Goal The goal here is to write up a 'Dakka Dakka Ork Takktica' that is as well done and useful as the Carnifex Tactica that Yakface wrote up when the Nid Codex came out.
I'm not pretentious enough to think I can do this alone; I want to work with everyone to put together something that will be useful and something that people will refer to when searching for Ork advice. Since Dakka has probably the best user base of competitive, competent players, I'd like anyone interested to tear up anything I write if you see a mistake.
Hopefully we can work together to come up with something useful for people looking to start one of the most fun armies in
40k.
Tactica Organization Unit Evaluation What I'm going to attempt to do is go through each unit in the new Ork Codex and evaluate its overall level of
Utility (Bad, Semi-Competitive, and Competitive). Then we will go into various configuration options (if any) and identify optimal ones, fun alternatives, and what to avoid.
General Advice I would like to come up with some general advice that will be useful to Ork players. One of the biggest topics here will be proper application of the 'Waaaggh' move. Other areas can include identifying proper Ork arch types (shooty horde, Kult of Speed, etc) and the unit composition that makes up those choices. Anything else useful that should be communicated to wanna-be Warbosses can go here.
If you're going to post something, please preface it with which section you're writing for.
I'm going to move right on to evaluating the units, starting at the top with
HQ.
Unit Evaluation: HQ The special character
HQ choices are all decent enough, but none of them stand out as obvious 'take me over the standard choice!' like Eldrad, Lemartes, or Mephiston, I'm going to leave off discussing them for a while and focus on the main choices.
Warboss
Utility: Competitive
The Warboss has seen a significant upgrade in his stats with getting T5. He no longer fears instant death from S8 attacks, which includes 99% of all Power Fist attacks. His points have stayed modest, however he is lacking in a few crucial areas:
He can not take a power weapon.
He can not get a good armor save while staying mobile.
These two crucial options leave him somewhat limited in effective builds. Because the Warboss is no longer a mandatory character for an Ork army, there is no point to minimizing him out. If you want a minimal cheap
HQ, there are better choices. So in order to make him effective you really have to make him a close combat unit. The only effective option he's got here is the Power Klaw, either through the Klaw itself or Mega Armor. This leads to two eventual paths, one of which is readily more optimal: The Biker Boss.
Close Combat
ICs that can't move quickly are near useless. The Warboss can be kitted out on a Warbike that gives him a 4+ armor save and a 4+ Cover save from shooting. It makes him T5(6) so he's harder to wound for non-rending or no-power fist units. It also lets him be extremely mobile which can allow the Ork player to get into combat unmolested, since he is still an Independent Character and thus can not be shot at if he's not the closest model to an enemy unit.
By abusing his
IC status in this method, it should be very easy for Ork players to get the Boss into combat almost wherever they want him to be, which can include taking out units like Shooty Carnifexs, non-powerfist squads, or almost anything that doesn't have rending. He will need luck to charge headlong into a Demon Prince and come out living, but he's decent enough vs. most
HQs. He's even got a good chance at taking down Hive Tyrants, especially if they're carrying around some guns and didn't take implant attack.
The key is understanding what he can and can not kill. Many times its better off playing conservatively, and some games you just have to sacrifice him to make him worthwhile. Its not always a good idea to go up against enemy
HQs, and some squads should be avoided at all costs. But if you use him right, I think he can be a great addition to any Ork army.
Building your Boss
When kitting the biker boss, there are some simple choices to take, below I'm going to summarize the best biker boss I think that can be built:
Warbike, Power Klaw, Cybork Body (5+
Inv), Attack Squig (+1 Attack).
The boss comes with a second
CCW already, so this bumps him up to 6 Attacks, 7 on the Charge with a S10 power klaw. He will have to swing simultaneously with Power Fists, but he's got the attacks and
WS to do the damage.
The alternative is Mega Armor, which has its own host of problems with regards to movement. This nearly necessitates that your Warboss be mounted in a Trukk, joined to a unit in order to see combat. There isn't much reason to take a Mega Armored Warboss, over the biker boss, but if I had to I'd kit him out as such:
Mega Armor, Cybork Body, Attack Squig
He's got less attacks but is moderately more survivable from normal attacks than the Biker Boss. I say moderately because the Mega Armored Boss is T5, where the Biker Boss is T5(6), which makes it much harder for most things to put wounds on the boss (including Demon Princes, Hive Tyrants, and S6 Power Fists). Against the attacks that actually threaten the Warboss, they have the same invulnerable save.
After these two configurations I can't see any other configurations for a Warboss to take. If you want something cheap, take a Mek or Weirdboy. If you're taking a Warboss it should be because he's effective and in terms of outright killyness, and its hard to get a better all rounder than the Biker Boss described above. And you certainly won't get a decent warboss by taking options like the Combi shot weapons (which remove your ability to have 2CCWs) or a Big Choppa, which is as useless in the new dex as it was in the old one.
Special Considerations One thing about the Warboss is that taking him allows you to take a unit of Nobz or Meganobz as a troops choice. While this is not the most efficient thing that you could do in the new Dex, it is something very fun. Not every game is at a tournament, and sometimes sub-optimal units are very fun to use. If you're looking to make an Ork army that is more for fun than for winning a
GT, this is something to consider.
Big Mek Utility: Competitive
The Big Mek is an interesting choice for an Ork army. He is more of a support unit than anything else. Because of his profile he's not going to be a
CC monster like the Warboss, more like a Nob on steroids. You can give him a power weapon, but it won't get extra attacks for multiple
CCWs, and he's only I4 on the charge. Suffice it to say, if you want a close combat character, the Mek is not for you. He can be made 'decent' in close combat, but nothing as good as the Boss.
Building your Big Mek The Big Mek brings two big support options to an army: The Kustom Force Field (
KFF) or the Shokk Attack Gun (
SAG). Sadly, the two can not be combined onto one Big Mek. You also can not combine either weapon with Mega Armor or a Warbike, which would have made either option much better for different reasons.
The
KFF is defensive in nature and can be useful to support a horde of Boyz by giving them cover saves even out in the open. It is somewhat expensive and its only for units within 6", although it no longer says that the whole unit must be within 6" to claim the cover save, which can extend the range over the old version. In fact, this is one of the most compelling reasons to take the new Big Mek. Because if the unit must be within 6", but it doesn't specify that the whole unit must be within 6" as the old version, then you are looking at the potential coverage area for a single Big Mek with
KFF to be an absolutely huge area as it balloons up to cover an entire mob of 30, where only a few Boyz string along to be within 6" of the Big Mek. This is an interpretation, based on
RAW for the Kustom Force Field. I just wanted to point this out as this potentially huge advantage for the Big Mek may be
FAQ'ed away in the future or at the very least contested by opponents or judges in a tournament.
