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Hello guys,

Next week I will play vs my Tau friend, who will get his new codex and new units until then.

Therefore, what will be the most effective taktik for an Ork army vs such an even-more-optimized-gunline-as-before?
Truk/BW rush or green tide?

Orks brothers: how are you going to face them?

ITT: Psychics.

How can people give advice about something that's not been released, and only a few pages have been glimpsed? Just wait it out, it's like 2 days until you can find out.

If I had to take a stab at it: I'd say take lots of Dakka in the form of:

Lots o Lootas
Big Guns (Kannon or Lobba for range)
Big Mek w/ SAG
Boys and Grots for Bubblewrap

and especially...

Prayers to Mork and Gork!



Tau are pretty nasty in range and their little battlesuit assault rule means that you can never footslog it to get into CC with them. I have no idea what their new codex is like (I'll get a look at it this Sunday), so until then, that's what I'd do just to even attempt the range-game with Tau.

A friend of mine started using deff copters (or whatever they are called) to hunt down my battlesuits back in fifth edition. I havent played much since then due to a long distance move on my part, but you might look into them to counter the battle suits. Loota's and flashgitz were both really irritating to me as well.

Flashgitz? Aren't they overpriced?

I am really hesitating on the right strat, because I think an insane spam of Shootas (= giving as much targets as possible to the opponent, without anything special to focus) could work.
And you keep some key units in reserve, like koptaz and maybe even MANZ in a Trukk, hoping they come late enough.

Battlewagons. Fill them up with Shoota and Burna buyz and Nobz w/'eavy armour.

New Tau can't handle AV14 like in days of yore, Shootas and Burnas are obvious, and Nobs with 4+ save can probably shrug off Tau overwatch.

Nobz + 'eavy armour + PK?
What about MANZ?

People that suggest Flash Gitz clearly never played orks or even glanced at our codex. They are the worst unit in the entirety that is 40k not just our dex. A working Flash Git force (thus, one that actually can do something) will cost you ~500-600pts EASILY and its only 10 models, 2 wounds each, 4+ armor which is penned by half or more of most armies these days, so it requires wheelz of some sort which makes it even MORE expensive and - get this - takes a second Heavy slot. I'd rather run 5 Deffdredds than Flash Gitz, since the Deffdreads atleast look awesome and are considerably cheap. (5 because 2 Big Meks allows 2 to be troops)

As for the tau thing:

Prior to the new dex, i'd say BW spam would be suicide. Now though....probably your best bet to run 3-4 battlewagons loaded with boyz and MANz or heck even naked Nobz with the 4+ armor upgrade only could cause some serious issues since they'd get to the enemy line unscathed for the most part (bad luck does happen though).

Lootas are viable to at least thin down the Firewarriors/Kroot walls since theyre going to be focused out the 1st-3rd turn by longer range shots or a deepstriking Crisis team with flamers.

I am stil waiting on my new tau dex but everything i am reading shows Tau are hurting in anti-AV14 and, aside from High Yield Missilepod broadsides, lack any real AP as well.

If you are going the BW route ... for the love of God dont take any Trukks lol. Every single Tau unit can pen AV10 and at good range too. Unless you were able to completely hide it from EVERYTHING it would die the instant it shows up. Rather buy more lootas even if i end up being Fearless than take a random trukk with 12 boyz that will end up being useless anyway.

Thank you for the advice!

And a KFF or 2 to cover the BW spam?

 Vineheart01 wrote:

Prior to the new dex, i'd say BW spam would be suicide. Now though....probably your best bet to run 3-4 battlewagons loaded with boyz and MANz or heck even naked Nobz with the 4+ armor upgrade only could cause some serious issues since they'd get to the enemy line unscathed for the most part (bad luck does happen though).

I'd drop the 4+ armor. Almost every gun the Tau have is at least AP4. You might as well just have them all wearing t-shirts that say "I'm wid stupid."

 RedizDead wrote:
Thank you for the advice!

And a KFF or 2 to cover the BW spam?

its more than likely not worth the points-- theyre gonna have a buttload of markerlights to negate the save anyway, so you're probably just better off sticking to cover on the board where you can, rather than paying the 60pts for it.

This is gonna sound really stoopid but, outshoot them. I'm not too familiar with Orks. Orks may be crappy shots but they have units that can put out a wall of bullets; Lootas I think?

Tau get double shots (or triple with a nearby Ethereal) inside of 15" usually, Orks will have to dance inside those 3" of the max range of their Assault 2 Shootas maybe?

