Might makes Right! - Codex Orks 2021 Tactics

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**KGYM**

For kommandos I just go with old choppa boyz (maybe more backpacks and kitted more for melee) and just paint their skin shyish purple on white primer. They go hard. (Purple is a reference to the fan theory that ork camo is purple, as you've never seen purple orks.)

**Tomsug**

Well, first I made about 20 kommandos from the rests from the boyz and other kits + Spellcrow heads, feets, backpaks and choppa hands.

Than I bought another bumch of the resin ones.

And now I have 2 packs of the new ones in the log.

The first converted one are however super cool and it was a great fun to make them.

**Grotrebel**

Had a fun game yesterday against Black Templars und used a slightly different version of sempers 3 patrol Goff Alphork List.

My army:

Spoiler:

Opponent had the usual BT 5++ / Mini Transhuman stuff:

Spoiler:

I went for Engage, No Prisoners and Assassinate, he took Grind them Down, Bring it Down and Raise the banners.

I deployed very aggressivly with my kommandos but was able to hide all the other stuff.
Sadly he went first and his Bladeguard, VanVets and Chaplain took the "bait" and killed most of my kommandos, but then i was able to charge most of my stuff with Waaagh in my turn.
I wiped out 5 Incursors, 5 Intercessors and killed 3 Bladeguards und 8 VanVets. My Koptas rolled like hot garbage and his saves were on fire, otherwise i would have killed the Bladeguard and the VenVets (Who were attacked by 6 Koptas, both Warbosses and 10 Trukkboys. :()
My other Koptas killed 2 Attack Bikes and the last Bike had 1 wound remaining.

In his second turn he healed 1 Bike and revived the other. Those 3 went for the Beastboss who miracolously survived 4 Melta wounds and the close combat attacks with 1 wound and killed the 3 Trikes - mostly because his good boy of a squig rolled two 6s to wound.

His Contemptors continued to lay down some mean dakka and turn 1 + 2 he killed 2 Trukks, 1 Dragsta, 2 Mek Guns and about 30 Boys & Kommandos while saving all the D6 shots of mine with lots of 5++ rolls.
Two of my vehicles exploded which killed the Warbike Warboss and helped him to kill my stuff with 10+ MW`s on my own stuff.

But at least my Boys, Koptas and Warbosses managed to finish off his Bladeguard and VanVets while the remaining Mek Gun, Kommandos and Stormboys scored good on engage and helped a lot to max out Primaries.
My Squigboss with 1 wound remaining managed to kill his remaining Incursors to take away one of his objectives while the Koptas blasted away his Apothecary.

His 3rd turn he had his Chaplain, Techmarine, Impulsor and the 3 Redemptors left, i had my Squigboss, the MA Warboss, 1 Mek Gun, 1 Trukk, 10 Trukkboys, 5 Stormboys, 5 Koptas and 1 Kommando left.

He managed to kill the remaining Koptas, the Stormboys and the Squigboss, in my 3rd turn i finished off his Chaplain with the MA Warboss and scored a bit more on secondaries.

His 4th turn he killed everything but 1 Trukk, 1 Kommando, 5 Trukkboys and the Mek Gun, i could do nothing more then shoot down his Impulsor with my Mek Gun (finally getting through that annoying 5++s rolls).

His 5th turn he killed everything but the 1 Mek Gun which had 3 wounds remaining and scored my final 5 points for Primaries.
He had his 3 Redemptors and the Techmarine left but in the end i won 77:71. To be fair he made one mistake to choose banners, which scored just 1 point total. If he had just gone for Engage he would have ended up with 80+ points and won the game - lucky me!
(But to be fair, i focused on his infantry and the objectives to prevant lots of banner points, otherwise i would have concentrated more on killing his nasty Redemptors.

Overall great game with lots of fun close combat action and difficult decisions on both sides. Would have gone a lot better without his glorious invulns but overall it went great.
Thinking about skipping the Dragsta for Warbikes instead next time, i just wanted some extra anti tank but the Dragsta did nothing besides exploding and giving the Warboss 3 MW`s and some more on my other stuff.^^
Would love the add 1-3 more Mek Guns as they are really solid but that poor morale is basicly a 50:50 chance to loose another Mek Gun for each loss.
Maybe add another squad of Stormboys to help a bit with engage if i struggle to properly krump the opponent with my alpha strike, Engage and solid work on the Primaries safed the day after all.

