Black Hole Sunz: Raven Guard vs Orks

Pootle here! I'm kicking off my actions in the next phase of the campaign with a new army (for me). My fleet has moved to the Transcaridian Docks and will attempt a planetary invasion against jhnlk's Xenos; I’ve chosen to defend this planet with a new army for me - Orks! I've decided to use my son's Raven Guard for the first time, so it's new armies for both of us.

Graven Image

My son has built up quite a decent Raven Guard army now, with a strong emphasis on Phobos units (obviously), though he also has a few heavy hitters alongside them which can make them really rather effective. I've picked a list at the Phobos end of things today:

• Kayvaan Shrike (warlord) leading 5 Vanguard Veterans
• Captain in Phobos armour leading 5 Infiltrators
• Lieutenant in Phobos armour leading 5 Incursors
• 5 Reivers
• 3 Eliminators
• 3 Suppressors
• 2 Invictor Warsuits (with Autocannons)

1,000 points on the nose

Evil Sunz of Anarchy

Jhnlk hasn't played Orks before, so I suggested a few lists that I thought might work well and he picked this mobile themed list (which, as a natural Evil Sunz player, I was very happy with):

• Warboss (warlord) leading 10 Boyz riding in a Trukk
• Painboy leading 10 Boyz riding in a Trukk
• Deffkilla Wartrike leading 6 Warbikers
• Megatrakk Scrapjet
• Kustom Boosta Blasta
• Shokkjump Dragsta
• 10 Kommandos

The last unit are really Blood Axes of course, but as they're extremely fresh off my painting desk I was keen to see how they do. 

Mission and deployment

Standard 500-Worlds Orbital Invasion mission. I'm the Attacker and put three objectives down in a central 16"x16" square. Jhnlk as the Defender chooses three of the four corners to deploy all his army, then I put three units down within range of the objectives. The rest of my army is in reserve (though I can choose to give one extra unit the Deep Strike ability. I'm starting with the Captain and his Infiltrators on the board (seems appropriate) alongside both Warsuits. Most of the rest of the list already has Deep Strike so I add the Lt and Incursors to that list so it'll just be the Eliminators who have to footslog in from the edge (or just sit there and shoot).

Jhnlk gives me the zone at the top left of the pic below and sets up.

The Trukk with the Painboy and his Boyz, supported by the Kustom Boosta Blasta start in the North East corner.

The Bikers take up position in the South East, with the Megatrakk Scrapjet supporting them.

The Kommandos are split into two five-strong units; both start in the Orky defensive line in the South West, with the Warboss and his Trukk lurking behind. The Shokkjump Dragsta also starts in this zone.

I then deploy my forces. I put both Warsuits close to the North East corner of my zone. I'd warned Jhnlk that both have an 8" scout move which, coupled with their normal 8" move and the short distance between our deployment zones meant that I could rampage forwards and engage his units if I get first turn and want to be aggressive (I do). I did consider this warning but with my Ork debut, could I really deploy defensively? Nope, I completely agree that that was the right thing to do!

The Captain and his Infiltrators stand underneath the other Ork building in the North West (I put them on top so Jhnlk could see them on the camera).

The roll for first turn could well be critical so I'm very happy to win that one so I can do the jumping rather than be jumped on.

Raven Guard turn 1

Both Warsuits scout forwards, then move so they have an unfailable charge on the Painboy's Trukk. Their firepower makes short work of the Kustom Boosta Blasta, then they pound the Trukk into its component pieces with relative ease. 

Orks turn 1

Well, Pootle did warn me about those Warsuits! In good news, the Boyz are alive close to the objective and even better, in a target rich environment! Time to get stuck in.  

No need for a Waaagh yet, but most of the Orks in the south advance forwards to get onto objectives and get ready for next turn. 

The Scrapjet manages to get LoS on one of the Warsuits but I make my armour saves.

The forward unit of Kommandos manage to run just fast enough to score one of the central objectives.

The Shokkjump Dragsta tries to snipe out the Phobos Captain, and I have to use a CP reroll to pass his armour save; comically the Ork gunner then manages to inflict 3 hazardous wounds on itself.

The Painboy and his Boyz hurl grenades at one of the Invictors and then (just) manage to finish it off in combat. ‘Ere we go! A turn one charge and a dead warsuit, this is propa orkzin’!

