Unit Evaluation: Fast Attack
Storm Boyz
Utility: Competitive
These Boyz are one of the best units in the Codex. They are seriously now the premier dedicated assault unit in the Ork army. Their big draw is that they move an extra 1D6" in the movement phase every turn, and can still shoot and charge after this extra movement. Sure if you roll a 1 then you take a wound (and still move 1"), but this downside is well worth the benefit.
Now remember that you roll this extra movement dice before you move the unit, so you always know exactly how far you can or can not move. This is absolutely huge, because if you know that your movement won't take you to the next piece of cover or into assault, you can plan accordingly. Also its important to realize that Storm Boyz are not "infantry" so you do not get any benefit from the 'Waaagh' move. They're fast, but not that fast!
One of the things that really make these Boyz shine is that on the charge, you stand a very good chance of getting most if not all of your mob engaged, because they're so extremely fast. I recommend taking Mobz of at least 16 Boyz, and in a list where you are going to live with only one squad, I suggest taking the full mob of 20. I find it hard to build a competitive list without at least two Mobz of 16 Boyz in it though. These Boyz are that good!
Equipping your Boyz
They really don't get a lot of options and to be honest, they don't need them! They come with Frags already, and the only option is the no-brainer upgrade of a Nob, who by this point you should realize gets a Power Klaw and not the Huge Choppa. The Nob also has the option to take 'Eavy Armor, which just like in normal Boyz Mobz, should be avoided as its relatively useless.
The question is whether or not to spend the points for a Bosspole, which can be worth it many times because these Boyz will see combat and LD is an issue. On the other hand I'm finding that points are so tight when building a competitive list that you really can run out of points and there is some idea that if your Boyz are losing combat and there is a small enough amount of them around that they're going to break, they're probably about to die anyway.
That all said, the honest truth is that the safer, more conservative bet is to spend the small bit of points and give them the Bosspole. After that they're ready to hit the table. Just use cover and get them into CC safely and you should be set!
Storm Boyz: Special Character
Ahhh Zaagstruk, what a conundrum of a Character upgrade. He replaces the Nob now, and instead of giving you a 12" charge, he allows your unit to Deepstrike and Charge the turn you arrive! Not bad, but his 'Power Klaw' that may go at I value, is only there on the turn you charge! And when you deepstrike and charge, you lose D3 Storm Boyz! Combine this with a hefty points cost, and I think you'll find that he's really not worth the points even with such a shocking ability.
War Buggies
Utility: Semi-Competitive
Its amazing how something can go from near mandatory in one dex to only "OK" in the next one. Such is the power of new Codexes and such is the fate of the War Buggy. These guys really used to be my favorite anti-tank units in an Ork army. They were cheap, they were fast, they were scoring, and they gave you somewhat reliable rokkits for a cheap price. Now they still do all those things, but they compete against other units that do the same job with either better durability (arguable) or with more utility (not so arguable).
Now I don't mean to say that buggies should be avoided. I'm saying that it may be hard to find a place in your army for them, especially in light of the Storm Boyz that compete for this slot.
Equipping the Buggies
- Big Shootas - The cheapest buggy gets you a Twin Linked Big Shoota. Given what the dakka output on these are, and the fact that you can get lots of shots other places in the Ork list, I pretty much write this option off, except in special cases which I'll get to later.
- Rokkits - Lootas make up for the anti-tank deficiency that Buggies used to fill in the old Ork list, and with only S8, they're not the answer to our AV14 problems. So you're not buying much anti-tank here. The upgrade here isn't that expensive and is worth it over the Big Shoota if you have points to spare and want Buggies.
- Skorcha - Oh what used to be the cheapest and one of the most effective options now becomes the most expensive, but at the same time, its still effective! Quick heavy flamers for not too many points ain't too shabby! Hop out and scorch a squad and make your points back and then some! This is actually a decent option for the buggies if you actually want to use them offensively and have them fulfill a unique role you can't replicate elsewhere in the list. Remember that even if you convert them from normal buggies, Skorchas come with the tracked upgrade for free, so go right through that terrain!
Buggy Vehicle Upgrades
- Armor Plates - This looks somewhat tempting because hey, its extra armor on a scoring unit, yay for last turn moves to nab objectives! Right? Wrong. Its AV10 open topped and this upgrade is 1/3 the cost of the vehicle. Thats a lot of points for something that will only come into play 1/6th of the time when glanced and 1/6th of the time when penetrated.
- Grot Riggers - Likewise the nerf to Grot Riggers working in the shooting phase and not the beginning of the turn to make the unit mobile again also somewhat limit my wanting to take it on such a cheap vehicle. Still, it can turn the unit scoring again on the last turn if you get it into position, and thats always helpful. Plus its relatively cheap, so it is worth while.
- Red Paint Job - Its more expensive now, but an extra inch does go a mile when using 24" Rokkits or Template Skorcha. Also if you're going to use these guys with other ideas in mind like nabbing objectives at the end of the game, that extra inch really does help.
- Wartrakk Upgrade - Debatable here. You can move 24-25" a turn, many times you can go around terrain features to get where you need to. Likewise, if you're rolling for dangerous terrain tests you'll probably be rolling 2D6 99% of the time, where you still have a chance at failing. I just don't know if this is worth the cost, I'm guessing not since I like my buggies cheap as possible.
Other Uses for the Buggy
There are other uses to this cheap little vehicle besides direct damage and objective grabbing.
Some people are already talking about converting Buggies from the new Trukk model. By doing so, they can create the perfect cheap "Screen Unit" for a whole lot of actual Trukk bound Mobz hiding behind it.
The new models look to be pretty high, and basing the Buggies on those models certainly can win you 'modeling points' with opponents, since current buggies pre-date 2nd Edition, but by screening Trukks with them, you may be considered to be "modeling to your advantage" which can bring about a huge question in sportsmanship and/or a hit in a sports score at a tournament. So while this tactic is quite valid, it has some out-of-game consequences in it.
Additionally with this tactic, you want at least two units of 2 to 3 Buggies to effectively screen your Trukks. Which means you're cutting into the amount of Storm Boyz that you can field in an army, and even when going with lots of Trukks, having a big mob of Storm Boyz to back you up in situations is crucial, so finding the balance between the two is going to be hard if you're dead set on this kind of application.
Warbikers
Utility: Poor
Ahh another "unit that could have been great". I'll sum up the changes really fast here:
Now get Slugga + Choppa for Extra CC attack = Good
Lose Psycho Blasta Special Rule = Bad, but fair enough
Gain 4+ Armor Save, Cover Save increased to 4+ = Great!
No more cover save passed to units behind them = Bad, but fair enough
Lose Fearless = Unit is no longer worth fielding!
