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Reecius wrote:Commented on your list.

Grots are good screens, but make sure they are small squads as they are likely to run away. Boys are good screens too, as they can be fearless and hit harder. Grots are very good objective holders, which is what you typically see them used as.

The rest of your advice on this thread is pretty solid, But I would recommend larger grot squads. They are 3 points per model. A mob of 29 (so you don't have to buy the 3rd herder) is 107 points, 19 (for just one herder is 67). It takes 8 kills to make a LD check with a mob of 29 (not hard, but probably more than one unit shooting at it to do this) or 5 for a mob of 19. LD is tested off of best LD, which is 7, which passed slightly more than half of the time, but at the cost of d3 grots (squig hounds) can be rerolled. Grots don't run away from shooting too often. A small squad just means that it will be easier to force morale (min squad size requires just 3 kills), and they won't have numbers to absorb shooting casualties and re-roll attempts (small squad, 3 kills to force morale, d3 more dead from re-roll = mostly dead squad).

If you go with the full 30 + 3 herders, it requires 9 dead to force a morale check. If you have a KFF near enough (with large squad of guys screening not too difficult) that requires on average about 24 bolter shots, which is at least 12 marines, which is almost double the points of a full grot squad. Template weapons of course would be better, but it still is quite a few shots with them to force anything (unless it ignores cover... then you are screwed as normal with orks)

OP:

It depends on the kind of army you run - without knowing what you're after I can't really tell you what the solution is.

Personally, I run a unique mechanized Ork list, with several tools in it to deal with different assault threats.

1. I have 15 Burnas. If there are multiple terminator units on the table, they get the burna treatment. Preferably 15 of them dropping a template out of a battlewagon; I've had some great runs with my burnas; I think my record right now is 135 hits, and 93 wounds. Stacking 15 templates on top of each other and then applying it to an assault unit you're afraid of is a great way to get rid of them. As a secondary note, they are also power weapons on the charge - so if I see terminators without stormshields (Lightning Claws, other), I'll toss my burnas in there all day. Or even against terminators with thunderhammers, especially if I'm getting the charge). Yep. Burnas. Amazing guys. If you can clip 4 genestealers, that's 60 hits. =D I originally started taking them for dealing with Tyranids before they got their new codex - so that I'd have templates for the hordes, and power weapons en masse to deal with monstrous creatures.

2. I take a nob unit. I typically have 7-8 nobs with 2-3 powerklaws and 2-3 big choppas, with wound diversification - and they've got a 5++ and 4+ FNP. These will rip through khorne berzerkers, and pretty much any other assault unit - although you need to be as careful with your force application here as with the burnas. They don't belong in close combat with TH/SS terminators, who can instakill a nob. These get aimed at very different targets than the burnas.

3. Ghazghkull Thraka. This dude is the end-all, be-all of dealing with assault units. Whatever the nastiest thing on the board is, Ghazghkull doesn't care. I don't have to take bosspoles in my army because Ghazzy makes everyone fearless when it counts. He's eternal warrior, so I don't care about force weapons or insta-death weapons, and between his auto 6" run on the Waaaugh!, being in a battlewagon, and other nuances of movement, he's got a 30" assault range. And his 2++ invulnerable save will shrug off pretty much everything. For a full game turn. The turn I charge is the turn the game is decided. If I did a good job, the rest of the game is a mop-up operation. If I did a bad job, its a fight to regroup and not lose.

The tools you have depend on the kind of army you run. A kan wall for example has 9 killa-kans that all have STR10 DCCWs and generally laugh off all MEQs because of their AV11. Just depends on your flavor of orks.