[Orks] Waaaagh! Nobrot!: Grots

Afternoon everyone,

As usual, this article starts with a "It's been a while since..." and this time, it's related to Waaagh! Nobrot! A series where I was looking through the Ork codex, giving a bit of info on units and how I personally like to use them.

Having worked my way through most of the book, I'm not trying to tie up the loose ends - this time with Grots.

For me, Grots are one of the first units down on the team sheet. They're an amazingly cheap scoring unit. However, you get what you pay for with them.

Purpose
Firstly, the purpose of the Grots is simple. They're on the board to hold the nearby objectives that your more expensive and trustworthy Ork boyz don't want to sit on at the back.

Normally, what I will do is deploy these guys first on top of a "home" objective. They'll just sit there, in cover, for the majority of the game. The only time anything will ever happen with them is if someone gets near the building or shooting forces them to run away.

In most games however, I've started keeping them in reserve to minimise the chances of them running away. Usually when they show up around Turn 3 or 4, they can move 6" on, then run until they get onto the objective.

Personally, I wouldn't attempt to use Grots for anything other than objective holding, or possibly as a big tarpit unit to stop something with a low number of attacks. You never know... the Grots could win!

Equipment
As for equipment, the only choice you get really is on your Runtherd, whether you want the enemy to have -1 Attack or a Poisoned Weapon.

I much prefer having the poisoned weapon, just for the chance to scratch any bigger beasties that come in and try to squash yo, like Carnifexes or Wraithlords where you wouldn't have any chance to hurt them back.

Number
As for number, I like to take the bigger squads. It's easy enough to kill a handful of Grots, but to wipe out a full unit off an objective it takes more than a few pot shots.


I certainly wouldn't go for a unit size anywhere under 15, as I think it loses out on the swarm nature of the Grots.

Now personally, I'm cheeky and tight-fisted with my points. I take a unit of 29 or 19 Grots, so that I don't have to pay the points for the extra Runtherd.

Conclusion
What do you guys think about Grots then? I reckon they're one of the core units in an Ork army, allowing your Boyz to go forward and bash some heads, rather than worrying about sitting back and playing house.

Also, with the 40k FAQ from last year saying units can now hold / contest multiple objectives it means that a big unit of Grots coming on late in the game can have a chance of holding several objectives at once if they're cleverly placed. Or, be used to expand out from their home base to cover / contest another objective later on.

So there you go, first Waaagh! Nobrot! article for a long while, and I'm hoping to start finishing off the other articles as I go. Perhaps converting some of the missing units I don't own, like Ard Boyz, Big Gunz and Flash Gitz, then look at buying some Deffkoptas.

Maybe I should make a poll of what to buy next...

Peace,
SB

[Orks] Waaaagh! Nobrot!: Bikers

Morning all,

I've not had the Orks out on the table for a while, due to Battlefleet Gothic and generally being a bit bored after hammering them out at Britcon again. I was drawn to the fact there's not been a Waaagh Nobrot article for a while, due to a comment from a reader on the post about my Big Mek trio.

So, I checked through the articles to see where I was up to and thought since it's been a while I'll give you two articles for the price of one, covering both types of Bikers in the Ork codex - Warbikers and Nob Bikers.

First up, let's establish the common facts. What a Warbike gives to Warbikers, Nob Bikers and your bike mounted Warboss:

Extra Toughness and a 4+ Armour Save: This makes bikers a lot more survivable. Lots of people forget that the bike gives them the 4+ armour save and for months, I was still paying for 'Eavy Armour on my Warboss and Nob Bikers. This combination just makes them a heck of a lot more survivable to small arms fire such as bolters.

Smoke Clouds: This a is a Gork-send. Constant 4+ Cover save, even when in the open. Whilst it's not as brill as one may first think, due to the fact we already have a 4+ armour save, with the amount of High S, Armour save denying weapons, that are floating around, this will come in handy. The amount of times I've frustrated an opponent by explaining the smoke clouds rule to them and seeing lascannons, meltas and plasma guns vanish into the fumes, it's so, so handy.

Twin Linked Dakka Guns: This mitigates one of the major Ork weaknesses, while providing you with the firepower of a big shoota (although much shorter range). The fact this is twin-linked bypasses your poor Ork BS and allows you to weight of fire the enemy unit to death. A full squad of 10 Warbikers with a Boss (or Nobz) can be horrible through sheer weight of fire thanks to 3 shots each.

So - bikers can be pretty tough and pack a punch outside of assault to boot. So what choice of Orks do we have to sit on top of these 2 wheeled death machines?

Warbikers
Warbikes are a fast attack choice in the Codex, meaning they're not competing with your heavy hitters in the Elite section, although it depends on your personal preference of Fast Attack slots.

When I started out with Orks, I had 6 Warbikes as a fast attack choice, which were used to harry the flanks of the enemy force, whittle them down through hit and run style attacks and support Boyz units in assault thanks to their increased toughness, better armour save and mobility.

Unfortunately, I always felt that the Warbikers didn't pack a hard enough punch for my taste and for their cost. A stray flamer or two could really dent the unit and then suddenly it was crippled and easy to pick off.

However, they are a good unit, coupled with a Power Klaw nob or even a Big Choppa, they can happily get in the back of a transport, pop it and assault the inside unit, backed up by a Boyz mob. Another good use for them is to take out long range Ordnance vehicles like Basilisks and Whirlwinds that can really make a mess of your Boyz mobs.

Not troops? Not a problem!
One weakness that the Warbikers have initially is their lack of being a scoring unit. To me, that means they're left on the shelf since in my Ork force I like everything that's going to get stuck in, or speeding across the table, to be scoring.

So how do we do this? The big man Wazdakka. He allows Warbiker mobs to be taken as Troop choices, which then frees up your fast attack slots and provides you with up to 6 fast moving, punchy units. You'd also have Wazdakka himself in with one of the units to give that extra punch thanks to his special rules.

Nob Bikers
So Warbikers don't hit hard enough or can't take a good enough beating you say? I introduce you to the world of Nob Bikers, something the internet spawned and subsequently despised for a period in late 4th / early 5th edition.

What are the bonuses of Nob Bikers? We''re all the same as a normal Warbiker, with +1S, +1W and a whole host of upgrade options that can make the unit a nightmare.

I like to run with the following:
8 Nob Bikers - 1 w/ Power Klaw, 1 w/ Bosspole, 1 Painboy, 1 w/ Waagh banner

It's not as mental as some people go, but I'll cover wound allocation in a sec. This gives me an absolute ton of attacks on the charge, following the Dakka Gun shooting, combined with the increased strength from the Nob and Furios Charge combo. It generally means they can go toe to toe with the biggest, baddest and meanest Mo-Fo's in the 40k universe.

What's even better is when taking a Warboss, he allowed a Nob unit to become a Troop choice, meaning that him added in the mix, means this is one scary, albeit eggs in one basket, unit.

