Orkish Tactics

[Ser Warwick]

Recently hooked a friend into the hobby via the gateway drug Dawn of War.

 

He just picked up some Nobz (with one he has converted to Warboss), gretchin, two squads of boyz and a trukk.

 

I am not overly familiar with greenskin tactics so I was wondering what any veteran Warbosses had to say about building a right and proppa Waaaaagh. It seems like Boyz n' boxes are a solid enough core due to that open-topped business, but as an Imperial player I know little.

[WestRider]

Boyz before Toyz is pretty much always the core guideline for Orks. I don't have a whole lot of experience with their current Dex, but it still seems like one where most of it holds up pretty well for a starting player.

 

Standout Units include Boyz (in a number of configurations), MANz, Bikez, Tankbustaz, and Lootaz. Plus probably a few more I'm forgetting.

[fluger]

It really depends on what you want to do, I think the dex and the formations from the Ghaz expansion makes for a fairly flexible dex for constructing decent lists that are probably not going to win any big tournaments, but should at least make the fights interesting.  

 

I'd say there are probably 2ish ways to go for building a tough list.

 

1.  Green Tide.  Use the formation and profit, if you're unfamiliar with it, here it is:  

 

 

Requirements: 1 Warboss, 10 Boy Units

 

Restrictions: The entire Formation must fight on foot – no Dedicated Transports can be taken as upgrades, and the Warboss cannot be equipped with a Warbike.

Special Rules: Biggest an’ da Best, Da Boss iz Watchin’.

Green Tide: All of the units of Boyz and the Warboss form a single unit known as the Green Tide. The Warboss cannot leave this unit. The Green Tide counts as 11 units for Victory Points purposes if it is completely destroyed. If the Green Tide ever rolls a Breaking Heads or Squabble result on the Mob Rule table, any resulting hits are allocated by the Formation’s controlling player.

Waaagh! Horde: Models in the Green Tide gain the Hammer of Wrath special rule in any Assault phase in which they successfully charge an enemy unit and the dice rolled for their charge range is 10 or more (before modifiers). Note that the unit does not need to move the full distance rolled to gain this effect.

Stampede: If the Formation’s Warboss is your Warlord, he can use the Waaagh! special rule each and every turn after the first.

Source: Supplement: Waaagh! Ghazghkull

 

 

Basically you put 100 Orks into one unit and run at the enemy.  It's a pretty good place to stash a painboy (so the whole big unit gets FnP) and put the Big Boss Pole on the Warboss in the unit so it's fearless.  Bonus points if you find a way to get the Lukky Stikk in there (via a second warboss perhaps?) so the unit has WS5.  

 

It ends up being about 1000ish points depending on what you put into it, so it leaves you with lots of points to spend on other stuff.  

 

2.  Speed Freeks.

 

Basically get as much stuff in Trukks or other rides or on bikes and just use speed to get to the enemy.  YMMV, but Chuck Arnett won a big tournament (kinda invalidating one of my first points...lol) with this type of army by spamming Tankbustas in trukks.  It's fast and presents a lot of threats and therefore is pretty decent, but my experience with speed freeks is that when the wheels come off (lol), they really lose steam quickly.  Kind of a win big or lose big army.  Might be tough for a novice to handle.  

 

 

IMO, the stand out buys for the codex from my experience and from reading the interwebz are:

 

 

1.  MegaNobz (personal experience).  Either a few little units in trukks to be throw-away assault missiles, or a big death star with a warboss with lucky stikk.  Either way, they are NASTY.

 

2.  Tankbustas (interwebz).  Just a great way for dealing with vehicles and MCs.  Kick out a ludicrous amount of rokkits and have meltabombs in melee too!

 

3.  MekGunz (interwebz).  Very affordable point wise, but spendy dollar wise unless you have a cool friend who will make them for you!  Either they help you control the skies or else help kick out high strength shooting at range.  

 

4.  Stormboyz (personal experience).  Just so fast!  They hit hard, but they are fragile.  If you get the right run move on the turn you call the waagh, they can charge something that most people wouldn't expect to be in range.  12" move +2d6" run +2d6" (with a single die being able to be rerolled) charge is a potential of 36" charge!  I mean, that's REALLY unlikely, but you are guaranteed 14"...

[fluger]

Boyz before Toyz is pretty much always the core guideline for Orks.

I'd argue that in the new dex, that doesn't hold up for strong competitive lists as most of them eschew boyz for grots.  

