Tournament report - X Legion Tactica Doubles

[Avatar111x]

The first X Legion doubles tournament took place on 22nd and 23rd November and have entered almost all of the previous singles events, there was no way I’d be missing out on this one. I’d agreed to team up with my mate Graham (the infamous Wiggy to those of you on the south coast of England) and we went with the Ork/Ork alliance (Waaaggghh Wigg-dam).

The tournament was 1750 points with each individual having their own force organisation chart at 875 points. We both wrote up pretty different lists. Mine was as follows.

Warboss – Twin linked shoota, ‘Eavy Armour, Big Choppa

5 Nobz – ‘Eavy Armour, 3 twin linked shootas, Waaagh banner
Painboy
Trukk – Big shoota, red paint job

Nob and 11 Boyz – Power klaw, boss pole
Trukk – Big shoota, red paint job

Nob and 11 Boyz – Power klaw
Trukk – Big shoota, red paint job

Nob – Boss pole
12 Boyz – Shootas, 1 big shoota

Battlewagon – Zzap gun, red paint job, armour plates

Wartrakk – Twin linked big shoota


Wiggy took much more of a Gorker approach to his list.


Warboss – Mega-armour

6 Meganobz – 3 shoota/scorchas

Nob and 9 ‘Ard Boyz - 1 big shoota

Nob and 19 Nobz – 2 big shootas

Looted Wagon – Boomgun, ‘Ard case, big shoota

Looted Wagon – Boomgun, ‘Ard case, big shoota


We had played a warm up game a couple of days before and quite brutally taken apart a Nid horde army, so we were feeling pretty good (Hive Tyrants don’t like Meganobz). We were also packing 7 troops choice between us, which meant we could quite happily compete in objective missions. My concern was annihilation, where we would be giving away 16 kill points.

[Avatar111x]

First game was a Dawn of War Annihilation game (oh goody) against Pete and Adam’s Tau and Guard team – For the Greater Good … of the Emperor. We looked over at the gun line facing us, and my heart sank a little. Command HQ (all flamered up), full guard platoon, conscripts, two Leman Russes and a Hellhound. The Tau had Commander and bodyguard, pathfinders, two fire warrior teams (one in Devilfish) and a Hammerhead. Luckily deployment was kind to us and gave me a nice place to hide my trucks in the middle of the table. Our opponents unsurprisingly flooded the rocks with troops units, with the command HQ further back to flamer where needed. I started with a truck mob and my nobz, plus Warboss ready to speed off. Wiggy put down two units of boyz nearby.

Initial turn was okay. Night fight meant that no-one really shot anything and the rest of the units came onto the table - Graham’s meganobz and warboss coming in on top of my battlewagon (in this tournament we agreed that armies of the same race can use each other’s transports). Turn 2 saw the big guns open up. We lost a looted wagon and some of the footsloggers took some casualties. We were still mainly intact and this allowed our speedy units to be in charge range next turn. All trukks and the wagon unloaded close to the Tau/Guard lines. Thanks to calling our waaagh, we got all of our units in. The Meganobz demolished the Hammerhead, the Hellhound was torn apart by a power klaw nob whilst his boys dealt with a nearby guard squad. My other boyz beat up on the conscripts, whilst the Nobz took on an infantry squad and fire warrior team. The results were not pretty despite charging into cover. As every unit was either wiped out or fleeing, the boyz took shelter in the nearby rocks. Guard counter attack came and did take out some of the light vehicles and a boyz mob, but nothing could be done about my Nobz who couldn’t fail feel no pain in any significant numbers. They dealt with the command HQ, pathfinders and eventually a devilfish. The Tau commander did try to fight back, but after losing a bodyguard to a lucky Zzap gun hit, decided to flee. The meganobz kept tearing apart vehicles with easy, giving the Orks the field with minimal losses – over 1500 VPs up.

Result: Win
Man of the Match: Nobz mob for almost single handily wiping out the Guard infantry fire base.

Game 2 was Capture and Control with a Spearhead deployment. This was against the Burninators, Steve and Victoria. They brought a Space Marine and Blood Angel combination. The Fists of Mars marines were a Terminator Librarian, 2 6 man tactical squads in Las-cannon Razorbacks, a Thunderfire cannon, 2 separate Land Speeder Typhoons and a 2 man Attack bike squad. The Blood Angels had Lemartes plus Death Company, 2 5 man Assault Squads, a Baal Predator, 2 Land Speeder Tornados and a single Attack Bike.

