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Ork Tactica (hq)

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#1 · (Edited)
Warboss


Warbosses are often used as simple melee beatsticks. However, their lack of an inv. save makes this somewhat more difficult. Often a Warboss is best used to slaughter basic infantry, while an Ork Nob accepts challenges from any dedicated melee characters. A good way of thinking about this is that Ork Warbosses pick on anyone weaker than they are: so they attack anyone without a high strength weapon and/or an inv. save.

Power Klaws are considered mandatory by many Ork players. While this is not always the case, a Warboss can often benefit from having a Power Klaw as it grants S.10, AP.2 attacks. If you use a Big Choppa your Warboss will still be S.8 on the charge, which is enough to insta-kill most things in the game, but you will lack any real ability to negate your opponent’s armor save aside from weight of dice.

In some cases the specific build of your Warboss will be less important than his existence in your squad. He obviously grants you a LD.9 which is super helpful, but he also comes with an I.4. If you have a Power Klaw you will strike last of course, but you still use the Warboss’ initiative for sweeping advances or blind tests.

The Cybork Body is generally considered sub-par, however on a Warboss it is maybe worth it as the Warboss’ higher toughness allows him to potentially absorb S.8 hits from things like power fists without dying instantly. This is not an ideal situation, but can be handy. Many of the suggested builds include Cybork Body and Da Lukky Stikk to allow you to take emergency FnP saves and reroll them when they inevitably fail.

Suggested Builds:

Cheap Warboss. Bosspole, Eavy Armor, Big Choppa, DA Finkin Kap. This guy comes in only a few points over his base cost and can still generate five S.8 attacks on the charge. The Finkin Cap will allow you to take two different Warlord traits. Roll for the Finkin Cap trait first in case you get the result you wanted as you could then roll on table other than strategic.

Less Cheap Warboss. Bosspole, Eavy Armor, Power Klaw, Da Lukky Stikk, Cybork Body. This guy is about double his initial price, but carries a lot more stuff. The Lukky Stikk is there to boost the Warboss’ unit and to allow for his rerolls. The ability to reroll saves allows you to make 3 FnP saves and then re-reoll all 3 of them looking for that ever important 6. This guy can go in just about any squad he wants.

Mega Armored Warboss. Mega Armor, Bosspole, Da Lukky Stikk, Cybork Body. This is the same build as the Less Cheap Warboss, but it instead uses Mega Armor. With the rerolls granted by Da Lukky Stikk, this Warboss can tank all kinds of hits from bolter fire and most melee attacks as well. Many people like to throw this guy in a squad of Lootas to allow them to move and fire, or better yet to move, fire, and then assault. Some people will also add an attack squid to give the boss an additional save.

Fast Warboss. Bike, Bosspole, Power Klaw, Lukky Stikk & Cybork Body (maybe). This build gives you access to toughness 6 on your Warboss making him largely immune to instant death, which enables him to charge things he might not otherwise have been able to face such as a carnifex or a Wraithlord. Combine this Warboss with a unit of bikes and a Painboy on a bike for maximum survivability.


Big Mek

Big Meks can be a bit hit or miss proving either crucial to your success or contributing absolutely nothing. Some of this value just depends on how your rolls go. The Shokk Attack Gun (SAG) is heavily luck dependent and the 5+ save from your Kustom Force Field (KFF) is somewhat similar generating great saves or nothing at all.

The Kustom Force Field is tricky as it only protects models within 6” rather than units. It does, however, grant an invulnerable save instead of a cover save making it more useful against armies such as panzee that have almost unlimited access to ignores cover weapons. Furthermore, a Big Mek can combine a KFF with a Bike to make him a lot more difficult to kill and to make your KFF bubble a little larger and a lot more mobile.

The SAG can also be taken with a Bike. Taking a SAG for a Big Mek on a Bike allows you to move and fire rather than being forced to stand still or move away quickly from deepstriking enemy troops. If you are leaving your Big Mek on foot it is worthwhile to add a Gitfinda for the +1 BS as your Big Mek cannot move and fire his weapon anyways. The Shokk Attack Gun itself should be thought of as an anti-infantry weapon. In particular, an anti-terminator weapon but can work against vehicles as well. Similarly, if you are putting this in a unit of Lootas you may not be getting full use out of either the Lootas or the Shokk Attack Gun as Lootas often want to crack armor or put wounds on a Monstrous creature or a unit of similarly large based models such as Thunderwolf Cavalry, while a Shokk Attack Gun wants to target closely packed infantry with a 2+ or 3+ armor save. I have found with these big meks more is better so I will take two or even three big meks with SAGS.


