Marine Squad - 6" Move, 1D6, +1 to hit. Only 1D3 vs Tanks and then only up to 12". All Damage rolls against the unit are reduced by one Hit.
Land Raider - 9" Move, 1D6, +1 to hit vehicles, -2 in Assault. Armour.
Up to two Squads may start off the table and have the Descent option.
Ork Squad - 6" Move, 1D6, +1 to hit (Assault only), +1 Damage (Assault only), Only 1D3 vs Tanks and then only up to 12". +2" move if moving towards the nearest visible enemy unit.
Ork Tank - 9" Move, 1D6, +1 to hit vehicles, -2 in Assault. Scores 2D6 damage in Assault.
Twice per game the Ork player can make an attack Charged.
The Marines had four Squads and two land Raiders, whilst the Orks had four Squads and two Tanks.
This was the terrain. I use a 2' x 2' board and halve all game distances. The rough areas didn't block line of sight, but gave cover to anything in or beyond them. The rubble/buildings partially blocked line of sight ad offered good cover. The hills completely blocked line of sight, but a unit on the crest could claim minimal cover.
Orks at the top, Marines at the bottom. The Marines kept one squad off-table ready to be dropped into play later.
The Ork tanks advanced quickly against the Marines, hampered by terrible activation rolls, but put some damage on a Land Raider.
There was little action on the other flank. Some Ork Boyz advanced, but the Marines had a snug position on a hill and well well-sited to contest the approaches.
The tank-action got close and personal, which very much favours the Orks. Despite that, it was their tank which was taking hits from the better-armoured Land Raiders.
The Orks advanced cautiously on the other flank, but took a few hits. They now controlled the objective in the rubble, however (the brown counter).
The tank battle went very much against the Orks, and the fight ended after five turns (it runs for a random amount of time) with the Marines controlling enough objectives and having scored enough kills to pick up an easy victory. They picked up one with a last-turn orbital drop into some rubble.
I ran the setup again with the same forces, although I made a few adjustments to the terrain. More of the objectives were closer to the centre of the table. They are set by both players before they know who will move first or which edge they will get. Put them too close to the edges and you could give your opponent points from the start.
The Orks had a nice hilltop objective to defend. The unit defending it was also an objective; the Marines for score for each hit inflicted on it, whilst the Orks would score for each hit it had remaining at the end.
The Land Raiders used a long ridge to cover their approach, and scattered some Orks who strayed into the line of their advance.
In this game the Marines kept two units off-table. They landed one close to an objective (faintly visible top-right) and the other behind the Orks that would contest it.
An Ork tank pushed boldly down a street in the ruined city towards some Marines.
One squad was badly mauled and fell back, whilst the other dived into cover. The third squad was one of the ones which had dropped from orbit. They scattered rather too close to the tank, which then destroyed them.
The Marines held their ground and put some hits on the tank.
On the flank the Land Raiders and Orks traded shots with little effect. But the Orks were scoring points for proximity to an objective marker.
Bringing up a squad (out of shot) kept control of the marker, allowing the Ork tank to advance to assault range where it was more effective. This was risky, but the Land Raiders had taken some hits, and there was the possibility of a kill. Also: Orks!
The Marines were short of viable objectives to control, and had been very much pinned down by the Orks. Into the last turn there was little they could do except contest some ruins towards the middle of the board.
The Orks got a convincing win, since they matched, indeed slightly exceeded, the Marines in terms of controlled objectives, but had a unit worth points which had taken no hits, thus giving the whole score to the Orks.
I'm still no quite sure the balance is right between the Ork and Marine squads, but I shall tinker further. The tanks worked OK; the Land Raiders are quite tough, but the Ork Tanks are quite dangerous in close combat. What I may do is give both Ork tanks the Charged option. In addition for the Ork squads I'll drop the extra move towards the enemy, and instead allow them to recover one point of damage if they are activated and inflict at least one hit on an enemy unit.
I might also try with a smaller board and smaller terrain pieces; the time limit on the mission feels about right, but I feel the terrain loses the table down a little too much; I think I should be aiming for about the same amount, but covering less area. A smaller board would have everything in action far more quickly as well.
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