Raiders of the Lost Ork: Ultramarines vs Evil Sunz

An Ultramarines patrol has run into more representatives of the Ork incursion on the remote world of Bagot Prime. Warboss Bludteef is missing, having his Cybork body rebuilt after the last encounter between these armies, but there are plenty of Evil Sunz left to cause trouble. 

Tonight I, Pootle, am hosting Rapid (in fetching bold italics) for his first foray into 9th edition. 

Ultramarines

I want to avoid an overly-shooty Ultramarines list stuffed with Aggressors and Centurions, which I now know is pretty tough for an army based on the infantry-heavy set of Ork miniatures I currently have. So this list represents a fast-moving Ultramarines detachment patrolling the environs of the previous battle with Waaagh Bludteef. I've now finished three squads of Scouts in camouflage pattern (probably not official Codex, but this is my army and I think they look sensible for infiltrating units), so that's the core of the Battalion. I add a Tactical squad with a Missile Launcher and a (also newly-painted) Devastator squad with two Heavy Bolters and two Missile Launchers as I think some shootiness is acceptable and I need something to deal with an anticipated horde of greenskins. 

The army will be led by a jump Chaplain, who gets the Imperium's Sword ability to ensure he gets into combat and hits harder when he's there, coupled with the Mantra of Strength (another +1S and A if the chant succeeds). He gets a Bolter that's been upgraded to the Primarch's Wrath relic, turning it into an S5, AP-1, D2 Storm Bolter. I had initially had the army led by a jump Captain with the Teeth of Terra, but on reflection I felt that he was a little too much for a friendly game. He will get a run out at some point as I've converted and painted a model so must use him one day!

A Librarian joins the Chaplain up front (I spend a CP to give him the Adept of the Codex warlord trait to recycle CPs) with two interesting Ultramarine psychic powers: Storm of the Emperor's Wrath (roll one die for each model in the nearest enemy unit; mortal wounds on a six) and Psychic Shackles (half move for an enemy unit and -1 to advance and charges until my next psychic phase). I add a unit of Vanguard Veterans to join the Chaplain leaping around causing trouble, a unit of Bikes (plus a separate Attack Bike) and a unit of Reivers, who should be quite effective against Orks I think. Finally, I have points for a common-or-garden Dreadnought with an Assault Cannon and Heavy Flamer.

• HQ: Chaplain - Boltgun, Jump Pack. Mantra of Strength. Warlord: The Imperium's Sword. Relic: The Primarch's Wrath
• HQ: Librarian - Boltgun, Force Stave. Storm of the Emperor's Wrath, Psychic Shackles. Additional warlord trait: Adept of the Codex
• Troops: 5x Scouts - Sniper rifles, Sergeant with combat knife
• Troops: 5x Scouts - Boltguns, Heavy Bolter, Sergeant with combat knife
• Troops: 5x Scouts - Boltguns, Sergeant with Chainsword
• Troops: 5x Tactical Marines - Missile Launcher, Sergeant with Chainsword and Storm Bolter
• Elites: Dreadnought - Assault Cannon, Heavy Flamer
• Elites: 5x Reivers - Combat knives
• Elites: 5x Vanguard Veterans - Jump Packs, 2x double Lightning Claws, Chainsword & Storm Shield, Chainsword & Bolt Pistol, Sergeant with Relic Blade and Storm Shield
• Fast Attack: 3x Bikes - Chainswords, Sergeant with Power Fist
• Fast Attack: Attack Bike - Heavy Bolter

999 points, Power Level 54. Battalion - Extra Warlord Trait = 5CP

Evil Sunz

This is my first time fielding Orks, but by no means the first time seeing them in action. From the start we discussed the balance of the game to try to make sure it'll be a belter. Given the list of units to choose from by Pootle, I set to work (absolute awesome classic units, only wish I could have gotten down and close to them). Truthfully, the "Lootas Lootas Lootas!" had to go in first, their potential to absolutely decimate either the targetted unit or the terrain around it is fantastic. Secondly a big squad of Boys supported by a smaller squad and some Grots. Sadly some boys have to be tactical and stick on objectives while the others go do the stabby.