Suggested Builds

Big Mek with a KFF on a Bike (basic). Power Klaw, KFF, Bike. This guy can be great for protecting a Bike death star from ignores cover attacks or protecting a phalanx of battlewagons where he can hide behind your vehicles and let his bubble extend forward. If you do this remember that your Bike does not have to point straight ahead. Instead put your bike sideways to give it a much protection bubble relative to the Battlewagons he is hiding behind.

Big Mek with a SAG on Foot. SAG, Gitfinda. You want to put this Big Mek in a unit that is durable enough to protect him and cheap enough to not be a huge investment such as a unit of 20 Shoota Boyz. Conversely you could put him in a unit that wants to shoot at something similar such as a unit of Mek Gunz upgraded to have Kustom Mega Kannons.

Big Mek on a Bike (death star). Power Klaw, Bike, KFF, Lukky Stikk. This is a really useful character to put in a death star unit of Bikes if you are using Zhadsnark Da Rippa (affectionately known as Snarf Snarf to some players) from Imperial Armour 8. Snarf Snarf cannot take Da Lukky Stick so your Big Mek does double duty both protecting your death star from ignores cover attacks, and granting your unit +1 WS.

Big Mek with SAG on a Bike. SAG, Bike, git finda, Power Klaw (maybe). You probably don’t want to include this in a death star unit, but instead give your Big Mek a smaller unit of @5 Bikers to offer some protection but not cut down on the SAG’s mobility or if you have lots of other threats he is fine alone deploy him similar to a mek gun that can move quickly. Also if a unit of scouts get to close the mek you can use the dakka guns on the bike instead of the SAG so that you don't have to worry about it scattering backwards and taking out your mek. The whole point here is to have a mobile SAG that would be able to target units you might not otherwise be able to target.


Weirdboy

Weirdboys have no access to equipment. The only upgrade they have available is to go from a level 1 psyker to a level 2 psyker. If you have the points, upgrade him to a level 2 pskyer: his Deny the Witch rolls may increase and he will gain an additional power. This is a good value for only 25 points.

However, his lack of equipment and upgrade options means that your only real decision is what power list to choose from. Weirdboys have access to the Ork powers as well as both Sanctic and Maelific Daemonology.

The Ork powers mostly provide Ork players with ranged attacks that are blast, thus minimizing the low Ballistic Skill on an Ork. They also provide access to reliable AP 2 and 3 ranged attacks.

Taking either Sanctic or Maelific powers can be somewhat of a suicidal act for Weirboyz as they will perils on any double that you roll, and their base leadership is only 7 making it difficult to pass the leadership tests a perils requires. However, if you are lucky and generate the Hammerhand power from Sanctic your basic Ork Boyz will absolutely destroy any unit they get in combat with. There is no Maelific power that is as overwhelming good for the Ork as Hammerhand, but summoning Daemons can be a very effective tactic for an Ork army and the Possession power brings something completely new to an ork army in the form of a flying or jump monstrous creature that very few of your opponents will be prepared for.



Painboy

The Painboy only has access to the the Orky Know-wots and the Runts & Squigs lists. This gives the painboy access to a bosspole and a single grot orderly, allowing his unit to reroll a single Feel no Pain save, as well as a warbike, effectively allowing him to join a unit of Warbikers, Nobz on Bikes, or even Deffkotpas.

Painboys do not provide you with upgraded leadership, but they are independent characters. This means that while they do satisfy the requirement of roll 2-3 on the Mob Rule table, they will not help you with the prior leadership test. Their main benefit is bringing Feel no Pain to a unit.

The two most common use for a Painboy is either in a large Mob of Orks to make the unit that much more difficult to clear off of an objective, or in a deathstar unit such as Nob Bikers or a large unit of Warbikers. Your Painboy is also 100% mandatory if you plan to run the Green Tide Formation.

Suggested Builds

Painboy on a Bike. Include this Painboy with a unit of 8-15 Bikes or a unit of 5+ Nob Bikers to give the unit a lot of survivability. Unless you really need the ranged firepower, going flat out for the upgraded Jink is probably helpful as well.

Painboy in a Trukk. Include this painboy in a squad of Trukk Boyz to help mitigate the damage from exploding Trukks and Mob Rule. If this is your play consider using multiple detachments each consisting of 2 Painboys and 2 squads of Trukk Boyz for maximum FnP shenanigans.

Painboy on foot. Include this Painboy in a large unit of guys on foot to make them way more obnoxious. 30 Shoota Boyz are a solid choice here.

