Welcome to the beginning of a new WAAAGH!
First of all, welcome to our blog: "Blog for the Beer God"! I'm da Mekboss, and our group's resident Ork player/fanatic. I'm not big on the small talk so let's get down to the nitty-gritty. A lot of you gits out there, even the most devoted of warbosses, believe that Orks suck. The codex sucks, the supplement sucks, it's not competitive and only good for casual games, blah blah blah. That's all a load of squigsh*t. Gork (or maybe Mork) is thinking about thumpin' your hoomie-lovin skull. In this blog series I'm going to be discussing making Da Boys into your opponents worst nightmare. More specifically, getting the mobs into tournament shape. It's not for the delicate git, so strap in Boyz and let's get started.
Da Konseptz
More than anything, embracing the lore and the spirit of the Orks has been the most fulfilling and rewarding part about building competitive lists. The spirit of the WAAAGH! is the most fun part about playing an Ork army and can be broken down into a few basic ideas:
We don't do subtlety. It's not who we are. That translates to bringing an epic and overwhelming amount of a specific (or even your favorite) Ork unit. Abandon balance, sanity, and clear thoughts from your Orky mind. Pick an idea, a theme, and then run absolutely wild with it. Do you love Lootas? Bring 90. Trukk boyz? Bring 8 trukk-loads of em and belly-laugh as they roar across the table, because even if half of them don't make it the enemy is still in for some krumpin. Mix in a few Warbosses in mega armour with the boys and pile on the pain. Love bikers? Bikestars? I think you're getting my point.
Do what we do best. Those other codices have a bunch of fancy toys and witchcraft and all kinds of other nonsense, so what do we have? We have choppa, and dakka, and a belligerence found only in the underdog. Fancy battle plans are great and all, but remember the Ork mindset: get stuck in and start smashing things. Optimize your mobs, be frugal with the points spent on fancy gadgets and doodads, and spend your points on more choppa boyz, dakka units, or a way to get the boys to the enemy as rapidly as possible. Da boys love a good scrap, and a good warboss ensures they get it. Overwhelm them with numbers, or with speed. We do both remarkably well. More specifically, think about those units in the Ork codex that really get the most bang for their buck. Warbosses are absolute monsters with klaws. Stick them on a bike and their's the stuff of nightmares. In mega armour they're absolute terrors if you can get them to the fight. Boys, the lowly, simple boy, is the best 6 pt model in the game. t4 and 4 x s4 attacks on the charge? Shenanigans.
Mucking about. Testing out your wacky ideas is integral to building an effective competitive list. Ask yourself: did I bring enough choppa? Dakka? Did I go fast enough? Think Orky thoughts, think outside the box, and think about the look on your opponent's face as their fancy-shmancy meta list gets pummeled by da boyz. Stay motivated, and keep it fun (for you at least). It's easy to get discouraged playing da Orks. I like to remember that it's less about winning, and more about da fightin' itself that matters. Get yourself good army building software and build some ridiculous lists. I recommend battlescribe for you smartphone users. Then try em out next local tourney. Have some fun with it.
Lot's of talking about em, now let's get to the squig and fungus of the matter. What the hell am I talking about?
