Hey everyone, Reecius here to talk about some play-tests with Orks so far and to share what they have revealed for us. As always, check out the Tactics Corner for more great tactics articles and reviews!
I have been playing Orks quite a bit lately, and enjoying them. Still hate Mob Rule, but, there is a lot of ways around it if you are clever and play well. However, like Tyranids, this will be a punishing army for a beginner to play. If you play well, you will be rewarded. If you play poorly, your army will fall apart in front of your eyes and you will be a bit frustrated.
So far in test matches, the Orks have been serving me well. I have only lost 1 game against tournament players and lists and won most of them quite convincingly. Now, that is not at all me tooting my horn, just a validation that Orks can hang with the heavy weights.
I have found that just as before, Orks do great against armies that have to come towards them either because they are a close range shooting army or an assault army, or armies that tend to be static like Astra Militarum. Once the Orks get into them, they clean up. They do very poorly against mobile shooty armies though, for the same reasons they did in previous editions: it’s hard to get to grips with them. Eldar and Tau are the toughest to deal with as they out-shoot you and often can dance away from you for enough turns to just paste you before you can put a Klaw up their back sides.
WAAGH! and ‘Ere we Go! are just fantastic rules. They make getting into combat very reliable and the Orks very good at covering ground, rapidly. Those two rules have won me the game on two occasions so far. Between them, you can get a HUGE charge off and with a big mob of Boyz with several Klaws inside. That is a good point to note, too: often, the key to winning a lot of match-ups with your Orks is to put those deadly Klaws in the right place. I have been using a big mob of 30 Boyz on foot with a Nob with Klaw, Grotsnick (who I think will be in the majority of tournament Ork lists) and a Warboss with Da Finkin Kap and Klaw. That unit packs in 14 Power Klaw attacks on the charge, buried 29 bodies deep. Plus, they’re Fearless, have FnP, and move fast when you call that WAAGH!! You will catch some folks with their pants down with a long charge turn 2 if they leave you an opening. The biggest thing though, is Fearless. That mitigates Mob Rule and keeps you reliable.
Da Finkin Kap is amazing. For a measly 10pts, you get another Strategic trait which for Orks, is incredible. That gives you 3 rolls on the chart (if you have a Detachment that allows a reroll on the Warlord table) to give you good odds of getting one you want for that game. Also, consider putting the Warboss on a Warbike, even in a foot unit, to boost him to T6 for a poor man’s EW, and so that you almost always get your FnP. It really helps and it can give you some extra movement when you’re going for a long charge, just be careful as if you do that, the Warboss is out in front and takes all the overwatch! The Warbike also allows him to go off on his own to hit a target once the mob is closer if you need him to.
I have been experimenting with a lot of units and Formations, too. I tried the minimum Tankbustas unit in a Trukk, and it was OK. Not really that incredible, IMO. Situationally, they can be fantastic and if you find yourself facing a Baneblade or similar, a fast, cheap unit with all Melta Bombs will be very welcome! In general terms though, it just wasn’t enough hitting power.
I also tried the Warbuggies unit with Rokkits. They were OK. I used them poorly my first game which didn’t help, but I wasn’t ultra impressed. The unit dies to a stiff fart, and if they start exploding they can hurt the other buggies in the unit. Plus, the unit has a big footprint and short range, so it can be hard to get them into position to do anything. They often shoot once and then get obliterated. I am not sold on them, yet.
I did try the Bully Boyz formation and it is pretty incredible. Those Mega Nobz hit REALLY hard, and will plow through many units without breaking a sweat. Being Fearless, WS5 and Causing Fear is incredible. The only downside is if you run into an army with the tools to deal with them, you have a LOT of points invested into units that are now a liability. However, they are good enough to carry their weight in almost any game. I definitely recommend them. Plus, the new Mega Nobz are awesome models but holy crap do they have a lot of parts! Like, 25 parts per model or something crazy like that. You do get a crazy amount of bits for conversions in the kit, though, and a sweet little Grot Oiler model, too!
I also tried the Red Skull Kommandos formation and again, was quite impressed. They are very versatile and are extremely disruptive in the enemy backfield. I ran 1 full sized unit with Klaw and dual Burnas with Snikrot and 3 minimum sized units with Burnas. It worked very well, they caused havoc and forced my opponent to redirect half his army to deal with them or lose his entire backfield. The ability to reroll failed saves that turn if they don’t shoot is so good, you can go tank mode, soak up a ton of shooting, then shoot and charge. Or they can just smoke weak units with massed Burnas. If you WAAGH! the turn after they come in, you have massive threat range. I also enjoy a unit of Kommandos by themselves, too. Very useful.