The
SAG is offensive, and luckily it does not roll to hit but fires like an ordinance weapon. The problem is that while its potentially destructive, you end up with a 22% chance of a misfire. Not all the results are terrible for the misfire though, some are even better, so its actually still pretty good, even if a bit risky! I would be remiss if I did not mention the fact that you have a 1/36 chance to roll a double six for the
SAG result, which basically means that wherever the template touches is automatically removed from play. Yes, on the basic reading of the rules this is not instant death and can remove monstrous creatures wholesale. Granted this is not something you can plan on happening, but it shows the potential of the
SAG. Additionally, this is one of the rare sources of AP2 that you can reliably get in an Ork list, which is something to be pointed out.
The benefits to either loadout is that you can abuse the Mek's
IC status to prevent him from being shot and in many cases, assaulted. With the
KFF, by not joining him to any units keeps your cover save active where you want it, and with the
SAG you can get a weapon that will be able to fire almost all game without worry about getting shot back.
The only question remains on how to finish kitting out the Big Mek. A lot of this depends on your choice of
SAG or
KFF. If the Mek has a
KFF, its likely that he will eventually see
CC, so giving him a burna or
PK is not a bad option. Since the best use for a
KFF Mek is in between big mobs of Boyz to distribute the cover save, many times he'll be charging, which is when the Burna becomes an I4 S5 power weapon, NICE!
For the
SAG Mek, I wouldn't recommend giving him anything else. If he's getting shot, he's likely dead no matter what other options you give him, and if he's in assault, its also probably something bad as well.
The Mek can be given other guns, but the best option is the Kustom Mega Blasta (KMB), which has almost as good a chance of wounding the Big Mek as it does actually hitting its target, so it should be avoided.
Special Considerations One thing about the Big Mek is that taking him allows you to take a DeffDread as a troops choice. While this is not the most efficient thing that you could do in the new Dex, it is something very fun. Not every game is at a tournament, and sometimes sub-optimal units are very fun to use. If you're looking to make an Ork army that is more for fun than for winning a
GT, this is something to consider.
Weirdboy Utility: Semi-Competitive
Believe it or not I feel that the Weirdboy makes almost as good of a second
HQ choice as a
SAG Big Mek. He has very little options, but he has the ability to significantly enhance your army.
First things first, you should always upgrade the Weirdboy to a Warphead. Rolling a 1 for your psychic power is not fun, and the re-roll is pretty essential to using the weird boy.
The main
Utility that I see in a Weirdboy is the fact that you can get a 'Waaagh' move off with him. The trick is sticking him in a giant unit (20 or more Boyz) to give him LD10, and then just pray for that 6 roll for your power. Don't get the 6? Re-roll.
What I see with the Weirdboy is a way to make footslogging slugga boyz (an old favorite of previous Codex Orks players) at least somewhat viable. By even using two Weirdboyz, you have a little better than 50/50 to get a Waaagh power off each turn, not accounting for things like Pyschic Hoods or Runes of Warding.
After this kind of application, there really aren't any other ways to use him. He's not much good in a
KoS or speedy kind of list, mainly because you can't really rely on getting the Waaagh power. Still, I can see him being a fun choice, and if you're looking for the dirt cheapest
HQ you can get for an army that maxes out on units or troops, then a Weirdboy is a pretty good choice.
HQ Summary Who knew that they could write a codex where each
HQ choice is actually good enough to warrant taking? And a new dex where the special characters don't completely overshadow their unit entries they are meant to replicate? I think its a pretty good sign for the section overall, because any time you actually have to think about what to take its a good thing.
This isn't to say that there isn't a "Winner" of the
HQ selection. In terms of direct damage and reliability, I don't think you can do much better than the Biker Boss outlined above. S10 Power Klaws come in handy against things like Monoliths or any AV14 Tank that can't reliably be dealt with at range. Plus its always nice to have that extra fast close combat unit lying around.
Each
HQ choice does bring about its own risks, and the Biker Boss is no exception. The thing that puts him over the others, in my opinion, is that you have the most control over his risk. By using him carefully, and abusing the hell out of his
IC status, you can make sure he gets into a favorable close combat where he will certainly earn more than his points back. He can be used as a throw-away unit to cause disruption and still earn his keep in an army, or he can be played conservatively and thrown against targets he's sure to wipe out with little risk of being killed (Las/
Plas or Devastator squads really are not going to like the Biker Boss).
Still, the Biker Boss is not a clear-cut winner, like say a Hive Tyrant is for a Tyranid army. As stated by Yakface, the type of army you are fielding will really determine what the 'winner' is going to be for your army.
If you are playing an
KoS or Stormboy heavy army, then taking a Biker Boss is pretty much mandatory. If you are taking a shooty horde army then 2 Meks with
SAGs can be a great idea because they fit in with the style of rest of the army and give you some much needed AP2 devestation (something you don't get too many other places in the list). If you're playing a horde assault army then a couple of Warpheads or a couple of Meks with
KFFs (or one of each) would definitely help get your Boyz into combat more safely.
Additionally, the Biker Boss costs as much as a budget Leman Russ Battle Tank. Two
KFF Meks or two Warpheads would cost only marginally more points.
Unit Evaluation: Elites The Elite section is pretty crowded in the new Dex, and sadly its also the beginning of the pattern for the rest of the codex: Lots of options, only a few really good choices.
This isn't to say that there are units here that can be taken for fun and still be decent, but in terms of being competitive there are only one or two choices from this section that stand out as something to include in Ork tournament lists.
Nobz Utility: Poor
Sadly the unit of Regular Nobz is pretty poor in terms of performance. Even in their "best" configurations
These are one of the sadder units in the codex, especially in light of similar units like Mega Nobz or Flash Gitz. They're very expensive and don't have any good options. They do have some fun configurations that aren't half bad, but as you'll find out they are the epitome of a mediocre unit that you can sink a ton of points into with little return. What's worse is that they end up simply replicating what is already available in similar mobz for far less points.
