Space Marines vs Orks 1500

My second game while I learn the rules, against the very patient and helpful Dave.  This time I borrowed the Ultramarines that are 30/70 mine and my eldest sons.

My force
Captain (relic blade, artificer armor, iron halo)
Command Squad (Company Champion, Apoth, two lightning claws and a powers sword)
Together, riding in a Land Raider Crusader with melta gun.

Tactical Marines with flamer and lascannon.  Half the squad riding in a TL Heavy Bolter/Storm bolter Razorback.
Scouts, 5 snipers, 1 heavy bolter and Sgt Telion

Dreadnought with Multimelta
Sternguard (meltagun, power sword, couple of combi weapons) Riding in a TL Lascannon/Stormbolter Razoback.

Landspeeder Typhoon with multimelta.

His Force

Battlewagon with a big mech and an ass load of nobs and a pain boy.
Trukk o' boys and a power claw nob
Trukk with war boss and other stuff
20 boyz
3 deff copters (separate units)
15 Lootas
Getchin Lobba

Game type was Annihilation, set up was spearhead and I was first player.

I chose a corner with some big terrain in it that would give my marines a great field of fine.  Then realized most was too close to the table center.  Raider was set to come charging round the left side, razorbacks and dread around the right.  The land speeder held back to see what happened and the las cannon squad sat on a hill.

His forces arrived as a big cluster in the middle.  Supported by lootas and the lobba behind and the copters coming up the long edge.

My scouts arrived on a couple of hill tops ready to sit in cover and start popping stuff.  His Copters skimmed forward towards the snipers and dreadnought.

And then he stole the initiative.  Bummer.

Orks 1 - Trukks and wagon move forward, one copter shoots the DCCW off the dread and then charges it.  Two copters charge the snipers, killing all but one.  Fire from the Lootas and Lobba does nothing.

Marines 1 - The Raider decides to man up and speeds out towards the Battle wagon, guns blazing.  And missing.  Nothing but a few dents as the now worried command squad climb out.  But the battle wagon heading towards the Raider gave side armor to the razorbacks.  As they pull forward the TL lascannon lights up the battle wagon which explodes in a pile of orky parts.  The Land speeder kills a copter, the various marines and TL Heavy bolter razorback start whittling down the boys squad.  The command squad run to assault the Orc nobs.  Unfortunately the tide of luck has turned against the marines and the command squad gets wiped out after killing one nob and just putting wounds on a couple of others.  The Captain is the only one left standing.  In a nice example of know you codex (like I said, I'm learning) and remember to bring you codex, I screwed up with on deployment.  Well kind of, Dave messed up on one rule but seeing as everything was from his memory it is no big deal.  I had Telion and the scout heavy bolter off to the side to pop trukks.  Except Dave thought Hellfire rounds was all it could fire, and those were no use against trukks.  So unfortunately all these guys did was slow down one of the trukks.

Orks 2 - A trukk roars forward towards the raider, its load of boyz pour forth and the nob smacks his power fist into the tank.  Nothing.  The mass of nobs in the center manage to kill the captain.  He'd done really well on saves, but then fails one against an instant death weapon.  The copter fighting the Dread tried to break off but can't.  The dread also can't hit worth a damn.  In 5 turns of fighting he hits once, and that is saved.  The other copter misses the TL Las razorback with rockets but manages to hit it in assault and turns it into a crater.  Five of the six sternguard climb out.  Lootas open fire on the land speeder and get a ton of penetrates. The lobba does nothing.

Marines Turn 2 - The Ork command squad did any Orky victory dance, completely missing the Land raider baking up a bit for a clear shot.  The Raider opens fire and the Mech, nobs, pain boy are reduced to two.  The sternguard put a wound on the copter but leave it to the lascannon to finish the job.  The other copter and dread carry on hugging or whatever they were doing.  The rest of the marines and the other razor back carry on pinging fire off the boyz and a couple more drop.

Orks Turn 3 - The boyz over near the land raider have another go at it with the same result.  But the more inspiring command squad nobs that survived earn their keep by immediately destroying it.  Things aren't looking too good for the marines.  The lootas kill another marine off and even the Lobba manages to kill a Sternguard.  Telion is down to just one man with him after more fire from the trukk heading his way.  The copter and dread continue hugging.

marines turn 3 - First good news is the one remaining sniper scout is clear and can get back in the game.  He runs back to get in a better position for later.  Telion continues to be useless as his squad does nothing.  The marines and sternguard put some more hurt on the boyz now getting dangerously close but still just about in cover.  The copter and dread thing drags on.  Get a room or something.

Orks Turn 4 - Telion finally bites it and the trukk heads off to join the rest.  The boyz by the dead Raider jump back in their truck and get ready to join a new fight.  The two remaining nobs climb the hill to shortcut getting back into action.  The copter finally destroys the dread.  Its victory is short lived.  The Lootas kill another marine, the lobba hits but no kills, while the boig boyz mob carries on forward but now mostly out of cover.

Marines turn 4 - Seeing the nobs moving, a few of the marines move back for a clear shot.  First the las cannon and remaining marine on the hill shoot.  And miss.  Then a few bolters open up, killing one and wounding the other.  Finally the sniper scout, all alone at the base of a towering cliff, takes his shot.  The last nob is dead.  The razorback opens fire on the boyz out in the open.  Not a good time to be an Ork.  The Sternguard turn their meltagun on the Copter and slag it.

Orks turn 5 - The Boyz let out a cry of waagh and make it into combat, just about reaching the 4 remaining sterngaurd.  The Lootas ping off another marine leaving a single guy on the hill the Lobba again does nothing, and two trukks of boyz zip across the battlefield.  The boyz and the sternguard fight does not go well for the boyz.  The sternguard out wound them, they fail to escape and are destroyed.

marines turn 5 - Not a lot to do, the scout, marines, and razorback don't have range to anything, the lootas being too far away and everything else being on the wrong side of obstructions.  The only hope for a final bit of glory is the one remaining sternguard with a meltagun.  He dives across a crater to take a shot at the first trukk.  The crater slowed him down too much however, and he's just out of range.  Everyone else backs up and finds better positions to receive the orks and avoid the lootas.

We roll the dice, a 1, end of game.

Ork losses - Big Mech, Wagon, Nob squad, Boz Squad, 3 deff copters
Marine losses - Captain, Command squad, Raider, Razorback, Dreadnough, Scout squad

I had one man left in three squads, would have taken bad losses in turn 6 and would have been tabled if there was a turn 7.  So a victory for the marines, but a hollow one.  And a big thanks to Dave who I'm learning lots from, even if I will need to correct him on the scout heavy bolter thing.

Lessons learned.

If I'd known the rules better, Telions squad would have had three rounds of BS6 heavy bolter fire into the trucks.  Bad dice rolls can see a good command squad eaten by nobs, and Sternguard are awesome.