Battle Report: Space Marines vs. Orks

Space Marines vs. Orks:   Strike Force Steel Thunder vs. Blood Axe Mercenaries

Another encounter with the Blood Axes (Orks in training) with my friend Colin. He is still learning how to play orks, an army i've been playing for the past 4 years, and at times, competetively. So, as the Blood Axes are building a Shooty-Style Army of Ork Lootas, I allowed him access to my models and this gave me another chance to field my Space Marines, a new project I have been working on lately.

Our encounter takes us into the Asoria sub-sector, where the Blood Axes at this point, led by the boss Bullet-Bita, have been spearheading an assault into this region under orders from Ork Warlord Krogg Satogg of Krogg's Karnage.

Strike Force Steel Thunder is a unified force of Space Marines from two Chapters. The rebuilding Lamenters 5th Company allong with allies of the Salamanders 6th company. So far this list is still my 1000 point list from our local "Tale of 4 Gamers" in the Berks-PA Gaming Club. My list is pretty standard but has given me some fun options as I continue to complete painting them.

Space Marine Turn 1: Opening up fire into the battle, the Dreadnought Honorable Brother Val'Deez only managed to melt a tree in front of him with his multi-melta. The Whirlwind Hailfire scored a direct hit upon the orks wartrukk, but failed to damage it. All in all, a very ineffective round of shooting for the Space Marines.

Ork turn 1: Wartrukk with Nobs in it races down the Western flank. The Nobs crest the hill and are just barely in range of assaulting the Lamenter's Rhino. On the other side of the field, the Ork's looted wagon with battle cannon ( a looted Vindicator tank) scattered it's shot and it landed directly upon the Salamanders Rhino and a few scouts. The scouts avoided damage thanks to their camo cloaks. The advancing ork Ork Lootas and shoota boyz pumped some rokkit launchas into the Stunned Rhino and subsequently wrecked it, forcing the Salamander tactical squad to disembark.

Space Marine turn 2: The Landspeeder Storm arrived, outflanking from the East, allowing the Assault Scouts to come in behind the Looted Wagon. Shooting was more effective this turn, combined shooting scoring 3 wounds on the Nobs, (unsaved by Feel No Pain). Assault scouts with their transport pur their fire into the Looted Wagon, stunning it and than destroying it with Krak grenades and a melta-bomb from the Sgt. The Lamenters disembarked from their shaken transport, drew bolt pistols and than assaulted the Nobs. They scored 2 wounds, leaving just 3 Nobs left: the Pain-doc, one with a power claw and one other Nob.

Ork turn 2: More Outflanking! Ork Kommandos arrive on the South Eastern flank behind the Dreadnought and near the Whirlwind. The empty Wartrukk moved full speed ahead, attempting to tank-shock the Captain and his tactical 5-man squad. The Lamenters avoid the tank-shock and move aside. More orks advance, now in range of their shootas (18 inches) and start pouring dakka-dakka fire from their slug throwing guns into Space Marine units. They manage to kill 1 marine. Lootas fire their deffguns at the Assault scouts, who manage to avoid injury due to range and cover.

The Warboss calls a "Waaagh!", and rolls a 6 for the closest mob of boyz. They join in the fight with the Lamenters and Nobs and eventually the 5-man squad is finished off as the Warboss joins in the fun. Kommandos assault the dread, hoping to get the Nob with the Powerclaw leading the pack into the fight. He misses. Honorable Brother Val'Deez kills 2 Kommandos with his Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon.

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Space Marine turn 3: As the Warboss and his troops are closing in, Ork teams fire into the squad of shoota boyz in the central objective area of the board. Combined fire takes out half the squad, killing 10 of the 20 orks. Other shooting stuns the Wartrukk. The Assault scouts Manuver around, trying to get an angle near the orks in the center of the battle field. The Battle of the Dreadnought and the Kommandos was still at a stand still.

Ork Turn 3: The Ork Wartrukk was attempting to ram the Whirlwind Hailfire, but it just didn't have enough speed. Still it pulled in close enough to get it's wrecking ball into range, but the deadly weapon missed. The Ork Warboss Bullet-Bita lead his mob closer to Captain Octavious. Their gunfire killed 3 of his Lamenters and the good Captain had the sense to pull his troops back (falling back 8 inches) and taking them out of assault range of the intruding Orks.

As shooting continued, the Salamander tactical squad lost 4 men, including the Sergeant, and they wisely pulled back. The Salamander Dreadnought, Honorable-Brother Val'Deez continued to hold his ground against the ork kommandos, killing another of their number.

Space Marine turn 4: This time the Marines concentrated their efforts on the weakened shoota boy mob in by the central objective towards the North. Shooting from the Landspeeder Storm, the Assault scouts and the surviving Salamanders combined to soften them up. A combined assault of the Scouts and Salamanders saw the orks get wiped out. Salamanders consolodated South, trying to block off the objective while the Assault Scouts claimed the objective.

Scout Snipers and the Whirlwind continued to pour fire into the closing mob of orks, killing a few more. The Dreadnought was still locked in a tied combat with the Kommandos.

Ork turn 4: Ork Lootas managed to shoot and kill one of the assault scouts, who were hunkered down in a copse of trees. The larger ork mob closes in on the Salamanders, shoots and than assaults them, killing a couple but loosing men in return.

The Dreadnought was still holding its ground, despite being shaken up a bit by the Nob with the Power Claw. The Wartrukk continued to try to hit the Whirlwind with its wrecking ball, but still managed to not hit the missle tank.

Space Marine turn 5: Captain Octavious stepped up and left Battle-Brother Heath Gulther, the last man of the 5-man combat squad still standing, who was just behind the Whirlwind and brought his Missle Launcher to bear. The Missle takes out the truck where it was sitting.

Where the Salamanders were tied up in an assault, the Sniper Scouts broke free from the ruined building and join into the assault. They managed to inflict some casualties and take a few of their own, but help hold the combat away from the other objectives.

The Landspeeder Storm zipped away flat out, moving into position to contest the objective where the 3 nobs were still camped out on the hill.

Ork turn 5: The Lootas managed to shoot down the Landspeeder Storm. They claim the Western objective. The large mob of boys finish off the lone Salamander and sniper scouts, and move to claim the southeast objective, but Captain Octavious is there to contest it. In the Center area of the field of battle, the Assault Scouts stand vicotrious on their objective, thus securing a 1-1 tie.

End Game: Objectives count: 1-1. Going to victory points is as follows: Orks: 549 points. Space Marines: 500. As this is in the 10% rule, (100 points in this case), the end result is a solid draw. The Lamenters and Salamanders of Strike Force Steel Thunder hold their ground, but fail to stop the Ork assault into the sector.

This was a very fun game. Colin is learning to play orks (my main army) and I'm helping him at what I call "Kamp Karnage" named after my own ork Army: Krogg's Karnage. His experimentation with a shooty style of ork army is starting to take off. I just heard that he defeated a cagey Space Wolf player recently. I look forward to more games with him as I help him join the WAAAGH!
I'm also enjoying learning how to run my Space Marines too, but I'm an Ork player at heart. :-)