AAR: September 3, 2012 - Recon FOB Zeta

Barely 24 hours after the forces of Joe Recon have built up a Forward Operating Base (FOB) do scouts report that a raiding party of Orks have come to push them out of the area.  Will the Space Marines maintain their grip on this section of the disputed planet, or will the Headsplitterz shatter their plans?  All will soon be revealed as we watch the battle of Recon FOB Zeta!

Annihilation Mission.

5x6 table.  The gate into the base is where the Orkz will make their attack.  The terrain rules are standard, with all fences being difficult terrain, unless a vehicle passes through, in which case it is destroyed.

Orks versus Space Marines with 1000 point limit.

Izak's HeadSplitterz: 
HQ - Warboss
Elites - 15x Kommandoz with Boss Blackgutz (2x Rokkit)
Troops - 19x Boyz (Nob with power claw, Rokkit)
Troops - 19x Shoota Boyz (Nob, Rokkit)
Heavy Support - 3 Lobba gunz (6x Extra crew, Runtherd, 3x Ammo runts)
Heavy Support - Battlewagon ('ard case, Deff rolla, Armor plates, 2x Big shoota)
Heavy Support - Deff Dread (2x Extra power claws)

"We gonna' chop youse ta bitz!"

Joe Recon
HQ - Captain
Elites - Dreadnought (Power fist, Multi-melta)
Elites - 5x Terminators (Power fists)
Troops - 10x Tactical Marines (Flamer, Missile launcher) with Sgt. (Metla bombs)
Troops - 10x Tactical Marines (Melta, Heavy bolter) with Sgt. (Plasma pistol, Power fist)
Fast Attack - 5x Marine Biker with Sgt. (Plasma pistol)

"Xenos must be purged."

Joe Recon wins the initial die roll and sets up first in the blue long-edge.  Izak will set up opposite him in the red area.

The Space Marines establish their line of defense.  The dreadnought guards the western flank with a combat squad set up on the hill with a heavy bolter emplacement.

The large tactical squad 2, the terminators, and the captain hold the middle.

Tactical squad 4 and the biker squad protect the entrance itself.  Some of those bikers look a little funny...  Hmm...

The Orkz form up in three groups.

The first mob of boyz is at the far west end of the table, formed up as neatly as the exasperated nob can get them.

The middle group of boyz is lead by the warboss Izak.  They surround the battlewagon and have taken cover in the trees to hopefully withstand the initial Space Marine onslaught.

The final collection of Orks is the lobba crew who crouch behind the rocks on the eastern end of the battlefield.  The deffdread guard the artillery and it's motor growls menacingly.

The forces are in array - let the battle commence!

Almost every squad walks towards the vile foe.  The only exceptions are tactical squads 1 and 3, who remain stationary in order to fire their heavy weapons.

"Forward, battle-brothers!  Cut the greenskin filth down, like the plague that they are!"

Then the marines open fire:

• Tactical squad 1 and the dreadnought shoot at mob1.  Several trees blow up as the heavy bolter fire hits them instead of the ork hiding behind them, but the multi-melta on the dreadnought vaporizes the lad that the beam hits.
• The bikers, terminators, and tactical squad 3 shoot at mob2.  The terminators are just out of range and the other fire kills 2 orks.

Warboss Izak loads mob2 into the battlewagon and it churns the soil as it speeds forward.

Mob1 moves forward, shooting as they go.

The deffdread moves forward with a engine noise that sounds like a wounded lion.

The orks counter-attack:

• The gretchin fire their lobbaz at tactical squad 4.  A single space marine falls out as his leg is blown off.
• Inside the battlewagon, the crowded conditions only allow a single boy to shoot, but his dodgy-looking rocket miraculously strikes a space marine and punches right through his armor.
• Mob1 shoots their crude pistols at the dreadnought, but none of their pitiful firepower damages it in the least.
• The deffdread slams into the biker squad and chops one of the motorcycles to bits as if it was an industrial cross-cut shredder.  (Which it pretty much is...)  As the other members of the squad wheel their bikes around, the metal horror lunges forward and rips all of the rear tires to pieces!  All of the bikes are out of the battle!

The dreadnought begins to slowly pull back, keeping the range open between him and the orks in mob1.

Tactical squads 2 and 4 move forward to gain good fields of fire.

The terminator squad lead by the captain moves at a run toward the deffdread to distract the giant walker from the biker riders who are seeking cover from the whirling blades.

The human attacks this turn are:

• Tactical squad 4 shoots their meltagun at the side of the battlewagon, but are disappointed as the beam misses its target.
• All other space marines take aim at the rushing and howling group of orks in mob1.  The missiles, heavy bolter fire, and the beam of the multi-melta slaughter 5 ladz.  This enrages the orks and they just keep running.

The kommando orks leap out of hiding, right behind the slowly retreating dreadnought and take aim at the vulnerable rear armor...

Mob1 turns towards the closer and "softa-lookin'" men in tactical squad 4.

The deffdread charges into the midst of tactical squad 3, huge power claws snapping greedily.

The battlewagon slams it's deff rolla into and over the captain's squad of terminators.  The veterans leap out of the path of the onrushing tank with a sneer of contempt.  Once it comes to a stop, Warboss Izak leads his unruly mob outside.

The orks open fire and do the following damage:

• Mob2 blasts away at tactical squad 4, but the space marines power armor deflects every unholy slug of miscast metal.
• The lobba gunz target tactical squad 3, but fail to even come close to their intended target.  The runtherd plys his whip in anger and the grot shriek that they will do better next time.
• The kommandoz open fire on the dreadnought and manage to jam something.  The dreadnought will be immobile next turn.
• The deffdread butchers all of the marines in tactical squad 4, making a hideous noise as blades rend through plates of armor and scatter bits of the men underneath all around.

