Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reach (2017)

stayed up super late last night in a rather long final battle but managed to finished sons of cadia campaign after chipping away at it every now and then for a few months. This was a rather enjoyable DLC (So far the Imperial Guard are definitely my favorite in this game due to the way you use use vehicles to support infantry) by the end of the campaign i had a very sizable (and levelled) mobile armor battalion, which was surprisingly effective at just slaughtering oncoming hordes (in the beginning you could not really do this, and had to rely on inf to sandwich so the orks couldn't go toe to toe with vehicles) and very few managed to actually get too close.

One final campaign to go... but I might switch off into another game next time i'm needing my TBT/TBS fix though.

just hit the half-way mark in sons of cadia. what a long game this one is. at first i was clueless on this campagin but I've found ways to fight the orks as imperium and really appreciate this game's mechanics more seeing the differentiation open up a bit. orks ain't too bright and exploiting AI seems to be a big help. wheras with marines i really just like simple startaegy of bulking down with marines and moving up slowly with support vehicles, the imperial guard allow you to fine tune and supplment an armored force with infantry units depending on your OCD threshold. a general purpose ogryn meat shield squad in the front and various armor in the back with some auxiallry infantry units covers it all nicely. you can get more involved with it using flamer units and stuff like psykers/comiissars, and plasma configuration tanks. a lot of these units actually scale and become more useful as they level (key example hot shot volley boys) from there its a matter of keeping distance and managing chargers when they go toe to toe with you. things got sideways for me real quick last night when i pushed too quickly and overtook a bridge rather than let them come to me. i lost tons of units when i typically have no issue and barely maanged to win the scenario and didnt think icould turn it around using basic infantry... but somehow i did, flanking about 4 deff dreads one at a time with lasgun inf, hot shot lasguns/volleys and artillery of all things.

tldr; in sons of cadia space is critical and some unit variation and understanding of their weapons as well as the enemies weapons and behavior is key, then this becomes pretty methodical and easy and the game becomes more of fine tuning things to your personal tastes. enjoy this.

I finally finished the first expansion to Sanctus Reach - Legacy of the Weird Boy. It gives you access to an Ork campaign (also known as a WAAAAAAGH!)

At first I had no idea how to play with these units. The style is a bit different than the space marines. I alos think they are inferior. However some units are extremely potent.

The space Marines have some excellent ranged options for their infantry. The Orks have a few that really shine though (Flash Gitz are the best heavy weapon infantry among them both) The Orks also have some seriously hard hitting bikes that can when fully upgraded fuck up titans. (what the hell) Armor is a mixed bag. I feel its a bit pricey. I was really hoping to play with gargants and stompas (heavy class walkers but not titan class) but for some reason those are not orkcessible in this campaign.

The ork has a nice anti infantry unit but its by no means comparable to the whirlwind. The whirlwind is he number one threat against orks. IT can wipe them out and the orks don't have a suitable means to take them out beyond that of helos (which the AI loves to target and shoot down)

The secret sauce in the Orks though is playing with the WEirdboy. By clustering your units up and casting a shield, you can just camp there and take out any would be melee attackers the enemy might threaten you with. Then target heavy weapons infantry. After that you can just swarmp them with your infantry.

If you have helos, bikes, gitz, killa cans and other ranger vehicles, you can just move up slowly in a line. (same way you play space marines) this isnt the way the orks are meant to be played but i find it actually works well, especially with a run herder or 40 cr boys at point. combine this with a weirdboy (though there usually isn't much need) I don't really like the kamikaze style tactics of sending in boys to rush and absorb reaction fire then other units. You tend to get over involved and 'stuck in' drawing in way too many units at once. Still the ork infantry is tough and can manage more abuse and more threat vectors at once than space marines it seems, but fuck if they don't seem to suck at melee. its no contest when it comes to fighting wolf riders, various forms of terminators, dreadnoughts, and even ravenclaws. the orks dont have n upper hand. lowering morale is crucial if you are going to play melee heavy and will need flamers and stuff to sidestep reactive melee attacks.

In the end the campaign was fun, very challenging and I got really acquainted with the game engine and faction but its not nearly as powerful as the space wolves.

I'll take a break then tackle on the Imperial guard campaign. Hopefully its not lots of micromanaging tons of units (like orks) and the guard have good ranged infantry solution.