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Last time I was playing at my local store, I got hit really hard right in the Lootas, who didn't have great cover. I was talking about it with an employee who suggested I buy a Trukk to use as movable cover - deploy it parked in front of the Lootas, move it so they can shoot, then Flat Out it back in front of them for my opponent's turn. (I have a sneaking suspicion he just wanted to get me to spend forty bucks...). So I got one, but I've been doing reading and seeing I can do the same job with Gretchin and not have to worry about the Lootas getting hurt if/when my opponent shoots the Trukk to death. Plus, then I could use the Trukk for other things.

The problem is, I'm not seeing any army lists where people use a single Trukk, so there aren't many kinds of tactics that address it. I'm on a budget right now, so buying more of them isn't really an option, and my army is mainly a footslog list with some Nob bikers and Deffkoptas for fast attack. But a basic Trukk only costs 35pts to field and is so versatile that not having it in there seems like a big waste. I have a couple ideas for the Trukk I think might work, but I want to get some feedback and different opinions too.

* The thing that appeals to me most is using them as they're intended - ferrying models up the board to get into CC asap. I have big blob Boyz mobz so I'd be sticking my Warboss and his five Nob troops in it for this scenario. I have a KFF, but I really want him to be giving saves to my Boyz mobs, especially the one that will be led by an Allied Painboss. But would making the Trukk more durable with the KFF provide a better cover for the advancing mobs? The Nobz and Boss have 'eavy armor and cybork bodies, as well as FNP from their own Painboy, so I'm not worried about their durability as much as the Trukk's, honestly.

- Or I could use it as a dedicated objective capture vehicle - get my Boss mob there fast and have it act as a shield to cut off the enemy from getting close

* Having the Trukk move slowly along with my mobs and keeping my Big Mek in it by himself to expand the range of the KFF, allowing the mobs to spread out further. Same danger of having the KFF get killed due to trukk 'splodey as the previous scenario but I wouldn't have as many Nobz in danger. The big drawback is not utilizing the Trukk's speed, but I could have it surrounded by mobs, which would both get a cover save and act as cover FOR the trukk.

* For 5 points I could stick a ram on it and make it a dedicated Tank Shock vehicle, sending it up the board towards enemy HQ as fast as possible and giving an immediate threat to be dealt with - along with bikes and koptas going flat out it lets my mobs advance unmolested for a turn or two.

Thoughts?

You don't want one small unit advancing in front of the rest of your stuff. It will get shot to pieces before it can accomplish much. If you want to get good use out of a single Trukk, I'd recommend keeping it in reserve and loading it with something dead 'ard...Nobz or Meganobz would be ideal. That way it can be directed to whichever area needs shoring up when it arrives, and it can reinforce an existing mob so it won't be soaking up fire all by itself.

Well, fantastic! That was easy. I only ever have a Trukk when I play lists that include my Warboss/Nob mob, so that's perfect.

The biggest problem with using a trukk for anything but "carry something into CC" is that in order to get it, you have to take a mob of 12 boys which are rubbish outside of the trukk.

You could take Gun Trukks instead. For one heavy slot, you can take 1-5 trukks with a gun from the big gun battery on them. They're a little more expensive (45 or 50?) but you can make a solid wall of the things!

I've thought about gun trukks too but dismissed it as it seemed like having only one in my list (for the time being) would make it a pretty big target. Would keeping it at the back of the field make it less of one, do you think?

I often run a single trukk, works okay. Normally just have a bunch of sluggas in it and use it as a reaction card. Since the rest is on foot, there's rarely any benefit to boosting it up front and so I hold it back out of LOS. Gives me a couple of options on what to do in turn 2, and normally I just see what they do with reserves (if they have any) or just do what ever seems best. You can run it as LOS blockers for other units, just keep it out of blast radius if you're concerned about that, but I've never actually done that myself since I don't run things like lootas or kannons. Pretty much I just run straight shootas

Dont use it for tank shock, thats the most useless thing ever. As a KFF boost, yes if you have other vehicles, not necessary if you have foot troops; just spread them out a bit.

If you are spending 35pts to get a trukk you might as well just invest in an Ork Defense Line and then if you want you can get the optional quadgun to go with it.

If you do get the trukk then throw something into it and just use it to block LoS to the lootas in the first turn.

A single AV 10 vehicle is just a waste of points. All you're doing is giving your opponent's anti-tank guns something to shoot at effectively, it will die on the first turn without ever doing anything.

 Peregrine wrote:
A single AV 10 vehicle is just a waste of points. All you're doing is giving your opponent's anti-tank guns something to shoot at effectively, it will die on the first turn without ever doing anything.

Right now I only have a single Trukk and agree that this is what pretty much always happens.

That said - I have found out that my opponents will always do this even if the trukk is empty. During casual games, if I want to have some fun, I will place my trukk on the flank and advance it up the field. As soon as my opponent does, he or she will ALWAYS shoot at it until it's dead. It's just a big shoota on wheels at this point; however, it's an amazing OCD distraction for my opponent to shoot at. In the event they don't blow it up first turn, it turns into a 2 turn distraction. This tactic has been more effective for me than trying to run PK Nobz up the field with it even if held in reserve.

The only way to run AV10 is to absolutely spam it. Drown your foes in Trukks. Otherwise they're just going to die and set your boyz on fire.

I used a single trukk for cover once. Didn't end well...
I rolled Kareen! on the Ramshackle chart, and the damn trukk killed 6 Orks...

RE: single trukks being a waste of points - 35 points is not a lot of points if you're getting into games that are over 1000pts. Especially if you're Orks; will the extra 5 boys you can buy make a game-winning difference when you are already running 80+? Having a big THING that can fill a bunch of different roles for that price seems like something to take in every game, especially if it's just a cheap distraction.

 Multimoog wrote:
RE: single trukks being a waste of points - 35 points is not a lot of points if you're getting into games that are over 1000pts. Especially if you're Orks; will the extra 5 boys you can buy make a game-winning difference when you are already running 80+? Having a big THING that can fill a bunch of different roles for that price seems like something to take in every game, especially if it's just a cheap distraction.

Anything that pulls shots away from targeting your boy mobs helps the boyz last longer. While a single, empty trukk may act as a distraction for a single lascannon, more than likely that lascannon was part of a unit that can no longer shoot on your boyz (causing a lot of wounds depending on the unit size and how lucky the dice rolls are). Also, run the trukk up the center of the field. If it explodes, you have a crater. If it gets wrecked, you have more cover. It's like sculpting the battlefield as you want :-).