Mek Gunz have still been all-stars as well as Lootas, for me. Lobbas, all day. Also, Traktor Kannons are very effective against flying units, almost ridiculously so. 5 is overkill, I have been running 3 with ammo runts and any flyer they can draw a bead on, ends up dead or on the ground where the waiting Boyz turn them into mince meat.
The Ork flyers have been working great for me, still. I have always had good luck with those though, I read and hear a lot of folks saying they don’t have much luck with them. The Dakkajet and Burna-Bomma have been great, and I plan on taking one or both in most lists I play.
Grots have been solid, too. I often take at least one unit to fill one of my obligatory troops slots and have not been disappointed. They run around and take objectives, earning you points throughout the game.
I want to try some Nobz in a Trukk, see how they perform. With Eavy Armor and 2 wounds a pop, they are far less likely to get owned by Mob Rule. Plus, they hit hard in a different way than Meganobz, who are a wrecking ball but have serious weakness to anything that can swing first in combat and doubles them out. Nobz on the other hand, pack in a lot of high strength attacks at I3, which is respectable and goes before other unwieldy attacks. Stikkbombs actually help out here fairly well. Smaller units of them are about the same cost as Ard Boyz and hit quite a bit harder, if with fewer attacks. They may not be good, but I want to see if they fill a role in the list as I love the models.
I have been using an Aegis (with no weapon) and it has been really solid for protecting my backfield units. However, I am going to upgrade to a Void Shield Generator as I think it will really help to protect vulnerable Orks from the Alpha Strikes that can REALLY hurt them. Especially against things like Tau and Eldar, soaking up even 1 or 2 Riptide or Wave Serpent’s shooting is extremely useful. Plus, the ongoing protection it provides the static shooting units will be useful all game. We’ll see.
So far, the versatility of the Orks and sheer variety of builds you can put on the table is nuts. I am very much enjoying them, you just have to have a plan to deal with Mob Rule.
What units and combos have been working for all of you?
I agree the mad dok seems an auto pick, and also that thinkin cap can edge out lucky stixx despite how amazeballs the stixx are. I think if able to run 2 forceorg would maybe take a megaboss with stixx.
Have you found trukks ok delivery system for the bully boyz or relying on battlewagonz?
Wondering have you tried the vulcha boyz formation?
Trukks are awesome for Meganobz who don’t mind the explosion so much and with fearless, the Bullyboys straight up ignore Mob Rule.
Have not tried Da Vulcha Skwad yet, no.
The only thing I’m really mad about in this codex is that I can’t take two relics on a single model.
Great write up, I’m glad my orksies are doing well. Conceptually I thought they would be strong and wasn’t as worried about mob rule as most because I thought the new Waagh and ‘ere we go made up for it, but I don’t play as much or against as tough of opponents, so I didn’t want to blast my unfounded opinion on the net. Glad my hypothesis is relatively confirmed.
From a fluff perspective, I run Blood Axe, always have (well, I ran snakebites in 2nd, but they took my cyboars!), and so I love the finkin kap as a very Blood Axe item and the upgrade (IMO) to stormboyz and kommandos makes ’em all the more effective while remaining flavorful!
Oh dude, you will be stoked. A thematic Blood Axe army god a HUGE boost! I mean, Snkitty Snikrot can’t assault out of reserves anymore, but, what they did give him might even be better in his formation in the right situation.
Mob Rule sucks compared to what we had, but it is better than nothing at all, really. I just wish there were more ways to reroll failed Ld, that would mitigate things immensely.
Yeah, the formation for Snikrot is something I’m very excited about. I’m only sad for my other favorite unit in the game, Lictors, not getting something comparable.
I still haven’t used it yet, but my assumption is that even with just a 5+ cover save, having that re-roll means they should be pretty survivable even in the open (slightly better than 50% saves) and nearly unkillable without ignores cover even with just basic 5+ cover.
You seem to like burnas still, I’ve been relatively unimpressed on them due to switching to AP3. For 15 pts, I’m just not liking them as much. Would rather spend 10 pts more and get a nob with PK/BP in there.
To be clear, I’m talking about two burnas compared to a nob upgrade, a PK, and a BP. 30 pts vs 40 pts.
Yeah, the Burnas are just versatile. A power weapon and a flamer is pretty awesome. When you can torch some squishy backfield units with it, it helps a lot.
