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Hi all,

I know there is already an Ork tactical thread but I wanted to focus specifically on mekanized lists. I get the impression that people prefer footslogging lists in 8th; however, it was arguably the other way round in 7th and many of us still have wagon spam-based miniatures collections. So this thread is designed for us mekanized players to make the most of what we have.

My thoughts are based on my experiences with Orks in 8th and I welcome comments and rebuttals from more competitive bosses than I.

So...

THE BASICS

IMO the core of your force should be a load of slugga boyz in battlewagons with ‘ard cases, deff rollas and no other upgrades. Reasons:

1. Trukks suck. They are just not cheap or fast enough to justify their vastly inferior capacity and durability.
2. ‘Ard cases improve wagons’ durability to an extent that vastly outweighs the loss of the ability to shoot out of them.*
3. If you’re not using them as gunboats anyway then you might as well tool the boyz up for melee.
4. The loss of bonus attacks on the charge means that the extra attack for choppa and slugga is more important now.
5. Deff rollas are awesome. Gun upgrades just aren’t worth the points for what is already quite an expensive transport.

*(But see below...)

WHO’S DA BOSS???!!!?

If you are strapped for points take Zhadsnark to lead your army. However, if you can afford it, Ghazgkhull with a “bodyguard” (yes I know characters can’t join units anymore but they still synergise well) of meganobz and preferably a waaagh banner will wreck face.

A note on Warlord traits: one small advantage of not having a codex is that your special characters don’t come with pre-set Warlord traits, so you can choose the one you like (albeit from a more limited selection). The most common choices will be “legendary fighter” for +1 attack or “might makes right” from Chapter Approved for a S7 boss (s14 with the klaw). The only time might make a right is more effective is against T7 units as you will be wounding on 2s rather than 3s. For every other situation, you your wound roll will be the same so you might as well have the extra attack.

Arm your meganobz with twin killsaws. They are much killier than PKs in most situations and it’s well worth the loss of a handful of shoota shots. Much like the last edition, they are an excellent bully unit for slaughtering things that are fairly tough but not really equipped to take them out in melee *cough*Primaris*cough*.

SUPPORT

IMHO it is very important to focus on squeezing the aforementioned units into your list. Up to the 1500 point limit, anything beyond this should be included strictly on an “I have a few points left over and I can’t think what else to get” basis. I say this because wagons are very expensive but also very tough and you don’t want to give your opponents easy targets.

However, if you are playing games at more than 1500 points, you will probably find that your opponents’ more heavy duty units come out to play and boyz alone may struggle to take them out, especially if your opponent screens them with chaff.

At this point I would recommend another battlewagon (yes another one), this time open-topped and with tankbustas or flash gitz inside for fire support. Which of these units you prefer will depend on who you tend to play. Tankbustas are (unsurprisingly) awesome against vehicles and pretty good against monsters. Flash gitz are better against infantry and still pretty good in close combat if needed (they are still nobz underneath it all).

A big mek with KFF is a good character to go with your gits or bustas as the KFF will compensate somewhat for the reduced toughness of the open-topped wagon. If I have the points, I like to use a BM with mega armour for this - I understand the argument that you don’t want him in combat, but things can go wrong and this way he is a credible melee threat as a backup option. Don’t bother buying him expensive guns as his BS is not good enough. A grot oiler is useful though.

Try this little trick: Deploy a battle-wagon with 2x5 Stormboyz inside, and deploy 20 boyz (or whatever) behind the wagon. In your first turn the Stormboyz disembark and advances for a total of 3+12+D6 ". Then the boyz embark on the transport which advances 12+D6 ". If the Stormboyz rolled well for advance, they should be able to make a first turn charge out to at least 28-29 inches. And your fragile Stormboyz will be somewhat protected against alpha-strikes.

I hope we get cheaper trukks and a tougher battle-wagon with the codex.

'Ard Battlewagon with a Deffrolla is sweet.

I have had good success with bringing 2x6 Tankbustas in trukkz.

Boyz are too cheap for our vehicles, I think you need toyz in trukkz and wagonz.

I like bringing planes with trukkz

A KFF on bike is nice

Do every possible thing to try and get turn one

I don't think the +1 attack for mobs of 20+ boyz is that necessary. I mean big mob of boyz won't reach combat without taking casualties unless you have at least 6x30 or you succed a deepstriking charge (which usually ends up in overkill against screeners, so that many attacks weren't needed anyway).

The real strenght of 30 man mobs is its high amount of cheap wounds.

19 boyz plus a weirdboy with warpath in a BW can unleash lots of damage.

Talking about transports based lists, well that's my favorite way to play orks since 3rd edition And I mostly play orks this way.

My favorite list, which is not the most effective one but IMHO decent and fun to play, has 3 BWs, a morkanaut, 3 single skorchas, 4 meganobz with 3 or 4 pair of killsaws, 4 KMKs, biker mek with KFF, biker boss and a weirdboy or warboss with killchoppa (they cost the same amount of points). 2x10 boyz in a wagon, 19 plus the footslogging character in another one, and meganobz plus 12 boyz in the third one. Sometimes I also include a trukk full of bustas, just cutting the meganobz and two skorchas.

The morkanaut is the bullet magnet that let the transport survive a little bit. I consider this naut way more effective than the gorkanaut because it has a worse profile but it's cheaper and already comes with a KFF while if you want to field the naut you should also take a big mek with KFF. The buggies add more armored wounds and may mess with some nasty deepstrikers, use them to let deepstrikers arrive where they won't be 100% effective against the naut or other expensive stuff.

I sometimes also play with just 1-2 BWs and more trukks or small units of kanz.