Orks have taken over.

This blog may have been quiet lately, but my Ork army has been growing steadily and I played quite a few games with them over the summer holidays, which have all been great entertainment. There have been quite a few welcome convincing wins, which makes a bit of a change for me. With most current armies geared for shooting, my speedy horde has to get across the board quickly and hit hard, which it has done quite well so far.

Since my last update I have finished the Lootas and added a unit of Gretchin along with a couple of Nobs, including a power klaw and Waagh banner.  For my birthday in August I was given a Mek Gun, so next up is a Bubble Chukka and a unit of Burnas with a couple of killsaw-armed Meks.

The Lootas have added some dakka to the army and initially did very well by taking out a Fire Prism on their first ever turn.  They have not done quite so well since then, but opponents always seem to be wary of their potential for carnage.

Getting to shout 'WAAAAGH!' is one of the perks of the army. Unfortunately our GW manager is ex-Army and has politely asked me not to make unexpected loud noises in the shop. Shame!

With my force now reaching 1250 points, there will only be another 250 points until the last part of our Tale of Gamers is declared.  I have enjoyed the competition a lot so far and I am very pleased to have a new army, which is completely different from my Howling Griffons.  I would definitely recommend this type of event to all sorts of gamers, whether in a store or amongst a gaming group.

Orks vs Orks

My summer project for this year is my new Ork army for GW Newbury's Tale of Gamers.  We are now at the end of the third month and our forces have reached 750 pts.  I am just putting the finishing touches to my latest units, adding 10 stormboyz, 15 slugga boyz and a trukk to my force.

This week I have played 2 great games against other Ork players.

For the first one Wiggy wanted to play 1500 points.  Luckily, I found my son's old Black Reach army from when he briefly got into the hobby a few years back. He had more figures than I thought! In fact there was enough for me to field the Warband formation and another Horde detachment. This allowed me to give a weirdboy a try, as I could fit in more HQs.

We rolled Big Guns with 2 objectives each, so my Battlewagon would be worth 1 VP.  Wiggy had a Gorkanaut and a unit of Lootas.

During deployment I put most of my army on the right flank opposite his two Units of Boyz on Trukks, with 3 units of Gretchin as a meatshield across the whole front and the rest of my Boyz and my Wierdboy spread out behind.

Wiggy went first and it was an eventful turn for the psykers.  His weirdboy rolled Perils straight off and his Lootas then shot up my weirdboy's unit and they promptly ran off the board for first blood (note to self- make sure you get bosspoles!)  So much for testing the psyker...  My battlewagon was also immobilised before it could do much.

On my first turn the right flank started a sequence of charge and counter-charge, as Wiggy had put a Trukk in range. My bikes were sent fleeing (again no bosspole..) but the combined charge of Nobz and Boyz was too much for his Boyz.

During Turn 2 he advanced his Gorkanaut and disembarked the Burnas inside to threaten my right flank. Instead of the obvious charge with my Nobz I called what I hoped was my first Waagh of the game then sacrificed a unit of gretchin to soak up the wall of death from the burnas before the stormboyz overwhelmed them with 52 attacks.  I then charged my Warboss and his Nobz into the Gorkanaut with support from another unit of Boyz with my only Power Klaw. This was enough to kill the big walker and score me a VP, however the combat and resultant explosion saw the end of the Warboss too. A VP conceded too and no more Waaghs. However I knew my only way of dealing with armour was in combat I had little choice.

With our most threatening units gone the rest of the game became a war of attrition, although his big unit of shootas with weirdboy and warboss were still a worry.

Moving all the boyz around certainly takes longer than with marines, but I am sure I will speed up. In the end we just had time to get to the end of turn 5. A couple of my units were down to 2 models, but there were too many targets for Wiggy to finish them off. As I had the last turn I was able to use my last biker and my fast trukk to contest both of his objectives whilst I still held mine. The final score was 7-3 to me, but the result may well have been different if the game had continued.

The second game was a quick 800 pts played on the 4'x4' board at GW Newbury. I took my core force and swapped in 2 power klaws in my nobz unit. I played against Nick, who was mainly using shootas as well as more lootas.  With the smaller board, more of my army was in range of his guns, so he won 8-3. The craziest moment came when my 20 boys failed a 5" charge into woods against his lone warboss before killing him with sluggas on the next turn.

So what have been the lessons from these games?

1. Gretchin are great nuisance units for soaking up overwatch, clinging onto objectives, distraction etc.

2. I probably need more power klaws and certainly need more dakka! Ranged anti-armour would also help. Lootas are next on my list.

3. The warband formation is no good if the warboss dies in the first wave. Maybe get another warboss to hang back and call the Waaghs?