**Blackie**

3 KMKs and 9 koptas are already pretty solid anti tank. I wouldn't increase the number of mek gunz due to morale issues, as you noticed as well.

You could add a bomb squig to each squad of kommandos instead, it's just 15 points for some mortal wounds. Squighog boyz can have them as well, and you may prefer them over the bikes.

**Grotrebel**

Yeah I had Bomb Squigs on my Kommandos but they lack range sometimes.
My Koptas are tied up in cc a lot and since I played them often they tend to get focused by my regular opponents. :(

I love the Wazbom, but since he gets one-shotted as soon as the opponent has the chance that means onother 2 CP for strategic reserve.

Good call about the Squigriders, only problem about that is I have only painted Warbikes so far and no Squiggos. But they are way up in my to do list and will be a good alternative to the Warbikes, especially if you go for Waaagh instead of Speedwaaagh. Guess I will try a mix of Bikes and Squigriders soon as they sacrifice speed for the extra punch.

I have even considered a (mini) Mek with inspiring leader to babysit a few Mek Guns. Who'd thought.
Maybe not highly competitive but might be okish for the semi competitive games and a chance for all them Mek Gunz from 8th edition to see the table again.
At least you can hide them behind obscuring and sneak around the edge turn one.

Oh and btw, that Bladeguard Seargent with 4 wounds, ignoring AP 1 & 2 and an Apo in his back was a real pain for that list. Good thing his only bad saves were the 2+ ones for this dude, otherwise he would have been a royal pain in the ass.
I wonder how that list would fare against stuff that ignores AP 1 & 2 a lot, I think there is 1 sisters build out there that does that?

But I guess I will be experiment more with Alphork lists because I and my regular opponents grew kinda tired of the buggy speedwaaagh.

**Beardedragon**

The new octarius kommandos look fething amazing however. Even if they cant be bought freely outside of maybe ebay.

**Jidmah**

Grotrebel wrote:

Spoiler:

Had a fun game yesterday against Black Templars und used a slightly different version of sempers 3 patrol Goff Alphork List.

My army:

Beastboss (Warlord: Beasthide Mantle & Proper Killy)
Warboss on Bike (Killklaw & BBK)
MA Warboss (Krushin Armour & Might is Right)
3 x 3 Deffkoptas
3 x Trukkboys in Trukks
3 x 10 Kommandos
5 Stormboys
3 x Mek Gun
1 Shockjump Dragsta

Opponent had the usual BT 5++ / Mini Transhuman stuff:

Beefed up Chaplain on Bike
Super Apothecary
Techmarine with some auras
3 Redemptors
10 VanVets
5 Bladeguard
2 x 5 Incursors
5 Intercessors
3 Attack Bikes
1 Impulsor

I went for Engage, No Prisoners and Assassinate, he took Grind them Down, Bring it Down and Raise the banners.

I deployed very aggressivly with my kommandos but was able to hide all the other stuff.
Sadly he went first and his Bladeguard, VanVets and Chaplain took the "bait" and killed most of my kommandos, but then i was able to charge most of my stuff with Waaagh in my turn.
I wiped out 5 Incursors, 5 Intercessors and killed 3 Bladeguards und 8 VanVets. My Koptas rolled like hot garbage and his saves were on fire, otherwise i would have killed the Bladeguard and the VenVets (Who were attacked by 6 Koptas, both Warbosses and 10 Trukkboys. :()
My other Koptas killed 2 Attack Bikes and the last Bike had 1 wound remaining.

In his second turn he healed 1 Bike and revived the other. Those 3 went for the Beastboss who miracolously survived 4 Melta wounds and the close combat attacks with 1 wound and killed the 3 Trikes - mostly because his good boy of a squig rolled two 6s to wound.
His Contemptors continued to lay down some mean dakka and turn 1 + 2 he killed 2 Trukks, 1 Dragsta, 2 Mek Guns and about 30 Boys & Kommandos while saving all the D6 shots of mine with lots of 5++ rolls.
Two of my vehicles exploded which killed the Warbike Warboss and helped him to kill my stuff with 10+ MW`s on my own stuff.

