Weekend at Burnie’s 5 - Day 1: Orks vs Leagues of Votann

Pootle here, reporting in on my second game at this year's Weekend at Burnie against Primaris_Dave's gorgeously painted Leagues of Votann (so gorgeous that he won the "best painted army" prize for them). I've never faced Votann before but am aware of how dangerous their judgement can be.

Waaagh Bludteef!

Same army as my last post obviously: I brought Orks to WaB this year as they're relative easy to play with (central tactic: CHARGE!) and fun to play against (as my opponent will definitely be killing lots of models). I picked a stripped down version of the list I fielded against Winters back in October:

• Warboss - Warlord with Cybork Body enhancement (4+++ feel no pain), Power Klaw, Kombi-weapon, Attack Squig; he's leading...
• 10 Nobz - Power Klaws, Ammo Runt; and all eleven of them are riding around in...
• Trukk with Wreckin' Ball
• Defkilla Wartrike with Kunnin' but Brutal enhancement (fall back, shoot and charge); he's leading...
• 6 Warbikers - Nob with Power Klaw
• 3 Warbikers - Nob with Power Klaw
• 10 Boyz - Nob with Power Klaw, 9 Boyz with Choppas
• 10 Boyz - Nob with Power Klaw, 9 Boyz with Choppas
• 5 Flash Gitz with Ammo Runt
• Deff Dread
• Kustom Boosta Blasta
• Megatrakk Scrapjet
• Skokkjump Dragsta
• Mek Gun - Kustom Mega-Kannon
• Mek Gun - Kustom Mega-Kannon
• Mek Gun - Kustom Mega-Kannon

1,500 points on the nose

Leagues of Votann

I've seen a few battle reports featuring Squats The Leagues of Votann and know I need to be worried about their judgement tokens and pretty effective ranged weaponry, but this is the first time I've faced them myself. Gulp.

• Kahl - Warlord with Mass Gauntlet, Rampant Crest, Volkanite Disintegrator. Enhancement: Grim Demeanor
• Brokhyr Ironmaster - Graviton Hammer, Graviton Rifle
• Ironkyn Assistant - Las-beam Cutter
• E-COG - Plasma Torch
• E-COG - Manipulator Arms
• E-COG - Autoch-pattern Bolt Pistol
• 6 Brokhyr Thunderkyn - Graviton Blast Cannon
• 5 Cthonian Beserks - Concussion Mauls and a Mole Grenade Launcher; all riding in a...
• Sagitaur - HYLas Beam Cannon, Twin Bolt Cannon
• 10 Hearthkyn Warriors - Theyn with EtaCarn Plasma Pistol & Weavefield Crest; 7 Ion Blasters, 1 L7 Missile Launcher, 1 Magna Rail Rifle, 1 Medipack, 1 Pan-Spectral Scanner; all riding in a... 
• Sagitaur - HYLas Beam Cannon, Twin Bolt Cannon
• 10 Einhyr Hearthguard - Hesyr with Concussion Hammer, EtaCarn Plasma Gun, Exo-armour Grenade Launcher and Teleport Crest; 9x Concussion Gauntlet, EtaCarn Plasma Gun and Exo-armour Grenade Launcher
• Hekaton Land Fortress - SP Heavy Conversion Beamer, MATR Autocannon, Pan Spectral Scanner, 2x Twin Bolt Cannon
• 3 Hernkyn Pioneers - Ion Beamer, Pan Spectral Scanner, Rollbar Searchlight
• 3 Hernkyn Pioneers - HYLas Rotary Cannon, Pan Spectral Scanner, Rollbar Searchlight

Mission and deployment

We played the Vital Ground mission, which removes the central objective and then in each players' command phase (from turn 2) they score 2VPs for controlling their home objective, 5VPs for controlling each of the objectives in No Man's Land and 6VPs for controlling the enemy's objective. 

Dave put the two units of Hernkyn Pioneers on each flank

The (empty) Hekaton Land Fortress squatted in the centre (yes, that was deliberate), next to the two Sagitaurs (containing the Beserks and Hearthkyn Warriors) and the unit of Brokhyr Thunderkyn (led by the Ironmaster and his entourage).

Once again my deployment was more about fitting all my units into the deployment zone and trying to protect the most important (the Trukk containing Nobz, the Deff Dredd and the big unit of Bikes)

Because there are only two objectives to go for in midfield, I've split the army to go each way, with the Grots and Mek Gunz holding my home objective. Lines of sight for the Gunz are pretty atrocious, but that helps my deployment so I don't mind if I go second.

That, of course, means that I do win the roll-off for first turn! 

Orks: turn 1

No Waaagh yet, turn one is about occupying the midfield and trying to overwhelm Dave with too many targets to deal with.