In 5th I used a Snikrot unit with 2 burnas and it was gold. I wish basic Snikrot had the re-roll saves rule as well. 4 units is just a bit too pricey for me (money wise!) though it is really cool for my Blood Axe theme. :/
Where does it say that you can only have one relic on a single character? It just says one of each relic per army. So you can have 2 relics on a single character just not 2 of the same ones, 🙂
Right under that first line, it says a model may take one of the following…
It is weird, every book has different wording for the stupid relics, lol, this one seems to quite clearly say you can only take 1 per guy, although I’d love for that not to be the case.
Have you shied away from BW lists or do you think they are still a good delivery system?
They’re excellent, still. Not as good as they were, sadly, but still very, very good. The only reason I don’t run two as I normally do is that my heavy support slots are all full.
Can more units take the BW as a dedicated transport now?
I would really like to see an article by you where you give sample lists that you think are good and comment on how and why they work
😀
I get to try out my first game today with the new Orks against Farsight Bomb. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Personally, I really like the mob rule. If you fail a moral or pinning test, then you have to roll on a table that basically kills a few of you 6 pt ork boyz. The advantage to this is that you get to pass the test. It was well planned rule. Now with ‘ere we go and the new WAAAGH! rule, orks can get into combat quite fast, so making them fearless by themselves would make them rediculous. The mob rule really encourages you to bring more ork boyz which could very well be a GW gag to buy more of their models, but still. Instead of being fearless and now taking any test, they now take a moral test, and IF they fail it, then they have. 1/6 chance of running away or getting pinned, (bosspole should let you avoid this easily unless you are unlucky) 1/3 chance to take D6 S4 AP- hit, (assuming there is a nob inthe squad) or a 1/2 chance that they will take the same number of hits (assuming there are ten or more boyz left in the squad. And really, if there are less than 10 boyz in the squad, they probably won’t do much anyway because over watch is a thing. Also, the S4 AP- hits really aren’t that bad. Even if you get 6 hits, you statistically will get 3 wounds which you might save one of them. (Pain boyz are cheap ways of FNP in the unit to even further save your boyz from this. This will really only be 1-3 dead orks per time they take a moral test, which for the most part happens in the shooting phase. Sure people can tank shock you, but you can avoid this by staying 13″ away from their vehicles at the end of your turn. Then being 13″ away should make for a pretty easy ork charge. Finally, even if the dice go against your will and it causes 6 orks to die, big deal, you should have 100 or so more that the enemy has the chew through.
That is my rant.
Follow your dreams everybody.
God bless.
Hey Peter, I like your positive attitude. You are right that it is better than nothing, for sure, but Orks wouldn’t be playable without morale control. I don’t think Fearless was overkill at all, personally. Orks still struggled to win games with it, and now they are faster which is awesome I agree with you, but they were fast before, too. My Trukk Orks last edition always charged turn 2, same as now. But before, they were quite reliable. Now, they kill themselves, lol!
For other builds, it isn’t as bad, but, I wish Mob Rule would have been 1 auto-wound, like the old Bosspole, and that would have been fine. Losing potentially 6 boys is a lot, especially when they are already getting chewed up.
I really think we are looking at the old mob rule with rose-colored glasses. It wasn’t blanket fearless, it was only fearless above 11 models. There are tons of times that the new mob rule is substantially better than the old one, mostly in combat and typically when being beaten soundly and going below 11 models. Like starting a fight with 20 Orks and losing 10 of them. With old Mob rule and a Boss Pole, it’s pretty likely that that unit is going to get sweeping advanced. With new Mob rule, that unit is probably sticking around. Also, the addition of ‘ere we go and the change to Waagh as well as the change in cost on shoota boyz (my favorite unit!) really puts the emphasis on big mobs of boyz destined for melee. In 5th, my shoota boyz would camp midfield and out-shoot most armies. With the 7th dex, I see them needing to just rush the enemy and get stuck in as quickly as possible.
I think as we keep playing the dex, we’ll see that it isn’t as bad as we initially thought.
Well, “likely- it’s still only 50/50 that they will be around, and only even that if the Nob has managed to avoid dying; if he bit it in the battle, you’re looking for snake eyes or a ‘1’ on the d6, which is pretty bad odds.
Certainly ‘Ere We Go and Waaaagh are both really good rules, though. But I think it’s very legitimate to worry that Orks have no real answers to Tau and Eldar, both of which are highly dominant armies these days.
In my example there, they would automatically hold as every single result on the mob rule table is a pass, but 5/6 of them require some more dead models.
Even if they were below 10 models and the Nob is alive with a boss pole, the Mob Rule check would pass 75% of the time.
Precision shots are less common in 7th, so I see the Nob staying alive longer.
Nice write up in glad you’ve found good , ccess after the initial shock.