The board was a primitive village with a road running down the middle, perfect for our wagon and trukks. We set up aggressively, having won the dice roll for going first. All of our army was in an wedge to chase the marines, leaving my shoota boyz to guard the objective in a building on our side. We left a trukk mob in reserve for an assault from our far corner. The other side put down their Thunderfire Cannon in a reinforced ruin in the other far corner, where their objective was to be found. Both Razorbacks were in front and the Typhoons and attack bike squad were also nearby. All the Blood Angels started in reserve. We felt confident we could get there and deal with the set up models, until Victoria promptly stole the initiative.

Thunderfire cannons hurt – Graham’s mobz taking the brunt. The Looted Wagons were also dealt with in record time. My Trukk boyz were stunned for this turn, blunting our assault. We speed up the road, but our shooting was very ineffective. The return fire did further horrendous casualties to our boyz (wiping out the ‘Ard boyz) and blew the Zzap gun off the battlewagon. My stunned trukk was also blown apart. One unit of Marine did bail out of their Razorback to protect the Librarian.

We were within possible striking distance with both our Nobz mobz and the reserve Trukk came on to threaten the attack bike unit. A Waaagh later and we knew we were in. My Nobz mob dismantled the Baal, whilst the Marines, Librarian and Razorback were chopped up by the Warboss and Meganobz. The attack bikes were also chopped apart by my Boyz. Added to this, we managed to down a Land Speeder with shooting.

The Blood Angel reserves were flooding on however and a long way from their objective – heading directly for our one. The Thunderfire cannon kept on shooting, stripping away Boyz on the objective. The other marines counter attacked my boyz that had just destroyed the attack bike, but both sides were abysmal in assault and couldn’t hurt each other. Our Meganobz finally got rid of the cannon, getting a glancing hit from a scorcha and removed the Techmarine from the objective, securing it for us. My Nobz trashed another Speeder and the fight between the Marines and the boyz continued. The Battlewagon rammed the last Razorback and immobilised it. We attempted to bring down the Assault marines, but Victoria was obscenely passing every armour save at range.

The assault marines quickly dealt with all boyz on the objective and secured it for their side, still refusing to fail any saves (but the power klaw took a couple with it before being pulled down). The only unit we could send to take it was the Nobz mob, who trukked up and went after them. Our shooting was hideously poor and anything that did wound the Marines was saved again. In their last turn they managed to blow up my Nobz trukk, leaving out of assault range. My boyz finally killed the last marines on the far side and in an frustration, blew up the immobilised Razorback. My Nobz poured fire onto the Marine’s on the objective and Victoria again refused to fail any 3+ saves. With the Assault marines on our objective and the Meganobz on the other the writing on the wall was clear. We were still up on VPs by about 600 in the game however.

Result: Draw
Man of the Match: Meganobz for doing what my Nobz did last game. The firebase was completely wrecked by them and they secured an objective.

[Avatar111x]

Last game of day 1 was Pitched Battle Secure and Control against The AA Team – Andy and Andy’s CSM/Daemon army. They had won both games and we were in second place with a win and a draw. We were still on the village board – hurray for roads. The 4 objectives were in a nice line down the middle.

Their armies were very compact. The daemons were a Lord of Change, 2 units of Horrors (one led by the Changling) and a unit of flamers. The marines brought a Daemon Prince, Berserkers in a Rhino, Noise Marines in Rhino and some Obliterators. We won deployment and first turn, starting with everything on the table. This time we allowed the mega armour to footslog and my Shoota boyz had the battlewagon ride. They deployed most of the stuff on their right flank, with the Oblitorators on the left. The initiative remained with us.

We immediately stepped up to claim two objectives on our side, with the battlewagon carried shootas and ‘Ard boyz. One trukk sped off to deal with the Obliterators. The remaining two trucks stayed close to our lines to see where the horrors may appear. Our shooting phase was superb. The Noise Marines Rhino was destroyed by Battlewagon Zzap gun. The other Rhino was immobilised by a Boomgun. And to make matters even better, an Obiliterator died to big shoota fire. In their turn, the Lord of Change and Horrors with Changling turned up close to the objectives on their flank. The Obliterator missed the trukk heading toward it with a multimelta shot. The remaining shooting was very poor by their standards, kicking out minor damage to Boyz and vehicles (my poor Zzap gun being blown up again). The Marines all started running towards our lines.

