Goatboy’s 40K: Codex Orks, Testing, and Waaaghing
Goatboy here and I have gotten 2 games with the Orks under my belt. Here’s what I think now, based on tabletop experience.
I know it isn’t a lot of playing but with 2 kids, commissions, real work, and waiting on Chapter Approved I have been a bit busy. I normally look for armies that play the same style – pure aggression – and I think I can find something that works that way with the Orks. In fact I feel this army covers a lot of things I like with a Horde army and still has some ability to do some goofy tricks.
Da Boyz
First let’s look at what I think is the strength from the book – the Troop section. The Ork army has probably one of the best troops in the game with the Ork Boy and has access to one of the cheapest decent troops in the game in the Gretchin. It’s these two things that allow it to really crank up a ton of Command points with multiple Battalion as needed. I am finding that I really want 90+ boyz on the table as I can easily create massed waves of damage potential with Da Jump and 30+ units of boyz (Mob up seems especially nice in creating a murder missile of Ork muscle). The fact you can set up the boyz on the backfield, throw a spell you got a +1 – +3 onto the unit, and have them threatening your opponents army all the in the same turn is pretty dang terrifying. It feels so much like some of the Tzaangor armies you see out there – but mixed with the ability to do it turn after turn.
Funky Stratagems
With that in mind – here are some things I expect to get nerfed at some point. The stratagem Drive-By Krumpin’ has some weird wording int it. For those who don’t have the Dex in front of him – here is the write up.
“1CP – Drive-By Krumpin‘ – Use this Stratagem at the end of the Shooting phase. Select an Evil Suns Speed Freeks unit from your army. that unit can immediately make a move as if it were the Movement phase, but cannot charge this turn.”
It says “the Shooting phase” instead of saying your Shooting phase. This would imply that any shooting phase is usable for this stratagem and thus you could say – take a Deffkilla Wartrike – move it at the end of your opponent’s shooting phase, get it within 3 inches of the enemy and then Heroically intervene into that unit if they didn’t charge you. I don’t know how good this would be as a lot of your opponents will just charge your character but it does give you some weird abilities to shoot forward, get into an area you are not supposed too, and then get into close combat with something that doesn’t want to get touched by a Snagga Klaw. Oh and you don’t need to worry about overwatch either so tying up some of those deadly shooting options.
The other Stratagem that can do some funky stuff is the powerful Mob Up strat. For 1 CP you can combine some units up. The fun thing you can do with that is – say move up a ton of guys near a smaller unit locked in combat. Mob up the bigger unit that is in combat and watch as you get locked into combat. Heck if your unit gets rather large you can easily just swing in and hit everything you are in range of. Use the Get Stuck In, Ladz! to move again and get even closer to your enemy. All of a sudden your suicide unit of trukk boyz get joined up with their buddies and you get to ignore overwatch.
Speaking of Get Stuck in, Ladz! have you noticed how the double attack option happens right away. This is just like the Khorne Zerker ability that lets you immediately activate a unit again. Most of the double attacks happen at the end of the fight phase so having this option is extremely powerful. Use it to quickly move out, envelope an enemy, and hopefully not get shot as you lock a lonely charter in combat. Or just kill whatever you touch again.
Funky Index Tricks
Some of the weird things is how the whole index thing seems to be working out for the Orks. There are a lot of odd options missing on some units that are in the index. Take the Nob Bikers for example. They have specific limits on what they can take in the codex – with options not even being a part of their load out. These options are still a part of the index so the whole flow chart seems to indicate you can take them. Things like Kustom Shootas on all your guys to really ramp up the amount of Dakka. As much as I think the indexes should go away – it is the only way to get biker characters for your Ork army. I just wish GW would fix this all with a Chapter Approved list of “ok” units you can take not in your codex or character options. With updated rules for them as well.
Sad Stompa – Happy Bonebreaka
So far the biggest disappointment I have found with the Orks is that the Stompa is still way overcosted. It sits at the level of 2.5 Knights which is way too much for a 40 wound vehicle. I would think it would run about the same as say a Lord of Skulls or a bit more – but sitting at 920 points is just too much to try and overcome. It won’t kill its points worth no matter how red/faster it is. I think you just get more Bang for you buck with Deffrolla BW and Bone Breakers. The Gorkanaut I still haven’t tested yet as I only got one in a box. If I can grab a few to throw down at some point I might give it a try. I also think Bikers need to be tested more too as while they are expensive they can put out the firepower you need to clear up some Bubble wrap/troop choices. My list for Friday uses some without going Evil Suns. I haven’t tried Lootas yet but I think they will be too CP intensive to get to work right. Sure you can built the Loota Star and jump it around but I don’t know if it is worth it to invest so much into it.
Future Testing
The units I want to try out now are some Nob builds using either with double choppas (each guy has 5 attacks each) or some kind of combo with Big Choppas. It feels like they are pretty cheap and can come in hitting like a ton of bricks – especially after using Get Stunk in, Ladz! A unit of 6 can easily jump out of a Gorkanaut, throw down 30 Str 5 attacks and maybe get them to hit on 2’s with a Waagh Banner nearby. Heck I think throwing some in the Bone Breakas might be the best as they can jump out and dish out 50 attacks with a unit of 10. If you want to get cheeky you can throw in some Big Choppas to gain some AP and 2 damage attacks.
This army really feels like you can completely set up multiple turns of layered damage. From the shooting abilities of your Mek Guns and massed dakka options followed by waves of nutters who are coming throw the warp to bring you the true meaning of Orktober. I think right now my plan is – once I finish painting some client orks – is get some mobs of 30 boyz done so I can always be prepare with enough waves of muscle to play whatever type of game I want.
~How are your Ork Games going?
