Flash Gitz Test Part 2: the Dirty Goblin Team Tournament

The monthly team tournament at Dirty Goblin Games is a great opportunity to try out crazy stuff you wouldn't normally do.  I generally pay my $5 and watch as the delightfully crappy units I bring are killed in a multitude of hilariously violent ways.  Of course, these crazy match-ups usually make little sense fluff-wise, but they are a lot of fun!

Saturday it was the Flash Gitz' turn as I'd like to see how they operate in case I want to use them for Adepticon.  They arrived on the scene in all their gray primer glory on the back of the Electrork Mayhem which was standing in for an interesting Forge World vehicle called the Mekboy Junka.  This vehicle is basically a Looted Wagon with three Big Shootas, a Deffrolla, and Grot Riggers for a mere 65 points.  Although this unit is rather fragile, it allows you to take a non-dedicated transport in the Elite slot, which is important since Flash Gitz are a Heavy choice and my flex slot in the Adepticon Team Tournament is taken up with an Aegis Defense Line.

My buddy, Kevin, filled out the other 1000 points with his Sisters of Battle.

My List:  Big Mek (Shokk Attack Gun, ammo runt), 15 Gretchin, 30x boyz (nob, bosspole, 3 big shootas), 21x Boyz (nob, bosspole, big shoota), 9x Flash Gitz (painboy, shootier, more dakka, 2x ammo runts, cybork bodies), Mekboy Junka (deffrolla), Aegis Defense Line (quadgun)
Kevin's List:  Saint Celestine, Exorcist, Exorcist, 5x Dominion (flamer, 3x meltagun, immolator (heavy flamer)), 10x Sisters (melta, flamer, rhino), 18x sisters (melta, multimelta), Priest, Priest

So apparently, somehow my list was 44 points over... I have absolutely no idea how that happened.  I can't even fathom how to arrive at that number in any meaningful way.  A-ha! Cybork Bodies.  Take the Cybork Bodies off and the list is 999 points.  I can't remember an instance in which I took an invulnerable save anyways, so I guess it wasn't such a terrible thing.

Something to think about, actually.  Are they all that necessary for 45 points when I have Feel No Pain to fall back on?  Not sure.

At any rate, my apologies to my opponents for that mistake!  On to the games...

EDIT:  Oh, wait. No.  I was adding one extra Flash Git to my list.  Army Builder separates the Painboy from the number of base Flash Gitz.  Oops! Yay! I'm not a cheater!

Game 1

Primary Mission:  The Scouring
Secondary Mission:  Kill Points
Deployment:  Vanguard Strike
Opposition:  Deathwing Dark Angels with a Dev squad and Imperial Guard with Executioners as heavy support.

We deployed forward, yet defensively in case the enemy decided to seize the initiative.  Note the makeshift Big Mek with KFF... that is something I just cobbled together to try it out with.  I have a project for him on the horizon.

The big squad of Boyz, the Dominion, a squad of Sisters, and the Flash Gitz remained in Reserve to counter-punch the Terminators and seize objectives.  I constructed the gun rack for the Electrork Mayhem during our D&D session the night before.

The Sisters of Battle, brave souls, take the vanguard!

The Gretchin pour shots into the enemy lines along with the Executioners.  The Shokk Attack Gun all but obliterates the enemy's Company Command Squad.

Belial and his Deathwing arrive on turn 1 and fill our ranks with bolter fire.   Of course, the Sisters' painted armor proves more than sufficient to turn away the weapons fire from unpainted models!

The Dominion arrive on the enemy's right flank and give the Devastators a meaning behind their name.  A Tactical squad in a Rhino and a Platoon get ready to pounce on the Sisters.

The Boyz arrive from reserve and advance on the enemy's flank to offer support to the Sisters.

The Big Mek throws blasts downfield while the Sisters advance. 

The Flash Gitz arrive and pour shots into the enemy, but to no avail.  Even gray plastic Terminator armor is still Terminator armor!

The Boyz have a bit more luck.

