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Since the beginning of my blog, I have been posting a lot on the painting part. I guess it's time to work on some tactics. So I will begin writing up on a series of gaming tactics following the Ork codex while doing my best to explain how to use each entry. Today, I'll just be speaking in general of how to play the Orks and defeat the Orks.
Whenever I look at any codex, I always think to myself, how can this work for me? Especially for the Ork codex. Since the Ork codex is packed with lots of funny and weird stuff, I'm sure we hardly get ourselves to use most of the units, mainly because we know what works and we rarely deviate ourselves from using other units.
Generally, this is what you should do with Orks:
1) Shoot da fighty ones, fight da shooty ones. Quote from da Boot Kamp.
This has been proven true on numerous occasions. Why don't you chase down that devastator squad at the corner there and lock them in combat? Orks hate getting shot at. It doesn't matter whether one or two of your Boyz got splat. Those are the number of attacks you need.
I also don't think it's a good idea to assault anything that is assault dedicated, unless they are a weakened unit. For example, Khorne Berzerkers. Dem red bloody boyz can really go fast! Not to mention that they will hit you on 3's and normally your armour save won't even save you! If you assault a full 10 men Khorne Berzerker squad, you are asking for it. Always, ALWAYS use your slugga to shoot them first. Either that or just keep spamming shots at them.
I usually run shoota boyz. 20 of them in a mob. 40 shots being thrown at the enemy is way fun. After that, you may assault the leftovers. Of course, this always sounds good if you're shooting at the Fearless units. Whenever you meet those pesky Marines with 3+ saves and with the ability to fall back to deny you your assault, don't bother, assault them. Space Marines can only have a maximum of 10 men in a squad and usually one of them is a sergeant. Which means that's only 9 attacks coming at you and one power fist later. If you have about 19 Boyz and a Nob with power klaw, by all means, go ahead and assault them!
Assuming that they don't kill your boyz at all, which is normally the case here, you will have 76 attacks! 4 more from the power klaw. You do the math and the dice rolling and you will know what I'm talking about.
When it comes to shooting. Never rely on them to kill anything. Just shoot for fun.
In my list, I play 15 Lootas. You and I very well know that 15 Lootas are some of the scariest shooting element you can ever see an Ork army have. Every turn promises you that a vehicle of armour 13 and below will not move, shoot or destroyed as a bonus. These guys can blow up tanks! Don't forget, they are good at killing those pesky Demon Princes which is an assaulting element.
You can only rely generic Orky shooting to whittle down the enemy, weaken the squads and serve as a pot shot. Which means anything that is dead are always a bonus. As an Orky Warboss, you will love that. Your opponent will hate you. Naturally. :D
2) Numbers are your best friend.
Always play Orks in the numbers. If you want to ensure something is dead, use the numbers. I'm still learning how to use the 15 Burnas in a battlewagon that I have in my list. And my oh my, they are good at making a magic show. Now you see that unit, burn them with 15 templates, now you see clear ground!
An average flamer template spewing out of a battlewagon would hit about let's say, 6 models. Being a flamer template, that is an auto hit, which means you don't have to roll to hit. Thank Gork and Mork BS 2 doesn't affect the template! 6 x 15 = 90 hits! Averages will tell you that you would have dealt more than 40 wounds to the enemy and if they are having power armour, chances are your opponent will be packing the marines away in their carry cases. :D
Also, having a big mob ensures that your special Mob Rule keeps your leadership up high. As you already know, Orks die from shooting, so as long as you can keep your Orks fearless, they're happy Orks.
One thing about the numbers also are, to absorb fire without having to take any leadership.
Take this for an example, 15 Ork Lootas being shot at. Normally about 3-4 will die and your mob is still fearless. If you put 10 Ork Lootas in a mob, if 3 dies, you will have to roll your leadership of 7. And trust me, half the time they would not hold their ground. This is also the same for pinning weapons.
3) Transports and mobility are your boss!
Why walk when your codex has one of the fastest transports in the game? Especially after putting some red paint on them. People fear Orks. People get terrorized with fast Orks! Always use mobility to chase/flank/pincer or spearhead your enemy.
