Test Crusade Game: The Horde is dead. Long live the Horde.

 I read the internet 40K sites, same as most players. The unanimous opinion was that the rules had seriously killed horde armies. Between the general increase in lethality across the game coming mostly from units just getting more shots, at better AP, doing more damage at better range, the new Blast rule giving max shots when targeting horde units and the multiple overlapping auras, to hit buffs AND damage buffs, the internet firmly claimed hordes were dead.

And from a tournament players perspective (not that I am one), most of them would be glad to never have to worry about facing a horde army at an event. It makes army list design much easier if you only have to figure out how to deal with 3 wound T5 Marine infantry, rather than add on dealing with the same 30 wounds, but in a slew of one wound models. Hordes literally make every special weapon that deals more than one damage a waste of points, and cuts into list design efficiency.

I play Imperial Fists Firstborn Marines, Orks and Tau. My choices of these armies were literally I wanted the middle of the play type spectrum (Marines), as well as pure assault (Goff Orks) and pure shooting (Tau Sept Tau). When I get bored of playing one type, I switch. I had been playing Orks for most of 8th, so I switch to Fists for 9th. And then GW started releasing new Marine kits, with associated rules leaks, and I almost put them back on the shelf. That's some serious power boost. But, I went to Terminators, and that seems to not be bonkers broken just yet. We'll see when the Codex is released next month.

The point of all that text is that I routinely test play my current army builds against one another to find weaknesses and figure out the nuances of my armies, how I need to move things in game, stuff like that, and the rules of the game in general. And in my test games, my Orks are dominating, with basically the same list I ran in 8th edition. Granted, my group is playing Crusade games at 50ish Power Level, so around 1000 points, and that's only half an army, in my eyes. But when that half is just a bunch of T4 bodies (90 of them), it's dominating.

Strap yourself in for another short brutal read as my Imperial Fists test themselves against a new Goff Ork Crusade army.

Pre-game / Deployment

Crusade Mission - Incursion - Behind Enemy Lines

Game Size: 50 PL

Imperial Fists Crusade Points: 61        Starting CP: 3

Goff Orks Crusade Points: 55              Starting CP: 9

Imperial Fists chose to be the Defender.

Orks won the roll off and chose to go first.

Imperial Fists Agendas are Cull the Hordes, Lord of the Warp.

Goffs Agendas are Reaper, Survivor (Weirdboy).

With a deployment zone depth of only 5", the Orks are
forced into a wide shallow deployment, with a bubble chukka
on one end.

Twenty terminators supported by a Chapter Master
and Chief Librarian deploy in a tight formation 
(lesson learned from last game).

View from the Fists position.

Turn 1 - Goffs

Everything except the Weirdboy (who doesn't have a name yet) Advances.

The Skarboyz on the right Advanced 11" and 10", 
both within charge range.

The Blueboyz charge in...

...Pile In...

...kill ONE THSS Terminator and keep pushing forward...

...until the 4 TH&SS termies, 2 from the second rank and 
all 5 from the CML squad on the right attack back. But
they hold on, thanks to being within 6" of the Brownboyz.

Turn 1 - Imperial Fists

Devastator Doctrine is active.

There is no Movement.

Chief Librarian Xenokrates successfully manifests Veil of Time on the CML squad on the right, and Null Zone on himself, though he takes 2 MW from Perils of the Warp. He did earn two tallies for Lord of the Warp though.

Brownboyz before being shot at by only the rear rank
of Terminators (Squad Hektor).

Brownboyz take 17 casualties, earning Squad Hektor a 
Cull the Hordes tally.

Ork Nob kills one from Squad Thanatos, who then kill all but two Blueboyz,
who pay 2 CP for Insane Bravery.

SCORE

Goffs: 5 (No unit exfiltrated)

Fists: 5 (No unit exfiltrated)

Turn 2 - Goffs

The Brownboyz and the Redboyz Advanced, and both ended up within 6" of the Warboss, to ensure they could attempt charges.

The Blueboyz were removed (not counting as destroyed) and came back via Unstoppable Green Tide, for 3 CP. Normally, the Weirdboy would throw them right back across the field into the enemy again, but this mission specifically disallowed those types of movements, so they ust deployed within their deployment zone, ready to start running next turn.

The Weirdboy cast Smite at the closest termie squad, doing 1 MW, and taking 3 MW from Perils.

Also, the lone Mek Gun Bubblechukka killed one Terminator in the previous turn, and three from Squad Hektor (the rear-most rank) this turn.

The remaining Brownboyz sweep through the ruins...

Warboss Bonekleavah eyes up Terminator Squad Isokrates.

The Redboyz look to slam into the end of the Fists line.

All three charges are made...

...Terminators die from Squads Thanatos, Isokrates and Drakon...

...and the Orks surround the few survivors.

Turn 2 - Imperial Fists

Things are looking grim for the Fists. And my first thought was, well yeah, the Orks got to go first. But on second thought, it wouldn't have mattered. Even if the Fists got to go first, and they completely removed one  whole squad of Skarboyz, the results would be the same. That's just two mobs of boyz with the Warboss. The third has been recycled, and will play no further part in this battle. So even IF the Fists had got to shoot, same result. Now, that third wound is probably going to help some, but that only keeps them around longer, it doesn't increase their offensive output.

Chief Librarian casts Veil of Time on the remnant of Squad Hektor
(Sergeant and Assault Cannon). They kill a few Brownboyz.

Squad Hektor is wiped out, Thanatos is wiped out, and Isokrates is
reduced to the Sergeant. The Orks cinch the noose tighter.

Having a ton of CP still, the Bownboyz fight again...

...and finish off Squad Isokrates and wound the Chapter
Master three times.

Arastos returns the favour and kills the Nob from the Brownboyz,
earning a kill tally.

SCORE

Goffs: 10 (No unit exfiltrated)

Fists: 10 (No unit exfiltrated)

Turn 3 - Goffs

The Painboy healed the Weird boy of 2 W.

By killing the lone Nob of the Brownboyz, Arastos opened a gap for Bonekleavah to charge into.

Bonekleavah charges in...

...and finishes off the wounded and surrounded Arastos.

FINAL SCORE

Goffs: 62 (Bonekleavah and Redboyz exfiltrated on turn 4 for +8 and +24 points) (Battle Ready)

Fists: 25 (Battle ready)

Summary

Maybe someone should tell Hordes that they are supposed to be bad? In my last game, I forgot why I had brought a Librarian with Null Zone (to counter uber-fighters in Chaos lists). In this game, I don't even know what I would do differently. Spread out? I was literally on the back edge of my deployment zone. No-man's land in this mission is only 20", and I know that matters, but I already covered if the Fists had gotten first turn.

The smaller board and lower points helps Orks here, I know. But going up in points isn't going to stop helping them. The board is still smaller, the objectives are still in set locations. And my terminators didn't even get to move. They died in place. 

In a larger game, the Orks are still going to run past the objectives and tie me up, and if they do it for three turns, even if I kill them all, they will likely win the game on points. And at 2000 points, my Ork list has 120 actual Ork Skarboyz, plus it can recycle one unit, and it has 5 Smasha Gunz, and 5 Bubblechukkas. Those 10 artillery pieces screen out the entire Ork backfield, so no Deep Strike/redeployment shenannigans. And you still have 120 bodies to deal with, with a 5+ Invul and a 6+ FNP.

The Horde is dead. Long live the Horde.

Until next time, happy gaming!