This battle took place as part of a stand-alone mini-camapign in 2015. It uses custom aircraft and rules that can be found in my Aeronautica Imperialis review here.
After the success of the Bombing Runs on their intended targets, Mistress Merciveaux was confident that the ranks of the Ork ground forces had been thinned. Thus, her third attack wave commenced. It was time for a ground assault. The assault would be a low-orbit Drop using Icon Dropships to deliver her best troops. Her more expendable mutants and foot soldiers would descend in Vandal transports. These would be accompanied by fighter escorts for protection. Hopefully, the dual prongs of the attack would keep the Ork defenders at bay.
Battle of the Hovels- Part 3- Ground Assault
Cabal of the World Walkers
1 Icon Dropship- Represented by my Tormentor
15 Points
3 Vandal Transports
15 points
1 Hell Driver Command Ship
+Additional weapon load
30 points
2 Hell Blades
24 points
84 points
Da' Skrapperz
2 Flakwagons
16 Points
2 Grot Bomb Launchaz
10 Points
3 Fighta
42 points
3 Grot Buzza
24 points
1 Dakka Jet
+Ace- Going Ballistic
19 Points
Total= 111 Points
Set-up:
This was a continuation of the Battle of the Hovels. Therefore, we kept the Hovels and Ground Defenses set-up as the last game. The Temples are invulnerable for this mission. The goal is to land as many troops as possible in the Hovels. Each troop unit successfully landed will provide a +1 modifier to determine if Mistress Merciveaux's forces have successfully retrieved the artifact. At the end of the game, roll a d6 and add the number of troops successfully landed. If the result is 7 or better than the warp artifacts have been recovered by the ground troops.
Chaos forces had the Vandals and fighters coming in from high altitude towards the weak side of the Ork Defenses. The Icon was coming in on the opposite side. The Grot Buzzaz and a fighta were opposite the Icon, and the Dakkajet and the other fighta were opposite the main attack. They were at mid-speed and range. The seemed to plan on intercepting the Chaos forces in the middle altitude bands.
Turn 1:
Initiative: Chaos
Movement:
The Chaos forces all power dived from high orbit towards the target area. The Hell Driver and Hell Blade 1 move to escort the Icon, while Hell Blade 2 and the Vandals go the opposite way. The Orks moved forward to meet them all at mid-altitudes.
Shooting:
None- No one was even close to being in range.
Turn 2:
Initiative: Orks
The Icon keeps moving to get over the target area, but is going to go head-to-head with a swarm of Grot Buzzers. The Hell driver and the Hell Blade come in from the flank, but Fighta 3 does the same. There is going to be a lot of shooting soon.
The Vandals dive towards the side, but it isn't enough as the Ork fightas move in for the kill. The Ace uses his Ace abilities to swing around behind the Vandals, but he is far too high!
Shooting:
Fighta 3 opens up on the Icon, just out of short range. However, his Big Shootas find their mark and reduce the dropship by 1 hit, only 2 left!
The Hell Driver opens fire with his Auto-cannons, and takes Grot Buzza 2 down with a puff of smoke.
Grot Buzza 3 and the Icon trade shots, but fail to hit anything. However, Grot Buzza 1 fires his little blastas right through the windshield of the Icon, killing the command crew and sendign the Dropship tumbling from the sky in an uncontrolled spin. Drop troopers are thrown roughly from the ship just before it crashes into the dessert sands below. However, there are few survivors. Scratch 1 transport!
Hell Blade 2 gets the drop on Fighta 3, and causes him to start to blow smoke from a barrage of auto-cannons shots. Not enough to drop the ork craft.
Fighta 1 misses his Vandal target, but Fighta 2's aim is true. He splashes his target with a burt of Big Shoota fire. Another transport goes down.
Turn 3:
Initiative: Orks
Movement:
The Chaos fighters move to the edge of the Hovels and try to get in a position to support the approaching Vandals. Only Hell Blade 2 is in a good position, as a bit of a traffic jam occurs. Meanwhile, the Vandals keep dropping to the hard deck and heading out wide. It is unclear if they will be able to circle back to the Hovels to land.
Manwhile, the Ork Fightas and Grot Buzzaz converge on where the drop ships are, but they are a bit too high to get good shots.
Shooting:
Both Grot Bombz launch from their ground stations.
Hell Blade 2 takes a pop-shot at Grot Buzza 3 and blasts the little plane from the sky. The Grot didn't even see it coming!
The Ork Flakwagons fire on Hell Blade 1, but both miss.
Initiative: Orks
Movement:
The Ork fightas were going pretty fast, so struggled to slow down and get the right angle on the slowing Vandals. Meanwhile, the Chaos fighters raced in to cover the approach.
Shooting:
Fighta 1 was coming in low along the hard deck, and lined up on the trailing Vandal. His shots rip through the Chaos craft and cause it to slowly lose power. The pilot and some of the passengers manage to bail-out, but most are carried into the ground and killed in the ensuing fireball. Only 1 Vandal left!