At the end of the turn the Orks are on two objectives for 10 VPs.

Raven Guard turn 2

I can bring all my reserves on now so need to hit hard before the Orks start hollering Waaagh. I put Oath of Moment onto the big mob of Bikers and send the surviving Warsuit towards them. Its Autocannons take down several of the Bikes so I'm hopeful of taking them down in melee.

The Vanguard Vets and Reivers drop in to the North of the board, aiming to charge the Painboy's mob. Unfortunately they both fail their charges (even after I spend a CP to reroll the VV's effort).

The Eliminators appear on the old Ork building in the North West but they manage to miss their shots or fail to wound anything.

The Suppressors land on top of the Ork fortifications in the North and pepper the Bikers as well, managing to take down another Bike.

The Phobos Captain steps out of the shadows and his unit aim their guns at the Shokkjump Dragsta but only cause one wound. I try something rather tricksy with the Incursors: they deep strike in just ahead of the Captain's unit, shoot at the Dragsta (doing no damage unfortunately) and then use the Lt's move-shoot-move ability to move close enough to the Dragsta to then deploy their Haywire mine to cause 2D3 mortal wounds. With five wounds to get through I might do it...but I roll double ones...Oh...

Good news on my left flank however - the Warsuit crashes into the Bikers and kills all but the Deffkilla Wartrike (who does put a few wounds back on the Invictor).

Orks turn 2

Unsurprisingly, Jhnlk has something to say before we kick the turn off... 

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGHH!

First up, the Dragsta pops around to try to snipe out the Phobos Captain one more time. Do Orks do vendettas or is this dragsta just intent on the biggest ‘umie around? He fails to do that (though survives the Hazardous check at least) and charges into combat with them managing to kill a couple I think. 

The Warboss and his Boyz disembark from their Trukk and run towards the Incursors. I could spend a CP to have them run away, but I'm saving that for elsewhere...

The Deffkilla Wartrike falls back from the Warsuitand the Scrapjet prepares to shoot and charge the Warsuit while the Trukk drives forwards to steal the Northern objective off the Suppressors.

The Painboy and his lads run towards the Reivers and Vanguard Vets. 

I definitely want to protect the Vets so they leap backwards, leaving the Reivers to their fate.

Unsurprisingly, the Boys make short work of brutalising the poor Reivers.

I do spend 2CPs to interrupt with the Incursors...but only manage to bring three Boyz down. As it's the Waaagh, the Warboss and accompanying Nob manage to bring all the marines down without needing any help from the remaining Boyz anyway!

To finish the turn off, the Scrapjet crashes into the Invictor Warsuit and drills it into tiny pieces.

‘Ere we go!  

At the end of the turn the Orks are on all three objectives, chalking up a healthy 25VP lead.

Raven Guard turn 3

This is my scoring turn: I will score 15VPs for each objective I can get onto. Unfortunately I've only got four units left to do that with. Nevertheless, I have a plan!

The Phobos Captain falls back from the Dragsta and steals the Northern objective back off the Trukk.

Oath of Moment goes onto the Deffkilla Wartrike. I don't have much of a margin of error here, but the Suppressors start me off very well, taking out the trike with one burst of firepower.

Kayvaan Shrike and his team leap over the top of the Painboy. They hurl grenades at the Boys, softening them up for a charge. My cunning plan is to charge and kill them, then consolidate back onto the objective next to the Scrapjet, stealing that one as well.

I did think about just charging the Scrapjet, but then I'd get the Painboy and his lads mugging me from behind and I reckoned that the Boyz are squishy enough to be able to kill. 

However, I'd forgotten that the Painboy gives them all a 5+ FNP in there and after the dust settles there's a Nob left alive (I had used Shrike's Precision ability to kill the Painboy first at least).

This means I'm stuck away from the objective so will only score 15VPs. On my right flank, the Eliminators once again fail to do anything useful. Did they bring nerf guns or something?

Score: 25-15 to the Orks

Orks turn 3

Things are looking pretty good for the Orks at this point. The Dragsta once again follows the Phobos Captain around the ruins and, after ramming into melee manages to kill the unit. A three turn pursuit finally pays off!

The Scrapjet roars forwards and crashes into the Vanguard Veterans, who manage to only lose one of their number to the mortal wounds on the charge. Brilliantly, Kayvaan Shrike then unloads onto the Scrapjet and manages to kill it! That's doubly useful as the Orks are now not holding that objective.