Being Nobz also gets around the dreaded heavy flamer approach. Having a Painboy on board not only gives you Feel No Pain to contest this, but access to an Invulnerable save, which after playing against Daemons with Breath of Chaos, is invaluable for a 50pt model.

Another handy option, which I'm thinking of incorporating is the humble Big Choppa. For a mere 5pts, this boosts the weilders Strength by 2. Meaning on the charge, your Nobz are hitting at a hurty S7. Ouch! For what you're already spending on the unit, I think this is definitely points worth paying.

Wound Allocation Hell
One thing people got hung up on with Nob bikers was the ability to mix and match cheap upgrades in the unit to make a Wound Allocation tarpit. This would mean that each of the bikers would be able to allocate wounds separately. Meaning there could be something along the lines of 12 wounds allocated to the unit (1 on each biker, 2 on the Warboss) before a model was even removed.

Personally, I don't go for this approach since I feel it's a bit OTT, but the option's always there if people want to go that way.

Conclusion
So - what do Bikes offer to the Ork Warboss? They offer an extremely mobile, fast moving unit, that can shrug off small arms fire and hold it's own against heavier firepower. They can create either an excellent support fire and assault unit to help with Boyz, or a mega hammer unit capable of holding the line on it's own.

If I could afford more bikes, I'd happily give a Wazdakka centric army a try, with Warbikers and Nob Bikers as my troop choices.

What do you guys think about Bikes in the Ork army? Especially any horror stories against Nob Bikers!

Peace,
SB

[Orks] Waaaagh! Nobrot!: Stormboyz

Afternoon all,

Today I thought I'd move away from the impending doom of me having to write up 8 hours worth of Battle Report, and talk about one of my favourite units from the Ork Codex - Stormboyz - and continue the Waaaagh! Nobrot! series.

This week I've decided to discuss Stormboyz for a few reasons. Firstly, I feel they're ridiculously under-used unit, and I do see people's logic for not taking them, I always try and fit a unit into a fun list somewhere. Admittedly, they are quite a hefty cost to pay for what's ultimately a very fast moving Slugga Mob. But you only have to look at the models and realise how they deserve to be on a Tabletop.

Da Stormboyz

First off. What do the Stormboyz bring to the table? They're an extremely fast moving force, admittedly less so than before the FAQ when they were allowed to Waaagh. Capable of moving up to 18" in the movement phase, then a 6" assault, provided you roll well enough, they can attack an opponent from a fair distance - usually catching the movement judgers off guard ("They move like Jump Infantry + D6 for the Rokkits?!")

The downsides to the Stormboyz are obvious though. They're pretty expensive (2.5 standard Boyz per Stormboy) and with no serious upgrade options. Their naff armour save is a real pain to get around, because from a good round of Bolter fire, you could see your isolated Stormboyz wiped out. I'd have really loved the option for 'Eavy Armour to make them a tough unit to shift.

To bypass this, Stormboyz need to make better use of cover than other Orks. Especially as one can normally rely on Footsloggers to get a Kustom Force Field cover save from a Big Mek. However, when the Big Mek is a fair bit back, it's problematic.

Stormboyz Nob with Power Klaw

The first customisation option one has is what weapons to give to the Stormboy Nob, along with whether to upgrade to Boss Zaggstrukk.

I've got both options made, ready to chop and change within my force, the first being a Bosspole, Power Klaw weilding Nob, to keep things cheap when I take less Stormboyz.

Normally if I run a 10 strong Mob, want to not deepstrike them, or am low on points, I will lead them with this fella. As with most Ork mobs, the Power Klaw adds some Anti-Walker and MC capabilities to the squad. Which is always handy. No one likes getting trapped in assault by a smelly Marine Walker or a Tyranid monstrous creature you can't seem to shift.

Boss Zaggstrukk

When I take a full mob of 15 Boyz, I like to take Zaggstrukk. A lot of people complain about "He's not worth it, Assaulting after landing never works" but I think he's really Orky and always try for the Assault when using them. Even if I do pose a massive risk to scattering off the table or onto enemies.

So far in the games he's landed, Zaggstrukk has managed to kill off plenty of Tanks, unaware back line lurkers and isolated characters.

Bear in mind his biggest asset is the fact when he charges in, his Power Klaws are at his initiative, and because he's charged, he gets the bonus strength and initiative boost. Meaning he's pretty awesome and can rip the face off a Tyranid beasty or guarantee denting some Marines.

Stormboyz Grot

And then lastly, this is the alternative option for not taking a Nob in the unit. I would call it a quick conversion, but it's not exactly a conversion. I just liked the idea of 2 Grots with Jetpacks counting as a Stormboy. Sometimes I'll use them as a Deepstrike marker while I get the unit out, othertimes they can be an objective in those missions.

So yeah, all in all, I really like Stormboyz. They're one of my favourite units in the Codex and while they can be extremely hard hitting, the random element of the Rokkit Packs, low survivability and expensive cost keep them out of most people's lists.

What do you guys think about Stormboyz? Ork players - for or against them? Non-Ork players - how do you react to these guys and what scares you about them?

SB.

[Orks] Waaaagh! Nobrot!: Deff Dred

Hey all,

It's been a while since there's been a blog update, and I keep forgetting to take pictures of my recent painting fest, so I thought I'd start working my way through the Nobrot articles, and since he did so well in the last game I played, my looted Deff Dred will take the honours this week.

So here he is in all his hastily painted glory:

He was made about a year ago, before there was even a mention of the (awesome) Plastic Deff Dred being released. I'd seen hundreds of people cobble some scrap onto Space Marine Dreadnaughts and call it a Deff Dred, but that didn't appeal to me. Since one of the regular MAWS players, Angryman, was playing a particularly nasty Tyranid army at the time, chock full of Carnifexes, I thought "Surely the Orks would respect a Fex for being a Stomping and Killing machine" and then had a poke around the Internet and saw a fair few conversions dotted about. Some ranging from the Bog standard fex with some glyphs, to awesomely detailed ones with Cockpits, Mechanical Legs, Resculpted Terminator style faces and whatnot.

Me being me, I went for a quicker approach - If the Orks are going to be able to get hold of a Fex long enough to shove a Remote Control reciever in it's Brain then they're going to have to hack off a few limbs... Which is where his Wrecking Ball arm and Mechanical leg come from. The rider was a bit more for Comic value than to justify anything fluffwise. Since he'd have no chance if the Carnifex went mental.

On the table, I've found the arc of his Claw and Mechanical arm works well as Armour facing. Also at the time, he was a bit bigger than a Metal Kan, so in the world of True LOS I was helping some people out. I've never had anyone have a problem when playing against it and it's pretty clear what everything is...

In The Game
Now, down to how I actually use my Deff Dred...

When looking through the Codex it was clear with his poor Ballistic Skill, the shooting work was best left to his smaller cousins, the Killa Kans. This guy was made for out and out carnage. The one real long range shooting option I would ever consider giving him would be 2 Big Shootas, since with the number of shots, he would actually hit something. By that point however, you've caused yourself issues with target selection and you would probably have just been better running...