4. Orks are fun!

New Orks - Battlewagon and 20 Boyz

Waagh Zogsmasha is growing! Month 2 of our Tale of Gamers is now completed. Although I had the points for tabletop standard painting, I have now finished the Blood Axe camo and details to a standard I am happy with.  The Nobz are already in the window at GW Newbury and I would like these to join them too.

Next up are 10 more Boyz and 10 Stormboyz, which are now assembled.  The Stormboyz are really good fun to build and I will probably expand the unit further. A Trukk is also on my list for month 3.  It may even get the Nobz closer to combat before it gets wrecked!

The Ork codex is here - finally. Back to the drawing board now...

After what seemed like the slowest 40k release ever, the long-awaited Ork book is now out. So what is my initial verdict?

We are now used to the hardback codices with full-colour quality printing. As this is the first  7th edition book, GW has introduced a few changes to the layout.  Each unit is now represented on a single-page datasheet, instead of a unit description on one page then all the points elsewhere in the book. The points for many of the generic upgrades are still only listed on the wargear page, but there is a bit less page-flipping. The datasheet format also means there are now Lords of War (Ghaz and the Stompa), a 40k formation (Ork Warband) and a new detachment type (Ork Horde Detachment) also listed. Both of the latter give units of 10 or more models Hammer of Wrath IF they roll an unmodified 10 or more on their charge distance. Whilst this feels very Orky, I am not sure it compensates for losing Objective Secured. Even with a 30-strong mob, how many of those will get into base contact for an extra S3 hit when charging at extreme range? Perhaps 9 super-scoring troops (plus dedicated transports) would have been too much, but we'll have to see how useful these impact hits are in games.

Mob Rule has also changed and is more random. Instead of simply being Fearless at 11+ models, any units with this rule now roll on the Mob Rule table if they fail a morale or pinning test.  If they are locked in combat, they ignore the failed test on a 1. If there is a character in the unit, a 2 or 3 inflicts D6 S4 hits to ignore the failed test.  A 4-6 gives the same result if there are 10+ models in the unit.

My personal interest with the new book is how it affects my Tale of Gamers army. My first impression was disappointment. Even after only the second month, with the force at 500 pts, I already have to drop models. Both the Painboy and the Battlewagon have gone up in points. Whilst the Painboy is now a separate HQ and so can join any unit, instead of being an upgrade to my Nobz, at 50 pts he is now too much with the Warboss as well at this level.  Nobz are also no longer troops with a Warboss.  As we are now supposed to be playing 500 pt lists, I will either have to drop a couple of boyz and keep the big mob in the Battlewagon in an unbound list or take two units of 10 Boyz and reduce the Nobz unit instead. I also now need to declare month three.

I think I will stick with the normal FOC for the time being and carry on building up my Boyz. I will stick with Slugga boyz for now, as Shootas are also a point more expensive. Trukks are also slightly cheaper, if still only AV10, so I will try one of those too. I am also very tempted by Stormboyz. At only 9 pts each they can now be taken in units of 5-30 and now run up to 2d6", although this triggers a Dangerous Terrain test.  Combined with the new Waagh rule ( run and still assault once per game) this will surprise an unwary opponent.

Whilst Mob Rule is a big change, I think the combos in this book, as with the Astra Militarum book, will change how the army plays in the future.  There are some very nice new models in the Ork range, but many of the options seem designed around taking large numbers of boyz as the core of the army.  Again, this fits the character of the army. And of course GW also wants to increase sales.

Tale of Gamers - first month complete

My first 250 points of Orks for the GW Newbury competition are done.  Warboss Zogsmasha has a boduguard unit of Nobz with 3 big choppas and a Painboy.  I am very pleased with the camouflage on my Blood Axes and the technical paints are brilliant.  Typhus Corrosion on the metal with judicious Blood for the Blood God came out really well.  I have noticed a couple of details that I have missed, but I got the full 3 points for assembly, basing and painting.

We got in a few games on Saturday, but so far a draw has been my best result.  Having played Space Marines I need to get used to Ork armour and making the most of all available cover.  Even with feel no pain and two wounds each not enough of them were making it into combat to finish off the Necrons I was up against.  With the meta in early 7th still favouring shooting, this is no real surprise.

For June I will be adding a Battlewagon and 20 Boyz, which will give me more cannon fodder and force my opponents to make some decisions.  I am enjoying starting this new army and having great fun building the force.

The new Ork models also look very entertaining.   Although only the Gorkanaut has been announced officially, there are a few glimpses of new kits in the current White Dwarf.

40k 7th Edition - first game

Instead of a full review of the new rules, which I'm still reading, here is a quick summary of our first game we played on release day afternoon.

We only had one copy of the books between us, as the digital versions did not go up until later in the day, which was a bit frustrating. I can see that the physical release was the priority for GW, but pressing Download on the Black Library site and then repeatedly seeing Preorder was disappointing, especially with no indication as to exactly when the electronic version would be available. At least I have the epub now.

