[Battle Report] The Weekly Waaagh! in Spearhead

Hey all,

After my post Monday afternoon where I showed off my attempt at a Spearhead list, Monday night I actually got to play the game - our club's first game of Spearhead.

We rolled for the deployment and got a standard Pitched Battle style setup where we had to stay in our own half and 18" away from one another (I can't remember the name!) and then the mission was to get as many scoring units into the enemy deployment zone.

To setup, we were allowed to place 1 Spearhead formation on the board, or 3 non-Spearhead units. So, us having 2 Superheavy units involved, wanted to place them on the table to take each other on. Everything else would come on in reserve.

I placed my Stompa down first, hiding behind the largest building I could in my deployment zone, and the Hellhammer wedged between terrain pieces for cover to the front. Each Super heavy took a penetrating hit before the game started as per their Spearhead rules - the Stompa was unable to move for the turn and the Hellhammer unable to shoot in the turn.

Turn 1 - Orks
First turn to the Orks, the Stompa was unable to move, so couldn't get out from behind cover to threaten the temporarily toothless Hellhammer. Fortunately for the Orks, I had taken 3 Trukk Boyz with Rokkit Launchas in a Mechanised Assault Spearhead which meant they could Outflank and show up from Turn 1. I rolled a 5 for my Outflank roll, meaning I could choose which edge they came on - this was to be the beginning of a few very lucky rolls here...

The 3 trukks all came on behind the Baneblade, looking for some very hopeful Rear Armour shots with their shoddy Ballistic Skill using Rokkit Launchas...

3 Ork Boyz with Rokkit Launchas shoot at the reat armour, 2 actually managing to hit the gigantic vehicle and 1 managing to make a Penetrating Hit.

Somehow (the Ork must have been covered head to toe in Blue Paint) I managed to roll a 6 on the first damage roll meaning Hellhammer loses a Structure point and Chain Reaction allows me to roll again.... Another 6 and a Chain reaction... And a 5. Meaning with 1 16pt Ork Boy managing to destroy a Hellhammer in the first turn, before it had a chance to do anything - Sorry Imperium, but that was an absolute fluke shot.

Needless to say, the Boy has now been promoted into the Tankbusta Corps with Honours! On the down side, 1 Trukk was Immobilised and the other 2 were Stunned.

Turn 1 - Imperium

Having had the Hellhammer destroyed, the Imperium attempted some swift justice, bringing on their own Mechanised Assault Spearhead, with the aim to get revenge on the Orks by taking down their Stompa. 2 Grey Hunter squads in Rhinos armed with Meltas drove onto the board from the side egde and crippled the Stompa with 2 Weapon destroyed results - 1 removing the Titan close combat weapon and the other removing it's primary Cannon.

Turn 2 - Orks

In this turn, Ork reserves started appearing from their board egde, with a Tankhunter Spearhead of Killa Kans and a Crusher Spearhead Battlewagon with Tankbustas and a Kustom forcefield Mek attempted rolled onto the board.

Both attempted to destroy the Rhinos and Grey Hunters, but managed to fail miserably. 5 S10 penetrating hits from the Deff Rolla managed nothing but Shaken, Stunned and the Storm Bolter destroyed. Seems like Ork luck has run out!

Turn 2 - Imperium
Reinforcements showed up in the form of Wolf Guard Terminators, drop podding close by the Tank Hunter Killa Kans and the Battlewagon. The Grey Hunters jumped out of their stunned and shaken Transports, one of them managing to bring down the Battlewagon in an explosion of Red Paint, flames and burning Tankbustas.

You'll have to now forgive the vagueness of some of the turn descriptions... I was trying to play this game, referee a War of the Ring Game and follow a World Cup game on my phone...

The Grey Hunters then moved into assault with the Tankbustas, killing several and another one being lost to No Retreat rules. The Mek and Tankbustas managing to thin out a Grey Hunter or two in return.

