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Before anyone cries blashphemy hear me out. I normally run my slugga boyz in squads of 30 with a Nob, Pk, and Bp. I have rarely ever used the bosspole and actually save my boyz from losing a leadership test when their numbers finally drop below fearless. It seems to me that when I finally drop below 12 boyz it is because most of the time I am locked in combat and without furious charge active swinging at STR3 and I always seem to lose that fight. With the extra amount of wounds that I am being hit by combined with my already low leadership I am debating if the points saved might do better as a weapon upgrade on the Big Mek, or simply adding another Loota.

What do you guys think? Or should I invest in some new dice?

Well personally I always take one. Its odd, because Im not a good roller, but for some reason I do rather nicely on my LD roles, so the 2nd chance usually grants me that save, and sometimes its all I needed to win the combat next turn.

But it sounds to me like it doesnt really work for you. Much in the same way that when I play CSM or C:SM, I never use lascannons because I just cant hit a damn thing with them. So if the bosspole doesnt work for you, dont take them. If you got 4 mobs thats 20pts you can use on something else.

BPs are used mainly for trukker lists because you can only have 12 orks in a trukk.

If you are fielding mobs of 30 orks there really is no need unless you are engaged in combat for several turns, but by that point your really dead anyway.

BPs aren't bad at all for units you actually care about. Like nobs, bikers, and units you can't take them on like Manz and burnas.

So take them in nob squads, take them on attached characters in squads that can't take them.

Don't bother with boyz bosspoles. They either win so don't need it, or lose so badly that the odds aren't good even with a reroll. (if the regular orks LD wasn't so low I might think it was better, or if they hadn't changed how LD test are modified for this edition)

I buy them for truuk boys, as there are only 12 boys in the squad.

For 30 boys mobs, I don't buy them.

I am surprised at what I am hearing, I personally take bosspoles were ever I can get them, 30 strong boyz squads, trukk squads, wagon squads, hell my nobz take 2 just in case.

For me at least a bosspole is mandatory, I cannot count the times they have saved my ass, hell, I have been down to 1 nob and a boy from a 30 boy unit, forced to make a test, fail, kill boy and test again to pass and have a single nob hold an objective at the end of the game, I dont know about you but that is worth a mere 5 points to me.

Boss poles are great versus shooting wounds, and crap versus combat wounds. Not much more to say about that.

yournamehere wrote:I am surprised at what I am hearing, I personally take bosspoles were ever I can get them, 30 strong boyz squads, trukk squads, wagon squads, hell my nobz take 2 just in case.

For me at least a bosspole is mandatory, I cannot count the times they have saved my ass, hell, I have been down to 1 nob and a boy from a 30 boy unit, forced to make a test, fail, kill boy and test again to pass and have a single nob hold an objective at the end of the game, I dont know about you but that is worth a mere 5 points to me.

Is it worth all the points you spend in all the squad you take them in? It does add up quickly. 5 points is cheap, 30+ for all your squads isn't.


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Redbeard wrote:Boss poles are great versus shooting wounds, and crap versus combat wounds. Not much more to say about that.

Agreed.

Yea I seem to be using them alot, like I said I am just surprised at what I hear as I seem to make use of them a lot making the points I pay for them worth every little bit.

I have weighed the options between taking them and not and in my personal experience lets say, yes 30 points to cover all 6 of my troops choices with bosspoles is well worth it. Though in practice I normally only have about 4 boyz squads (then a troops nobz squad and/or a grot squad) So I spend about 20 points to cover my boyz then pay for another 2 for my nobz but those bosspoles also are used to make my nobz unique so as to make use of would alocation.

So yea about 30 points to cover all my troops choices. Now what is more useful to me? 5 more boyz? 1 power claw? maybe eavy armor for a nob squad (which I dont find usefull anyways)? All of which have never singularly been a turning point or winning point to a game compared to 30 points that has saved me games before know what I mean?

Maybe it is just me but my experience has taught me that the 30 points I use to cover my troops via boss pole is very well spent.

