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Coming back into the game after several years. My collection of orks looks to be mobile, with a transport for every squad. I am debating on whether or not to keep my mega nobs. Are they worth their points in todays rule set? Or are they being sold?

Thanks dakka!

Edit: Our group typically plays 1500 points or less.

The times I have played against them they were worthwhile. I am building an Ork army now with 5 of them.

Battlewagon with Mega Nobz + Necron flyers = win!

Mega Nobz alongside Biker Nobz are about the only real viable ways to run Nobz nowadays as with the boost to 2+ saves with the changes to power weapons most melee weapons that will ignore your armour will go simultaneously with your Mega Nobz now so you don't have to worry about being slaughtered by Howling Banshees before you can strike. Their cost efficiency compared to regular Nobz and Biker Nobz also makes them a good choice for a retinue for a Mega-Armour Warboss or as a MANZ missile (3 in a trukk).

So long as you support them with enough mobile targets which your OP seems to suggest they are worthwhile. Just keep in mind that as with most Nobz they are bully units, always point them towards units that they will stomp flat and feed the boyz into the really scary units until they're whittled down enough for them to be manageable or are dead.

Also for me it's always fun to occasionally give them cybork bodies via Grotsnik to make them that much more durable, especially so if Grotsnik actually joins their unit to give FNP and Fearless but that's often too big a risk to take.

Mega Nobz are great, but they need a battlewagon, and usually a MegaBoss for the bosspole. They are very cost efficient compared to regular nobs.
I have had success in the past with a few in a trukk as a good ambush to hide behind LoS blocking terrain and make the enemy think twice about moving up.

Thank you grimskul. Your input is really helpful. One thing that I failed to mention was that our group typically plays smaller game (1500 or less). Getting mega nobs into a transport at that point level looks very expensive. Are they still worth it at that point?

In my experience I would say yes.

Mine have never let me down. Cram them in a Wagon, give your opponent some more instantly threatening targets, and then watch them do their thing in melee. Watching 5 and a Megaboss crush everything in sight is beautiful.

By no means an auto-include but definitely a choice to consider

 Dakkamite wrote:
By no means an auto-include but definitely a choice to consider

Agreed.

Other from a missile and warboss retinue uses - you can also use them as a kff mek min-squad retinue in a battlewagon. Even 3 of them can kill many things in mellee with 12 ws4 s9 ap2 attacks. And if the wagon gets shot down midfield - can continue footslogging forward, attracting fire, providing cover to nearby orkses and still having 2+, 5+ cover.

Works great when you allready have 3 wagonz full of shootaboyz.

Maganobz are MVP's. Run em with Gretchin and laugh to victory. 10 in the unit? Worth it.

10 in the unit is a waste. They're too slow to spend 400 pts in one place. Get the wagon destroyed and they're stuck midfield at best.

As little as three also pretty much murder anything without AP2 weapons. While overkill is funny, it's also a waste of points.

I like MANz. On top of a useful way to run your nobs, the models are pretty cool. As mentioned though, much more then 5 and you're probably not getting your points back.

They work really well as a retinue for your HQ choices, be they Meks or Warbosses, or maybe weirdboys? Honestly though if you're looking for efficiency, weirdboys aren't the best idea.

Other from a missile and warboss retinue uses - you can also use them as a kff mek min-squad retinue in a battlewagon. Even 3 of them can kill many things in mellee with 12 ws4 s9 ap2 attacks. And if the wagon gets shot down midfield - can continue footslogging forward, attracting fire, providing cover to nearby orkses and still having 2+, 5+ cover.

I like the cut of your jib, that really is a good use for these guys

 koooaei wrote:
10 in the unit is a waste. They're too slow to spend 400 pts in one place. Get the wagon destroyed and they're stuck midfield at best.

Who said anything about using a wagon?

 Jancoran wrote:

 koooaei wrote:
10 in the unit is a waste. They're too slow to spend 400 pts in one place. Get the wagon destroyed and they're stuck midfield at best.

Who said anything about using a wagon?

Do you actually footslog a 10 man unit of Mega-Nobz up the field? I commend you for your Orky bravery and cojones but that is a major points-sink into a unit that is asking to be blown up by a demolisher cannon or slain by a million cuts. I'm guessing your local meta is a little bit low on the large blast template AP2 department because with SnP they can't even run, making them effectively stuck in your deployment zone as objective baby-sitters (a major waste of points for such a costly + deadly unit) or in the case of other missions like Purge the Alien a big target sign that has little to no way to inflict retribution against long-ranged or even medium-ranged firepower (like grav-spam) or will be almost guaranteed to be on the end of a charge that will wipe out most of the unit before they can strike (i.e. things like Skarbrand, Swarmlord, or other scary MC like Mawlocs exploding beneath them).

Yeah that definitely got my attention. What on earth do you mean?

So glad you asked.

Now i am not actually a hard core ork player. However...

I am a hard core 40K player and i DId tyake a buddies leftovers and go 8-0 with them, having never owned the models myself and never having read the codex front to back.

So it was a challenge.

making matters worse, he had lost a lot of his stuff so i was stuck playing with a gretchin army, pretty much. More awesome.

