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I have an all Savage Orc/Forest Goblin army ( I use them as normal goblins) and I want to use a Wyvern. The thing is I do not know how to run it. Should it be a Savage Orc big boss or a Savage orc great shaman? What set up would you use for a Wyvern.

And also I am aware that big beasts have been made less good in 8th edition, but I still want to know, if I were to take a Wyvern (and also if it were a savage mount) how would you run it.

So please avoid saying stuff like, I wouldn't take one, or so and so units are better, lets stick to the topic, how do you run a Savage Orc on Wyvern?

I'd keep it relatively close to you line to take advantage 18" leadership range it gives your general. Use it to support the charges of your blocks, or counter-charge when your blocks are engaged. I'd personally try and keep it cheap with the magic items. Great Weapon, Other Trickster's Shard, Talisman of Preservation, Charmed Shield in case of cannonballs.

The nice thing about the 18" leadership range is that you can range a bit ahead of your line, maybe charging a support unit one turn early, killing it, and reforming to do a supporting charge with a mainline block.

See I also play Chaos Dwarfs. I like to run a lord of Taurus, but the lord is NEVER my general. I use it as a if you die that really really sucks, but I am going to use you to killa s much as possible, while my General kicks back with my big blocks on infantry. Is that viable here?

I'd go with a Savage Orc Warboss with Armour of Gork and a Spear. Not the best defense possible(+D3 Toughness, +4/++6 save), but it packs a punch:

-D6 S5 Impact hits
-5 S7 Attacks from the Warboss
-3 S6 Poisoned Attacks from Wyvern
-D6 S6 Thunderstomp

I might not go with a Great Shaman because you don't want him to frenzy into CC most of the time. Although it might be nice to set up good Gazes of Gork with. If I had to try a Great Shaman though, I'd give him the Sword of Swift Slaying and the Talisman of Preservation and try to get him the Fists of Gork spell.

Whatever he is, I'd make sure he has an ironcurse icon around his neck, at the very least. Keeping the beasty in the game for 5 points is too legit to pass up

- Salvage

Not played 8ed yet, but I've read enough to know that a MC rider without heavy-duty cannonball protection is going to die fast.

Generally inclined to agree with the point that a Shaman might be able to setup the odd brutal Gaze but that this is really a job for a cheaper cavalry one who can hide in a unit and be more easily controlled. Maxing out general's LD range and the model's CC ability seems like a good call.

I echo what salvage said about the ironcurse icon. It is neccessary for a monster. I'd aslo go for the armour of destiny.

As far as weapons go a spear or extra HW would be sufficient, orc warbosses are very killy anyway with the choppas rule.

As for tactics, i'd use them for flank counter charging or taking out other big monsters. If you tie a hard hitting unit with a large unit of goblins it'd be easy to manouve the wyvern to the flank and charge, to rack up the kills, while the gobbos provide the points from ranks/standard. Dealing with other monsters is fairly simple, charge n kill (though a flank charge is always useful)

Ironcurse Icon is totally worth it for Wyvern riders, but I think the Other Trickster's Shard makes a strong case. Both the Warboss and the Wyvern are putting a bunch of S6+ hits into enemy units. You're punching most armor, so limiting the ward really lets you beat the snot out of elite units. They're both good.

Extra hand weapon will do nothing on the Wyvern. The Reckless Abandon rule specifically states that it only works for Boars, so nothing doing (although fencer's blades might be useful). Generally speaking, I see most opponents put their attacks into the Wyvern. He's got more wounds, but less WS and no ward. Because of this, I think you probably want to err on the side of offense for the warboss riding it.

wouldn't the ironcurse icon be slightly pointless.

the Savage ork already has his Warpaint ward.

all it would do is protect the Wyvern. not bad for the cheap cost, but still...

I'll second that. Sure, it's 5pts. Just don't expect it to do anything in five games. But on that sixth one, oh boy, you're not dead this turn.

The problem with such beasts seems to be as follows:

You want to charge in as quickly as possible so as to limit the punishment it'll take from shooting. But since monsters are just so terrible at breaking units, you'll have to settle for whatever your opponent puts across the field from him (...a tarpit, I'm sure). Then, while you hack away at this big block, a smaller more awesome block charges you in the flank. And of course, there's always the danger that you whiff his attacks and lose combat, since he's not Steadfast (with only A3 on your monster, that'll happen more than, say, a dragon).

So...you got to get this guy into a good match up, but before he eats a cannonball. But I'll assume that your opponent either isn't Dwarfs or Empire, or that there's some kind of terrain to hide behind.

Beyond that, I would actually generally consider a Great Shaman, since he's more versatile, to take advantage of the wyvern's flight. And with Fists, he's no slouch in combat (and is, in fact, better than a War Boss in the offensive department). But the wyvern already costs a hefty chunk, and makes it easier for your opponent to nab an even bigger chunk. So that makes me go with the Boss.

The warboss can get armor and won't be stranded by a lousy magic phase, and is cheaper, so is definitely the right call on who to pilot the thing.

I think being tied up in combat is more of a feature than a bug for the wyvern. For a ridden monster, it's dirt cheap, and if you keep to a basic warboss (all due respect to the savages in the audience), you can get a good one in the 350ish range. It's not so much more expensive than a large tarpit block, and will be able to shrug off most cheap infantry attacks. You sit there safe for two turns of combat, attacking and thunderstomping away, and on your next turn you charge in with a block, break the depleted tarpit, and go about your business. If you're lucky, they break on their turn, and you ruin someone's day.

I don't think a Shaman has much to be worried about in combat with tar pit quality troops or anything; it's the price that's the key deciding factor for me.

And...I dunno. 350pts is a big investment if you're charging into a true tar pit (50 models that cost 5pts or less). If it's the same price as the unit it's fighting, I'd guess that it might actually get hurt by those models.
And sitting in for two turns of combat, and then you charge? I think that's going to be a rare occurrence. A 20" charge will see to it that your opponent has at least a turn to deal with this guy on his own before the rest of your troops arrive. If you hold him back a bit, you run the risk of him being shot to death.

No thanks. My targets are going to be small ones that I can take down, or super expensive ones, once the main battle line hits home. Not the units that are fielded specifically to absorb large monsters.

I use it as a paperweight, It really isn't worth fielding one, unless you want one really, really, really bad. In that case i would just field the special character with it.

You really think Azag is worth his points? I guess he's a lvl2 Death wizard, but still...

As far as their merit on the tabletop, check the OP.

I think he is worth it, if you are running one, might as well be him. If you are using a savage orc on one, i would focus on flanking with him and avoiding cannons at all cost because one will down your wyvern adn general