Equipping the Nobz Lets start with the obvious things not to take: Big Choppas or any of the shooty options. They all suck. This mob is made for
CC, not shooting. If you want shooty Nobz take Flash Gitz.
There are a few things that can be done to make these guys decent:
-Painboss. This is an expensive upgrade, but it gives the unit Feel No Pain which is necessary for a unit with T4, 2W and a 6+ Save. Additionally he lets you give each model a 5+
Inv save; with an additional cost per model.
-Bike Upgrades for the unit make them even more expensive, but at least useful. Combined with the Painboss you can get a T4(5), 2W, 4+ Armor, 4+ Cover (always), and Feel No Pain unit. And if you want you can throw the
Inv Save on there too. It'll be as expensive as all get out, but it'll be survivable.
As far as
CC weapons, every Nob can take a Power Klaw, but it will be expensive. You're likely better off only taking one in the mob, maybe two.
One upgrade that is pretty essential is taking a Waaagh Banner. This is the only unit that can take this, and it gives the unit +1WS, which when you think about it, on the charge the regular Nobz will hit with 5 Attacks each at WS5, S5, I4, and they have twin linked Big Shootas that run at half range.
Off the Bikes, they can take a Trukk or Battlewagon transport to help get to
CC. Both have their plusses and minuses to their use. The Wagon is expensive but has the Armor of a Leman Russ and is open topped so you can assault. The Trukk is cheaper and faster, but more fragile. The only downside to the Battlewagon, besides the cost, is that its both expensive and non-scoring, unlike a Heavy Support Battlewagon. Because of this, if you're going to stay on foot, I'm going to recommend the Trukk over the wagon, but its not completely a clear cut choice.
That all said, this mob will never be cheap, and their minimum costs will still be very expensive. At the high end you can get some expensive models that are pretty survivable. But this brings another problem: Leadership. Without numbers, these Boyz will run at the first sign of trouble. Get hit with an opposing power fist and lose combat? You very likely can run away. This is the problem for any Elite Ork unit which is saddled with poor
LD and doesn't have the Numbers to use the Mob Rule to keep fighting.
This unit can be used in friendly games as a heck of a points sink, but still a fun unit that can be effective. Much like how a Land Raider with Assault Terminators and a Chaplain isn't exactly tournament worthy, but it is a fun unit to use in friendly games that can do wonderful things. So are kitted out Biker Nobz, or even Nobz in a Trukk or Wagon.
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.
Meganobz Utility: Poor
This is one of those units that really aren't all that good, but its not as bad as regular Nobz. For the points, they're probably not worth it, but taken in a Trukk and used as a "super" styled Trukk mob, they can be pretty fun.
There isn't any real choice to how to equip them, its just about the squad size. Your basic question is "Trukk or Battlewagon", which has all the problems mentioned before. The Trukk is probably better, but a case can be made for the Battlewagon in fun games.
The crunch on these guys is that they're Slow & Purposeful (so no +1 Attack for charging), and the fact that they have no
Inv save. And again they have the problem that there will never be a lot of models in this unit, and if they get smacked by a Power Fist and you really start losing models fast (because of instant death), your expensive Meganobz are going to run away faster than a mob of grots.
They really epitomize the kind of unit that is fun to use and can be decent in fun games, but at a tournament they're going to struggle to earn their keep.
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.
Tankbustas Utility: Poor
These guys are really one of the worst things to happen to a previously great unit. No more tank hunters, but they all get Rokkits! Wow sounds great right? Wrong. Due to their Glory Hogs special rule, they will always have to fire at a tank if it is in
LOS, regardless of range. So if you have an empty Rhino sitting out in the field and the Tank Bustas are 6" away from a squad of Marines, they have to fire at the tank, despite the fact that you'd much rather fire at the Marines.
To top it all off, they're expensive. In fact they're the same points cost as the Burna Boyz and Lootas. The problem here is that they're still T4 6+ save models, and they have to get close to fire their Rokkits. This is a recipe for failure, especially because they can not take a transport.
This is not to say that they do not have their uses. One area as pointed out by Yakface is area denial. Bomb squigs (apparently) do not require line of sight to use (nor do they appear to be slowed by difficult or impassable terrain) you can take a minimum sized unit of Tankbustas, give them 3 bomb squigs and keep them hidden behind cover.
This can give you a scoring unit that has an 18" bubble that vehicles will be afraid to enter. Plus if you get really desperate you can always move the unit into the cover and get one round of desperation shooting off before your opponent obliterates them.
Overall they certainly aren't competitive but the squigg bombs deserve a little attention considering how few points they are.
Equipping the Tankbustas: Their upgrades are likewise cool, but pretty damn well useless. The issue being that Bomb Squigs have to get close, and the Tankhammer has to get even closer. There is no way a competent opponent is going to let them get anywhere near where they have to go to be worthwhile. Even upgrading the Nob is pointless, exchanging his Rokkit for a
PK just isn't good sense.
And its not like they really present a threat to AV14 tanks in the first place. Even if you buy 15 of them (which is a ridiculous amount of points), you will average a little less than one glance on AV14. They're just not that good.
For fun, I can see putting 12 of them in an Open Topped Battlewagon (with a Killkannon) to just shoot at stuff like crazy, if you can get a target in range. They are a pretty bad choice no less, but if you can get close enough, it'll be hilarious to set off Bomb Squigs!
Another Perspective Not everyone agrees whole heartedly with my assessment of the Tankbustas, and 40kenthusiast presented a pretty well versed argument in favor of the Tankbustas being something worth considering.
I really don't agree with you about the competitiveness of the Tankbusta boys. I feel that they are an excellent unit.
Every Ork has a rokkit. They are shooty orks. They are going to outshoot marines at 24, marines kill 2/3 * 1/2 vs. 1/3 * 5/6...cover doesn't change this as both sides are currently APing. They cost less than marines, and outshoot them.
Some other things:
1. Escalation. No Glory Hogs to worry about for 2 rounds as they wipe the opponents infantry off the field with a barrage of rokkits. When the vehicles do come in, the bustas are safely ensconced in good cover, ready and waiting to surge forth and return fire.
2. Kill 2 vehicles. With their bomb squigs the Glory Hogs are actually able to kill more than one vehicle in a turn. Shoot at a far away vehicle and release the squigs to get the closer one.