I run the Deff Dred with an Extra Close Combat Weapon (his Talon) and a Skorcha (Acid Maw). The extra CCW really helps him in either whomping vehicles or taking down Monstrous Creatures. The Skorcha is there for a guaranteed hit on enemies and helps when dealing with Hordes. Also, it's a pretty cheap upgrade, meaning if this guy gets blown up, it's not a massive deal.

I've found that some people really aim to just kill him, whether it's a bit of "Rabbit in the Headlights" syndrome, "kill that big thing" or "that's a pretty nice mini, if I kill it, maybe he'll get a bit teary eyed". Backed up by Killa Kans for fire support, and a Big Mek to keep him going, used correctly the Deff Dred is absolutely awesome. Just remember to pick your targets well and not to expect miracles from him.

The key thing with Deff Dreds is know your limitations. Remember the amount of attacks and the initiative. If you charge a Monstrous Creature that is attacking before you, expect to get smashed. Also, if you charge Thunder Hammer terminators, you will only maybe kill 2 or 3 and you'll be getting the remaining attacks smashed back at you....

What do you guys do with Deff Dreds, and Non-Ork players, how do you feel about playing against Deff Dreds?

Peace,
SB.

[Orks] Road To Britcon 2010 - Game 1

Morning all,

It's that busy time of year again where everyone starts to rush around thinking about Britcon - what to take, which characters to use, how to play a mission and where will all our beer money come from?

This year is the first year I've decided I don't want to be painting anything before the tournament and I want to know my rules inside out, as opposed to in previous years where I've played new armies, new units and new configurations for the tournament.

One of the more notorious armies at Britcon has always been the Tyranids. They won in 2008 and have come pretty highly consistently. Now with 5th edition, people will moan and complain about "Meta-games" and "Nerfing" but I still think 5th Ed Nids are ace and a very dangerous army to face on the table.

So I've got my same army I took last year, knowing it pretty well and isolating the one silly weakness that cost me a game in the tournament - giving a Mek a Burna instead of a Power Klaw, along with a pointless Ammo Runt upgrade on the Warboss on a bike, he's now got a Kombi Skorcha to allow the bikes to deal with Hordes.

We played a Pitched Battle deployment in an Objectives mission. 2 being set up in my deployment zone, 1 being set up in the Tyranid deployment, 1 slightly further out.

I deployed with my 2 big Boyz mobs in the middle of the table, flanking a Burna Battlewagon with KFF Mek. The left boyz Mob supported by the Deff Dred, the right supported by Killa Kans. I set up a unit of 15 Shoota Boyz on my left objective, 17 Grotz on the right. I then kept my Warboss and Nob Bikers on the far right hand flank, able to utilise their Turbo Boosting and fast speed.

The idea was to be that my foot sloggers could hold the middle and go for a Tyranid objective each, with their respective support units and the Mek and Burnas for support where needed.

I didn't take notes, so I thought I'd just cover the major points of the game and give a conclusion in terms of the list and preparation for Britcon.

The Burna Boyz were, like last year, immense. They wiped out a unit of Tyranid Warriors, Alpha Warrior, Hive Tyrant and Tyrant Guard, Tervigon and Mycetic Spore, along with the help of their friendly Big Mek.

The Nob Bikers have a good showing despite getting thinned out pretty early on. They took down a Dakka Fex, Trygon Prime and the Warboss went after a unit of Hive Guard and wiped them out.

The Slugga Boyz as usual were steadfast. They killed when needed to and held firm most of the other times. The sheer amount of attacks they can put out is still horrible to any opponent.

The Shoota Boyz didn't do much at all, when faced with a unit of Gaunts they fled and continued to run off the board.

The Grotz... well, they set up and did nothing all game. Which means they had a good game!

The Deff Dred managed to destroy a Tervigon in close combat, thin out the Tyranid warrior unit and also destroy a unit of Gaunts via Skorcha attacks causing them to flee and destroy them by attempting to assault. Then clearing the Gaunts off the objective they were camping in, meaning a possible draw turned into a guarenteed win.

The Battlewagon showed BS2 isn't always so bad, taking out a Mycetic spore in a single shot, but it didn't manage to do much else aside from deliver the Burnas to the fight.

The Killa Kans managed to hammer the Doom of Malan'tai, but not without taking 2 casualties in return along with providing extremely valuable support fire for the rest of the army.

Conclusion

Overall it was a good 2 - Nil victory. I had a plan, stuck with it and the dice went my way. I crowded the park where it was necessary and played to the mission.

I just feel I need to work on my manouverability a bit more with the Boyz and try to keep them alive. In a 32 - 0 scoring scale, all the troops are important if I'm trying to aim for the top.

Peace,
SB

Ursus' first command

Last night was my first game of Spearhead, and I took my Space Wolves with a couple of Grey Knight Allies, 4 Dreads and a Hellhammer superheavy (a baneblade that got told it was a Hellhammer to be precise.) I will let you decide how it went for me!

It was Ursus’ first time in command and he had been requested by the Inquisition to support them as they tried to stop Waaagh Nobrot, they had had reports of a Stompa leading a swarm of Killer Kans. Ursus had come up with a solid plan with the support of the Grey Knights and a Hellhammer, the Hellhammer would draw the Orks close before opening fire and the remaining forces would attack from various angles to cause disorder or chaos among the Orks.

As the Hellhammer trundled into position the Ork Stompa could be seen moving between buildings, the superheavy powered down so that the Orks crude sensors didn’t pick up its heat signature. Little did Ursus, or even the Inquisition know that the Orks had been cunning and three trukks roared to life only metres away from the idling tank, one Ork boy who had obviously spent the last few years on the target range fired its Rokkit and hit a power coupling crippling the tank but the warhead didn’t explode and drove deeper into its armour cutting more and more power cables and finally detonated deep within the Hellhammer amongst its high explosive ammunition, the Super heavy tank exploded in a nova of heat damaging all three Trukks and leaving a crater where the Imperials hopes once lay.

While Ursus’ squad prepared themselves in their drop pod, he remained in the Strategium to help plan the counter assault. Two squads of Grey hunters with Meltaguns drove their rhinos recklessly behind enemy lines they quickly fired their tank destroying weapons and sheared off both the Stompas most fearsome weapons at the joints, but failed to be able to stop its rampage the same way the Orks destroyed their icon of victory.

As the Orks walker contraptions known as Killer Kans horded into the immediate vicinity, Ursus declared the beginning of their counter assault and his Grey Hunters deployed out of their Rhinos to face down the oncoming horde after it had been hit by a speeding Battlewagon. Ursus’ squad was launched and he saw them land amidst the enemy, it took a moment to realise he himself was supposed to be in the Drop Pod, and he dashed towards the launch bays to commandeer a Thunderhawk trying his best not to look like a complete fool as his squad held an entire army at bay. 

