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Hi folks,

I have a problem. Well, two, actually.

Firstly, I'm a colossal robophile. If my raging hard on for all things armored and stompy was represented in 40K its profile would be S10 AP1 Lance.

Second, I build spammy gimmick lists. I can't help it, it's who I am. Some refer to this as 'Goatboy syndrome.' Whatever it is, I surely have it.

So here's a list I've made and fallen in love with recently... I want your opinions: is it TOO cheesy?

Gorkanaut Krushin' Krew formation:

3*1 Gorkanaut 825 pts.
-Extra armor
-Grot riggas

Unbound Orks:

5*1 Big Mek 200 pts.
-5*1 Grot oiler

5*5 Lootas 350 pts.
-5*3 Meks

2*1 Morkanaut 620 pts.
-Kustom force field
-Extra armor
-Grot riggas

Total: 1995 pts.

The big meks join the loota units. These units (mek workshops) go into the 'nauts, giving them 4 repair rolls a turn. If that wasn't enough, they all have It Will Not Die, courtesy of the riggas.

With good positioning, it should be easy to give all of the 'nauts a 5++ with the Morkanauts' KFFs. All of these big dreads are tough and so treat Crew Stunned as Crew Shaken (extra armor, yay!). The Gorkanauts, being a formation gain a funky special rule that makes them better as the game goes on. Turn 2 they gain Furious Charge, Turn 3 they gain Hatred in addition to FC and Turn 4 they gain Shred on top of all this. Thanks to the mek workshops, they should be able to last that long.

As I've said, I've completely fallen in love with this list. Unbound, sure, but I have no problem with that - like I stated, I make gimmicky lists and unbound seems to be the best for that. I just love this for its brutal elegance. Everything serves a simple purpose here, to make the 'nauts as tough as possible.

My only fear is that if I ran this list, no one would play me. And boy do I wanna run this list.

Help me out. Is this the definition of too much? Is this exactly what people talk about when they discuss unbound being a broken piece of crap? Or is it just a gimmick taken to its limit that could (with prior warning of this list, obviously) be fun to play against?

This post was shamelessly copied from my post on Da Waaagh! I hope the mods don't mind, if so, please inform me via PM!

You know, even with unbound, I don't think you can bring unlimited meks.

The mekaniaks rule lets you bring one (1) mek per other HQ, not including other [little] meks.

So, you bring 5 x big meks, you can bring 5x little meks, max.

Best you can do is bring min burna/loota squads and turn 3x each into meks for free.

On being 'broken', yeah, 5x morkanauts is FAR from broken. They'd still probably get their klunky asses beat by 3x knights. If they were super-heavies, yeah, this could be somewhat unpleasant, but it's not difficult to make orkanauts go 'boom'.

Melee MCs, chainfists, melta weapons, grav guns, gauss, dreadknights, haywire, swarms with rending or powerful characters (group of boyz with power klaw could even do it) - there's still plenty around that easily trumps orkanauts.

Even so, if you have 5x orkanauts, could be fun to try. I still field deff dreads & orkanauts every so often because I'm in love with ork walkers, despite their many flaws.

My only beef with the formation is...you have to wait to get bonuses...and not even THAT good of bonuses. But, it does allow you to get extra Naughts, and I have to agree that I love the Naughts, despite the general agreement that they ar esub par.

My Morkanaught has yet to fail me, keeping other things safe and often attracting a LOT of gunfire and very rarely actually goes down.

I think adding Riggers to each naught might be too much of a point sink though if your already throwing large amounts of Meks into them. Though, I don't know what else you could spend the points on anyways.

I don't think you'd have too hard of a time finding opponents for this list, as long as they have a suitable list to AV13 spam. These guys are no where as bad as Super Heavy spam. I wouldn't run this list as your default option though, as people wouldn't want to play against it ALL the time, as it loses novelty for your opponent after a few runs. Especially if they CANT hurt the naughts, it becomes as much fun as facing IK spam. WHich isn't fun at all.