3. Fire magnet. A bunch of boys who each got rokkits may seem like an appetizing target, but remember that this is Codex: Orks we are talking about here. Da Boys are getting closer and closer, in trukks and fortresses, on jetbikes or jetpacks. If they take the time out to fire on your tankbustas and as a consequence get charged by a full boys mob, I think you'll be satisfied. Tankbustas in cover will require 2 or 3 squads fire to wipe out (at long range, rapid fire will cut em down, but if they are that close you'll crump em wif yer fists anyway).
I see the Glory Boys rule as being like the "Don't Touch That" rule on the looted basilisk last time around, its a small check on the power of a very nice unit, and orky in the extreme.
Here are the conditions that must be fulfilled before you lose your shots.
At the beginning of your turn
1. Vehicle in
LOS 2. No vehicles within 30".
3. No friendly vehicle can be moved into a position to block
LOS to the vehicle.
4. Tankbustas can't move in such a way as to lose their
LOS to the vehicle.
5. Nobody else can pop the vehicle first
This may not be enough to change someone's mind on Tankbustas, but maybe its cool that two reasonable people can read the same codex and come off with different ideas about a unit's viability.
Burna Boyz Utility: Poor
These poor Boyz shall be remembered as "The Little Mob that Could Have". They could have been so good, they could have been a staple choice to take in many lists, if only they could take a Trukk.
Equipping the Burnas: Do not upgrade any of them to Meks, it would be a crime against all Ork kind to commit such a travesty. You give up the burna for a Kustom Mega Blasta that has a good chance of frying the Mek shooting it instead of the enemy.
Using them is going to be rough and like Tank Bustas, they won't work in escalation. As they are now, your only good bet is putting them in a Battlewagon to get them where they need to be (up close and then in
CC). On foot, they're an expensive mob thats T4 6+ Save, and any opponent worth playing against is going to shoot them before they hit your lines.
In fact, their only
Utility in fun games is in a Battle Wagon, Zooming to get into
CC via Waaagh Move + Assault.
Kommandos Utility: Semi-Competitive*
These Boyz just barely earn the rank of Semi-Competitive, especially in light of what they compete against in the Elites section. On their own however they can be a pretty good unit, and more importantly they can really provide you with a number of interesting tactical options.
It is also worth pointing out up front, that these guys are the cheapest Elites choice available, on a model by model basis.
Equipping the Kommandos The way you equip them will depend largely on their intended use. They can take two of any special weapon (burna, rokkit, big shoota), regardless of mob size (max 15). The only upgrade I feel is useless is the Big Shoota, since if you want dakka you can get it elsewhere in the list. Rokkits and Burnas on the other hand absolutely shine in completely different areas.
First are Rokkits. One tactic that can be used is that for a cheap-as-chips squad, you can take 5 Kommandos and 2 Rokkits and use them as a throw-away unit that can infiltrate and with luck (and first turn), can take turn 1 shots at side armor or at skimmers that haven't moved yet. This is a pretty useful unit that will die the moment something sneezes at them, but they are going to require immediate attention or there will be problems for the other player.
The only thing I don't like here is that even vs. normal Tanks, you're still relying on 2 Rokkits to do their job, that hit on 5's. That and the fact that their main
Utility is really first turn dependent, which I don't like. It'll be awesome when it works, and they're cheap enough to risk it many times, but there are always other units that those points could be spent on elsewhere. Still, if you like this sneaky git idea, then go for it.
The second method to equipping the Kommandos is to throw two burnas in the unit and then probably max out the squad and put in the obligatory Power Klaw Nob. Between infiltrate and Waaagh, they can do some damage. If you combo this with a Weirdboy or two and get a first turn Waaagh power, you can do some serious damage. Even without that, they're a turn 2 hit and area denial unit. Not friggin bad.
As a side note, if you do go this route, add the Bosspole to the unit. With their small squad size its going to be rough getting them to stick around. Part of their
Utility is the fact that they can tie units up nicely, they can't do that if they run when they lose combat.
*
Speshul Konsiderations: One unit of Kommandos per army may forgo upgrading to a Nob and take Boss Snikrot instead. He carries a heaftier price tag than a
PK Nob, and he can't ignore armor saves, but he is something that pushes this unit from "Semi-Competitive" to "Competitive".
His ambush rule allows the Ork player, if they so chose, to allow the unit to go into reserves and when available, they may enter play from any table edge.
This is a pretty big deal because of the possibilities it allows, this nearly guarantees them the charge on many units if your opponent isn't careful and something is within 12" of a table edge, and if they are careful, it could be useful to declare the Waaagh and use Fleet to catch your target. And while Snikrot doesn't ignore armor saves, he can be counted on to put a few wounds on almost anything, especially on the charge. It should be noted that if you do need anti-armor punch, two Burnas in the unit CAN ignore armor saves, making this the ideal unit to take down
MEQ squads.
Hopefully it should go without saying, but if you're going to run Snikrots mob, take Burnas and the max squad size. This unit will be expensive in almost any configuration you want to use for close assaults, which is a downside, but with Snikrot you really stand a chance to make your points back. This is more so vs. certain armies (like Marines), but in general if they don't make their points back they will certainly tie key units up at the right moment, which may not make back its points, but it can win you games in its own right and should not be ignored.
Lootas Utility: Competitive
In true
GW fashion, what used to be one of the worst units in the old Codex is back with absolutely amazing set of rules.
In every list, almost always in the Elite section, you find that one unit that just screams out "TAKE ME!" above all the other choices. This is one of those units for the Orks. Its not because they're much more survivable than the other Boyz, or because their damage output is amazing for their points (though it can be at times), but because you simply need them.
Lootas are the only unit in the Ork army that can reliably deal with tanks up to and including AV13 at long range. They are quite possibly the best anti-skimmer unit in the entire game. You will pay points for this ability, but it is available to you. And remember folks, any time you can put the screws to a Mech Eldar player with Orks a Nob somewhere out there gets his Power Klaw.
Equipping the Lootas They're already equipped as well as any Ork. Upgrading any of them to a Mek will immediately relegate your rank from "Warboss" to "Grot" by any Ork players in a 2 mile radius who gets word that you actually exchanged the Deffgun for a Kustom Mega Blasta or something worse.
On to actually using the Lootas, their application is very specific. These Boys are expensive, and they're still just T4 with a 6+ save. What they do have compared to other Elites that fit this criteria is a 48" range with a S7 AP4 gun that does D3 shots. To use Lootas effectively you will have to deploy them in cover where they will have a good line of fire to a good portion of the board.
