Hey everyone, Reecius here to report on how “Da Sons of AnOrky and their Pirate Pals” fared at Adepticon this year! Check out the Tactics Corner for more great tournament reports!

So, Adepticon has once again, come and gone. It was a really great convention, bigger and better than last year. The new hall was awesome, and the hotel was very nice. It is pretty far from the airport, which makes for an expensive ride their and back or form their to the city which is over an hour away, but, if you plan to just hang out at the event, you will have tons to do and be very happy. There is a lot of food around, too. The 40k Team Tournament which is the main draw, was a s giant as ever with beautiful armies all over the place and cool costumes! There were tons of games and hobby events, and some of them had awesome attendance like Malifaux, which was pushing 80 attendees, which is fantastic. In all, the convention was great.

The 40k Championships, the event we at FLG primarily came to play in, had a fairly unique format: Unlimited detachments, no repeated detachments, half Maelstrom missions. We had come to the event assuming all Maelstrom events but there was a bit of confusion on that one and half the missions were Maelstrom at the event. The other half were more of your traditional style Dawn of War missions with modifications. Adpeticon also does not modify Invis or the 2+ reroll mechanic as we do in ITC events.

Given the format and the nature of it being a large, prestigious event, I was assuming we’d be seeing really nasty lists….and I was right! Here are a sample of some of the craziness: 3 Knights+Lynx on a Skyshield, Eldar+ 3 Flyrants, Seer Council, Triple Deathstar Daemons, Imperial Super Friends Bombs with 5+ Detachments worth of Characters in a single unit, Centstars galore, Typhons (LoW with 10″ blast, strength 10, AP1, Ordnance, Ignores Cover, 48″ weapons…yikes!), AdLance + triple Flyrant, etc. Instead of contributing to the madness, I decided to challenge myself and play a “normal” list that while still good for the missions, was hardly a powerhouse list. I brought the following:

Detachment 1: Ork CAD

HQ:

Zhardsnark Da Rippa

Warboss: Mega Armor, Da Lucky Stikk

Troops:

Warbikers x 5: Nob, Klaw

Warbikers x 5: Nob, Klaw

Warbikers x 5: Nob, Klaw

Warbikers x 5: Nob, Klaw

Elites:

Tankbustas x 10

Trukk

Heavy Support:

Lootas x 15

Detachment 2: Da Bullyboyz, Pirate Style!

Mega Nobz x 5

Trukk: Ram

Mega Nobz x 5

Trukk: Ram

Mega Nobz x 5

Trukk: Ram

So, I had a lot of mobility, some heavy hitting melee units, pretty solid shooting, and lots of scoring units. I find I much prefer playing lists that are more challenging like this. Orks certainly have some challenges they have to fight through, primarily being their vulnerability to morale and ignores cover weapons. Most high level lists seek to eliminate variables as a way of increasing the impact player skill has on the outcome of a game. Fearless or similar abilities are one of the key features of many of the best lists. Orks really suffer in this regard.

That is why I took the Bully Boyz! Not only are they fairly powerful in melee being Mega Nobz, they also cause Fear and are BS5. Most importantly though, they are Fearless, which is incredible. They will wipe out most things they fight in melee, but, they do have a critical weakness in not having an invul save. It really stinks that they can’t event get a 5++ as that would be so helpful for mitigating those match-ups where they are fighting enemy units that hit as hard as they do but also have an invul (Hammernators, Thunderwolves, etc.), or that swing first and double them out (Wraithknights, MCs, etc.). Even giving them FnP doesn’t do it as being T4, many AP1 and 2 weapons will be strength 8+. That said though, carefully positioning other units such as Bikers in the same melee to soak up Fist/Hammer style attacks, can be the difference between victory and defeat. Also, you can always slap a cheap Mek in the unit to issue or take a challenge and soak at least 1 Instant Death attack. The other big weakness is their slow speed. The Trukks help a ton, but as soon as the Trukk goes boom, the Bully Boyz aren’t going to move too far from that spot. All that said, they hit like a brick shit-house and most units get utterly steamrolled by them.

My boy Zardsnark Da Rippa is a great HQ, with some cool abilities and an I4 Klaw. Mostly you take him though, because he makes Ork Bikers troops, who, IMO, are vastly superior to units of Boyz. They shoot really well, which takes a lot of folks off guard, and they hit in assault well, too. That plus great mobility, decent durability and being ObSec makes them a solid troop unit. Their only real weaknesses are morale, and ignores cover AP4 weapons, which obliterate the poor buggers.