A spearhead Dreadnaught moved onto the board and made the nearby Ork Trukks his main priority, immobilising another one.

To top the start of the game off for the Imperium... deep striking Grey Knight terminators ended up very harshly deepstriking off the board and suffering a destroyed mishap result... Ouch... 800+ points destroyed via bad (or good for the orks) dice rolling without doing anything.

Turn 3 - Orks
In turn 3, all my remaining reserves showed up - 2 Units of 3 Killa Kans with Big Shootas, a Seek and Destroy spearhead consisting of 2 Killa Kans and a Deff Dred and a walking Big Mek with Forcefield to safeguard all of the above.

The combined firepower from all the Kans near the Wolf Guard terminators managed to thin them down to 2 terminators. The Stompa unleashed a hail of fire on the Grey Hunters and then proceeded to literally Stomp them in close combat until they ran away.

The Tankbustas and Grey Hunters continued their fued in the middle, neither running away and slowly whittling one another down.

Turn 3 - Imperium

Lots of Dreadnaughts showed up this turn and decided to take offence to my Trukks being in their half of the Board so managed to blow up 2 of them and assault the Boyz inside.

Combined with this, the Wolf Lord himself showed up and jumped into combat with the Boyz but had a pitiful round, killing nothing, despite his supposedly superior combat prowess.

Turn 4 - Orks

The Orks started to head up the board, the Killa Kans and Deff Dred focusing on killing off the Drop Pod and remaining Terminators, dispatching them without too much trouble.

The Ork Trukk Boyz moved to combat the newly arrived Dreadnaughts but the rocket launchers bouncing off their armour. 1 Dreadnaught becomes immobilised and loses an arm.

The Stompa finished off the fleeing Grey Hunters it crushed most of in the last turn, and the Tankbusters and Grey Hunters remain locked to the death.

Turn 4 - Imperium

With all it's force now committed or destroyed the Imperium had it's last throw of the dice in terms of attack, throwing all the Drednaughts and the Wolf Guard battle leader into combat with the Ork Boyz and trukks around their deployment area - hoping to drive off the scoring units.

The Orks however did become depleted, but managed to hold firm, destroying a Dreadnaught and causing the Wolf Lord to lose a wound.

The Tankbusters finally were destroyed, but the Grey Hunters were now left 2 models strong... the Melta and the Rending Wulfen Marked leader in the hopes they can remain alive, they moved away to the corner of the board, attempting to blow something up with the Melta along the way and having no luck.

Turn 5 - Orks
The Egg and Spoon race now began! With the turns running out, all the Killa Kans, Deff Dred and the Stompa then began to turn and run towards the finishing line of the enemy deployment zone.

The Boyz and Double Dreadnaught combat continued with 1 squad of Boyz being forced to flee.

Turn 5 - Imperium
The only thing remaining were the last Grey Hunter squad with Melta, who attempted to rear armour the Stompa and had no luck, along with the 2 Dreds in the Imperial Deployment Zone.

Another Ork Boyz squad began to flee from combat, but a Drednaught was destroyed in the process.

Turn 6 - Orks
The Ork Kan wall continued to race, but were having no luck, with run moves rolling low... They weren't going to make it.

More Boyz died in the Drednaught combat, but they held firm and managed to damage the Drednaught, knocking off his Dreadnaught close combat weapon.

Turn 6 - Imperium
This turn, I think the Dreadnaught finally got popped leaving the win open for the Orks.

We then rolled for a turn 7 and it ended there... Some extremely lucky dice rolling!

Conclusion
Some things we thought after the game (aside from the Hellhammer destruction and GK Terminators flying off the board) was that the Long table deployment, combined with Outflankers and Deepstrikers meant that the vast majority of the table didn't get used.

Had it been a game involving Eldar, Valkyries or Tau, then I'm sure it would have, but in re-acting to Outflanking or Deepstriking threats meant committing forces in our own deployment zones, meaning restricted movement.