Of course Notabot, if I recall correctly you don't even like to use boyz in general do you? Making boss poles much less of a question for you. Your more of a nobz/grots guy arn't you? Just asking.

I typically always take bosspoles, less so for the leadership tests (as typically at that point my squad is nearly dead anyway), but more so because of aesthics, and forcing my opponent to wait for the result while my Nob beats one of his subordinates always makes me laugh.

Skipping the bosspole on a giant mob of boys is being really cheap. Granted it will almost never be used, but the poll is dirt cheap and when you need it you really need it.

The prime example of when it is needed would be the mob that krumps the other side in CC, and walks out with only 10 or less boys left. It's now too small to do anymore serious krumpin, but it can hold objectives as long as it has a bosspole. If it doesn't have a bosspole a single failed leadership test from being shot means they break and can never regoup, so they can not be relied on to hold an objective. Since 2/3 games are objective based you have to hold objectives, but the last thing an ork player wants to do is have a near full strength mob babysit an objective when there is krumpin to do.

Yeah, IMHO Nobs and MANz are better at krumping, and grots are better for scoring. Boyz are only good for catching bullets and getting crushed in CC due to the fearless rule.

I used to like them, then your lose combats because of how combat resolution is now. 5ed really put the screws to them.

There have been too many times that, regardless of the size of the original Ork mob, that I have made use of the Bosspole.

Think of it this way. You have a Nob in that squad with a PowerKlaw. If that 5 point bosspole keeps the Nob in the fight for one more turn, how much damage can that PowerKlaw do? A hell of a lot.

I've had squads that have been reduced to 2 Orks and a Nob go on to kill Tanks, or hang on to objectives instead of fleeing off the board, thus winning the game.

There's almost always somewhere better to save your points than a Bosspole.

notabot187 wrote:Yeah, IMHO Nobs and MANz are better at krumping, and grots are better for scoring. Boyz are only good for catching bullets and getting crushed in CC due to the fearless rule.

I used to like them, then your lose combats because of how combat resolution is now. 5ed really put the screws to them.

You are over generalizing things.
How about I talk about how MANz get krumped against terminators in CC or S8 wpns?

It's all about what you charged... ...

striderx wrote:

notabot187 wrote:Yeah, IMHO Nobs and MANz are better at krumping, and grots are better for scoring. Boyz are only good for catching bullets and getting crushed in CC due to the fearless rule.

I used to like them, then your lose combats because of how combat resolution is now. 5ed really put the screws to them.

You are over generalizing things.
How about I talk about how MANz get krumped against terminators in CC or S8 wpns?

It's all about what you charged... ...

Yes indeed, and orks can shoot those if they must.

Also, Against TH/SS termies, Manz kill 2.75 if they get the charge, and TH/SS kill 4.16. Same Initiative. So an advantage of 1.41, not as bad as you say

I'm not worried about combat, as Redbeard pointed out, but it seems to me that failing a morale or pinning test from shooting with the last 8 boys would really annoy me. Five points can be great to maintain momentum.

Well if you mainly use nobz/grots I can definitely see an opposition to bosspoles, also yea If your looking at combat res then your pole aint gonna help much you are right, but for those of us still using boys mobs the poles are a good choice.

I know were you are comming from though, If you think about it if you have a mob of 30 they are fearless for so long then once they are down to about 10-12 the other player *should crush them in combat or shooting but not every opponent is going to do that. Experience has taught me at least a lot of people will see a 10-12 strong mob and will just shoot down 4 and hope for me to fail my leadership, happens a lot and it is why I take em.

Polonius wrote:I'm not worried about combat, as Redbeard pointed out, but it seems to me that failing a morale or pinning test from shooting with the last 8 boys would really annoy me. Five points can be great to maintain momentum.

I can agree with this for sure. But like I said earlier, I have a knack for making a LD test, specially with it being rerolled. Too bad its only because I constantly roll low, so yea Im awesome at a LD test, not so much at hitting or killing things

The question really is, "Is it worth 5 points for a re-roll on leadership tests?"

To which the proper answer to any question inviolving rerolls is:
"ALWAYS venerate the Re-Roll!"