[WestRider]

It doesn't always refer specifically to Boyz Units, but more that most of their Units are best with minimal upgrades, and with a few exceptions, you're pretty much always better off buying more/bigger Units than piling on the wargear.

 

I say the same thing in reference to Nids, and they don't even have Boyz as an option ;)

[fluger]

AHHHH, and then, yes, I agree, avoid most upgrades.  

 

Best ones are:

 

Nobz in Boyz squads with power klaw and boss pole.  This really adds to the damage potential of the unit and keeps them fighting longer.  I think it's a pretty crucial upgrade for most Ork units.  Only unit that can that I don't think it's a good investment in is Tankbustas.  

 

Reinforced Ram:  changing the chance you immobilize yourself in terrain from 1/6 to 1/36 is a big deal, and it's only 5 pts.  Bonus that it allows non-tanks to tank shock and ram.  

[scottshoemaker]

Tactically, he needs to get into melee as fast as possible, while mitigating the damage from being shot at.  With what he has I'd put the Nobz and the Warboss in the truck, with no less than heavy armor.  Extra armor on the trukk with a ram, so when it gets stunned in can keep moving. Pick a flank with the boys as the pivot and run the trukk up one side.  Shoot, but expect nothing.  The grots should run around behind things and be annoying, or run in front of the boys to provide them 5+ cover. 

 

The first thing I'd add (besides more boys) is a Warp head.  Easily converted or aquired, use him to buff the boys.

 

The next thing I'd add is some kind of mean, solid threat.  Deff Dred, Gorkanought, MegaNobz, something like that.  Another boyz mob is more practical and long term useful, but hardly "fun" in the short term.

 

The main thing will be roll with the Theme of the force.  Orks spam well, but many different units don't work as well.  The plan has to be simple, with lots of redundancy to back it up.

[Sugarlessllama]

As a Space Marine player I have had some trouble with shooty orks. I played against a green tide themed army, where the Ork player had 100+ shoota boyz walking across the table that my 25 Marines. Make a Marine player roll enough armor saves, and eventually all the 1's start to add up.

[Guest]

Recently hooked a friend into the hobby via the gateway drug Dawn of War.

 

He just picked up some Nobz (with one he has converted to Warboss), gretchin, two squads of boyz and a trukk.

 

I am not overly familiar with greenskin tactics so I was wondering what any veteran Warbosses had to say about building a right and proppa Waaaaagh. It seems like Boyz n' boxes are a solid enough core due to that open-topped business, but as an Imperial player I know little.

Just buy a box of ork boyz, then go to Toys R Us or Goodwill, to make the difference.

[Threejacks]

Pick a theme and run with it..those being Horde Orks with multiple blobs of 20+ boys or a Tide of 100+.

 

Speed Freaks with Truck Boys,Bikers,Coptas and flyers or the Heavy route with Battlewagons loaded with boys and or Manz or even Tankbustas,,actually always take some Tankbustas in a truck or looted wagon.To me Tank bustas are what lootas used to be.

 

Other not so common builds are Stompa with Boyz or a Dread list with lots of Kanz,Dreads and Nauts,,though that's pretty idiotic and will never win,but its lolfunz to play!( and thus my preferred build for my Orks)

 

 

The main thing is try to avoid taking a little of each type of army as it will really dilute your ability to control the battle and your opponent will easily pick your army apart.

[Threejacks]

Oops,doubled up there

[Guest]

Pick a theme and run with it..those being Horde Orks with multiple blobs of 20+ boys or a Tide of 100+.

 

Speed Freaks with Truck Boys,Bikers,Coptas and flyers or the Heavy route with Battlewagons loaded with boys and or Manz or even Tankbustas,,actually always take some Tankbustas in a truck or looted wagon.To me Tank bustas are what lootas used to be.

 

Other not so common builds are Stompa with Boyz or a Dread list with lots of Kanz,Dreads and Nauts,,though that's pretty idiotic and will never win,but its lolfunz to play!( and thus my preferred build for my Orks)

 

 

The main thing is try to avoid taking a little of each type of army as it will really dilute your ability to control the battle and your opponent will easily pick your army apart.

Your theme can also focus on a conversion style, rather than a unit type. In example, I've seen a few pirate themed Ork armies. Battlewagons become galleons with rocket boosters, lots of Kannons, and so forth.

