BR3: The Black Buzzards VS Ork Dakkapocalypse - 1000pts

Thought I would post another report seeing as people seem to enjoy them and they are also a great learning tool for me!

The armies:

Black Buzzards (DE)

HQ
1 haem, web way portal

TROOPS
3 wracks, venom
3 wracks, venom

FAST ATTACK
9 Reavers, 3 heat lances, arena champion, venom blade
9 Reavers, 3 heat lances, arena champion, venom blade
9 Reavers, 3 heat lances, arena champion, venom blade

Orks

HQ
Warboss, powerclaw, cybork body, eavy armour

ELITE
14 lootas

TROOPS
20 shootas, 2 big shootas
20 shootas, 2 big shootas, nob, powerclaw
20 shootas, 2 big shootas, nob, powerclaw

FAST ATTACK
Dakkajet, extra supa shoota, ace

FORTIFICATION
Aegis defence line, Quad Gun

The scenario:
The mission was The Emperor's Will using Dawn of War deployment. There would be night fight first turn (finally). Warlord powers: I got Divide to Conquer (-1 to enemies reserve, why do I even bother?), my opponent got Master of the Defence (shoota boys with counter attack!). I won the roll off and decided to go first, as I had a lot more experience going second and felt like I needed to get better at going first with this army (in case I ever get an opponent who decides to go second rather then first). For combat drugs I got +1 attack (handy, if I end up in combat).

Deployment:
Because of night fight I could deploy very aggressively without worrying about seize the initiative screwing me over. His lootas would only be able to hit my stuff if they move out of their deployment zone, and even then it would be at reduced effectiveness.

I deployed my army centrally, the haemi was joined to one of the reaver squads.

My opponent had seen my army played before and decided to deploy his army on his objective (if I can't get within 3" of his objective because there isn't any space how can I contest it?). He knew I didn't have any blast or template weapons so he bunched up his boys as best he could to increase what he liked to call "their dakka density". If I were to attack any of his units I would end up in shoota and assault range, with that many boys, if he could assault me he could kill me. And as long as his army stuck together I wouldn't be able to divide and conquer!



Turn 1(DE):
The Haemi left the reavers to join the three wracks on the objective, he deployed the Web Way Portal to hide the squad from line of sight. The Reavers bladevaned the lootas, the squad with the pain token going first (to prevent them getting a second token). The second reaver squad was positioned furthest back (closest to my opponents table edge). The lootas could only get a 4+ cover save because they were fearless and could therefore not go to ground, despite the 4+ they didn't survive the 73 bladevane hits, leaving the quad gun unmanned. The last reaver squad claiming the pain token (First blood for DE!). I took care when moving the reavers to make sure the heat lances and champions were at the back (away from the orks). The two venoms then moved flat out and stopped right behind the shoota boys, just over an inch or two away and two inches away from each other, this would create a 4" by 8" inch block that my opponent wouldn't be able to move through (as you can't move within 1" of an enemy model), he could charge the reavers through the gap (as the rule doesn’t apply when charging), but the chances were low considering he wouldn't be able to move closer in the movement phase (and very few models would make it into combat).


Turn 1(ORKS):
My opponent had to make a choice. If he shot the venoms, then he wouldn't be able to shoot or assault the reavers. If he shot the reavers he would most likely not be able to reach them due to the venoms. If he wanted to shoot the reaver squad without a pain token (the one furthest back) he definitely wouldn't be able to charge as the other reavers were blocking the way. But this might be his only chance to tie down the reavers. With his central mob of shootas he fired at the reavers without a pain token killing 3 (I only passed one 3+ save out of 4!), however they passed their leadership test. The left shoota mob moved up and shot the left reaver squad killing 2, they then tried to charge, they didn't make it and overwatch killed two (go rapid fire splinter rifles!). The right mob of shootas fired at the right reaver squad killing 1. They rolled 11" for their charge(they needed 9")! Overwatch killed 1 ork. The arena champion challenged the Nob leader who accepted, fortunately for me the four venom blade attacks cut him to pieces! The reavers kill 5 orks before they attacked. The remaining orks move in on their initiative step and fight back, killing 5 reavers, the reavers win combat by 2, however the orks are fearless.