Overall though, I enjoyed Spearhead. It somewhat combines the scale and Chaos of an Apocalypse game with the speed of a normal game of 40k. We managed to get a 2,500pt game played in the space of a normal 1,500 - 2000pt 40k game, along with refeering and watching a bit of War of the Ring too.

Looking forward to the next game, where I may leave the Stompa at home and bring an extra Battlewagon, Warbuggies and Looted Wagons for even more chaos!

SB

Ursus' first command

Last night was my first game of Spearhead, and I took my Space Wolves with a couple of Grey Knight Allies, 4 Dreads and a Hellhammer superheavy (a baneblade that got told it was a Hellhammer to be precise.) I will let you decide how it went for me!

It was Ursus’ first time in command and he had been requested by the Inquisition to support them as they tried to stop Waaagh Nobrot, they had had reports of a Stompa leading a swarm of Killer Kans. Ursus had come up with a solid plan with the support of the Grey Knights and a Hellhammer, the Hellhammer would draw the Orks close before opening fire and the remaining forces would attack from various angles to cause disorder or chaos among the Orks.

As the Hellhammer trundled into position the Ork Stompa could be seen moving between buildings, the superheavy powered down so that the Orks crude sensors didn’t pick up its heat signature. Little did Ursus, or even the Inquisition know that the Orks had been cunning and three trukks roared to life only metres away from the idling tank, one Ork boy who had obviously spent the last few years on the target range fired its Rokkit and hit a power coupling crippling the tank but the warhead didn’t explode and drove deeper into its armour cutting more and more power cables and finally detonated deep within the Hellhammer amongst its high explosive ammunition, the Super heavy tank exploded in a nova of heat damaging all three Trukks and leaving a crater where the Imperials hopes once lay.

While Ursus’ squad prepared themselves in their drop pod, he remained in the Strategium to help plan the counter assault. Two squads of Grey hunters with Meltaguns drove their rhinos recklessly behind enemy lines they quickly fired their tank destroying weapons and sheared off both the Stompas most fearsome weapons at the joints, but failed to be able to stop its rampage the same way the Orks destroyed their icon of victory.

As the Orks walker contraptions known as Killer Kans horded into the immediate vicinity, Ursus declared the beginning of their counter assault and his Grey Hunters deployed out of their Rhinos to face down the oncoming horde after it had been hit by a speeding Battlewagon. Ursus’ squad was launched and he saw them land amidst the enemy, it took a moment to realise he himself was supposed to be in the Drop Pod, and he dashed towards the launch bays to commandeer a Thunderhawk trying his best not to look like a complete fool as his squad held an entire army at bay. 

One of the dreadnoughts had finally arrived at the battle and opened up at the closest Ork Trukk destroying it with contemptuous ease causing the Orks inside to bail out before the towering machine charged into battle ripping two apart with its huge claws. The Grey Knights, although had been deployed were no-where to be seen and suspected that they had teleported to a different location after discovering a daemonic infestation elsewhere on the planet. 

 

The Ork Horde swarmed over the Space Wolves who had been abandoned by their Inquisition allies and their only hope lay in ruins before it had fired a shot. The Space Wolves were slowly torn apart by the Kans and the Stompa with little able to fight back as all their heavy weapons had been destroyed or elsewhere on the planet the Ork Waagh could only gain strengths in the coming days. Ursus landed and charged straight into the closest band of Orks supported by 3 Dreadnoughts but his last stand didn’t last long and the overwhelming numbers of the Orks tore him and the Dreadnoughts apart. The Orks had suffered few casualties compared to the Space Wolves and were eager for more destruction. But with nothing else in sight they turned their glaring red eyes towards the main hive of the planet.

Well as you can see, it went very very badly, but oh well, better luck next time eh.

[Orks] First Attempt at a Spearhead

Afternoon all,

I figured since the well of Articles has been quite dry over the last week, due to personal situations for everyone and the World Cup!