Okay.   A lot more luck.

Saint Celestine leads her Sisters into the waiting maw of hot, plasma death!

  

The Tactical squad disembarks and thins out the Sisters.  Not pictured is the unfortunate end of most of the Platoon, however, the one remaining Private with his krak grenade gives the Immolator what for!

After a round of full, focused fire, there is little left of the sisters in the vanguard.  Even Celestine's cloak has been blown off!

A shot downrange.

The Flash Gitz claim the lives of a couple of centuries-old warriors.

Belial and his remaining Terminator assault.  The Terminator is riddled with bullets as they charge in.

Assault claims the lives of several Sisters, though that had been their choice on their terms.

One lonely sister remains on our right flank.

The Executioners and the Platoon are feeling rather smug about it, too!

Belial is knocked unconscious by the many gun-butts of the Shoota Boyz.  The Flash Gitz race forward to Celestine's rescue.

The boyz finally launch an assault against the enemy's right flank.  Of course, Space Marines are made of sterner stuff!

Saint Celestine's flame-spurting sword lays waste to the smug Imperial Guard platoon.

The Flash Gitz pour buckets of armor-piercing rounds into the Terminators after the surviving Exorcist does the same.

The Flash Gitz make quick work of the last remaining Terminator in close combat.

Result: Major Orks & Sisters victory.

Game 2

Primary Mission: Emperor's Will 
Secondary Mission:  Crusade (5 Objectives)
Deployment:  Hammer & Anvil
Opposition:  Tau with a Riptide and two Hammerheads and horde Orks with a Shokk Attack Gun and Lootaz.

Kevin and I deploy extremely defensively as we placed the greater number of Objectives.  Again, we put Kevin's armored Sisters forward as the vanguard.  One of the Exorcists is immobilized by terrain.  Again, I leave the Flash Gitz and a Boyz squad in reserve while Kevin outflanks with his Dominion.

The enemy advances...

...with a sizable backfield.

MVP!

The enemy's hammerheads are largely inaccurate throughout the battle.

The Riptide hits our lines, scattering units and causing quite a distraction.  We are forced to deal with it instead of...

...the advancing Boyz squad.  Saint Celestine attempts to do some work to them.

The Dominion make a valiant effort against the Fire Warriors on the enemy's left flank, but the odds are against them.

The Riptide is eventually felled by combined fire from throughout the army, though a suit squad remains a threat that the Saint must elect to take care of.

The fight ends with our forces within one turn of assailing the enemy Boyz squad.  We are able to put a lot of shots into them but (not pictured here), the Big Mek is able to pass all of the wounds to Boyz behind him and he scores the ojective needed to secure the secondary objective and, with it, victory.

Result: Minor Tau/Ork victory.

Game 3

Missions: Big Guns Never Tire (5 Objectives)  and Purge the Alien.  I honestly can't remember which was primary.
Deployment:  Dawn of War
Opposition:  Tau and Tau with two riptides, two commanders, two suit squads, a skyray, and a bunch of fire warriors.

As we are to go first, Kevin encourages me to deploy my Flash Gitz and I encourage him to Scout with his Dominion.  Everything except the big Sisters squad starts on the field.

The enemy deploys in two large, self-sufficient groups with the Riptides temporarily on the enemy's left flank.  Of course, a squad of suits and the commanders are Deepstriking.

The Dominion redeploy forward and move up to greet the Broadsides.

The Flash Gitz also move forward.  I'd placed my Aegis about 6" forward, so the Boyz move up to hug it.  The Exorcists hide behind a very sturdy rowhouse.

The Sisters make quick work of the Broadsides thanks to their Melta and Ignores Cover Act of Faith.  The Flash Gitz put a lot of wounds on a squad of Fire Warriors.

We begin taking fire, losing an Exorcist and an Immolator.

The Skyray is immobilized by the Shokk Attack Gun

The enemy destroys our other Exorcist, so they aggressively and move forward with their suits and Riptides.  I declare a charge with the Yellow Shoota Boyz and they are decimated down to five bodies and fail the charge.  The squad of thirty red boyz launch an assault.  