 Kap'n Krump wrote:
You know, even with unbound, I don't think you can bring unlimited meks.

The mekaniaks rule lets you bring one (1) mek per other HQ, not including other [little] meks.

So, you bring 5 x big meks, you can bring 5x little meks, max.

Best you can do is bring min burna/loota squads and turn 3x each into meks for free.

On being 'broken', yeah, 5x morkanauts is FAR from broken. They'd still probably get their klunky asses beat by 3x knights. If they were super-heavies, yeah, this could be somewhat unpleasant, but it's not difficult to make orkanauts go 'boom'.

Melee MCs, chainfists, melta weapons, grav guns, gauss, dreadknights, haywire, swarms with rending or powerful characters (group of boyz with power klaw could even do it) - there's still plenty around that easily trumps orkanauts.

Even so, if you have 5x orkanauts, could be fun to try. I still field deff dreads & orkanauts every so often because I'm in love with ork walkers, despite their many flaws.

Thanks for the feedback!

I'm not sure about the meks myself actually. The Mekaniaks rule talks about detachments, which are Battle-forged army exclusives. With Unbound, I imagine there's no limit on how many you can take other than points cost, but this is just my interpretation.

Yeah, I love walkers in general, ork ones especially... I'm definitely making this list once I'm done with my green tide.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Melevolence wrote:
My only beef with the formation is...you have to wait to get bonuses...and not even THAT good of bonuses. But, it does allow you to get extra Naughts, and I have to agree that I love the Naughts, despite the general agreement that they ar esub par.

My Morkanaught has yet to fail me, keeping other things safe and often attracting a LOT of gunfire and very rarely actually goes down.

I think adding Riggers to each naught might be too much of a point sink though if your already throwing large amounts of Meks into them. Though, I don't know what else you could spend the points on anyways.

I don't think you'd have too hard of a time finding opponents for this list, as long as they have a suitable list to AV13 spam. These guys are no where as bad as Super Heavy spam. I wouldn't run this list as your default option though, as people wouldn't want to play against it ALL the time, as it loses novelty for your opponent after a few runs. Especially if they CANT hurt the naughts, it becomes as much fun as facing IK spam. WHich isn't fun at all.

I wasn't planning on making this my main list at any rate. It would be a fun little side project I'd bust out on the table every now and then and only after telling my opponent about it. I wouldn't want to play against someone without a way to hurt the 'nauts, that would just make for a boring game!

I agree with the formation bonuses being sub-par. Who the hell thought that furious charge on str 10 walkers was useful?

Hatred is ok. Shred's not bad.

And even though unbound lets you ignore FOCs, you still have to follow the rules of your codex. You can't bring a group of meganobz 50 strong, or take squadrons of deff dreads - you still have to obey the mekaniaks rule, I'm almost certain.

 Kap'n Krump wrote:
I agree with the formation bonuses being sub-par. Who the hell thought that furious charge on str 10 walkers was useful?

Hatred is ok. Shred's not bad.

And even though unbound lets you ignore FOCs, you still have to follow the rules of your codex. You can't bring a group of meganobz 50 strong, or take squadrons of deff dreads - you still have to obey the mekaniaks rule, I'm almost certain.

I actually just checked and you're right. My interpretation was that if you go Unbound, your units no longer have a battlefield role (HQ, Troops, etc.) because it no longer matters, but I just checked and on page 119 in the Rules it states units ALWAYS have a battlefield role. Based on this, I would indeed need more HQs before I could get more meks. I will update the list so it isn't breaking any basic rules now.

I like the bonuses, they're not that good, but certainly not bad either. Since fielding it is free, I didn't see why I shouldn't.

Just go with loota squads. Actually cheaper, though you don't get as many meks in total. 100% legal, and 4x meks per orkanaut isn't bad. And the bonuses certainly aren't bad for free. I might consider the dread mob formation - not as many orkanauts, but they get 'ere we go, which is a FANTASTIC rule for walkers.

