Battle Report: The Grot Horde vs. The Blood Angels!

Fans of NATGT might have seen Adam’s stunning defeat at the hands of Kevin last week, with his Deathwatch forces collapsing under the feet of over 150 grotz and their associated fire support.
Not only did this give us a new champion, but the battle was SO vicious that we were forced to move locations to escape the wanton carnage that we’d caused.
From now on, NATGT will be broadcasting from GrimDark Games in San Antonio, with some of our fan favorites taking on some brand-new faces! Kicking that off this week, we’ll be seeing Kevin and the Grotz Horde taking on Mike and his army of Blood Angels!
Kevin is, of course, bringing his flood of grotz to the battle. As he notes, they are “surprisingly dangerous in large numbers”, with their sheer volume of firepower causing trouble for even the toughest units.

He’s also backing them up with a trio of Weird Boys, counting on their psychic powers to boost this infantry-heavy army’s mobility. When combined with a set of Custom Mega Cannons to rain fire down from afar, as well as a Runtherd and Pain Boy to keep all the grotz in check, this bizarre group of psychotic warriors will be a test of our newcomer’s mettle.

Before the battle, Mike was not aware of the sheer number of Grotz he would be facing, but he has still brought a formidable array of Blood Angels that could easily prove to be a match for them.

Between a squad of scouts, some Primaris Intercessors, and the Death Company, he should be fully capable of mixing it up in close quarters with the Ork infantry. These units are bolstered by two Captains, as well as a unit of Scout Bikers to attack the grotz on their flanks.

With the Biker’s mobility, it is possible that Mike can move his forces into attack range faster than Kevin, allowing him to whittle down their numbers before they can mount a sizeable offensive.

The name of the game for the day is Supply Cache, where players must locate and secure a cache that will not be revealed until one of them rolls a 6. Until that time, constant adaptability is needed to ensure that your army can be deployed to any one of the 6 possible caches.

Through a series of great rolls, Kevin seizes the initiative on Turn 1, as well as finding that the supply cache is located directly beneath one of his largest squads. Will this luck hold out, or will Mike be able to fight through the Grotz ranks and take the supplies for himself?

As his first turn begin, Kevin leaves most of his forces defending the cache, while advancing on Mike’s left flank. Seeing the potential danger of Mike’s Scout Bikes, Kevin opens up on them with the Custom Mega Cannons, chewing up several of the Bikes before they can cause him trouble.

From there, Kevin moves in to attack the rest of the scout forces, goring one of them on the Pain Boy’s claws (even despite it being damaged by an interrupting strike.)
 
As Kevin puts it, by the end of the turn the Blood Angels are beginning to look like “The Blooded Angels.”


However, Mike quickly takes action on his own turn, using Wings of Fire to move his Death Company into cover, while sending the Captain up the middle of the battlefield to meet the grotz head-on. Finally, he bunched his scouts and Primaris Marines together, maximizing their firepower while keeping them safe on one angle.

From there, he begins blasting away at the grotz forces with shotguns, counting on their spread to take out large numbers of the fragile little green men. The Death Company then charges towards the supply cache, their chainswords ripping through the dozens of grotz in their way! Although he doesn’t quite make it to the cache on his first turn, Mike has definitely succeeded in carving a swath of destruction through Kevin’s forces.

With the first round done, we can see Mike trying to wrestle that command point from Kevin as quickly as possible. Will the Orks be able to hold it, or will Mike’s home-field advantage and tactical skill prove too much for him?
 
Click the episode below to find out!