Thursday, August 6, 2015

Bat Rep: The Battle of Piscina IV

Last week, Will was down to wrap up his Masters defense (congrats to Will) and we got in a few turns of a fun, fluffy game using the scenario from White Dwarf 73 - The Battle of Piscina IV. The scenario is based on Warboss Nazdreg's field test of his Tellyporta technology on the world of Piscina IV, which was defended by the Dark Angels. We settled on 2,025 points give or take 5 points and got to it.


In the scenario, The Dark Angels get a Fortress of Redemption placed in the center of the board for free. Meanwhile, all my Orks get the Deep Strike special rule and can roll to arrive starting turn 1. Also, all infantry units that were destroyed would be sent to Ongoing Reserves and return via Deepstrike in my following turn.

I was super tempted to run a Green Tide because it would be hilarious to try to deep strike a 100+ model mob, but I ended up going with a more standard list using a CAD and an Ork Horde Detachment:
  • CAD:
    • Nazdreg Ug Urdgrub (Warboss): Mega Armour, Ded Shiny Shoota
    • Warboss: Power Klaw, Lucky Stikk
    • 30 Boyz: Nob w/Klaw and Bosspole, 3 Big Shootas
    • 30 Boyz: Nob w/Klaw and Bosspole, 3 Big Shootas
    • 10 Tankbustas: Trukk
    • 5 Burna Boyz: Trukk
    • Dakka Jet: Flyboss, extra TL Supa Shoota
    • 10 Stormboyz: Nob, Bosspole
    • 9 Lootas: Trukk
  • Ork Horde Detachment
    • Painboy
    • Weirdboy: Warphead
    • Weirdboy: Warphead
    • 5 Nobs: Big Choppa and Bosspole
    • 10 Boyz: Nob w/Klaw and Bosspole, 'Eavy Armour, Big Shoota, Trukk
    • 10 Boyz: Nob w/Bosspole
    • 10 Boyz: Nob w/Bosspole
Will's list was mostly dictated by the mission, guiding him to take a Demi Company and a Deathwing Redemption Force. He added a beefy command squad and a dreadnought to his Demi Company.

Will deployed the terrain and deployed first with his Greenwing section of his army arrayed in the various buildings and ramparts that are part of the Fortress. The Deathwing Redemption Force was held in reserve to Deep Strike when he chose, which I guessed would be turn 2. 


The Orks get first turn and rolling for reserves I got Nazdreg in a trukk with the Lootas, one mob of 30 boyz with a Warphead, the Tankbustas, Burnas, Nobs, and Stormboyz. The Burnas scattered onto the fortress and mishapped back into Ongoing. The rest landed more or less where I wanted, with the Tankbustas dropping in their trukk behind Will's Dreadnought, which they promptly blew up for bonus Glory Hog First Blood. The Lootas unloaded on one of the Dark Angel squads on the battlements and thanks to a flurry of 2s from Will, picked off about half the squad. 


The Dark Angel turn was pretty short, though a number of boyz from the big mob got picked off . The Nobs's trukk was shaken, while the Tankbustas's was Immobilized. 

In the top of turn 2, the second large mob of boyz arrived along with the paintboy, second warphead and warboss. The Tankbustas bailed out of their trukk and made for the nearest section of building, while the Nobz jumped out into the battlements next to the tower. The Burnas deep struck successfully, but had their ride shot out from under them and were pinned by the intercepting Icarus lascannon.

Shooting was largely ineffective, though one squad on the battlements was reduced to 3 members. In assault, the tankbustas annihilated the part of the building they charged, while the Nobs got stuck in with a tactical squad and exchanged blows. 


In the bottom of the turn, the Deathwing arrived to help out. Also, the command squad who had been ousted from the blown up building were less than pleased and moved for the offending tankbustas. Shooting took out the Lootas' trukk, though they survived mostly unscathed. One Warphead was taken down by fire from a squad holding fast in the Fortress, along with a handful of Boyz. In assault, the Command Squad combi-assaulted the Tankbustas and a squad of boyz and wiped out the tankbustas, reducing the boyz to 3, who booked it for the hills. 

Nazdreg joined up with the mostly intact mob of boyz and spread out to charge one Deathwing squad and the Deathwing Knights. Meanwhile, the 'Ard boyz and Storm Boyz zeroed in on the other Deathwing Squad, while the surviving Burnas made for the couple marines holding down the other big boyz mob. 


The turn quickly jumped to combat, which saw the Deathwing Librarian challenge an Ork Warboss and be summarily crushed. Nazdreg similarly cut his way through several members of the Deathwing, with Boyz dragging down more through weight of numbers. In the other combat, the 'Ard boyz Nob cut down a couple Deathwing, with some boyz getting squished in return. 

In the bottom of the turn, the Command Squad moved into the combat with the 'Ard boyz and, with about a billion attacks, wiped them and the stormboyz out no problem. Meanwhile, Nazdreg and company whittled down most of the remaining Knights and Deathwing they were facing. 

We ended up having to call it after three turns due to time. The Orks managed an 8-4 victory, having dropped two units of boyz onto objectives, while a couple marines held the third. Had the game continued, the command squad would have probably dove into the combat with the Warboss squad and probably wiped them out, only to have the 30 boyz and warbosses return. That unit was crazy durable and would have continued moving around wiping out squads as they dropped in.

In all, the game was great fun. I enjoyed the chance to play Orks with total reckless abandon, caring not if they lived or died, so long as stuff blew up along the way. Big mobs of boyz are a lot of fun, and I'm honestly looking forward to possibly working on a Green Tide army after NOVA. 

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