This is a report of a 10,000 points a side game, Orks against Marines using standard tournment rules for Epic Armageddon. We arranged it a 4 player game, each player controlling a 5000 point tournament army. The Orks were to be controlled by myself and my friend Mike, and the Marines were to be controlled by Paul Hutton and Kevin Nielson. As it turned out, sadly Mike had too much squig beer the night before the battle, and I was left in sole command of the orks... probably for the best anyway...
Some of the pictures are slightly blurry due to me shooting without a tripod, but hopefully what's happening is clear enough!
The table was 8'x6'. I set up the terrain, and the Marines chose to set up in a corner. Here is an approximate listing of forces involved...
FORCES
| ORK ARMY 1 | ORK ARMY 2 |
| Warlord in Great Gargant (Soopa) |
Warlord in Great Gargant (Soopa) |
| Landa (4 Nobz, 6 Boyz, 2 Grotz) |
Gargant (Zzap) |
| Landa (4 Nobz, 6 Boyz, 2 Grotz) |
3 Fighta-Bombas |
| 4 Fighta-Bombas |
6 Stompas, 2 Flakwagons, 6 Dreadnoughts |
| 4 Fighta-Bombas |
8 Warbuggies |
| 12 Gunwagonz including 3 oddboyz (zzap) |
12 Gunwagonz including 3 oddboyz (zzap) |
| 12 Gunwagonz including 3 oddboyz (zzap) |
12 Gunwagonz including 3 oddboyz (zzap) |
| 2 Battlefortresses, 2 Flakwagonz, 4 Nobz, 4 Grotz, 12 Boyz, 2 Kommandos |
2 Battlefortresses, 2 Flakwagonz, 4 Nobz, 4 Grotz, 12 Boyz, 2 Kommandos |
2 Battlefortresses, 2 Flakwagonz, 4 Nobz, 4 Grotz, 12 Boyz, 2 Kommandos |
2 Battlefortresses, 2 Flakwagonz, 4 Nobz, 4 Grotz, 12 Boyz, 2 Kommandos |
| 16 Warbikes |
|
| DARK ANGEL MARINE ARMY - Kevin | STORMCLOUD ARMY - Paul |
| 2 Warhound Titans |
Warlord Titan |
| Thunderhawk (8 Assault, 1 Chaplain, 1 Commander) |
Reaver Titan |
| 2 Thunderbolts |
2 Thunderbolts |
| 2 Thunderbolts |
4 Whirlwinds, Hunter |
| 2 Thunderbolts |
4 Whirlwinds, Hunter |
| 4 Landraiders |
4 Landraiders, Supreme Commander |
| 4 Landraiders |
4 Landraiders |
| 4 Devastator, Dreadnought, Hunter, Supreme Commnder |
6 Tactical, 3 Razorback, 2 Rhinos, Hunter |
| 4 Devastator, Dreadnought, Hunter |
6 Tactical, 3 Razorback, 2 Rhinos, Hunter |
| 4 Terminators, Captain |
4 Terminators, Librarian |
| 4 Terminators, Captain |
4 Terminators, Librarian |
| 4 Devastator, 2 Rhinos, Hunter |
|
| 4 Devastator, 2 Rhinos, Hunter |
|
| 4 Predator Annihilators |
|
TURN 1
Above is a shot of the battle at the end of turn 1. O1-O3 are the Ork objectives, and M1-M3 are the Marine objectives.
Most of this turn consisted of units on both sides advancing. Fighta-bombas destroy a Landraider, 3 Thunderbolts, and lose two of their own number in return. The Warlord strips a few powerfields from a Great Gargant, and whirlwinds knock out a couple of gunwagonz.
TURN 2
Above is a shot of the ork left flank at the end of turn 2. The Stompas deployed near the marine objective here lose several units, and are supressed by fire from Landraiders, the Reaver Titan, and Marine Tactical units. In return 24 Gunwgonz including 6 Supa-Zzap Gunz are moved up to reinforce the ork position, and destroy 3 Landraiders. In the top left of the photo you may be able to see the mob of 8 ork warbuggies racing around behind the marine lines.
The photo above shows the ork right flank. The first big ork infantry mob unloads from their transports, supported by gargants and gunwagonz. Landraiders open fire killing gretchin and a battlefortress. Two more Landraider detachments fall back under fire from Gunwagonz and Gargants. The Warlord Titan advances at the double and its shooting destroyes all but 1 of the first Great Gargants powerfields.
TURN 3
Seeing the situation at the start of turn 3, I realised that I could potentially win in Turn 3 using the Ork Landas to capture the cluster of objectives near the marine baseline objective. The landing zone was lightly defended with only two Devastator, and one Whirlwind formation present, although that also meant 3 Hunters (anti-air units) for my Landas to contend with. A line of Predators, Warhounds, and Landraiders was between my main ork ground attack and the landing zone.
The turn started badly for the orks with the Warlord Titan advancing behind a rock outcrop and blasting the still loaded-up ork battlefortresses sheltering there. After the smoke cleared, the wreckage of a battlefortress, two flakwagonz, and 50 ork infantry littered the ground, and the remainder of the ork mob broke and ran.
However over 300 ork infantry with support from gunwagonz, battlefortresses, warbikes, and the gargant smashed their way through the imperial line of armour in the centre, destroying the Predators, Warhound Titans, and mauling the Land Raiders. The two Great Gargants advanced and opened fire on the marine formations guarding the potential ork landing zone, not doing much damage, but supressing some of the marines including one of the Hunters.
Above is a shot of the battle at the end of turn 3.
The ork left flank breaks, and the gunwagonz surviving the marine onslaught redeploy to reinforce the ork centre attack.
Meanwhile on the ork right flank, a Thunderhawk lands and Assault Marines with support from the Warlord Titan destroy one of the ork Gunwagonz mobs.
The ork Warbuggies race up and kill a Hunter and a Whirlwind. I then commit all my remaining fighta-bombas to try and destroy the Hunters guarding my landing zone. I get one of them and lose a fighta-bomba.
Now the time is right and I send in the Ork Landas. The remaining hunter misses the first Landa, and the lone thunderbolt only damages it. The Landa dives to ground and 50 orks charge out and overwhelm the supressed marine formations. Before the second Landa even unloads its troops the objectives are captured and the Marine players realise the battle is lost!
CONCLUSION
Well even at 10,000 points the Epic Armageddon rules seem to work fine. The game took about 4 hours including set-up and fluffing about.
I think the main mistake the Marine players made was to leave few detachments defending critical objectives... especially when they were aware that Ork Landas were going to be arriving. Another lethal mistake was that the four expensive and deadly Terminator detachments never saw action. The Marine players were saving them for a decisive teleportation strike in the 4th turn, but the battle ended before they could do this!
As the ork player, well almost everything went according to plan really. Losing a big mob of orks to the Warlord Titan in such horrific fashion was bad, but at least it drew the the Titan even further from the crucial objectives. I was also pleased to see the buggies do well, after being ridiculed by the marine players who refused to waste ammo on them!!
In conclusion - great game! I can't wait for the next one!!