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Unit Evaluation: Heavy Support
Battlewagon
Utility: Competitive
This entry right here is something special for the Orks, because it is 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.
The end of the debate for me, putting the Battlewagon firmly in the "Competitive" category was the fact that they are useful in the context of a competitive army. They are easily one of the best Heavy Choices and against MEQ's they are 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 Land Raiders 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 is 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 - The Deff Rolla is actually one of the best ways for Orks to handle AV14 enemy vehicles. Beyond that it allows you to re-roll dangerous terrain tests, and inflicts the D6 S10 wounds against tank shocked units even if they manage to stop the Battlewagon with a Death or Glory attack. If you're taking a Battlewagon and using it to move towards the enemy (as opposed to a gun-platform vehicle) then you really should be including a Deff Rolla on it.
- 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 cannot imagine a time I'd take a Battlewagon and NOT give it a Red Paint Job. As a second opinion, AGREED.
- 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 is only 5 points and a great upgrade on an already expensive tank. Do not forget that if you are immobolized and do not have any weapons left you are looking at getting destroyed on your next glancing hit. As a second opinion, definately a worthwhile upgrade for a Battlewagon.
- Stikkbomb Chukka - Basically if you charge out of the Battlewagon, you count as having Frags. Critical for transporting say Burna Boyz, but not so useful for just about anything else. It's cheap, but I think maybe a little too expensive for what it does. Boyz in the Wagon it is arguable since it is 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. As a second opinion, it is still 10 points. I personally take it on the transport wagon but not the Kannon-wagon.
- Boarding Plank - One of the upgrades I just do not see a whole lot of utility for. Embarked Troops can perform close combat attacks on an enemy vehicle within 2" if the Wagon has not 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 do not see it being very useful.
- Wreckin' Ball - Another upgrade I am 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 is 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 is 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 is 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 is 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. Although its only 25% of the cost of the Deff Rolla, if you're going to take this upgrade you probably should just go ahead and spring for the Rolla.
- Kannon - Oh look, you can take a Kannon on your Battlewagon! Except it is one shot and you are BS2. And it is no better than a Rokkit except for range and the option for a blast template! Still if you are looking for a cheap gun to put on a Transport Wagon so that the first "Weapon Destroyed" result does not immobilize your vehicle, this is not 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 is being fired by a BS2 Vehicle, it is 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 are not fired by the embarked crew anymore! They are pretty cheap for what you get, so if you wanted to build say a very cheap AV14 Dakka Wagon it is 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 is 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 would put down my three favorite configs:
- Main Battle Tank - 185 Points
- Killkannon, 'Ard Case, Red Paint Job, Grot Riggers, Armor Plates
- Transport Wagon - 130 Points
- Red Paint Job, Armor Plates, Big Shoota, Deff Rolla
- Trukk Screener - 125 Points
- Red Paint Job, Armor Plates, Deff Rolla
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 doing so 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 are 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 are going to want. That is 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.
Now that I have stated some general advice, let us 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 cannot 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 is devastating when it works and it is 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 do not get anything special with this squad you cannot 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? You might want to consider it (especially for large Meganobz squads), but 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 is not 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 is vulnerable if you cannot hide all your stuff on turn 1 from opponents like Tau or Necrons, but for the most part it is 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 is 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 do not 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 is not 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 do not 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 its 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 Dred
Utility: Poor
It is such a shame to see that the Dread got no love going from the Old Codex to the new one. He has 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 Killer Kanz.
One thing to remember is that no matter what you do, you are dealing with a pretty expensive BS2 Walker that is 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!
In other words, the more armored targets in your army, the more useful a Deff Dred is, either as a decoy to draw fire away from your Trukks/Battlewagons or if the enemy doesn't shoot at your Dred then Skorchas and/or CC attacks can really do some damage on the enemy once he gets close.
Special Considerations
For each Big Mek taken as a HQ choice a Deff Dred may be taken as a Troops choice. This can be useful if you want to make an army with a whole lot of vehicles and you've already maxed out your Heavy Support choices with say, 3 Battlewagons or nine Kans, for example.