For HQs, I took a Big Mek with Kustom Force Field and the Super Cybork Body relic to make him a little more resilient and Follow Me Ladz for the advance and charge. The force field was an attempt at keeping the "Lootas Lootas Lootas!" alive for longer. The Weirdboy, well we couldn't leave home without Da Jump and I made him a Warphead to give him the additional cast of Warpath.

Stormboyz were my response unit, hoping to find a hole and drop them in behind something squishy to sink some pointy things into.

The Warbikes and Warbuggy, much like in my Blood Angels army, are a fast moving interference unit, higher toughness to stick around longer and be bothersome!

Flash Gitz with Assault3 2D -2AP: that's got to be useful for some of the marines...surely!?!

• HQ: Big Mek with Kustom Force Field - Warlord: Follow Me Ladz, Relic: Super Cybork Body
• HQ: Weirdboy - Warphead: Da Jump, Warpath
• Troops: 11x Boyz - Slugga & Choppa, Nob with Power Klaw
• Troops: 26x Boyz - Slugga & Choppa, Nob with Power Klaw
• Troops: 10x Gretchin
• Elite: 5x Nobz - Boss Nob with Big Choppa & Choppa, Cybork Body
• Fast Attack: 8x Stormboyz - Boss Nob with Power Klaw & Choppa
• Fast Attack: 3x Warbikes 
• Fast Attack: Warbuggy - Twin Big Shoota
• Heavy Support: 5x Flash Gitz
• Heavy Support: 10x Lootas

999 Points, Power Level 59. Battalion - Warphead = 5CP

Mission and Terrain

We roll randomly to decide the mission and come up with Shifting Front. The four objectives are in a cross with one in the centre of each army's deployment zone and two in no-man's-land. The most interesting thing about this one is that there is only 18" between the two armies. That should ensure that whoever gets first turn will be pretty sure of getting into close combat!

For my secondaries I've chosen:

• Test Their Line (a mission specific one scoring VPs for getting two units wholly within 6" of table edges within the Ork deployment zone).
• Linebreaker (which matches well with Test Their Line as I get VPs for having two units in the Ork deployment zone).
• Attrition (kill more units in a battle round; normally this should be great for a marine army, but I've got quite a few squishy Scout units so may be trickier).

After realising that these should have been looked at earlier I proceeded to make some ill-formed... I mean well-considered, choices for the Secondaries:

• Engage on all fronts; that's what Orks do? Right? As Pootle pointed out, there's only an 18" gap between us and with my mobility on bikes and rocket boys this seems reasonable. 
• Assassinate; two characters each this looks like it's got a chance.
• Attrition; as Pootle said, those squishy Scouts and Tactical Marines feel like a reasonable target for this.The Scout units also help with board control, so killing them will make space for the Rocket boys maybe?

The battle will be fought around an abandoned factory nestling between some rocky hills. Like all my battles, until I can sort some more scenery out (actually I'm expecting a delivery of a ruined cathedral from Rampart in a few weeks, which I'm very much looking forward to).

This will be the view from Rapid's deployment zone...

...and this is my view

Deployment

I stick a couple of Scout squads out in No Man's Land. I'm expecting these guys to die horribly as it'll be easy for Rapid to charge them: my plan is to be in a position to counter-charge with Bikes, Vanguard Vets and Reivers so I don't expect many of them to live long.

My Devastators go up on the gantry in the ruins, with the sniper Scouts on the building to my left. The Dread, Tactical Squad, Librarian and Reivers hold the central objective, able to move in any direction, whilst the Vanguard Vets and Chaplain go into the ruins, hopefully tucked away so they can't be seen by the Lootas.

The Bikes hold my right flank and the Attack Bike supports the snipers on the extreme left. I'm hoping that both these units can tear forwards and achieve my secondaries for being in the Ork deployment zone.

So its pretty obvious to everyone that I'm going to Da Jump the squad of 26 boys. Yes I know: vanguard of tactics me! They get set up in relative safety behind the rocky outcrop, along with the Grots, Warbikes and Warbuggy. The Grots are mostly to form some deep strike denial. Warbikes and Buggy are to head up and over the hill to take the point and deal with the Scout units.