I also took a Megaboss with Da Lucky Stikk to make my unit of 15 Lootas mobile (he confers S&P onto them), and tanks wounds like a champ due to Da Lucky Stikk. This unit is surprisingly mobile. I almost always advance up the field with it, shooting the lootas at whatever needs killin, then often assaulting as the unit gets +1 WS due to Da Lucky Stikk, and the Megaboss packs a mighty wallop. Often, the unit would fly around the table shooting and assaulting and was a really solid addition to the list.

Lastly, I threw in a unit of 10 Tank Bustas in a Trukk instead of a Dakkajet which I typically take, and really liked them. They are fast and hit very hard, specializing in killing Vehicles and MCs. I mostly took them as Knight killers, but never faced one. They did smoke a number of Wraithknights though, so they certainly earned their pay.

Round 1

Opponent: Matt Schuchman’s Seer Council Eldar

Mission: Maelstrom

Eldar CAD

• Farseer: Jetbike
• Farseer: Jetbike, Shard of Anaris
• Warlocks x 8: Jetbikes
• Guardian Jetbikes x 3
• Guardian Jetbikes x 3
• Guardian Jetbikes x 3
• Guardian Jetbikes x 3
• Wraithknight
• Wraithknight
• Wraithknight
• Skyshield

Eldar Allies

• Farseer: Jetbike, Spirit Stones
• Jetbikes x 3

Right out the gates I get an absolute shit kicker list piloted by a very good player, too! This would not be an easy tournament, lol. To make matters worse, my opponent got first turn which is really tough for the Old Orks. On paper, this was going to be a very, very rough match. However, I had two things going for me: Ork Bikers > Eldar Bikers, and Seer Councils can be crushed by massed AP2 attacks….if you can get there. A LOT of this game was going to boil down to Matt’s first round of shooting.

So, I fail to seize, and we draw our Maelstrom Cards. I draw a shit hand, Matt draws a great hand. He easily jumps up on points where I, unfortunately, get none. He juices up his Seer Council with Invis and Summons a Daemon Herald (Eldar summonning Daemons…so lame even if very good, tactically!) and manages to hit one of my Biker units with Terrify who then, in true Orky fashion, ran off the table giving him First Blood. Ouch. However, critically, his Wraithknights failed to blow up any of my Trukks! So you’re saying I have a chance!

I bum rushed him. I knew my only hope was to take that Seer Council down, fast. They didn’t have Hit and Run, so a single unit of Bully Boyz could conceivably hold them up all game so long as I could just get stuck in. I had to apply pressure, and I had to limit my opponent’s ability to simply run away from me with his Seer Council. So, I circled him with Trukks and Warbikers to limit his movement lanes and allow me to get an assault on him even if he Turbo-Boosted with at least 1 unit. My Lootas went ham and put 4 wounds on a Wraithknight who subsequently dies to over-watch from a unit of Warbikers! That was a funny moment for my side of the table, anyway.

He counter-struck me and blew up a few Trukks, and assaulted a unit of Bully Boyz with a Wraithknight, who killed some, but was in turn destroyed by my Tank Bustas. He opted to go for it, and multi assaulted some of my Warbikers and Bully Boyz with his last Wraithknight and Seercouncil in an attempt to break my rush. However, the Wraithknight fell flat, killing only a single Bully Boy, and was in turn Klawed to death. My Biker unit got smoked, but the Bully Boyz put an ass whipping down on the Seer Council through weight of dice, even through invis and killed half the unit. As they were Fearless, they couldn’t run away, and had no hit and run. As the Bully Boyz are Fearless, and there were no Wraithknights left to bail the Council out, they were doomed.

At this point, I felt mega confident. I smashed the Seercouncil in the next turn, leaving only the 5 Jetbike squads and 2 summoned Daemon Heralds left to deal with. My remaining Bikes, Lootas, and Bully Boyz (who mounted back up in surviving Trukks) were able to hunt them down and kill them all. Funnily though, due to Maelstrom, I still may not have won as my opponent had so many more points than me, but I had a huge last two turns, getting 18 points, giving me the full 30 point victory.

