Quick Battle Report: Ultramarines vs. Orks

With a break from Chaos I decided to try something different. I struggle a lot with my Ultramarines when using the units I like to play. If you’re like me then you’re sick of seeing “marine” armies with next to zero marines, and a host of Forgeworld goodies used to prop up one or three super characters.

With that I tried to think outside of the competitive norm and come up with a fun list that might have some punch:

HQ:

Calgar

Tigurius

LT w/sword

TROOPS:

5 Sniper Scouts

6 Infiltrators

5 Intercessors

Repulsor

HEAVY:

3 x Thunderfire Cannon

ELITE:

2 x Redemptors

FAST:

3 Plasma Inceptors

3 Assault Bolter Inceptors

Sanctioned Assassin Strat (Vindicare)

My Opponent had a good Ork list that I’ve struggled with in the past using Marines (it was a random match up so no list tailoring.) The Orks were largely a ton of bodies: Large (25 man) squads of boyz, Relic Shock Attack Gun, Gorkanaut, and Dorkanaut (?) (I can’t remember what they’re called). 2 Dakka jets, a Psyker, 3 heavy weapons platforms (?), a few characters including a guy on a bike that can (I think) advance and charge?

The Game:

We are playing a Maelstrom mission called Kill Confirmed where every kill is a victory point, and you cannot discard cards that have the “kill” objective.

Our deployment is good ol’ Dawn of War. And the Orks go first with a massive launch of everything they’ve got through the middle.

After his first turn of movement.

It’s early in the game but I have so few models on the table I have to conservative, and I take my left corner to cower in. I thought I completely hid the Repulsor and one of the Redemptor Dreadnoughts but I was slightly off and paid for it.

The Repulsor is just peeking out too much…

And of course I pay dearly for that. The army shoots what it can from one of the giant Ork garbage cans, and with his detachment he’s firing it twice, and the Repulsor is completely destroyed in T1 (as a side note I did take Prepared positions which really didn’t do much).

With the Repulsor gone and one Intercessory dying in the explosion it was time for Calgar and the crew to get out and hug terrain.

But it wasn’t over…. the remnant shooting struck one of my Redemptors down to 2-3 wounds! Rough first turn. Of course most of his army moves full tilt towards me. The Snipers and Infiltrators already feel cramped on my upper left side across from an HQ on a bike, and 25 boys + Gretchin.

One Repulsor down, and a wall of trash compactors are coming in hot.

Ultramarines Strike Back?

Is this the part where I tell you I hit back really hard? It doesn’t really happen. I throw everything I can at the yellow (shoooty) Dorkobot. I throw 2 Thunderfire Cannons at the 25 man Boyz squad to the left of my Snipers/Infiltrators, but maybe 10-12 die. I use the “Tremor Shell” strat to slow down a 25 man boy squad behind the yellow Dorkobot. The Snipers take aim on the Relic Shock Attack dude (who has already paid for himself by severely damaging the Repulsor) and they fail to do anything to him.

The Redemptors spin up and keep in mind this is with a LT and Calgar’s aura in effect… the Onslaught Redemptor is heavily wounded so only takes another 2-3 Boyz off the left flank, but with some luck the Macroplasma Redemptor actually overcharges (I had to take the risk) and fires at the Yellow Dorkobot and gets 8 wounds off of it. I fire everything else I can at a Dakka jet and kill it. Finally… First Strike!

I fire with, then charge my Infiltrators into the Boyz squad that has been heavily targeted by two Thunderfire Cannons and the Ultramarine lose 3 of 6 while the orks still hold firm!

Orks press the Advantage:

There’s not a lot I can do. I’m still pinned. The cards are giving stuff he can certainly do and he’s running away in this turn with a good 3-4 points. His character on a bike turbo’s right up beside my ThunderFire Cannon Priest and blows him away, effectively eliminating the Cannon itself.

The Biker dude is deep in my zone but holding his own, until Calgar time!

The Ork shooting is still significant even though he doesn’t have Lootas in this game. The body count is still way too high for me to gain any of the table. As a result I lose both Redemptors to multiple shooting from the giant robots, and I lose the Intercessors, shrinking my footprint even more. This turn my Infiltrators fall to close combat, and I am easily missing 3/4 of my army now. I had Calgar with his friends (Victrix Guard/Tiggy) and 2 TFC’s , 5 Snipers, and my reserves!

My opponent asked at this point if I wanted to continue since I was nearly tabled in 2 turns, but I thought I should stick it out for another turn or two, but things were grim looking indeed. I would have to take massive risks to have even the lowliest of impacts in this game.

For Ultramar?

What other warcry could I use in such a dire situation? Well first things first, Calgar takes out the Warboss and I had a difficult Objective that would be fulfilled by Calgar removing the last wounds from another character. Then Tiggy would smite some of the rest of a 25 man boy squad to death, and the Thunder Fire cannons would kill a good chunk of the delayed squad hit by the Tremor Shell in the previous turn.