Much like with Nobz, Mega Nobz, or any small unit of expensive Orks, these Boyz will not stick around very long once the going gets tough! The major LD issues that these guys will experience when stuck in where they want to be - Close Combat with a PK Nob, they will simply have problems against units with Power Fists or anything that gets past their T5 and 4+ Save. In fact against anything with a higher number of attacks is going to cause problems, and in the world of 'competitive 40k' these things are not hard to come by.
Now granted, with their 4+ Cover save they're pretty resilient from shooting with decent AP values, and T5 is pretty nice, but you will need to hug cover and only come out when its time to shoot and charge something, because if you take units with only say 6 Bikes in them, with 2 Casualties, they're testing on LD7 to run. Not pretty. Sure when they come out they can shoot with their nice Twin Linked half range Big Shootas and then charge, which will put some hurt on a squad of Marines, its still not that impressive for something you can get elsewhere in the list for less points with much more durability (here's a hint, its the first thing in the Fast Attack Section and it begins with Storm and ends with Boyz).
Equipping the Bikes
They don't have many options, and what they do have is covered everywhere else. If you buy them, they probably want to get stuck in, since any casualties they inflict via their somewhat decent shooting will probably lead to them getting shot and wiped out by whatever else is close to your target.
The kit is straight forward - Nob, Power Klaw, Bosspole. The Bosspole is arguable because you inflict a wound on an expensive unit with only a 4+ save, but to be honest sticking around after failing a fall back test is better than being completely dead then and there. If you have to ask why you're taking the Power Klaw over the Huge Choppa, you need to go re-read the other sections of the Takktica.
To be honest I feel bad rating them "Poor", but competitively speaking, they just are. Sure they can be used in a rewarding fashion in fun games, like most non-competitive options in the dex. They're somewhat cheap enough where a unit of 5 or 6 with a PK Nob and maybe bosspole can keep them around and its under 200 Points for the unit, which isn't too bad. Used right they can do good things though in some matchups they will not have any good targets to go up against.
Helping them be somewhat useful for fun
One way to alleviate the problems of this unit, which are mainly LD based is simply to throw a Warboss or special character into the unit. This probably leads to "overkill" in terms of damage output, because the Boss is so potent, and thus is probably better off on his own, but if you were looking for a way to use this Mob without having too much trouble because of the rules, this is one way around the problem.
Deff Koptas
Utility: Semi-Competitive
Ahh, something else good in the fast section! Granted these guys aren't the greatest thing in Fast Attack, but they do have their uses!
First off they're scouts and jet bikes. That alone is pretty neat for setting up a few first turn charges, except for the fact that the Koptas are saddled with some mediocre combat upgrades that almost double the cost of the model! Also consider the max mob size of 5 and their LD is 7 and you get the idea that having Deff Koptas in an assault with a unit with a Power Fist and you start to understand why assault may be a bad idea.
Of course they have some other uses too. They can be given twin linked rokkits for just 10 more points compared to a Rokkit Buggy, and they can be taken in units of 1, which really do make them good contenders for 'Last Turn Objective Grabbers'. The sad part is that with the current state of 40k Rules, T4(5) with 2W and a 4+ Armor Save is much more durable than an AV10 vehicle.
Additionally, using this option opens up some nice possibilities. In games where you can go first, you can use the Deff Koptas to scout up, and then move 12" into position to shoot TL Rokkits at Skimmers hiding behind terrain for turn 1, before they move. Granted this isn't always a sure-fire way to bring skimmers down, but it is a possibility for use.
Using the Deff Koptas
- Small units should be used for objective grabbing. One model should be fine for this as it bypasses the LD problems of the unit.
- Big units are needed if you're going to try for the turn 1 charge. Given the squad limitations I'd say a unit of 4 is probably optimal; however as Dakka Member Redbeard pointed out, a unit of 2 Koptas with one Buzzsaw could be used as a simple "charge and tie combat" unit for turn 1 charges that are mainly there to stop infantry from firing at you. A squad of 4 can take on harder targets but will likely wipe out what they charge which can be disadvantageous at times. Just be careful with the Squads of 2 as it'll take only 1 casualty to see something run off.
- Probably only one bike should have the Power Klaw as it gets expensive otherwise.
- Don't forget they have Hit and Run! Coordinating use of Hit and Run to tie up shooty squads that may struggle to hurt the Kopta in Close Combat is a great application for these guys! Devastators are a prime target for this kind of application.
The issue with the Koptas is that they're perfectly suited to say, killing a unit without a Power Fist or without a whole lot of hitting power in CC, like Marine tactical squads. The problem here is that a LOT of the lackluster Ork units fall into this category and the Koptas share all their LD problems. Though truth be told the Deth Koptas can do a few things most units in this category can't: Scout, and Hit & Run.
Equipping the Koptas
- Twin Linked Big Shoota - Default weapon and thus the cheapest option. I recommend sticking with this if your Koptas don't plan to do anything but claim objectives at the end of a game. Additionally, if you're going to go for an assault style unit then this gun works out pretty nice to soften up infantry before a charge. It also helps cut costs since assault Kopta units are expensive and small by nature.
- Twin Linked Rokkit Launcha - Probably the overall utility for the Kopta. Assigning a unit of these Fly Boyz to do some anti-tank work early on in the game is pretty straight forward and isn't a half bad idea. The points cost is higher than I'd like but its fair for what you get, a semi-reliable Rokkit shot on a maneuverable unit.
- Kustom Mega Blasta - Avoid it like the plague!! You go to something that's only got one shot, is not twin linked, and it can hurt your Kopta. This thing has got "Bad Idea" written all over it. As a tank hunter, the TL Rokkit is more reliable and worth the paltry increase in cost to get it over the KMB. In terms of actually bringing AP2 to the list, its one shot with "gets hot" at BS2, this is a bad idea!
- Big Bomm - I'm pretty "meh" on this upgrade. Its not the most reliable thing and its damage output isn't that great with just a S4 AP5 Pie Plate. I wouldn't mind taking it at the cost listed if it wasn't a single shot weapon. As it is, I just don't see it as worth while.
- Buzzsaw - Power Klaws for Deff Koptas! Great right? Well not really. It costs a ton of points and its on a normal Boy who gets no benefit for having two CCWs, so you get 3 attacks on the charge at S7, and then 2 attacks at S6 after that. Granted the Koptas have Hit and Run so you can keep charging if needed, but I think that its an OK upgrade at best. They're good just like say Bikes - if you want to kill MEQs without Power Fists in the squad, a unit with a Buzzsaw in it can start wreaking havoc on turn 1 if things work out right for you.
Equipping your Koptas is dependent on what you want to do with them. For last turn objective grabbers, cheap ones work fine. Turn 1 assaulters want some punch and the Buzzsaw brings that. General utility says go for the Rokkits to hunt tanks if you feel you need that ability in your list. One thing is clear though, avoid the Kustom Mega Blasta!