 Kap'n Krump wrote:
Just go with loota squads. Actually cheaper, though you don't get as many meks in total. 100% legal, and 4x meks per orkanaut isn't bad. And the bonuses certainly aren't bad for free. I might consider the dread mob formation - not as many orkanauts, but they get 'ere we go, which is a FANTASTIC rule for walkers.

Yup, that's what I did. I used the leftover points to get some oilers. Keeps the theme and they might prove useful!

The Dread Mob seems fantastic. Pretty expensive, but 'Ere We Go is indeed amazing on walkers. Get a warboss, make him your warlord and your walkers can Waaagh!

Speaking of expensive just The Nauts alone would be about $560

 Ghazkuul wrote:
Speaking of expensive just The Nauts alone would be about $560

I'm planning on looting all sorts of things for this force to make it look better... Which will probably only make it an even more expensive project.

I have a kustom 'naut built already, it's made to look more like a big dread and has both the Gorka and Morka weapons on it.

The other finished 'naut is a looted knight, also armed with all the weapons so it can be used as either unit.

Finishing this army is a long-term project, so I don't mind the expense as long as it'll look awesome on the table.

Aren't meks just like tech Marines? They take up an HQ slot, but for every HQ we take you can take one for free... That's how tech Marines work... Was our wording somehow different? Do we not have an HQ stamp on our data sheet?

If I'm right, which I believe I am, as unbound you can take as many HQs as you'd like... So it was never a problem.

FratHammer wrote:
Aren't meks just like tech Marines? They take up an HQ slot, but for every HQ we take you can take one for free... That's how tech Marines work... Was our wording somehow different? Do we not have an HQ stamp on our data sheet?

If I'm right, which I believe I am, as unbound you can take as many HQs as you'd like... So it was never a problem.

Now that's a tough one. Meks are classified as HQ and they have the Mekaniaks rule, which states: 'For each HQ choice in a detachment (not including other Meks) you may include a single Mek chosen from this datasheet. These selections do not use up Force Organization Slots.'

As far as I know, that is the same rule that Techmarines have. Sadly, I'm not familiar enough with space marines to know if you can field just a Techmarine without fielding another HQ. If you can, unlimited Meks are a possibility in Unbound.

Now I'm really confused about this rule.

No confusion at all, the rules state you can take Meks as HQ choices, so you could theoretically take a regular Mek boy as your Warlord, the Mekaniacs rule just states that if your trying to make a Bound list you can take a Mek boy for every other HQ choice (except other meks) without using a FoC spot.

 Ghazkuul wrote:
No confusion at all, the rules state you can take Meks as HQ choices, so you could theoretically take a regular Mek boy as your Warlord, the Mekaniacs rule just states that if your trying to make a Bound list you can take a Mek boy for every other HQ choice (except other meks) without using a FoC spot.

Unbound armies still have detachments. Instead of using a FOC, Unbound detachments are determined by unit factions and your warlord's faction. If a unit's faction is the same as the warlord's, they make the primary detachment.

That's why I'm uncertain about how the rule works. I'd say that Mekaniaks is a complex rule that can be broken up into 3 parts: first, it explains how you field an HQ Mek, then it explains that these Meks do not use up a slot in Battle-forged armies and then it explains how you deploy them. My interpretation is that you can only field a Mek if you already have another HQ - you can't just take a Mek and nothing else.

I could be wrong though. I'm almost certain the first part of Mekaniaks is worded the same way as the rule for Techmarines, so if those can be fielded without buying another HQ first, then you're right.

I am looking at the rules right now, nowhere on the Mek page does it state that you can't take one without another HQ choice. its special rule is a bonus though that says you can take one for free as far as FoC is concerned if you already have another HQ in that army. It specifically states "For each HQ choice in a detachment (not including other meks) you may include a single Mek chosen from this datasheet. These selections do not use up Force Organisation slots."

