on the retreating Intercessors so they can shoot with no penalty and charge back in. Finally the Tac squad in the fort shift across to help thin the green tide. 

But once the shooting starts up, it quickly becomes apparent that the charge phase might be a bit of a formality. Close up, the Aggressors can finally chip in (they've been out of range so far), and the entire ork line collapses. The Gretchin go down first, Bludteef takes more wounds from sniper fire, then the assembled bolter fire totally wipes everything on the Ork flank out. 

Bludteef, clearly reeling from his introduction to a new breed of Marines, is the only survivor of this massacre. Alas, he's also sat right in front of the Aggressors, who romp in with the Scions of Guilliman strat to let them reroll ones. It's fairly whiffy, only four hits get through, but poor old Bludteef is already on a lone wound, so it's enough to take him out. 

That's a lot of killing, which matches up with the objectives I've got rather well. Facing this massive tide of VPs (and guns) with probably not enough Orks to catch up, Pootle calls the game.

Objectives scored: Slay the Warlord (1), Assassinate (1), Kingslayer (1), No Prisoners (5)

Result: Victory to the Ultramarines, 13:5 

Locker Room

Well, that's why nobody likes Ultramarines. Youch!

Serves me right for buying and painting Aggressors and Centurion Devastators! Both units had pretty fresh paint; maybe I should spatter them with green now to commemorate the battle.

My feeling was that this would be a wipe-out one way or another. Stealing the first turn was probably what swung it to me this time, but really the Orks could very easily have overrun my castle and swallowed it whole. 

We talked about this before the game and felt that it was unlikely to go the distance and one army would end up dominating the other

Talking it over afterwards, though, we reckoned that getting Defender at the start was probably the swinger. If the Ultramarines had set up first, the Orks could all have deployed out of sight, so even if I went first they'd have stayed hidden, grabbed distant objectives and scored. 

And were the Orks overly cunning with their attempt to wrap the Tactical Marines? Neither of us thought of it at the time, but ploughing forward with all of them and fighting twice might have ripped through both Tactical and Intercessor squads before swamping the characters in the middle. That would probably have been decisive too!

It only occurred to me afterwards that I couldn't have done that as the only unit within 12" of the Boyz was the Tactical Marines as they'd only just dropped in (you'd carefully dropped the Intercessors back and the officers were also too far away).The stratagem to fight twice still requires me to declare a charge against everyone that I want to end up fighting. Good tactics to ensure you had a gap between your first and second lines.

No, I'd left them three inches back with express idea of bringing them in with the warlord's trait. Good tactics aren't my strong suit. Ah well, a moot point!

For my part, I feel guilty. The Ultramarine bolt mill is terribly effective, but it leaves a nasty taste in your mouth. I wouldn't do it again, although I think it has a place in a narrative game, perhaps against a vastly superior force. Here, it made for less of a dramatic spectacle than either of us really wanted, although that was very much down to some uncharacteristically good rolling on my part!

It's noticeable that you rolled very well for you (i.e. average for any normal person), but I don't think that made a difference. Your decision to abandon the central castle and keep to one side was very good: not only did you get LoS on me immediately, but I couldn't outflank you with the three units that I wanted to (Tellyporta, Da Jump and Unstoppable Green Tide).

I thoroughly enjoyed commanding Waaagh Bludteef again after a gap of well over 25 years. It's nice to have a non-Marine army in the cupboard (well, I've got some Nurgle Daemons, but not that many). Clearly the next step is to replace some of the lost vehicles - it's not a proper Evil Sunz army without a few more wheels!

Doc Hacksore surveyed the battlefield with a sigh. So much green blood and no Marines to experiment on. He saw half a dozen of his Gretchin orderlies sniggering about something, "Oi! You lot! Get sum rope 'n' drag these Boyz back to camp! They're not dead yet, so we can get mendin'."

There he was! Over by a ruined house lay Bludteef's body. It was in a sorry state: the Power Klaw had been torn off and there was a huge hole in his midriff. Hacksore knelt down and, pulling a number 4 hacksaw out of his belt, set to work cutting organic matter free from the rest of the ruin. He whistled tunelessly whilst he worked, occasionally panting with the effort to cut through a particularly tough bit. Finally, the head and upper chest came free. 

Hacksore saw Bludteef's lips moving. He leaned closer to hear the whispered question, "What the zoggin' 'ell were those big Beakies? They weren't even beaky!"

"Dunno. But don't worry Boss, we'll soon have you in a new Cybork body. Rotgrin's found a fuel injection implant for the next one - he reckons you'll be even fasta than before!"