Fast Attack Summary
Well we've got four units here, one clear winner in terms of direct power and one loser unit. Between them we have two units who may not be the best available choices, but definitely have their uses, even if in just a limited way, in a competitive Ork list.
The basic thing you need to realize when you look at the Fast Attack section is that Storm Boyz really are one of the strongest units in the Codex. To put it simply a somewhat cheap unit that can charge anywhere from 19-24" that has a lot of bodies, a lot of attacks, and a Hidden Power Klaw Nob is bad news for ANY target. These Boyz can take down vehicles in a pinch, they can preemptively charge big nasties like Flying Tyrants or Demon Princes, and they can enforce a healthy dose of area denial wherever you put them.
They are the premier counter assault unit in the codex and they should never be over looked when creating any kind of competitive list. With their speed and some tactical deployment, you should be able to use cover effectively and limit them from taking any incoming fire, getting them to charge when and where you need them. The tactical advantages they bring to your army list can not be denied.
The other choices like Buggies or Deff Koptas are decent but will require a lot more tactics and work to get mileage out of, but can be more rewarding - especially in friendly games. Bikes are also a unit on this level and barely misses the cut to be called "Semi-Competitive", but when used say in conjunction with a Boss on Bike or just used carefully they can be a decent unit to be used in friendly games. Just don't expect too much out of them or for them to be "tournament worthy" and you should do just fine with them if you put your head to it.
Unit Evaluation: Heavy Support
Battlewagon
Utility: Competitive
This entry right here is something special for the Orks, because it?s both a source of competitive advantage in some tournament armies (when built a specific way) and in other ways it's the key to using Poor units effectively in friendly games.
BTW, in case you were wondering, all your old 3rd Edition "Looted Tanks" want to use this entry to "Count-As" in the new rules.
Evaluating the Battlewagon is pretty hard because of the duality of its uses. On one hand, it's a pretty nice tank with good anti-troop (including anti-MEQ) firepower that can be expensive when kitted out this way. On the other hand it?s still a tracked vehicle, and those units are just generally not worth it in 4th Edition 40k Competitive Armies.
The end of the debate for me, putting the Battlewagon firmly in the "Competitive" category was the fact that they're useful in the context of a competitive army. They're easily one of the best Heavy Choices and against MEQ's they're a pretty damn good tank, drawing fire from the rest of the army and putting out good firepower. They can also be used to devastating effect screening Trukks to get critical assaults off. I can't see taking a KoS style army and not including Battlewagons for this reason.
Now it should be stated that while this unit is definitely "Competitive", there are bad options for this tank and they need to be handled with care. They're not Falcons or even Hammerheads in terms of survivability, but they are good and can be used properly to secure a victory for the Waaaagh.
Equipping the Battlewagons
Equipping your Wagon is based very much on the task you want to set out before it. Do you want a cheap screen for trucks? Do you want to transport 20 Boyz somewhere? Do you want to Transport only 12 Boyz somewhere? Do you want a main battle tank that can dish out firepower galore?
These are the questions you need to ask yourself when you think about taking a battlewagon. Just slapping some of the many options together and putting it on the table will likely result in failure. The key here is to pick a task and then equip the wagon accordingly. Of course there are some options that should always be taken and some that should always be avoided.
- Killkannon - It?s a limited version of the Battlecannon - 24? S7 AP3 Pie plate. It won't instant kill characters, and it's short ranged, but you can move and fire this sucker. Obviously, if you want you wagon to be a Main Battle Tank that will kill just about anything it shoots at, this is the upgrade for you.
- ?Ard Case - Close the top of the Battlewagon. I consider this almost mandatory for Main Battle Tank Wagons, bad for Transport Wagons. It could be argued that if you want to transport a shooty unit, then this upgrade is pretty good for a Transport Wagon, but for the most part any shooty unit should probably be on foot anyway.
- Deff Rolla - Some people go on and on about this upgrade and I can't honestly see why. Sure it lets you re-roll difficult terrain tests for the tank, and it can do D6 S10 hits when tank-shocking (or 2D6 when someone death or glories), but I just don?t see it being that useful vs. a knowledgeable opponent. First off, the Tank Shock hits allow armor saves, so honestly who cares if it?s S10, after it went above S8, it doesn?t matter since you can maybe do some casualties, but not a whole lot to matter. It?s not bad vs. AV13 vehicles, but you can?t tank shock what S10 would help against that Orks have problems with: AV14 Vehicles. So unless you plan on getting your Battlewagon to the other side of the table to tank shock a predator, it's not going to be all that worth it. For what it does, I see it as too expensive and not that useful. You shouldn't get near any tank you'd want to tank shock, and unless you're fighting other Orks or maybe horde Nids, then the hits from Tank Shocks aren't that great.
- Red Paint Job - Move an extra inch for free, for a small amount of points to boot. For ANY Wagon, this is an almost mandatory upgrade for me. When you want to shoot your 24? Killkannon you can move 7? and fire, which is crucial to getting range. When you want to transport a unit into combat, that extra inch goes a mile! I can?t imagine a time I'd take a Battlewagon and NOT give it a Red Paint Job.
- Grot Riggers - More expensive this time around and not as good as they were before. Now they work in the shooting phase instead of at the start of the turn to remobilize an immobile vehicle. Still, it's relatively cheap and if you?re taking it on a Heavy Support Battlewagon, especially a Main Battle Tank that is a Scoring Unit, I would always take them. In the first game I played with a Battlewagon they remobilized me on Turn 5, which let me move the Tank to score on an objective on Turn 6. I wouldn't take this on Dedicated Transport Battlewagons though, since they're not scoring and once they can't move, they're essentially dead anyway.
- Stikkbomb Chukka - Basically if you charge out of the Battlewagon, you count as having Frags. Critical for transporting say Burna Boyz or Nobz, but not so useful for just about anything else. It's cheap, but I think maybe a little too expensive for what it does. If you're going to use the Wagon as a dedicated Transport for Nobz it's worth it, but not for Mega Nobz. Boyz in the Wagon it's arguable since it's cheaper than giving the whole squad Frags.
- Armor Plates - Extra Armor for Orks! This is one of the upgrades I would always take on a Battlewagon regardless of its mission in life. It keeps your transports moving, and your scoring units moving. Critical for staying alive or delivering cargo.
- Boarding Plank - One of the upgrades I just don?t see a whole lot of utility for. Embarked Troops can perform close combat attacks on an enemy vehicle within 2? if the ?Wagon hasn't moved more than 12? that turn. The problem is that most of the time you will have to get out to charge to even reach a vehicle controlled by a good player. I just don?t see it being very useful.
