Battle Report: Orks vs. Crimson Fists

From round 2 of the Wasp Campaign via cosec:

Mission: Battle Missions: Pillage (aka Resource harvesting), with 4 collection points
Deployment: Spearhead

Orks (1275 points) vs.  Crimson Fists (1150 points) -- the points disparity is due to the empires held and the spread thin rule.

Pre-game: The emergent Ork Waaagh! on WASP-987c has so far failed to gain momentum, following the decisive actions of the Blood Ravens in round 1.

The Crimson Fists, following in the steps of their Adeptus brothers moved in to crush the Orks yet again, attempting to remove the Ork blight from the West side of Wasp.

The emergent Waaagh! had attracted more orks from across the planet than last time, as more orks became aware of, and rushed to fight under the banner of Warboss Gutzspilla.

It was into these superior numbers that the Crimson Fists charged, bringing all their might to bear on this immense horde. The Crimson Fists brought an immense arsenal of heavy weaponry, including their newly requisitioned Whirlwind Missile Launcher. Pedro Kantor knew full well that he would need to bring his largest ordnance weapons if he was to stem the Ork horde.

The Orks saw the Crimson Fists slowly marching towards them, but elected to hide their numbers for as long as possible, choosing to deploy second. The battle was fought amidst the cratered landscape left behind from an earlier battle, littered with broken imperial buildings. Pedro Kantor and his Crimson Fists approached from one corner of the game board and quickly set up heavy weapons in the old buildings, whilst deploying their Whirlwind well behind their lines. The Ironclad Dreadnought that had fought boldy for the Crimson Fists in past battles waited excitedly for the battle to begin - he had been granted use of a drop pod, and eagerly anticipated flying in from the heavens to smite the orks.

Seeing such a devastating array of firepower gave the orks something of a shock. Most of them brazenly deployed in craters or behind barricades, whilst the Deff Dreads, Killa Kans and Trukks deployed on the flanks of the army, ready to provide cover as the ork horde swarmed forward. The Orks were led by one of Gutzspilla's key generals, Warboss Stabbyface, who, even though mounted on a warbike, cowardly deployed underneath some ruins. He however argued it was prudent, because he had a great fear of Pedro Kantor's Orbital Bombardment.

After deployment, a cunning unit of Devastators who had developed a knack for infiltration deployed in the centre of the battleground, holding one resource point. Simultaneously, an Ork Deffkopta turbo-boosted quickly onto an objective. Being a rather lazy fellow, he didn't move any further than this throughout the battle.

Turn One 
The battle began decisively for the crimson fists, with them throwing every possible pound of firepower at the Orks. Pedro ordered an Orbital Bombardment, which destroyed the Ork Trukk carrying the 'Ard Boys, and one Killa Kan. Lascannon fire immobilised another can. Whirlwind fire bathed the slugga mob in incendiary ammo, and pinning them until the next turn. The Ironclad dreadnaught arrived from orbit in its drop pod, and wrecked the Deff Dread with its meltagun. The Ard' Boys that had been in the trukk were blasted by the devastators, but fortunately passed their morale test.

Meanwhile, one squad of tactical marines ran for an objective, not quite making it all the way.

The Ork response to this barrage of fire was quite pitiful, the green-skin horde thoroughly embarrassed by being caught with its pants down by enemy fire. The Warboss turbo-boosted away quickly, hoping to make the most of his cover save. The remaining trukk sneakily hid behind a building hoping to outflank Pedro, and shoota fire took out one devastator.

Points from this round/Total points - Orks 2/2, Crimson Fists 1/1

Turn Two:
The crimson fists launched into the next phase of the battle with confidence. Torrents of bolter fire rained down upon the orks, as the devastator squad shot to pieces every remaining 'ard boy. The ironclad launched a barrage of close range flamer and melta weaponry on the remaining useful killa kan, exploding it easily. Lascannon and sternguard bolter fire managed to cause one wound on the warboss, who was threateningly poised to assault Pedro and his unit. Meanwhile, one tactical squad quickly sneaked around the side of the battlefield and secured an objective.

The Orks were however heartened by the scatter of this rounds whirlwind fire, and perhaps viewing it as a sign that they should attack with vigour, launched a strong assault on the space Marines. One deffkopta turbo boosted to the crimson fists table quarter, whilst the remaining trukk moved 12 inches to bring its cargo of nobz close to the tactical marine line. The slugga boys moved threateningly towards the dreadnought, seeking power klawed glory, whilst the shootas brought a wave fire down upon the devastators, killing one, and even spooking them into retreating off the objective due to their low squad members. Excited by the possibility of combat, at the beginning of shooting, Warboss Stabbyface screamed WAAAGH! thrilling the horde which joined in his chorus. The nobz ran and assaulted the tactical Marines, winning convincingly before consolidating onto the objective formerly held by the devastators. Warboss Stabbyface charged at Pedro, unleashing all his Power-Klawed might at the Crimson Fists commander (in particular trying to stab his face!). This suicidal manoeuvre cost him his life, but he caused instant death to Pedro also, somewhat redeeming him for his earlier cowardice.

Finally, the Slugga Boys near the dreadnought assaulted. The Dreadnought took out two boys, before a power-klawed nob dug into his armour, causing him to explode, a process which killed a couple more boys, who died quite happily, knowing they were still able to use their 6+ armour save!

Points from this round/Total points - Orks 2/4, Crimson Fists 1/2

Turns Three, Four and Five:

From this point, the battle became a lot more quiet. The orks sat on their objectives whilst being harassed by space marine shooting. Despite the valiant efforts of the space marines, there were just too many orks to shoot, and they had all managed to find some cover. Notable moments however came when the Sternguard Veterans ripped into an Ork Trukk, destroying it with Melta bombs, and then proceeded to shoot to pieces all they could of the remaining slugga mob. The Whirlwind missile launcher also rained down havoc from the sky, killing Orks, but not killing enough.

Turn three: Points from this round/Total points - Orks 3/7, Crimson Fists 1/3
Turn four: Points from this round/Total points - Orks 3/10, Crimson Fists 1/4
Turn five (final score): Points from this round/Total points - Orks 3/13, Crimson Fists 1/5

A great game was enjoyed by both players. The initial two rounds were quite epic. The first round definitely belonged to the Crimson Fists, eliminating all of the Orks heavy support, whilst the Ork assaults in round two changed the game back into the Orks favour. Some bad luck definitely hit the space marines when the devastators retreated from their objective, which helped the Orks secure a commanding hold early in the game. The later rounds were comparatively quiet, with the Orks happy to hold the objectives and win on points.