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So I recently bought 4 boxes of Orc Boyz which i'm going to assemble soon. But when I looked around on my spare bitz I noticed that I have A LOT of Savage Orc Bows and then I got the itch to start converting. Honestly I have never used Arrer Boyz so what do you guys think? Is there any reason to pick Arrer Boyz over Night Goblins with bows?

Not really, bows arent all that powerful and BS3 doesnt help that. Mind as well spend the points getting extra choppas where orcs really shine

kenshin620 wrote:Not really, bows arent all that powerful and BS3 doesnt help that. Mind as well spend the points getting extra choppas where orcs really shine

Arrer boy is the same cost as an orc with a 2nd choppa.
Bows work pretty well in horde formation, as do basic orcs.

So, if you were going to run a block of 40 orcs, would you rather have 10 more S4 attacks, or 30 S3 shots?
For a front line unit, orcs with extra choppas are great, but if you're out on the flank, those 30 shots might be nice to have.

Bows aren't great, but 7 points is a pretty good deal for a T4 model with light armor and S4 in the first round of combat.

Combined with Hand of Gork, arrers are awesome. Poof, not only am I now out of your charge arc and on your flank, but here's 20 or so arrow shots to boot.

-Matt

arrer boyz are good in high point games. But overall boyz are better and for 2 more points a model in horde formation you could dish out 39 str 5 attacks with big 'uns with 2 CC weapons.

HawaiiMatt wrote:

kenshin620 wrote:Not really, bows arent all that powerful and BS3 doesnt help that. Mind as well spend the points getting extra choppas where orcs really shine

Arrer boy is the same cost as an orc with a 2nd choppa.
Bows work pretty well in horde formation, as do basic orcs.

So, if you were going to run a block of 40 orcs, would you rather have 10 more S4 attacks, or 30 S3 shots?
For a front line unit, orcs with extra choppas are great, but if you're out on the flank, those 30 shots might be nice to have.

Bows aren't great, but 7 points is a pretty good deal for a T4 model with light armor and S4 in the first round of combat.

Combined with Hand of Gork, arrers are awesome. Poof, not only am I now out of your charge arc and on your flank, but here's 20 or so arrow shots to boot.

-Matt

Heh, looks like i'm gonna have a couple of Arrer Boyz soon.

Johnnom wrote: arrer boyz are good in high point games. But overall boyz are better and for 2 more points a model in horde formation you could dish out 39 str 5 attacks with big 'uns with 2 CC weapons

Yeah that's true but I already got a Horde unit of Big'Uns.

They were not a popular choice, but they can suprise you. Arrer boyz are melee troops that also happen to have a S3 shooting attack. Most races pay premium for double duty troops *cough* Sea Guard.

With 8th edition stand and shoot with deep blocks of archers is nasty. Frankly I liked arrer boyz back in 7th. No armour, orcs dont get a decent save, hand weapons, same as boyz; and a close combat champion.

They lost the close combat champion but gained the same boosted close combat attack of every other boy. Frankly I like them even more.

I used to see them played them in two ranks on a hill. Now I will be happy to take four ranks and use them as line troops, either rush in with the other boyz, not very efficient but a hardly a big loss, you miss out on one attack per file, plus one for lack of a combat champion.
In return you get the versatility to say, 'I am not going to charge today' and shoot instead. Sometimes the other army is choppier than you.

Orlanth wrote:
With 8th edition stand and shoot with deep blocks of archers is nasty.

How so? You can not volley fire as a S&S so it is better to have wide blocks of archers.

None the less I have seen arrer boys run as a flank and shoot unit in OnG and while a terror causer cleans them up nicely they are still anoying

Johnny-Crass wrote:

Orlanth wrote:
With 8th edition stand and shoot with deep blocks of archers is nasty.

How so? You can not volley fire as a S&S so it is better to have wide blocks of archers.

Not the point, in the past you couldn't afford to have more than one ranks, two on a hill. Back in the day two ranks, standard and hill was deceptively powerful.
Now you don't need to risk a situational unit, deep ranks has value as a defensive unit, firepower isnt. In combat two more attacks per file at S3 is a fair enough offset of the missing S4 attack from a second choppa. Arrer boyz are S4 melee troops with their choppas, that isnt bad for 7pts, not bad at all. You are not short changed with deep block arrer boyz and gain a lot in versatility.

So is a block of 30 good enough in most people's opinions or should I dedicate to 40? I'm thinking of lots of Spear Chukkas and Rock Lobbas then using Savages, a NG netter horde with a couple fanatics and maybe a Mangler or two to fill it out. not trying to hijack the thread, but does this sound plausible?

30 is decent, and if you find them lacking, simply upgrade to 40.

Your list is certainly more than just plausible, NG netter hordes,Savages, Spear Chukkas and Rock Lobbas are all staples of competitive O&G.

Cryonicleech wrote:30 is decent, and if you find them lacking, simply upgrade to 40.

Your list is certainly more than just plausible, NG netter hordes,Savages, Spear Chukkas and Rock Lobbas are all staples of competitive O&G.

This is really encouraging to hear. Thanks for the feedback. Feel free to answer in PM if it's going to drag the thread off topic, but is Azhag worth it this edition in your opinion? Maybe him with an Arachnarok buddy to create some large target diversity?

Arachnarok is worth taking, other thread on this recently.

18" Inspiring Presense makes a real difference, especially if you have goblins.

If you have the Azhag you could try him or just make your own warboss. Its what I am building right now.

Arachnarok is worth taking as a rare NEVER as a lord mount. Its far to many points for that

I disagree. I wouldn't use the spider shrine personally. The basic arachnarok is the way forward.

However because the arachnarok has ordinary gobbos as well as the shaman lord, so there is shielding against being picked off by archers, and loremaster doesn't hurt if you like Little Waargh.

I am not convinced by the price myself but it offers enough that when I get my incy mincy I will dry pin my shaman and shrine and use it from time to time.

The flinger, that I will leave clean off.

On the arrer boyz, while I havn't used any yet (still getting my all goblin fix) I would be tempted to run them as my bunker. Now nothing says un-orcy like a bunker but having a bunker that can participate in things that are happening around him (ie shoot what is near and not in combat) and while still being orcs when being shot at or in CC is nice also. Doing this, I would probably have a 20 man unit; enough to take wounds but not too many that not being able to volley file (ie never being able to volley fire) will not cause a large amount of wasted points.

Do orcs need a bunker?

Orcs hang tough in the battle, goblins need bunkers. I am hearing nasty things about using the spider banner BSB and 100+ goblin archers as a bunker unit

I played against something like that once. Part of the problem was that with such a huge unit, most of the bows end up out of range, and the BSB tends to be up front, so is prone to assassination.

On the other hand, it did create a no-go zone for my gyrocopter, and was pretty concerning for other small units.

Arrer Boyz are readily worth it. You're paying the same as a weapon upgrade on a regular Boy for... a weapon upgrade on a regular Boy. Furthermore, they serve as a useful bunker for any Big Waaagh! Shamans who roll up Foot of Gork. That S6 Template D3 Wound weapon isn't helping you when your Shaman is stuck in combat Turn 2 / 3, but when he's smashing it down for 4-5 turns straight...