Turn 2 (DE):
The left squad of reavers turbo boosts over the left shoota mob making sure their heatlances and champion are closest to the table edge (in preparation for the dakkajet). They kill 7 boys. The venoms move up slightly to block the central boy mob from charging the reavers that are still in combat. Both venoms fire at the mob on the left killing killing 5 boys. The central reaver squad blade vanes the mob on the left killing the last 6 boys and gaining a pain token. The four reaver in combat strike first killing 5 orks (go venom blade!). The orks fight back but without their +1S(furious charge) +1A from charging they have a tough time and only kill one reaver. The reavers win combat by 4 and kill the orks on the sweeping advance. They consolidate away from the remaining orks.


Turn 2 (ORKS):
The last remaining mob, moves towards the quad gun re-manning it and firing it as well as their other weapons at the three reavers, that survived combat, killing them all. The Dakkajet zooms on unleashing Waaagh! from above killing 3 reavers, however they pass their leadership test.


Turn 3 (DE):
The reavers blade vane the last mob killing 9. The venoms move to block the mob and fire there splinter cannons/rifles killing 5. The mob passes it's leadership test.


Turn 3 (ORKS):
The mob gets behind the defence line and fires everything including the quad gun at the larger reaver squad killing 1. The dakkajet turns and moves forward and manages to get an angle where it can see the wracks, killing all of them including the haemi (he has to die every game!).


Turn 4 (DE):
The reavers blade vane the orks, leaving the warboss standing with two wounds left. The venoms move behind the defence line and kill the warboss with their splinter weapons. The wracks jump out and get into base contact with the Quad Gun, manning it and then proceed to shoot down the Dakkajet. DE victory!



Conclusion

One of the most memorable games I have ever had, shooting down a jet with it's own quad gun was really epic. Venoms are fantastic at blocking with their 30" move. Which can be really powerful tool to prevent assault which really helped me win the game.

Hope you enjoyed the report!

good stuff, just goes to show what bladevanes can do in large numbers. Had you considered Chain Snares on your venoms? Do something similar but over every unit the vehicle passes over.

The_Burning_Eye wrote:

good stuff,

Thanks!

The_Burning_Eye wrote:

just goes to show what bladevanes can do in large numbers.

27-81 S4 hits is pretty fun.

The_Burning_Eye wrote:

Had you considered Chain Snares on your venoms? Do something similar but over every unit the vehicle passes over.

That I have.

However until it get's FAQed they only work in the movement phase, which isn't great for hitting loads of units (12" move), but you can use them and shoot which is interesting though not great. If they worked in the shooting phase (when moving flat out) they would be better at hitting a multiple units (12" to move into position and then 18" chain snare move). So I'm holding back a bit until it gets a FAQ. If it gets changed to only work when moving flat out, I would definitely give them a go, as I use my venoms for blocking more then anything else.

They didn't FAQ it last time round so I'd be surprised if it got addressed. On the bright side, it does mean that you can escape retribution by going flat out in the shooting phase if need be.

I've got a big unit of nine reavers in my collection, thrown a couple of cluster caltrops in as well though, 2-12 S6 hits just gives them a bit more bite against marines I think.

The_Burning_Eye wrote:

They didn't FAQ it last time round so I'd be surprised if it got addressed. On the bright side, it does mean that you can escape retribution by going flat out in the shooting phase if need be.

One can hope! You are right though, you can do some funny bouncing around with flat out moves in the shooting phase.

The_Burning_Eye wrote:

I've got a big unit of nine reavers in my collection, thrown a couple of cluster caltrops in as well though, 2-12 S6 hits just gives them a bit more bite against marines I think.