But at least my Boys, Koptas and Warbosses managed to finish off his Bladeguard and VanVets while the remaining Mek Gun, Kommandos and Stormboys scored good on engage and helped a lot to max out Primaries.
My Squigboss with 1 wound remaining managed to kill his remaining Incursors to take away one of his objectives while the Koptas blasted away his Apothecary.

His 3rd turn he had his Chaplain, Techmarine, Impulsor and the 3 Redemptors left, i had my Squigboss, the MA Warboss, 1 Mek Gun, 1 Trukk, 10 Trukkboys, 5 Stormboys, 5 Koptas and 1 Kommando left.

He managed to kill the remaining Koptas, the Stormboys and the Squigboss, in my 3rd turn i finished off his Chaplain with the MA Warboss and scored a bit more on secondaries.

His 4th turn he killed everything but 1 Trukk, 1 Kommando, 5 Trukkboys and the Mek Gun, i could do nothing more then shoot down his Impulsor with my Mek Gun (finally getting through that annoying 5++s rolls).

His 5th turn he killed everything but the 1 Mek Gun which had 3 wounds remaining and scored my final 5 points for Primaries.
He had his 3 Redemptors and the Techmarine left but in the end i won 77:71. To be fair he made one mistake to choose banners, which scored just 1 point total. If he had just gone for Engage he would have ended up with 80+ points and won the game - lucky me!
(But to be fair, i focused on his infantry and the objectives to prevant lots of banner points, otherwise i would have concentrated more on killing his nasty Redemptors.

Overall great game with lots of fun close combat action and difficult decisions on both sides. Would have gone a lot better without his glorious invulns but overall it went great.
Thinking about skipping the Dragsta for Warbikes instead next time, i just wanted some extra anti tank but the Dragsta did nothing besides exploding and giving the Warboss 3 MW`s and some more on my other stuff.^^
Would love the add 1-3 more Mek Guns as they are really solid but that poor morale is basicly a 50:50 chance to loose another Mek Gun for each loss.
Maybe add another squad of Stormboys to help a bit with engage if i struggle to properly krump the opponent with my alpha strike, Engage and solid work on the Primaries safed the day after all.

Cool battle report, thanks for sharing

**DoktaRoksta**

Got my boss on squigasaur, might have also picked up a killrig.
Merry Orkmas

**Beardedragon**

This has been explained somewhere but im not sure where, and id like to understand it, as im painting to field 30 kommandos.

But when we have kommandos in, lets say a ruin, and someone attacks me in close combat, do i still get +2 to my save? The whole "receiving the benefits of cover" im a little confused about.

Because i am in a ruin, i do get +1 to my save against ranged attacks so im under a benefit of cover, but it doesnt benefit against CC. So do i still get the bonus? I have a benefit, it just doesnt work against CC.

**Jidmah**

You receive the benefits of cover during all phases and the ability does not limit which attacks can be affected.

If you sit in heavy cover (for example, behind a barricade), you would even get +3 to your save against melee attacks.

**Beardedragon**

Jidmah wrote:
You receive the benefits of cover during all phases and the ability does not limit which attacks can be affected.

If you sit in heavy cover (for example, behind a barricade), you would even get +3 to your save against melee attacks.

thanks buddy. I heard that benefits of cover also covers defensible position?

the one that gives +1 to my hits or +1 to my overwatch (or what ever it does ive never used it)

but a normal mlight save doesnt work then. I figured it wouldnt.

**tneva82**

Grotrebel wrote:

I wonder how that list would fare against stuff that ignores AP 1 & 2 a lot, I think there is 1 sisters build out there that does that?

Not quite. Valorous heart reduces AP by 1 for AP 1 and 2. So AP2 goes down to AP1, AP1 goes to AP0.

Salamanders ignore AP1. I'm sure there are others as well. But don't know any AP2 ignoring now that VH got changed.