Tonight at the club, we're going to have a go at Spearhead for the first time, so I've whipped up a list that's mostly just an excuse to get a Stompa on the table...

I'm hoping that it will be in similar vein to Apocalypse games, in that lots of stuff gets blown up and there's some crazy situations. I swiftly found though that putting the Stompa in, really chewed up my points...

Big Mek Rorshark's Spearhead:
HQ: Big Mek
Kustom Forcefield, Power Klaw, Eavy Armour, Bosspole, Cybork Body.
HQ: Big Mek
Kustom Forcefield, Power Klaw, Eavy Armour, Bosspole, Cybork Body.
Elites: 15 Tankbustas
2 Tankhammers, 2 Bomb Squigs
Heavy Support: 3 Killa Kans
3 Big Shoota
Heavy Support: 3 Killa Kans
3 Big Shoota
Spearhead: Crusher Spearhead
Battlewagon - Red paint Job, Armour Plates, Kannon, Deff Rolla, Boarding Plank
Spearhead: Tank Hunter Spearhead
3 Killa Kans, 3 Rokkit Launcha
Spearhead: Mechanised Assault Spearhead
12 Trukk Boyz, Rokkit Launcha, Nob, Power Klaw, Bosspole, Trukk, Red Paint Job, Armour Plates
Spearhead: Outrider Spearhead
2 Killa Kans w/ Big Shoota
1 Deff Dred w/ 3 Dred CCWs and Skorcha
Spearhead: Superheavy Vehicle
Stompa
TOTAL: 2500

I did want to have a firebase of 2 Lootas towards the back, along with some Meganobz in a 2nd Battlewagon, but as I say... the lure of a Stompa was too strong.

I was also eager to have as many Spearhead formations as I can fit into a list, and it quickly turned into a puzzle - "I've run out of Heavy slots, how can I fit more Killa Kans in???".

We'll see how it goes, but has anyone out there had a go with Spearhead - if so - what do you reckon to it?

Expect an attempt of a Battle Report tomorrow :)

[Orks] Preparing for Spearhead

Morning all,

In a lull between big articles for me, I thought I'd talk a bit about Spearhead and what I've been up to at my paint desk recently. Having been stuck on painting Guardsmen and Tanks for a while, I thought the other day that I'd do some actual converting and modelling and decided to add to my Ork army, especially with talk of playing some Spearhead coming soon, I wanted to crank out even more Orks!

Raiding my bitz box for everything possible, I managed to get enough bits to make 5 more of my converted Killa Kans. 4 with Big Shootas, 1 with a Grotzooka / Rokkit Launcha.

So here they are in their unpainted stage. I finally managed to get the Plasticard Visors and Teef to stay put, after they decided to break off when spray painting. These guys aren't supposed to be pretty - they're cheap and nasty - but quick to make and crank out so I can get a load of walkers on the table.

I then thought, if I'm going to be playing some Spearhead, I'll be taking Tankbustas. Then, after assembling some WHFB Orc Archers over last weekend, I found I had 2 spare Boars from a Chariot used in another conversion. So I thought "I wonder what I can use these for?", then I thought immediately of an Ork strapping bombs to a Boar, giving it a swift kick and seeing which way it will run. So these "Bomb Boars" were born, counting as 2 Bomb Squigs in my Tankbusta unit.

Now I know Tankbustas get bashed by the Internet list mongers, and Bomb Squigs don't do anything to help that (especially with the increased number of Vehicles on my side of the table) but the bitz were there and I thought they would be fun.

Onto actually talking about Spearhead though, I'm really excited to have a game of it. My vehicle tally for Orks looks like this:
- 2 Battlewagons
- 3 Trukks
- 1 Looted Wagon
- 1 Looted Wagon with Boomgun (2 more on Standby when I can magnetise some Guard tanks)
- 3 Warbuggies
- 11 Killa Kans
- 1 Deff Dred
- 1 Stompa

I'd not realised I had so many Killa Kans until making this other unit of 5, but that's still not enough! There's 12 Spearhead formations in all, and here are a few ideas of what I'd have in mind to do for the Orks:

Armoured Spearhead - Stick this on my Looted Boomgun wagons, no need for a KFF to hang back with them then...

