[Orks] Waaaagh! Nobrot! Part 3: The Boyz

Hey everyone,

Welcome to my not so regular post working through the my green tide of an Ork army.

In this article, after looking at the numerous different army builds I like to try out, I figured I'd look at the core of the Ork army - the troop choices, and how I can use them and what their purpose is in my Waaagh.

For the moment, I'll leave out things like Nobz (and variants) and the Deff Dred being able to be taken as troops, I'll cover those in their respective categories and units.

With Orks being relatively cheap for their basic troops, it enables an Ork player to build large mobs of 20 - 30 strong boyz for a low cost, meaning you can have plenty of them on the table, unleashing a proper WAAAGH! I feel the core of an Ork army should be around about 60 - 80 boyz spread between mobs.

There's 2 basic troop choices in the Ork Codex, the Grotz and the Boyz (and the different types of Ork Boy you can make), so I'll run through them one by one.

Grotz

Grotz are a really effective troop choice in my opinion, albeit very weak, but they make up for it in the fact they're so, so cheap. A full unit of 30, with Runtherds and upgrades comes in at around 100pts. And as well, they're eligible to be a scoring unit. So this cheap unit can camp on or near a home objective while your more expensive and trusted Ork boyz can leg it across the board and smash anyone who faces them in the middle of the board.

The downside to the unit is the fact they're so weak... a good round of fire off pretty much any unit in the game can be forcing even a large unit of them to be taking a Morale check, and whilst the Runtherds can sacrifice Grotz to re-roll it, it's still a tough ask.

Best solution for this is camp them out of sight and out of the enemies mind and if push comes to shove... run away! Or better yet, rush from cover, all guns blazing and attempt to hack the shins of your attackers. Even if it's a Monstrous Creature or high T character, it's worth taking the Grot-Prod upgrades on the Herders just to be able to deal out a bit of pain.

I normally run them in a unit of 19, which means I only need to take 1 runtherd and CAN fit in a Battlewagon if ever I need to do so (you'd be surprised!).

Shoota Boyz

These guys got a real boost when the Ork codex got updated, giving them Assault 2 weapons. The amount of firepower you can get out of a 20 - 30 strong mob is astonishing and even then, you can have the assault power to either go in and start krumping them - or to take it on the chin next turn.

I like to use a 20 strong Shoota Boyz mob as a buddy unit for my Grotz holding the home objective. These guys head towards the next objective outside of my closest one. If anything comes near the Grotz, these guys generally have enough firepower or threat to stop them and let the Grotz finish them off with their BB guns.

They also make a particularly effective unit whilst in a Battlewagon, 18 plus the Nob accompanied by a Big Mek, being able to jump out and unleash a torrent of firepower into the enemy unit nearby, or even better unleash a drive-by Shooting from the open topped Battlewagon.

The downside most people have with using this unit is the low Ork ballistic skill... which I admit is a problem, but the amount of firepower you get back out of it more than makes up for it. I'll happily have half the BS of a Space Marine and twice the amount of fire power!

Slugga Boyz


Slugga Boyz, same points cost as the Shoota Boyz for Close combat beasts. A mob of 30 of these, lead by a Nob is going to cause serious and considerable damage to whatever it hits. Smashing an enemy unit with 4 attacks each on the charge is nothing to be sniffed at, combined with the furious charge. Marines will still be faster than you, but there'll be enough Boyz to take the damage and still hit home.

I like to run two units of 30 Slugga boyz in my lists forming the core pincers of my army. I have 3 Big shootas and a Power Klaw and Bosspole Nob to keep them in the game, should they ever need them. I've found on rear or side armour, the big shootas are quite handy for ripping open a Rhino and getting at what's inside.

The downside is, big mobs attract lots of fire, especially from templates. So normally my 2 are covered by a Big Mek with Force Field, but they still get munched by flamers, so whilst they are tough - they're still soft and squishy.

Trukk Boyz

Simple concept, a mob of 12 boyz in a Trukk, speed over to the enemy, hop out and hack to death whatever is on the other side. I'd initially not used my Trukk model other than to transport of Nob unit on foot, but found it died too easily carrying it's cargo.

So I eventually expanded to having 3 Trukks with a mob of 12 boyz (Sluggas and Choppas, 1 Big Shoota and a Power Klaw Nob) inside. And yes, once they're out they do die quite easily, but the speed and manouverability they offer, I feel is way worth it.

They are also quite expensive. 12 in a trukk with upgrades sets you back about the same as 25 - 30 do on foot. However, back this lot up with a Kustom Force Field and they're gonna be a nightmare to crack open.

Ard Boyz
The last troop choice is another variant of the Ork Boy, coming with a 4+ Save. The problem I have with these guys is that you can only have 1 mob of these per army, otherwise I'd happily upgrade each of my Trukk mobz to be Ard Boyz.

Equivalent to just short of two normal boyz, to earn yourself a 4+ save isn't worth doing in my opinion. I'd rather get a mob double the size and accept that some will die.

I've always wanted a Mob of them, made from Warhammer Fantasy Black Orc Boyz, so maybe one day I'll get around to it.

Conclusion
So there you have 'em. The Ork troop choices summed up and shown off.

I hope you've enjoyed reading it and the pictures of my units. Any comments, critiscism, feedback or discussion is, as always, welcome.

Peace out!
SB