- Wreckin Ball - Another upgrade I'm not too thrilled about. If you move less than 12? you can make a S9 attack on a unit within 2? on a 4+. It?s OK vs. Vehicles if you can get it to go off, but how often will you be so close to an enemy vehicle to make it work? Likewise it's still not that great vs. infantry units since it's one hit that allows armor saves. And it?s pretty expensive to boot. For 10 Points more you can get a Deff Rolla if you really wanted to get up close and personal with your Battlewagons.
- Grabbin Klaw - Well here's something that will make Skimmers sad! Get within 2? of a Wagon with this and on a 4+ in the Movement phase, the enemy vehicle can't move the next turn! The pay off here vs. Falcons and the like is absolutely huge, but honestly it?s something your opponent has to fall for and it's not that great since your Wagons can be avoided by most vehicles in the game that this would be useful against! Still, if I have extra points when making a list and I need to buy something, I'll put some Grabbin Klaws on my Battlewagons.
- Reinforced Ram - Cheap upgrade to re-roll dangerous terrain tests. Only 25% of the cost of the Deff Rolla, so if you want a Transport Wagon, this is your upgrade!
- Kannon - Oh look, you can take a Kannon on your Battlewagon! Except it?s one shot and you?re BS2. And it?s no better than a Rokkit except for range and the option for a crappy blast template! Still if you?re looking for a cheap gun to put on a Transport Wagon so that the first ?Weapon Destroyed? result doesn't immobilize your vehicle, this isn't a bad choice.
- Lobba - One must ask why you'd put this pretty crappy weapon on a Battlewagon. It's only "good" in artillery because you can fire it indirectly at enemy troops, in groups of 3 for a barrage. And they somehow thought it was good enough to be more expensive than the Kannon upgrade. Avoid this bad idea like the plague.
- Zzap Gun - Once the Zzap Gun no longer auto-hit and the 2D6 penetration rules are gone, it stopped being very good. It?s being fired by a BS2 Vehicle, it's not worth it compared to say the Kannon if you want a big gun on the tank that you have to roll to hit for using your Ballistic Skill.
- Big Shootas - You can have up to 4 of these things on the Wagon, and they're not fired by the embarked crew anymore! They?re pretty cheap for what you get, so if you wanted to build say a very cheap AV14 Dakka Wagon it?s not the worst idea in the world anymore. I don't see this as a competitive option, other than being the absolute cheapest "gun" you can throw on a Transport Wagon to prevent "Weapon Destroyed" from becoming "Immobilized".
- Rokkit Launchas - Twice the price of the Big Shoota upgrade (which still isn't that many points) you get a Rokkit to shoot. You can take up to 4 of these on your Wagon, but you have to stay still in order to fire all of them. Because it's the same points cost as a Kannon big gun, I can honestly recommend staying away from this upgrade. You almost always want to be moving your wagon to fire, and you need to move to get units within the 24? range of this Gun. So you can effectively only take one Rokkit if you want to move and fire, and at the same points cost the admittedly crappy Kannon is a better buy because of the increased range.
As you can see that?s a lot of options! I hope that the breakdown here gives you a good idea of what you should and should not take on your wagons depending on what you want your wagons to do. Just remember this one guiding factor when it comes to building your Battlewagon: Remember the job you want and do not get bogged down throwing random upgrades on the thing! Keep it as cheap as you can while still giving it the tools it needs to get the job done - nothing more!
Recommended Configurations
Since the Codex did such a terrible job of giving three example configurations of a Battlewagon, I figured I?d put down my three favorite configs:
- Main Battle Tank - 185 Points
- Killkannon, 'Ard Case, Red Paint Job, Grot Riggers, Armor Plates
- Transport Wagon - 120 Points
- Red Paint Job, Armor Plates, Big Shoota, Reinforced Ram
- Trukk Screener - 110 Points
- Red Paint Job, Armor Plates
Viable Transport Combos
One thing to note here before we go into specific units is that even though you would be tempted to take 12 or less Boyz and realize you can transport them in a Killkannon Battlewagon. I recommend not transporting units in a Killkannon wagon for a couple reasons. First off it makes the Wagon much more expensive and once you're transporting a unit 99% of the time you?re going to want the Tank to be open topped. The base points for a Killkannon wagon is 150 Points, before you add any kind of upgrades on the thing that you?re going to want. That?s a lot of points for a tank that's going to get +1 to the damage results when it does get hurt.
It also makes the tank that much more of a target and you're tempted to not move the tank the full distance to transport them so that you can fire the Killkannon. This makes for a bad combination, since if you get one round of firing off and the tank gets gimped, you're looking at a much longer footslog to the enemy with your transported squad.
The idea here is that if you're going to transport something - do it all the way. Your goal is to limit shots on the ?Wagon till you can deliver the payload and then you can worry about doing something else with it. Combining two functions into an expensive and somewhat fragile package is not a good idea.
Also remember that the rules that apply to the new Trukks do not apply to Battlewagons. If you get penetrated while moving fast, you will likely lose 75% of your Boyz being transported unless they've got some kind of an armor or FNP save. Taking Boyz in a Wagon as a transport is a risk, far more than taking them in a Trukk.
Now that I?ve stated some general advice, let?s get into specifics. One of the things that I want to cover here in this section are the different kinds of squads that one would want to take a Battlewagon for a transport. Some of these ideas are good and some are bad.
- Burna Boyz ? This is the squad that could, if only they could take a Trukk to get them into assaults or up close. So while they can?t take a Trukk, they can get in a Battlewagon which works almost as well for delivering this expensive but hard hitting squad. In my opinion the Battlewagon is the only way to make Burna Boyz worth it as an Elites choice, but even then the combo isn't good enough to make me want to take it competitively.
- Slugga Boyz ? To be fair about it, there is something to be said about getting a delivery of 20 Slugga Boyz w/ PK Nob into combat. It?s devastating when it works and it?s not a terrible amount of points for the combo, and it keeps your deployment less cluttered and it ?protects? 20 Boyz from small arms shooting. There is a problem here though. For the ?optimal? load outs (which is 20 Sluggas, with only a PK Nob + Bosspole with the above Transport ?Wagon) you could get 20 Storm Boyz w/ PK Nob & Bosspole for the same cost or pay 44 Points more and get two units of 12 Boyz in a Trukk w/ PK Nob & Bospole. Once you consider these options, you start to understand why this combo isn't all that efficient over other fast CC options available elsewhere in the list, and unlike Burnas you don?t get anything special with this squad you can?t get elsewhere with the aforementioned options.