That's really all there is to using them. Their application once deployed is to sit still and just keep firing at anything that's a target. They can put wounds on Dakka Fexes, present a credible threat to any skimmer, even ones with Holofields+Spirit Stones, and can put glances on Predators.
Some people may disagree on the methods of statistics used for Lootas, but if there is one thing that everyone can agree on is that a unit of Lootas is one of the few credible threats to a Holofields + Spirit Stones Grav Tank in
40k. Fact is that if a Mech Eldar player has to spend a turn in
LOS and range of a unit of Lootas they will not like it.
Likewise one unit of 12 can open fire on a Dakka Fex, at 48", and depending on the number of shots for the unit can put anywhere from 2 to 8 wounds on it reliably, and once you get a Dakka Fex rolling that many saves on a 3+, he will start to go down. Now imagine firing this on a unit of Marines or equivalent and you see why they can be so devastating.
Because of these things, this is a unit that screams to be taken in multiples.
I recommend going with Mob sizes over 10. I'm finding that 12 to 14 is about the max I want to use, mostly on the lower side. One of their main problems is that they will never have a lot of models and they can't get a Bosspole. So if they really start taking casualties, they will run. And if they're low on models their
LD will be poor to take target priority tests. So keeping the mob at a healthy size and in a place that will make engaging them difficult is crucial to using them well.
The thing to remember about Lootas is that unlike the other "really good" stuff in the Ork list, or in any list, is that while they are extremely potent, you have to use them well or you will see them die. These guys are not Terminators, they are not Harlies or Dragons delivered via Falcons, but I think they're going to be used just as much as those units, despite not being as survivable. They leave very little room for error and will take skill to use, but when used correctly they can be devastating. And most importantly they do things that nothing else in the Ork list can replicate.
On the other hand I feel that it should be pointed out that after some experience with the Lootas, they are indeed as killy as they seem to be. However, while they are something that should be taken in multiples I feel that maxing out on them would be a bad idea for two very important reasons:
They are expensive and fragile
You may not always get enough terrain to deploy them in safely with good
LOS. This is especially true if you take three large squads of them.
So while this does not take away from Lootas being the premier Ork Elite choice, it does give pause to any player who thinks that they should therefore max out on them in any competitive list.
Elites Summary With
GW, and even with Phil Kelly, not everything in a codex can be useful, and Elites is a section that is crowded with a lot of bad choices and a few very good ones.
Competitively speaking, Lootas stand out above the rest of the choices like a Nob in a Grot Mob. Kommandos make a good showing, but ultimately in the context of the rest of the army, the Lootas are what really win out in a number of competitive builds simply because they can reliably put down skimmers at very long range. Its a fact of the Meta-game that you need to be able to glance at least 3 Falcons/Hammerheads per turn reliably. These Boyz give you that option and nothing else in the list can replicate that.
This is not to say the other units aren't fun. In terms of character and fun, the choices in the Elites section is one of the best in the dex! When playing friendly games, there is no reason to ignore Meganobz in a Trukk or maybe even go nuts and put down a mob of Bike Nobz with a Painboy. And either unit can be Troops if you take a Warboss!
That is what makes the Ork dex so successful. If you want to be competitive at a tournament, you can. But if you want a crazy fun choice with a lot of Character, there is a wealth of options you can take. Just don't expect them to do well in a very competitive environment.
Unit Evaluation: Troops This is where all the excitement comes from in the new Ork dex. For the first time in a long time it looks like a horde army is not only viable, but potentially, dare I say it, top tier in a Warhammer
40k book.
All of this is because of the amazing
Utility present in what looks to be an anemic troops section. Well as you're going to see, despite there only being two unit entries there is a plethora of choice in the Troops section, and most of it is good!
Ork Boyz Utility: Competitive
Phil Kelly rolled up the four main entries for Orks in the previous codex into one entry right here, and boy did he do a hell of a job.
The points cost for Ork Boyz is on par with Guardsmen, despite all the buffs Orks get to Morale and Assault. This, combined with the new special rules for Orks gives us a lot of options in how Boyz are used in game and has new implications for almost any configuration you can use for Orks in this entry.
Equipping your Boyz Lets state up front a couple of generics:
Any Ork can be given Frag grenades for the normal price you'd expect to see it at.
The only special weapons Ork Boyz can have are either Big Shootas or Rokkits
Special weapon quantities are limited by the number of Boyz in the Mob. Basically you get 1 special weapon for every 10 Orks in a Mob, to a maximum of 3.
After all this you have two ways to arm your Boyz Close Combat or Shooty.
Slugga Boyz These are now simply Boyz armed with a Pistol and
CCW. There really isn't much more to them than that. This is a big decrease from their old Choppa rules, however these Boyz are now 33% cheaper than they used to be points wise, and with the new Furious Charge rules, the Boyz are still very effective in close combat.
Shoota Boyz These Boyz cost the same as their Slugga counterparts, but are much improved over their old versions. Shootas are now S4 AP6 Assault 2, 18". Because of this change in weapon, the BS2 of the Shoota Boyz is fairly negated, especially for their points cost.
Ard Boyz For a relatively substantial cost, you can give 0-1 unit of Boyz in an army a 4+ armor save. Some people love this idea, others don't. I'm in the latter category as I feel that the 4+ save really just makes them too expensive for their own good. Half the appeal of Orks is massive numbers, this is quite frankly a lot of points for an armor save that will be ignored by most heavy weapons in the game, and then some.
Probably the best thing I can say about Ard Boyz is that if you find that you need to fill some points, putting the upgrade on a Trukk Bound squad isn't a terrible idea. Its probably not worth it, but it can be somewhat useful for Sluggas in a Trukk. For Footslogging Mobz, just avoid it.
Weapons and Equipment Weapons for Boyz are pretty straight forward Big Shootas or Rokkit are all you get to choose from. For me, the choice seems really clear. If you want Dakka - buy Shoota Boyz. From playing Orks for years under the old codex, I've found that you never can have enough Rokkits, and that hasn't changed in the new codex. If you need long range multi-shot weapons, they're available in other places, but you can
NEVER get enough rokkits.