Ambush Spearhead - 3 Infiltrating Stealthy Deff Dreds? Yes please. All I need to do is hope they don't get smashed to pieces close up. That'd be a good idea for these guys to take out Support Weapons fire and then start hitting rear armour on the lap around.

Mechanised Assault - Trukk Boyz personally, 3 mobs of them. Coming on from the side table edge being fast vehicles, I think this seems pretty cool.

Tankhunter Spearhead - Personally, this goes on a unit of 3 Killa Kans with Rokkit Launchas. The improved BS, along with the Tank Hunter special rule turns these into pretty handy light armour busters. I would have liked these to be able to go onto the Warbuggies, but they're Fast Open topped Vehicles and this spearhead only applies to Tanks and Walkers.

Archeotech Spearhead - I can't really say I'm favouring this one. My tank units Strength of weapons is already pretty decent for what they are, and the Walkers don't have strong enough weapons to merit using it on.

Outrider Spearhead - I see this one being used on a Deff Dred "commander" along with 2 Kans as a Bodyguard offering their Protection Duty special rule.

Skyfall Spearhead - No use in the Ork army, but I'm sure there will be plenty of Valk Vet spamming Alpha Strike guard armies out there that LOVE this.

Monstrous Spearhead - Again, no use to the Orks, but Tyranid players are drooling at this one... non-Tyranid players are quaking in fear!

Mass Attack Spearhead - This is perfect for 30 strong mobs of Ork Boyz. S7 grenades when attacking Rear Armour AND able to Re-group below half... awesome!

Crusher Spearhead - Only would really work on Battlewagons, but in spending 15 pts for that... I'd rather have spent the extra 5pts to take a Deff Rolla on each and do far more useful damage.

Seek And Destroy - This can be used on bikes. I'm envisioning either Turbo-boosting Nob Bikers able to Turbo Boost and still fire, or for a Wazdakka and Warbiker bodyguard to do the same.

Superheavy Spearhead - Just because I need an excuse to get my Stompa on the tabletop more often...

So what do you guys reckon to Spearhead? And any thoughts for your armies on the Spearhead formations? I would expect to see more Monstrous Creature formations to keep the Nids happy in the future.

And as a side note, if anyone out there has any Force Pylons from Battle for Macragge boxset, please get in touch. I've got the urge to build up some more Killa Kans and have run out of them to use as feet!

SB.

[Upcoming] Incoming! Spearhead

Found this in my Inbox today

Incoming! Spearhead

Gather your tanks and ready your lascannons – in June the pages of White Dwarf magazine and games-workshop.com join forces to bring you a whole new expansion for Warhammer 40,000: Spearhead.

Spearhead is a new way to play Warhammer 40,000 that enables you to unleash exciting tank battles and daring breakthrough missions on the table top, bringing the full mechanised fury of the 41st Millennium to bear in your games. June's White Dwarf will contain the main part of the supplement, including new rules, missions and plenty of inspirational hobby advice. Alongside this, games-workshop.com will feature additional material for registered members such as details for how to assemble your Spearhead formations along with even more painting, modelling and collecting tips.

As if a whole new Expansion wasn't exciting enough, it's going to be accompanied by a range of new miniatures including some stunning new plastic kits – more details of these kits, and the Spearhead Expansion, will follow in May's issue of White Dwarf and on games-workshop.com in due time.

As June's White Dwarf contains a new expansion, it promises to be very popular. Guarantee your copy by subscribing here today.

Sounds pretty cool, 40k expansion free with White Dwarf focusing entirely on Vehicles... what do you guys think?

SB