It's a YMDC but most people will read to that period and tell you that it's giving you permission to take a mek per HQ choice and then sentance two gives an additional perk.

one more thing for GW to FAQ...which they will do in a year or three

 Rismonite wrote:
It's a YMDC but most people will read to that period and tell you that it's giving you permission to take a mek per HQ choice and then sentance two gives an additional perk.

This is what I was trying to say.

I don't think you can take a regular Mek as a HQ. The Mekaniaks rule says you can take them when you take another HQ but if you take one without another HQ you are basically ignoring the Mekaniaks rule and nothing in the wording implies its a rule that can be ignored. Also I don't think you can break this rule for unbound. Just my opinion anyway.

That being said, you can upgrade up to 3 Lootas or Burnas to meks per unit if that helps make it undeniably legal.

 Diggory_x wrote:
I don't think you can take a regular Mek as a HQ. The Mekaniaks rule says you can take them when you take another HQ but if you take one without another HQ you are basically ignoring the Mekaniaks rule and nothing in the wording implies its a rule that can be ignored. Also I don't think you can break this rule for unbound. Just my opinion anyway.

That being said, you can upgrade up to 3 Lootas or Burnas to meks per unit if that helps make it undeniably legal.

I agree with this and this is what I was getting at earlier too. Just going to keep the list with the minimum Loota mobs with 3 Meks in 'em each. That's plenty of repair rolls a turn to keep the 'nauts going and there won't be any arguments about it being legal or not.

In the rule it says you can take an extre mek for every HQ you have, Except other meks that implies that you can take Meks as HQ choices since if you use the Mekaniacs rule they dont take up an HQ spot. On top of that nowhere does the rule limit you to taking Meks only when you have other HQ units

And going by that logic you can't take any unit because they don't have a special ability to take them and at least these do have an ability to take them... They are HQs in the book. They can be taken as HQs. They are tech Marines for orks. Yes I wish they had worded it like Snikrot... But it's gw.

That's not what I said at all. Meks have a special condition under which they are fielded so that condition must be met to field them. You can take other regular units because they do not have special conditions besides following whatever guidelines your chosen FoC imposes.

Why are they in, and marked as, HQs if they cannot be taken as HQs? And does this mean space marine players have been cheating for over a year?

What you're saying is a special rule on the models dataslate that makes it free, instead makes it the only way the model can be fielded.

If they can only be fielded using their special rule, as you believe, explain why they are an HQ choice. And they are, as defined by our codex, the same way all others are defined in our codex. With a tiny picture. And again, I can site an example of an army who fields their similarly worded HQ. And admit, the wording on Snikrot is better. But, an HQ is an HQ. It's clearly a bonus not a handicap.

I just re-read the 'dex and now I agree with you because of the wording from the Mekaniaks rule: "For each HQ choice in a Detachment (not including other Meks)...".

The part in brackets implies Meks can be taken as HQ but they just cant generate a slot'less Mek. Fair enough.

So uh... Proper mek workshops are go?

yup :-) I plan on utilizing this rule to attach meks to most of my Boyz squads, That way my PK nob doesn't get taken out by Challenges.

 Ghazkuul wrote:
yup :-) I plan on utilizing this rule to attach meks to most of my Boyz squads, That way my PK nob doesn't get taken out by Challenges.

That's a good plan! I'd utilize this trick in the Green Tide list I'm working on, but my Warboss has to issue and accept challenges anyway No brave li'l Meks for me.

As for this list then, let's go back to version 1.0.

Gorkanaut Krushin' Krew formation:

3*1 Gorkanaut 825 pts.
-Extra armor
-Grot riggas

Unbound Orks:

5*1 Big Mek 175 pts.

25*1 Meks 375 pts.

2*1 Morkanaut 620 pts.
-Kustom force field
-Extra armor
-Grot riggas

Total: 1995 pts.

looks good, just remember one thing, AP1 and AP2 weapons can still insta kill that formation

 Ghazkuul wrote:
looks good, just remember one thing, AP1 and AP2 weapons can still insta kill that formation

I know, I know. Hopefully Gork (or maybe Mork) will protect me while I krump!