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I have a simple question, are the Ork Kommandos viable additions to an Ork horde?

I've painted my orks to be Blood Axes, however, up until this point haven't found any room for stealthier greenskins in my army to fit the Blood Axe fluff.

Now, I've been thinking about adding a unit of Kommandos into the mix, but am worried that they won't really do enough to justify their points.

To expand upon the initial question, what's the best way to use ork kommandos? Should they be run in large mobs like the boyz?

For 1500 pts. and over I recommend them if you take Snikrot. I run him with 11 kommandos (with 2 burnas!). Snikrot allows you to pick any table edge for them so they always earn their keep. They walk in behind a squad of lootas or tau or any firing line in the backfield and kill them.

Snikrot transforms the Kommando's into a competitive unit.

You loss the PK Nob but gain the above advantage.

However, use them wisely and keep them in CC as they are fragile. Take two Burna's as well.

There's also the psychological aspect of these guys Outflanking, with or without Snikrot. Run a Green Tide with two or three units of these guys in there, and watch your opponent bunch up into the middle of his Deployment Zone where you can charge multiple units at once when your main force gets there.

Yeah, Snikrot is a beast, but there's no model for him and I am an absolutely horrible converter.

I was thinking of tacking on the kommandos to a 1250 pt. list. From you're saying, that may be a bit low to include them.

StormHalo wrote:Yeah, Snikrot is a beast, but there's no model for him and I am an absolutely horrible converter.

I was thinking of tacking on the kommandos to a 1250 pt. list. From you're saying, that may be a bit low to include them.

There is a model coming for him in Jan 09 I think. I've seen a picture of it somewhere on here. He looks pretty sweet.

As to worrying about points limits. Unless your ultra competitive, just run him and his boys and see for yourself.

what about minimum sized units with maxed out special weapons? (rokkits)

J2FcM wrote:what about minimum sized units with maxed out special weapons? (rokkits)

There are much better places to put rokkits, whether they are more survivable or more mobile.

J2FcM wrote:what about minimum sized units with maxed out special weapons? (rokkits)

i was keen on that idea too, seems a good way to get in a few anti-armour shots (or anti-personnel with flamers) in the first turn. But in a KillPoint mission, that squad will be an easy KP for your opponent

What are the most important and grand tourneys? Kill points?

Take a good sized squad of them with snikrot and burnas. Without snikrot, the out-flank is a bit risky for a unit with little (rokkits instead of burnas) to no shooting.

Infilitrate maybe possible and useful if there's somewhere handy to put them, but you run the risk of them being out of position with the rest of the army, or footslogging it across the field. In which case you're better off with a unit of shoota boyz.

I like Kommandos. I really do. Especially with Snikky.

It really pains me to say this, though: They (mostly) suck.

They are VERY expensive, they HAVE to hit something the turn they come in to be sure you get their points worth out of them, then they die in HtH. They only have 6+ saves, for heaven's sake!

I feel like Kommandos were a great idea, but they need to have been given better armor.

Eric

StormHalo wrote:Yeah, Snikrot is a beast, but there's no model for him and I am an absolutely horrible converter.

I was thinking of tacking on the kommandos to a 1250 pt. list. From you're saying, that may be a bit low to include them.

Oh come on, konverting for Orcs is as simply as digging a hand in your bitz bin, dunking it in super glue and throwing it at your model. lol. For This guy just use some peices of plastic (spure even if you don't have card) and make it into some jagged knives, paint em dark black, stick em on a Nob and call it a day!

Here is an example of a custom someone did on CMON.


You dont' have to go all out like that but definatly those knives on a "bald" orc head and I think your set.

Wow, that conversion is awesome

That conversion is pretty mean!

So, the general opinion is that the kommandos are touch and go - good if they do what you want them to, bad if you're not able to execute immediately. In an ork list where unpreictability is as common as green skin, I'm starting to think that the points would be better spent elsewhere. Darn.

However, can you use your waagh on the turn they enter, if they end up being too far from a nice soft unit, or does scout/infilitrate prevent the fleet rule for them?

With Snikrot the only thing hard to predict is the turn he will arrive. His results are as sure as sunshine on the 4th of juuly. He'll arrive on turn 2 on a 4+ and yes he can walk on and then waagh!

Olympia, I'm thinking that you've never seen a Seattle 4th of July.

Snikrot-kommandos' value lies in two things:

1. Their psychological deterrent value. They force your opponent to CYA with troops that might otherwise be committed to the fore.

2. Their ability to mince long-range infantry fire squads. These squads rarely even sport a CC sergeant, so the Kommandos' low save is less of an issue. Sure, they can't take on assault Marines- but if you've killed the Devastators or whatever and pulled a countercharge unit away from the front lines, you're doing very well.

EDIT: WOOT! 1000th post! WOOT!

I was thinking that they'd serve as a wonderful distraction, myself. I know my regular opponent well and if there was a unit skulking around his deployment zone, he'd tend to get very nervous and commit maybe one or two units to shredding 'em up.

I went to my local GW yesterday and the guy manning the ship there plays orks frequently and he said, "they're like everything in the ork army, if you use them right, they're devastating." Then he proceeded to try and sell me a land raider. :-P

By the way, they had a catalogue showing the new ork models for January, Snikrot is just sick!!!!

As someone who never used reserves until getting snikrot I've found he always changes the way I and my opponent see the board. They tend to bottle up in the middle as to not get flanked which leaves me able to surround and munch his bones. VERY VIABLE!

If you are worried about his and his units fragility, then take a large or max squad, if points allow.

And his secret is how he is used.

That said, I wouldn't take Kommando's without Snikrot to be honest.

If you consider that your opponent isn't going to want to deploy any static shooting elements within a foot (+d6) of the end of his deployment zone, buying Snikrot essentially closes the gap for your ork horde, which is very helpful in making sure things are within 18inch range for shootas.

Also, in terms of maximizing survivability, try to set up multiple assaults on the turn you arrive.