**Jidmah**

Beardedragon wrote:
Jidmah wrote:
You receive the benefits of cover during all phases and the ability does not limit which attacks can be affected.

If you sit in heavy cover (for example, behind a barricade), you would even get +3 to your save against melee attacks.

thanks buddy. I heard that benefits of cover also covers defensible position?

the one that gives +1 to my hits or +1 to my overwatch (or what ever it does ive never used it)

but a normal mlight save doesnt work then. I figured it wouldnt.

Essentially it works like this:
- For area terrain, INFANTRY, BEAST and SWARM models (not cavalry, bikes or vehicles!) receives the benefit of cover while your are within it (= any part of the base/unbased model is over the base). Note that many events also rule that touching the terrain is enough.
- For obstacles, INFANTRY, BEAST or SWARM models receive the benefit of cover when they are within 3" of the obstacle and the attack has to cross the obstacle for any part of your model.
- Exposed Position takes away the benefits of cover, no matter what. Most commonly, this is triggered by standing on top of containers.

By itself, the benefits of cover do absolutely nothing (except trigger the kommadoz' rule).
There are just two terrain traits that check if you are receiving the benefits of cover:
- Light Cover (+1 save vs shooting)
- Heavy Cover (+1 save vs melee)
All other traits don't give a gak about benefits of cover.

To make the confusion complete, GW also wrote rules that give you the benefits of cover while out in the open, which then default to light cover unless specified otherwise.
In addition, ignoring the benefits of cover also affects dense terrain which doesn't really care about a unit receiving the benefits of cover solely because GW FAQed it that way.

Which means when you are
- in a ruin, you gain the benefits of cover (+1 save vs ranged from light cover), which then allows you to get +2 save from sneaky gitz.
- in the open behind a ruin you DO NOT gain the benefits of cover, but obscuring can hide you from sight.
- in a forest, you gain the benefits of cover (does nothing), which then allows you to get +2 save from sneaky gitz and you get -1 to hit from dense.
- in the open behind a forest, you DO NOT gain the benefits of cover, but you still get -1 to hit from dense.
- behind a barricade, you gain the benefits of cover (+1 save vs ranged and melee), which then allows you to get +2 save from sneaky gitz.
- on top of a container, you DO NOT gain the benefits.
- outside 18" and bloodaxe, you gain the benefits of cover (defaults to light cover, +1 save), which then allows you to get +2 save from sneaky gits .

Important: cover is on a model per model basis, so if you have 3 kommandoz in terrain and 7 outside of it, you can allocate wounds to the 3 receiving the benefits of cover for the first few wounds. Keep in mind that once you have started allocating wounds to a model, you cannot chose another one until that one is dead.

**MrMoustaffa**

DoktaRoksta wrote:
Jidmah wrote:
Congrats. When building it, keep in mind that it's super easy to magnetize for both the beastboss and the named character, so don't waste that opportunity.

Thanks for the tip
Now I just need to get Kommandos, what are people using?

The kommando kit from kill team is great. I also used some regular multipose boys with spellcrow heads with some slight tweaks like flipping their choppas around to look like theyre backstabbing. Then I used some of the new monopose boyz from the new combat patrol with spellcrow and leftover killteam heads. Used a mix of backpacks from kromlech, IG kits, and leftover ork packs.

Kommandos are pretty easy to convert, especially if you have leftover bits from a kommando box

**DoktaRoksta**

Thanks, managed to snag a set or kill team Kommandos off Ebay.

I got some gluing and painting to do

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Does anyone equip Kommandos with anything other than sluggas and choppa?
How about the nob?

**gungo**

Nob loves pk or bc
Probably best when in unit size 10 to give it some durability.

Bomb squigs are popular as are distraction grots depending on your playstyle

The ram is used as well but not really great as your just adding more points to a cheap unit.

**MrMoustaffa**

Depends on what you want the kommandos to do. I think the bomb squig is the only real no brainer since MW that you can just pick a target for, even on Overwatch to hit on a 3+ is pretty handy. I prefer klaw on Nobs but big choppa is free. Been trying the ram and it seems useful since I face mostly 2 wound infantry and monsters, but you could probably ignore it and be fine. I just like having the extra damage to deal with all the marines I see.