The 10 man meganob squad was an MVP. I can deploy accordingly against things like a Vindicator but it wasn't going to be around very long after the Zzap Guns (all 9, twin linked by Ammo runts for a few shots) and lootas were done.

Artillery? Got me several missile buggies and kommandos to handle that.

One thing 40K players do a lot is talk about units in a vacuum. But the meganobz aren't IN a vaccuum. And if i kill the FEW STR 8 large blasts you have and take copious cover on the way in (not accounting for terrain and other advantages) I give myself a very good shot at arriving right on time with the heaviest hammering blow i think i've ever levelled against another player. When those Meganobz go off...it's...wondrous, and usually against their last ditch effrots to try and get past me to objectives they'll never reach.

I enjoyed the CRAP outta playing them. My last mission with the meganobz brigade ended disastrously when they failed a Morale check RIGHT before they were to plow the main line offense of the enemy. Dayam. Ended up getting eaten up by shooting forthe two rounds it took me to regroup and come back.

Still, it took a fortuitous roll to beat me and he earned it. Kudos to him. that was at the top table of a tournie I took that crazy army to.

Morale of the story is, Meganobz with Gretchin was an awesome combo, way better than any piece of paper would tell you it is.

They're just too slow to footslog. Even regular boyz are too slow. Just think of how long will it take a snp model to footslog across the field. 4 turns to move 24' in the open without casualties and dt tests. They can be just plain ignored for the whole game and 400 pts that's doing nothing is not really great usually. They look cool ofc, but footslogging meganobz is not a good advice.

 koooaei wrote:
They're just too slow to footslog. Even regular boyz are too slow. Just think of how long will it take a snp model to footslog across the field. 4 turns to move 24' in the open without casualties and dt tests. They can be just plain ignored for the whole game and 400 pts that's doing nothing is not really great usually. They look cool ofc, but footslogging meganobz is not a good advice.

I think you're missing the point though.

In the army I played, the enemy NEEDED to kill Gretchin to get to me with melee. catch-22 if they do, I kill them in melee. So then they need to shoot me but they are kept quite busy with careening buggies in their rear arcs and the need to get rid of my cover and the need...most importantly... and heres the thing... to get to OBJECTIVES. They NEED to come closer EVENTUALLY so I don't HAVE to do all the slogging. Not all of it.

In fact in some missions thereis no slogging. Just waiting for the enemy to get to me, and knowing I can beat them down. Drop armies couldn't get close enough to rapid fire (too many grots and reserves are cool)/ They can't drop Nobs with Serpents. Takes so many shots just to kill ONE. They gotta bring the big guns but then they cannot come closer and lootas dont give them long to fire. And when its time to capture stuff, they either cant...or they have to deal with me to get there. Of course they can use long range stuff to kill lootas 9and many do) but then... you're not firing heavy stuff at Meganobz

Now in the very last game I played (a loss) the enemy had some advantages. and lets face it: i was playing with what I had to borrow. But even with that said, his whole army was kept at bay and he just got lucky at the right time, lined his commander and his bikerz up and readied to rumble me, only the shooting finally got me to make a morale test and we never got to see that play out. Just...what happens sometimes.

Still... the bottom line was, i didn't need a transport in any of those games and one wouldn't have made my strategy stronger in the last game. It took him five rounds to get me to a morale test and it had to go to turn seven for him to win. No battlewagon needed IF you support the unit on the way in and make life tough on the enemy.

I dont have any magic wand BUT I saw what I saw.

In most games you got to go forward and not just wait for the opponent to out-shoot and out-maneuvre you. I'm just stating that meganobz are gona make it across the table by turn 5 at best doing literally nothing except for being there the whole game. Sure, it depends on your opponent's lists but i don't see 10 footslogging mnobz working vs any even remotedly ballanced list.

I really enjoy the MANz missile along side plenty of other wagons and trukks.

so 3 in a trukk thats roughly160ish, point it directly at a nice soft target and plow full speed ahead into that unit

The main benefits being that its a small unit in terms of cost, but will still pack a deadly punch if left to its own devices. The opponent will then either have to pump shots into your trukk in order to prevent the MANz reaching his lines, thus not shooting into your nice big battlewagons loaded with boys.

Or he can chose to ignore the missle and regret it T2/T3 when your 3 MANz are chewing on his units. 3 MANz while not likely to wipe anything on the turn they charge, will certainly tie a unit up nicely.


Alternately I have enjoyed sticking them with a warphead, 4 man squad, pretty safe from the warpheads hitting himself, nice platform from the trukk (or slogging it in a greentide) to use the beam power and hilariously funny when they Deepstrike Not anything outlandishly competitve, but highly fun

 koooaei wrote:
In most games you got to go forward and not just wait for the opponent to out-shoot and out-maneuvre you. I'm just stating that meganobz are gona make it across the table by turn 5 at best doing literally nothing except for being there the whole game. Sure, it depends on your opponent's lists but i don't see 10 footslogging mnobz working vs any even remotedly ballanced list.

...and yet...it...did work...