We responded by assaults on the Obliterator and Lord of Change with my Boyz and Nobz. The Lord of Change did almost nothing in combat, before my Warboss and Nobz mob pulled him down. The Obliterator was also rapidly killed. This did allow a counter attack on my Nobz by Daemon Prince and Berserkers. Thanks to some terrible armour and feel no pain saves, my Nobz lost and were wiped out – but still took out some Berserkers and did a couple of wounds to the Prince (Mork bless the ‘Urty Syringe). The Flamers did turn up and some more casualties were done to our boyz.

We were able to drag down the flamers with a unit of trukk boyz, who were killed pretty quickly in return, but it was dragging units away from the objectives – a worthwhile sacrifice. The 2nd unit of horrors kept on refusing to turn up and we played the game very cautiously on both sides, not wanting to get too close to be assaulted on both sides. Turn five came around and the immobilised Rhino that had suddenly kicked back into life last turn raced to contest an objective. A daring Horror deep strike contested the ‘Ard boy objective, although their shooting was highly ineffective due to cover and we had one objective each. We rolled for turn six and everyone held their breath. The dice Gods were kind to us. Turn 6 would be played.

The mob that had killed the Obliterator was back in the game, racing to the Rhino on the objective in their Trukk and deployed. The battlewagon dropped the Boyz with Shootas off and rammed the Rhino ahead, only damaging its combi-bolter. The mega nobz and Wiggy’s big boyz mob started heading forwards. The Horrors in front of the ‘Ard boyz took a fair number of shooting casualties and were killed by the subsequent charge. The Rhino proved difficult to hit by my boyz and so still lived, but had to either tank shock a fearless mob next turn and stop contesting the objective, or stay and get automatically hit by a Power klaw. Deciding to risk it and stay still, the Rhino was chopped up. The boyz and Meganobz called a Waaagh and smashed into the Daemon Prince and Berserkers respectively. The boyz swamped the Prince and pulled him down in a display of ultimate bravado. The Meganobz also dismantled the Berserkers. We did get a turn seven, but it was no matter. The last Noise Marines were killed, but the Ork had held onto the objectives.

Result: Win
Man of the Match: Tough to say. I’d probably say the Trukk mob who not only killed the Obliterators, but also took back our objective. Honourable mentions to the Nobz and Meganobz for getting rid of the Lord of Change and Berserkers.

[Avatar111x]

Day 2 started with us still leading the standings with 7 points. We would play team Bob, Ed and Henry’s Ork and CSM combination. It was another Dawn of War, this time Capture and Control. Looking at our opponant’s list, it was a nasty one. 2 Lash Sorcerers, 4 Combi-plasma terminators, 6 Berserkers, 5 Noise Marines, 2 Obliterators. The Orks had a Shokk Attack Gun Big Mek, 2 units of 10 Lootas, 20 Shoota Boys, 19 Slugga Boyz and 16 Shoota Nobz

We were on a scrubland ruins board and again they got first turn. Their objective was behind some ruins, protected by a unit of boyz and noise marines. Our objective was behind a hill in our deployment and protected by the ‘Ard Boyz and 20 strong Slugga Boyz. The Warboss, Nobz and Trukkers were also nearby. The Meganobz were back in the battlewagon.

During their turn there was no shooting, just a lot of moving onto the table. We tried to fire our Boomguns back, but we couldn’t see in the dark. Loota and Shokk Attack gun fire was mainly at the Looted Wagons, but could only stun them thanks to an obscene number of cover saves - including two from a double 6 Shokk Attack! We were able to get a second turn Waaagh from the Mega Nobz, Nobz and a unit of Trukk Boyz near the objective. One Boyz unit decided to run from both Nobz, but the other remained locked with my Trukk Boyz.

My Nobz managed to get a unit of Lootas, but was eventually beaten back by weight of fire. The combat between the two Ork units eventually finished through weight of numbers pulling my lads down. My Battlewagon was killed by an Obliterator on turn three as attempted to park on the CSM/Ork objective. The Meganobz were continually Lashed backwards, lined up for a Shokk Attack gun hit, only for the Mek to teleport himself into combat with them. The Meganobz chopped him to ribbons in contempt. Our objective was safe, as no-one had come near us, but it was all down to whether we could contest theirs. Which had a unit of Berserkers and Noise Marines on it. We shot it with everything, but could not reduce their numbers. The remnants of one of my Trukk mob attempted a daring charge, but were beaten back in shame. Irritatingly, I realised that had I moved a Trukk and Wartrakk that were nearby onto the objective on our turn 4, we could have contested it.

