Wednesday, July 27, 2011

[Thoughts of A Herb] Clunk! - Heavy Support Part Two

Hey, I'm not that bad!


OK, I'm back with the last of the unit review of the Ork codex. It's been a while, but you've no idea how hard it is to catch an Ork when he's either sober or not fighting... Anyway, here we go...


LOOTED WAGONS
A wagon that's been looted. Enough to make a Deffskull sing!

Essentially a Rhino with Orky additions (such as the ballistic skill) and a 12-model transport capacity. And, of course the standard Ork Vehicle upgrades, but before we get there...

There are two main weapons available to the Looted Wagon, hence the two main uses for it. A short glossary...
BOOMGUN - A 36" S8, AP3 Ordnance weapon. Removes any transport, but now it's an artillery weapon. Costs 105 with no upgrades, and really, you should keep it that way. Used like this, they're called Boomwagon.
SKORCHA - Flamethrower. Tanks like this are mainly used as transport and a free template for Burna Boyz. Costs 50 as standard, so there's room for a few upgrades, just... don't go overboard. Used like this, they're called Flamewagons.

Anyway, you also have the option of adding up to two big shootas / rokkit launchas. Don't, they're only added points for weapons you won't use most the time.

And of course all the standard Orky upgrades:-
'ARD CASE - Boomwagon, Yes if you have the points. Flamewagon, No, it limits the fire points for your twelve lovely burnas inside, and thus limiting the number of marshmallows you can toast at once.
RED PAINT JOB - Boomwagon, you're not moving that fast! Flamewagon, perhaps.
GROT RIGGERS - Boomwagon, not really, keep the points low. Flamewagon, ditto.
STIKKBOMB CHUKKA - No.
ARMOUR PLATES - Boomwagon, No. Flamewagon, if you really really have the spare points.
BOARDING PLANK - No.
WRECKIN' BALL - No.
REINFORCED RAM - No.
GRABBA KLAW - See above three.

Zagblitz Rating: 8/10 - "Yu can use it ta blast 'em, or ta trundle up an' krump 'em yerself. Always 'andy ta 'ave a couple 'round."
Dakkazag Rating: 9/10 - "It has a big gun, an' dat's good."



BIG GUNZ
Guns... that are big. What more do you want? OK, they have a better BS than Orks... because they're Grots.

OK, basics. You get up to three big guns in a squad, with 2 Gretchin crew each. You can take Kannons for 20, Lobbas for 25 and Zzap Guns for 30. Kannons are basically missile launchers, Lobbas are Barrage weapons, and Zzap guns are good ol' Orky unpredictableness, with 2D6 Strength and 11's and 12's counting as S10 and one dead crew.

The entire battery (so, all guns present) may share three ammo runts, or six more crew, at 3 points each the lot. It can also have a Runtherd to keep the unit in check, and he can replace his grabba stik with a grot prod.

These units are great in smaller games, as a full unit of Zzap gunz with all the extra crew and ammo runts, and the grot-prodding Runtherd is only 132 points.

And, none of the options are obviously good or bad, all have their merits. Kannons are good all rounders, Lobbas can stay out of sight, Zzap guns can be amazingly fun, Ammo runts are ALWAYS useful, extra crew to allow for shooting, Runtherds give two higher leadership, and his grot prod is useful if any assaults came a-calling.

One use I've literally just thought of is to attach a Shokk Attack Gun to an obscured unit of Lobbas. Lobbas can fire on units out of sight, and the Mek receives a cover save!

Zagblitz Rating: 7/10 - "Dey'z good fer shootin' stuff, and if dey get krumped... well, dey's only Grots, ent day?"
Dakkazag Rating: 9/10 - "Big gunz, an' dey can hit 'arf da time. AWESUM!"


BATTLEWAGONS
The single most legendary Ork vehicle out there, I think. Essentially a 90-point blank canvas you can tailor as you wish. I won't go over all the upgrades or we'll be here until the Warp freezes over, but I'll list the generic uses for battlewagons and what to recommend...

TRANSPORT:
Deff Rolla: - D6 S10 hits when ramming or Tank Shocking in addition to other effects. Extra D6 S10 hits when the Tank Shocked unit does Death or Glory! before the DoG! guy does anything. Invaluable when trundling towards the enemy lines with the Deathstar payload of a Warboss with some Nobs or Meganobs.

Kannon: - Any Battlewagon can take a single big gun. Take a kannon, and the frag shot counts as defensive!

Red paint job, Grot riggers, Armour plates: - Just general Ork Transport options to make it go faster and to keep going longer.

Boarding Planks: - Allows you to assault a nearby unit as if you got out and charged. Leman Russ, meet my Meganobs squad!
(You can add Grabba Klaws and Wrekin' Balls as well if you want, but I've never held much truck with them. No pun intended there.)

Big Shootas: - There for either pot shots on the way, or to take a few Weapon Destroyed results turning into Immobilized. You can have up to four, but I wouldn't take more than two unless you intend to fill it full of Shoota boyz, gently trundle about in mid field and send periodical walls of lead towards the enemy.

BATTLETANK:
Killkannon: - It's a S7, AP 4 Ordnance blast. Not as good as a Boomwagon, but it does have one thing going for it, survivability. And more guns, of course. Does reduce the transport down to 12, but not too bad!

'Ard Case: - Now your 200+ point tank isn't open topped. Need I say more?

Rokkit Launchas: - You got your infantry shredding blast, now lets get a bit of anti-tank rocking.

Kannon: - A multi-purpose gun, fire the frag to help out the infantry masher, or krak to add one more rokkit to the salvo.

And I'll also go over the upgrades I haven't listed among them...
Reinforced Ram - Good tool but it pales in comparison to the mighty Deff Rolla, especially since you can't take both.
Stikkbomb Chukka - This is a situational tool. It is usually gonna be cheaper than equipping the unit with them, but you do still have quite a low initiative so it's likely you're still going last anyway. Unless you're fighting someone like Necrons, in which case, why are you worrying?
Lobba - If you want a gun to stay out of sight, take a Lobba battery, they're cheaper!
Zzap gun - Not too bad, but the randomness does hurt it.

Zagblitz Rating: 10/10 - "So many ways ta krump stuff wiv it!" Dakkazag Rating: 11/10 - "It can have SIX gunz at once?! And me shoota boyz in it too?!...I wants one!"


So, that just about wraps it up for the Ork unit reviews! I'm still open on what to write for the next series. One very astute reader pointed out that I could go over Ork synergy between units, so if no-one else has any better suggestions, I'll default towards that.

Anyway, I think I'll upload my pictures of my own Ork army in a separate post... so, until then, guys!

1 comment:

  1. I admire your new ideas. But of course - kannon frag is S4 and can be treated as defensive weapon! Why on Earth I never thought about that?

    And the lobbas with Shokk Attack Gun Big Mek is devilish idea :)

    An obvious use of battlewagon is to carry a unit of 20 shoota boyz, allowing all of them to shoot from that spot on the left side of the fender that extrudes from behind the ruin. And the battlewagon is naked except for the big shoota to avoid immobilize result. Insert three units inside three heavy support battlewagons and you got very effective (and reliable) shooting orks. And you still can insert troop nobz w/ warboss into their deff rolla battlewagon :)

    ReplyDelete