One of the dreadnoughts had finally arrived at the battle and opened up at the closest Ork Trukk destroying it with contemptuous ease causing the Orks inside to bail out before the towering machine charged into battle ripping two apart with its huge claws. The Grey Knights, although had been deployed were no-where to be seen and suspected that they had teleported to a different location after discovering a daemonic infestation elsewhere on the planet. 

 

The Ork Horde swarmed over the Space Wolves who had been abandoned by their Inquisition allies and their only hope lay in ruins before it had fired a shot. The Space Wolves were slowly torn apart by the Kans and the Stompa with little able to fight back as all their heavy weapons had been destroyed or elsewhere on the planet the Ork Waagh could only gain strengths in the coming days. Ursus landed and charged straight into the closest band of Orks supported by 3 Dreadnoughts but his last stand didn’t last long and the overwhelming numbers of the Orks tore him and the Dreadnoughts apart. The Orks had suffered few casualties compared to the Space Wolves and were eager for more destruction. But with nothing else in sight they turned their glaring red eyes towards the main hive of the planet.

Well as you can see, it went very very badly, but oh well, better luck next time eh.

Post-Conflict North 2010

Evening all,

We've not long since got back from Conflict North and I was impressed to say the least. It was an excellent venue, well organised and very enjoyable. Considering I've been up since 6am on a Sunday morning... you'll have to bear with my memory being a bit patchy!

First off, the list I took was as follows:

- Warboss in Mega Armour, Cybork Body, Bosspole, Attack Squig

- Big Mek with Kustom Force Field, Power Klaw, Cybork Body, Eavy Armour

- 5 Meganobz, 2 with Kombi Skorcha, 2 with Kombi Rokkits in a...

- Battlewagon, Red Paint Job, Armour Plates, Kannon, Big Shoota, Boarding Plank

- 3 x 12 Trukk Boyz with Slugga and Choppa, Rokkit, Nob with Power Klaw and Bosspole, Trukks with Red Paint, Armour Plates, Big Shoota and Boarding Planks

- 19 Shoota Boyz, 1 Big shoota, Nob with Big Choppa and Bosspole

- In a Battlewagon, Red Paint Job, Armour Plates, Kannon, Big Shoota

- 18 Grots, Runtherd with Grot Prod

The idea behind the army was simply to avoid moving tons of models and max out on scoring units.

Game 1

First game was against another Ork army that was along the lines of

- Warboss on foot with Heavy Armour with 7 Nobz

- Big Mek with Forcefield on foot with Ard Boyz

- 20 Shoota Boyz

- 10 Gretchin

- 2 Deff Dredz

- 3 Warbikers

- Lootas

First game of the tournament.... Orks v Orks! The first mission was Capture and Control with Dawn of War Deployment.

I started by keeping everything of mine off the table to avoid fire from the Lootas and Dreds, but also to try and hit his forward deployed armies extremely hard with my units walking on. This initially worked with his Ard Boyz getting decimated by the shooting coming on the board, the Big Mek ran off alone but managed to regroup in a later turn.

However, his Nobz and Warboss hopped out of a trukk and battered my units leaving me with a tough decision to draw firepower towards them to finish them off. Which then caused me to be too far back in my own half, had my Gretchin destroyed from my objective by Warbikers and had Meganobz and a Warboss end up doing not much and getting Power Klaws by the Warbiker Nob.

All in all, the game ended on turn 5. Another turn and I could have clinched a draw if I had survived the shooting from a Dred and shoota Boyz, but who knows.

0 Wins - 1 Loss.

I really enjoyed the game and had a laugh with my opponent. It's also one of the best painted Ork armies I've seen around. Really, really good stuff!

Game 2

So after losing my first game, I moved down to the lower tables where I was much more comfortable after seeing some of the armies that were around.

My opponent was a good guy, and I was surprised to see him playing Black Templars. But I did really enjoy the game against a less used codex, especially with the amount of Marine players playing and that were around the place.

The army was roughly:

- Emperors Champion

- 3 Units of 5 Templars

- 4 Land Raider Crusaders

We played Sieze Ground with 5 Objectives and did the Spearhead deployment type. I bunched everything together as usual to benefit from the KFF and held the Grots in reserve to take my home objective.

All I can say is GO DEFF ROLLAS! Dealing with 4 Land Raiders in a 1,500pt list is crazy, but it was fun. Without the Deff Rollas there was no way I could have dealt with them. 3 were destroyed by the Rollas and the final one with 1 weapon remaining and Immobilised.

At the end of the game I held 3 objectives, 1 was contested and the other held by my opponent.

1 Win - 1 Loss

Game 3

By this time, everyone playing had begun to get a bit tired and careless. My final opponent was another Ork army:

- Warboss and 3 Meganobz in a Battlewagon

- Big Mek in a Trukk with Slugga Boyz

- Ard Boyz in a Trukk

- Deff Dred

- 3 Killa Kans

- 8 Lootas

This game was Kill Points with a standard Pitched Battle deployment. Meaning the scenario I play 90% of the time.

It started very well, I managed to destroy Deff Dred, 3 Killa Kans and 2 Trukks within the first 2 turns, meaning 4 kill points off the bat.

Unfortunately, due to some bad rolling, misjudged distance for the Battlewagon and generally enjoying the game to get it done with.. I ended up getting battered 11 Kill Points to 5.

Have to say, was an excellent game and 2 evenly matched Ork armies meant it was a case of who was able to hit the other hardest.

Win 1 - Loss 2

So all in all, I finished 14th out of 26 competitors. Not bad considering my list was wrote the day before the competition, had only 1 game of 40k within the last 5 weeks and was extremely nackered!

If there's anyone reading this, I would highly recommend visiting Marauder Games in Stockport. Their facilities are a bit bare bones at the minute, but their gaming area is top notch, prices are excellent (we got 15% off just for playing in the tourney) and the staff are excellent.

Onwards to Britcon 2010!

Peace out,
SB

[Orks] Waaaagh! Nobrot!: Killa Kans

Hey all.

It's been a while now since I've done a breakdown for Waaaagh! Nobrot! so I thought I'd make a move in getting back into gear with it. Especially when it's been a bit of a slow week in terms of hobby things to take pictures of.

I'm currently working towards a 1,500pt 1 day competition and my aim with the army is to avoid having to move tons of models on the table - I'm very lazy. So I'm looking at taking a lot of armour - specifically Killa Kans.

So first off, I refused to buy metal Killa Kans and ended up with a way of making them that cost me 50p to make each one.

The body of the Kan is made from a plastic Kinder Egg toy container. The feet are the bottom of the Battle for Macragge Pylons - the top pieces went towards making Kustom Forcefields for my Big Meks.

The shooting weapons were made from leftover Chaos Predator bits. Big shootas made from Heavy Bolters and the Rokkit Launchas / Grotzookas were made from the Havoc Launcher vehicle upgrades.