None of the guns seem worth it. You can only take 1 of each in a squad of 10 or more and have no way to buff BS. If you could take 5 kommandos with a bigshoota ,kustom shoota, and rokkit to camp an objective, maybe, but since most of the unit wants to stab things it just doesnt seem worth it to pay for extra guns.

**Afrodactyl**

DoktaRoksta wrote:
Thanks, managed to snag a set or kill team Kommandos off Ebay.
I got some gluing and painting to do

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Does anyone equip Kommandos with anything other than sluggas and choppa?
How about the nob?

I use a PK on the nob, the bomb squig and the Breacha Ram.

As others have said, the extra pip of damage from the Breacha Ram is situationally useful and is meta dependent. Definitely a "if you don't have anything better to spend the points on" upgrade otherwise.

The bomb squig is an auto-include in my opinion. Anything to pump out more MWs to help crack those really hard targets. I've not sat and recorded their exact input in my games, but I'd definitely say that bomb squigs have definitely enabled some victories.

**Beardedragon**

Jidmah wrote:
Beardedragon wrote:
Jidmah wrote:
You receive the benefits of cover during all phases and the ability does not limit which attacks can be affected.

If you sit in heavy cover (for example, behind a barricade), you would even get +3 to your save against melee attacks.

thanks buddy. I heard that benefits of cover also covers defensible position?

the one that gives +1 to my hits or +1 to my overwatch (or what ever it does ive never used it)

but a normal mlight save doesnt work then. I figured it wouldnt.

Essentially it works like this:
- For area terrain, INFANTRY, BEAST and SWARM models (not cavalry, bikes or vehicles!) receives the benefit of cover while your are within it (= any part of the base/unbased model is over the base). Note that many events also rule that touching the terrain is enough.
- For obstacles, INFANTRY, BEAST or SWARM models receive the benefit of cover when they are within 3" of the obstacle and the attack has to cross the obstacle for any part of your model.
- Exposed Position takes away the benefits of cover, no matter what. Most commonly, this is triggered by standing on top of containers.

By itself, the benefits of cover do absolutely nothing (except trigger the kommadoz' rule).
There are just two terrain traits that check if you are receiving the benefits of cover:
- Light Cover (+1 save vs shooting)
- Heavy Cover (+1 save vs melee)
All other traits don't give a gak about benefits of cover.

To make the confusion complete, GW also wrote rules that give you the benefits of cover while out in the open, which then default to light cover unless specified otherwise.
In addition, ignoring the benefits of cover also affects dense terrain which doesn't really care about a unit receiving the benefits of cover solely because GW FAQed it that way.

Which means when you are
- in a ruin, you gain the benefits of cover (+1 save vs ranged from light cover), which then allows you to get +2 save from sneaky gitz.
- in the open behind a ruin you DO NOT gain the benefits of cover, but obscuring can hide you from sight.
- in a forest, you gain the benefits of cover (does nothing), which then allows you to get +2 save from sneaky gitz and you get -1 to hit from dense.
- in the open behind a forest, you DO NOT gain the benefits of cover, but you still get -1 to hit from dense.
- behind a barricade, you gain the benefits of cover (+1 save vs ranged and melee), which then allows you to get +2 save from sneaky gitz.
- on top of a container, you DO NOT gain the benefits.
- outside 18" and bloodaxe, you gain the benefits of cover (defaults to light cover, +1 save), which then allows you to get +2 save from sneaky gits .

Important: cover is on a model per model basis, so if you have 3 kommandoz in terrain and 7 outside of it, you can allocate wounds to the 3 receiving the benefits of cover for the first few wounds. Keep in mind that once you have started allocating wounds to a model, you cannot chose another one until that one is dead.

thank you. Im assuming the dense cover doesnt proc sneaky gitz in CC since the -1 to hit doesnt work in CC.

It appears like this is a lot more complicated than what it has to be.

