One Page Rules: Orc Raiders vs Human Defense Force

 

Its been a funny old year 2024. I've been focussed on non-photogenic gaming for the most part, roleplaying and boardgames, so my wargames have been bumping along quietly in the background. Its meant I've not posted much at all this year.  

Anyway, this evening we broke out the One Page Rules again and I took my orc raiders against a marvellous Human Defence Force army, modelled using Turnip28 miniatures. This was the first outing for my opponent's freshly minted Turnip army and it was gloriously splendid!

On to the game though, we played a simple deployment with 5 objectives.  The player who controlled the most at the end of turn 4 would be the winner.

My orc raiders started with their one and only tactic, a general charge onto the root-infested guns of the enemy. We deployed so that we each had two objectives so the fight would be over control of the centre.

The orc raider left flank was heavily supported by flying choppers festooned with rockets, and goblin-piloted clanking walkers.

Their left flank was mostly infantry but included a mob of tough boss orcs and a crew armed with flamers.

Over on the HDF line were large units it root-infested riflemen ably flanked by fast moving root-pig herds (using the HDF biker stats). Snipers took up overwatch positions in the upper floors of the local ruins.

Their centre was held by a fearsome and unbelievably tough fire-breathing charybdis, and two large artillery pieces (which would prove somewhat unreliable).

So the battle begins...

...and the orc raiders open proceedings with a headlong rush forwards in the centre, led by the boss-mob and goblin walkers. I made the mistake of moving and shooting rather than a longer move rush towards melee. Orc raiders are poor shooters and this was the wrong tactic I think.

The HDF right flank pig monsters shuffled forwards to try to grab the orc-held objective ahead.

At the end of Turn 1, the orcs control the central objective to go 3-2 in the lead, but their position is poor and the Turnip rifles, snipers, and charybdis flamer will take their toll in the coming turns.

Turn 2 and both sides have their ambushers arrive.  With no free space in the HDF rear, the orc jetpack mob drop down in front of the charybdis monstrosity. This is not a position that will prove tenable, the charybdis flamer makes short work of the screaming, jet-fuel addled orcs.

Over on the other flank, the HDF bearskinned rooty scouts emerge from hiding behind the orc lines, heading for the objective by the building. Like the orc jet-pack boys, this ambush will prove somewhat ineffective as the orc boy unit gets distracted from supporting the chopper advance, turns back and butcher's the scouts.

The piggy flank force sweeps around to head into the objective but pull up their advance over 12" from the orc mob impatiently waiting near the objective. The pigs are wary of the power of the orc melee charge and decide to wait and see how the battle develops. A Turn 4 rush to contest the objective would be most effective. This standoff can't stand surely?

Absolutley brutal rippling fire tears the advancing orc units to peices, destroying the jetpack boys and shaking the flamer crew. The Turnip leaders instruct consistent 'take aim' orders to their units, greatly enhancing their shooting power. The boss mob and their big boss leader are also chopped up (but not shaken thanks to the morale boost of the leader), stymying the advance on this flank.

Over on the other flank the orcs make more progress charging into the surprisingly tough artillery piece. But they fail to destroy it, despite a brutal charge. The artillery make all 17 of their requred saves! The orcs were relying on a win here to capture the objective, a gambit that was doomed to failure.

In the centre, the thinned orc line still holds the middle objective and the big boss takes on the charybdis with his boss mob (who are torn to bits by the big crab).

The unsuccessful orc attack is countercharged by a fast moving piggy herd and all but wiped out! 

By Turn 3 the orcs are still wining 3-2, but there are few of them left now and the tide is surely turning. Despite that they still have enough in the field to maintain or at least contest the objective control.

The great battle in the centre rages on, and the orc boss is finally felled after reducing the giant crab to only one wound (of its starting 12)! His mega-claw (A4 AP4) really took its toll on the crab, which the orcs also pounded with every rocket they could muster, but in the final attack the charybdis just managed to cling onto that 12th wound! Its strike back in the melee tore the orc boss into two pieces, securing the conditions for an HDF win against the orcs.

Defeating the orc boss, the charybdis staggers on, barely alive and trailing prurts of root-infested blood to take the centre objective.  The game swings on the final Turn 4 and the HDF secure a 3-2 win over the orc raiders!

Another excellent game of One Page Rules, which we've not played for many months. A well deseved win to the HDF, but as we all know, if orcs are fighting they win...hehe...

Orks, "'Ere we go!", "Waaaaagh!!" Etc. - Part 2, the showcase

In Part 1 I set out the groundwork of my Orc Raiders army for One Page Rules. As I now have it to a finish point, I think a gallery of the green tide is in order.

So, here it is. The rare thing of a "finished" army, as if an army is ever really finished!

I'm looking forwards to getting this on the table for a game of OPR, but it'll be a couple of weeks I think as "real life" will keep me off the table for a bit.

So these figures are obviously Games Workshop Orks, and I painted them to be basically "box art" Goff Clan Orks. Its kind of iconic for the figures line I suppose.

The full force in all its glory. The roster is as follows:

• Ghazghkull Thraka - the big boss, and his litte grot helper Makari.
• 30 "Meganobz" - big orks that can also serve as leaders and characters.
• 20 Grots (with a handler)
• 70 Orks with hand weapon and pistol
• 20 Orks with shootas
• 11 Orks with jetpacks (a unit of 10 with a character/leader)
• 5 Orks with flamethrowers
• 3 Killakan mechanical walkers
• 3 Deffcoptas

Ghazghkull himself! The big boss. It'd be a brave ork that stood up to him.