I have always had a love hate relationship with cluster caltrops, D6 S6 is nice boost to damage and helps the squad stay effective when they take casualties, but it's not cheap. Every turn I don't use them I feel like it's a waste, also some armies have a lot of transports making them less effective. I'm tempted to get them when I go up to 1500pts after increasing the reavers squads to 10. However they would cost me 180 points which could easily get me a razorwing/ravager etc. On the flip side 9D6 S6 hits is sick! That's on average about 10 dead marines instead of 3 (9D3 S4 hits) .

It's a tough one,

yes good point, if you're taking them on three squads then I'd rather have a dissie ravager for the AP2 shots.

Thanks a lot for another good report! Looking forward to the next installment, it would be very nice to see if the tactic scales up to 1500 or even 1999 pts.

About the caltrops, why not put them on one unit? You can decide if that unit is more or less important to protect and adjust the spread of pain tokens accordingly. In some cases, this might even force the opponent to shoot at the one unit with FNP rather than the unprotected units!

Setomidor wrote:

Thanks a lot for another good report! Looking forward to the next installment, it would be very nice to see if the tactic scales up to 1500 or even 1999 pts.

I'm going to put a 1500pts list together soon. I'll post it in the army list section, so I can get some feedback. I also thought it would be fun for people to see how their suggestions work out (obviously the core of the list would stay the same as it is now).

Setomidor wrote:

About the caltrops, why not put them on one unit? You can decide if that unit is more or less important to protect and adjust the spread of pain tokens accordingly. In some cases, this might even force the opponent to shoot at the one unit with FNP rather than the unprotected units!

You know what? That's a really good idea, talk about thinking outside the box! It might be worth it just to mess with target priority. Even if the reavers come in from reserve (without the Haemi pain token) they tend to kill something on the turn they come in, so it would still work. Well that's something I will definitely try at 1500pts. Thanks for the suggestion!

Take out your webway portal. The points are completely wasted on an army like this, IMO. Glad to see you're winning with this army on the regular though, that's good stuff, but I do notice a relative lack of armor on your opponents behalf. Any chance of going up against guard anytime soon?

Ruke wrote:

Take out your webway portal. The points are completely wasted on an army like this, IMO. Glad to see you're winning with this army on the regular though, that's good stuff, but I do notice a relative lack of armor on your opponents behalf. Any chance of going up against guard anytime soon?

Would you kind sir look at his signature and realize that he already posted a game against guard? (with vendetta spam!)

The wwp did him a good favor in the first two games where he reserved all three reaver groups.

Ruke wrote:

Take out your webway portal. The points are completely wasted on an army like this, IMO.

I agree in some games it can seem like a waste(this game in particular) but it more then makes up for it in the game where it is used.

It's handy when I play Hammer and Anvil and I want everything in reserve (which is how I normally play) as otherwise people tend to deploy in such a way where it's hard to blade vane them. It's also useful for creating a 21" radius armour kill zone for reavers coming in from reserve.

Although in this game I played the list like an alpha-strike army I don't normally do so. I have always seen "seize the initiative" as a 1/6 chance of loosing the game for DE, so I only ever go first if my opponent wins the roll off and decides to go second, even then I will normally keep most of my army in reserve unless there is night fight.

Ruke wrote:

Glad to see you're winning with this army on the regular though, that's good stuff,

Thanks!

Ruke wrote:

but I do notice a relative lack of armor on your opponents behalf. Any chance of going up against guard anytime soon?

As Sleepy mentioned I have a report against IG Vendetta list.

However if that's not the sort of armoured list you were interested in please give me a rough idea of what sort of list you had in mind so I can try and find an opponent with a similar list for my next report.

That goes for anyone that reads these threads, if you think there is a certain army composition this list would have trouble with let me know! So I can try them out.

I would like to see your list vs Necron flier spam, regular gk armies (razorbacks, lascanon dreadnoughts, ...) or sm droppod lists. :3

I don't really think heavy vehicular lists would be a massive problem for this army. You've got 9 heat lances in total, all of which can move extremely quickly and easily get rear armour and easily in Melta range.
Another good game, the reports are great.

