1000pts. IG/SM vs. Ork

[AndrewO]

I'm planning out a game with two of my friends, one plays Orc, the other IG. The IG guy and I will be bravely holding back the green tide in the name of the Emperor. We're aiming to keep it small, so 1000 is the cap, meaning 500/500 for each of the good guys.

On the plus side, I shouldn't have to worry about fielding tanks and large amounts of troops. On the down side, I still have to follow the FoC, so my initial plan to focus on elites and fast attack isn't quite as straight forward.

My main concern is the Orc's nob bikers, which seem to have given a lot of trouble to my IG friend in the past. He's pretty confident he can deal with the mob, so I want to focus on those and mobile objective grabbing.

So, given that, how would you spend the 500pts on the following (and yes, I realize I'm not going to be able to bring a lot. As the IG guy said, "Isn't 500 of marines just 4 guys in a jeep with a lascannon?"):

11 bikes
2 attack bikes
1 chaplain on a bike
3 land speeders
1 land speeder storm
2 dreadnoughts
1 drop pod
2 rhinos/razorbacks
1 unit of 5 lightning claw terminators
lots of scouts (sniper and the other kind)
lots of tacticals
lots of assaults

[DarkLink]

Did you decide that you each individually have to follow the force org chart, or can you split that between the two of you? Because if you need two troops and one HQ in 500 points, that makes your decision pretty easy.


I'd say a squad of bikes could work pretty well. Take some plasma and a heavy bolter, and you can shoot down trukks and boyz while staying out of assault range, then you can counter assault to take an objective. Do you have a captain on a bike to make them troops, or would your opponents let you use your chaplain as a captain?

[AndrewO]

Good questions. Hopefully we'll be able to split, so let's just go with that for now. I don't know the IG FoC so I'm not sure how well they'll match.

As for having a different HQ on a bike: it'll be pretty friendly, so I can probably get away with a bit of counts-as as long as it's clear what's what.

The point about staying out of assault range is an interesting one. I've never played against Orks, but it seems like a lot of my advantages go away when they're face-to-face. Should I try to avoid close combat and take something other than a Chaplain (like a Librarian) that would help in situations other than close combat? (Null Zone looks like would be helpful against nob bikers...)

[DarkLink]

You want to avoid letting them get the charge. If you charge them with a decent CC unit, they'll fold. If they get the charge, though, they're significantly more potent.

If you need to take the bikes as troops, then I'd take a Captain, but if not a Chaplain is fine. Use them to thin out orks and vehicles. A full squad of bikes with a chaplain puts you around 400 points, though, so you might just have a scout squad as your second unit in that case. A couple land speeders would be a very good option as well.

[Da Gargoyle]

I recently played in a mini tournament where teams of 2 fielded 500 pts to make up a 1000 pt army. The basic rule was, each team member had to field at least 1 troops choice and 1 HQ, the rest followed the normal pattern in terms of limits for each force.

My team mate and I gamed IG and he fielded a platoon with a HWT of Las Cannon and SWT of Melta's. I fielded a Hellhound Vanquisher and Vet sqd. Co-ordination was the key.

As far as Orks is concerned, the only advantage they have in assault now is the number of attacks and the possibility of keeping the Klawed Nob alive. S3 and no chopper rule means 5's to wound or 4 if they are allowed to charge. They have 6 armour save compared to 3+ and drop that mob below 11 and they can not stand if they lose the assault. If they lose with the fearless rule they stand and take extra wounds, again with the low armour save.

I have used a squad of storm guardians to flame and assault Ork mobs that started out 18 strong and I won.

I would take a Dread with assault cannon power claw and flamer. Landspeeder with multi melta. And small tac sqds with missiles.