For the second time, my gaming group (Queen City 40K) gathered for a night of pizza and an epic-sized 40k battle. Getting a good turnout for an event seems to be difficult due to work & family schedules but of the 9 guys in the group, 4 of us were able to attend:
Nik: Imperial Guard
Josh R: Grey Knights
Zack: Imperial Fists
Me: Orks
We had planned on a 3K game of 2 on 2 and just to make the night that much more interesting, we rolled off to see who would ally with who. Now before even rolling off to see who was paired with who, I asked if I could run the Stompa using the Escalation stat line. There were some concerns but overall everyone was good with it. We rolled off and I was paired with Nik making the forces Imperial Guard & Orks vs Imperial Fists & Grey Knights.
Unfortunately I deleted my list from BattleScribe already, but from what I recall, here’s what my army config:
HQ:
– Ghazghkull
– Big Mek w/KFF
Elites:
– Lootas (2 x Lootas, 3 x Mek boys)
– Lootas (2 x Lootas, 3 x Mek boys)
– Lootas (2 x Lootas, 3 x Mek boys)
Troops:
– 5 x Meganobz w/Battlewagon
– 10 x Grots w/Runt Herder
Fast Attack:
– Burna Bommer
– Dakka Jet
Lord of War:
– Stompa
Now, I had brought enough models to field a Speed Freak list if the Stompa wasn’t welcome… but with the Stompa in-play, I wanted to try a controversial tactic. Let me see if I can explain it:
The Stompa is classified as a super-heavy with an internal transport capacity of 20 and 12 hull points. Because it’s a super-heavy, any mix of squads can occupy it as long as the Stompa stays within it’s capacity. The Big Mek w/KFF naturally went in. Next were the Lootas. Loota squads must be comprised of at least 5 models, of which a maximum of 3 can be Mek Boyz. Mek’s have the ability to repair damaged/destroyed weapons or hull points at the end of the shooting phase on a roll of 4+. So, loading up the 3 Loota squads in the Stompa, his capacity sat at a comfortable 16 models. With the Big Mek and 9 Mek Boyz, the Stompa now had the ability of recovering up to 10 lost hull points each turn. I don’t know if this is an exploit or a broken rule, but it certainly was cheesy and for once it was nice to have an edge.
Nik and I ended up deploying first, I was on the right flank, Nik on the left. He deployed a bastion with an Icarus Las Cannon on top which my Grots manned. Ghazghkull joined the Meganobz in the Battlewagon and the flyers stayed in reserve. The Grey Knights deployed opposite me, which Josh R ran an impressive mechanized force of Rhinos, a Land Raider and a Stormraven. The Imperial Fists deployed opposite Nik in a pure foot-slogging configuration. I don’t know much about Space Marines, but seeing that mass of yellow Marines was quite impressive.
I don’t recall much of the game as we were constantly looking up rules (which we still royally botched!) and chatting about life, but I had fun regardless. We all learned a lot about our respective armies and about the core rules of 40K 6th edition. Here are a few points and revelations from this night of play:
– The Stompa with it’s repair crew was ridiculously hard to crack. At worst he had 4 hull points gone in turn 2 which were nullified in turn 3, leaving a bad taste in the SM’s collective mouth. I doubt I will run this config again as folks seemed pretty pissed.
– The Stompa’s “Stomp” attack was very fun, if nothing more the mental picture of Space Marines being squished by a 5-story clanking trash pile!
– Ork flyers are delicate bunnies that explode in a fireball if the pilot farts hard. Still fun, but oh so fragile.
– Ghazghkull + Meganobz are a nasty combination!
– The Icarus Las Cannon sucks out loud. Next time, Quad Gun.
– Orks are meant to be a fun list and while this list was fun to an extent, fielding an Ork army of so few models (and zero slugga/shoota boyz!) felt dirty.