Trukks are meant to be funny, and yes they really are. You would always want to speed your Trukk right in your opponent's face. Best thing to do is to have at least 4 of them. If one goes down, you still have more.
You can also put lots of Boyz in the Battlewagon, keeps them a little safer and makes sure they move faster. A constant 13" of moving Ork boyz is no joke.
Transports keep your boyz safe. My friend asked me once, why don't I put the Nobz on bikes instead of putting them in the Trukk? Simple, being on bikes, they are vulnerable to be insta-keeled from any lucky Lascannon or missile launcher shots. Bikes also give in to the Lash of Submission, you wouldn't want that... When I put my Nobz in the Trukk, I also join them with a Big Mek with Kustom Force Field. At least I know that my Nobz are safer in the Trukk rather than staying outside and getting blasted to bits.
There's not much difference of T4 and T4(5). Lascannons/missile launcher or meltas will still wound on a 2+. So it's more frustrating for your opponent if you have a Trukk for him to go through first.
4) Make sure your list can kill tanks.
This doesn't mean you have to take da Tank bustas. Just have some power klaws to hold on to those pesky tanks and you're good. Armour Value 14 vehicles such as the Land Raider, will bow down to your warbosses' Strength 10 power klaw. Unless it moves more than 6" of course.
Orks are geared to kill infantry. So you're already a PHD of Infantry Keelling when you play Orks. A basic Ork boy has 4 attacks on a charge. 29 of them will give you 116 attacks on a charge. Power klaw after that of course. And don't forget to use your slugga's first!
5) There can never be enough power klaws!
Take as many as you can. Power klaws are generally kan openers. A charging Nob will have 4 strength 9 power klaw attacks on a charge. That is no joke at all. I like the look on my opponent's face when I assault them with my Nobz mob. Warboss with 6 strength 10 power klaws on a charge, combined with 16 more strength 9 attacks from the nobz. That will wipe out almost anything! (But please leave the Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield Terminators to the 30 Boyz...)
I'll be explaining more in depth about the units when the time comes.
For now, here's how to beat Orks, generally:
1) Their leadership is their weakness.
If you can force the Orks to take as many leadership checks as possible, you win. Either by making them run, Sweeping Advance or stalling them by pinning, you already have the upper hand.
2) Make sure they can't get saves.
With the world of cover saves we live in. It's still good to do whatever you can to make sure they don't get to roll for saves. Anything that ignores armour or is AP 4 and below is enough. You'll be frustrated to see how many 5+ saves an Ork player can roll, AKA me...
Make sure you bring some power weapons to let those units with "Feel No Pain" feel the pain...
3) Block them.
The Rhino wall is the best idea. Why? Lining 3 Rhinos end to end right in front of a huge mob of boyz or a power unit is the best thing to do. When assaulting vehicles, they will pile up, blow up the vehicle and you will hope that the explosion brings down as many boyz as it can.
After having them piled up, it's happy fun time for your blast weapons (if you have them) to start the fireworks. If not, then consider it as stalling them. If you have a flamer, best thing to do is to put it to good use.
If you don't have Rhinos, just use whatever vehicles (make sure they are empty and already done their job) to block them.
4) Dare yourself to assault them.
Orks are not good at being on the wrong end of the sword in an assault. They only have a base strength of 3, so chances are, they can't hurt you. (Assuming again if you play marines) But a full mob of 30 will still kill you...
Also, please, never bother assaulting a full mob of Ork Nobz. Unless you have a base strength of 8 and can attack at initiative 5 or higher. Also known as Abaddon. But if Abaddon rolled a "1". The Orks can laugh at his face.
5) Shoot them. Obviously.
You don't want to get near to them, so what you can do is to shoot them. Whittle them down and make sure to clean up whatever that's left.
6) Cripple their transports.
Always do that and they're dead. Walking Orks are slow. Orks walking out of a wreck, are small in numbers and slow... Always take out the transports.
So there you have it. When I have the time I will start talking about the individual entries of the Ork codex. So I'll be talking on the HQ choices next, starting with the big boy, Ghazghkull Thraka!
If you have any questions or opinions, do share them too.