Round 2

Opponent: Eldar & Tyranids

Mission: Kill Points

Eldar CAD

• Spiritseer
• Dire Avengers x 5
• Wave Serpent: S.Cannon, Holo, Scatter Laser
• Dire Avengers x 5
• Wave Serpent: S.Cannon, Holo, Scatter Laser
• Jetbikes x 3
• Jetbikes x 3
• Wraithknight
• Wraithknight

Hive Fleet Detachment

• Flyrant: Grubs
• Flyrant: Grubs
• Flyrant: Grubs
• Mucolid
• Mucolid
• Mucolid

Ah yes, the storied Eldar/Tyranid team-up, sung of in poems and legend! Haha, man, some of these CtA lists just kill the fluff lover in me. That said, my opponent was a great guy and I would happily play him again. I just cringe when I see lists like this.

But, my reaction to the list aside, this was going to be a REALLY rough match-up in a Kill Points mission…or any mission for that matter. Wave Serpents just doo-doo on Trukks, and Flyrants can be a bear for Orks, too. I knew that I really wanted first turn and Mork or Gork be praised, I got it! My opponent deployed ultra aggressively right on the line. I think he underestimated Ork shooting. He failed to Seize and I had a great first turn of shooting. I ran all the Bikers right at his Flyrants, and through their, the Lootas and Tank Bustas shooting was able to kill two Flyrants while they were still on the ground! Even better, one had the brutally scary Psychic Shrike (which MURDERS Orks) and the other had Catalyst. Nice one, Boyz!

This really demoralized my opponent, but he was a very good player and targeted the easy Kill Points first, pulling ahead of me in Kill Points easily. My counter attack though, killed the last Flyrant who failed his grounding test (Warbikers are quite good at killing FMCs) and I made a long turn 2 Charge with Tank Bustas to kill a Wraithknight. This really put my opponent on his back foot, and I pressed the advantage, charging his Wave Serpents and hunting down his Bikers as they came in. He kept wracking up the KPs, but I was positioned to pull way out in front as I cornered the Serpents and smashed them, and hunted down the last Wraithknight with my Loota+Warboss unit. Insult to injury, my opponent’s Warlord and Dire Avenger unit failed a morale check and ran off the board on the last turn, giving me Warlord and two more KP.

By end game, he had a single Jetbike left. He made a critical error during deployment and he knew it. I was able to take out two massive threats right away. Had he seized though, or gone first, that would have been a massively more difficult game for me. Orks take it, with 29/30 points!

Round 3

Opponent: Tau+Farsight Enclave

Mission: Maelstrom

Tau CAD+Tau Allies (From memory, may have a few mistakes)

• Commander x 2: Between the regular and Farsight Commander, they had Ignores Cover, Drone Controller, Puretide, Marker Drones and Missile Pods
• Crisis: All able to fire on different targets, missile pods, marker drones
• Kroot x 12+Kroot Hound
• Kroot x 12+Kroot Hound
• Kroot x 12+Kroot Hound
• Kroot x 12+Kroot Hound
• Crisis Suit x 2: Fusion
• Crisis Suit x 2: Fusion
• Riptide: Fusion, Burst
• Riptide: Plasma, Ion
• Riptide: Fusion, Burst, Earth Caste

My absolute worst match-up in the worst deployment: Hammer and Anvil. Womp, womp! Orks positively hate Tau, it is such a rough match-up. Tau ignoring cover all over the place, their mobility, overwatch, and fire power just shred the poor Orks. I rarely win this match-up. I knew I was in for a tough fight.

I did get first turn though, which was critical. I bum rushed him with everything, which was a bit of  a mistake. I did so because I knew I needed to apply a lot of pressure and with a little luck, I would be able to get a turn 2 charge and finish the game early. However, the way it played out I was unable–by inches–to get more than a single turn 2 charge as my opponent wisely decided to fall back to the board edge in the face of the oncoming Ork tidal wave. Even with him having very cold dice early game, I was only able to catch one Riptide turn 2 and the Bully Boyz smashed it. Had it been any other deployment type, I would have utterly creamed him with massed assaults on that turn, but Hammer and Anvil gave him just enough real estate to fall back out of range of most of my units. The Crisis Suit Command unit with the Commanders who Ignored Cover, were all twin linked, and had Tank Hunters if they chose, were just devastating to my army. They killed Warbikers on 2+, and Trukks were absolutely obliterated by them. They were able to destroy two units a turn until turn 3 where I was able to sacrifice a unit to get my Warlord into them who subsequently crushed the unit with his Klaw in melee. That gave me some breathing room.

