Assault: Multiple Combats and Morale Checks

[Logos]

I just played a 1000pt. match last night with a friend of mine under 5th edition rules - he played Orks and I played Dark Angels space marines. It was a close game and near the end of the match we ended up with a huge melee involving several squads from both sides. He charged two of my squads (a unit of company vets led by an interrogator-chaplain and a 5-man tac squad) with two 12-man units of boyz and a small unit of bikes. The first round of combat ended in a stalemate with only two wounds taken on each side, but in the following round I charged in with two more 5-man tac squads and ended up killing a lot more of his guys. I dealt 9 wounds to his 2 so he had to make a morale check - and this is where my questions come in.

 

According to the 5th Edition rulebook the losing side in a round of assault must make a moral check for each unit engaged in the assault that turn, and each check is done with a penalty equal to the number of wounds the assault was lost by. In this case, the Ork player lost by 7 wounds so each of his units had to make a morale check at -7. Each of his units had lost a few models so a moral check at -7 was pretty much impossible to pass; all three of his units failed their checks. This led to checks for sweeping advances - each of my units got to compare initiative rolls with any of his units that they were engaged with, which pretty much guaranteed that all of his units would be cut to pieces. He ended up losing about 15 models to sweeping advances, which basically cost him the game.

 

So I guess I have a couple questions:

 

1. Did we follow the rules correctly with regard to the morale check penalty and the fact that multiple units from each side were engaged?

 

2. Did we do the sweeping advances correctly? i.e. each unit from my side comparing initiative with each engaged unit from his side that failed their morale check

 

Finally, if we did everything correctly, does this seem to put Orks (and other hordes with low initiative and morale) at a disadvantage in CC with smaller, elite forces? Orks generally function by getting the charge with a large mob and overwhelming the enemy with their sheer number of attacks (and a few power klaws for good measure) but in the last few games I've played against them they seem to really struggle in the assault phase. In general they will take out a few models on the charge but by round 2 they are forced to take moral checks with significant penalties (which they tend to fail due to low leadership) and then risk getting destroyed by sweeping advances (which they tend to be caught by due to their low initiative).

[Leonaides]

Looks fairly right to me. And thats the penalty xenos have to pay for being able to outnumber us so much - inferior troops. Though in the second round you had approx 20 marines vs maybe 25 orks? thats nearly even numbers, in which case marines have a clear edge via better stats and equipment. I'd expect to beat orks in a combat like that.

[Logos]

Yeah, I would normally expect to win under those conditions as well. My friend was just frustrated because he lost so many models to the sweeping advances after he lost the combat. In 4th edition the Orks had a chance to survive a few rounds of assault under those conditions because even if they lost a round they would still likely outnumber the enemy and thus only need to take a small penalty to their morale check (and the most it could possible be was -4 anyway). However, in 5th edition the morale penalty is derived from the number of wounds you lose the combat by, and there is no limit (as far as I am aware) to how great of a penalty that can be. The low leadership and low initiative of the orks pretty much guarantees that he'll fail the morale check and loose the rest of his models to sweeping advances. But it looks like we were following the rules correctly.

[nighthawks]

orks in particular have the advantage of being fearless if in mobs of 10+ boys. other hordes are not so lucky, but tend to make up for it with better Ld or I stats.

 

but it does indeed sound like you played it right.

[Tengu]

Don't forget, also, that any new unit joining a combat cannot be targeted by models already engaged. That means that your whole squad could get a round of unanswered hits in, making the numbers a bit more even in subsequent rounds.

[Logos]

Don't forget, also, that any new unit joining a combat cannot be targeted by models already engaged. That means that your whole squad could get a round of unanswered hits in, making the numbers a bit more even in subsequent rounds.

 

Thanks for pointing this out, Tengu. I actually didn't know about this rule; looks like I'll have to re-read the assault section of the manual when I get home from work!