Battle for Mellaj Hive, vs Orks 1750

[Polythemus]

howdy dark angel fans!
 
Polythemus here to bring another installment of Comic batreps. This time our heroes find themselves on the arid forgeworld of Umbral in the umbral system. The planet has been overrun by orks, looking to aquire the means to use to forgeworld production to boost their own war effort. while the imperial guard move into position, Dark angel command has made it a priorirty to retake Mellaj hive. In an act of misdirection the Dark angel 5th company have been ordered to hold the western edge of the city to draw out its ork defenders, but a patrol catches our heroes by suprise and without their heavy support. Can the Dark Angels hold the line? i'll be placing the whole batrep here in turn installments but if you don't want to wait you can also find it in the link to my blog located in the sig below. Comments and criticisms appreciated.
 
Part 1
With the imperial order to stop the Waagh! rampaging through the Umbral system, the imperial guard have been instructed to prepare for an assault on the city of Mellaj. In advance of the imperial guard attack, the Dark angels have sent an advance strike force to soften the Bad Moon orks that have overrun the city. Clever strategy by Commisar Toledo and Dark Agels 4th Company Master Indomiel has led to the orks bands being distracted by rapid ravenwing strikes to the north and west of the city causing disorder in the ork ranks, with ork cheifs being drawn off to exact revernge. The true goal these raids is to give cover for the Guard to reclaim the foundaries of Mellaj . The city itself still contains close 1million ork boyz. In a precient view brought on by warp trace Ezekiel has come to Umbral to aid the 4th Co. With only a handful of troops at his command, Ezekiel patrols the western edge of the ruined city.
In a sudden turn of events Ravenwing scouts have sent an advance warning of the sudden appearance of an ork warband in this city sector, led by the warboss Chompjaw. Ezeikial makes his reinforcement request but is told it will take some time before the reinforcements can arrive.
Caught before the Imperial guard can make a strong push, the Dark Angels must hold this western edge of the city to ensure that it will be safe for the imperial warmachine to push into the broad avenues and retake the city. Will the Dark Angels be able to hold on?

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Special deployment - we used the Dark angels battle book for this mission meaning i only got a select portion of my army until turn 3.
Special reinforce rules.
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Deployment note there is also a 6man unit of black knights in reserve.
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O1- the green tide washes forward killing several marines in the building and a few in near the trees.

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D1 – the dark angels consolidate. Bringing guns to bear on deffcoptas and the gretchin frontlines, while the attack bike fires on the battlewagon…. destroying it in one shot and Decimating the 20 shootaboys inside. Meanwhile the ravenwing and librarian attempt to weaken the flank and attack the commandos. But the librarian fails both his psy-powers. The deffcoptas fail their morale check and flee. The the ravenwing charge in but without prescience cant do much damage and are stuck ( because I forgot to hit and run!)
 

[Pbenner]

I always love these bat reps.  Just sayin...

 

Paul

[infyrana]

Who needs an official report when you have good old fashioned cartoon captions ... awesome stuff :D

[Polythemus]

cheers boys, ill put up turn two tommorow.

[Interrogator Stobz]

I agree; nevermind the narrative, just use the caption bubbles and shooty/zappy/xpoddy lines and pics and we will get the idea :tu:  

[Eternal Warrior]

This... Maybe I'm sleep deprived..... Or still hung over from the super bowl..... Or maybe the nyquill is kicking in. This is the greatest thing ever. Bravo!!!!

[Polythemus]

Part 2

 

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O2 – with no respite expected, and no quarter given the boyz surge forward! The bikes charge forward flinging themselves into combat. The 30 strong  ‘ardboy mob rushes to support the commandos. And Chompjaw, wrenches the nob out of combat challenging the librarian. The shootaboys emerging from the wreckage of the battlewagon, take revenge on the attack bike. Resulting combat sees the the ork bikers swept, the ravenwing killed leaving only the librarian, alone with Chompjaw. Meanwhile the killa kanz, stride forward and go to work on the Landraider stripping 3 HPs, and stunning it.

 

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D2 – With another turn to hold out before the reserves arrive the Dark Angels roll up their ceramite sleeves. Eziekel and the terminators emerge from the Landraider, to destroy the killa kanz. The librarian continues to singly hold against the mob and Chompjaw. This time the librarian passes both psychic powers giving himself prescience and fiery form. The termies make short work of the kanz and a plasma cannon kills several gretchin and glances the deffdread lurking with intent.

 

part 3 due tommorow

[Master Avoghai]

It's always a pleasure reading your Batrep man!

