Hey everybody! My name is Stefan and I am a fervent 40K Ork player from the Netherlands. I decided to write an article and show my take on a competetive Ork list, which was also used (in various forms) a lot during this year’s LVO. This however is my variation. Check the Tactics Corner for more articles!
First off I would like to say that the meta here in europe is pretty much the same as with LVO with pretty mucht the same lists, only variating missions ( we mix maelstrom with eternal war missions most of the time) and rules for army restrictions. Mostly you will see tournaments either using ETC or ITC for army restriction and sometimes a custom-made set of rules.
I know that there already are articles written on the Ork codex, Zhadsnark or otherwise tactics on how to use the Orks, so I won’t be doing that here. What I will be doing, however, is going into the forgeworld options that in my opinion gives the Orks what they need to stomp some ‘eads in the tournament scene.
Forgeworld options is where things get really interesting for Orks. There already are some articles written about Zhadsnark da rippa, so I won’t go into great detail about him. Suffice to say when a tournament allows FW, Zhadsnark is my warlord all day every day. A warboss on bike with a powerklaw that hits on initiative 4, skilled rider and making warbikers troops for your entire army is amazing. There is a second option, however, that is not so much discussed and made a pretty big debut on LVO 2016 and that is the discount Big mek stompa. Watching some pictures of LVO I saw these multiple times and with good reason. I’ve also seen Reece use it during one of the tuesday night fight live battle reports, but I feel that it deserves a little more attention and explanation on why this thing is good.
So, Let me explain to you how good this thing is.
For a hundred points you can buy HQ Mek boss Buzzgob from the Dreadmob list on FW. This guy on his own is nothing special, but for 300 points he can buy himself a Big mek stompa. He is considered to be inside the stompa the entire game when you do so. Considering that normally a Big mek stompa costs you 800 points without any upgrades, you get a 400 points discount. When you field this thing in a 1850 points list you are effectively playing with a 2250 points army. Here is a rundown of what this big guy offers you:
Superheavy Walker: WS4, BS2, S10, I1, A4, HP12
– Armor: 13/13/12
– 3 big shootas
– 1 Deff kannon (72” Str10 ap1, Heavy 1, 7” blast, primary weapon)
– Gaze of Mork (60”, D, Heavy 1, ap2)
– Lifta droppa (48”, can target a vehicle with 4 HP or less, which after being hit immediately suffers and explodes result. It does get to make any invulnerable or cover saves against it though. Before it explodes you may throw it 2d6” in any direction you choose.)
– Mega-klaw (D close combat weapon)
– Powerfields: When the Stompa is deployed you roll a d6 and it gets that many powerfields. They basicly work the same as voidshields (AV12).
– Special rules: Fear, Hammer of wrath, Move through cover, Relentless, Smash, Stomp, Strikedown
This thing is a monster! For 400 points you get a superheavy with 12HP and d6 powerfields, so potientially you could be rocking 18HP making this thing a pain in the ass to bring down. The powerfields work like voidshields so are immune to things such as graviton weapons, armorbane and short range melta, although they won’t work against close combat attacks. Furthermore, it has the options to replace it’s Mega-klaw for a Deff kannon for 50 pts AND buy an additional Deff kannon for 100 pts. So for 550 pts you have a Stompa rocking two S10, AP1, 7” blasts that will put the hurt on anything. The lifta droppa is unreliable with BS2, but if it hits it immediately causes an explodes result on any vehicle starting the game with 4 HP or less. Not only that but you can throw it 2d6” towards other units and have them take exploding hits. The Eye of Mork, although unreliable as well with BS2, can catch people of guard as it’s a D weapon. The 3 big shootas are primarily used for shootings units you want to assault, but not use any of your good weapons on. The Big mek stompa is a gem on it’s own for any ork army, but here’s how things get really crazy with the list I run it in:
1850 pts
CAD Codex: Orks:
HQ1: Zhadsnark da Rippa
HQ2: Warboss, warbike, powerklaw, Lucky stikk
2 Meks (for each HQ, you may buy a single mekboy for 15 pts which counts as a character)
TR1: 10 Gretchins, Runtherd
TR2: 9 Warbikers, Nob /w powerklaw
TR3: 3 Warbikers
TR4: 3 Warbikers
TR5: 3 Warbikers
LOW: Buzzgob’s big mek stompa, (replacing it’s close combat weapon with a Deff kannon and buying a second Deff kanon)
Ork great whaaagh! Detachment:
HQ1: Big mek, warbike, big bosspole, kustom mega force field
HQ2: Painboy, warbike
2 Meks
EL1: 2 Burna boys, 3 Meks
TR1: 3 Warbikers
TR2: 3 Warbikers
Fortification Detachment:
Voidshield generator, 3 projected voidshields
This list fields the Stompa and puts inside it the 4 single meks, the burna boys with 3 meks and Buzzgob who counts as a mek as well. Meks have the special rule that during the shooting phase, instead of shooting they can repair any vehicle they are either in base contact with or embarked in on a 5+. This means that in each of my shooting phases I have 8 attempts on a 5+ to repair a hullpoint on the Stompa. Buzzgob has 2 grot oilers that give him 2 rerolls for the entire game on repair attempts. On top of that this lists fields a voidshield generator and while the primary intention for it is to protect the bikers, it also gives the Stompa 3 extra AV12 voidshields. Consider for a moment how hard it is to get rid of the 3 voidshields, d6 powerfields and then getting through AV13. Then think about the fact that on average I will repair 2 to 3 hP each turn with the meks. Now mind you this will only work against shooting attacks, because the powerfields and voidshields will not work in assault. So any units with a good punch (Thunderwolf cavalry, Maulerfiends and even Wraiths for instance) will still hurt this thing, but then again not many units would want to charge a superheavy walker with 4 BS4 S10 attacks and then get stomped on.
So, now you have a nigh invincible behemoth stomping around and causing wanton havoc and destruction. Let’s up the ante by inserting a bikerstar comprising of Zhadsnark, a Warboss with the Lucky Stikk, a Big mek with the Mega forcefield and Big bosspole, a Painboy and 10 Warbikers including a Nob with a powerklaw. That’s 10 BS6 S10 powerklaw attacks (5 of which are rerollable because of the Lucky stikk), 8 BS5 S9 powerklaw attacks and a ton of BS5 S4 attacks on the charge protected by a 3+ jink (2+ if they went flat out), a 4+ invulnerable save vs shooting and Feel no Pain. On top of that the entire unit is Fearless because of the Big bosspole on the Big mek. This unit can take a beating, packs a whallop and puts huge pressure on the opponent with it’s pressence and speed. As long as the voidshields are up, this unit will be immune to grav, flamers, psychic witchfire, markerlights and the best thing is you only need one model of the unit within voidshield range.
To complement these big two presences on the field I bought multiple small units of OBS Warbikers to keep in reserve, grab objectives or linebreaker and harass the opponent. I also bought a unit of Gretchins to put in the Stompa and make it OBS. This army puts a lot of pressure on your opponent, while being able to grab objectives and is very resillient.