Tactical squad 2 runs towards the orks that are charging towards them with no fear.  "We'll teach these aliens how to respect their superiors!  Ready the flamer!"

The results of Joe Recon's combat are as follows:

• Tactical squad 1 opens up the heavy bolter into the kommando ranks and 5 of them detonate as they are hit with the explosive bolter rounds.
• Tactical squad 3 shoots at mob2 and kills 4 of them.
• The terminator squad tries to get close enough to the cruising battlewagon to destroy it, but all they manage to do is shake the crew so badly that they will not be able to fire any weapons next turn.
• Tactical squad 2 unleashes a gout of white-hot flame into the ork ranks while peppering the group with bolter fire.  A total of seven orks are burned alive - screaming in frustration that they couldn't attack their foe.  Then the brave marines slam into those that survived.  Each side kills one of the other.  The attack was so harsh that the ladz in mob1 think about running away.  The nob notices their indecision and cuts the head of one of the potential deserters to help the rest understand why they should stay facing the enemy!

The kommandoz move closer to the dreadnought and interpose some trees between them and the brutal heavy bolter fire.

The deffdread turns its attentions to the terminator squad that is trying to blow up the battlewagon.

The battlewagon driver is quite alarmed by the terminators banging on the side armor.  He hits the accellerator and plows into and over the space marines.  One terminators is crushed to death and even the captain is injured.

The orks bellow their warcry of "WAAAGH!" and sprint towards the enemy that they can see in front of them.

The result of orkish aggression is as follows:

• The lobbaz fire at tactical squad 3 and their shoots are all over the battlefield - none of the shells come close to drawing blood.  The runtherd is literally hopping mad - luckily gretchin are fairly tough and suffer nothing more than extreme bruising as their vile master jumps on them.
• The kommandoz shoot at the immobilized dreadnought and manage to blow it's multi-melta off.  Then they surround it and begin to hack and tear at it with their crude weapons.  Since the war walker can't dodge a lucky blow disconnects the powertrain and it slumps to one side - out of the battle.
• Mob1 continues to duke it out with tactical squad 2.  The nob uses his power claw to snip off limbs and heads from the marines which roasted so many of his boys - all of the marines are out of the fight or dead.  The orkz lose another boy and the nob gets too close to a chainsword during the conflict.
• The deffdread strides into close quarters combat with the captain and his terminator squad.  The terminators confuse the ork pilot so badly with their formations that he will lose an attack until his next turn. 
• Warboss Izak and mob1 charge into tactical squad 3 adn slaughter 4 of the marines.  Only the marine with the missile launcher survives - he retreats to a safe distance and then turns to aim his weapon at the ork kommandoz who are hooting excitedly around the frozen dreadnought.

None of the space marines move.  They hold their ground, determined to conquer or perish.

Attacks this turn are:

• The lone marine in tactical squad 3 fires his missile into the kommandoz.  4 of them are blown apart by the explosion in the middle of their ranks.
• Tactical squad 1 shoots their boltguns and the heavy bolter at mob2 to try and winnow the disgusting group down.  Three of the boyz are ripped in half by the concentrated fire and even the nob takes a serious wound.
• The terminator squad and captain valiantly fight against the mechanical horror that looms over them.  One of the terminators gets too close to a power claw and is crushed, but their combined efforts cause the deffdread pilot to begin spinning in circles, in an attempt to keep them in sight.  It will have but a single attack until it's next turn!

The kommandoz swarm up the tower built at the back of the cliff face to get at tactical squad 3.  The two remaining orks in mob2 run towards this group of marines as well.

Mob 2 stomps towards the sole survivor of tactical squad 3 with blood in their eyes.

The battlewagon driver is breathing a huge sigh of relief to be pulling away from the scary-looking power fists sported by the terminators.

The attacks made by the orks are:

• The battlewagon fires it's two big shootas at the last marine of tactical squad 3, but the slugs do not penetrate.
• Then mob2 opens fire.  A hail of barely aimed steel and explosives cover the marine in sparks and impact.  He survives all of them except for the rokkit with hits his own ammo pack of missile.  The ammunition cook-off is spectacular as the marine lights up like a fireworks display.
• The deffdread only manages to wave its arms around in a pseudo-threatening manner.  The terminators try to close with the clanking nightmare, but fail to get past it's formidable armor.

Once again, the marines are resolute in the face of the screeching and chittering horde of xeno-trash.  They will not budge, nor will they dishonor the Emperor by showing an ounce of fear!

Their weapons speak eloquently:

• Tactical squad 1 rapid fires at the kommandoz, but only manage to permanently disable 2 of them.
• The on-going grudge-match between the deffdread and the terminators continues.  The captain takes another wound, but the deffdread is still up and roaring curses over his scratchy-sounding loudspeakers.

All of the ork forces not engaged in close combat close in on the group of space marines on the hill...

Their bloodlust is an almost tangible thing - filling the air with hate and the joy of battle.

And then they strike:

• All of the other orks blast the surrounded tactical squad 1.  Amazingly, only three of the super-human space marines are disabled by the prodigious amount of firepower leveled at their squad, but then the orks move in for the kill and they are all put down in a howling melee of foaming orkz.
• The deffdread pilot bellows in outrage as the "runty 'umies" continue to evade and confuse him.

At the end of this turn, the random-game-length roll ends the entire game.  It's all over, folks!

Izak's Headsplitterz Win!  Some early luck and a relentless drive to finish the foe, the orkz have crushed their foolish enemies and have reclaimed the territory that they rightly call their "squatin' groundz".  The orkz had 66% of their forces left on the table to the pitiful 18% of Joe Recon.

"They wearz tin canz 'nd not their 'ard armor today!"

"I hate that deffdread..."