- Nobz & MegaNobz ? These guys make it exceptionally tempting to take a Battlewagon Transport because they can both take one as a dedicated transport that doesn't use up a heavy slot! And that Wagon can't take a Killkannon, so it follows my advice about dedicating yourself to working as a transport, so it must be a good idea right? Wrong. First off, if you take a Battlewagon as a dedicated transport, it?s not a scoring unit, and as you will find out they?re an expensive proposition no matter how you look at it, and they don?t bring a whole lot of firepower to the table either to make them worth their cost. Second off, these two units can both take a Trukk as a dedicated transport, which is about half the cost of the Battlewagon when kitted out right and it offers a lot more speed and amazingly more protection if you do get shot and take damage because of the Trukks Ramshackle special rule.
- Shoota Boyz ? Now this is one special case unit that I can see being pretty good in a Battlewagon, unlike their Slugga counterparts. The idea here is that you can take a Battlewagon, zoom up 13?, disembark, and start shooting on turn 1, giving your opponent 20 Orks w/ PK Nob to deal with right off the bat. This isn?t a terribly bad idea and it gives you an application for the Wagon that can be used right at the start and it only needs to be able to move for one turn in order to be effective ? making it much easier to use and get results from. Taken three times over, it could give you a good model count for your Boyz while at the same time keeping you from deploying and moving a horde up the table. It?s vulnerable if you can?t hide all your stuff on turn 1 from opponents like Tau or Necrons, but for the most part it?s probably not a bad application of a Transport Wagon.
- Tankbustas ? The other elite unit that's probably not worth taking for a variety of reasons, but becomes somewhat useful when combined with a Battlewagon. By taking a Battlewagon and disembarking from the side you can screen your own LOS arcs to ensure you can target what you want with your unit. This is also a case where you could argue for a closed top transport Wagon since disembarking from the side is a good idea with this unit. It?s also a case where you could make a weak argument to take them in tandem with a Killkannon Wagon, since you probably won't take more than 12 of these Boyz in the unit and they can work well together somewhat. I still don?t think that this is an optimal configuration, but if you want to try something for fun, I can see some skill making it work against other suboptimal lists in friendly games.
- Flash Gitz ? Another Nob option that isn't all that great on its own that can be made somewhat better using a Battlewagon. Much like the Shootas their primary goal is to get out and shoot, so a closed top isn?t a bad idea. Likewise their small mob size and 24" shooting range means that combining them with a Killkannon wagon is not a bad idea at all. The trick to using that will be the fact that you can move the Wagon up 7" and fire like normal, but you can disembark the Gitz on the side of the tank (screening them from some shooting) and open up on a target 24? away with your D6 AP guns. Again, just like the Shoota Boyz, this is a combo that can be done on Turn 1, meaning that you don?t need your Wagon to spend a turn potentially being shot at for it to work out well and execute what you need done. Granted this is certainly not the most optimal combination in the codex, but boy does it take two fun units (that also can look awesome if converted right) and make them work in friendly games. I know that I personally will run this combo for my army in friendly games when I want to use the new Flash Gitz I?m converting.
- Lootas - The final combination I can think of for Wagons is not a very good one. The idea is using it as a firing platform for Lootas. By keeping it open topped, you can park it as an AV14 bunker for Lootas to shoot from. Granted you can?t move and fire from there, but it could be useful against armies without a lot of AV14 busting capability, but those armies are few and far between. You?re still looking at an open topped AV14 vehicle that has to sit out in LOS without moving to perform it?s function ? this is a very bad application for a Wagon, although you could do it with just the cheapest Wagon possible it?s probably not a good idea.
I think that's about as much as I can say for the Battlewagons, covering just about any kind of unit you could possibly throw into one. Hopefully this lengthy section has been useful and given you insight to ways you could use a Wagon in your army competitively or even just in friendly games.
Deff Dread
Utility: Poor
It?s such a shame to see that the Dread got no love going from the Old Codex to the new one. He?s gotten an extra attack, but his gun options went through the roof! And to be blatantly honest, he pales in comparison to the little brother the Killa Kanz.
One thing to remember is that no matter what you do, you?re dealing with a pretty expensive BS2 Walker that?s AV12. This thing will never be hard to neutralize unless you take a LOT of armored targets. The upside is that in the new Codex, you can take a lot of armored targets!
Special Considerations
The utility of the Dread could be upgraded to Semi-Competitive based on the fact that you can take him as a troops choice by taking a Big Mek HQ choice. As a Heavy Choice, he is pretty poor, but the fact that you can get him as a decently survivable Troops choice for a cheap amount of points (if kitted right) then it?s not a bad idea if you?re looking to max out on other areas of the FOC.
Equipping your Dread
Well you have to figure out what you want your dread to do before equipping him.
You can go all assault, which is risky since it needs to see combat to survive, which is hard to do with a unit that moves 6? a turn and doesn?t start on the table in escalation, which is pretty expensive, or you can throw guns on there to shoot at BS2. Granted you can buy two guns, and they don?t count as Twin-Linked, so it?s not bad, but you need to decide what you want as you must take two of the following options to field a legal Dread:
- Big Shoota - Cheapest option. Not the greatest since you can get lots of dakka elsewhere in the list, but if you want a dead cheap dread, this is the way to go.
- Rokkits - Again twice the cost of the Big Shoota, but with two shots and the fact that you can move and fire both guns, you get something pretty decent here and Orks need all the Anti-Tank fire they can get.
- Kustom Mega Blasta - This is the most expensive gun, but it?s also the best. It?s effectively a Rokkit with AP2 and because the Dread is a Vehicle it gets to ignore any pesky Gets Hot rolls that otherwise make the gun suck for Ork infantry.
- Skorcha - Well it?s as cheap as the Big Shoota, but you have to get close to use it. I just don?t like Heavy Flamer options on Dreads unless they?re going in a Drop Pod, and since Orks don?t get Drop Pods, I don?t like it on the Deff Dread. This is one upgrade that should be avoided at all costs.
- Extra DCCW - Same cost as the Kustom Mega Blasta, but only effective in CC. It gives you a boatload of attacks if you take two, which at S10, I3, and ignoring armor saves, is pretty good. Still it?s expensive and only useful if you make it to assault and if you?re going to spend that many points on the dread, the better option is potentially the KMB. Pretty good to go all assault in a Cityfight game though.
Dread Vehicle Options
- Grot Riggers - Pretty cheap and they can re-mobilize you in the shooting phase, which means you don?t get to move the turn you get fixed. This reason makes me want to ignore taking them. I won?t throw these on a dread till after I?ve run out of other places in the list to spend points.
- Armor Plates - While being twice the cost of Grot Riggers I think this is one of the ?always take? options for the dread. In case of being stunned, which is pretty common, you get to keep moving. This gets you into assaults and gets you behind terrain if you?re in danger. It is moderately expensive on what is an AV12 target, so I can see an argument for not taking it, but if you?re committing to taking a dread, you may as well give it as many chances of being useful as possible.