Nob equipment is likewise just as straight forward. You can chose between a Power Klaw or a Big Choppa. One is a power fist and the other one is just +2 Strength and allows armor saves. There really isn't a choice here. S8 or S9 on the charge and ignoring armor saves, but striking last on a model that's saddled with I3 anyway really is the winner, every time.
Other equipment available is the Bosspole and/or 'eavy Armor. The Bosspole can mitigate
LD issues, which is key for Orks who are getting low in numbers (Trukkers!), so it should be considered almost mandatory in any case except the most dire ones where you are running out of points to fit just one last squad in. 'eavy armor should probably be avoided like the plague. There is literally no point to equipping him with it in a normal unit of Boyz. He should never have to take saves on his own, that's what all the Boyz are there for!
Organizing the Mobz Each style of Ork Boy really suits itself to one method of play.
Slugga Boyz like being mounted in Trukks rather than footslogging it. With the new Trukk rules and careful use of the new Waaagh rules, your delivery of Slugga Boyz becomes a much more reliable affair. They are limited to 12 Models, but they can hit pretty hard for their points, just don't forget the
PK Nob and don't bother with any weapon upgrades - most of the time when you're charging you really aren't going to be trying to get shots in, and it robs you of a
CC attack.
Shoota Boyz are now the premier footslogging unit. With their effective 24" range after moving and shooting, they can manage to engage the enemy as they close the distance to (presumably) get into
CC, which many times is a pretty good place to be, despite the fact that they're "Shoota Boyz". This is based on the notion that they can take Power Klaw Nobz, which is a point of contention for some rules arguments, but it seems the overall opinion coming out of the new Dex is that they can. This is important because without the
PK Nob in a Shoota Mob, their overall effectiveness drops drastically.
That all said, assuming they can take a
PK Nob, they are one of the most effective units in the Codex. On foot, my preferred mob size is 20 Boyz. It keeps the squad pretty cheap and maneuverable, and like any horde army, you really want to maximize on the number of units in your army, and 20 seems to be the best balance - mainly because it gives you two special weapons in the unit.
Other Configurations Shootas really don't work so well in Trukks. These Mobz are just meant for
CC, where Sluggas are just better.
Footslogging Sluggas is more arguable as a configuration than Shootas in a Trukk, but to be honest footslogging
CC troops has never been a good idea in 4th edition. Even with the Waaagh move, the Shoota Boyz with a
PK Nob really just makes such a better unit for the job that they just completely eclipse Slugga Boyz. There is one exception to this, as mentioned in the
HQ section. If you take two Warpheads and just keep trying for the Waaagh Power and hopefully get a Fleet move each turn, Sluggas are a decent footslogging unit. But this is an exception and not the rule.
General Usage Comments Sloggin Shootas Shoota Boyz on foot really have almost no need for an explanation. Combo them with a
KFF Mek and run forward, shoot, and when the opportunity presents itself, Waaagh and Charge! The biggest thing is to remember to keep your Power Klaw Nob buried safely behind a mass of bodies to make it hard to range snipe him or ever have him get stuck in a
CC Killzone where the enemy can force his removal. You should have a lot of Boyz in your Mobz, use them well to shield your
PK Nobz in assault and make sure they always swing by being within 2" of as many Orks who are in
B2B contact with the enemy as possible. Thats really the biggest trick one must learn when playing a horde of Orks. Everything else including squad spacing and deployment is based on the opponent face and the terrain available.
Trukkin Sluggas Sluggas, especially in a Trukk, really need a few key words of wisdom. With only 12 Boyz in the Mob, you can suffer from
LD issues, so a Bosspole is always a worthy investment. A few key things here should be mentioned as far as usage. When used in great groups, you should try and maximize the one Waaagh move you get per game. Try and set it up so that all of your Trukk Mobz hit the enemy all in one turn to maximize the effect. You shouldn't get in a position where using the Waaagh move only helps one Mob of Boyz. Additionally there is the issue of Mob placement once disembarking from a Trukk. The words spoken above for Nob placement behind a healthy amount of Boyz is just as applicable here as it is in the Shoota Boyz footslogging section.
Keep him within 2" of as many Boyz who are in
B2B contact as possible! The secret to pulling this off is the order in which you move your models when charging. Per the rules, you move the closest model in
B2B first, and then the rest are up to you, so long as you get as many models in
B2B who can make it there as possible. The trick is to move all those models first, and then the rest move up to pad the killzone with the Nob in it, while at the same time keeping the Nob within 2" of as many models in
B2B contact as possible. This prevents your opponent from pulling models in
B2B as normal casualties and denying the Nob his chance to swing the Klaw.
One thing that should be mentioned from my experience with the new Trukkers compared to the old ones, and this is for players of the Old Orks, especially Kult of Speed, is that you must remember:
your trukk mobz are not guaranteed to kill almost any target anymore! This wasn't always true with the old rules, but with the limitation of I3 on the Boyz, you really want to be careful in how you engage units with multiple attacks per model (assault squads, Chaos Marine squads, etc). They will almost always strike before you do, so set your charges up carefully so that the kill zones aren't too large, but more towards a flank of a unit where you will get fewer attacks hitting you first. Sure you'll kill less models, but in the aftermath in the next round of assault, you can outnumber the enemy by a greater margin and bring your numbers (and
PK Nob) to bear with a much greater effect.
Gretchin Utility: Very Poor
What can I say about this unit. They removed their cover save giving ability for Orks, but kept their mine clearance abilities. So basically, the reason you took them before has been taken away.
They've been given BS3, which is pretty good except for the fact that in their basic units Grots can only ever have 12" Single Shot Lasguns.
Honestly, there isn't anything I can say here. The Slavers (or Runtherderz in the new Dex) can't get Rokkits or other upgrades anymore that make them useful. Heck the only use I can see for them is screening the Boyz from assault, and even that could probably be better fulfilled with another unit of Boyz.
Look at it this way, a unit of 30 Grotz costs the same amount of points that buy you 20 Orks.
The only good thing about Grots is that they make Big Gunz and Killa Kanz more appealing. As their own unit, they're one of the most useless things in the Codex. I literally can not conceive of a scenario where they are worth the points you will have to spend on them. This makes them worse than any other unit rated "Poor" in this Tactica.
Troops Summary Well out of the two choices available, I hope its become clear which one you want to use and which one you want to avoid.
Fortunately with the way the Codex is laid out, the one choice available to you gives you such a wide variety of choices for how the unit will play that there is nothing to be too upset about.