“Lootas Lootas Lootas!” are set up on top of the outcrop, their range and hopefully aspect will net me some good chances at picking off big units. The Weirdboy and Big Mek are up there to take advantage of screening and cast the 9inch bubble. One of the “Lootas Lootas Lootas!” is also in range of the objective below, which is a bonus.

The smaller Boyz mob sets up in front and below the outcrop. Right on top of the objective and within the terrain to give a +1 to saves. My intention is to rush them forward and get them into trouble soon as I can.

The Flash Gitz are set up in relative solitude to the left of my deployment zone. I did this as a little trap. With the Stormboyz up in space and the Elite Nobz as reserves, this could go from an open area to much tighter quite quickly. If Pootle goes first, this could be an interesting corner.

I roll a creditable five to try to go first, but Rapid manages to roll a six to "steal the initiative" (even though that's no longer a thing). 

Orks Turn 1

The Warbikes go for broke and head up over the hill trying to get a bead on the Scout squad. The headless biker must have been coordinating the shooting because they may as well not have bothered. But the engines and gunz sound amazing! The Bikes make their charge into the Scouts and take out two.

The advance of the Headless Horseman...well, Bikeork

The Warbuggy moves up to the top of the hill. I can’t use the word cautious for Orks, they were taking a look at some Shinny Gubbinz on top of the hill. Nothing to do with the Devastators who would have had eyes on them if it’d moved any further. The shots go into the Dreadnought, plinking a few armour plates off. 

The mob of 11 boys move forward in relative safety behind the trees.

Da Jump goes off without a hitch and the 26 Boyz end up in front of the Dreadnought and go on to make their 9” charge. 'Ere we go! 

But not before the Flash Gitz unload a bucketload of shots at the Devastators. I feel sorry for the guy who painted those ruins, the paint has been shot to bitz. Actually, a bit of the ruins did break off when I took it apart after the game - must have been all that Loota fire! Unfortunately only two Devastators die to the barrage of fire.

Meanwhile the Lootas pour their fire into the Dreadnought, but the -1 to hit from shooting over the trees proves to be brutal for them. I didn't help the Lootas chances by playing Duty Eternal on the Dread to reduce the damage of each of each shot by one. On two-damage Deffguns that's nasty. You're used to a close-combat themed army with your Blood Angels, but your supporting fire there is more effective - I think you were somewhat unnerved by having your best shooting unit hitting on 6s!

But the main event is the 26 Boyz scrapping with the Dread. Before it knew what was happening the thick blue armour was peeled open like a cheap can of sardines. Turns out even Orks can be put off by bad smells.

Primary objectives: 0
Secondary objectives: 2 (Engage On All Fronts)

Marines Turn 1

OK, that was an interesting start. I had hoped that the Dread might get to fight, but there you go! My priority this turn is to kill that big Boyz mob - and I need to kill every last one otherwise they'll turn up again in an Endless Green Tide next turn.

The Reivers move forwards, ready to charge in, and the Chaplain and Vanguard Vets leap over, positioning themselves between the two Boyz mobs - hopefully I can kill enough in the shooting phase for the Reivers to clean up the rest so the Vets can kill the other Boyz.

Meanwhile, I've got these Warbikes to deal with as well. The Scouts fall back onto the nearby objective, and the Attack Bike trundles forward so he can see both the big mob of Boyz and the Warbikes.

On the other flank the Bikes rev their engines and position themselves so they can see both the Flash Gitz (who they intend to charge and shut down) and the Boyz mob.

The Librarian tests out his anti-horde psychic power and manages to roll 7 out of 26 sixes. He follows this up with a good strong smite, so ten Ork heads have exploded in the phase. That's MUCH better than I was expecting (and more than twice as good as the statistical average - yikes).

In the shooting phase, the Reivers, Tactical Marines, Librarian and Chaplain all open up on the remaining Boyz, and when the smoke clears only three are still standing.

I think that the Reivers will be able to handle them, so I can direct other fire elsewhere. The Devastators and Bikers fire at the Flash Gits, killing four of them. The Snipers throw a Krak grenade at the Warbikes and, along with the Attack Bike, destroy a couple of them.

That was extremely bloody. And now for the charge phase! My blood is up, so as well as the Reivers charging the remaining Boyz, the Chaplain and Vanguard Vets make it into the 11-strong Boyz mob in the wood, and the Attack Bike is joined by the Sniper Scouts who leap off the balcony of their building to help dispatch the remaining Warbike.