Move. move. Charge and pile in plus Consolidate move You're pretty much there and that assumes they have no short range nasty weapons the enemy wants to put to your head. =).

I take two units of three, led by a boss pole megawarboss. I put them in a trukk each, slap on a ram and put them in cover or reserve. Then at first chance I run them flat out through cover or whatever and try to get them as far in as possible.

They are remarkably resilient, not super expensive and forces your opponent to react to them or be squished.

Also having a unit of nob bikers with big chopas an PKs forces opponents to decide which one to attack.

Meanwhile your boyz are slogging across the board with backup from lootas at the rear.

 koooaei wrote:
In most games you got to go forward and not just wait for the opponent to out-shoot and out-maneuvre you. I'm just stating that meganobz are gona make it across the table by turn 5 at best doing literally nothing except for being there the whole game. Sure, it depends on your opponent's lists but i don't see 10 footslogging mnobz working vs any even remotedly ballanced list.

I was just wondering why do you have to move forward? If the mission is grab an objective, you only need to go to that objective. If its purge the alien you can turtle up and make him come to you. Grab the relic mission, set up your orks to gun line it if they move to close and then pounce.

I have never seen ( since 1992 anyways ) an army have to move to win. Termies are SnP and I can't tell you how many times I see them mishap off the board or onto difficult terrain and kill themselves. the times I have seen them use a homing beacon I just charged them with 30boys+nob and they were stuck for 2 turns before dead termies.

The Grot wave is probably the cheapest delivery system in the game, at 3 points per grot its worth losing 20-30 to get the MANZ in a fight.

A lot of players feel they have to JUST kill models to win and that's just a big lie.

You can win the game easily and yet your army be just wrecked. I have won more then a few games with just my Boss left and 2 squad of Choppa's left.

I am sure your meta is not the same as mine. In most of my games I tend to go second so really all I need to do is clear about 14 inches in my 1st turn to charge. TBH even that's too much of a risk so I move the nobz using LoS cover and charge on my second.

I also find warboss on bike to be a HUGE scare tactic. I never get nobs on bikes, just a 10 ork strong with a nob leader and attach boss to it. Sure I lose a couple of regular bikers but when I get in CC wow does the power armour start flying. Then if I play MANZ right they are almost completely ignored.

YMMV of course

Yes. The movement phase is where I win more games than anything. It's why my armies LOOK odd to some people. They don't really think in those terms. But the movement phase is a very very important part of the game and I love that part of the game. Shooting is cool and all, and I have played Tau since day 1 so it's not like I dont get that its a big part of the game. It's just not the ONLY part that can win it for you. Deployment options and timely killing is whats needed.

osirisx69 wrote:

 koooaei wrote:
In most games you got to go forward and not just wait for the opponent to out-shoot and out-maneuvre you. I'm just stating that meganobz are gona make it across the table by turn 5 at best doing literally nothing except for being there the whole game. Sure, it depends on your opponent's lists but i don't see 10 footslogging mnobz working vs any even remotedly ballanced list.

I was just wondering why do you have to move forward? If the mission is grab an objective, you only need to go to that objective. If its purge the alien you can turtle up and make him come to you. Grab the relic mission, set up your orks to gun line it if they move to close and then pounce.

I have never seen ( since 1992 anyways ) an army have to move to win. Termies are SnP and I can't tell you how many times I see them mishap off the board or onto difficult terrain and kill themselves. the times I have seen them use a homing beacon I just charged them with 30boys+nob and they were stuck for 2 turns before dead termies.

The Grot wave is probably the cheapest delivery system in the game, at 3 points per grot its worth losing 20-30 to get the MANZ in a fight.

A lot of players feel they have to JUST kill models to win and that's just a big lie.

You can win the game easily and yet your army be just wrecked. I have won more then a few games with just my Boss left and 2 squad of Choppa's left.

I am sure your meta is not the same as mine. In most of my games I tend to go second so really all I need to do is clear about 14 inches in my 1st turn to charge. TBH even that's too much of a risk so I move the nobz using LoS cover and charge on my second.

I also find warboss on bike to be a HUGE scare tactic. I never get nobs on bikes, just a 10 ork strong with a nob leader and attach boss to it. Sure I lose a couple of regular bikers but when I get in CC wow does the power armour start flying. Then if I play MANZ right they are almost completely ignored.

YMMV of course

Termies ain't snp.

Orkses don't boast outstanding long-ranged shooting. U just need to oppress the enemy to lower his mobility and ruin his plans. Note, i don't mean close combat necessarily - even plain pushing is enough. I gladly sacrafice wave after wave just to delay the enemie's approach and distract him from what's really necessary. And when u're slow - he can plain ignore you till it's too late to make the difference.

I don't get why people say that Mega Nobz are expensive. WS4 S4 T4 W2 A3 with a 2+ and a power klaw for 40 points? Yes please. 5 points for a devastating kombi-skorcha? Yes please. Add a transport and/or a bosspole and they cannot fail to cause mayhem.

Nobody here says they're expensive. They just got limited use and are very dependent on transport. That's just like making deff dreads cost 20 points less - they're still no good in this edition. Not cause of the price but cause of how slow and vulnerable they are.