Painboy in backfield. Bosspole. Include this Painboy in a sizable backfield unit such as Lootas to make them a little more survivable and to provide a character for the Mob Rule table as well as a Bosspole for the reroll. If you want some extra protection you can put the unit on a Skyshield Landing Pad for a 4+ inv. save followed by a 5+ FnP.


Mek

Contrary to what some people think, you cannot take this guy to fulfill your primary HQ requirement. You instead are able to purchase one Mek for every other actual HQ choice you purchase. These guys provide characters for units that need them for the Mob Rule table and can also eat challenges freeing your Nobz and Warbosses to slaughter basic troopers.

It is tempting to give these guys a Killsaw, but this doubles their points cost and only provides you with S.6 armorbane.

In an all comers list these guys probably don’t have much place, but in a situation where your regular opponents regularly challenge your characters out, a Mek or two can be very useful.


Mad Dok Grotsnik

Mad Dok Grotsnik is basically a Painboy who provides you with upgraded leadership, and some actual melee potential thanks to his Power Klaw and 4 base attacks. He also grants a unit Fearless and Rampage making him most useful in either a unit such as MegaNobz that will benefit from Rampage for the extra attacks or a large block of Boyz that will benefit from Fearless.

Suggested Builds:

Same as Painboy

Mad Dok in a Battlewagon. Include Mad Dok with a unit of @5 MANZ. The Battlewagon gives the MANZ some protection, while Mad Dok grants them Rampage for a heap of extra attacks, and makes them fearless in case they actually lose a round of combat.

Mad Doc with a unit of 30 shoota boyz Ard boyz, 3 rokkits, Nob PK. This is a very hard unit to kill and will frustrate your opponent to no end. It is expensive but it is built to last the whole game and take on just about anything thrown at it. To get more info about it check out

SCSCOFIELD'S TACTICA HERE

Kaptin Badruk

Kaptin Badruk is an interesting HQ choice for an Ork player because he brings two things that are otherwise unavailable to an Ork army: a 3+ armor save and a 5+ inv. save. The 3+ armor save is probably more interesting than truly helpful since most of your opponents will be expecting MANZ and thus be prepared to deal with 2+ armor saves, but the inv. save can be very useful, and his automatic warlord trait allows him to reroll a single armor or inv. throw every turn, so that makes him a little more survivable than one would otherwise expect.

The biggest problem with Badruk is that he lacks a Power Klaw and is only base S.4 making his attacks rather weak. If you are using him, your best bet is to keep him away from melee as much as possible and instead use his S.7 AP.2 gun. Sure, he still has a junk ballistic skill of 2, but as his gun as Assault 3 you should still get 1 hit every turn (hopefully).

Suggested Builds:

Unit of 5-10 Flash Gitz. Add some extra firepower and a better leadership to a big unit of Flash Gitz. Putting them inside a Battlewagon is probably the way to go for these guys.

Unit of 15 Tankbustas. Badruk works pretty similarly in this unit as with the Flash Gitz by adding some extra firepower to the unit and giving you better leadership. With a unit of Tankbustas you also get the added benefit of having access to a Power Klaw on the Nob.


Boss Zagstruk

When attempting to use Boss Zagstruk it is important to note that his Gift of Gork and Mork the Vulcha’s Klaws only work on his Hammer of Wrath attacks. This means that in order to get a S.8 AP.2 hit you can’t use Zaggstruk’s Rokkit Pack in the movement phase. This makes getting that hit very challenging and probably not worth the trouble.

A better strategy with Zagstruk is to keep him in the center of your army to utilize his automatic Warlord trait as Bellowing Tyrant allows any unit within 12” of him to reroll morale and pinning tests. This means that only a single model needs to be within 12” of him so feel free to make a ridiculous conga line.

Suggested builds:

I’m not certain if there is one.
 
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#2 ·
Nice Tactica rundown, thanks.
There are certainly some good things to consider. I'd not thought about using Grotsnik in a smaller unit than a green tide TBH, but he certainly would provide a difficult unit to shift in those circumstances you suggested.
I may give it a go next time.
 
#4 ·
It is good to try it. I usually go more assualt with mine and instead of shoota boys will go all slugga Ard boyz with grotsnikk, nob with Pk and just to make it extra nasty I add the warboss with a pk and lukky stikk to the group. It gives you 3 powerklaws, everyone is WS3 now so shooting is way better and the loley slugga boy is even a monster in CC pumping out crazy attacks.

Makes for some interesting reading: a primer, in my case, about an army I rarely have to face... but figure I should know how to, in case I ever do actually come up against it.
I do the same thing reading other armies tactics so I know how to handle them. I will definitely have to do it now that I found a regular group to play with. Hope it helps if you ever run into orks.
 
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