The Hell Driver snaps a psychic image of Fighta 3 (+1 VP), before firing its auto-cannons. The shots all fly wide of the mark.
Grot Bomb 2 lines up on the last Vandal, and surges forward. However, he is only a Grot and completely misses his target!
Hell Blade 1 opens fire on Fighta 1, trying to get revenge for the downed Vandal. He peppers the Ork craft and causes him to start to blow smoke. Not enough for a clean kill.
The Ace in the Dakkajets opens fire on the Vandal and manages to spark some shells off the transport plane's hull, but can't find the weak spot. The height difference probably kept the Chaos plane alive!
Turn 5:
Initiative: Chaos
Movement:
The Vandal come sin low over the Hovels, and the troops get ready to disembark, except they are still too high to land. The Ork Ace, Fighta 1, and a Grot Bomb all converge on him.
Meanwhile, the Chaos fightas are out of position to protect the lonely transport. Things do not look good.
Shooting:
The Hell Driver takes a pop-shot at Grot Buzza 1, but fails to cause any real damage.
The Ace in the Dakkajet opens fire first. Despite the spray of bullets, nothing sticks tot eh transport, and it flies on.
Hell Blade 1 fires on the same Grot Buzza who is trailing the battle,and takes him down. The little guy goes down with his Buzza.
The damaged Fighta 1 opens fire at close range on the Vandal, but he too misses most of his shots! It is no time to get cocky, as Grot Bomb 1 tries to collide with the Vandal, but misses his chance! 17 shots, 2 hits, and no damage! Now is it time to get cocky?
No, because a measurement finds that one of the Flakwagons can take a shot at the Vandal too! Two hits! The damage roll comes up and.... nothing! Okay, NOWcan I get cocky? My opponent informs me not to get cocky until he lands successfully. Duly noted!
Turn 6:
Initiative: Chaos
Movement:
The Chaos fighters swoop back in over the Hovels. The Orks try to get around in front of the Vandal, but the transport surprisingly does a half loop. It manages to reduce its speed, but it is still too high.
Grot Bomb 1 is on a collision course!
Shooting:
Hell Blade 1 sees the danger to the transport and fires with his auto-cannons. He blows the little Grot Bomb right out of the sky with some fancy shooting!
The Ork Ace fires on the Hell driver, but barely even causes it to jink.
An Ork Flakwagon fires a burst of tracers into the air at the Vandal, and the bullets shoot straight through the crafts weak superstructure and cause no serious damage.
Grot Bomb 2 falls from the sky! The Ork pilots laugh.
Turn 7:
Initiative: Orks
Movement:
The Vandal side slips and drops to altitude 1. Next turn it should be able to land, but will it hit the Hovels?
The Ork Ace and Fighta 3 try to bracket the Chaos craft, but don;t seem to get the angle. Meanwhile, the Chaos fighters move to cover the landing.
Shooting:
Fighta 1 opens fire on Hell Blade 1 at close range, and sinks 4 shots into the target. However, the Chaos plane miraculously survives the barrage and flies on. A number of big shoota holes decorating its hull.
Hell Blade 1 was too busy soiling himself, and missed his shots at the Ork Ace.
A Flakwagon takes some pot shots at the Hell Driver, but misses. Good thing they have unlimited ammo! The other Flakwagon opens up on the Vandal again, and this times its luck runs out. The tracers damage the engine, and the pilot manages to bail-out just before the transport crashes in amongst the Hovels.
With that, the last transport goes down in flames, and it is time to disengage!
Turn 8: Disengagement Turn
Initiative: Chaos
Movement:
Hell Blade 1 and 2 go after Fighta 2 and 1 while they attempt to break off. Fighta 1 is happy to oblige and goes head-to-head with Hell Blade 2.
The other craft break-off and head for home.
Shooting:
Hell Blade 2 opens fire on the smoking Fighta 1, and blows him from the sky. The pilot goes down with his bird.
However, the Flakwagon the downed the Vandal gets revenge, and takes out Hell Blade 2. The Chaos pilot managed to eject before his plane disintegrated around him.
Hell Blade 1 managed to damage Fighta 2 as they passed. However, it wasn't enough to down the plane. The nearby Flak wagon opened fire, but despite the heavy barrage of shells, none struck home on the chaos plane.
With that, the game ended as everyone disengaged.
Conclusion
Ork win, since it wasn't much of a ground assault. Chaos boots never even touched the ground.
I would love to tell you how the Icon Dropship performed, but it was smoked so fast I can't! Over all, a fun game, even though it was looking pretty grim by the end of Turn 2 for the Chaos forces. Chances are even if my lone Vandal did manage to land, it wouldn't have been enough troops to storm the Hovels. The failure of the ground attack craft to suppress the Ork air defenses ended up costing us two aircraft this game.
Now Mistress Merciveaux is going to have to try and take the ruins in a more traditional type of battle. First step, get boots planetside, and then slog across the wasteland the hard way!
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