1500 points vs Orks, Part 2

I did not take as many notes and pics of the rematch as I wanted.  The lists were almost the same as the original 1500 point game posted just below except for my noted change in vehicles (dropped the Immolator in favor of a Rhino) and the Orks took of a couple of bits of superfluous gear from buggies and trukks and added a couple more boyz. So minor corrections, same lists, and the Ork Warboss had a plan.  That last alone is a scary thought.

I set up an unusual board.  We went with a winter board, a few large snow drifts, a couple of icy ponds, and a limited number of structures place mostly on the corners.  The main feature was a large forest that ran the full length of the table from North West corner across to the South East corner.  Easily 1/3 of the table was covered in trees which provided cover and difficult terrain.  It was very Norman Rockwell with Orks and Flamers.

Right off the bat I can tell you the biggest mistake I made was under estimating the defkoptas.  I sat up second and placed my Exorcists on the East and West directly across from his koptas.  My Repentia were on the extreme West, right next to the table edge whith the waiting Rhino 5" ahead of them.  My Penitent Engines were as much front and center as I could make them so as to have the best selection of targets for their Rage movements.  However, the Ork Warboss would not leave the heavy support for last as he did in the previous game.  Defkoptas scouted East and West, then on turn one, moved in, getting shots on both exorcists flanks, immobilizing one and exploding the other.  The Gretchin and their Zzapguns were on for the fight and managed to explode one of the Penitent Engines in the first turn shooting.  The Sister's one surviving Exorcists did not survive the assault phase as the defkoptas closed in and finished it off getting automatic hits and all on the rear armor.  The Adepta Sororitas were hurting bad and it was a long hard fight for every piece of land they could recover for the rest of the game.

Having left both notes and pics (such as they are) at home, this will be from memory -- and my memory is full of holes from old age and a misspent youth -- but some of the highlights I can detail now.  The Eastern defkoptas were counter assaulted by both the Repentia and the surviving Penitent Engines so even though they would die quick and painful deaths, they added a little more worth to their suicide run by not only succeeding in killing the Exorcists, but held both (as in all) of my close combat units in their own deployment zone for another full turn thanks to their Rage.

On the West, an Ork Trukk with boyz backed up by a pair of rokkit warbuggies pushed towards the Sister's objective.  Their shooting failed to remove a single model from the Sororitas Command Squad thanks to power armor and Feel No Pain from the Hospitalar.  The squad continued to roll exceptionally well in the assault but still took heavy losses.  In the end, one lone Sister with a Heavy Bolter stood firm in a sea of greenskinned orks.  On the second part of the turn, the remaining Command Sister was supported by both Battle Sister squads along with the Seraphim.  It took a few turns, but the Sisters cleared the Eastern side of the table, recaptured the objective and the Seraphim even went so far as to sweep around the ork back and kill all but one Gretchin and one Zzapgun from flamer and bolt pistol fire.  Unfortunately, this was the only decisive win the Sisters would have.

On turn 4, the one Battle Sister squad still in their Rhino made a bold move to support the slowly dying Repentia just before being assaulted by the Warboss and his Nobz.  But let me step back a moment.  The Repentia were working their way across the table on the West, under fire and attacked by the Battle Wagon with its defrolla.  3 Repentia and their Mistress were limping onward in their Rage when the Warboss decided to attack.  He moved forward and instead of shooting he cried "Waaagh!"  But the orkz were too cold on the snowy terrain, getting only 1" of movement and taking a wound.  When it was time to assault (this is all inside of a forest with difficult terrain) he was still half an inch too far away.  This let the Repentia make thier move and lunge forward to stand 1" away from the Warboss.  Now the Battle Sisters roar up in their rhino and disembark flamers ready and rapid fire bolters blazing in the snow.  Between bolters and flamers there were 24, strength 4 hits.  Only 4 wounds were rolled.  All of the wounds were saved by feel no pain.  It was a very Pulp Fiction moment for the Warboss.  The Repentia charged and using their Act of Faith, managed to horribly wound the Warboss even with their dieing swings.  He was bloody but still standing with a single wound left at the end of the exchange.  On turn 5, the Warboss showed his contempt of the Battle Sisters and charged them, killing 6 and taking the rest in a sweeping advance as they ran.

This set up the Sister's chance on the end of turn 5.  One rhino was close to the ork objective.  Sitting on the objective was a full mob of boyz.  In front was the last gretchin and his zzapgun.  The sisters had cleared the orks from their objective and had it firmly in their control.  The orks were still about half strength but stuck in terrain on their objective and over to the Western table edge.  The last remaining vehicle on the table was the bold Rhino who decided to tank shock the zzapgun and thus contest the ork objective.

Did I mention the Zzapguns were rolling hot?

That one gretchin decided it was death or glory time.  The zzapgun fired at Strength 8 and got 4 more for armor penetration, then a 6 for damage. The rhino exploded, the gretchin survived and the orks howled with laughter and pride.  The end of turn 5 saw the orks and the Sisters each controlling their own objectives.  Of the Sisters of Battle, there was one full Battle Sister squad, one lone Sister with a heavy bolter and the Canoness who had only a power sword and no other upgrades.  She was a Sister Superior with 3 wounds and that's it.  The orks had one full mob of boyz, a full unit of lootas, the wounded Warboss with his Nobz and of course the defiant Gretchin and his zzapgun.  Oh, and the last two defkoptas that had been routed and running all game decided to finally rally not 2" from their table edge.  If I were lucky, I could finish off the defkoptas (which would move in to contest my objective) with heavy bolter and melta fire for turn 6 but turn 7 would see Warboss and nobz backed by loota fire assaulting my basic troop squad and there was nothing I could do to survive that.  However, the winds of chaos blew my way for a single roll of the die, ending the game at a draw.