Kill Team Game 6: Space Wolves vs Orks

Turns out I am still learning…

Set Up, Domination. So I got my wish and rolled a different scenario this time. Also this would be my opponent’s first game of Kill Team so I thought I would take it easy on them.  We rolled domination which has the players deploying from the short edges.  This seemed a bit cramped and I think would favor an elite kill team since there is less frontage to cover.  We were both quite deliberate in the setup of the scenery making sure that both deployment zones had vantage points. The set up developed into three distinct and parallel lanes through the battle field. The lane between Obj 2 and 1 was a narrow single file approach. The lane with Obj 3 was the center of the board, and quite wide, with lots of light cover and vantage points, essentially turning it into a sucker’s graveyard. The last lane was between Obj 4 and 5 it was primarily through the factory and had lots of heavy cover and overhead concealment.  Orks won the roll and elected to attack, the Wolves then deployed between Obj 5 and 1. My deployment was an even spread between Obj 4 and 2 with my heavy weapons in the middle.  The plan was to cover Obj 3 with the big guns while I flanked the wolves on both sides, conquering the board by turning point 3 (just like last time J).

Turning Point 1 (1-1, ). What a disaster, and I blame this on my laziness.  In a rush to get the game going I elected to place all the ladz, except my first activation, with engage orders.  In my mind the orks and wolves would meet gloriously at Obj 3 and duke it out in a good old fashion punch up. Instead the wolves used their three APL to play peek-a-boo and I was forced to slow the advance and make use of as much heavy cover as I could.

Turning Point 2 (3 – 2, for Wolves). For the Orks Turning Point 2 was what Turning Point 1 should have been since I was now able to give some of the more fighty ladz the conceal order and fro them make their way up board, still advancing on three axis. The wolves were not perturbed and conducted their pop attacks from the boiler in the center of the board and casualties for the orks began to mount. There was a fight for Obj 3 that killed the Wolf Sgt at the cost of many Ork lives and leaving the objectives in the paws of the wolf.

Turning Point 3 (4 – 4). With incapacitated Ork operatives littering the battlefield the ladz pulled together for a concerted push onto Obj 3 as well as a sneaky flank from a lone Burna Boy who moved to attack the wolves behind the boiler from a window near Obj 5.  The Burna boy did some damage and created enough of a distraction for the orks to hold Obj 3 until the end of the Turning Point but at what a cost.  The Wolves emboldened by their successful pop up attacks pushed more operatives onto vantage points and continued to rack up more yellow toothed war trophies.

Turning Point 4. (7-4, for Wolves). As the dust settles only a lone Gretchin and injured Ork Boy remained in the debris around near Obj 2.  Triumphantly the Wolves advanced and by the end of the Turning Point controlled almost all of the battlefield uncontested. 

Conclusion. 

Terrain, what can I say.  Terrain is way more important in Kill team then in 40k.  That boiler became a perfect battle position for the Wolf support weapons.  It was the combination of a 3” platform and the 3 APL of the Marine Operatives that meant the orks had nowhere to hide and the marines would always end their turn completely concealed. 

The plan, at least it briefed well.  I can imagine the PowerPoint that the boyz would have put together, the graphic of the double envelopment would look like the Ork Clan’s bull horn insignia and the Boss Nob would have approved it without a second thought.  In reality the double envelopment spread out the boyz to thin and when the inevitable casualties came they quickly lost the sufficient combat power to claim any objectives.  A plan to defend Obj 4 and 2 and go hard into Obj 5 under the cover of the factory roof would likely have proven harder for the wolves to stop, especially since the boyz are stompier up close. Maybe next time.

Deployment. Next time I won’t be lazy and I think the general rule is that operatives with a limited range (6” or less) always begin with conceal. The exception is if you expect to need to counter charge the other kill team, which is unlikely against all but the fastest opponents. Ah the lessons….

Kill Team Game 5 Tyranids vs Orks

 

I think we are starting to get the hang of this game!

Set Up, Duel of Wits.  Isn’t it funny when you roll for the scenario and get the one you played last time?  On the bright side at least we had a good idea of how it worked.  After we placed objectives we took turns placing terrain.  I was carefully to make sure that both deployment zones had good lines of sight to the objectives.  I think I would have preferred Objective 5 to 3 but generally I think the battlefield was balanced.  It was also great to finally play with painted terrain. Tyranids won the role and decided to defend Obj 5. But, Obj 3 was in a very defendable position and once I put the barricades in front of it I knew it would be mine for the game.  I then decided I would contest 2 and 6 leaving 4 and 5 to the Tyranids.

Turning Point 1 (3 – 0, for Tyranids). At the beginning of each turning point you are allowed to choose one objective (not near your deployment zone) to be your “Gambit” I was fairly confident that I would not be able to reach any of them so opted for my gambit to be the central objective.  I was hoping to draw his attention there and away from Objective 2, and it worked.  With 2 activations and no free dash the orks would clearly loose in a foot race to the Tyranids, so my first two activations were just to throw the grots up at full speed in order to contest the objective. The rest of the turning point was really just the kill teams fanning out (declaring their intentions?) with only a grot dying.

Turning Point 2 (5 – 2, for Tyranids) At the end of the first turning point both kill teams massed their forces for an assault on the center and Obj 6.  The Orks probably had a better area to attack from as they controlled the nearby vantage point and could contest the objective from behind a large piece of cover.  In addition as the Lootas on the vantage point got injured (as they inevitably do) they then moved to secure the objective, on the Tyranid side, which drew the Tyranids into the open were they could be shot by the other ladz.  The real bit of luck in this turning point was the boy who moved to secure Obj 2 and also managed to land several slugga shots into the Geenstealers, injuring him and thereby guaranteeing the Obj would remain with the orks for the game, if it wasn’t reinforced.

Turning Point 3 (5 – 5). With Obj 5 and 4 controlled by the swarm and 3 and 2 controlled by the Lads, this turning point focused on objective 6. I don’t remember who had initiative but the highlight of this turn, for the orks, was the heroic death of the Nob, who killed a Geenstealers, wounded a Tyranid warrior with his Kombi Burna and then was eventually dragged down by another Tyranid warrior who was then caught in a cross fire of the ladz.  Other actions of note were a very lucky rokkit that took out the Tyranid gunner from behind cover and perhaps a miss calculation by the Tyranids when the Geenstealers on Obj 4 moved to join the melee in the center.  Once accidental thing that turned out very beneficial for the orks was that where their Nob fell was slightly too far from Obj 6 for the Tyranids to contest the objective, it turns out kill team is a game of inches J

Turning Point 4. (5 – 8, for Orks)  By this turn it was over. However the remaining Geenstealers decided to make the ladz pay and charged in for one last gnashing of teeth!  RIP swarm.

Conclusion.  Drawing the Tyranids into combat and out of hiding in the center proved to be successful for the orks.  Orks are decent in close combat, and once you have more models it is an inevitable war of attrition.  Also the Just a Scratch tactical ploy proved it worth in gold and I believe that Dakka Dakka Dakka also activated a fair bit and was instrumental in the ork taking Obj 2. Tyranids need to lurk all the time, if they had kept Obj 2 and 4 it would have been over. In fact a pair of Geenstealers with conceal orders, in cover (with the lurk ploy) and just outside of 2” of each other become a hard target for the orks to crack. Small tactical things are that Rockits are better than Defguns and I love the Burnas, even on the boss. I just like the consistent 4 points of damage as it allows the enemy operative to be one shotted on a subsequent charge.