I made the "Visor" and Mouthpiece out of plasticard and the top hatch was made from an upturned shield from Warhammer Fantasy.

So yeah - these cost me 50p each to make and I've now got 6 of them, with another 3 ready to be made to make a Heavy Metal Thunder army. Personally, I'm pretty proud of them and the only issue I have is that the paint chips quite easily off the Kinder Egg plastic and the superglue doesn't hold onto them very well. But for saving £11.50 per Kan (at the time), I'll deal with a bit of repainting or glue work.

Killa Kans to me are awesome. Anything that can be more reliable than Ork shooting in the army is always a good thing. Combined with the fact they're dirt cheap pointswise and come with a Dreadnaught Close Combat Weapon means they can pack a punch in close combat.

The best way for me to run them is in a Squadron of 3, although this means an immobilised result will destroy them, they save 30pts a Squadron on Extra Armour and also saved you buying Grot Riggers. Keeping them close by the Big Mek means they will benefit from a Kustom Forcefield making them even more survivable.

Now, how do they actually get used on the tabletop? First thing is what weapon load outs you would choose to use.

Big Shoota
The Big Shoota for me is the staple of the Killa Kans. Targetting tough infantry to thin them before the Ork assault wall hits. Also, the higher ballistic skill from these means they are far more reliable than ordinary Ork shooting. They're also quite cheap and add valuable long range fire for Ork army.

Grotzooka
Grotzookas are a unique weapon for the Killa Kans, which allow you to field some high strength, blast weapons, which helps against untis like Tyranid Warriors and other heavy infantry. They're also a 2 shot Blast weapon, which is excellent in my eyes.

Whilst they're more expensive than the Big Shootas, they're still very cheap and the good thing is that they can happily be put in a unit of Big Shootas, or other weapons and add some long range anti-horde firepower.

Rokkit Launcha
Rokkit Launchas are a very popular option on Killa Kans, providing a bit more choice, survivability and more reliable vehicle hunter than a Tankbusta unit. They can also be used to target Monstrous Creatures, should there be vehicles on the battlefield.

However, they're 15pts per Rokkit Launcha and only 1 shot per Kan per turn, which with a 50% chance to miss, I'd prefer weight of numbers than single shot.

Kans with Rokkits have their place, especially when tag-teamed with a Deff Dred or Assault Unit - the Kans smash a light vehicle, the Dred / Assault unit sweep in and mop up what spills out of the transport.

Skorcha
Skorchas for me, are a waste of points on a Kan, unless you really, really want a squad of Assault Kans - which is for me, a bad idea!

Skorchas are good for 5pts and can happily thin out horde units, flush people from cover or massacre light units, but again the issue is, you need to be up close to deal with that. And that is where the Kans begin to get crumped by Power Fists or Plasma / Melta guns.

Kustom Mega Blasta
Kustom Mega Blastas are cool on paper, but way too expensive to pay for a full lot of Kans and at that point, a Rokkit Launcha would have done it's job for cheaper. I'd leave these somewhere else and stick with either high rate of fire, or point for point effectivity.

Upgrades
I wouldn't bother using any of the upgrades on this unit really, since you're normally running them in Squadrons - Grot Riggers is useless as there'll be no immobilised results, and Armour plates is effectively already there with the squadron rule.

Forming the Unit
Now - how do we group all these together into a decent unit?

Unit size is the first thing. I always go for a unit of 3 - why?

1 Killa Kan can easily be dispatched by a stray lascannon or Melta gun, and then needs to be upgrades to have Armour plates.

2 Killa Kans are a nuisance, but a bad round of shooting means your wound allocation slowly piles up on you.

3 means there is enough spread out across the unit for allocating hits, it also means there's a lot of firepower that can make it through if there's Shaken results and that they can maximise their power in assault.

Personally I go for the Rate of Fire unit - 2 Big Shootas and a Grotzooka, which weighs in at under 130pts for a unit of 3. This gives me 6 S5 shots, plus 2 S6 blasts which is enough to cripple some units. If they make it to the middle of the battlefield then they can bog down units like Gaunts, Guardians or Guardsmen who will struggle to bring them down, if they can even bring them down at all.

Conclusion
I think Killa Kans are awesome in an Ork force, and once I've made my remaining 3, I'll have a bash at giving a Walker heavy army a go, lead by a Big Mek and his pet Deff Dred, and a Warboss with Meganobz.

What do you guys think about Kanz then? And in particular weapon loadouts and unit size?

SB

[Orks] Waaaagh! Nobrot!: Nobz

A slow week for blog posting on here it seems - everyone busy working and recovering from the busy Bank-holiday period. It's been a bit hard to get time to write on here, but I figured whilst I'm on a lunch break and trying to get rid of a headache, I'd discuss one of the more versatile Ork units - Nobz.

I've already covered Meganobz in a previous article, and I believe Nob Bikers are a complete kettle of fish to standard Nobz. I'm going to cover Nobz on foot in this article for a couple of reasons - firstly they're criminally underused and living in the shadow of the other Nob units.

Usage
Firstly, the footslogging Nobz are not much more expensive than a Space Marine, but you're looking at more attacks and weapon options, along with a 2nd wound.

The best use for the Nobz is to tag team them with a Warboss to make the unit a Troop choice, thus freeing up precious Elite slots and also making them a scoring unit. This tag team of units can easily rip, shred and walk through other assault units, simply through sheer weight in number of attacks, higher strength and initiative from Furious charge. Nobz can take a battering from enemy units and happily bash stuff back - provided you utilise cover well enough.

Even better results can be achieved thanks to the use of special weapons and upgrades to the unit.

Armour
First and foremost, Nobz need their armour save improving via Eavy Armour. A 6+ save isn't going to cut it in the world of 40k. Eavy Armour is vital and even though you will still fall prey to Heavy Bolters, the 4+ save helps massively. Although it does pump up the points cost a bit, it's not worth taking the Nobz without Eavy Armour.


Power Klaws

The more obvious weapon choice for the Nobz is the costly Power Klaw. The thing to bear in mind is that each Nob in the unit can take a Klaw, meaning Power Klaws in double figures - as costly as a second unit of Nobz - but the power it can throw down is immense. I like to stick with 2 or 3 in the unit, less so if there is a Warboss in the unit. That way the Nobz get some reliable Tankbusting for high armour Values on the charge.

Kombi Weapons
Kombi Weapons are an upgrade unique to the Nobz and Warboss in this codex and come in two flavours - either Rokkit Kombis for a bit of light vehicle busting or Skorchas which are useful for taking down Hordes.

Personally, with the cruddy Ork ballistic skill, I'd stay with the Kombi-Skorchas as they auto-hit and can deal with a problem for Nobz - the Horde. Hordes can slow down Nobz and just chip away at wounds, especially with the Tyranid Termagant flavour of the month!