Another Perspective
The Dreadnought can be used very, very effectively as a psychological weapon given the right loadout. Equip the Dread with four close-combat arms, place it behind a cheap trukk on a flank, as far up as it will go and as close to the enemy as you can, and begin. Their will be one of two results. The first is that the Dread will be the focus of enemy fire that turn, which will mean shooting the trukk, then the dread. If the dread dies, you've likely tied up most of the enemy heavy shooting, sparing your cannon-armed battlewagon for 1-2 turns. Alternately, given enough cover between the shooters and the dread, you might tie up several turns of shooting and force the enemy to commit a tarpit unit to slowing the dread down. This makes for an excellent decoy while your boyz move in for the stomp. Not every unit needs to kill it's points back, there are subtler ways to victory, even for orks!
open_sketchbook
Killa Kanz
Utility: Competitive
Well talk about making some changes from the last codex, Kanz are piloted by Grots! This brings some inherent advantages and not a whole lot of disadvantages. The big plus is that you didn?t lose any armor or attack values, and you?re now BS3! Granted the Kanz are only WS2 now, but you?ll still hit WS4 troops on a 4+, which is mainly what these guys should be going after. It's now a little harder to snip off IC heads with these guys, as most IC's are WS 5 and so you will hit on 5's.
Because of these changes, these guys make for some pretty good fire support units. No morale tests to worry about, moderate survivability, and they can hold their own in CC.
Equipping the Kanz
- Big Shoota - The cheapest gun, and honestly I feel it's a waste here. The goal of the Kanz is fire support and if there's one thing you don?t need in a properly built Ork army is more anti-infantry shots.
- Rokkits - Three times the cost of the Big Shoota, but it brings somewhat accurate anti-tank fire. Honestly, with move and fire, the ability to ignore target priority checks, and BS3, this seems like a great option until you see--.
- Kustom Mega Blasta - For 5 points more than a Rokkit, you get what amounts to the same thing with AP2. Given that Orks have little to no good ranged armor ignoring weapons, and the fact that the KMB is now S8, you get all the goodness of the Rokkit with the ability to knock some 2+ Save units out too. Granted it?s 5 points more per Kan to upgrade, but you have to ask yourself, is it worth 5 Points to go from AP3 to AP2? I feel it is, but it's not going to be the same for everyone depending on how they build their list. Answer that question for yourself and you will know how to arm your Kanz.
- Skorcha - Look a heavy flamer on a walker with the highest Ballistic Skill in your army! Avoid like the plague!
- Grotzooka - A new weapon for the new codex and a new option to ignore. A S6 small blast template that's double the cost of the Big Shoota. It's got two shots, but I see the same kind of thing that was said about the big shoota being applicable here. You don't need more anti-infantry shots in an Ork army, and not on the most reliable unit with BS3 in the list.
Obviously I'm feeling that the Anti-Tank weapons here are your best bet for fire support. The Kanz are your most reliable BS3 unit in the army. Your biggest question is if its worth the points to upgrade to AP2 on your anti-tank guns or not. The choice of what you should probably be taking for your ranged gun is relatively clear: Rokkits or Kustom Mega Blastas.
Kanz Vehicle Options
- Grot Riggers - Pretty cheap and they can re-mobilize you in the shooting phase, which means you don?t get to move the turn you get fixed. This reason makes me want to ignore taking them. I won?t throw these on a dread till after I?ve run out of other places in the list to spend points.
- Armor Plates - While being twice the cost of Grot Riggers I think this is one of the ?always take? options for the dread. In case of being stunned, which is pretty common, you get to keep moving. This upgrade is especially important for Kanz because they?re fielded in Squadrons, and if one gets Shaken and can?t move, it gets destroyed if the other Kanz in the Squadron move away from it. This keeps them all moving till ones dead or immobilized. I?d put it on my ?always taken with Kanz? list.
Extra Advice
Kanz are best fielded in squadrons. Be sure to read over the vehicle squadron rules, because lots of people don't know them. Main points: Allocate shooting "hits" BEFORE rolling to penetrate armour, and kans fight individually in CC, like IC's. Like unit sizes even numbers are better than odd because of the scoring unit rules. The best thing about two kan squadrons is that one alone still scores. Because of this always try to maximize the use of your FOC slots. If you're going to take 6 Kanz, take 3 units of 2 if you can help it. Likewise, if you're going to field 3 Kanz, take a unit of two and a unit of one. Fielding 9 Kanz is inefficient in terms of scoring unit sizes but it gives you the maximum durability for the unit. And for an army it's is pretty appealing and when combined with a horde style list I think it is a pretty good choice.
Flash Gitz
Utility: Poor
Right off the bat I?m going to state that if you?re looking for something competitive, these guys aren?t it. They?re a very interesting unit but they cost way too much for what they do and they?re easily neutralized. That said; they?re a very interesting unit with a lot of options so I will dedicate some space to them. If you?re not interested in ways to make a mediocre unit work in friendly games, skip this section.
Sadly these guys are another unit of seemingly hard to kill Orks that are saddled with terrible LD problems that ensure that once you do lose some of these very expensive models, you?re going to take a LD test, fail, and they?ll be gone for good. And because of their high cost and max unit size of 10, they can?t really benefit from the special Ork LD rules.
This all said, out of all the Ork units that suffer from this problem, Flash Gitz are probably the most useful of these units in terms of what they bring to your army, though they do cost an arm and a leg to do it.
Here?s what they do: They have D6 AP on their guns. To start with they?re Assault 1, S5, 24?. So what you?re looking at is something that can move and fire some potentially devastating shots, depending on what you roll for the squads AP value. The problem is that they?re BS2 and only one shot!
Additionally these guys are Nobz with ?Eavy Armor, so in terms of survivability they?re pretty good (for an Ork), especially if you give them the Painboy option, which should always be taken to give the unit the Feel No Pain Special Rule.
Equipping the Gitz
The Gitz have three upgrade options for their guns, which can be combined in any way for the unit to give them a custom gun setup. They all cost the same amount of points to upgrade, and of course some upgrades are better than others, so lets review:
- More Dakka - This is by far the best upgrade you can give to Flash Gitz. They?re only BS2 and with only 1 shot on their guns, it?s not going to do a whole lot. By increasing their guns to Assault 2 with no downside and the same points cost as the rest of the upgrades, you?re looking at something that should always be taken if you?re considering Flash Gitz as a unit.
- Shootier - This increases the strength of the gun to S6, which means you?re wounding most things on 2?s. Personally I see this as the least taken upgrade since the draw with the Gitz is that you?re getting D6 AP, and with S5 you?ve got the strength to put wounds on a unit already. As a single upgrade it pales in comparison to More Dakka and if you wanted to throw it in combination with More Dakka you almost have to ask yourself why you?d want to for the points cost involved.
