Pure Gobbo Army

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**MechaEmperor7000**

So my friend really REALLY likes goblins, mainly due to Magic. Today I showed him a game with a bunch of Orks against an opponent he'd reasonably have a good time against (I specifically designed an Eldar List that he'd be good against but is also good against his. Basically both sides have massed close combat attacks). So the next step forward is a Gobbo army.

So I know Orks is the bottom rung right now, and Grots are even lower (due to the main two Grot units in the codex being "meh" even compared to other choices) but I was wondering how to make the most of them. This wouldn't be a tournament list (not even close) but still, anything that would improve them would be good.

Since there isn't a Grot HQ choice (or at least one that can be taken on it's own) I was thinking the Shokk Attack Gun Big Mek would fill that role, since my friend's favourite card is Goblin Grenade from MTG, and the Shokk Attack Gun is basically that in Warhammer form. I'd also be limited to:

Gretchin Squads
Killa Kans
Grot Tanks
Grot Mega Tanks
Mek Gunz

I could possibly fudge some tanks or something, since ain't nothing says the tanks aren't piloted by Grots with particularly bad aim. But I would like to avoid "count as" orks. Also yes, I'm building this army for him as he doesn't have the startup needed for 40k yet (that and I actually have some of this already and would like an excuse to make them).

The primary problem I see with grots is their leadership, and with not being able to take any characters at all, this limits me to trying to mitigate that with a huge number of squads and hope they don't run away. My friend doesn't mind as he likes random stupid from time to time. Other than that, which one of the above units is generally better to use, anyone got interesting combos, and any other suggestions that I might have missed? Also note that I won't be pitting this army against the like of Riptide Wing or Scatbikes (basically I have no expectations of this even coming close to competitive), so think low to mid-tier strategy.

**Roknar**

Doesn't forgeworld have some kind of grot army list with new grot units?

**Tibs Ironblood**

MechaEmperor7000 wrote:

So I know Orks is the bottom rung right now, and Grots are even lower (due to the main two Grot units in the codex being "meh" even compared to other choices) but I was wondering how to make the most of them. This wouldn't be a tournament list (not even close) but still, anything that would improve them would be good.

WOAH. Gretchin are amazing units! 35 points for an 11 strong squad (probably objective secured btw) sitting on an objective! Always going to ground because their shooting is such crap feels like you waste nothing for superior cover saves. Also You have not freaking LIVED until a single gretchin squad and their Runtherd have eated all the STRENGTH D attacks from a bloodthirster so that the meganobz could chop its heals off and laugh. Also remember when the Runtherd is in a challenge they reduce the attacks of the attacker by 1 as the Runtherd strangles them with his grabba stikk. A Runtherd will choke out a D attack in a challenge. Also remember that overflow attacks in a challenge go to the squad so when gretchin get hit instead of important stuff its just amazing. Watch out for combat resolution though lol. Gretchin squads are super awesome IMO. They are also so tiny they are easy to hide and forget about. Never trash on Gretchin! They are better troop choices than boyz by far IMO.

That aside I would roll with a ton of Kanz and Grot tanks (use as many custom ones as possible as the real ones are just STUPIDLY expensive. Gretchin all over the place to hold objectives and be annoying/awesome when their grot blastas kill a terminator. Also bring a ton of mek gunz and just blow stuff up with all the S8 blasts.

**Melevolence**

Spoiler:

...let's not get carried away and blow things out of proportion, shall we?

Gretchin aren't 'amazing' units. They are, at best, sub par. They have virtually zero upgrades of any kind, are S2 and T2, meaning they die to the very lightest of breezes. Have a lack luster character to keep them in line and can barely do anything in combat even if the Gretchen get there (He's literally just a Boy with fairly useless weapons). The grabby stick is meh at best, because he'll likely still die even if he drops a challenger down an attack either from attack overflow or just because it doesn't take much to squish him anyway.

Gretchin are, as you did mention, best for holding objectives and keeping their heads down. I use them to snag objectives that allow them to be hidden at the same time. Can't shoot what you can't see, after all. Their BS3 is what makes them even remotely useful. But then again, they have pretty poor weaponry. All we can hope for is they can peg off a few enemies before the Gretchin get charged and subsequently mauled to death.

Kanz, as much as I love them...aren't really that good. I ran them a lot because I simply love the models way too much and I love Walkers on the whole. They can be semi useful with Grotzookas if you can manage to get up to the enemy. They are not very good otherwise as their low WS and average S make them fairly unreliable in combat and struggle to pop most vehicles in a timely manner.

I can't really attest to the Forgeworld units (grot tank/mega tank) as I've never used them and don't even know what their profiles are.

Mek Gunz, if you can scratch build them, will always carry their weight and are the best 'grot' unit that I'm aware of.

**Slayer-Fan123**

Spam Mek Guns and you're good.

**MechaEmperor7000**

The Mek Guns and Grot Tanks actually gave me the idea of doing a "Not IG" Grot Tank Company.

Legions of Grots backed by Tanks and Mega-Tanks, with Mek-Guns converted to look like mini basilisks, Medusas and Hydras.

