Strike on Ragnarok

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Adeptus Mechanicus 

Somnium Stars Campaign game, June 08. 

Mission: Disruptive Signals
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil
First Turn: Waaagh Grekmawg

Terrain Layout

Deployment Overview. The Orks deployed first on the line, and the Space Marines hunkered in cover to maximize the distance between them while leaving enough room to retreat once the melee began.

The Granite Fists form a defensive line against the green tide. Hellblasters and a Dreadnought secure each flank. The characters and Aggressors screened in the midfield by Intercessors.

Waaaaagh Grekmawg prepares to swarm da 'ard 'umies. The Boyz get riled up, and the Nob Bikers prepare to rush the left side of the board.

The secret MVP of the Ork list: Kannons line up behind Boss Klampkrusha and some boyz.

The right flank of the Astartes deploy to tempt the Ork No Bikers in to a charge by placing the company's banner atop objective 5.

Warboss Grekmawg prepares to lead da boyz in to the fray with a gang of Biker Nobz at tip of the spear.

Dem boyz is muckin' about!

More muckin!

The Orks advance at full speed.  A block of 40 boyz Da Jumps to the center of the board despite a Perils of the Warp, and the Nob Bikers and Grekmawg charge up the left flank and open fire on the Hellblasters. The first of the Granite Fists fall as Kannon fire rains down on the Aggressors.

The grey line holds the bikers back, but only just. Paragons of Dorn return fire from the Hellblasters picks off one bike and wounds another before the Orks can fully engage in melee.

In the midfield, the giant block of Boyz piles in and gets to work on the Intercessors, hoping to consolidate in to the Aggressor squad and prevent them from firing.

 The Nobz hidden in the mob wipe out one Intercessor squad, but the second squad holds. Lucky Maelstrom draws to claim uncontested objectives put the Orks in an early lead.

In the bottom of turn 1, the Intercessors fall back to clear the line of fire for the big guns on both sides.

The remaining Granite Fists unleash a withering hailstorm of fire that completely wipes out the 40-man unit, resorting to sniper fire to kill the last ork and deny objective 4. On the right flank, the Hellblasters fell more bikes before Venerable Evato charges and kills the remaining Nobz with his power fist.

At the top of turn two the Orks continue their relentless attack. The second block of Boyz Da Jumps back in front of the Aggressor gun line, but fail their charge and miss the opportunity to bog down the marines in close combat. The Kannons thunder and Evato falls on the right flank, as well as a third Aggressor.

Gunning his Wartrike's engines to charge through the wreckage of the Dreadnought, Grekmawg's advance is halted when Field Commander Fanok sacrifices himself to keep the boss from reaching the remaining Hellblasters. The Lieutenant does not survive the attack, and Grekmawg piles in to the intercessors who once again hold the line.

The barrels of their bolters already glowing red hot, the Aggressors unleash another punishing barrage of fire and the second mob of Orks is eradicated. With the chaff cleared, both Warbosses are targeted by the big guns. Klampkrusha's Mega-Armor is slagged to inoperability by the Hellblasters, and he howls in rage as he cedes the field. Venerable Beltok avenges his brother as his plasma cannon ignites the fuel tank on Grekmawg's wartrike, sending the Warboss flying in to the distance and out of the fight. 

While the bulk of the army has been destroyed, the Orks are still in the lead from strong Maelstrom draws. Gretchin move in to position to claim 2 additional objectives. The Kannons destroy the remaining Aggressors and Venerable Beltok's shell is rendered inoperable. The superior range of the Ork artillery and lack of achievable objectives forces the Granite Fists to advance through the open killing field.

The grots do their best to slow the advancing heroes and claim objectives as the Kannons continue to inflict casualties on the Hellblasters. The center and right of the Marine line is reduced to four lone operatives: two sole survivors of the Intercessor squads, one Hellblaster, and the Bearer Kazal. They move to cover three objectives, and between them clean up one of the two remaining grots to secure objective 4 and score three cards in one turn.

The final Maelstrom draw leaves the orks with no opportunity to score while the Granite Fists squeak ahead. The game ends with two Kannons and a Big Mek and eight Space Marines left on the board.
Victory for the Imperium!

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The act that signaled the real end for any fight was, in Brother Terhon's experience, when he cycled the plasma incinerator's furnace down from its maximum setting. Today the weapon had run hot indeed, spitting atomic death at a mob of whooping Ork bikers that had rode full throttle through the rubble-choked streets. Their bikes and the massive trike their leader rode had plowed in to the building were riddled with puncture marks from bolters and plasma shots. Ancillary fires ignited during the shootout sparked spare fuel canisters in the wreckage. Tangled with the wheels and piping of the Warboss' trike was the bulky form of Venerable Evato's combat sarcophagus, its weapons ripped from their housing and one leg blown off at the knee. Evato's angry rumble over the vox at being unable to close on the xenos artillery confirmed his survival, and Terhon could see other ceramite-clad shapes move in the debris field. 

