40K Tactics: It Ain’t Easy Being Green – Part 1
Wello, my name is Wyatt, and I am an Ork player. My cravings come and go. Sometimes when I am stuck in traffic, I fantasize about installing a Deff Rolla, or a Kustom Mega Blasta.
Usually I can keep it under control, but lately, Grey Knights have brought out the worst of it. There is nothing better than the high I get when my Shoota Boyz, with the help of some hot lead and unbridled murderous enthusiasm, gun down 5,000 years of combined experience and shiny armor.
I am here with no expectation or even an intention of recovery, but rather to hand out pillz from the Bad Dok, to take you and me further down the rabbit hole.
I’m not going to drop my list down and say how I beat things with it, but what I will do is tell you that I run hybrid orks with a pretty large foot contingent (60 shootas, 30 sluggas). This should help the reader filter some of the article. I plan on going over some broad tactics, and a few advanced concepts, so hopefully there is something for everyone.
Minimizing Grey Knight Advantages
Purifiers:
The first fear that horde Ork players have against GK is Purifiers. A unit of 5 Purifiers can beat 30 Boyz in combat. There isn’t really any other unit in the game that will bash you so efficiently in combat, even if you charge. What’s worse is that with the force weapons, even our heavy hitters like Mega-Armor Nobz and Nobz/Biker Nobz really struggle. What’s a Warboss to do?
Beating Purifiers starts in deployment. Ask your opponent which transport the Purifiers are in. Make a mental note of it. Start getting really good at judging certain distances. The ones you want to know really well are 15” (The assault distance from a transports access point) as well as 21” (For transports with assault ramps). These are distances you should also know if you run Speed Freeks. Your game plan should consist of two parts. 1. Immobilize the Purifiers. Knock out their transport with ranged fire. Lootas are obviously good, but Rokkit Buggies and Kannons work well too. If the Purifiers are not slowed down, you will lose. 2. Shoot those Purifiers to death. Point for point, Shoota Boyz in cover beat Purifiers in a shooting match. Kite them and mow them down.
of Land Raiders and Battlewagons:
Land Raiders have always given Ork players trouble due to their resilience. Also, the cargo can be devastating. What do we do when there is a unit of Purifiers or Deathcult/Arcoflagellents inside a Land Raider? Here is where a Warboss must be cunnin’. We can’t destroy the Raider with our shooting, which means its cargo will hit our lines at some point. You need to predict where the cargo will attack. Set up a sacrificial unit there and hope your opponent bites. Then annihilate the cargo after they mince your bait. Another option is to set a juicy bait unit up in difficult terrain 20” away from the enemy Land Raider. You can then hope that the opponent attacks and fails his charge. This is the best situation. Once you have destroyed the cargo, the Land Raider is much less of a threat, and hopefully you can use a deffrolla or powerklaws to bring it down. If you have a Battlewagon with a deffrolla, you can in effect, force where a Raider will go. Your Battlewagon projects a 13” radius around it where Land Raiders will probably not go. Use this to attempt to force the Land Raider to hit your bait.
The Land Raider Multimelta / Deffrolla Battle Wagon interaction deserves a mention here, and is a pretty advanced tactic. The Land Raider can move 12” and fire its multimelta 12” with 2d6 armor pen. That’s 24” of threat on paper. In reality, the actual multimelta is about 2” away from the front of the tank, which gives us about 22” of threat to your Battle Wagon. The Wagon has a 13” threat range from its starting position. What this means is that if you use your Wagons aggressively, the Raider will always get the first shot off at your Wagon before the deffrolla has a chance to do its job. So we use our Wagons defensively. Place your Wagons such that they delay the Land Raider from delivering its cargo in places you don’t want. If your Wagon is 24” away from the Raider during the GK turn, you can be pretty sure that your opponent will not move full speed in the Wagon’s direction. This may delay him for a turn. There is obviously a very small sweet spot that you want your Wagon to stay at when jousting with a Raider. The Wagon should always end its turn 23-25 inches away from the enemies’ Land Raider. Use this to force them away from vulnerable units, or take on the risk of losing their Raider.
Assault Weaponry
The GKs tend to have a lot of 24” assault weaponry designed for destroying infantry. Again, on paper this seems like it is a real issue for Orks. In reality, Shoota Boys in cover are more efficient point for point than the GKs shooting. Cover is very powerful in 5th, and due to the fact that very few GK lists run lots of templates or blasts, you can easily bunch Boys up in a small stand of trees without fear. If your opponent catches on, and starts trying to kite your Boyz with their superior range knowing that the difficult terrain will slow you down, you counter by using that bait unit to be mobile cover which won’t slow you down. Your 6” move plus 18” range should allow you to trade shots.
MSU Mech
Grey Knights have powerful MSU Mech builds. Our counter to this is the oft-underestimated Ork shooting. I use Lootas and Kannons. Rokkit Buggies are another excellent option. Lootas will often disable or destroy an AV 11 tank every round. Kannons (don’t forget the ammo runts!) and Rokkit Buggies will often get a result or two every round. Target priority is the order of the day here. Lootas are far more effective at busting Rhinos or Razors than they are at firing at Space Marines. Grey Knights’s out of their tank are as good as dead. Orks have many ways to remove enemy troops, but their anti-tank firepower is often strained.
Conclusions
After reading about the tactical and army list counters I have presented, you will probably have a good idea of what I think makes a strong Ork army list. In my opinion you do need a few important elements. Lots of Shoota Boyz, a strong ranged anti-tank core (Lootas, Kannons, Rokkit Buggies), a bait unit (Grotz, small Boyz unit), and a Deff Rolla Battle Wagon. The Battle Wagon is not a must have since Raiders are a fairly rare build, but the other elements are essential. Next time I will go over how to leverage your army aggressively to take the fight to the knights!
‘Ave at it Lads!