I have actually changed my initial feeling that orks need more hqs. 1-2 is sufficient. I also view mob rule differently. It’s no fearless but it’s actually really close for large combat units, t5 and mega nobz. Thing is the blanket approach to building ork units is gone, but the army is now a thinking mans army and a pretty amazing one at that.
What I do feel is essential for non fit slogging lists are shooty battlewagons, among other things. 2 to 3 of these with rokkits and kk draw ap1-2 fire away which really keeps trukks from turning into death traps long enough to get where they need. Tank bustas are incredible now btw, superior to lootas in 7ths meta I would say, when embarked in av14 that is. Conferring scout on a few of these with bomb squigs looks nasty good.
The day of the heavy lifting boy is over but the changes to bikes, TBs, stormboyz and army wide rules feels like the trade off is favorable, if and when people adjust. Overall I believe orks are well positioned to compete in a mechanized meta while still being able to run counter to it. That’s not a bad place to be for a greenskin.
I like your analysis. I am having fun with them but Tau still give me trouble.
Nice interesting article. Still gettin stomped at like with the last codex. Looking forward to more batreps so I could possibly learn to play the damn race!
We will have more on the way.
One unit I want ti try is 10 tanbustas in BW with a warboss. Put one or two tankhammers and a nob with pk, it seems deadly. Id take a megaarmored warboss with the stikk to soak the wounds that would kill the normal 6 up guys. It would be like 180 for the squad, it could be good. What do you guys think?
Jake is running the Waagh council and eating Riptides up. The council is faster than it appears on paper and all the claws tear through armor. Farsight’s Tau have suffered back to back defeats!
Running it on foot or a BW?
Nice! That is awesome.
Good stuff Reecius. I think large foot mobs are the way to go right now. Trukk boys suffer horribly under the mob rule. Personally in my games the nobs on foot have been quit fragile really. That lose of the invuln save and having to take a pain boy as an hq really hurt them. Biker nobs on the other hand are much more survivable, that 3+ cover save is huge even if I have to jink to get it. I think they are the way to go right now. I want to play some mega armored nobs, but those new kits are really pricey, so they will have to wait for a bit.
The MANz are pretty awesome for me, so far. Pricey, yes, but they hit like a brick shithouse! The kit comes with a crap ton of extra bits, too. Still over-priced, I agree, but I liked the kit a lot.
FNP warbikers + stixx warboss may be pound for pound the best deathstar type unit in the game now.
If they can withstand Tau shooting, then my Sons of AnOrky Bikers will ride again!
Have you considered using Zhadsnark he has skilled rider? When turbo boosting and jinking his unit has 2+ cover. His warlord trait makes bikes troops and gives him scout.
Yeah, he is really good. Warbikers as troops is awesome.
Thanks for the tips, Reece. I’ve been super busy and haven’t gotten enough games in. This will help a lot.
Happy to help!
I agree with what you say and have a similar experience so far. I would have to say that the council of waagh is amazing, the 5 battlewagon with scout formation is super awesome as well.Place lootas, meganobz and tankbustas inside these and start em nice and close to your opopponent. It is a thing of beauty. The stompa is also an amazing tool. Throw in mek guns and some boyz. Really love the idea of taking a big mek in mega armor with kff and attaching him to lootas for slow and purposeful. Morkonaut is seriously fun but overpriced, great to change things up now and again. Deffkoptas are a great tool. I ran lots of dakkajets in the last book, I just cant rationalize using them anymore with the increased cost, jink save change, waagh plane change, flyboss change, and change to psychic phase taking away the extra waaghs from my warpeads. Pretty much the only area I disagree with you on. Love this book.
Really glad to hear you like it!
Well I didn’t get the game I wanted but I did get my first game with Orks. Warbikers were amazing and rolled a squad of nob bikers. Mob rule wasn’t an issue for my ten man Trukk boy squads. Overall I was quite satisfied. Still a true test is needed for me to get the full effect of the Mob rule.
Yeah, Warbikers are really good, I agree. I have been very happy with them.
You were running 10 basic Orks in a Trukk? I tried it with Shoota Boyz and wasn’t that impressed, honestly. I would rather just take a unit of Grotz at that point. What did you like about them? And where your Trukks exploding or just getting glanced to death?
One was glances to death and the other exploded. On the exploded one I lost 5 boyz and they fell back only to rally the next turn. Like I said I need to go against a really shooty army in order to feel the full effect.
I’d be interested in hearing some more on Warbikers. They didn’t particularly jump out at me, although 18pt bikes are far from a terrible thing.
I have had good luck with them, too. They shoot quite well actually, and with some character support, are a pretty decent assault unit, too.