Sorry, didn't see that in your sig, my appologies, I'll go back and look at that battle report (only saw your first one and this one). While you do have plenty of heat lances, the problem lies in the fact that if you're heatlancing, you're not 'vaning, and if you're 'vaning you're not lancing... It's the same reason that I wont run trueborn with both blasters and cannons in the same squad. The unspecialized multi-purpose unit is the unit without clear use or direction.

We're not muhreens.

I absolutely love your battle reports, and want to let you know that I registered only to be able to tell you that.

Very nice bike setups you got there, they're pumping me up to make some new reaver lists, coolio!

SleepyPillow wrote:

I would like to see your list vs Necron flier spam, regular gk armies (razorbacks, lascanon dreadnoughts, ...) or sm droppod lists. :3

Great, I'll get too it. I'm sure I can find those armies at my FLGS.

Ruke wrote:

While you do have plenty of heat lances, the problem lies in the fact that if you're heatlancing, you're not 'vaning, and if you're 'vaning you're not lancing...

I have always seen reverse as a multi-roll unit, I guess that's why this army works (the big difference being 4+ jink just for moving). Heat lances are so cheap for what they do they are never a waste, Reavers do damage every turn even when re-locating thanks to bladevanes, so when you use them it's normally in a turn where you couldn't hit anything with your lances anyway. Assault also has great utility, as you can blow up transports and assault the contents or lock yourself in combat to avoid shooting. Finally with the 2d6" eldar jetbike move you can run circles around slow melee units, whilst lancing them to pieces. If you are using reavers in only one phase of the game then you are effectively using only 1/3 of their potential.

Ruke wrote:

We're not muhreens.

No we are much better, marines don't have 3+/4+ cover saves, FNP, melta guns and 48" movement that does damage and ignores terrain. Most people look at reavers and see a glass cannon, I look at reavers and see super marines.

TradWarden wrote:

I absolutely love your battle reports, and want to let you know that I registered only to be able to tell you that.

Thanks! Well I'll be posting reports now and then for the foreseeable future(not quite as often as I did this week), so stay tuned.

zzzzzZZZZZZZOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooom!
basically this is what your army does back and forth doesnt it get dull?
btw in the first pic, i see none of the orks in the front getting dead. Did you not roll on bladevanes on them or did they make good saves?

You make a solid argument... I ran a group of 6 reavers in a game against orks recently and they ended up getting smashed in assault, but that was due to the fact that I thought you could move 2d6 after turboboosting and put them in a dumb position because of it... ah well... live and learn... but I might try a list like yours, was thinking of making a (almost) all biker list with eldar allies...

@enfernux He hit the lootas behind the boyz, a good move as those guys would have wiped him.

Enfernux wrote:

zzzzzZZZZZZZOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooom!
basically this is what your army does back and forth doesnt it get dull?

It's a lot more exiting the charging forward, or sitting back and shooting. Maybe I'll throw in some formation flying in next time?

Enfernux wrote:

btw in the first pic, i see none of the orks in the front getting dead. Did you not roll on bladevanes on them or did they make good saves?

I went straight for the 14 lootas at the back 14-42 S7 and the Quad where too much of a threat to ignore.

fair enough

That was a solid move, and the same one I would have made in the same situation...

Ruke wrote:

That was a solid move, and the same one I would have made in the same situation...

It was actually the hardest decision of the game: kill the lootas but not be able to block as effectively with the venoms and risk being assaulted. Or Blade vane one of the shoota squads and be safe from assault but vulnerable to the lootas.

Are they going to fire 15 shots or 45? With lootas you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky?

Amazing battle reports!

The felt really inspiring to read, all three of them. And you have a cool army. I absolutely going to give revers a try in my next game

Even found all of my old revers, yay!

Thanks for the kind words.

I still have my old reavers in case I want to field 60 bikes at 2000pts!

Wow, that really is a nice army and a well written Battle Report. Keep on the good work!

btw, what software are you using to make those images?