Big Choppas

Big Choppas are often overlooked in Nob units because they reduce the number of attacks by 1 (for being 2 handed) and also because Power Klaws are usually the weapon of choice. But for 5pts, the Nobz get a +2 Strength bonus, which combined with furious charge means you're crumping stuff at S7 on the charge - more than capable of battering a monstrous creature, Daemon prince or causing instant death on puny Eldar.

I've given a run out with 4 of these in a unit and was pretty impressed with their use. Higher strength vs an attack less is a risky tradeoff, but it does bring with it a higher chance of wounding. Swings and roundabouts, but the image of an Ork with a massive 2 handed Axe is cool enough, combined with the low cost.

Waagh Banner and Painboy 

The 2 other upgrades available for the Nobz are the Waagh banner, which is definitely worth taking every time, simply to frustrate WS4 opponents with you hitting on 3s. For 15pts, it's pretty cheap and also allows you to go Wound allocation spam.

The best upgrade for the unit, without doubt is the Painboy. He takes your squad from a menacing close combat threat to a hulking melee whirlwind of destruction. Capable of shrugging off tons of small arms fire and puny close combat attacks.

He also gives access to Cybork bodies, providing the squad with a 5+ Inv. save, which I foolishly didn't take in my early days of Ork-dom, then got mowed down by Daemons and have taken them ever since.

He's no slouch in close combat either, with his Poisoned weapon, he's quite often forgotten about until a lumbering Carnifex or Wraithlord shows up and takes a pasting from the 4+ to wound.

Transports
The major problem with running a Nob unit like this is getting it safely to its destination. Which means investing more points in transports, of which you have two options.

First off is the humble Trukk. It's fast and means you can pull off a pretty massive charge (possibility of 24" with a Waagh move, if I am correct) which can catch enemy units off guard and crush them under the armoured boot of your Nobz. However, if your opponent so much as coughs near a Trukk, it will blow up - so sticking a hefty point sink unit in there, isn't always the best plan.

On the other hand we have the trundling behemoth that is the Battlewagon, which the Nobz can take as a Dedicated transport. Meaning free spaces in your Heavy Support choices for other units... or simply just filling the table with even more Battlewagons!

I'd choose to take the armoured reliability of a Battlewagon any day, unless you were going for all out speed and a bit of unpredictability.

Conclusion
It is fair enough to say that Meganobz and Nob Bikerz are more popular, but stick a unit of Nobz in a Battlewagon with a Warboss and you have an extremely powerful melee unit that can also take a beating as much as they can give one out.

Give Footsloggers a chance :)

SB.

[Orks] Waaaagh! Nobrot!: Looted Wagons

Morning folks. Time for another installment of Waaaagh! Nobrot! This time, I thought I'd look at one of the often declared useless units in the Ork Codex - the Looted Wagon.

The Looted Wagon gets a bad rep for a couple of reasons:
- Same cost as a Trukk, which is a FAST vehicle.
- Takes up a valuable Heavy Support slot
- Unreliable nature of "Don't Press Dat!" special rule.

On the other side of the coin, let's look at why Looted Wagons aren't half bad:
- Can give Transport to a non-transportable unit like Tanbustas or Burnas
- 2/3 Cheaper than a Battlewagon.
- Awesome modelling potential

Now, there are 2 clear types of Looted wagon you want to be going for: Transport and Artillery.

The Transporta

This is the less commonly used option for the Looted Wagon in my view, mainly due to the lack of speed. However, I've not heard Codex marine players complain about the speed of a Rhino - so why should Orks? In lieu of this speed, we get a more secure armour value, as opposed to a Trukk - which should your opponent look at it funnily, it will blow up.

I made mine before I'd got to grips with the Ork codex properly, using it in small scale games (500 - 1000), with a couple of Tankbustas inside it. It was made using a Chaos Rhino I'd picked up cheap, with a couple of Ork gunners in the top with Big Shootas and a spiffy Red Paint job. I also chucked on the Chaos Spikes and made it open topped by leaving off the top set of doors and putting an assault ladder in. I wasn't getting too hung up attempting to carve up a Rhino for a 35pt model that rarely gets used. I'd painted it Red for the Red Paint Job upgrade, but then realised I could blag it as a Blood Angels looted Rhino... Orks would go for that as they'd be the fastest!

The issue is with the Don't Press Dat roll, should you be unfortunate enough to roll a 1, you'll hurtle forward until hitting stuff. However... depending on the unit being Transported, this isn't so bad. For example, I've used Burnas in a Looted Wagon before (before I bought Battlewagons), had them speed forwards with the roll of a 1, which, so long as you as concious about what you want to do with the unit, where you face it etc. is probably what you would have done in the movement phase anwyays! For Tankbustas, then it's not so good as you'll lose the ability to shoot the precious Rokkit Launchas, so yeah it is an issue.

Another downfall is that it can only carry 12 guys, meaning it's competing with the Trukk again, and limits your units to 12 / 11 with an attached Character. This means should anything happen to the Wagon, you're under Fearless amount with an expensive unit inside. Bad times.

What I do think though, is Looted Wagons are definitely good in a smaller points arena, anything 1,500 and below - housing a medium size unit of Elite Troops. Or even another dirty trick is just spend the 35pts basic and sit a unit of Grots inside it as last minute objective grabbers, assuming you don't roll 5 turns of "Don't Press Dat" and zoom forward like a loon. Minimise this by leaving them in reserve until then, bring em on and keep em safe for the remainder of the game.

Also don't underestimate the fact the Looted Wagon can take 3 weapons (Skorcha and 2 Big Shootas / Rokkits). Meaning essentially, from glancing hits it's got 3 wounds after it's immobilised. It also means after dumping your troops off where you want them, it can sit for a turn and unleash a hail of fire on enemies. Shame they've made it so Big Shootas are no longer defensive weapons, otherwise it'd be extremely handy.

For the Transport Wagon I'd say to use it for a non-Vital unit (so not Meganobz and a Warboss), something like Burnas or Tankbustas, expect that it will roll forward and account for that and most importantly of all - it's not a Trukk!

The Gun Wagon

This is the more commonly used Looted Wagon I'm led to believe. Sporting a Boomgun and the Ard Case upgrade, meaning it's no longer open topped.

I made mine from a Chaos Predator I had lying around spare, stuck an Ork in the top, some spikes and a big wrecking ball for incase anyone got too close. The idea was to paint it in Ultramarine colours as a nod to a friend's Marine army and also that the Orks would loot something blue to save more time painting it, meaning more time killing with it!

The Boomwagon can advance if you want it to, but then it just takes an unlucky roll to send it rolling forward and into assault range, the issue is the reduced range, only being 36" as opposed to longer range Battlecannons the other armies have access to. It also has to put up with still being Light Armour, as opposed to a Marine Predator or a Leman Russ.