Mostly I like their speed and durability in general terms. High strength shooting that ignores cover though, is bad and they die at an exorbitant points cost.
Unless I miss it you didn’t seem to touch on the mork/gorkanaut. I know you’re not a fan of them but do they have any place in a decent ork list? I really like the models and was disappointed they weren’t super heavy but I intend to start an ork army once I finish painting my drop pod list and wanted to include the big guys. Is there any viable tactics with them you’ve seen? A transport with a 6″ move seems pretty lame. What exactly is their battlefield role other than stealing my lunch money?
I honestly can’t say anything too intelligent about them as I haven’t tried them. They just look really stinky on paper. If they were a super-heavy walker, they’d be incredible. As is, they are just so expensive for a slow walker that can get one-shotted and has a bunch of weird weapons that all have to fire at the same target. It seems like it was meant to be like a Knight and then at the last minute was made into a walker. I don’t know, the model is awesome looking but I struggle to see how you would use it.
Who cares if he eats the overwatch, have him LOS it to everyone else. He doesnt leave the unit outside of the movement phase, so even if there is no one within 6 he makes it into combat easier. Combined with the decreased likelihood of having to go through cover(and thus be slowed) if the other orks are killed. Bike is huge for a warboss(especially in a challenge)
Oh, I agree, but when you do have that turn where you flub the LoS rolls and he dies, you will be a sad panda! haha
In the few test games i played, squads consisting of 5 buggies did wonders considering their price: blocking los, distracting from trukks and boyz… shooting
Also the support section( lootaz, battlewagons, mek guns) is great.
Whats really troubling me are the boyz, the former work horse of the orkz does not really work out for me anymore. In BWs yes, in trukks not at all ( i used to play speed freeks), and as standard only with waagh boss etc.
Overall im struggling to find a balanced army list. The BW and bully formation are too expensive and too special to be used everyday imho.
Did you find a speed freek or more general army list which does not rely on these “extreme” formations and was still sucessful?
I am in the same boat. I was a Trukk ork player too, and that list is dead, dead, dead. It can work on occasion, but in general it is pretty awful, now which is really crummy. I loved that army. Oh well.
Good news on the Buggies, I will have to give them another go. Mine got absolutely owned but, I did deploy them poorly so a lot of that is on me.
The Battlewagon formation is a bit much, i wish it were 3-4 BWs instead, as that would work great.
I was doing really well with a balanced Ork list until I hit Tau and just got creamed. I am still trying to find a way around that but otherwise feel good about Orks. I think a mix of Battlewagons, Trukks with MANz, and support units such as Lootas/Mek Guns is the key.
Maybe we need go try the relic kff for it 4++? That with a paibnboy makes a unit of boyz pretty tuff, but no warboss… I wish we could take more Hqs…
I agree, Orks, REALLY want a Painboy for each unit of Boyz. But, you kind of need that Warboss for the WAAGH!! in many builds, and if you want vehicles, well, then you really want that KFF, and hey, Grotsnik! haha, it is tough to fit it all in.
Bringing this thread back from the dead…
Been having good games using 7 HQs.
that gives me a mek and a doc for each unit; plus the warboss, big mek, and grotsnik provide extra leadership control, and the warband sometimes provides impact hits assaulting out of the BW.
I get the 7 HQs from a warband, and a CAD (with 2x units of objective taking gobbos).
I run a warband with 3 units of 20 boys each in a BW (with oilers, ram, kannon, extra guns).
i then assign my 7 HQ as such:
Warboss, Mek (scorcha), painboy
Grotsnik, mek (scorcha)
Big mek (scorcha), pain boy
That gives me a higher leadership, FNP, a mek roll, and scorcha in every BW.
The rest of the list varies but i like my twin dakka jets!
Nice one, I like that list.
Do the characters go in the BWs? If so, do you just reduce the number of boys to accommodate them? As of now it looks like they wouldn’t fit in your list.
Yes sorry, the three squads with the characters go in the BW, so I reduce the qty of boys accordingly to fit in the wagons.
At 1850 that gives me just a few points left over after my twin dakka jets for an empty trukk with a rocket and ball and chain. You would laugh at the pointless stress it causes to opponents on the table. Having a single empty transport, seems to really mess with people for some reason. None seem to be sure whether they need to bother with it or not. In the end itCan be useful to have a fast vehicle to block charge lanes, add a cover save, or just swing in for the last missing HP on a vehicle with a lucky ball or rocket. And if they do decide to try to kill it then it’s often attracting fire that could have been aimed at the wagons backside or the jets.
I’d like to try to squeeze in some reserve rerolls for my jets though. So my scary little trukk, lol, will probably get cut.