 

My orks, which are a very small ork force, are themed around the Orks being "fanboyz" of my marines. They've become wannabe Space Marines. My marines being Dark Angels, the Orks become white meganobs, black bikerz and green 'ard boyz. It is very much a work in progress.

[dalmer]

Tactics?  Get em in and have a go.

 

Whether that's green tide, speed freaks, whatever... the fun part is that they just wanna scrap.  Get em in, have a go.

[fluger]

I will say that the new dex actually favors that Orkish mentality.  Last edition I was much happier to sit back and shoot.  'Ere We Go! and the update on the Mob Rule and Waagh! mean that Orks are best in combat and can get there reliably.  All my shoota boyz feel overdressed for the battle...

[fluger]

Also, check this out:  https://www.frontlinegaming.org/2015/05/27/orks-winning-tournaments-say-waaagh/

[Guest]

I'd argue that in the new dex, that doesn't hold up for strong competitive lists as most of them eschew boyz for grots.  

Not sure on the competitive end, but if going the weird boy route with a mostly mech list, then the boyz have value over the grots purely for the 'ere we go rule and thier squad size. It's a 60pt squad that adds a warp charge per turn.

[fluger]

Most competitive lists don't include weird boyz that I've seen.  

[sorienor]

Boys before toys is indeed dead.

Since the new book came out, I've never run a boyz unit without 'eavy armor.  Add in a painboy and a warboss with a lucky stick (gives the whole unit WS5) and  you've got a unit that will march right up the field laughing off thunderfires, wyverns and almost everything else as well.  back them up with 1-2 units of 'eavy armored shootaboys as they move up.

Warbikes are IMO the best unit in the book.  The FW special character Zhadsnark allowed bikes to be troops and his rules are free to d/l from the forgeworld website.

Don't be afraid of allies either, to make up some of the Ork's shortcomings. I've ran Tau, but mostly CSM. A nurgle bike chaos lord, with 5 nurgle spawn is a great complement to 15 warbikes with warboss and painboy on bikes.

Shooty orks are great, but lootas now fight with mek guns for HS slots.  Mek guns are amazing.  the S8 plasma cannon will send marines running for cover, tracktor kannons to pull down those pesky flyrants and lobbas are still good against just about everything.

 

wierdboys are not bad, as long as you use them to summon deamons.  The Ork powers are...lacking.  First summon should be pink horrors so that that unit can summon up other stuff. Deamonettes are my favorite as a complement to a CC ork army.

[Guest]

wierdboys are not bad, as long as you use them to summon deamons.  The Ork powers are...lacking.  First summon should be pink horrors so that that unit can summon up other stuff. Deamonettes are my favorite as a complement to a CC ork army.

Just be careful with placement, as One Eye Open applies to summoned daemons, as they are desperate allies to the Ork faction.

[Ser Warwick]

Thanks for all the know-wotz you gitz. I'll be sure to pass this all along.

 

My friend got a hold of the codex and we built a small list. I brought my Stormtroopers army on foot to attempt to repel the horde; SW would have been more optimum, as Orks laugh heartily at AP3, but I wanted to give my opponent a slight edge for the first game. I was pretty surprised playing mostly elite armies at how cheap his army was, even after piling on a few toys and gubbins.

 

I fully expected the Nob squad to do some damage. What I did not expect is the gretchin squad, tired of cowering in the backfield, to make a 10" charge, dodge incoming fire, and proceed to wipe out a full squad of stormtroopers in melee.

 

The Ork Waaagh overran the beleaguered Militarum Tempestus, but not before they could send out a distress beacon to alert the sector to a quickly growing threat. Perhaps it will take only the Emperor's Finest to rid the sector of this menace?

[WestRider]

Grots are always more dangerous than you think :D

[Guest]

I fully expected the Nob squad to do some damage. What I did not expect is the gretchin squad, tired of cowering in the backfield, to make a 10" charge, dodge incoming fire, and proceed to wipe out a full squad of stormtroopers in melee.

Grots are awesome like this. They are not to be underestimated.

[pretre]

I had a squad of grots kill a squad of CSM with Lord one time. The squad charged the grots, we killed some CSM and the Lord killed himself with Daemon Weapon. It was glorious and shiny.

[fluger]

Oh, you should definitely estimate grots as what they are: awful at everything other than scoring.  

[fluger]

Against Tylor back in 4th edition, my grots held up in combat against a bloodthirster for 5 rounds of combat (10 grots!) and there was one alive at the end of the game scoring an objective!