I have a cunning plan for my Bikes to get the Sergeant to engage the remaining Flash Git and tail back the other two to claim the objective on my right flank. That way I'll be holding three objectives for next turn, and although the Bikes and Scouts can be removed fairly easily, it may distract Rapid sufficiently. However there's a problem. Despite only having a single Flash Git left, Rapid spends a CP on overwatch and manages to roll a six, which Dakka Dakka's into another one! Both hits then go on to kill a bike, so I only have the Sergeant left. He does go on to kill the last Flash Git at least.

I can see a problem coming up, but I elect to go with the Reivers first as I absolutely can't afford to let even one Boy remain alive. The only Primaris in this army make short work of the Orks, so at least I can relax on that front. However Rapid (unsurprisingly) decides to spend a couple of CP to interrupt and hack at my warlord and his bodyguard. The power armour enables all the Vets to shrug off the Choppa attacks, however the Power Klaw guts my warlord (despite a forlorn CP reroll on his invuln save).

The Veterans are somewhat distracted by this turn of events and manage to whiff most of their attacks back on the Boyz, only killing four of them. That is not good enough, so I decide to spend 3CP to have another go, and duly dispatch them the second time around.

That ends an extremely violent first battle round. I managed to kill four Ork units (both Boyz mobs, the Warbikes and the Flash Gits) compared to losing only my Chaplain and Dreadnought. Those last two were very valuable units, but it does mean I pick up my secondary objective of Attrition. Let's see how battle round two goes when we can start scoring our primary objectives.

Primary objectives: 0
Secondary objectives: 4 (Attrition)
Orks secondary: 3 (Assassinate)

VPs - 5:4 to the Orks

Orks Turn 2

The Libby: what a boss of a Psychic turn, just out of deny range too...

Licking my wounds, I have to get some board presence back. I didn't expect all 26 Boyz to die.

Holding only one objective with the Lootas, it's time to push back.

The Warbuggy stays safely out of sight of the Devastators for now: he still has a bead on the two squads of Scouts and the Attack Bike. He manages to only plink one of the Scouts away with his shooting.

With Board control in mind, the Nobz come on as reserves. They're quite far back on the board but eyeing up the Bike Sergeant. Pistols first... but let's not talk about that.

The Stormboyz drop in next: the Vanguard Vets are too tasty a challenge to let them get any closer to my castle. Plus the Stormboyz like the look of all the Shiny Gubbinz on their armour.

With the deepstrike units now on board, the Grots get hurled across the board by the Weirdboy. After a lot of measuring by Pootle they just get within 3" of the objective whilst staying 9" away from the enemy. They manage to get some cover in the ruins but their t-shirts have a lot of holes in them...

Before we get to the best phase the  “Lootas Lootas Lootas!” ACTUALLY hit something and all the remaining Devastators are taken off the board.

It's the best phase now! As a Blood Angels player, the number of 9" deepstrike charges I've failed... Actually, can we not talk about it any longer please? [Cue cinematic flashbacks]

Gork and Mork must have been seeking another general for the Greentide, because I rolled a 12 for the Nobz to charge. A 12! I didn't know 2D6 went that high! It was as this point that I looked up at the ridiculous amount of Blood Angels on the shelf and started to reconsider my life choices. The Nobz tore the last Biker limb from limb and consolidated towards the objective.

Accepting my fate, making two 9"charges in one turn is just silly. Then I rolled an 11! The Stormboyz are in too! They manage to dispatch four of the VV but the Sergeant survives to hit back, however he must have been in shock because he does very little damage.

Board control is partially returned. Some key units are off the board and it feels that the pressure is on Pootle to respond.

Primary objectives: 5
Secondary objectives: 2 (Engage On All Fronts)

VPs - 12:4 to the Orks

Marines Turn 2

At the beginning of the round I score 10VPs for holding two objectives. The maps make it look like the Scouts on the left of the map were holding the objective, but in fact the Gretchin were holding it and the Scouts weren't within range (bit of an oversight on my part last turn).

I need to get rid of those pesky Grots now, and I think that the Scouts should be able to do so with rapid firing Bolters and then a charge.