The Warboss pushes forwards and then does a kind of vertical "Here's Johnny" to kill all the Suppressors from underneath.

The Trukk and Kommandos get the VPs sorted by grabbing two of the objectives back again

Score: 35-15 to the Orks

Raven Guard turn 4

Ummm. Only two units left now. I've pretty much given up at this point, but want to see how much damage I can do. 

Step forward Mr Shrike. In my mind, Shrike is perhaps a tad peeved to have been relieved of command of his chapter and perhaps has a point to make (I have bought the Aethon Shaan mini as it's absolutely stunning but it's unpainted at the moment).

The Vanguard Vets once more unpin some grenades and throw them at the pesky Shokkjump Dragsta, finally destroying it. Shrike then fires Blackout at the Kommandos nearest to him, dropping a couple of them.

Then they charge the Warboss and his crew and Shrike kills the lot of them! What an absolute boss!

Meanwhile the bloody Eliminators have done naff all once more. What I should have done (I realised at the end of the game) was run them forwards so they could help contest objectives in turn five, but, as I said, I'd pretty much given up the objective game).

Orks turn 4

Not a lot for the Orks to do this turn apart from occupy all the objectives for a sweet 15VPs and a commanding lead.

Score: 50-15 to the Orks

Raven Guard turn 5

It's now that I realise that my Eliminators should have moved last turn. Lacking them, it's down to Shrike and his Vets again.

They leap into the middle of the board next to the two units of Kommandos.

They hurl grenades at the smaller unit (again - I do love that strat), killing them, then charge the larger unit, killing them with ease (Shrike does it alone again in fact).

I positioned the charge carefully so some of the models could then consolidate to different objectives, means that the one unit scores two objectives for a cool 30VPs

Score: 50-45 to the Orks

Orks turn 5

The Orks will go on to score another 5VPs in their turn but that's it:

Final score: 55-45 to the Orks!

Locker Room

That was such a great game! I've been on the receiving end of my son's Raven Guard for a while and they were great fun to play. I didn't make the best use of all the tricksy shenanigans they can pull off (I wish I'd remembered to sabotage some objectives) but I was massively impressed by how well Kayvaan Shrike did. Admittedly the fact he was up against light infantry and light vehicles was pretty much perfect for him but boy did he deliver - I think he killed over half the points value of the Ork army (takes me right back to the origins of my CSM general Gormenghastly). Technically he needed the Grenades keyword from the Vanguard Vets to do that, but in my mind it was all him!

If I'd not relaxed too much in turn 4 and thought to run the Eliminators towards the centre then they could have grabbed the Northern objective whilst the Vanguard Vets pulled their kill-and-consolidate trick onto the other two objectives. I'm not 100% sure on the accuracy of the Consolidation moves I made, but I think it's OK as I'd position each model carefully so they stayed in coherency but the nearest objectives were different.

Overall though, it was in keeping with their performance in the rest of the game (killing NOTHING), so them forgetting to jog forwards and help their chapter master is entirely appropriate. They'd better fade back into the shadows pretty sharpish to avoid Shrike's wrath!

That was amazing! I love this mission, having played in reverse roles earlier in this campaign with Kraken’s Nids. 

Orks are incredible to play and this was such a fun debut. I found myself saying “‘ere we go!” at every opportunity. A small scale game was a fascinating way to ride the wave of the Waaaaaagh - so much carnage in turn 2 but Shrike (as a mobile harbour wall in this analogy) more than held his own and the Orks slowly wilted as the game progressed. 

I do find that Orks hit hard and then disappear distressingly quickly; the trick is to get a big enough CP lead by that point to try to get the win...does not always happen!

I am mega impressed by the humble Boyz with a character in a Trukk. In truth, I’m impressed by all the models in this army! I don’t think the Kommandos got a chance to shine but they were pivotal in holding the north. The Bikers are the only unit that failed to deliver… I suspect this is mostly down to Pootle neutralising a threat before they could rampage across the board. 

I am seriously in danger of a “new edition new army” experience. I can hear the small collection of Orkz chanting from my grey pile.

Just as long as there isn't, I don't know, a major focus on Orks by GW over the next few months and a launch box with them in, then I'm sure you'll be fine...