And when the Tau went down, they went down hard!
Tau are really tough for Orks, maybe their worst match-up for many lists. I have always struggled against them with my Greenskins. In the past I always ran Trukk Orks and if I went first, I’d win as I had most of my army on them turn 1. If I went second, I’d get owned as everything was dead in my deployment zone before moving unless I could use some serious trickery and play to objectives. This edition I have struggled with Tau even if I went first! It felt like it had gotten even harder to do.
However, I finally took the Tau down. It was a solid list, but my opponent made a few mistakes that cost him dearly. Also, I didn’t face Missilesides which are the poor Orks worst nightmare.
At any rate, here is the list I played. A single Ork C.A.D. list.
| Orks | 1850 Pts | ||
| Unit | Description | Size | Cost |
| HQ | |||
| Warboss | Klaw, Da Finkin Kap, Bike | 1 | 120 |
| Painboy | Bike | 1 | 75 |
| Troops | |||
| Slugga Boyz | Nob, Klaw, Pole | 30 | 220 |
| Slugga Boyz | Nob, Klaw, Pole | 30 | 220 |
| Elites | |||
| Meganobz | Skorcha x 2 | 3 | 130 |
| Trukk | Ram | 1 | 35 |
| Meganobz | Skorcha x 2 | 3 | 130 |
| Trukk | Ram | 1 | 35 |
| Fast Attack | |||
| Warbikers | Nob, Klaw, Pole | 15 | 310 |
| Heavy Support | |||
| Lobbas | Ammo Runts x 5 | 15 | 105 |
| Lootas | None | 15 | 210 |
| Lootas | None | 15 | 210 |
| Fortifications | |||
| Aegis | None | 1 | 50 |
| Totals | 131 | 1850 |
My opponent was playing Farsight Tau. He had:
Farsight with 3 Crisis with dual Plasma
Suit Commander with Fusion Blades, Drone Controler, Fusion Gun, Fearless Warlord Trait and 10 Gun Drones.
Crisis Suits x 3: Two Missiles Each, Drones
Crisis Suits x 3: Two Missiles Each, Drones
Crisis Suits x 3: Plasma x 2 Each, Drones
Riptide: FnP, Bust Cannon, SMS
Riptide: FnP, Bust Cannon, SMS
Riptide: Earth Caste, Ion, SMS
The list above is from memory, might not be laser accurate, but it gives you a good idea. Mobile firepower is rough on the ‘Ole Orks, and this would be no different.
So, for my Warlord Traits, I got Infiltrate 3 units, which is incredible for Orks, and I got -1 to my enemy’s reserves, which would turn out to be really good. We were playing Emperor’s Will with Dawn of War deployment. My opponent won the turn to go first, but gave it to me which turned out to be a big mistake. He counter-deployed my Lootas and Lobbas well, going into a corner away from them to take most of them out of range. However, when I infiltrated 60 Boyz and 15 Warbikers I had him cornered. Going first, I was able to close in on him, guaranteeing a turn 2 charge and leaving him nowhere to run. He fell back shooting and blocked me off from one of the Riptides but all it did was delay the inevitable. The Bikers and Boyz took down all three Riptides, and kept them tied up n combat where they weren’t shooting most of the game.
However, Fear is BRUTAL against Orks. My goodness, it is punishing. With Ld7, you fail the stupid check a ton and going down to WS1 means you hit on 5’s instead of 3’ which cuts your average number of hits in half. It also means the Riptide (and many MCs) will be hitting you on 3’s. I was actually losing combat with 30 Boyz against a single Riptide?!?! Very, very frustrating, a mob of 30 Boyz should not be taking Fear checks. But the Boyz did get it done and eventually cut the Riptides down, also taking the Tau Emperor’s Will objective.
I was very impressed with the Warbikers. That unit puts out stupid firepower. 45 Twin-linked Strength 5, ap5 shots at 18″ range on a bike model that is resilient and fast is brutal. They were pulverizing whatever they shot at. With a Painboy on a bike, they were also very resilient, too. Their assault power was pretty lack-luster, though, and I feel that that is not playing to their strength. Going forward, running them as a pure shooting unit is a better bet, IMO. Plus, the unit looks awesome!
The Meganobz in Trukks were solid performers as always. They are just plain good. Cheap, hit hard, fun, great models. I dig em. One unit got shot to bits but they soaked a lot of attention, much more than their points cost would justify if they didn’t hit so hard. The other unit I kept back to defend my Emperor’s Will objective and shooty units. They earned their Teef, killing Farsight and his unit in a tough fight leaving just a single Meganob with a single wound left!
The deep-striking suits were a big threat but with my Warlord trait giving him -1 to reserves, only one unit came in a turn until turn 4, when the game was already over.
So, this game gave me a needed morale boost, and I learned a lot. As always, the trouble with Orks is leadership. You HAVE to have a way to mitigate Mob Rule in some way, even if that is just to flood the field with Boyz to compensate for Orks that fall apart on you. Mad Dok, the new Grukk, Zagstruck, the Big Boss Pole, even just adding a Big Mek for better leadership, etc. are all going to be critically important to keeping your Boyz doing what you want them to do and not beating the shit out of one another or running away in fear when you need to be krumpin the other guy!