The Vanguard Vet sergeant jumps away from the Stormboyz to lurk at the foot of the rocky crags, out of sight of the Lootas but contesting the objective (only one Loota is within range of it).

The Librarian and Reivers move forwards to try a charge on the Stormboyz if I fail to shoot them off the board.

Meanwhile the Attack Bike moves to support the Scouts on the objective to my left and aim its guns at the Stormboyz.

The Librarian smites one of the Stormboyz and then he, along with the Reivers, Scouts and Attack Bike, shoot up the rest of them.

Unsurprisingly the Scouts on my right make short work of the Gretchin.

I've completely failed to get any secondary objectives this turn, but I think it's tactically a better idea to focus on getting the primaries as there are more on offer. This does mean that at the end of the second battle round it's anyone's game from a points perspective, but I've got more boots on the ground and they're on three of the objectives so I'm feeling confident at this point.

At the end of the second battle round, we'd both killed two enemy units so neither of us scores Attrition.

Primary objectives: 10
Secondary objectives: 0

VPs - 14:12 to the Marines

Orks Turn 3

Things are getting thin on the ground for both sides. The surviving Vanguard Vet's move forward has stopped me getting any primary VPs this turn, and also put pressure on my castle.

The Grotz all dying wasn't a massive surprise but it would have been good to keep them around a little longer. They did however pull the Scouts up and within charge range of the Nobz. Otherwise a -2 to move and charge would have been needed due to the trees.

This feels like the last turn that any real work can be done.

The Nobz go racing forward, after seeing what the Scouts did to the Grotz. They are worthless, but they are still green of skin: let's smash these Scouts hard enough for the Emperor to feel it! They achieve their goal easily and delete them, consolidating up the table towards the Reivers.

The Warbuggy finally finishes hiding... I mean picking up all the Shiny Gubbinz and races forward towards the Scouts. In a hail of fire they fire ALL the bullets but do absolutely no damage whatsoever! A successful charge later and one Scout dies in combat. That was very underwhelming!

In what seemed like a good idea at the beginning of the game, the Big Mek is sat behind the “|Lootas Lootas Lootas!”. The Weirdboy decides to sort things out for himself. Muttering something about a “Cybork Body & Follow Me Ladz!” the Weirdboy Smites the Sergeant off the table.  The objective returns to Ork ownership.

Primary objectives: 0
Secondary objectives: 2 (Engage On All Fronts)

VPs - 14:14

Marines Turn 3

I'm on two objectives at the start of my turn, the same as the Orks, so that's 10VPs for my primaries.

The Reivers and the Librarian move to prep a charge on the Nobz.

The Attack Bike heads for the gateway to the complex, securing the objective and thinking about a charge on the Weirdboy.

The missile launcher in the Tactical Squad pulls off a cheeky shot and manages to take out the Warbuggy in one go. The Sniper Scouts kill a couple of Lootas and the Reivers and Librarian shoot a couple of the Nobz. However they fail their charge. The Attack Bike does make it into the Weirdboy but only take one wound off him.

Once again, that's no secondaries to me, but I'm holding two objectives and contesting the third again. We're still really close on VPs, but I think my field position is looking good now: I should be scoring plenty of primary objectives next turn.

Primary objectives: 10

Secondary objectives: 0

Orks secondary: 4 (Attrition)

VPs - 24:18 to the Marines

Orks Turn 4

Holding just one objective, only 5 VPs are scored this round for primaries.

With very little on the board and very little options, it's clear that the Ultrasmurfs are about to finish the job. Not without taking some more out with me!

The “Lootas Lootas Lootas!” drop down off the top of the hill, giving them a better view of the Reivers. Still a -1 to hit due to the trees, but at least more can see in this position. The Big Mek comes around to help rip the Attack Bike to bits. The psychic phase fails to do any damage but the Bike is dealt with in the combat phase.

The “Lootas Lootas Lootas!” take some pot shots at the Reivers (killing three) before the Nobz dart through the ruins to skip round the screen of Reivers and charge into the  Librarian.

Unfortunately the tactics of outflanking through the ruins have frazzled the Nobz brains and they don't cause a single wound of the Librarian, and in return are turned to Red Mist. They went out doing what they love: you don't lose if you go out happy!

