Vogen Crusade Battle 3

 Crusade Mission - Combat Patrol - Supply Drop 

Terminator Chaplain Gregorios is determined to push back the marauding Ork warbands in this sector of the Vogen. With Captain Arastos and his half of the strike force still recovering from the wounds received at the hands of the orks from last mission, Chaplain Gregorios leads the remaining squads of the strike force in a salvage mission to recover some ammo pods that were scattered across the shattered cityscape when an Imperial Arvis lighter transport was blown from the sky by a barrage of Ork dakka. Opposing them is Warboss Bonekleava, who is pretty sure he will put those munitions to better use than the beakies. 

Waaagh Bonekleava - Patrol Detachment - Crusade Blessings: 7

HQ    Warboss Bonekleava (Da Biggest Boss, Da Lukky Stikk, Power Klaw, Kustom Shootah)

EL    Painboy Bloodcuttah (Power Klaw)

EL    Goregasha's Gang of Nobz (1 Power Klaw, 4 Big Choppas)

T       Jawchoppa's Lucky Blue Skarboyz (Veteran Warriors) (1 Nob w/ Power Klaw, 29 Skarboyz)

Warboss Bonekleava in front, Goregasha's Nobz following,
Painboy Bloodcuttah and the Jawchoppa's Lucky Blue Skarboyz.

Strike Force Arastos - Patrol Detachment - Crusade Blessings: 0

HQ    Terminator Chaplain Gregorios (Storm Bolter, Crozius Arcanum)

EL    Terminator Squad Hektor (Assault Cannon)

T        Tactical Squad Beta (Heavy Bolter)

T        Tactical Squad Gamma (Heavy Bolter, Sgt has Chainsword)

Terminator Squad Hektor in front, Terminator Chaplain
Gregorios in the middle, Tactical Squad Beta on the right,
Gamma on the left.

Agendas

Strike Force Arastos - Cull the Hordes

Waaagh Bonekleava - Reaper

Pre-game

Orks won the roll off and decided to be the Defender, letting them choose a Deployment zone after the objectives have been placed. Kunnin', see?

Imperial Fists won the roll and had to go first, which they wanted to do anyway.

Imperial Fists get an additional 4 CP to start the game, since the Goffs have +7 Crusade Blessings.

Deployment

Having learned their lesson from the last battle with the Orks, Chaplain Gregorios keeps his men in a tight formation, the better to unleash deadly controlled volleys on one foe at a time to ensure complete decimation of the enemy.

Gregorios and Squad Hektor take position in the bottom
of a ruined administratum building with Gamma on the roof.
Squad Beta takes up a position to quickly search objective 3.

The commanding view from Gamma's position, overlooking
objectives 1 and 3. Painboy Bloodcuttah is down that street
to their front, and Jawchoppa's Skarboyz are in that (unpainted)
ruined basilicus. 

Warboss Bonekleava, confident in his Skarboyz ability to overwhelm the beakies, instructs Goregasha and Bloodcuttah to go check out the other ammo crates, while he and the boyz get some krumpin' in.

Goregasha's Gang of Nobz, in position to secure
objective 2 unopposed.

Painboy Bloodcuttah, skulking in the shadows behind
a building in the bottom of the pic, ready to move on 
objective 1.

Warboss Bonekleava and Jawchoppa's Skarboyz, ready
to erupt from the basilicus and krump some beakies and
then secure objective 3.

Turn 1 - Imperial Fists

Devastator Doctrine is active.

Gregorios utters the Recitation of Focus, and it is inspiring to Squad Hektor.

Every gun that could, fired into Jawchoppa's Skarboyz. Beta killed 7, earning a Cull the Hordes tally. Gamma only killed 2, and Hektor only killed 5, mostly because two terminators were out of range, as was Gregorios. 

Turn 1 - Goffs

With Jawchoppa's Skarboyz not below half strength, Bonekleava couldn't order up more reinforcements yet, so they burst forth from the church bellowing a mighty warcry. Elsewhere, Goregasha's Nobz and Bloodcuttah each moved towards their assigned objectives.

Skarboyz erupt from the basilicus, sadly out of charge range of anything.

Painboy Bloodcuttah using the ruin as cover as he
Advances his way towards objective 1.

Goregasha Advances his Nobz (slowly) toward objective 2.

Turn 2 - Imperial Fists

Tactical Doctrine is active.

Gregorios utters the Recitation of Focus, and it is inspiring to Squad Hektor.

Squad Beta secures objective 3, scoring 10 points.

Again, all weapons engaged the Skarboyz who, without the aid of Bloodcuttah, succumbed to the continued onslaught, though just barely. Seriously, the last model standing was the Nob, and the last gun fired was the Assault Cannon, but it wounded and killed him. This time Beta killed 4, Gamma Killed 8 (+1 Cull tally) and Hektor finished them off by killing 9 (+1 Cull tally).

The Skarboyz are no more, mown down in the street.

Score

Imperial Fists: 10

Goffs: 0

Turn 2 - Goffs

Goregasha moved into position to search objective 2 next turn.