About the only thing I can say in summary is that when choosing how to field your Boyz, either in Trukks or on Foot, the old
40k adage of "What's good to take once, its good to take in multiples" very much holds true for Orks. The most effective lists are the ones that will run multiple units of Footsloggers or multiple units of Trukks. There are cases where one or two unit of Trukkers can compliment a foot horde, but in those cases, its sometimes better to be running Storm Boyz for that role instead of Sluggas in a Trukk.
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!
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 roll you can't replicate elsewhere in the list.
Add-Ons - A whole lot of "meh" here. Some options like Armor Plates are 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 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.
Other than this, there are a few key words of wisdom for using the 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 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: Trukk Transports Utility: Competitive
I didn’t really cover the deceptively humble Trukk in the Troops or Elites section where it can be taken as a dedicated transport and it is such a useful item in an Ork army that I feel it deserves its own unit evaluation.
The Trukk is still an AV10 Open Topped Fast Vehicle. This makes it a very good transport that can get units into combat pretty reliably when used in conjunction with Terrain. This gets even better in the new Codex with the new Waaagh rules giving Orks at least one fleet move in a game, making that turn you use the fragile Trukk to deliver your
CC troops that much more effective, and it got an amazing boost with the new Ramshackle special rules.
Ramshackle basically makes it so that Orks are not automatically entangled when their Trukk gets blown up, not following the normal damage rules but instead taking a S3 hit for each model and a pinning test. What’s better is that even 1/3 of the time you won’t even suffer that and can potentially move closer to the enemy when shot. I won’t go through the specifics of the rule, but the gist of it is that 1/3 of the time you get blown up you roll a scatter dice and
3D6 to determine where and how far your truck moves before you take a pinning test and the S3 hits described above. The best part is that if you roll a ‘Hit’ for the scatter, you get to move the Trukk as you wish the distance rolled!
Equipping your Trukk So given this incredible reliability that now comes with the basic Trukk, lets look at the options you have when setting up your Trukk:
-Rokkit Launcha: For a nominal amount of points you can upgrade the Trukk’s standard Big Shoota to a Rokkit. Personally, I don’t see this as worthwhile since the weapon exists solely as something that prevents “Weapon Destroyed” from becoming “Immobilized” on the damage chart. Save the points and move on to other things.
-Red Paint Job: Move an extra inch for free, for a small amount of points to boot. This upgrade is mandatory for any Trukk I take because when 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 Trukk and NOT give it a Red Paint Job.
-Grot Riggers: What was once always taken on my Trukks will now get left behind. It does the same job for a little bit more points, but it does it in the shooting phase now, not before the movement phase like before, meaning you can’t save your bacon if your truck is stuck immobile somewhere waiting to deliver a squad.
-Stikkbomb Chukka: It gives your squad Grenades when charging out of the Trukk. This is useful for Nobz Mobz who can’t take grenades, but it only saves you 7 Points instead of taking Frags on your Boyz mob that can be transported in the Trukk if you fill up the max transport capacity of 12 Boyz. Still if you need to cut points from the list, dropping Frags and adding a Stikkbomb Chukka to a units Trukk is one way to do it.
-Armor Plates: Extra armor for Trukks! This was something I initially had on all my Trukks, but from a discussion with Dakka Member Redbeard, I'm going to be leaving it off. If you ever suffer something with just a "Stunned" result, this can keep your Trukk moving, but with AV10 and Open Topped, it's not something that's going to come up very often since if a Trukk is being shot at it is probably going to suffer a lot more damage. Still for the times when you're being shot with Bolters and are glanced, this upgrade may be worthwhile. I suggest playtesting with and without this upgrade before settling on what suits your playstyle better.
-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 and the whole idea that if your Trukk can be seen while trying to make this attack it probably will get blown up next turn which is safer than it was before, but it’s never a good thing.
-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.
-Reinforced Ram: Cheap upgrade to re-roll dangerous terrain tests, which can be a godsend if you have to go through terrain. Personally I haven’t been throwing it on my Trukks in the
KoS lists I’ve tested, but I may just start since I’ve had to go through terrain to make charges many times in the old
KoS I used to run and having this would have saved me from many losses I suffered because a truck couldn’t get a charge off and immobilized itself when it was forced to cut through terrain.
Trukk Summary The Trukks I’ve been using come out to a paltry 50 Points using Red Paint and Armor Plates. You could make them a bit more expensive with a Reinforced Ram and/or a Stikkbomb Chukka, but then they start to become even more expensive. Personally I see Reinforced Ram as the only really compelling option to add, but a case could be made for either combination. It’s also arguable if Armor Plates are worth it, or for the same cost you could drop Armor Plates and add both the Reinforced Ram and the Stikkbomb Chukka, which is another viable build for the Trukk.
The end of it is, if you’re using your Trukks properly, they’re not getting shot at until they’ve delivered their payload, so in the end if you’re confident you will have enough terrain to hide behind on a table or you’re taking a bunch of screening units for the Trukks, then the second combo of Red Paint, Reinforced Ram, and Stikkbomb Chukka may be the better option for you. If you’re going to go balls to the wall style and run your Trukks out there and dare your opponent to stop them all, then the first option is probably best. Though to be honest, it’s probably not a good idea to go for the target overload approach unless your opponent has a serious lack of firepower in his army.
Per some discussion with Dakka Member Redbeard I will start playtesting my Trukks without Armor Plates and with the Reinforced Ram instead, since it's very true that the time when you're only suffering from Crew Stunned is rare indeed.
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 a BattleWagon that’s 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 re-mobilize 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 re-mobilized 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:
1.) Main Battle Tank – 185 Points
Killkannon, ‘Ard Case, Red Paint Job, Grot Riggers, Armor Plates
2.) Transport ‘Wagon - 120 Points
Red Paint Job, Armor Plates, Big Shoota, Reinforced Ram
3.) 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
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.
1.) 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.
2.) 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.
3.) 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.
4.) 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.
5.) 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.
6.) 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.
7.) 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.
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.
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.
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 S5 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.
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. Like unit sizes even numbers are better than odd because of the scoring unit rules. 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.
Now that we’ve covered their guns options, lets look at what else you can take:
-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 slowed 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.
-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.
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.