Result: Draw
Man of the Match: The trukk mob that tied up a big unit of Orks for several turns. They may have been killed, but it held up the Ork attack on our objective.

[Enderel]

Ah, just noticed this battle report, already looking forward to the next few installments!

[IAMNOTHERE]

The Fists of Mars did themselves proud! Distraction tactics drew you to us and the BA blitzed in behind. This wasn't the only game the fists all died in over the weekend.

[Lord Cook]

Nice reports. I'm sorry we couldn't offer you more of a challenge, but Pete and I were still working out our **** from our elbow with respect to using our two armies together. A great game nonetheless.

Sadly we were also victimized by Victoria's uncanny saving throws. Nice to know we weren't the only ones .

Looking forward to the rest.

[Avatar111x]

Game five found us moving back to the ice board from game one. It was a pitched battle annihilation game against the Unholy Alliance of Rob and Steve – both had CSM. There was a great deal of similarity in the lists. Both had a Lash sorcerer, a unit of noise marines, a unit of Berserkers in a Rhino and 2 Obilterators. However, one had its noise marines in a Rhino and a souped up champion. The other had fewer men, but a Vindicator.

We won first turn and against we went for an aggressive set up to try and get into the Chaos lines as quickly as possible. They deployed in a thin line, attempting to keep to the rocks on their side. Their Rhinos were set up on a nearby hill to make the most to counter attack. Our army raced forwards to threaten them as soon as possible. Our fire was poor, but we did take out one Rhino. In return our Battlewagon was immobilised. We hit the Chaos lines with all Trukk unit and the Meganobz, thanks to a Waaagh. What followed could only be described as a mess. We killed a unit of Berserkers, the Vindicator, all the Obliterators and one of the Sorcerers, losing all of our attacking units in return. The ‘Ard Boyz were also involved in combat with the other Noise Marines the neither made much headway against one another, until they finally dropped the last marines in turn 4. The Daemon Prince charged our immobilised Battlewagon and wrecked it, only to receive a counter charge from my unit of Shoota boyz. Wiggy’s 20 Slugga Boyz also piled in. Although we didn’t realise it at this point, the game was finally poised at 7 kill points each by their turn four. Then Wiggy happened …

His boyz promptly battered the Daemon Prince into the dirt and consolidated towards the rocks were the Sorcerer and 2 noise marines were left. It was our turn, so grinning evilly; the boyz bundled into them and smashed them to pieces. The 3 remaining Berserkers stared at the boyz and without hesitate (our opponents did not even pause to count up kill points to see if they needed to do it), they hurled themselves at the Ork. They did kill a few, but were choppered down in return. The game ended that very turn with two Rhinos all that remained of the Chaos horde. Our casualties were also pretty bad, having three boyz units, only one above half strength, three Trukks the Looted Wagons and a Wartrakk left. It was a truly brilliant game and played in just the right way.

Result: Win
Man of the Match: Wiggy’s boys. Claimed 4 kill points in the last turns to win the game.

The last game found the tournament very close. We were leading with 11 points and the AA Team, Bob and the Burninators were all on 10. In the last game at X Legion, you can play anyone, including those you have played already. Second place was held by Bob, so it was a rematch of game 4. This time a Spearhead Secure and Control on the village board. 4 objectives again and we would be going first. We took a table quarter with 2 objective in and secured it with the my shootas and the ‘Ard boyz. One trukk boy mob was set up in reserve and the rest aggressively. They set up a loota unit on each side of their quarter, the noise marines, two boyz mobs, Shokk Attack Gun and sorcerer centrally. An Obliterator was lurking near one of the loota mobz. The rest was in reserve.

First turn saw us go on the assault, The Battlewagon going forwards on the road followed by the Nobz Trukk. I went for a daring attack on the Obliterators and Lootas with one Trukk mob. The big boyz mob just swarmed forwards. Shooting was superb for a change. One boomgun hit the lootas near the Oblitorater and killed 4 of them, with big shootas doing a couple of more casualties and they fled the board. The other boomgun hit the central boyz, doing more casualties. Knowing my battlewagon was safe until next turn, with no S8 or higher shooting able to see it; the noise marines fell back attempting to keep the Sorcerer alive. The Obliterator shot the Trukk head towards it and destroyed it, only seeing it Kareem straight towards him (the mob jumping out the back were promptly christened the lucky boyz). Our turn saw the lucky boyz pummel the Oblitorator and a risky Meganob assault on both boyz mobs in the middle. Wiggy wisely thinned the numbers with a scorcha before charging in. The boyz attempted to bring some nobz down, but of 12 wounds – not one beat the armour. The power klaw nobz in both units did kill 3 meganobz, but the mega-armoured psychos managed to dish out 13 wounds on the unit. Both boyz mobs fell back and were out the game.