Almost there...

Bloodcuttah moves onto objective 1 and starts rummaging around (through a wall, apparently).

Hard to see, but Bloodcuttah is within 3" of the objective.

Angered by the loss of his favorite Skarboyz mob, Bonekleava charges out from the basilicus, across the plaza, firing his kustom shoota (ineffectively) and then charges Squad Beta, who fire Overwatch (doing nothing) and Set to Defend. Bonekleava leaps onto the parapet, smashes his way into the ruin, killing 4 firstborn with a single sweep of his powerklaw and wounding the Sgt with a glancing blow.

Out of the basilicus and across the plaza...

...leaping onto the parapet...

...smashing and slaughtering his way inside...

...but Sgt Beta stoically stands his ground and even wounds
the beast in retaliation. Sgt Beta also refuses to flee.

Score

Imperial Fists: 10

Goffs: 0

Turn 3 - Imperial Fists

Tactical Doctrine is active.

Gregorios utters the Recitation of Focus, and it is not inspiring to Squad Hektor.

Sgt Beta is not in range of objective 3, so no points are scored.

Sgt Beta decides that discretion is the better part of valour, and Falls Back onto objective 3.

Squad Hektor and Gregorios leave the shelter of the administratum ruins, and start to move toward objective 1.

Squad Gamma move to the other side of the roof top, and along with Hektor and Gregorios, Warboss Bonekleava and most of the ruin he is sheltering in are pulverized by dozens and dozens of mass reactive bolts coming up from the street and down from the roof top, giving Bonekleava no place to hide. Gamma fired first, wounding twice, then Hektor, wounding the beast three times, and Chaplain Gregorios finished him off with two bolts to the head (+1 Kill tally).

Bonekleava in his final moments...

Score

Imperial Fists: 10

Goffs: 0

Turn 3 - Goffs

Painboy Bloodcuttah scores 10 points on objective 1.

Goregasha leads his Nobz onto objective 2, just in time to see the body of his Warboss topple out of the building to the street below.

Finally on their assigned objective.

Bloodcuttah, seeing his Warboss fall, decides that he should probably recover his boss and patch him up. Obviously the best way to get to his body is to carve his way through the enemy.

Bloodcuttah as close as he can get while denying Overwatch
to the beakies.

Bloodcuttah charges in, not caring about the odds.

Bloodcuttah charges Hektor, and straight up kills two with his power klaw. They reataliate and smash him down with 8 unsaved wounds. He uses Orks is Never Beaten for 2 CP, and unleashes another flurry on his deathbed...and totally whiffs. Waaagh? Hektor gains +1 Kill tally.

Score

Imperial Fists: 10

Goffs: 10

Turn 4 - Imperial Fists

Start of battle round, Sgt Beta finishes searching objective 3 and finds nothing of use. It is removed.

Assault Doctrine is active.

Gregorios utters the Recitation of Focus, and it is not inspiring to Squad Hektor.

Hektor moves onto objective 1.

Gamma moves back across the rooftop again.

Gregorios, Hektor and Gamma fire into Goregasha's Nobz.

Gamma kills 1, Hektor kills 3 and Gregorios watches as his rounds bounce from Goregasha's armour.

Goregasha decides he's had enough and legs it. 

Goffs tabled.

Score

Imperial Fists: 10

Goffs: 10

Final Score

Imperial Fists: 40

Goffs: 10

Unit Experience

Warboss: +1 XP (Battle), +3 XP (Marked)

        Blooded: Gained Battle Trait: Resilient (6+ FnP)

Painboy: +1 XP (Battle), Gained Battle Scar: Deep Concussion

Goregasha's Nobz: +1 XP (Battle)

Jawchoppa's Lucky Blue Skarboyz: +1 XP (Battle)

Waaagh bonekleava: +1 RP

Terminator Chaplain Gregorios: +1 XP (Battle), +1 Unit Kill

Terminator Squad Hektor: +1 XP (Battle), +2 XP (Cull the Hordes), +3 XP (Marked), +2 Unit Kill

        Blooded: Gained Battle Trait: Fleet of Foot

Squad Beta: +1 XP (Battle)

Squad Gamma: +1 XP (Battle)

Strike Force Arastos: +2 RP

Summary

Running unprotected boyz into massed Imperial Fist bolter fire is just murderous. 

Lesson learned there.

Again.

Orks really need something to slow down the wound rate that new codex's can dole out. The power level diference can really be felt at times.

I was originally worried about the Crusade Blessings difference, but the extra CP more than made up the difference. An extra 4 CP is really a lot of extra power in such a small game. It let the terminators use Fury of the First every time they shot, as well as some Command Rerolls when needed.

One thing I've noticed is that whoever spreads out more, usually loses. I don't know how to get around that particular problem. It just kind of sucks having my ball of death bump into your ball of death, rather than having tactical movement around the terrain, with smaller fights going on in different parts of the battle grid. Oh well, the game is what it is.

Until next time, happy gaming!