The fight doesn't go too poorly for the Orks and when the suits attempt to Hit & Run out, they roll a measly 4 inches and are still trapped!

The Flash Gitz' vehicle is wrecked and then they lose three Orks to an overcharged Riptide weapon, having been doubled out.  They fail on their 7 Leadership and break.

The Riptides break the combat at the center of the board and the enemy advances unchecked.

The Big Mek rolls a 2 on his Shokk Attack Gun....

.... and the Orks lose the Objective they needed to tie the game on this, the last turn.

The objective the Flash Gitz had been heading towards lies contested until a single sister is killed, freeing it up to be claimed by the few fire warriors hidden in the ruin.

The Flash Gitz fail to rally.

A single sister tries to grab an objective, but Smart Missile Systems make quick work of her.

Result:  Major Tau victory.

Lessons Learned:

Flash Gits are far better utilized with a babysitter HQ.  Of course, this is very true of any hammer unit. If you have so much invested in the unit, then it would be silly not to protect it with an HQ of some kind.  This is especially true of Orks who have such shoddy Leadership scores, even on their more costly units.

Flash Gits are difficult to deploy.  Do you choose to start on the board, blast forward, and take a quick First Blood with your armor-piercing Ignores Cover shots or do you leave them in reserve to assassinate anyone who dares break through your defenses?  I think perhaps, the answer is that you deploy if you're going first and you reserve if you're going second in the majority of cases.  This will require further study.

Flash Gits would be an easy choice if they were not so expensive.  With Assault 2 Str 6 Snazzguns, the Flash Gits cost 5 less points than a Meganob or your average Terminator.  They're dead even when you go for the Cybork Bodies.  They do have the benefit of Feel No Pain if you pay for the single Painboy (who costs 55 or 60 points and has no Snazzgun), but have only a 4+ save.  They also may not take a Battlewagon as a dedicated transport... or any for that matter.  This all means that you're devoting two heavy slots and a whole lot of points to have a fun and crazy unit which is fairly durable and actually rather killy.  I'd say they're a pretty good choice in small games, but in bigger games or games where your Force Organization chart is limited, they should probably stay home because you won't have as many fun toys to play with.

Tau are tough, but certainly not unbeateable.  While it's true we did not face completely tooled-up lists, we were doing fairly well in our games to a point. I never felt overwhelmed.  I only lost my cool when the Flash Gits broke and ran.  Most people know my disdain for Leadership checks.  Sorry, Jared and Jacob!

The Next Test:

I believe I'll try some Nobz with Big Choppas and Kombi-Skorchas. Granted, they're the same points cost as Flash Gitz, but they can take a Battlewagon as a dedicated transport.  They're also pretty good representations of Orks wielding Noize Weapons.

x7 Flash Gitz with a Painboy and a Junka = 415 Points
7 Flash Gitz, 350 pts (Ammo Runt x2; Cybork Body; More Dakka; Shootier)
   1 Painboy (Cybork Body)
1 Mekboy Junka (IA), 65 pts (Deff Rolla)

x7 Nobz with a Painboy and a Battlewagon (and a Bosspole) = 425 Points
1 Nobz, 425 pts (Cybork Body)
   1 Painboy (Cybork Body)
   1 Nobz (Bosspole; Cybork Body; Waaagh! Banner; Big Choppa; Shoota/Skorcha Kombi-weapon)
   6 Nobz (Cybork Body; Big Choppa; Shoota/Skorcha Kombi-weapon)
   1 Battlewagon (Red Paint Job; Reinforced Ram; Big Shoota x1)

In this loadout, the Nobz lose the 4+ armor save and the AP ranged weapons, but gain a more reliable transport and can actually do a lot of damage with their Skorchas in the right situation.  They certainly put out a lot of damage in close combat, too.

Not sure if they'll be more fun, though.  Well, we shall see.  Until next time...