Unit Evaluation: HQ Special Characters Unlike the Eldar Codex, Phil Kelly didn’t really give us any incredible special characters that are almost always better than the standard choices available. The choices we have bring their own benefits and weaknesses to the list and are pointed probably more than their worth most of the time. Still some of them allow for some very interesting changes to the Ork army list and in higher point games they can prove to be extremely valuable.
Given this, I’m not really going to give each character a Utility rating. They are something that is more of a grey area in the list in terms of how good they are and many times it’s very points dependant.
Ghazghkull Thraka For a little more than the cost of 30 Boyz w/ a Power Klaw Nob with Bosspole you can take the Grandest Warboss known to all of Ork Kind. What you get here is a slightly beefed up Warboss in Mega Armor with some unique special rules.
First off we start with a giant loophole in the rules for Ghazgkull. He’s got a special rule that gives him +2 Attacks when charing instead of the usual +1. The problem here is that he wears mega armor, and as such gets no bonus attacks for charging, per the Universal Special Rules in the
BGB. We can only guess that this is something that will change in 5th Edition, when it’s released. Go-Go
GW Games Development!
Next off is the fact that Ghaz has 4 Wounds and is immune to instant death and he’s got an extra attack on his profile. This makes up for the fact that a normal Warboss in mega armor is pretty well gimped compared to one on foot or on a Bike. He still has less attacks in
CC after charging than a normal boss will when equipped with a Power Klaw + Slugga though. Ghaz does have WS6 however, which is something over a normal Boss.
But none of this has anything to do with why Ghaz is so expensive and why he will be desired by Ork players. This lies in his Prophet of the Waaagh! Special rule.
When Ghaz calls the Waaagh, it replaces the normal Waaaagh rules in the book and a few extra things happen. Most notably all units count as having rolled a 6 for their fleet move. That’s the big one right there. After that you’re looking at some other benefits such as units not fleeing become fearless until the end of the opponents next turn, and likewise Ghazgkull’s saving throw becomes invulnerable for this period as well.
So while he costs a boatload of points, he has the power to turn a game around for the Ork player in a single shot, which is pretty substantial.
Personally I see him being most useful in Apocalypse games where his high points cost and the larger number of Boyz fielded can be more useful. Plus it probably would take a large apocalypse game to represent the amount of Boyz Ghaz probably has at his disposal anyway.
Mad Dok Grotsnik The Good Doktor is back and he brings with him a mixed bag of abilities and special rules.
He is essentially a stock Warboss with ‘Eavy Armor except he’s only S4 and I3. What he does bring is the ability to join himself to any unit, which he confers the Feel No Pain ability to. The problem here is that he also makes the unit Fearless but makes them subject to being led around. They must always move as fast as possible
towards the nearest enemy, assaulting if possible. This brings with it a problem that it becomes extremely easy to lead the unit he is with around.
Granted this could be mitigated somewhat by putting him in a Trukk unit or a Battlewagon, where you can let him out more on your terms and get him stuck in where he’ll do damage with his mob of Boyz.
The other thing he brings to the army is that he allows any unit in the army to take Cybork Body for a certain cost per model (Guardsman -1 Point). This isn’t exactly a great ability and it’s not that great on normal Boyz, but it could be good for themed armies using say Mega Armored Nobz or something along those lines.
Because of his limitations and pretty high cost I see him as the weakest special character, but he could be pretty fun in a themed list.
Wazdakka Gutsmek A Biker Boss Special Character, with some pretty unique special rules to boot!
Wazdakka is essentially a Warboss but with only I3 and S4, meaning his Power Klaw is only S8 (S9 on the charge) and he has no invulnerable save. He does come with Meks Tools, a Bosspole, and a Kustom Mega Blasta, but none of those are actually all that good. Because of this, in terms of being a Close Combat Killer, he is inferior to the standard Biker Warboss that can be built from the unit entry as detailed in the
HQ section of this Takktica. However there are a few tricks and rules that Wazdakka has that make him appealing to Ork players.
The first ability that many people will notice is that he has a Dakkakannon on his Bike. This is an Assault 4 S8 AP4 gun that he can fire after Turbo boosting. Some people see this as some kind of godsend ability, but I’m thoroughly unimpressed. So he can Turbo Boost and shoot a 4 Shot gun at BS2, he needs an escort to not be the closest target to use his
IC rules to full effect, and even with this gun he’s better off in combat killing troops than he is trying to get some S8 shots off. My point here is that to use this supposedly wonderful ability you need to buy him an escort that has to turbo around with him and essentially do nothing while he shoots a gun at BS2.
The real reason people will want Wazdakkka is because he’s “Da Biker Boss” and allows you to take Warbikes as Troops instead of Fast Attack. Now if you’ve read the Takktica you’ll know that Warbikes aren’t the best choice in the codex, but it is a relatively fun choice and makes for a hell of a themed list.
In summary he’s not that good but for themed armies or for some general hilarity he will be taken by some Ork players addicted to high-speed mayhem.
Old Zogwort The Wierdboy Special Character, Zogwort is actually pretty good. He’s got a nifty ability that you can’t get anywhere else, is the most reliable Wierdboy you can take, and unlike Ghazgkull his points cost doesn’t break the bank.
He’s still pretty expensive, working out to be 60 Points more than a Warphead, but he will essentially never suffer the negative effects of an ‘Eadbang roll. Furthermore he is absolutely deadly to any enemy Independent Character within 18”. This is because he may replace any roll he gets for his psychic power with “Zogwort’s Curse” which forces a dice off between the Ork player and their opponent. If the Ork player rolls higher, the enemy
IC is turned into a Squig that you must provide the model for. They have no wargear or special rules anymore, and count as infantry from that point forward.
Granted that will be hard to use sometimes, and it only works on
IC’s not on any enemy model, so against things like Tyranids it’s going to be a waste, but at least it prevents you from suffering a ‘Ead Bang result.
Furthermore Zogwort has a poisoned staff that always wounds on a 2+, so if he’s in
CC and you roll a 1-3 for his powers, he has a power weapon that always wounds on a 2+, not too shabby!
Likewise he’s a Warphead and can re-roll a result he doesn’t like, and can replace the power with his Curse power at will. So this is the only case where you can say that if you’re considering taking a Warphead for an
HQ slot and have 60 Points to spend, it’s almost always better to take Zogwort if you can afford him. He’s the only case where this is true over a normal counterpart in the list, but his points cost is high enough where you have to think twice about taking him.
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