Personally, I think these are a steep use of 105pts (+ extras) and I'd be more inclined to just stick a Killkannon on a Battlewagon and use that. Or rely on a unit of Lootas which can multi-task. Also, by taking the Boomgun, you cut out all transport capacity which is a downer, as opposed to the Killkannon on a Battlewagon which still means you can cram 5 Meganobz and a Warboss in there.

Conclusion
I personally still like Looted Wagons, mainly for their cheap transport usage, despite their unreliability in the random roll. I'd simply say, account for that the same way you would account for a bad roll with the Lootas for their amount of shots or a bad Waagh roll for your units.

Simply manouvre the wagon where possible to mitigate the eventuality you'll plough forward. On the bright side, moving forward means you can possibly Tank shock enemies or Ram another vehicle - which you never know, might work in your favour and help.

At the end of the day, Looted Wagons do what they do - they're cheap and expendable, albeit an easy kill point. But don't underestimate taking one for small units, or even chuck some Grots in to give them a bit of mobility!

As always, peace out.

SB.

[Orks] Waaaagh! Nobrot!: Tankbustas

Another update from the Galaxy storming Waaaagh!! Nobrot!. To semi-quote The Fast Show "This week, I have been mostly..." - playing with Tankbustas!

Tankbustas are a unit that took a mega dip in popularity, due in no part to their "Glory Hunters" special rule, meaning that they have to shoot and / or assault vehicles, regardless whether or not a big unit of Marines is stood within Krumpin' range.

I think this was mostly due to GW's effort to stop Ork players using them as a Marine hunter squad. 5 - 15 S8 Ap3 weapons used to mean the squad was going after Marine equivalents. Nowadays, with the exception of playing Nids, there's usually always a vehicle or two on the table to cause issue.

Personally I find the Tankbustas useful for sticking in a Battlewagon and use Cover around the tabletop to prevent their special rule becoming problematic. Generally as well, I find the Tankbustas more useful to actually hunting Tanks... as opposed to trying to take out Marine squads.

Combined with their Tankbusta bombs and a Transport, I find they are more than capable of earning their points back through destroying light Vehicles - especially handy in Kill Points missions, to free up your larger mobs of Boyz.

The majority of my Tankbusta models are simply converted Boyz, with the Rokkit Launchas from the Boyz boxset. I managed to scrape together about 6 of these, then filled out the remainder of the Squad with normal Boyz with Choppas carrying Rokkit backpacks - I like to think of these guys as the Ammo runts of the unit.

These guys break from my normal paintscheme for Waaagh Nobrot in that they have Red dotted around. The main reason for this was to distinguish the models easily on the tabletop, but then also for a bit of fluff as I like the idea that they've spent some time in the Kommando's and been kicked out because they like blowing things up too much!

Wargear Options
Every Tankbusta comes with a Rokkit Launcha and Tankbusta bombs as standard, but the first choice is whether or not to take a Nob. Personally it's a no brainer - the bosspole in a small unit (small for an Ork) become invaluable. Also, the option is there for a Power Klaw to ignore armour saves if you end up stuck in Close Combat. Most times I don't give him the Power Klaw for points reasons, but it's definitely worth upgrading a Tankbusta to a Nob - keep his Rokkit launcha and just give him a Bosspole.



The second option you have for the squad are unique weapons to the Tankbustas - Tankhammers. S10 melee weapons which stike at initiative order. Unlucky for the Tankbustas, these don't ignore armour saves, but in recent games the guarenteed S10 hits on vehicles has been excellent in dispatching enemy vehicles that the Ork ballistic skill fails to dent, and removes some of the random element of the Tankbusta bombs.

I can imagine that some people will prefer to keep the Rokkit Launchas, but I like to take 2 of these. They also make Characters think twice about the unit, provided the Bustas get lucky.



The other option you can decide for your Tankbustas is to go for a Bomb Squig or two. I like the concept and fluff behind the Bomb Squigs, but they're far too much of a liability for me to use often, especially since I run a fair few Ork vehicles! I do like the fact they can mash a vehicle and leave the Bustas free to attack and destroy other units.

Conclusion
I've been running the following squad in a club league:
15 Tankbustas
- Nob with Rokkit Launcha
- 2 Tank Hammers
- Battlewagon

I've found the unit to be quite handy, destroying numerous vehicles in games.

Another pretty nifty trick is they're good for fighting against the Tyranids with, due to the fact you're no longer bound by the Glory Hogs rule. Meaning you can get a lot of high strength Ap3 shots off against the Monstrous Creatures.

Most people like to complain about Tankbustas - same way they do against a fair few units in the Ork Codex - but I've given them a chance and quite enjoy them and likely intend to keep them in lists in future.

So in short - show the Tankbustas some love! Get them on the table for a game or two, and be clever about the Glory Hogs rule. Use them for what they intended, as opposed to a bunch of Marine Hunters.

Peace out,
SB.

[Orks] Waaaagh! Nobrot!: Meganobz

Hey again all... welcome to another Waaaagh! Nobrot! blog-fest. After last weeks blog about Ork Lootas, I brought them out to play for a game and did surprisingly well with them, thinning out the smaller Tyranid units through sheer rate of fire and high strength. They did get took down eventually thanks to a Deep Striking Doom of Malantai causing them grief and their Grot buddies not doing well to protect them.

This week however, continuing moving through the Elite slots of the Orks, I figured I'd talk about the proper 'Eavy hitters of the Ork Elites - Meganobz.

As with the rest of my army, the concept of the Meganobz is that they are Lootas to the extreme, taking Beaky Terminator armour, doing some Mek work and coming out with a 2+ armour save.

These guys were made from a kit-bash between a box of Ork Nobz and a squad of Assault on Black Reach terminators. Torso and legs were Terminator, Arms and Heads are the Orkz. Then top this off with a ton of armour plates from the Boyz and Nobz boxsets, along with some vehicle glyphs. The only let down I have with these guys is I couldn't be bothered trying to make a suitable Twin Linked shoota for each one, so copped out and gave them a Slugga so I could get them on the table faster.

Each of them is then painted in a different Marine chapter's colour - specifically the other chapters that people play at MAWS! Red for James' Blood Angels, Blue for Marcus Ultramarines, Black for Ste's Black Templars, Bone for Rob's Deathwing and a Dark Grey as a test bed for my future Marine army, Space Wolves.

Meganobz on the table however are one of my personal favourite units in the Ork codex, though not so much for rules more the concept of huge clanking Orks with piston driven weaponry.

They're often looked down upon because of the points cost when compared to Nob Bikers. For the extra 5pts you get the mobility of the Bikes, the extra toughness, a free 4+ armour save, combined with better weapons, an extra attack due to CCW and Slugga and then your 4+ exhaust cloud cover save. Hard to see the MANz fighting back from that really... but they can fight back in their own way.

What you lose in mobility and options with the MANz, you get back in sheer brute force. Everyone comes with a Twin-Linked shoota, bypassing the shoddy Ork Ballistic Skill, which can be upgraded to a Skorcha or Rokkit, meaning they can thin out a few hordes / elite troops before hitting them.