Overwatch hurts Orks BAD and, JSJ ensures they will almost never reach charge range.

Also, as previously mentioned, Battlewagons. Their counter for BattleWagons? 3 Hammerheads or switching out most of their weaponry for Fusion Blasters and getting within 9". Also, if it isn't 2+ armor don't bother with the upgrade.

 Vineheart01 wrote:

As for the tau thing:

Prior to the new dex, i'd say BW spam would be suicide. Now though....probably your best bet to run 3-4 battlewagons loaded with boyz and MANz or heck even naked Nobz with the 4+ armor upgrade only could cause some serious issues since they'd get to the enemy line unscathed for the most part (bad luck does happen though).

I havnt taken a look at the new dex, but why is this the case? Do they have less railguns now?

 Wilytank wrote:

 Vineheart01 wrote:

Prior to the new dex, i'd say BW spam would be suicide. Now though....probably your best bet to run 3-4 battlewagons loaded with boyz and MANz or heck even naked Nobz with the 4+ armor upgrade only could cause some serious issues since they'd get to the enemy line unscathed for the most part (bad luck does happen though).

I'd drop the 4+ armor. Almost every gun the Tau have is at least AP4. You might as well just have them all wearing t-shirts that say "I'm wid stupid."

When dealing with concerted Overwatch, most of the fire you're going to meet comes from Pulse weapons, Smart missiles and Kroot rifles, which is all AP5/6. Sure, Tau also do have loads of AP4 fire. Alternatively you could of course take Painboy, and if really nuts, Cybork bodies too! Anyway, you're probably going to need some sort of save against storm of Pulse fire new Tau can unload.

I dunno, Pulse Rifles, Carbines, SMS, and Burst Cannons are all AP 5 so adding a 4+ save could make you much less afraid of overwatch. I also think trying to outshoot tau is a bad idea. I think the best plan would be to barrel forward BW followed closely behind by a few Truks or biker nobs. Chances are something will get through and you'll be able to wreck shop. Just remember, Tau can only overwatch once per squad so take advantage of that fact and coordinate your assaults so that more than 1 squad will get in b2b.

 Billagio wrote:

 Vineheart01 wrote:

Prior to the new dex, i'd say BW spam would be suicide. Now though....probably your best bet to run 3-4 battlewagons loaded with boyz and MANz or heck even naked Nobz with the 4+ armor upgrade only could cause some serious issues since they'd get to the enemy line unscathed for the most part (bad luck does happen though).

I havnt taken a look at the new dex, but why is this the case? Do they have less railguns now?

Yes, Broadside Railguns are S8 now, so they can get max. three S10 railguns in the list, and most don't get even that. Fusion blasters (Tau meltaguns) gained bit more range though.

Tau's only S10 (far as i know) is from the Hammerhead which people are speaking even worse about than Kroot.

I am still waiting on my tau dex so all my knowledge is from reading threads, but the highest strength they spam is 7 which doesnt hurt av14 at all. Riptides i know can cause higher strength via pi plate, that could be a problem since it can jump across the board and get AV12.
Hmm...actually i retract my BW suggestion lol that sounds like a pretty valid BW spam counter (1-2 Riptides jump to the side and blast away)

Also aside from the missiles on broadsides what has ap4 or better thats spammable? or did they buff FW to have AP4 for some reason? Becuase they were Str5 AP5 Rapid fire last time.

Battle wagons, 100% viable. Run them. Smash face, fear charging.

We usually play @ 1000pts, so I doubt he will be able to use more than 1 Hammerhead and 1 Riptide.

I plan to have 3 BW with deffrollas full of Boyz+PK Nobz, 1 mob of Lootas and some Kopters.

And what about Orks HQ vs Tau? Obviously not Big Mek KFF.
So Big Boss in mega-armor maybe?

Pretty much all Ork HQs are melee orintated with the exception of Weirdboyz/Zogwort, and even they have a better average melee statline than Tau HQs. The issue is getting them in that assault lol.

Picking the right HQ i cant help you with as i dont have much exp with tau especially in the new dex. Normally i run a meganob warboss if i am running trukk/wagons, but since that army is so flippin mobile i think they would just kite me to death. Having a bikerboss randomly following behind the wagons just sounds weird lol and i doubt you'd have the points for a few bikernobz and still have the BW spam at that point cost.

As Tau are quite a static army, could a SAG be a nice option?