Primary objectives: 5
Secondary objectives: 0

VPs - 24:23 to the Marines

Marines Turn 4

I score the full 15VPs for being on two primary objectives at the start of the turn, more than Rapid's one. It's getting late now, so this turn just comprises the movement phase: my Reivers run onto my right-hand objective and the Librarian scuttles out of sight of the Lootas, putting me onto three objectives. My board control means there's not a lot Rapid can do to stop me maxing out on primary VPs in turn 5, so he calls it there as he has no means of getting back into the game from here.

Primary objectives: 15
Secondary objectives: 0

Result: 39:23  Victory to the Ultramarines!

Locker Room

Although the Ultramarines romped home in the end, that could easily have gone either way. Both our first turns were great fun, with both of us making all our charges and killing pretty much what we wanted to. But it was the fact that I ended up controlling more of the primary objectives that made the difference. Overall I scored 35 primary VPs and only 4 secondary, compared to Rapid scoring 10 primary VPs and 13 secondary. Scoring secondaries will be the difference in close games, and adds a bit of tactical variety as both players are trying to achieve slightly different things, but it's critical to score the primaries.

I do really like the new objectives, but I'm still not used to prioritising which ones I should be going for. I was OK this time because the Orks were piling forwards for a fight and I was able to keep units on objectives. I was lucky with a few saving throws for the Scout squad on my left flank, but if Rapid had been able to get rid of that unit it would have stopped me scoring so many primary objectives and I still wouldn't have scored the secondaries. Thinking about it now, I think that that could well have been key. We ended up having a bit of a meat-grinder in the wood in the middle - every unit that walked (or flew) in died.

I did enjoy playing as choppy an Ultramarines list as I currently can (though with all the new 9th ed rules, I forgot about doctrines for the marines until turn 3, but that wouldn't have made any difference). The Reivers were, as expected, very effective against Orks. And (as I've seen playing against my son), Vanguard Vets are a real glass cannon. If only there were choppy Intercessors on the horizon...

I think my champagne moment was when the Sniper Scouts jumped off their balcony and finished off the Warbike - that was great fun! Another interesting bit was that my Heavy Bolter-armed Scout twice fell back from combat and fired his Heavy Bolter at targets in a wood. That’s a total of -3 to hit (Ultramarines fall-back-and-shoot, moving and firing a heavy weapon and firing through a wood) but only a -1 to hit overall in 9^th: both times this helped enormously. As well as kicking out some effective fire, that Heavy Bolter-armed Scout held my left-hand objective for the entire game. If that unit had fallen to the Warbikes on turn 1, that could have turned the accumulation of primary objectives in Rapid's favour, so I think this makes him my MVP - not often that honour goes to a humble Scout I suspect.

I’m pretty happy with how that went overall. First time at the helm with the Orks and first time in 9^th  Ed. Da Jump with a squad of Boyz was an auto-include for me, having had it done to me a few times! However, with the smaller board I could have used the “Follow Me Ladz” ability to advance and charge the two sets of Boyz into combat. Even with the Da Jump, the Big Mek should have been going forward: Pootle had no specific secondaries for killing him.

With the Boyz in combat from the Da Jump, Pootle put the majority of his fire there rather than into my Lootas. The terrain making them hit on 6s was not great at all; Dakka Dakka Dakka did pull back a few shots, but nothing significant. The Lootas could have been placed at ground level to hold the point as well. It was only on turn 4 that I realised they're effectively Boyz, so they could have done well meeting the VV and the Bike. This ties into me charging the two squads of Boyz forward at the start, the group of 11 didn't need to hold back.

The dice rolls were unlucky for the Buggy & Bikes on the right, but there should have been more up there to deal  with that flank. My hope was that the Buggy would take out more Scouts that it did.

Top moments for me were ripping the Dreadnought to bits with the Boyz, the Flash Gitz wizardry on overwatch sorting those Bikes out and, last but by no means least, A 12 INCH CHARGE! I can retire from 40k now, knowing that I've done it once!

As usual with the Woffboot crowd, it was a great game. From the planning stage it was all about having fun, so we did our best to keep it balanced.

Thanks for the game Rapid, I look forward to a rematch at some point!