They also get a points break on the Power Klaw, compared with standard Nobz. Nob + Eavy Armour + Power Klaw = 50pts. MANz are 10pts less than this, and give you the 2+ save, in a trade-off for being Slow and Purposeful.

There are 3 significant weaknesses the MANz face though: Lack of Bosspoles, FNP & Cybork Bodies and Slow & Purposeful, which result in needing to take extra units to work around this.

The first thing to do for this unit is buy a Mega Armoured Warboss, Cybork Body, Attack Squig and most importantly - a Bosspole. Not only is this guy going to make your MANz a scoring unit, but the bosspole will prevent the clankers running off if they take a loss or two.

The alternative option, which also bypasses the Cybork body and Feel No Pain issue, is to take Mad Dok Grotsnik, adding much needed Cybork Bodies to the unit, alongside giving them Feel No Pain. However, it means using up a hefty chunk of HQ points on Grotsnik and his rage special rule is something I don't like in my lists.

The third option for a unit leader is to take the almighty Ghazgkull Thraka, but he is a hefty points cost and doesn't resolve your Cybork / FNP issue. However, he adds in sheer brute force. If you've got the points, I'd go for him personally.

So once you've chosen your appropriate leader to the Unit, be it Warboss, Grotsnik, Thraka... or even maybe a Mega Armoured Mek with KFF.... your MANz then need a ride to get across the battlefield, to negate their Slow & Purposeful rule.

The first transport is the Trukk. A bargain for the points costs and necessary upgrades (Red Paint, Armour Plates) meaning your MANz can speed across the battlefield extremely quickly. But what the Trukk offers in speed, it sacrifices for in durability, even bolters can cause the Trukk issues. For a big Hammer unit like the MANz, you don't want them to be foot slogging from turn 1 if you can avoid it.

The other, and most likely, transport option is the mighty Battlewagon - which if I am right in saying - MANz can take as a dedicated transport, leaving your Heavy Support choices free for more Wagons, Kanz and Dredz. AV14 on the front, backed up by the possibility of a KFF somewhere along the lines means this is almost guarenteed to deliver it's quarry to the fight. I'd go for Red Paint Job, 2 Big Shootas and a Deff Rolla, along with a Boarding Plank for the Warboss to maybe snip an enemy somewhere along the lines, as opposed to jumping off to attack them.

Conclusion
Despite the fact they're living in the shadow of Nob Bikers, I'm eager to give the Meganobz a few runs out. 2+ save, power klaw weilding Orks, backed up by a heavy hitter like Thraka seem like an excellent hammer unit and an excuse to buy another Battlewagon!

[Orks] Waaaagh! Nobrot!: Lootas

In my last article about Waaaagh! Nobrot, I finalised the HQ choices available in the army, so the next logical choice was to move along the list into the elites section - and as my army is Deffskullz themed, then Lootas seem the obvious first stop!

When the codex came out, a lot of people immediatly chucked Lootas into their armies. Their possible extremely high rate of fire made up for the very lacking Ork ballistic skill, combined with the fact they were a heavy weapons team that could hold their own in close combat if necessary, all for a very cheap 15pts.

The first lists I saw on the net, all swore by 2 units of 15 Lootas, meaning in a single turn, there was the chance of 90 S7 AP4 shots hitting the enemy, which can be absolutely devastating. Even just a single shot from each Ork is formidable enough to cause problems to light armour and anything with a 4+ save.

Initially I was dubious of the internet listings claiming that Lootas were awesome and everyone should be taking them. I dismissed them mostly due to the fact they're not scoring and are required really, to be sat at the back of my army shooting enemies as opposed to running up and crumping them in the face.

First things first, I converted myself a unit out of 2 boxes of Boyz, to save myself some cash as opposed to paying £45 to get 12 Lootas and 3 Meks (as I find the Meks are a useless upgrade to a Loota squad).

They were made simply from standard Ork Boyz with as many standing straight legs as I could gather, along with numerous Looted Eldar, Space Marine and Imperial Guard Weaponry .

Then, so I could use them as either 3 small units of 5, or 1 large unit of 15, I gave the Lootas some looted Space Marine backpacks painted in different chapter coloures - Ultramarines, Blood Angels and Space Wolves. That way, during gameplay I can easily tell each unit apart from one another, or make them cohesive and avoid looking like Orks with 'Eavy Weapons that might be from Boyz Mobs.

As I said previously, I don't use Lootas as much as some other Ork players, prefering a more assault driven force, but I'm being swayed to their use with the sheer amount of Transport vehicles I am seeming to face each game.

The Lootas ability to shred through anything lower than AV12 is a blessing to the Orks, as it means I can then send the Boyz in against whatever spills out of the transport, or unleash another hail of fire from a Slugga weilding mob. The tag team of these two units combined can wipe a full unit off the table without even the need for an assault.

Against Marine Equivalent armies, the Lootas are more suited to targeting transports, Dreadnaughts and maybe even Bike squads, just to attempt to bypass the Toughness barrier.

Against non-Marine armies, the Lootas can absolutely destroy a unit of Firewarriors, Guardians, Guardsmen and Gaunts with just a single shot each, let alone when you start pumping out double or triple that.

One of the major things to be wary of when using Lootas is that obviously, they have to remain still to be of any use to you. Otherwise they're just a very expensive Boyz mob.

This is most prominent in the deployment phase, where you will want to be looking for a central deployment, in an area providing cover from incoming fire, such as Woods or a Bunker.

I say to keep them central, as not only does it give you a good lane of fire, but will also force your opponents to be wary of this central avenue, forcing them to either split their force to either flank, or commit themselves to a single flank - both situations you can exploit to your advantage. Another advantage of central deployment stops outflanking / infiltrating troops from reaching your precious Lootas as easily... as happened to me in a game once.

The last question before summing it all up is - To Mek... or Not to Mek?

The only upgrade a unit of Lootas can have is if they wish to swap 1 - 3 Lootas for Meks, which really... I don't see the point of.

It can come in handy should you play a lot of Terminator army builds, where the 3 Kustom Mega Blastas can come in handy, or by upgrading to 3 Big Shootas, sacrificing the random element and range for 3 guarenteed shots. Unfortunately, they can't take a Bosspole, which would have been really handy on the unit as once they take a few casualties, they're prone to running.

Conclusion
I really like the random element to the Lootas, from where they can be dangerous, all the way up to destructive to anything they manage to set their weapon sights onto.

At the moment though, if they were scoring, it would be awesome. I'd happily sit them on a home objective and let them loose on anyone coming my way, but with the lack of scoring, high cost (compared to a mob of Boyz) for camping back, I normally prefer to leave them for bigger games.

I do, however like the idea of 2 units of Lootas, with a Grot unit in the middle of them for holding objectives and mobile cover. Hmmmm... we shall have to see!

What do you guys think of Lootas and any past experience of using them or playing with them?

SB.