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Good morning generals. Mods. Dont move this to YMDC unless you read the entire post.

I am having some difficulty optimizing placement of Ork Mek Gunz Kustom MegaKannons (KMKs) on the table top.

My goal is to take advantage of these rules.

1. Gun gets targeted first unless a grot is closer.
2. A grot crewman from an adjacent gun may operate a gun who's crew is dead.
3. Opponent must target KMK battery guns separately.

While keeping in mind that once wounds begin to be allotted to the gun, it must continue until gone.


Here's how I have been playing it.

Lets say you have a battery of 5 gunz deployed together in a semicircle with the grot crew on the interior of the arc. Guns "A" through "E." If gun "A" is reduced to zero wounds, the grot crew stick around and can man other guns. Conversely, if the crew of gun "E" are all killed and gun "D" are still around (lets say 2 grots remain on gun "D"). One of the "D" crew can man the "E" gun.

Tactics questions:

- How do you allocate wounds dealt by rolling "1's" to hit? I have been allocating to the Grots to preserve wounds on the gun for incoming shooting attacks. Unfortunately this causes morale tests with a Ld of 5 which can be painful.

- How do you position your grot crew members? I generally position in the manner stated above... I deploy in an arc with grots in the center. Keep grots facing different directions to show the gun to which they belong. I do this to take advantage of grots from other guns being able to man adjacent guns.

The grot crew and the gun are separate units. You can never allocate wounds to the grots from attacks targeting the gun. And when a gun gets hot the wounds cannot be allocated to the crew either.

Also remember, a single five-grot crew can operate five guns, allowing the other four crews to go on a rampage and kill Mortarion.

I don't know the Ork stuff off the top of my head but I can help with this. What's the range on the guns typically?

@Slayer KMKs are 36" range. Each Mek gun consists of 5 Grots with 6+, 1 gun with 6 wounds at 5+.

@pismakron. I think you are mistaken on several fronts.

1.) Gun and Crew act as one unit and grots cannot abandon it to go destroy Mortarian despite the fact that we all know that grots could do it... if they wanted to. They must stay within 3" of the gun.

2.) The rule "Grot Krew" refers to deployment of a battery of guns as in my example. All guns must be deployed together then they (and their crew) operate independently as a unit.

3.) For 5 guns, you need at least 5 grots. 1 per gun.

4.) Grots can take wounds from rolling 1s to hit on KMKs. Additionaly, per "Take Cover" they can be targeted if they are the closest enemy unit.

So.... You could put some grots in front of the guns and they could be targeted instead of the gun. Also, you (not your opponent) allocates wounds per BRB.

They reworded it because RAW were confusing.

Check the xenos 2 FAQ:

Page 35 – Mek Gunz, Grot Krew
Change the final sentence to read:
‘From that point on, each Mek Gun and each 5-model
group of Grot Gunners act as separate units.’

The grots are an independent unit from the guns once they've been placed, so they can't take wounds for the gun, and they can only be shot at if the grot unit was closest.

@pismakron: I stand corrected. My apologies.

@TheSinisterSpatula: Many thanks for that clarification.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Well crap. Can I allocate wounds to grots for rolling 1's in the KMKs to hit roll then?

You can't allocate a wound to grots for rolling 1s, the mek gun must take it since they're different units.

But being different units after deploying means that the opponent must declare to split fire his weapons otherwise even 10 lascannons hits can only damage a single KMK, not the entrire battery. They're quite resilient against shooting.

I prefer using units of 2 KMKs because of their poor range. They may be different units after deploying but I must position them in coherency in turn 1. Placing a couple of them far from the other ones helps with the poor 36'' range.