- Blastas - Well this one is tempting in the same manner that juggling hand grenades would be - Dangerous as hell but boy would it look cool! This gives you -1 to the roll for your AP value on your guns but adds the ?Gets Hot!? special rule. When combined with the More Dakka upgrade which is almost mandatory for the unit, you have a better chance of wounding yourself than you do of wounding the enemy with your shooting. Of course with a 4+ armor save and Feel No Pain if you took the Painboy (and you should) I can see this being somewhat tempting as 75% of the time you do take a wound, it?s saved, it?s still expensive and dangerous to yourself. I can see taking it for a laugh, because it makes the unit more interesting, but if I wanted to ?make Flash Gitz work? then I?d avoid the upgrade. Of course if you?re playing competitively you?re probably not taking Flash Gitz anyway, so this might not be such a bad upgrade if you are going to use them for fun.
Squad Options
- Ammo Runts - You can take up to three of these guys which will let you re-roll a single miss on your to hit rolls. Their points cost isn?t that high, but again it?s more stuff for an already expensive unit. One thing can be said for certain if you?re looking at these guys: If you?re taking Blastas and More Dakka on your guys, buy the ammo runts, since it can save you from an overheat. Other than that, it?s really your call if you want to blow points on this upgrade or not.
- Painboy - For a decent amount of points you can have one of your models in the unit give up his heavy armor, snazzgun, and git finda to be a Painboy. Why do this for what probably amounts to double the cost of the base model (if you took a gun upgrade)? Well he gives you two things: Feel No Pain and the ability to take Cybork Body for the entire mob. To be blatantly honest, he?s worth it for Feel No Pain alone, and if you wanted to make the unit more of a points sink you could give them the Cybork Body upgrade, but it?s probably not worth it. Still, I would never take Flash Gitz without a Painboy in the unit, the added resilience of Feel No Pain is too good to pass up.
- Cybork Body - Arguably Cybork Body could make them more resilient against AP4 shooting, which is what will mainly be directed at the unit, but it?s a lot of points to upgrade an already very expensive model. Still, I can see some people taking it for fun.
Special Character
One unit of Flash Gitz in an army be led by Kaptin Badrukk, for a whole boatload of points.
Basically with this guy, you?re almost buying another Warboss, albeit one with only two wounds, but still he?s not a bad addition to the unit if you wanted to blow a ton of points in one spot. He gives you LD9, which I feel is his main draw, since it eliminates the Morale problem of the Gitz. His second draw is his gun, which is more like playing Russian Roulette than it is firing a weapon in 40k. It?s an Assault 3, S7 AP2 gun with the Gets Hot special rule. So basically you REALLY have a higher chance of wounding yourself than you do actually hitting the enemy, let alone hitting and wounding the enemy (he overheats on a roll of 1-3, hitting the enemy on a 5 or 6). Still, he comes with 3 Ammo Runts that let you re-roll some of his shooting, which is in addition to the 3 you can already take for the unit. Additionally he has a 3+ Armor save, so when you combine that with the fact that with a Painboy you?re looking at the prospect that he?s going to take a wound 1/6th of the time when he does overheat.
To be honest, I?m not sure how worth it Badrukk is. If you?re taking Flash Gitz you?re probably not being competitive in the first place, and he REALLY makes the unit a points sink that?s pretty easy to kill for your opponent, but boy I?m sure he?ll be great for a laugh if you do use him with some More Dakka+Blastas Flash Gitz.
The final thing that can be said for the Gitz is that they can be used pretty well with a Killkannon Battlewagon with an ?Ard Case. This doesn?t make them even Semi-Competitive, but if you were looking for a way to use them intelligently, this is the way to be. See the Battlewagon entry for more details if you missed it.
Big Gunz
Utility: Poor
Ahh the Artillery made it into the new Codex, and despite the fact that they?re buffed because of Grots now having BS3 they?re still a terrible choice to field because of the retarded Artillery rules which make them very easy to kill. This combined with the natural low leadership of Orks, T2 of Grots, and the idea that if a stiff breeze even comes near an Big Gunz emplacement that it?ll go away makes it a very unappealing choice.
The only benefit the unit has is that it?s cheap and it?s somewhat accurate for Ork shooting possibilities. A unit of three of even the most expensive big Gunz with a Runtherd to give them a staggering LD7 will come in only at 100 Points, and it?s even less for other Big Gunz.
Still with only LD7 at best it?s not going to be good to select the best targets that aren?t already the closest of their kind that you want to shoot, and they?ll run when they take their first 25% casualties, which isn?t hard to do with only T2 as the majority toughness. Sure you can re-roll because of the Squighound, but then you?re losing D3 Grots to do it, and if you?ve taken shooting casualties, you?re going to be looking at having lost a good amount of grots from shooting and then more from having the re-roll. You can buy up to 6 additional crew members, but it?s still not that great for what you get.
The only good thing I can think of with them is you can take a cheap battery of Lobbas which can hide and claim a table quarter in Cleanse, while not being shot all game. That said, lets go through the three types of Guns available.
Selecting Your Big Gun
- Kannons - The default and cheapest option. It?s a Rokkit with 36? Range or a Frag missile with also 36? range. Whoopty do. The best you can hope for is a good round of shooting at BS3, with some ammo runts if you purchased them. With only S8 it?s not bad, but still nothing all that spectacular. It is very cheap though, but even at the tiny cost I can think of other places to spend the points.
- Lobbas - The second cheapest option is not terrible for what it costs, but it doesn?t do a whole lot. It can fire indirectly, so you negate the survivability and LD problems of the unit, but all you?re looking at is 1 to 3 S5 AP5 small blast templates firing as a barrage. It does cause pinning, but it?s still not all that great.
- Zzap Guns - The most expensive gun is still pretty cheap, but it?s no where near what it was last edition. It?s range increased to 36? but it lost the 2D6 Penetration bonus! It?s still got a random strength and AP2, and if you roll above 10 for the strength you still lose a grot as a casualty, but now the shot is fired anyway at S10. The biggest loss is that it no longer auto-hits, but at least it can shoot at long range now which is somewhat of a plus. Still it?s not very good compared to other options you could have when selecting shooting units in the Ork Codex.
To be honest, this is one of the poorest units in the Codex. There aren?t any compelling ways to use this entry and even then their application isn?t all that great. The only good thing I can say about them is that in a horde shooty list, they can provide some support to your list while either drawing fire that could be directed at your Boyz. Still there are better ways to spend the points in a horde than on these Gunz.
Another Perspective:
I disagree, at least under the 4th edition ruleset. For 20 points, you get a scoring unit. You get an expendible heavy support unit that can be used to 'push back' enemy deployment in cleanse missions. You get a unit that can be deployed early on, while your opponent is actually deploying "real" units, giving you an edge in reaction during deployment.