The ork attack had been swift and brutal, and only the discipline and sacrifice of his Intercessor brethren had allowed the Granite Fist gun line to drive the greenskins away and secure the cogitator repositories. From the next block over, the staccatto roar of sustained bolter fire had been deafening even through the building that separated Terhon from the rest of his force. Crimson and amber status runes showed that the point-blank fighting had been costly for both sides. Artillery fire still boomed in the distance, but the cogitator bank in this building had been saved and Terhon was under orders to ensure it remained secure. He would have to trust his brothers could deal with the primitive hard-shelling guns. Between the tremendous bangs of large-caliber fire, Terhon could hear the piggish sound of orks in full retreat, or whatever passed for it among their simple intellect.

In the ruins ahead he caught a glimpse of Bearer Kazal impaling a squirming gretchin using the haft of the company's bannerpole. Kazal offered him a curt nod before firing a bolt shell in to the skull of another squirming greenskin. With an irritatingly pleasant chime, Terhon's tactical display declared his immediate vicinity free of xenos activity. After performing one additional visual confirmation that he was clear of the fight, he ejected the core of the plasma incinerator to vent in the open air. Steam hissed from the weapon, and he gently offered a prayer of thanks to its machine spirit before stowing it and tending to his wounded comrades.

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A very fun game and a good practice matchup for both of us. A few highlights to note in gameplay:

• The big Ork mob did not fight twice at the end of turn 1, missing their chance to potentially consolidate in to the Aggressors if they'd managed to fully wipe out both Intercessor squads between the two combats. This would have definitely swung the game.
• I did not apply the +1 to hit from the Crimson Fists chapter trait rules during the first round of shooting and didn't use the +1 to hit ork Strategem on my Aggressors when I used Bolter Drill, causing me to allocate much more fire to the 40-ork mob than was necessary to kill it. Notably this meant my Eliminators were not shooting at a Weirdboy, who then Da Jumped another mob of boyz the following turn.
• The second Ork mob failed their charge, as one die was re-rolled to the same result. Hank realized later that the other die could have been re-rolled via CP to potentially still make the charge, though it was 1/6 for him to do so at that point.
• When I retreated from Grekmawg's bike, I did not fall back far enough and he Heroically Intervened back in the fight phase. This was a painful lesson, but well-learned.
• Splitting the Hellblaster squad down from a full ten is probably a bad idea if I have the firepower advantage; the Paragons of Dorn strategem can be used in the first shooting phase before anyone can possibly be in base combat with them. With only two Hellblasters left once the Nob Bikers had finished shooting, a lot of firepower was lost and using the strategem didn't feel great.
• Field Commander once again paid dividends, giving me a very powerful reroll bubble on both flanks.
• Dreadnoughts are glass cannons, but I did forget that I ran them as Venerable and didn't utilize 6+ FNP that might have caused them to hold on a little longer. Flat 3 damage in close combat is very, very strong despite their low attack count and hilariously low wound count. If nothing else they provide a good target for anti-tank guns to draw fire away from Aggressors and Hellblasters.
• The list I ran has almost no firepower beyond 30", and despite very effectively killing all the Orks I nearly lost the game as I was completely unable to do anything about the Kannons protected by a Big Mek and a KFF. I think this is a general shortcoming of Primaris, so I am not sure that I need to solve this in the list phase. This is definitely one of the reasons Leviathans are in vogue.
• I was stretched incredibly thin on objective-taking by the end of the game, and only some small dice variance kept me from having only character models and Eliminators by the end. 15 Intercessors at 1500 points isn't quite enough to comfortably screen out everything I had, and stay alive to claim objectives in the back half of the game. At 2000 points I definitely want at one 10-man Intercessor squad at the front of my army to screen the Aggressors, and make a Bad Choice of a unit to fire at thanks to Paragons of Dorn.
• After embarrassingly whiffing with every one of his bolter shots in turns 1 and 2, Bearer Kazal rallied to claim VP from 3 Maelstrom cards in turn 5 to seal the game. Despite that heroism, I think this is probably the model I cut to get more bodies. The extra shots from Hellblasters cooking themselves feels good when it happens, but the radius is "models within", meaning you must castle with high density to get the best value. I'm not sure that it's worth almost another 5 Intercessors.
• I'm sold on Eliminators - even if the mathematical average is slightly above 2 wounds per turn for the trio shooting at weirdboyz, the versatility of their ammo kit means you can always find something to do with them.