SAGs are an interesting option in any army. The bigger question is can you benefit from a KFF or a second warboss better than a random SAG on top of a building firing his oversized Grotzooka across the board.

In this case, the KFF wont help you at all so its whether or not you think double warbosses is nice. Personally ive never ran double warboss, reason being im one of those people that despise "putting my eggs in one basket" and losing both my bosses because i ended up facing something that they couldnt face without charging but couldnt charge because of what was in the way. Namely, MC for the most part, but i suspect the Riptide isnt going to give you that kind of threat unless your warboss is solo and the riptide charges you first (even then, i find it silly for the Tau to do that)

You can have 2 Warbosses in the battlewagon that has the Nobz in it and when they disembark just have him zip over to one of the 20man boyz squads, or just stay in the Nob ball for triple characters (well, triple if you have a Painboy) and more S10 pklaws vs S9.

...im just gonna stop im rambling lol. Its mainly down to whichever you feel wont screw you over if things go bad. SAG is a backup HQ slot, not a main tactic, remember that.

 RedizDead wrote:
We usually play @ 1000pts, so I doubt he will be able to use more than 1 Hammerhead and 1 Riptide.

I plan to have 3 BW with deffrollas full of Boyz+PK Nobz, 1 mob of Lootas and some Kopters.

And what about Orks HQ vs Tau? Obviously not Big Mek KFF.
So Big Boss in mega-armor maybe?

I wouldn't waist the points on deffrollas. Dakkawagons are much better.

mrfantastical wrote:

 RedizDead wrote:
We usually play @ 1000pts, so I doubt he will be able to use more than 1 Hammerhead and 1 Riptide.

I plan to have 3 BW with deffrollas full of Boyz+PK Nobz, 1 mob of Lootas and some Kopters.

And what about Orks HQ vs Tau? Obviously not Big Mek KFF.
So Big Boss in mega-armor maybe?

I wouldn't waist the points on deffrollas. Dakkawagons are much better.

Do waste points on deffrollers. Get the boyz across there quick and into assault then go around ramming things.
Don't drive slowly across the board shooting!

Backfire wrote:

 Wilytank wrote:

 Vineheart01 wrote:

Prior to the new dex, i'd say BW spam would be suicide. Now though....probably your best bet to run 3-4 battlewagons loaded with boyz and MANz or heck even naked Nobz with the 4+ armor upgrade only could cause some serious issues since they'd get to the enemy line unscathed for the most part (bad luck does happen though).

I'd drop the 4+ armor. Almost every gun the Tau have is at least AP4. You might as well just have them all wearing t-shirts that say "I'm wid stupid."

When dealing with concerted Overwatch, most of the fire you're going to meet comes from Pulse weapons, Smart missiles and Kroot rifles, which is all AP5/6. Sure, Tau also do have loads of AP4 fire. Alternatively you could of course take Painboy, and if really nuts, Cybork bodies too! Anyway, you're probably going to need some sort of save against storm of Pulse fire new Tau can unload.

I thought Pulse Rifles (Fire Warrior guns) were AP4...?

Pulse rifles are S5 AP5.

My mistake. Were they ever (past edition) AP4?

Last edtion there was famous pieplate of hammerhead railgun was AP4, still Ap4. I think it was hurt for you.
There is many of AP4 in new tau, all of them can make blast/large blast attack that can be combind with Ignore cover.


New Tau lack of railgun than past edtion, so if I am going to fight against new tau with my orks, I'll field battlewagons as much as possible and Mega armored warboss and Mad dok with boyz in a wagon.
But be aware of their suits because the range fusion blaster(work as meltas) increased to 18", so within 9" they can penetrate with 2D6 roll. 3" increase of melta range is immense since they tend to use JSJ to escape incoming assault.
With their markerlight tau can strip off cover save, so I don't sure KFF might be useful but I don't know how much your opponent depends on markerlight so it depends.

Spamming Dakkajet or burna bommer with AP4 dakkas and rokkit also helps dealing with against weak fire warriors and pathfinders, but be careful if there is Riptide, probably taking skyfire mode.

With regards to av14 problems I wouldn't bank in on this. suits will probably all have fusion blasters on now as the range is 18 now meaning with a thruster move they can stay safe aswell

If you take multiple battlewagons do not deploy them near each other unless they are completely bubble wrapped. Otherwise you run the risk of Shadow Sun and her bodyguard deep striking in and killing all three in a single turn.