This weekend, Exmouth Imperials club had one of their semi-regular weekend gaming days, and I headed around the Exe estuary for an informal game of Epic 3rd edition with Bradley.
We decided to try an Imperial fort being attacked by a few waves of Orks.
The Imperial forces were roughly:
2 Leman Russ companies.
1 superheavy tank company of 2 Baneblades and 2 Shadowswords.
1 Basilisk company with a couple of Deathstrikes.
1 infantry company with Hellhounds and some Ogryns.
1 infantry company with some Griffons.
1 Reaver Titan.
The first wave of Orks included:
1 Great Gargant.
1 Orkeosaurus full of Wildboyz.
2 Battlefortresses.
8 Meganobz units in Battlewagons.
A big mass of Gunwagons, plus 2 Speedstas with Death Rays and 3 with Lifta Droppas.
4 Squiggoths full or Grots, and some Boarboyz.
7 Stompas and a vanguard of 15 Deff Dreads.
Most of the Ork forces heading up the road, with Stompas on the left flank and War Engines on the right.View from the other side.The early-game shooting was particularly brutal for the Orks, with the Battlefortresses getting vapourised and the Gunwagons melting away. Plus the Meganobz’ transported getting targeted.The casualties.Although one of the Deathstrike Missiles managed to do no damage at all to the Orkeosaurus, who was happy to have something to play catch with!The Meganobz, after getting broken in a firefight by one of the Baneblades.The Squiggoths and Grots beating up the Baneblade in retaliation.Due to the low armour values of Ork units in 3rd edition, some impressive rolls from the massed Guard infantry took down the Orkeosaurus just before it could have lunch!Leaving a big pile of Boyz, who miraculously survived almost unscathed.To then charge into combat and kill some infantry and Griffons before bouncing off.Reinforced by Bikeboyz and a replacement Gunwagonz mob, the Stompas and Great Gargant moved up while the Meganobz failed to rally. Massed firepower took down the Great Gargant! Who hardly killed anyone when blowing up. 🙁The aftermath of an insane triple-tied firefight in front of the gates. On the left you can see the reserve Leman Russ company who came out but got charged by the Bikes and broken.In total, the firefight inflicted 12 Blast markers on the defending Imperial detachments, and four on the Bikes who eventually lost and broke. With so many Blast markers on them across the game, the Shadowswords had mananged very few shots.The Bikes had already taken quite a few Blast markers.With a Forced March card, the Stompas zoomed up into the face of the defenders.Leman Russes, Stompas, and Gunwagons exchanged shots, with the Lifta Droppas throwing Leman Russes and Griffons around the place with merry abandon.WAAAAAARGH! THE ORKS!And then disaster! With the Stompas all ready to charge, the Reaver finally came out of the gate.And promptly broke the Stompas in a firefight.
As it was getting pretty late in the afternoon, we called the game there as being roughly a draw – mainly due to the Stompas breaking before they could charge in and massacre the remaining vanguard of Leman Russes, and the Shadowswords.
With an honourable mention for the remnants of the Orkeosaurus-riding Wildboyz, who had repeatedly charged in, been beaten back by firefights, rallied, and charged again!