His 2 man Crisis Units came down to go for Mealstrom points and his Kroot were coming on the flanks, picking up points, too. I was able to kill most of them but, I made a big mistake late game as I tried to kill the last two Riptides who honestly, were not the real threat. Typically I am extremely good at keeping the mission in mind but I realized too late in the game that I should have shifted my focus to Maelstrom points and let the Riptides do whatever. That was my fault and had I not done that, I could have reduced the Tau narrow victory (only lost by 4pts) to a draw or a minor win in my favor. It’s all good though, it was a close fought game and I know it could have gone my way had I not lost my focus. I do have to say though, that had I gone second or my opponent not had cold dice early game, it would have most likely been pretty brutal. I would have had to play a really unorthodox game to make it a fair fight. I am thinking about getting a Battlewagon in my list to counter the massed strength 6 and 7 Tau shooting. It would help a ton.

Orks suffer a minor loss.

Round 4

Opponent: Max Schuchard’s Space Wolves and Grey Knights

Mission: Objectives

Company of the Great Wolf

• Wolf Lord: T.Wolf, Runic, T.Hammer, Storm Shield, Fellclaw’s Teeth
• Ironwolf
• Ironwolf
• T.Wolf Cav x 6: S.Shields x 6, P.Fist x 3

Grey Knight Nemesis Strike Force

• Libby: Lvl 3
• Terminators x 5: Psycannon
• Interceptors x 10: Incinerators x 2
• Dreadknight: H.Incinerator, Gatling Psi, Teleporter
• Dreadknight: H.Incinerator, Gatling Psi, Teleporter

I don’t know what it was, but I got mega fatigued in this game. It was like all of a sudden I had just run a marathon or something. Despite the fact that I was still definitely in the hunt to make the finals, and this was a game that would be difficult but winnable, I just lost my enthusiasm for it. I asked my opponent if he just wanted to go Brave Heart, and bum rush each other, seeing where the dice fell, and he agreed. He was a great sport and a really fun person to play, and also quite good!

His army was straight up better than mine in melee, but I had more attacks and bodies. The key was going to be taking out the Dreadknights and handling his mega Wolfstar without sacrificing too many of my own assets. If I could get Tank Bustas or Bikers on his Fists in that unit, soaking hits to keep my Meganobz alive to swing twice, I would win the fight. If not, I would get owned. Now, to be fair, the smart play would have been to just reserve my Bikers and Tank Bustas, run away from him all game, and play for the objectives at end game (he had no ObSec) for a pretty certain victory…but we were going balls out!

Long story short, we smashed into each other full force and damn near tabled one another, lol! In the end 2 things cost me. 1, a biker failed a dangerous terrain check into assault with a Dreadknight which made me fail the charge, which cost me killing it (only had 2 wounds left), and a Nob in melee with Max’s last 2 model’s form his Wolfstar (both with only a single wound, one of whom had no invul save) whiffed with 4 attacks, doh! Had those two things gone my way, I would likely tabled my opponent. However, they didn’t and he was able to break out of the massive scrum leaving me with only Mega Nobz left whom he wisely ran away from to sit on objectives. This was only turn 3, lol! We had almost nothing left. Seeing as I only had Bully Boyz left, and couldn’t catch him, we called it with he holding two objectives to my one.

Wolves get the luck they needed to win a moderate victory over the Orks! My opponent was a great dude, and hey, the dice fell his way.

That’s a Wrap!

So, in the end, the Orks did pretty dang well, considering the insane meta we were in. Had I not hit Tau on the way to the finals, who knows? But I had fun, and feel confident with the Orks. The Bully Boyz are fantastic. You just need to think things through with them. They need a way to get up the field and if they do find their Trukk destroyed in a crappy position, just have them hoof it over to an objective and sit on it, being Fearless with a 2+, 2 wounds and not a unit you want to get close to, they are good at holding objectives. As stated, it may be worth while finding a way to get a Battlewagon in there to deliver at least one unit more reliably up-field.

The Megaboss with Lootas was also a solid unit, running around, shooting and assaulting quite well.

The Warbikers were also solid, but do suffer a big weakness to ignores cover or leadership attacks.

Tank Bustas are absolutely awesome. Such a good unit and the gem of the Ork dex. You cannot take enough of them.

I will definitely be playing them, again!

Orks finish 34th out of 183 players in the Champs.