Battle Report: Warhammer 40K, Guards v. Orks

  As we continue the odyssey of learning W40k live Jack and I fought mano a mano where he had Orks and I had the IG.

We decided to leave doctrines and stratagems off the table one more time.
Rough army breakdowns-

Orks:
2 groups of 30 gretchin
a runt herder
3 war bikes
a boss on a war trike (warlord)
3 x groups of 20 Boyz and Nobs
2 battle wagons

IG:
Platoon Commander (warlord)
Commisar
Astropath
Techpriest Enginseer
5 Taurox
Heavy weapons squad with lascannons
Hydra
Wyvern
4 squads of infantry
2 squads of ratlings

We started by alternating terrain and ended up with forest at each end of neutral ground and some low walls in a far corner.

Knowing the Orks had initiative I deployed with all troops inside Tauroxes - 3 tauroxes, the wyvern and the hydra on my right flank, the other 2 tauroxes on the left.  The orks set up with their mobs, runt herder, and a battle wagon opposite my left everything else opposite my right. One group of Boyz was on foot, the others were in battle wagons.

Jack had initiative and did everything in his power to get his bikes to the wyvern immediately, juuuuust barely pulling off a charge to engage it. Everything approaching heavy he had he fired at ome of the tauroxes on my left, then everything else in range after the mobs moved up fired at it, too, damaging it.
  The Wyvern withdrew with no damage, a squad deployed, and a taurox charged the war bikes and the Ork warlord, tying them up. The other two tauroxes on the right moved forward and fired on the opposing battle wagon, chewing it up with autocannons.
  On my left the characters and heavy weapons piled out of the heavily damaged taurox, the other one also deployed its squad, the general shooting began. the hydra got lucky and tore up one group of Boyz; infantry did well against the Orks; the ratlings annihilated the runt herder; the astropath smote the leftmost mob; and the heavy weapons squad began a legacy of missing with every shot.
  The taurox on the right that charged actually damaged a warbike. The one on the left managed to charge into the mob of Gretchin and squish one before they fell on it with meat cleavers. It took its last wound and with a shout of,
  "For the emperor!"
  It exploded, causing a surprising amount of damage to the two gretchin mobs.

  The Orks then had a ton of fun - the rightmost battle wagon deployed one group og Boyz and the one I had been shooting embarked on it. They shot up one of the untouched tauroxes on the right and the gretchin kept coming. The warbikes and chief pounded on the taurox tying them up and, with a shout of,
  "For the emperor!"
  ...it also exploded, killing a bike, wounding another, and wounding the war boss.
  Assorted fire from Orks took out a trooper and damaged a vehicle or two.

  On the right another squad deployed and fired into the Boyz, hurting them. The three surviving tauroxes poured fire into the battle wagons, crippling one. The troops on the left (plus the ratlings) were cutting down Gretchin like wheat. The Wyvern got a shot off and TORE UP some Boyz.

  The Orks were undaunted; the bikes and chief again engaged the Wyvern  and the Hydra; the Boyz on foot charged the deployed infantry in the 'northeast' and wiped them out in a single rush (although not without casualties). The gretchin mobs swarmed the troops and leaders on the left, taking out a fair number of troops and wounding a heavy weapons team (although gretchin vs. chainswords, servo arms, etc. was not in their favor!)

The ratlings did better than expected vs. the leftmost battle wagon, but not good enough. More troops deployed on the right and the tauroxes fired, finally destroying a battle wagon. The infantry squad near the hydra and wyvern charged the bikes - and took two of them out!!

The pistols of the gretchin hurt; the vehicle on vehicle combat continued; The last 'northeast' sqaud took casualties, but dished two out on overwatch. The northeast squad also went down in initial impact. The standard sqaud on the left made them pay, but only the sergeant survived melee. the leaders types prevailed and the surviving heavy weapons squad was actually freed from fighting hand to hand. The last men on the right went down and a mob of Boyz assaulted the damaged taurox. With a cry of,
  "or the emperor!"
  It actually freakin' exploded, wiping out one of the groups of Boyz nearby (they'd been mauled by squads, melee, and taurox fire already).

  he Boyz turned and fired at another taurox, then charged it. The gretchin kept fighting, killing the lone sergeant and getting everyone in command to wounded pretty badly. The wyvern and the war boss were still fighting, as were the last biker and the hydra. The ratlings were still pinging the lone, damaged, smoking battle wagon.
  The Guard fought back and the few survivng gretchin finally broke completely. Firing and fighting were almost anti-climactic, at this point.

Results:
Jack won handily on points, having control of the objectives.

Stuff Jack Learned, per him:
- Orks are stabby, not shooty. He was so frustrated with Orks trying to shoot things he doesn't think it is worth the effort. They are very good at stabbing however....
- Toughness matters more than newbies think.
- Speed matters more than newbies think
- gretchin mobs are exactly what he thought - damage sponges you can't ignore
- Orks are cool

Stuff I learned
- the Guard is shooty, not stabby.
- Flak armor works
- Sweet merciful heavens I now love the taurox.
- Keep people away from your artillery.
- concentrate your infantry.
- ratlings in cover are amazing

Two key mistakes I made were not deploying infantry immediately and letting the Orks get to the wyvern. Jack is convinced if the wyvern had been free he would have lost. Also, the three turns they were free to fire my heavy weapons team missed with all nine lascannon shots; very, very bad luck.

The entire family had a ton of fun. Next is more of the same but with doctrines, stratagems, etc.