 

If one day I make my own web fanzine, I want you as my official Batrep designer! :lol:

[Polythemus]

part 3

 

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O3 – the gretchin lead the way towards the marines besieged in the ruined building, while the true power shows up in the form of grotzooka tanks, and the scorcha boys who combine their firepower to decimate the terminators and Ezeikel leaving only one terminator remaining. In the meantime Librarian Bellerophon calling on his powers of the warp, kills off the warboss before he can swing, then (error on my part here) hit and runs away. (for those who cry foul this mistake would be rectified later on.)

 

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D3 – The reserves finally arrive, with the black knights outflanking and the heavy support joining the forces behind the trees. The crusader unleashes a salvo against the truck of burnaboys and swings its weapons to bear on the gretchin squad holding the central objective, but can only wreck the truck. Black knights outflank, behind the boys staying outside charge range, and unleash a few plasma shots. The lone terminator goes to work on the grot tanks and destroys one outright.

 

part 4 due Thursday

[Polythemus]

@pbenner - hey man really appreciate your comment on the batreps. nice to see you posting a bit lately, there was a pretty long radio silence for a while. also i tried PMing you about something but i think your mailbox is full.

 

@infryama - thanks man

 

@stobz - its really weird i always felt the same way. i posted in a few other places in the past and found that people tended to complain if there was no turn synopsis after the pics. true sometimes theres action i dont illustrate so its probably a good habit.

 

@eternal warrior - hey man glad you like em. i dont post a ton but i always hope that the ones i do post people enjoy. thanks for your comment!

 

@master avo - let me know when your starting up your fanzine! I always like to know other good Dark angels blogs that get regular updates.

[Gillyfish]

Great reports as ever Polythemus - always a good (and entertaining) read!

[Larhendiel]

Wow this is nice report, very entertaining to read! I look forward to read some more soon!

[Polythemus]

Part 4

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O4 – Burnaboys charge the devastator squad but can only get half their squad in combat. Deffdread charges and kills the second tactical squad. A lone remaining gretchin kills the librarian (Gork and Mork were smiling). Shooting from the commandos kills off the marines in the ruined building. Attempted grot canons miss the lone terminator

 

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D4 – the exposed deff dread is blasted in the back by the assault cannon on the still mobile Lanspeeder, wrecking it. The whirlwind fires a direct shot on the clumped up boys killing nine. In a moment of insane courage the remaining tactical squad rushes to aid the devastators and assaults the burnaboys. The combined damage causes the burnas to lose combat and get rundown! Too far away to assault the black knights continue their rain of plasma on the mob. Another grot cannon is stunned as the terminator continues his work.

 

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O5 – the mob rushes to claim the object near the generator. the lone grotzooka gives up on the terminator and destroys the landraider who helped destroy the deff dread.

 

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D5 – with victory in their grasp the landraider proceeds to immobilize itself on the wrecked truck losing its last hull point in the process. The whirlwind again makes its salvo pay, as do the frag missles of the devastators. The combined attacks make it so that no troops remain within range of the objective.

 

The game ends.

 

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Dark Angel Victory.

 

 

 

pretty fun game. my opponent had me on the ropes but the whirlwind really made the difference. i did make a mistake with the librarian, thinking he had Hit and Run but since he was killed in the end it didn't really matter much.  i also didn't shoot the whirlwind the turn it arrived thinking it couldn't move and shoot. That should help for next time.

 

*Debriefing of Sgt. Asion with Company Master Indomiel* 

"The battle of mellaj will be remembered for many events and it is not over yet, but i wanted to let you know Sgt. Asion that you actions at Mellaj, may have saved your brothers. Your squad aided in the defeat of the orks by holding up and entire flank against deffcopters, a bike squad, burner boys and gretchin, as well as holding an objective that guaranteed victory. I will be reccomending you for a commendation and we will be keeping a close eye on your progress. Well done brother."

[Eternal Warrior]

*claps* masterful work. Well done. How far can a whirlwind move and still shoot?

[Chaplain Lucifer]

These battlereports are most entertaining to read ... I swear the games could even suck (which they don't) that you wold still be glued to the monitor, reading these battlereports.

[Gillyfish]

I agree, although I always like a bit of prose explaining strategic thought, tactics etc, these are great fun.

 

Speaking of tactics etc., POlythemus, ehat would you have done differently if you were to play the game again? Would you have a different list, or changed your set-up at all?

 

Congratulations on another excellent batrep and another win! :)

[Polythemus]

@ eternal warrior - *bows*, "I'll be here all week! Make sure to tip your waitress and try the veal!" thanks, a whirlwind is a vehicle so it can move 6" and still fire one weapon, like the vindicator.