The smaller unit of Bikes (lead warbuggies) and the Trukk both manage to edge onto the midfield objective on my left flank.

And the old-school plastic Boyz and the big unit of Bikes get onto the other midfield objective. Hopefully double-teaming like this will help me survive the firepower to come.

My own firepower makes lots of noise, but doesn't achieve very much of note (knocking one wound off the Pioneers on my left).

Votann: turn 1

I have inadvertently parked my Trukk carrying Bludteef right in front of the Thunderkyn who are carrying terrifying anti-vehicle weaponry. They would have probably have taken out a Battlewagon, had Bludteef been able to afford one, so the Trukk doesn't cause any problems at all. 

A couple of Nobz died in exiting from the wreckage, and they're now stood brazenly in front of quite a few guns.

Fortunately Dave spends this firepower, mostly from the Land Fortress and Sagitaurs, in shooting at the big unit of Bikers. Unfortunately (and despite me spending a CP to make them -1 to wound; this is countered by them having had two judgement tokens applied giving the Votann +1 to hit and +1 to wound against them) this firepower is also pretty effective and five bikes are destroyed, leaving me with just the Deffkilla Wartrike and a wounded Nob to accompany him.

Because there's only the two of them left, Dave decides to charge the Pioneers in to try to do some damage before the Waaagh hits. This isn't a terrible idea in theory, but when he whiffs his attacks and then my counter strike destroys all three Pioneers, it becomes apparent that maybe it wasn't the best plan!

Orks: turn 2

At the start of my turn I score 12VPs for being on my home objective and both the midfield ones. Good start!

The Deff Dredd strides forwards alongside the Boyz and the Flash Gitz (lacking any targets within range) jog up with them, so I've now got three units on the righthand midfield objective.

On my left, the surviving Bikers and the Scrapjet blast away at the Pioneers in front of them and manage to destroy all of them.

In the centre, the Deffkilla Wartrike and surviving Nob Biker move forwards and have an unfailable charge on the Sagitaur; they go on to destroy the transport with relative ease.

Bludteef and his Nobz move towards the Thunderkyn with violent intent. I'm aware that with D6 shots each, I'm going to attract some overwatch fire, which I do. However I wasn't expecting it to be as effective as the auto-hitting flamers from the Redeemer in my last game, but because their overwatch hits on 5+ all eight surviving Nobz are cut down and Bludteef is left standing alone! To add insult to injury, he fails his 4" charge into the Thunderkyn (I do spend a CP to reroll this one though).

I have left room for the Boyz (who got a big advance roll) to follow up and help him in place of the Nobz (remembering that one unit butchered a full unit of Heavy Intercessors in my last game) but they also roll a 3" charge so have to leave Bludteef to do as best he can. Unfortunately Bludteef's luck deserts him combat too and despite having 9 attacks, he only manages to kill one of the Thunderkyn! 

Thinking it's all part of Bludteef's plan, the Shokkjump Dragsta also manages to roll a 3" charge into the Sagitaur too: three of these in one phase means that only two Ork units (and three models!) made it into combat during the Waaagh!

Votann: turn 2

Dave only scores 2VPs for holding his home objective at the start of the turn, but he's in a target-rich environment: time for a bit of work.

The Beserks had spilled out of the destroyed Sagitaur last turn; they move forwards and crash into the Boyz on my left

Fortunately for me, Dave is capable of rolling badly too and the Boyz only lose half their number, meaning they take down four of the five Beserks in return.

You might notice from the pic above a Bludteef-shaped hole next to the Sagitaur, which managed to burn straight through Bludteef's armour with some lucky sustained hits from its HYLas Beam Cannon and some more poor dice from me.

On my right, the Hearthguard not-Terminators teleported in and shot up the Kustom Boosta Blasta (denying them a chance to charge it at least).

VP score: 12-2 to the Orks

Orks: turn 3

At the start of my third turn I scored another 12VPs for holding my home and both midfield objectives. As the Leagues of Votann forces were seriously hemmed in and we were running out of time we decided to call the game there. We could see that Dave would only score another 2VP in his turn three so he conceded the game there. In my third turn I would retreat my forces to make it impossible for Dave to get onto my righthand midfield objective with his slow-moving troops so that at best he could take 7VP in turn 4 and 12VP in turn 5.

VP score: 24-4 to the Orks at the end of turn 3

Final score: 28-23 to the Orks

Locker Room

That was another awesome game! I've never faced Votann before and their firepower on judged units was pretty scary, however I (just) managed to get enough board control and keep possession of the centre of the table long enough to win the game. Irrespective of that, Dave was a terrific opponent, playing the game in exactly the right way (as did everyone at WaB of course) so it really didn't matter who won or lost. Thank you and I hope our paths cross again at some point.