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 does not 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 do not count as Twin-Linked, so it is not bad, but you need to decide what you want as you must take two of the following options to field a legal Dred:
- 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 dred, 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 is also the best. It is 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 - Not a bad option for a running Dred.
- 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 is expensive and only useful if you make it to assault and if you are 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 will not throw these on a dread till after I have 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 Dred. 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 are 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 are committing to taking a dread, you may as well give it as many chances of being useful as possible.
Killer 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, 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 (which includes Tyranids). Granted it is 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. AP 2 also ignores "Feel no pain".
- Skorcha - Look, a heavy flamer on a walker with the highest Ballistic Skill in your army! Avoid like the plague!
- Grotzooka - The Grotzooka is an interesting anti-infantry weapon, should you choose to take it. With two shots, three Kanz gives you 6 templates to lob at the enemy.
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 it's 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 - With the 5th edition rules, vehicles in a squadron that are immobilized are immediately destroyed. That makes taking Grot Riggers on Kanz a complete waste until you get down to the final Kan in the mob. Definitely avoid taking this upgrade. If you must (for some reason), make sure you give it to only one vehicle and then do your best to make sure that particular Kan is the last model standing in the unit.
- Armor Plates - With the 5th edition rules, all vehicles in a squadron automatically have this ability until the squadron is reduced to a single model. Again, avoid taking this upgrade but if you must (for some reason) only give it to one Kan and try your hardest to keep that Kan alive the longest.
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 properly. Main points: Allocate shooting "hits" after rolling to penetrate armour, and kans fight as a unit in CC, any 'engaged' Kans will get to swing in combat even if they aren't actually in base contact with the enemy. As mentioned above, as long as there is more than one Kan in the mob, they treat all 'vehicle stunned' results as 'shaken' results instead but are automatically destroyed if they suffer an immobilization result.
When taking Kans, the more you take the better they are (as it becomes harder for your opponent to stop them all). If you're going to take 6 Kanz, why not take 9? And how about throwing in a couple of Deff Dreds as Troops choices (provided you take 2 Big Meks)? The 12 walker army with KFFs that provide a 4+ cover save to all your walkers and Mek Tools to fix destroyed weapons can be a nasty little themed army.
Flash Gitz
Utility: Poor
Right off the bat I'm going to state that if you are looking for something competitive, these guys aren't it. They are a very interesting unit but they cost way too much for what they do and they are easily neutralized. That said; they are a very interesting unit with a lot of options so I will dedicate some space to them. If you are 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 are going to take a LD test, fail, and they will be gone for good. And because of their high cost and max unit size of 10, they cannot 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 is what they do: They have D6 AP on their guns. To start with they are Assault 1, S5, 24". So what you are 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 are BS2 and only one shot!
Additionally these guys are Nobz with 'Eavy Armor, so in terms of survivability they are 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 are 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 are 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 are 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 have 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 would 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 is saved, it is 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 would avoid the upgrade. Of course if you are playing competitively you are 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 is not that high, but again it is more stuff for an already expensive unit. One thing can be said for certain if you are looking at these guys: If you are taking Blastas and More Dakka on your guys, buy the ammo runts, since it can save you from an overheat. Other than that, it is 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 is 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 is 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 is 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 are almost buying another Warboss, albeit one with only two wounds, but still he is 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 is an Assault 3, S7 AP2 gun with the Gets Hot special rule. He also 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 are looking at the prospect that he is going to take a wound 1/6th of the time when he does overheat.
To be honest, I am not sure how worth it Badrukk is. If you are taking Flash Gitz you are 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 am sure he will 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 does not 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 to Semi-Competitive
Big Guns return in the new book as propa' artillery pieces, similar to Eldar Support Weapons. They are cheap, and their Gretchin handlers give them a whopping BS of 3 making them very viable units, especially to provide anti-tank. Runtherds make them ld7 and they have the option for additional crew, as well as Ammo Runts.
Selecting Your Big Gun
- Kannons - The default and cheapest option, you get some nice shooting for around 80 points.
- Lobbas - The second cheapest option is not terrible for what it costs, but it does not do a whole lot. It is an indirect barrage (that causes pinning), but other than that it is just another anti-infantry weapon.