 

@ chaplain Lucifer - the whole concept is based around the idea of storyboarding that is done for film. except in film you create the shot from the storyboard, whereas here i've got to create the story from the shot. its a little wierd.

 

To me an interesting story is what will draw you in, and visually stimulating effects are an important part of this. this means explosions, tons of shooting with effects, close combats, and well painted minis. if the mini's aren't well painted its a no go. I will also say that i tend to try to pick interesting battles, and orks are a great opponent. they have built in accents and dialougue and tend to get in close combat so you can really get those nice close shots where its easier to write dramatic dialouge. Creating a report like this versus Tau is more difficult, for the same reason.

 

I still have yet to do a comic report versus eldar or Tau. though i think it would be easier with eldar. i need to come up with a good dialouge for the tau, i would think they need to sound like really pretentious aloof physicists who believe in string theory, with a lot of technical language.

 

i will also say that i tend to ignore alot of the fluff when it comes to writing dialouge for the marines, because i want drama not solemn chanting. it just doesn't make stuff dramatic enough on the page for me. this is also why my ravenwing tend to be cowboys (Yipee-ki -yay M#$#% F%^&*!).

 

@ Gillyfish - i like tactical stuff too but it always takes a long time to explain.

 

In this game i knew i was playing orks so i wanted to take a marine style list, and i wanted to try ezekiel. i try not to game plan for specific armies but in this case i did. The one thing i hate about using terminators is the inability to sweeping advance, this has gotten me killed in several games (thank goodness they changed the rule for normal marines), so i wanted marines because facing off versus orks is difficult enough and having the opportunity to sweeping advance is huge.

we also were going to roll on the Dark angels mission book and i was really hoping to get the one that allows you to assault from deepstrike, that would have been killer. in the end i rolled a mission that right away puts you on the defensive. in fact i might have deployed incorrectly because the landraider wasn't taken as a dedicated transport so i probably shouldn't have had that to start.

 

The list was balanced for taking on orks specifically, while also being cognizant of the various mission possibilities. i might have used a Int-chappy in TDA instead of ezekiel but dont they end up being the same points? stupid pricing. Anyway, i had placed ez in the landraider with the deathwing because i wanted them to benefit from the WS increase he provides. I think i would have placed him with (Sgt Asion) the flanking tact squad because it was extremely lucky to get that many good outcomes from that squad, they overperformed in a big way. this way i could have had him join the termies just before the charge and been more effective throughout the game. 

 

i got to place all the objectives. orks deployed first the mission allows for them to deploy right at midfield with only 6" buffer zone between armies. i knew that i wanted him to be teased by having an objective close to the middle because he would go for it and i placed it where it would be easy for me to counterattack and control since i knew i would need to keep my force together to survive while predicting that he would be spreading out (almost all ork players do this do to the size of there armies), i could deploy in a central concentration which would allow me to use my squads to support one another.

 

the deployment for my army was done in order to try to flank with the bikes on the right and use the multimelta to target any armor threats (like the battle wagon). since the kommandos were infiltrated they couldn't charge. i wanted to charge them first turn but didn't want them subject to fire, so they were placed behind the building. when the librarian on the bike (Bellerophon) failed both his powers i wasn't sure what to do. kommandos don't have great armor and i felt they would be unlikely to withstand the charge but i was really guessing. i ended up making a nine inch charge to get in. Was charging a good idea? i don't know it definitely tied up those boyz but i probably should have hit and run on my turn in order to not lose that squad so quickly. interestingly by accepting the challenge with the kommando nob, my opponent doomed his warboss. my libby would have killed his kommandos had he not intervened in the combat (again due to sweeping advance) so when he charged in the boyz he wanted to save his kommando squad. 

 

the tactical squad in the ruins were very isolated all game but I couldn't do much about that. i might have brought in the black knights closer to the the boyz on turn 3 in order to tempt a retrograde charge out of the boyz on ork turn 4. 

 

Overall take away

1.) while it is always desireable to H&R on your opponents turn, if you expect to be charged by a unit with a large amount of attacks it is better to try to protect the squad by H&R'ing the bikes on your turn. 

2.) try not to deploy ezikiel in a windowless transport to give him more opportunity to shine.

3.) always bring the whirlwind to the ork fight, and remember that it can move and shoot.

4.) do not discount the power of sweeping advance

[Tiger9gamer]

"4.) do not discount the power of sweeping advance"

 

Especially with orks! remember a time were my captain and one attack bike swept a much larger ork biker squad on one charge!