This grot is Ghazghkull's little helper Makari. As with Ghazghkull, I tried to paint him as close to the box art as possible.

The grots.  I love these little figures! They're some of the simplest and yet most characterful miniatures that Games Workshop have ever made.

The "meganobs". The biggest and baddest of the orks, they're festooned with armour and wierd weapons, as well as being generally bigger than normal orks. Among them, I also have some vintage gems - old models from the mists of Games Workshop history.

The chap with the horns is a much earlier version of Ghazghkul Thrakka!

These are the orks with shootas. In One Page Rules, orc marauders are generally bad shots so arming them with long ranged weapons is a little optimistic! I think I'll mostly be using the pistol & close combat weapon units.

This is the bulk of the force, a mass of orks with pistols ond close combat weapons.  Basically they're designed to rush into melee with the enemy and start hitting.

Here are the chaps with flamethrowers.  I think i'll add these into the infantry units as supports in the game.

The killakans. They're nice enough but I think I like the Kromlech proxies for them better.  My friend, Grant, has these in his army and they look splendid!

The Deffcopters are nice models but the flight stands are ridiculously fragile.  I'm certain they will break in the rough and tumble of gameplay.

More shots of the meganobz.

And some more images of the big boss himself.

For the orks who just can't be bothered with the pesky business of running into battle and really want to get there quicker, there's the boyz with jetpacks.

More meganob shots.

And a rare treat I made a video of the mob...

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Orks, "'Ere we go!", "Waaaaagh!!" Etc.

My journey with One Page Rules continues at a pace. We’ve played a few games now and very much enjoying it.  Its wonderful to hear jaded old grognards like us howling with joy and laughter at a game. We play all sorts and while we love our hobby, games can be quiet, even muted as we earnestly push our Panzer IV’s or Alexandrian Companions about the tabletop battlefield. One of my friends said, “I never thought at 61 I’d be playing with Games Workshop toys”.

Anyway, these rules have lit a fire under my paint table and I’m really pushing on with painting armies I never thought would make it out of the box.  

This time it’s a collection of second-hand sci fi Orks that I’ve gathered over the years.  They needed a bit of rapair and some larger bases, which I added.  The ones with jetpacks are still a bit unstable, especially were they have some metal parts added, so I may have to figure out some additional method of shifting them to be "bottom heavy". Some of them have at least two or three coats of paint on them, I think. Can I be bothered stripping them? Of course not! So, an undercoat of black, white zenithal highlight, and away I go. 

As usual, things lick along at a pace, but I realise after the skin-wash and metal stages, that the zenithal may not have been the best choice.  I’m now faced with getting the black back in as I’m painting these little fellows as “Goff” Orks, which are mainly black. Pareto’s Principle kicks in and with this batch I reckon the last 20% of the work is going to take 80% of the time.

I’ll also be painting the chequerboard patterns – that’s going to take time as well.  I used to have a lot of transfer sheets, with these sorts of patterns on them, but I think it threw them all away during the last house move.  Ah well.

I think the next batch will be left black without the zenithal highlight, and I’ll under-paint in the skin with white.  It’ll still take time, but hopefully less time that the current processes.

Anyway, here's the kick off with the first batch.

 

The first batch of about 50 little green dudes.

One of the Bosses, or "Nobs" as the Orks call them.
He's certainly had a good few coats of paint and the detail is starting to be lost.

"Da Boyz". These have hand weapons and pistols - a suitably Goff load-out.

Here's the paints I'm using for the ork skin. It worked out well I think.

Here's the box of other Orks awaiting attention, and a few bags of bits for repairs!

There's about 100 models in here I think. Mostly Boyz (basic Orks)
Some I think are from the old GorkaMorka game, and their design
hasn't stood the test of time.

And the metal is on.

These should look good when they’re done though.

TBC...

...continued

OK, its been a week or so and I've made a bit of progress on these little chaps. Not going to lie, but these orks have been a pain to paint.  I've not been able to segregate parts for swift painting, or use my usual time-saving techniques, because the models themselves mix some different colours at their core. And of course, being Goffs, I wanted to lay down some checkerboard patterns, which took a bit of time to get done.

However, about 90 of the little chaps are done so not bad progress considering...

Obligatory Mob shot. Goffs like infantry wave attacks...

Ahem...WAAAAAAGGGHHHHH!!!!!!

These dudes have some serious firepower. Shame they're such a "bad shot".

Well...he looks like he's down to sort stuff out.
This is a good example of just going with these rescued models
as they come. If I'd have built it the squig back-banner would
have been vertical.

These helicopter things were relatively easy to paint, but feel VERY fragile.
I reckon they'll break easily in the rough and tumble of a game.

I got 10 of these jet-pack orks. Some of the parts are
metal, which makes them top-heavy.
These Weebles will wabble and very definitely
will fall down.

This is a metal model and its lovely and heavy! I like it too. The pet squig is fun!

Another nice leader, but some of the details are obscured. I rockon I painted over maybe
three or four other layers of paint applied by the previous owner! (Or "one thick coat")

This one is mad for grenades and I love it!

More to do of course. I have 20 orks with machineguns, and a good stock of "characters", as well as a small gathering of goblins (grots). These are reclaimed second hand models so I'll be doing the same with these as with the others.

I also have a couple of boxes of extras. Some "killa kan" walkers, and the big boss himself Ghazghkull Thraka. Not looking forwards to building these but they look simple enough, and Thraka might be fun to paint.  

With those finished, I sould have a solid One Page Rules army at 2000pts.

Part 2 - The showcase