Re: [NetEpic ML] Re: Tempest Companies

From: Peter Ramos <primarch_at_...>
Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2005 21:07:50 -0400

Brian Dean wrote:

>Well, i was feilding an Ork army with a blood axe card and a evil
>suns card,, mixed with a bad boys speedsta unit card. I basicaly
>had speedstas, a Great gargant, a brain crusher card and my new
>favorite unit,,, mekboys with Shokk attack guns.
>they had an unexpected effect on the battlefield much to my
>opponents chargrin. They single handedly took out two phantoms in
>the second and third rounds.
>but my other orks were trying to get across the field and being
>blown apart from teh tempests, and falcon hosts, meanwhile T'oma
>was using a khorn army that was equipped for blowing apart infantry
>via his titans, and of course close combat. But he didnt get into
>much close combat.
>so the game was effectivly moot but we gained the moral high ground
>and the frustration factor due to his titans dying to a 50 point
>unit. But we vowed to never play with him again. When somebody does
>something soo beardy we call it being Gaddized
>Brian
>
>
Hi!

Damn, shame I cant play the game against this guy, I'd really enjoy
stomping him..... ;-)

To win with Orks against eldar takes some prior planning and follow a
strict plan. All armies have one other army that is difficult to win
against and the pairing of orks and eldar is well known to me having
dedicated a multitude of games to it. Sffice to say that the worst
drubbing I got playing epic were precisely playing orks against a
skilled eldar player.

The two armies are diametrically different. Orks are short ranged, close
combat armies, while eldar are quick, long range death masters. The key
of the game is to close and close quickly.

My recommendations will purosefully take the "hard route". I could
easily tell you to use the newer ork dropships and make quick work of
his unbalanced force. But I will delve in pre-epic 40k unit tactics,
since it can be done that way as well.

By you description his army is basically, first fire/pop-up/no
infantry/little manuever style of play. The titans, in his selection
actually hurt him more than it helps. Here's what you do:

1. I'm not sure how may points your playing, but I'll keep things under
4000 points, if you play more that makes it quite easier for you.
2. Construct clans that are infantry heavy, with high break points.
While he has long range, high save modifier units, he does have few
units and thus less firepower. Since infantry has no save you nullify
his advantage of high save modifier weapons by forcing him to shoot at
nuerous fragile targets.
3. One word - dragstas. Their forcefield is crucial when playing against
eldar. While I am not recommending the somewhat cheesy "one dragsta per
clan" ploy (which given HIS cheesy army this ploy is quite tame), but
one or two is good enough to cover YOUR INFANTRY, dont waste them
vehicles and other so called highly desireable units. You'll live and
die by your grunts, protect them! Even one turn of protection is one
turn closer to engage him.
4. Dont line up and charge - by far the best ork ploy I have come across
was one fellow that deployed orks in two SEPARATE groups leaving the
center wide open. He rushed in from the flanks and enveloped his
opponent. The Eldar player never recovered since he couldnt concentrate
his firepower. He had two LARGE groups heading at him from opposite ends
of the table and not the usual "rolling wall" up the center. The eldar
players lesser amount of units really is a liability in this scenario.
Also the titans the fellow in question brings as support may have a bad
day if facing a whole horde on a flank alone, or worse, being on the
otherside of the table from where it could do the most good! BE
unorthodox, dont do the same old ork thing.
5. Bring fast attack units. I buggy unit is more advantageous than
support tanks. You CANNOT trade long range potshots with the eldar they
are better than you at this. Curtail the need for heavy tanks and use
wartracks and buggies. The quicker you close the killing ground the better.
6. Concentrate fire - while his army is mainly tempests and titans, kill
off any other support units he has quickly. He depends on these to
secure objectives and add mobility to his immobile force. Dont let
yourself be goaded in potshots at the temptests, thats what your
infantry and buggies will do in close combat soon enough.
7. Artillery has a role - use pulsa rokkits, one detachment is good
enough. There roll is not to destroy the tempest (although you may get
lucky), remember they BLOCK LINE OF FIRE! even a miss can block their
line of fire to you advancing horde. Imagine is plight when he smickers
at you pulsa barrage miss, only to realize he can shot at you either....
LAso remember the stick around for quite a while, so even three pulsa
rokkits can fill a table given time....
8. The wierdboy tower "shock move". A fully loaded wierdboy tower is an
awesome thing to behold. Its risky, roll a six and watch your army
vaproize, but if it doesnt happen, set that baby on first fire, wait for
all the tempest companies to fire and unleash those 8 dice at 2+ to hit
and -5 modifier......

A sample army would be at least two clans:

Badmoon clan - they have heavy firepower at -2 modifier, good for
shooting tempest when in range. add wiedboy tower, dragsta and extra
nobz and boyz to this clan
Goff clan - add dragstas, battlewagons and you have a shielded
mechanized force to quickly make it toward the eldar line
Kult of speed - add extra buggy and nobz on warbikes to this clan, you
have a HUGE, fast strike force. If you get the spiky bits card add it to
the mob of Buggies (its the larger one) and augment their CAF to +4!

Got extra points (usually for 6000+ plus games), use a single
Mega-gargant (pricey at 1400 points though), have it always move (like
advance orders) and use its 75cm gun batteries pepper anything that
moves and use its special "rokkits" to take out titans or tempests. This
thing soaks up a huge amount of firepower. All of his tempests will slam
it (which is what you want, its a ploy to get you army closer to him),
and still may not go down.

The orks should use the korean doctrine of of "getting up close", this
nullifies his firepower advantage. Everything you do is to get closer.
Close combat is your goal. Tempest have a poor CAF for a superheavy
(+4), use that to your advantage. Remember you need to destroy just two
to get 9 VP's, concentrate on those to break.

Writing this brings back a lot of memories of eldar "cheesyballs" (all
tempest armies, all aspect warrior armies, all jetbike armies). All
these armies are brittle and easy to best once you understand their
weaknesses and then exploit them. Funnily, you'll notice you dont need
to use cheese to beat cheese..... ;)

Peter
Received on Thu Apr 07 2005 - 01:07:50 UTC