**Jidmah**

No, you are just overthinking it - Sneaky gitz will always proc for all attacks, ranged and melee, while you are in area terrain or when that attack is coming from across an obstacle. It doesn't matter what the terrain involved does at all.

**XC18**

MrMoustaffa wrote:

None of the guns seem worth it. You can only take 1 of each in a squad of 10 or more and have no way to buff BS. If you could take 5 kommandos with a bigshoota ,kustom shoota, and rokkit to camp an objective, maybe, but since most of the unit wants to stab things it just doesnt seem worth it to pay for extra guns.

I would take the burna, as it is the only one that allows you to use the bombsquig while advancing.

**Beardedragon**

Jidmah wrote:
No, you are just overthinking it - Sneaky gitz will always proc for all attacks, ranged and melee, while you are in area terrain or when that attack is coming from across an obstacle. It doesn't matter what the terrain involved does at all.

i thought i understood it untill you wrote this. But its okay, ill make a dedicated rules thread at some point to fully understand it.

**MrMoustaffa**

Jidmah wrote:
No, you are just overthinking it - Sneaky gitz will always proc for all attacks, ranged and melee, while you are in area terrain or when that attack is coming from across an obstacle. It doesn't matter what the terrain involved does at all.

I thought that was how it worked but my local group disagreed. Basically boiled down to a big argument over what exactly "benefits of cover" means. We settled that anytime I was getting some sort of benefit ruleswise from cover, the +2 kicked in. Leads to weird instances where my kommandos have 4+ save since they were being shot at through a dense terrain piece even though they werent in it. And my favorite, any time I charge something in most terrain, I have a 6+ save, but if Im charged in defensible terrain and can proc the +1 ws, then I get a +4 save.

I really wish GW would clarify this, out of all the things the ork faq glossed over this was the most important one in my opinion.

**Tomsug**

I 'm plaing with the Speed Mob right now.

It' s actualy pretty CP hungry kind of the list. The lost of +1 to hit pains the buggies and koptas a lot. On the other side, the extra move, invu and rain of mortal wounds etc is very solid.

But to be really cool, you need to burn the CP' s . And because you start with about 7CPs, it is not enough to Ramming Speed, Crashing Through and disappear in the sun every turn.

I think the key is the Blood Axes. Thinking Cap + Extra Kunnin trait actualy doubles your CPs = you spare 1CP per turn x 5 turns = 5CPs for Extra Kunnin and the Cap gives you in average about 2,5 CPs per battle = 7,5CPs back in total.

It ' s like duty free shopping..-

It will be the first time I will play Blood Axes in my life…

… and it makes my Warboss on Warbike a squishi supporting character

**shabadoit**

GW for some reason has stopped doing any real FAQs on Codexes - there are still issues unresolved with the Sisters book which came out earlier too. It's super frustrating. They used to do a big January FAQ so maybe we'll get that, but it would take so little for these issues to be resolved.

**Tomsug**

shabadoit wrote:
GW for some reason has stopped doing any real FAQs on Codexes - there are still issues unresolved with the Sisters book which came out earlier too. It's super frustrating. They used to do a big January FAQ so maybe we'll get that, but it would take so little for these issues to be resolved.

Stopped? They every did it?

**Jidmah**

It's a spring FAQ, and usually it's around March. AFAIK the January FAQ was a one-time emergency reaction to the game falling apart.

**gungo**

Right now we should get chapter approved with points updated in January.

A rules faq in March but I’m sure it will be pushed out…

Now we are also getting a quarterly balance reportedly rules update only… should be february if quarterly

**Jidmah**

gungo wrote:
Right now we should get chapter approved with points updated in January.

A rules faq in March but I’m sure it will be pushed out…

Now we are also getting a quarterly balance reportedly rules update only… should be february if quarterly

Keep in mind that GW is a European company that tends to be out of office till the second week of January - it has been this way for ages, but people still lose their mind every year when nothing is happening for the first few weeks of the year

**Tomsug**

Jidmah wrote:
Keep in mind that GW is a European company that tends to be out of office till the second week of January - it has been this way for ages, but people still lose their mind every year when nothing is happening for the first few weeks of the year

… sounds like a plan