The Plasma Inceptors would overcharge with Scions of Guilliman and blow up the Yellow Dorkbot. This was huge. That thing was relentless. My Assault Bolter Inceptor squad would deep strike in a great spot to snipe/kill the Relic Shock Attack Gun guy in ruins, killing him off. My Vindicare would come in, and put a single wound on a Warboss. Finally I had the amazing turn I needed, however I still had big robots coming into my zone and all I had to defend the Thunderfire Cannons was a grumpy old Psyker and the favoured son of Ultramar waving dad’s boxing gloves defiantly in the air.

Orks is Angry… very Angry.

The Orks don’t really care about a war of attrition and why would you with a zillion bodies left on the table? Our game is nearly tied somehow, but I feel like I have nothing and then literally it goes south for me again:

The Ork dakka jet annihilates the Plasma Inceptors. A pile of boyz are converging on the Assault Bolter Inceptors, and the big black Dorkobot is advancing towards Calgar! A pile of Gretchin claim a point and are probably going to take down my Vindicare. About here I’m wondering why the heck I didn’t concede….

For Ultramar… Again?

Calgar gets charged by a rusty Walmart from hell. What could go wrong?

Calgar is charged (I can’t remember the turn) by a giant Robot. I threw the Lieutenant at this guy hoping to delay him for one turn. That didn’t work out so well for the LT. The Robot puts a few dents into Calgar which are halved, then intercepted by one of his Victrix Guard. Calgar then winds up and completely destroys the Robot causing 13 wounds, exactly enough to finish him off! Pretty lucky.

In my turn I have to clear so many things… I know I can’t win, but the Vindicare does wind up and does finally kill a Warboss netting me an additional kill point. The Assault Bolter Inceptors can’t see anything from their position, but can assault the other side of a wall and come crashing into his Pyker, and a few boyz. I get lucky with Meteoric descent and cause a fatal mortal wound on his psyker getting another point! Insane.

In that turn the Thunderfire cannons were pretty bad, only kiling a few boyz from a squad that is now converging on Calgar and friends.

End of the Line.

There is nothing left for me to pull a dramatic win off here. The fact the Ultra’s have put such a massive dent in the Orks is quite frankly unbelievable. The Orks finish the job though…. The Vindicare is swamped in attacks from… Gretchin and fails his dodges and dies a horrible, pathetic death. The last Inceptors fight valiantly but a mob of Boyz kills the last 2.

Finally a giant Mob converges on Calgar and the last Victrix Guard. The fight is valiant. Calgar survives a Warboss attacks, and interrupts to kill several Boyz before they swing back… however it is not enough. The multitude of Boyz kill Calgar, and I give up Warlord Kill. Tigurius, watching in horror, did a Heroic Intervention and killed the Warboss in return, netting me Kill Warlord.

The smoke clears…

…and there’s nothing left except…

Tigurius. He somehow remains standing, the Warboss fell as did Calgar, and as a result he can’t save the Boyz from failed morale, giving me another kill point, but all I have is 2 Thunderfire Cannons, and Tigurius.

I draw my cards and they are terrible. With so few models I could hardly complain however I needed “Kill” objectives, not get Objective “X” on the other side of the table!

It is what it is…. but I realize I’m 2 points behind. Somehow this got very close, and as long a shot as it is, if I can kill 2 squads… somehow it is a tie!

I move Tigurius closer to the Gretchin in the distance, And I make sure they are close enough to assault, but at the same time I make sure the last Dakka Jet on 2 wounds is within range of Tigurius. Tiggy gets off smite on the Getchin to kill 1 only, but targets the Dakka Jet for that targeted smite ability, and win the leadership roll off and cause 2 mortal wounds, killing the flyer!

The Thunderfires try to kill off a remnant squad of boyz and only cause a few casualties. My last hope… I run Tigurius into the Gretchin, only killing 1, and they pass their Moral! Most of my plan fails, and I lose the game 22-23 in favour of the Orks!

Post Game:

My list was bad… just not competitive enough, and I knew it going in, but I wanted to try something different. I know a lot of people are hot on Thunderfire Cannons but I find them (over and over) to just be too fickle. Having indirect is nice, but it’s something you have to baby sit a bit and Marine lists can be far too rigid if you’re not careful. I prefer boxing my way out of a corner, and my lack of heavy hitters really showed in this game. The ‘marine’ factor did nothing as usual, but I am reluctant to go into Forgeworld units, and super heavies, etc. Maybe I have to cross that line. But regardless I admit this game went from a near concession in T2, to a 1 point game in Turn 4. I hope you found this a fun read. It was a heck of a game on both sides. -prot.