With three slots, you can contest three table quarters for 60 points. That leaves you a lot of points for the rest of your horde, which your opponent will be so busy shooting at that these little guys will be able to do their job almost unscathed. In the adepticon gladiator (2008), I took three separate kannons. Only one of my opponents even took shots at them.
Furthermore, they're AP3 guns that hit 50% of the time (that's practically sniperfire for an ork). If you kill one marine, you've just about made your points back, let alone shooting at things like dakkafexes.
In a true horde army, you want to have nothing that your opponent can seek out easy victory points against. Bringing a tank simply gives them something to fire their lascannon at that isn't a six-point ork boy. With Flash Gitz being so overpriced, and all the other heavy support options violating the "keep their big guns useless" rule, I think kannons most certainly do have a place in a competative horde army.
Redbeard
Looted Wagon
Utility: Poor
And here we have one of the most useless entries in the book. If this was supposed to be the entry that let players use their old Looted Tanks to ?Counts As? a Looted Wagon, they sure did a poor job. Old looted tanks should ?Counts As? a Battlewagon with Killkannon and nothing else. If anything, if there were players who liked fielding really crappy unit options from the old Ork codex, then this is the entry for you.
The first thing you?ll notice is that this is an Open Topped Rhino that takes a breakdown test. You roll a dice for each Looted Wagon in your army each turn and on a 1 you zoom forward the maximum possible distance.
It has a myriad of options like the Battlewagon Entry and I?m not going to cover each of them since almost anything you could say about them in that entry is applicable here.
The only ?draw? to the Wagon is that you can field it with a Boom Gun, which is a 36? S8 AP3 Pie Plate. The problem here is that this pie plate is mounted on an AV11 vehicle that can not be relied upon to always do what you want it to do. It comes together pretty cheaply when kitted out, but think about this as an opponent, if you see an AV11 vehicle with a 36? Battlecannon on it, how high does it rate on your target priority list? Even the most modest anti-tank firepower will neutralize the Looted Wagon and even the most careful deployment by the Ork player can be ruined if you roll a 1 and zoom forward, exposing your AV11 vehicle to shooting AND preventing you from firing your Boomgun in the process!
Likewise, it?s not a very fast vehicle, being a normal tank that with Red Paint can run around at 13? a turn maximum. Another ?tempting? option is that it can take a Grabbin Klaw to try and nail skimmers, but with AV11 and at best a closed top, it can hardly be relied upon for that job.
And the final potential use of the Looted Wagon is as a Transport, except it is an epic failure here almost more than in the other two possible areas of use for the unit. It?s only barely more survivable than a Trukk but it doesn?t bring the amazing Ramshackle rules with it. At least the Battlewagon brings the AV values of a Leman Russ to make it tempting to use as a transport, but the Looted Wagon is just at terrible choice for a transport, offering none of the durability of the Battlewagon and none of the speed or reliability of a Trukk, all while costing the same amount of points as a Trukk and taking a heavy support slot.
This is honestly the worst unit in the Codex and I can?t imagine how someone in Games Development could honestly look at the entry and imagine someone using this unit. It literally has no application in the list other than potentially being something cheap to draw fire from other units and present the threat of being a Battlecannon.
While this sounds good on paper, you can do the same thing with much better results with a Battlewagon with Killkannon.
Heavy Support Summary
There really are only two units in contention for being ?good? in this section, which is rather sad, but out of the two options you can get a surprising amount of variety.
Battlewagons have a myriad of uses, so much so that it?s evaluation takes up more space than almost any other in the Takktica. There is literally a ton of applications for this tank and many different configurations that you can take. When taking a Kult of Speed list based around Trukks for delivery, I see taking some Main Battle Tank style ?Wagons with Killkannons to both draw fire and screen some units.
Conversely in a horde style list you want to deny your opponent any big targets with an AV value and high points cost that make their anti-tank guns actually do something effective. For this I?d consider taking Killa Kanz as they?re cheap, numerous, and provide good shooting support and a decent CC punch. The fact that you can take up to 9 in an army list is pretty good in terms on making them live long enough to achieve something effective. Plus they should draw fire from the horde of Boyz.
Other entries like Flash Gitz & Dreads aren?t very good but can make for interesting choices in fun games. Flash Gitz in a Killkannon Battlewagon is actually a pretty fun if way overcosted combination and a Deff Dread taken as a troops choice with a Big Mek HQ selection can make for a fun way to fill FoC requirements if you?re building a themed list.
Sadly you?re also looking at units like Big Gunz and Looted Wagons which are among the worst entries in the new Codex, with the Looted Wagon being an epic failure at almost any task you could try and put before it. At least Big Guns could be put down as an arguable unit choice in a horde list to draw fire or provide some support and target overload, but even then you?ll find it?s better to spend the points on more of already good support units like Lootas.
Sample Army Lists
I go by two schools of thought on the new Ork Codex: Horde or Speedy. This is reflected in my sample army lists. I figure if you're going to go one way or the other in these lists, go all the way. Certainly you can mix and match the styles, but personally I like going all one way or the other.
Certainly you can mix and match and be successful, and I'll probably start experimenting with mixed lists in the future, but this is what I've been running in my test games as of this writing.
Horde Lists
These are the tournament lists, pretty much what I figure are the hardest armies I can make from the Ork book as of this writing.
Horde Style: 1500 Points
HQ
- Warboss - 150 Points
- Bike, Cybork Body, Power Klaw, Attack Squig
- Big Mek - 85 Points
Elites
- 12 Lootas - 180 Points
- 12 Lootas - 180 Points
Troops
- 30 Ork Boyz - 250 Points
- Shootas, 3 Rokkit Launchas, PK Nob w/ Bosspole
- 30 Ork Boyz - 250 Points
- Shootas, 3 Rokkit Launchas, PK Nob w/ Bosspole
- 20 Ork Boyz - 170 Points
- Shootas, 2 Big Shootas, PK Nob w/ Bosspole
Fast Attack
- 16 Storm Boyz - 232 Points
Horde Style: 1750 Points
HQ
- Warboss - 150 Points
- Bike, Cybork Body, Power Klaw, Attack Squig
- Big Mek - 95 Points
- Kustom Force Field, Cybork Body
Elites
- 12 Lootas - 180 Points
- 12 Lootas - 180 Points
Troops
- 30 Ork Boyz - 250 Points
- Shootas, 3 Rokkit Launchas, PK Nob w/ Bosspole
- 30 Ork Boyz - 250 Points
- Shootas, 3 Rokkit Launchas, PK Nob w/ Bosspole
- 30 Ork Boyz - 250 Points
