On The Hoof

I've been thinking about yesterday's game.

Ok it was nice to win, and it is the second game in a row I have tabled my opponent - which is nice but is perhaps not teaching me as much as a defeat would.

In terms of list building options I am slightly hampered by a lack of models, but I am finding myself leaning towards 3 units of 20 Boyz (21 with the Nob), rather than 2 units of 30. Tactically speaking it offers more options due to having the extra unit, and it mitigates the negative aspects of the fearless rule.

In the longer to medium term, as I move towards getting more Trukks, my plan is to have a mix of Trukk boyz and footsloggers. As yet I haven't decided whether the shootas or the slugga/choppa Boyz will be in the Trukks - and there is also an issue of which unit type gets Rokkits.

Whilst this conundrum didn't have any direct bearing on yesterday's game, the effectiveness of the MSU style play has indicated that this is the way to go.

The Koptas again performed very well as a solo units. Which is great. However I am left wondering - moithering might be a better description - about how they will do when I start adding more fast attack units. It does have to be said that when I ran them in a squadron I was less than impressed with them. It is true that when I ran them in a squadron they were not supported by other fast attack units - my plan is TLR Buggies - but they lost the flexibility of running solo - as they were all firing at the one target.

In a way this feeds into the rokkit debate with the Boyz, as Orks have limited options in taking down transports and heavy armour, so the way to go with this I feel is to get the maximum number of shots at the maximum number of targets.

Ok that statement is a no-brainer. But I feel it does have to be said, if for no other rather that it is a useful aide-memoir.

Again the Nobz did well. They broke and ran down the witches, absorbed the witches attack, which swung the combat in the Orks favour and practically decided the battle that was in danger of swinging against the Orks - witches and incubi are nasty.

Though my personal heroes were the Lootas. 2 units of 6 are about right. Yes they are taking up elite slots and in a sense limiting the army, but at that size they are fitting into my criteria of getting as many units as possible at a cost of around 100 points.

In game terms their highlight was when one of the units took down the jetbikes, effectively ending the outflanking against my objective and forcing the enemy to rely entirely on the hand-to-hand combat in the centre if they were to snatch victory.

Rather like the role of the Koptas, it is something I will have to consider as the list developes and the pressure increases with units fighting for elite slots.

Of course the game would have been entirely different had I not snatched the iniative - and having grabbed the iniative not taken all the transports out of a play by some wicked shooting. But you can only deal with the situation as it is, and I am rather pleased with the way the army performed.

One thing I did think during the game, that indicated to me that things were going well, was that it wasn't until turn 3 that I started removing Orks in any numbers from the table. At the end of the game I had lost around 20 Boyz.

There a couple of ways to think about this, one of which is the psychological effect of the combination of Kanz and Boyz charging across the table forcing the opponent to make hard choices and panicking. It must be an intimidating sight.

peace:)