**Clang**

Presuming it's the gobbo models and fluff you love, don't limit yourself to the official gobbo units - you can also have lots of fun with converted gobbo models counting-as other things in the ork codex.

Example: gobbo piloting an armoured exoskeleton counts-as a meganob. (With fairly minor conversion, you could literally use a meganob model.)

So long as your conversions are close to the standard GW model size and are armed correctly, no one's going to object to all those happy little gobbo faces peeping out from ork armour.

**EricBasser**

Maxed Gretchin mobs and max kannon Mek guns with additional crew, filling the 6 troops and 3 heavy support will get you 224 Gretchin, 18 Boyz (Runtherders) and 15 Kannons in about 1000 points. While they will die to the slightest breeze, that's a lot of models for 1000 points. If you add a stompa, all Ork faction units within range will be fearless.

With a little tweaking, like dropping grots (Gretchin) to 29, so we aren't forced to take another Runtherders (13 points total saved), we can shape our list to 2 Pain Boyz (MtG Goblin Medics), 6x 29 Gretchin and 2 Runtherders, 3x 5 Kannons with 15 crew, and a Stompa for a 1850 list.

**Mallich**

EricBasser wrote:
With a little tweaking, like dropping grots (Gretchin) to 29, so we aren't forced to take another Runtherders (13 points total saved), we can shape our list to 2 Pain Boyz (MtG Goblin Medics), 6x 29 Gretchin and 2 Runtherders, 3x 5 Kannons with 15 crew, and a Stompa for a 1850 list.

Pain Boyz pay a fair bit to give Feel No Pain, but many weapons are Strength 4 and so will negate it against Toughness 2 grots.
Does MtG have the occasional goblin shaman (weirdboy*), or an engineer (big mek with zanny weapons)?

I did once plan on making an "Ork" Warboss ("Orky McOrky") who was actually a suit of mega-armour filled with tiny grots**. Alas, that's on my long list of modelling projects that I never seem to have time for.

*You're unlikely to ever get the extra warp charge for nearby orks, and the "Warpath" spell would be almost useless... but crazy magic can be quite amusing.
** Think of the old lots-of-children-in-a-trenchcoat.

**EricBasser**

I thought of the pain boy problem after I posted, sorry. You could just get a couple of Big Meks and stick them inside the Stompa.

**MechaEmperor7000**

I am actually in love with the idea of Grot Tanks right now so I think I will go that route. I'd still like to avoid making "count as Orks" conversions if possible.

**the_scotsman**

Grot tanks are pretty wonderful actually. Run Mek Gunz with a mega armored Big Mek or Lukky Stikk Megaboss to make them immortal and mobile and use those as your anti tank (Kustom mega Kannonz) and run the Kanz and tanks as your anti infantry with Grotzookas.

**MechaEmperor7000**

is the Kustom Mega Kannon good at taking out tanks? I generally find blast template weapons to be sub-par tank hunters because the scatter makes them much less accurate than I'd like.

**the_scotsman**

A bs3 small blast is pretty much the most reliably accurate weapon the orks can bring against vehicles. You need to scatter 6-7 inches before going off the hull of your average rhino, which is a roll of 9-10...

Kmks aren't amazing antitank guns but they're the best we got, high strength and AP2. Deal with the short range by making them mobile with mega armor.

**MechaEmperor7000**

I was thinking of having 3 squadrons of maxed out Grot Tanks armed with Big Shootas (to cut down on cost) and using them as my anti-infantry platform. 3 Grot Mega Tanks would be armed with 3 Big Shootas and 2 TL Rokkit Launchas for multi-tasking (since they got essentially splitfire) and three squads of Mek Gunz; 3 squads of Kannons (keeping things cheap).

HQ would be a Shokk Attack Gun Mek and troops would be maxed out squads of Gretchin.

**Akar**

It's very do-able. While not a Pure Grot list, this is what I'm running.

Spoiler:

You could easily drop the Morkanaut/Dreads for some Mek Guns. I'd work on keeping the Dreads though, even if you do some 'Super Kan' Conversion. The +1 for the Casualty check is a great help. If you wanted to keep those elements, then you could drop the 3rd unit of Kans for Mek Guns. One of the Flyers has Grot gunners and fills the FA slot nicely if you wanted to stick with the theme. In any case, Mek a Guns compliment this army quite nicely. I just don't have an available HS slot, and if I go with a 3rd CAD I run out of points.

Note on Grots:The large units have a purpose. I really hate the concept of 'Tax' units and so I try to actually use these units, and they are AWESOME. The Warlord rolls on the Strategic table 2x with 1 re-roll. You're shooting for 'Master of Ambush'. That will give both SAGs and 2 units of Grots 'Infiltrate' so they'll get to setup where your opponent will struggle to get to them and those SAGs will have LoS on anything your opponent values. Kunnin and Brutal ... When it works.

Each of those units provides plenty of 'Look Out Sir' rolls to the SAGs. Nothing like trying to chew through an Ord weapon with 30 wounds, that's usually outside of most short range shooting, and gets a cover save for being in terrain, or behind the wall of Kans. When the unit gets low on models, the look on your opponents face when you move the weak unit out, and bring the full units in to replace them, is priceless.