Sample Tournament List (ITC legal):
+++ SPEED FREAKS (1847pts) +++
++ Orks: Codex (2014) (Combined Arms Detachment) (435pts) ++
+ HQ (235pts) +
Warboss w/ Mega Armour (110pts) [Gift: Da Finkin' Kap, Mega Armour, Power Klaw, Twin-linked Shoota, Warlord]
Warboss w/ Mega Armour (125pts) [Gift: Da Lucky Stikk, Mega Armour, Power Klaw, Twin-linked Shoota]
+ Troops (200pts) +
Boss' boyz - Boyz (100pts)
····Boss Nob [Choppa, Slugga]
····9x Boy [9x Slugga]
····Trukk [Rokkit Launcha]
····Boss Nob [Choppa, Slugga]
····9x Boy [9x Slugga]
····Trukk [Rokkit Launcha]
Boss' boyz - Boyz (100pts)
····Boss Nob [Choppa, Slugga]
····9x Boy [9x Slugga]
····Trukk [Rokkit Launcha]
····Boss Nob [Choppa, Slugga]
····9x Boy [9x Slugga]
····Trukk [Rokkit Launcha]
++ Orks: Codex (2014) (Combined Arms Detachment) (762pts) ++
+ HQ (220pts) +
Warboss (110pts) [Power Klaw, Slugga, Warbike]
Warboss (110pts) [Power Klaw, Slugga, Warbike]
+ Troops (200pts) +
Boss' boyz - Boyz (100pts)
····Boss Nob [Choppa, Slugga]
····9x Boy [9x Slugga]
····Trukk [Rokkit Launcha]
····Boss Nob [Choppa, Slugga]
····9x Boy [9x Slugga]
····Trukk [Rokkit Launcha]
Boss' boyz - Boyz (100pts)
····Boss Nob [Choppa, Slugga]
····9x Boy [9x Slugga]
····Trukk [Rokkit Launcha]
····Boss Nob [Choppa, Slugga]
····9x Boy [9x Slugga]
····Trukk [Rokkit Launcha]
+ Fast Attack (342pts) +
Warbikers (162pts) [9x Warbiker]
Warbikers (180pts) [10x Warbiker]
++ Orks: Codex (2014) (Ork Horde Detachment) (650pts) ++
+ HQ (300pts) +
Warboss w/ Mega Armour (100pts) [Mega Armour, Power Klaw, Twin-linked Shoota]
Warboss w/ Mega Armour (100pts) [Mega Armour, Power Klaw, Twin-linked Shoota]
Warboss w/ Mega Armour (100pts) [Mega Armour, Power Klaw, Twin-linked Shoota]
+ Troops (350pts) +
Boss' boyz - Boyz (100pts)
····Boss Nob [Choppa, Slugga]
····9x Boy [9x Slugga]
····Trukk [Rokkit Launcha]
····Boss Nob [Choppa, Slugga]
····9x Boy [9x Slugga]
····Trukk [Rokkit Launcha]
Boss' boyz - Boyz (125pts)
····Boss Nob [Power Klaw, Slugga]
····9x Boy [9x Slugga]
····Trukk [Rokkit Launcha]
····Boss Nob [Power Klaw, Slugga]
····9x Boy [9x Slugga]
····Trukk [Rokkit Launcha]
Boss' boyz - Boyz (125pts)
····Boss Nob [Power Klaw, Slugga]
····9x Boy [9x Slugga]
····Trukk [Rokkit Launcha]
····Boss Nob [Power Klaw, Slugga]
····9x Boy [9x Slugga]
····Trukk [Rokkit Launcha]
7 Warbosses with s10 attacks. 70 choppa boyz. 20 bikers. Losing a unit doesn't hurt. Remember that the boyz pay dividends in the assault. Stick the mega-armoured bosses in the 100pt trukk units. The biggun with the Lucky Stick goes at the most dakka-heavy target. Turn two, when the enemy is cornered, be sure that when you hop out of the trukks to charge you place the megabosses in front to tank some of the overwatch with that 2+ armour. AP2? "Look Out Sir", I mean "Boss". Use the embedded Boss Nobs to soak up those pesky challenges so the Warboss can lay waste to everything else for a turn. The bikebosses go with the bike units on the flanks or in front of the trukks for cover saves. Everything drives straight at the enemy, everything moves 24 inches with turboboost Turn 1. 3+ cover saves for the bikes if they jink. Da Finkin' Cap is a bargain at 10pts, as it gives you an additional strategic warlord trait. Imagine for a moment that your bikes and boys have move through cover (ruins), stealth (ruins), or inflitrate (shorter distance to the gits). I think you get the picture. Bring a bucket of dice for the dakka that the bikes dish out (they're pretty handy against light armor and flyers). Bring two buckets of dice for the inevitable 2nd turn assault that's coming. Swarm expensive star units.
No frills, no chill. Keep it basic. Keep it Orky. Just roar across the table cackling to yourself as the opponent frantically tries to prioritize targets.
I challenge my fellow warbosses to fight the meta. Let's teach them to fear the green again.
As for the army list, I dare you to try it out. Till next time.