- Zzap Guns - The most expensive weapon, downgraded from the last codex is the Zzap gun. Coming in just over 100 points for three with upgrades, its advantage is AP2 over the Kannon's AP3. The Kannon is S8, the Zzap Gun is S2D6 with a max of 10. Not a bad compromise if you really want the AP2.
Kannon spam is a respected means to get some anti-tank shooting in your foot slogging lists, if you have the Heavy Support selections free. They can even guard the home base.
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 will 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 am 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 is 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 is only barely more survivable than a Trukk but it does not 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 cannot 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. That, and Ramshackle Trukks make much better.
Heavy Support Summary
Battlewagons have a myriad of uses, so much so that its 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 would consider taking Killa Kanz as they are 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 are not 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 are building a themed list.
Sadly the beloved Looted Wagon is 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 will find it is 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
- Shootas, 3 Rokkit Launchas, PK Nob w/ Bosspole
Fast Attack
- 16 Storm Boyz - 232 Points
- Deff Kopta - 70 Points
- Deff Kopta - 45 Points
Kult of Speed Lists
Now for fun, I like the Kult of Speed! These lists make for decently hard armies for use in friendly games. They're strong, but at the same time they have bad match ups against common tournament armies. They do require a lot less models to paint than the Horde Does, and has a lot of vehicles and tanks you can convert.
Kult of Speed: 1500 Points
HQ
- Warboss - 150 Points
- Bike, Cybork Body, Power Klaw, Attack Squig
Troops
- 12 Ork Boyz - 112 Points
- PK Nob w/ Bosspole
- Trukk - 45 Points
- Red Paint Job, Reinforced Ram
- 12 Ork Boyz - 112 Points
- PK Nob w/ Bosspole
- Trukk - 45 Points
- Red Paint Job, Reinforced Ram
- 12 Ork Boyz - 112 Points
- PK Nob w/ Bosspole
- Trukk - 45 Points
- Red Paint Job, Reinforced Ram
- 12 Ork Boyz - 112 Points
- PK Nob w/ Bosspole
- Trukk - 45 Points
- Red Paint Job, Reinforced Ram
Fast Attack
- 16 Storm Boyz - 232 Points
- Deff Kopta - 70 Points
- Deff Kopta - 45 Points
Heavy Support
- BattleWagon - 190 Points
- Killkannon, 'Ard Case, Armor Plates, Red Paint Job, Grot Riggers, Reinforced Ram
- BattleWagon - 185 Points
- Killkannon, 'Ard Case, Armor Plates, Red Paint Job, Grot Riggers
Kult of Speed: 1750 Points
HQ
- Warboss - 150 Points
- Bike, Cybork Body, Power Klaw, Attack Squig
Troops
- 12 Ork Boyz - 112 Points
- PK Nob w/ Bosspole
- Trukk - 45 Points
- Red Paint Job, Reinforced Ram
- 12 Ork Boyz - 112 Points
- PK Nob w/ Bosspole
- Trukk - 45 Points
- Red Paint Job, Reinforced Ram
- 12 Ork Boyz - 112 Points
- PK Nob w/ Bosspole
- Trukk - 45 Points
- Red Paint Job, Reinforced Ram
- 12 Ork Boyz - 112 Points
- PK Nob w/ Bosspole
- Trukk - 45 Points
- Red Paint Job, Reinforced Ram
- 12 Ork Boyz - 112 Points
- PK Nob w/ Bosspole
- Trukk - 45 Points
- Red Paint Job, Reinforced Ram
Fast Attack
- 17 Storm Boyz - 244 Points
Heavy Support
- BattleWagon - 190 Points
- Killkannon, 'Ard Case, Armor Plates, Red Paint Job, Grot Riggers, Reinforced Ram
- BattleWagon - 190 Points
- Killkannon, 'Ard Case, Armor Plates, Red Paint Job, Grot Riggers, Reinforced Ram
- BattleWagon - 190 Points
- Killkannon, 'Ard Case, Armor Plates, Red Paint Job, Grot Riggers, Reinforced Ram
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