For our game my marines were teamed with Aaron's Eldar against Matt's SM and Pete's guard. At 600pts per player the game took about twice as long as usual, as we wanted to check each rule as we played.

We were keen to try the Maelstrom of War missions with the tactical objectives. With the 6 numbered objectives in play and relatively small game, my initial thought was that the game would be static with everyone camping objectives. However, with the 3 objectives you draw being scored per turn and cards changing as they are scored or useless ones discarded, there are no automatic points just for holding any objectives, even at the end of the game. As 18 of the 36 cards require you to take a particular numbered objective, you can end of only being able to score by controlling your opponent's objectives.  Matt had 4 drop pods in his list and 2 of them came down in scoring distance of 2 of our objectives. As even dedicated transports for troops count as super-scoring units, these proved to be a real pain.  Mobile troops therefore also are really useful when you need a different objective. My bike squad helped us get back in the game late on, but not enough to beat Pete and Matt.

There is certainly a bit of accounting involved keeping track of the points, which can rack up quickly, especially if you are able to score multiple cards simultaneously, some of which are D3 or even D3+3.

With 4 psykers on the board, we were hoping for exciting psychic phases, but poor rolls, useless powers and psykers being killed for objectives meant that we will have to wait and see on this.

My obligatory Stormtalon killed a couple of units before dying to Pete's Hydra. The changes to Jink are interesting. It is now a 4+ cover save, but must be declared before rolls to hit are made. Other vehicles have also gained jink, but everything can now only snap shot the turn after jinking. The Stormtalon has also lost Pinning from the Strafing Run rule, as have snipers. I will have to re-think my 600 pt shooty list, which had used the talon with snipers.

The new challenges with tactical objectives made for an interesting game, in which units were forced to move around across the board. I recommend giving the Maelstrom of War missions a try and I certainly want to work out some new lists for these games.

We wanted to try the unbound army rules too, but again we ran out of time, so we are looking forward to seeing how they work in a future game.

My background story for GW Newbury's Tale of Gamers

WAAGH ZOGSMASHA

REPORT FROM INQUISITOR BALKHAUSEN, ORDO XENOS

Date : 972.M41.157

Location : Alendry IV

I continue to investigate the activities of Warboss Zogsmasha.  Until now his motives were unclear, even to myself.  There seemed to be little pattern to his vicious attacks on various agricultural facilities and jungle worlds across fourteen systems.   However, our glorious Emperor has proved beneficent in enabling me to capture and interrogate a so-called ‘Painboy’ of Zogsmasha’s Blood Axe tribe during the successful defence of the main grey-algae production vat complex on Dreah.  This action was undertaken by the heroic Mitorian XIII supported by elements of the Howling Griffons’ 9^th Company Ancorae Mancorae, under the overall command of Captain Leomar Adler.

My interrogation of this creature, which refered to itself as ‘Skabrippa’, quickly revealed that Zogsmasha is deliberately attacking worlds in the path of  hive fleet Thanatos.  After my initial scepticism at this seemingly suicidal strategy, Skabrippa was then persuaded to reveal that Zogsmasha has heard tell of a mythical greenskin called ‘Grom the Flabby’.  (I initially believed this name to be in the correct form, although I have always been wary of xeno-linguistic servitors).  According to Skabrippa, this Grom creature is said to have gained remarkable healing powers by consuming parts of other beasts with regenerative abilities.

(After exhaustive research I was able to uncover a reference to a similarly named ‘Grom the Paunch’ in the heretical tome [CENSORED BY ORDER OF THE IMPERIUM])

It appears that Zogsmasha is attempting to gain similar powers by capturing and dissecting one of the larger Tyranid organisms with the capacity to self-heal.  His quest represents a significant threat to the Imperium in a number of ways.  Were Zogsmasha to be successful, an unkillable warboss could see the rise of a large Waagh.  If this ability could be passed on to the entire Waagh, they would require significantly increased firepower to resist.   Even if Zogsmasha  is unable to locate a suitable organism or his painboys cannot perform the required procedures, the prospect of Thanatos absorbing the biomass from a sizeable Waagh is even more dangerous.

I request the assignment of a Deathwatch squad to eradicate Zogsmasha and his currently small group of followers believed to be en route to my location in the Alendry system, before his Waagh regains momentum.  Only his toughest warriors survived Dreah, but they will surely grow in number again, if left unchecked.  I know that Brother Elias, formerly of the Salamanders chapter would welcome the opportunity to bring his weapon known as the Wyvern’s Breath to bear against these foul xenos.

Thought for the day: Power resides in the will of the Righteous

by M.Hewitt

Warboss and Nobz - work in progress