The response saw the berserkers, sorcerer and Obliterator turn up. The Oblitorator deep struck in difficult terrain on the far side and attempted to take out my Nobz truck, but missed. The Berserkers threw themselves onto the Lucky boyz and wiped them out, taking a couple of hits from my power klaw in return. Both Sorcerers Lashed the Meganobz towards into a nearby building and onto the 2nd floor (hoping they would roll poorly to climb down next turn) and everything else tried to gun them down – but couldn’t beat the armour. In return they rolled a good difficult terrain check and were able to leave the building and mount back up in the Battlewagon again. The Battlewagon took them to a position to threatened both uncontested objectives, as my Trukk came on from reserve and drove up towards the wagon too. The Nobz took after the Obliterator, taking a wound off him with shooting. However, the best was yet to come.

The Battlewagon firstly hit the Big Mek with its Zzap gun at strength 9. The Mek failed his cover save and was rapidly vaporised. The Looted Wagon, obviously missing out on the fun, then managed to hit the Noise Marines and Sorcerer bang on in the open, killing every single one. The only let down was the Nobz, who failed their difficult terrain to get the Obliterator. In revenge, the last boyz mob came onto the table and charged the Nobz, as well as the Obliterator. The Berserkers attempted to counter attack the objective near the Battlewagon. The Boyz Trukk near the Lootas was stunned by shooting. The Nobz also lost combat badly, thanks to a goodly number of power klaw hits thinning their number. They fell back and were caught by the pursuing boyz.

We retaliated with a massive assault on the Berserkers and Sorcerer with the Meganobz. My Boyz jumped out of their trukk and headed towards the objective, arriving thanks to a good run. The rest of the army just shot, taking out several Orks with big shoota and Boomgun, but not enough to force morale in either the Lootas or the boyz. The Meganobz hit the Berserkers with both of their remaining Scorchas, cuasing a good few casualties before combat. After the hitting was over, only the Warboss and one Meganob remained from both sides. We were free of the damned lash for the last turn. The Meganobz consolidated back onto the objective.

The Chaos and Ork last turn resulted in the arrival of the Terminators, who successfully got near to the Meganobz with a deep strike. We had all four objectives and it required all of our units to break to turn the game to a draw, as the only troop choice left for the Orks could not get there in time. Herny and Ed had four units left to fire. The terminators started well by killing the last Meganob with plasma fire. However, the Lootas only dropped two boyz and the Obliterator didn’t kill enough of the densely pack boyz in the buiding objective with his plasma cannon to force morale. The ‘Ard Boyz then shrugged off every single shot leaving Waaagghh Wigg-dam in control of three objectives.

Result: Win
Man of the Match: Not the Meganobz for me, but the Looted Wagon with Boomgun. For 120 points, it caused the Lootas to flee first turn with allowed the Battlewagon almost free rain to deposit the Meganobz. Also see what it did to the Noise Marines and Lash Sorcerer.

The results were in and knowing our lead at the end of game 5, we knew we had won the tournament. The AA Team had managed to beat Steve and Victoria, jumping into 2nd place at the expense of Team Bob, who picked up third on VPs. Thanks to Rob for our trophies and organising a great weekend of gaming.

We were pretty surprised, as we had never thought we could have gone this far with the list, as it was mainly designed to have a laugh. We certainly gained a real appreciation of one another’s units, as I had never really used looted wagons before and Graham’s Battlewagon had been gathering dust for a while. Unit of the Tournament for me could have come from many, but both units of Nobz stick out for the sheer carnage they reaped, as well as the Battlewagon for sheer bloody mindedness and Wiggy’s big boyz mob for killing 2 Daemon Princes over the days.

Next X Legion is in February and a singles event. I’m planning to be there, with an Ork army again. Just hope I don’t have to face Wiggy’s Meganobz at that one.

[Darkangeldentist]

Very nice battle reports and good to hear the X-legion doubles were so fun.

Congratulations.